Remote maintenance method for industrial device that generates maintenance charge information using received charge list

• US 6,954,677 B2
• Filed: 09/20/2004
• Issued: 10/11/2005
• 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:
  US10/944,074
• Publication Number:
  US 20050038546A1
• Time in Patent Office: 386 Days
• Field of Search: 700108-110, 700/121, 702/184, 702/188, 705/400
• 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 that an industrial device for executing a specific process and an operation device for maintaining said industrial device are connected to each other via a network, characterized in that said operation device transmits command information indicating a maintenance command and charge list information for designating a value for maintenance to said industrial device and said industrial device executes said process according to said received command information, generates charge information indicating said value for maintenance using said received charge list information, 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. An industrial device for receiving a maintenance operation from an operation device connected via a network by remote control, comprising communication means for receiving command information indicating a command of maintenance from said operation device, processing means for executing a process according to said command information received by said communication means, calculation means for generating charge information indicating a value for said maintenance according to contents of said process executed by said processing means, and output means for outputting a whole or a part of said charge information generated by said calculation means to an output device, wherein said communication means receives charge list information for designating said value for said maintenance from said operation device and said calculation means generates said charge information using said charge list information received by said communication means.

4. An industrial device according to claim 3, wherein said industrial device is a semiconductor manufacturing device.