Method and system to facilitate reporting results of a defect inspection

• US 7,020,580 B2
• Filed: 07/10/2003
• Issued: 03/28/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 07/12/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Motor Company
• Original Assignee: Ford Motor Company
• Inventors: March, Timothy W., Peters, Gerret Martin, Nizio, Edmund, Ely, Kenneth Nolan
• Primary Examiner(s): Hoff, Marc S.
• Assistant Examiner(s): OMALLEY, MARY CATHERINE
• Application Number:
  US10/617,314
• Publication Number:
  US 20040117131A1
• Time in Patent Office: 992 Days
• Field of Search: 702 34- 36, 702 81- 84, 702/150, 702157-158, 702182-185, 715716-717, 715719-721, 715727-729, 714/25, 714/46, 714/48, 714/57, 73 7- 8, 738/658, 738/663
• US Class Current: 702/183
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/321 Display for diagnostics, e.g. diagnostic result display, self-test user interface

Abstract

An invention to facilitate reporting results of a defect inspection. The defect inspection can relate to paint defects, structural defects, dimensional defects, and other defects. The invention is suited to products having multiple body portions. A portable computer displays multiple body portions to an inspector to facilitate reporting defects. A computer receives defect data from the portable computer to facilitate analyzing the reported defects.

Claims

1. A portable computer to facilitate reporting results of a defect inspection of an object having multiple body portions, the portable computer programmed to:

provide a graphical user interface to graphically display the multiple body portions of the object;

receive a defect input from an inspector indicating a defect in one or more of the body portions;

generate defect data representing which body portion has the defect; and

wherein the graphical user interface is programmed to display multiple body portions comprising a vehicle body, and wherein the computer includes a touch screen having individual touch portions corresponding with each of the multiple body portions such that the clicking on the touch screen indicates the body portion corresponding with the defect.

2. The computer of claim 1 wherein the graphical user interface is programmed to display multiple body portions comprising a vehicle body.

3. The computer of claim 2 wherein the graphical user interface is programmed to provide a menu corresponding to a number of vehicle bodies for use by the inspector to select the vehicle body, wherein the multiple body portions comprising the selected vehicle body are displayed.

4. The computer of claim 3 wherein the graphical user interface is further programmed to divide each body portions into a number of smaller body portions, wherein the defect signal indicates the body portion and the smaller body portion of the defect.

5. The computer of claim 1 wherein the graphical user interface is programmed to provide a menu comprising a number of defect descriptions for use by the inspector to select a defect description for the defect, and wherein the defect signal further represents the defect description.

6. The computer of claim 5 wherein the defect description is an in-process paint layer description, wherein the in-process paint layer description indicates a paint layer in which the defect occurred.

7. The computer of claim 6 wherein the in-process paint layer description relates to a vehicle assembly process and indicates the defect occurred after one of adding an e-coat layer, scuffing prior to adding a primer layer, adding the primer layer, scuffing the added primer layer, adding a first top-coat in a first booth, adding a second top-coat in a second booth, or after polishing the second top-coat.

8. The computer of claim 1 further programmed to store multiple defect signals for transfer to a computer.

9. The computer of claim 1 wherein the computer is programmed to store a number of defect signals, and wherein the computer is further programmed to transfer the stored defect signals to a computer during a docking with the computer.

10. The computer of claim 1 wherein the computer further comprises a sound receiver to receive a voice command from the inspector and wherein the computer is programmed to receive the voice command as the defect input.

11. The computer of the claim 1 wherein the computer is a hand-held personal digital assistant.

12. The computer of claim 1 wherein the computer is programmed to received the defect input for a visually perceptible defect.

13. A computer readable program for use in a portable computer to facilitate visually inspecting an object having multiple body portions, the computer readable program comprising instructions to:

provide a graphical user interface to graphically display the multiple body portions of the object;

receive a defect input from an inspector indicating a visually perceptible defect in one or more of the body portions;

generate a defect signal representing which body portion received the defect; and

wherein the graphical user interface is instructed to display multiple body portions comprising a vehicle body, and wherein the computer includes a touch screen having individual touch portions corresponding with each of the multiple body portions such that the clicking on the touch screen indicates the body portion corresponding with the defect.

14. The program of claim 13 wherein the graphical user interface is programmed to display multiple body portions comprising a vehicle body.

15. The program of claim 13 wherein the graphical user interface is programmed to provide a menu corresponding to a number of vehicle bodies for use by the inspector to select the vehicle body, wherein the multiple body portions comprising the selected vehicle body are displayed.

16. The program of claim 13 wherein the graphical user interface is programmed to provide a menu comprising a number of defect descriptions for use by the inspector to select a defect description for the defect, and wherein the defect signal further represents the defect description.

17. A system to facilitate reporting results of a defect inspection of an object having multiple body portions, the system comprising:

a portable computer to provide a graphical user interface to graphically display the multiple body portions, wherein a defect input is received by the portable computer to indicate a defect in one or more of the body portions, and wherein the portable computer generates defect data representing which body portion has the defect;

a computer to receive the defect data from the portable device to facilitate analyzing the defect data; and

wherein the computer provides a number of weekly tasks to facilitate analyzing the defect data on a weekly basis, wherein the number of weekly tasks require an inspector to execute each task to receive a check mark to indicate completion of the task such that a supervisor can review the check mark to determine whether the inspector is analyzing the defect data on a regular basis.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the defect data is received by the computer for use in automatically providing predefined defect charts to facilitate analyzing the defect data, and wherein the weekly tasks further include analyzing the predefined defect charts to receive a check mark for each analyzed defect chart.