Manufacturing system, measurement data collecting system, and measurement terminal apparatus

• US 6,934,596 B2
• Filed: 01/14/2003
• Issued: 08/23/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/18/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Original Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Inventors: Kojima, Koichi, Yoshida, Yoshifumi, Hirai, Atsushi, Torii, Hideo, Ichikawa, Yuya
• Primary Examiner(s): Picard, Leo
• Assistant Examiner(s): Masinick, Michael D.
• Application Number:
  US10/342,130
• Publication Number:
  US 20030176939A1
• Time in Patent Office: 952 Days
• Field of Search: 700/109, 700/86, 700/108
• US Class Current: 700/109
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management

Abstract

A manufacturing system has an inspection data collecting apparatus that is capable of carrying out, upon receipt of a signal containing measurement data in different formats according to the type of inspection or a measuring instrument, processing in accordance with the signal and the format of data to create data in a certain format, and of transmitting a signal for giving an instruction to the measuring instrument in association with the format compatible with the measuring instrument. All data obtained by the inspections in all steps for manufacturing a product is accumulated as inspection data and exchanged among the steps.

Claims

1. A manufacturing system comprising:

a system having a terminal apparatus that is configured to receive a stream of inspection data capable of having a plurality of inspection data formats, said terminal apparatus being configured to, upon receipt of a signal containing inspection data regarding an inspection result having a different inspection data format according to a type of inspection or a measuring instrument, carry out data processing on the inspection data in accordance with the inspection data format of the inspection data to create a second set of inspection data regarding the inspection result in a second inspection data format, and to transmit a signal including data in a data format compatible with the measuring instrument to give an instruction to the measuring instrument,

wherein all inspection data regarding the inspection results obtained from the inspection in all steps for manufacturing a finished article and components constituting the finished article, together with data of the measuring instrument that has performed measurement are stored as inspection data and exchanged among the steps, said all data comprising inspection data obtained from the measuring instrument, inspection data obtained from manual inspection by an inspector or measurer according to an operational instruction, and operational instruction data manually input by an operator.

2. The manufacturing system according to claim 1, wherein at least part of the data obtained in all the steps can be referred to in a certain step.

3. The manufacturing system according to claim 1, wherein:

parts inspection data obtained by inspecting each component constituting the finished article is taken as article data, and further results of inspection of a functional operation of the finished article are accumulated as product data, and

the system further comprises a means for evaluating the finished article on the basis of the article data and the product data to create evaluation data.

4. The manufacturing system according to claim 1, wherein design data including data regarding the setting of inspection items and instruction details can be input for the finished article or components constituting the finished article.

5. The manufacturing system according to claim 1, wherein environmental conditions during manufacture in the steps for manufacturing the finished article are accumulated as data.

6. The manufacturing system according to claim 1, wherein manufacturing conditions of a manufacturing apparatus in the steps for manufacturing the finished article are accumulated as data.

7. The manufacturing system according to claim 1, further comprising manufacture status determining means for determining the manufacture status of the finished article on the basis of the stored inspection data.

8. The manufacturing system according to claim 1, further comprising a transfer device for transferring the data that has been input to the system or processed in the system to another system.

9. The manufacturing system according to claim 1, wherein the finished article is a printer.