Remote maintenance method, industrial device, and semiconductor device

• US 6,792,325 B2
• Filed: 07/17/2002
• Issued: 09/14/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Iizumi, Takashi, Aizono, Takeiki, Arima, Juntaro, Inaba, Masaaki
• Primary Examiner(s): Picard, Leo
• Assistant Examiner(s): JARRETT, RYAN A
• Application Number:
  US10/196,427
• Publication Number:
  US 20020183876A1
• Time in Patent Office: 790 Days
• Field of Search: 700/108, 700/109, 700/110, 700/121, 705/400, 702/184, 702/188
• US Class Current: 700/108
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/4184 characterised by fault tolerance, reliability of production system
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/24001 Maintenance, repair
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/32234 Maintenance planning
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0267 Fault communication, e.g. human machine interface [HMI]
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0283 Predictive maintenance, e.g. involving the monitoring of a system and, based on the monitoring results, taking decisions on the maintenance schedule of the monitored system; Estimating remaining useful life [RUL] preventive maintenance, i.e. planning maintenance according to the available resources without monitoring the system G06Q10/06
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/02 Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/80 Management or planning

Abstract

The present invention provides a remote maintenance method, a remote maintenance system, and an industrial device for enabling control and thorough services and billing according to the contents of the remote maintenance operation and the request destination of maintenance and enabling access limit according to the attribute of a service person, access limit according to the device state, and output limit according to the output mode. The industrial device 123 installed at the factory 120 and the operation device 113 installed in the maintenance center 110 are connected via the network 100. The operation device 113 transmits command information indicating a command concerning maintenance to the industrial device 123 and the industrial device 123 executes a process according to the received command information, generates charge information indicating a charge concerning maintenance according to the contents of the executed process, and outputs the whole or a part of the generated charge information to the output device of the industrial device 123.

Claims

1. A remote maintenance method for a system in which one or more industrial devices for executing a specific process and one or more operation devices for maintaining said industrial devices are connected to each other via a network, wherein each industrial device monitors an occurrence of a trouble in said industrial device itself, when said industrial device detects an occurrence of a trouble, generates status information for identifying a condition of said trouble, decides an operation device to be notified of said generated status information, and transmits said generated status information to said decided operation device, and said operation device decides a troubleshooting method for said trouble of said industrial device on the basis of said transmitted status information and transmits command information indicating a maintenance command on the basis of said troubleshooting method to said industrial device, and said industrial device executes said process according to said received command information, generates charge information indicating a value for maintenance according to an identifier of said operation device to which said status information is transmitted, and outputs a whole or a part of said generated charge information to an output device of said industrial device.

2. A remote maintenance method according to claim 1, wherein said industrial device is a semiconductor manufacturing device.

3. A remote maintenance method according to claim 1, wherein when said industrial device detects said occurrence of a trouble, said industrial device generates candidate information indicating one or more candidates of said operation device to be notified of said status information, outputs said generated candidate information to said output device, and transmits said status information to an operation device designated by a user of said industrial device from said candidates in said candidate information.

4. A remote maintenance method according to claim 3, wherein said industrial device transmits said status information also to a different operation device from said candidate designated by said user.

5. A remote maintenance method according to claim 1, wherein said industrial device is a semiconductor manufacturing device.

6. An industrial device for receiving a maintenance operation from one or more operation devices connected via a network by remote control, comprising monitoring means for monitoring an occurrence of a trouble in said industrial device, when said industrial device detects an occurrence of a trouble, generating status information for identifying a condition of said trouble, deciding an operation device to be notified of said generated status information, and transmitting said generated status information to said decided operation device, communication means for receiving a troubleshooting method for said trouble of said industrial device on the basis of said transmitted status information from said operation device and receiving command information indicating a maintenance command on the basis of said troubleshooting method from said operation device, processing means for executing said process according to said command information received by said communication means, calculation means for generating charge information indicating a value for maintenance according to an identifier of said operation device to which said status information is transmitted by said monitoring means, and output means for outputting a whole or a part of said charge information generated by said calculation means to an output device.

7. An industrial device according to claim 6, wherein when said monitoring means detects said occurrence of a trouble, said monitoring means generates candidate information indicating one or more candidates of said operation device to be notified of said status information, and said output means outputs said candidate information generated by said monitoring means to said output device, and said communication means transmits said status information to an operation device designated by a user of said industrial device from said candidates output by said output means.

8. A remote maintenance method according to claim 6, wherein said communication means transmits said status information also to a different operation device from said candidate designated by said user.

9. A remote maintenance method according to claim 6, wherein said industrial device is a semiconductor manufacturing device.