Systems and methods for diagnosing electronic systems

• US 6,782,345 B1
• Filed: 10/03/2000
• Issued: 08/24/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 10/03/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Gerner, Bradley P., Siegel, Robert P., O'Leyar, Stephen C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hoff, Marc S.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Barbee, Manuel L
• Application Number:
  US09/678,319
• Time in Patent Office: 1,421 Days
• Field of Search: 702/34, 702/35, 702/57-59, 702/81, 702/108, 702/113, 702/115, 702/117-122, 702/182-185, 702/187, 702/188, 399/8, 399/9, 399/18, 358/1.14, 340/3.1, 340/3.43
• US Class Current: 702/183
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0733 in a data processing system embedded in an image processing device, e.g. printer, facsimile, scanner
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0748 in a remote unit communicating with a single-box computer node experiencing an error/fault remote testing G06F11/2294
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/079 Root cause analysis, i.e. error or fault diagnosis in a hardware test environment G06F11/22; in a software test environment G06F11/36
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0793 Remedial or corrective actions recovery from an exception in an instruction pipeline G06F9/3861; by retry G06F11/1402; for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity H04L69/40
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2294 by remote test

Abstract

During the operation of an electronic system, such as a document processing system, machine and job data of the electronic system are collected by a diagnostic system for automated diagnosis or prognosis. Optionally, machine data and population based data are acquired from a database or server. According to one embodiment, the data is analyzed to determine an initial diagnosis of the electronic system. Based on the initial diagnosis, a determination is made whether a remote transmission is needed. If so, the data is sent via a distributed network to a remote diagnostic system for analysis. At least part of the collected machine data may be a signature waveform of a part of the electronic system. In such a case, at least the analysis by the remote diagnostic system includes signature analysis of the waveform. Based on the analysis of the data by the remote diagnostic system, a communication is sent. The communication may be one or more of a repair information sent to a customer, a parts request sent to an appropriate entity, a service request notification to a customer service engineer and a revised set of operating instructions sent to the electronic system. The communication may be sent via the distributed network. If the communication is a revised set of operating instructions sent to the electronic system, the diagnostic system preferably verifies that the electronic system using the revised set of operating instructions is within specification.

Claims

1. A diagnostic system for automated diagnosis or prognosis of at least one electronic system, comprising:

a data acquisition and processing circuit that collects and processes data;

a diagnostic circuit that analyzes the data from the data acquisition and processing circuit to obtain an initial diagnosis;

a data transmission circuit that sends the data over a distributed network to a remote diagnostic system based on the initial diagnosis; and

a remote diagnostic system that analyzes the data from the data transmission circuit and sends a communication based on the analysis of the data,

wherein the communication sent by the remote diagnostic system includes at least one of repair information to a third party, a parts request to a third party, a service request notification to a third party and a revised set of operating instructions to the at least one electronic system based on the analysis of the data by the remote diagnostic system, the revised set of operating instructions at least one of correcting a failure and preventing a failure of the at least one electronic system.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the diagnostic circuit analyzes the data based on at least one of a threshold analysis, a statistical analysis, a signature analysis, a trend analysis, a timing analysis, an event sequence analysis, a pattern analysis, an image processing technique, a quantitative state estimation technique, a qualitative state estimation technique, a model-based diagnostic technology, a look-up table, a neural-network-based analysis, a fuzzy-logic-based analysis, a bayesian network, a causal network, a rule-based system analysis and an expert system.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the communication sent by the remote diagnostic system is transmitted to the at least one electronic system over the distributed network.

4. A diagnostic system for automated diagnosis or prognosis of at least one electronic system, comprising:

a data acquisition and processing circuit that collects and processes data;

a diagnostic circuit that analyzes the data from the data acquisition and processing circuit to obtain an initial diagnosis; and

a data transmission circuit that sends the data over a distributed network to a remote diagnostic system based on the initial diagnosis, wherein;

the data acquisition and processing circuit detects a signature waveform of a part of the at least one electronic system and comprises an analog-to-digital converter that digitizes the signature waveform; and

the data transmission circuit sends the digitized waveform via the distributed network to the remote diagnostic system based on the initial diagnosis, the remote diagnostic system analyzes the digitized waveform from the data transmission circuit and sends a communication including a revised set of operating instructions based on the analysis of the digitized waveform.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the remote diagnostic system analyzes the data based on at least one of a threshold analysis, a statistical analysis, a signature analysis, a trend analysis, a timing analysis, an event sequence analysis, a pattern analysis, an image processing technique, a quantitative state estimation technique, a qualitative state estimation technique, a model-based diagnostic technology, a look-up table, a neural-network-based analysis, a fuzzy-logic-based analysis, a bayesian network, a causal network, a rule-based system analysis and an expert system.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the remote diagnostic system analysis is based on a signature analysis.

7. A diagnostic system for automated diagnosis or prognosis of at least one electronic system, comprising:

at least one sensor that detects a signature waveform of a part of the at least one electronic system;

a signature analysis circuit that analyzes the signature waveform to diagnose at least one characteristic of the part of the at least one electronic system;

an analog-to-digital converter that digitizes the signature waveform;

a remote diagnostic system that includes the signature analysis circuit; and

a transmission circuit that sends the digitized waveform via a distributed network to the remote diagnostic system, wherein the remote diagnostic system sends a communication including a revised set of operating instructions based on the analysis of the digitized waveform.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the communication sent by the remote diagnostic system comprises repair information to a third party.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the communication sent by the remote diagnostic system comprises a parts request.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the communication sent by the remote diagnostic system comprises a service request notification.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the communication sent by the remote diagnostic system is over the distributed network.

12. A method for diagnosing or predicting failures in at least one electronic system, comprising:

obtaining data pertaining to the at least one electronic system;

analyzing the data to obtain an initial diagnosis;

selectively transmitting the data to a remote diagnostic system based on the initial diagnosis;

remotely analyzing the data; and

sending a communication from the remote diagnostic system based on the analysis of the data, wherein sending the communication from the remote diagnostic system comprises at least one of sending repair information to a third party, sending a parts request to a third party, sending a service request notification to a third party, and sending a revised set of operating instructions to the at least one electronic system based on the analysis of the data by the remote diagnostic system, the revised set of operating instructions at least one of correcting a failure and preventing a failure of the at least one electronic system.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising verifying that operation of the at least one electronic system using the revised set of operating instructions is within specification.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising determining a revised set of operating instructions based on the analysis of the data, wherein sending the communication from the remote diagnostic system comprises sending a revised set of operating instructions to the at least one electronic system.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising verifying that operation of the at least one electronic system using the revised set of operating instructions is within specification.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein analyzing the data is based on at least one of a threshold analysis, a statistical analysis, a signature analysis, a trend analysis, a timing analysis, an event sequence analysis, a pattern analysis, an image processing technique, a quantitative state estimation technique, a qualitative state estimation technique, a model-based diagnostic technology, a look-up table, a neural-network-based analysis, a fuzzy-logic-based analysis, a bayesian network, a causal network, a rule-based system analysis and an expert system.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein obtaining data includes detecting a signature waveform of a part of the at least one electronic system.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising digitizing the signature waveform.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

remotely analyzing the digitized waveform; and

sending a communication from the remote diagnostic system based on the analysis of the digitized waveform.

20. A computer-readable storage medium containing instructions for automated diagnosis or prognosis of at least one electronic system, the instructions being executable to perform steps comprising:

receiving data pertaining to the at least one electronic system when the data has been selectively transmitted based upon an initial diagnosis;

analyzing the data; and

generating a communication from the remote diagnostic system based on the analysis of the data, wherein the instructions that generate the communication include at least one of instructions that generate repair data and instructions that transmit the repair data to a third party, instructions that generate a parts request and instructions that transmit the parts request to a third party, instructions that generate a service request notification and instructions that transmit the service request notification to a third party, and instructions that generate a revised set of operating instructions based on the analysis of the data by the remote diagnostic system and instructions that transmit the revised set of operating instructions to the at least one electronic system, the revised set of operating instructions at least one of correcting a failure and preventing a failure of the at least one electronic system.

21. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 20, further containing instructions executable to transmit the communication over the distributed network.

22. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 20, further containing instructions executable to verify that operation of the at least one electronic system according to the revised set of operating instructions is within specification.

23. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 20, wherein the instructions that obtain data include instructions that detect a signature waveform of a part of the at least one electronic system.

24. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 23, further containing instructions that digitize the signature waveform.

25. A computer-readable storage medium containing instructions for automated diagnosis or prognosis of at least one electronic system, the instructions being executable to perform steps comprising:

receiving a signature waveform pertaining to the at least one electronic system when the signature waveform has been selectively transmitted based upon an initial diagnosis;

analyzing the signature waveform; and

generating a communication to a remote diagnostic system, the communication including a revised set of operating instructions based on the analysis of the signature waveform.

26. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 25, wherein the instructions that analyze the signature waveform include instructions for signature analysis.

27. A system for automated diagnosis or prognosis of at least one electronic system, the system comprising:

a first computer-readable storage medium containing instructions executable to perform steps of obtaining data pertaining to the at least one electronic system, analyzing the data to obtain an initial diagnosis, and selectively transmitting the data to a remote diagnostic system based on the initial diagnosis; and

a second computer-readable storage medium containing instructions executable to perform steps of receiving the data when the data has been selectively transmitted based upon the initial diagnosis, further analyzing the data, and generating a communication from the remote diagnostic system based on the further analysis of the data, wherein the communication from the remote diagnostic system comprises at least one of repair information to a third party, a parts request to a third party and a revised set of operating instructions to the at least one electronic system based on the analysis of the data by the remote diagnostic system, the revised set of operating instructions at least one of correcting a failure and preventing a failure of the at least one electronic system.