System and methods for automatic generation of component data
First Claim
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1. A method of manufacturing electronic circuits comprising:
- generating CAD data, a bill of materials and an approved component vendor list for an electronic circuit; and
employing said CAD data, said bill of materials and said approved component vendor list for automatically generating;
a pick &
place machine-specific component loading specification;
a pick &
place machine-specific component placement sequence; and
pick &
place machine-specific component data for governing the operation of at least one specific pick &
place machine in a manufacturing line, said employing said CAD data, said bill of material and said approved component vendor list for automatically generating pick &
place machine specific component data for governing the operation of at least one specific pick &
place machine including automatically generating said pick &
place machine-specific component data by employing a first database containing pick &
place machine-independent, geometric component data and a second database containing machine-specific, component manufacturer-independent rules for generating said pick &
place machine-specific component data, whereinsaid first database also contains pick &
place machine-independent, component supply dat;
said employing said CAD data, said bill of materials and said approved component vendor list for automatically generating pick &
place machine-specific component loading specification, pick &
place machine-specific component placement sequence and pick &
place machine-specific component data for governing the operation of at least one specific pick &
place machine in a manufacturing line also comprises;
employing said CAD data, said bill of materials, said approved component vendor list and said first database to search for component data for new components; and
employing said first database and said second database to auto-generate said pick &
place machine specific component data;
said employing said CAD data, said bill of materials and said approved component vendor list for automatically generating pick &
place machine-specific component loading specification, pick &
place machine-specific component placement sequence and pick &
place machine-specific component data for governing the operation of at least one specific pick &
place machine in a manufacturing line also comprises;
prior to said employing said CAD data said bill of materials, said approved component vendor list and said first database to search for component data for new components, employing said CAD data, said bill of materials and said approved component vendor list to form combined printed circuit assembly data;
following said employing said first database and said second database, selecting a pick &
place machine line;
thereafter, employing said combined printed circuit assembly data together with said pick &
place machine specific component data to balance said pick &
place machine line; and
thereafter, employing a computer to provide said pick &
place machine-specific component loading specification, said pick &
place machine-specific component placement sequence and said pick &
place machine-specific component data for governing the operation of at least one specific pick &
place machine in a manufacturing line to at least one pick &
place machine in said pick &
place machine line.
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Abstract
A method of manufacturing electronic circuits including generating CAD data, a bill of materials and an approved component vendor list for an electronic circuit and employing the CAD data, the bill of materials and the approved component vendor list for automatically generating a pick & place machine-specific component loading specification, a pick & place machine-specific component placement sequence and pick & place machine-specific component data for governing the operation of at least one specific pick & place machine in a manufacturing line.
22 Citations
32 Claims
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1. A method of manufacturing electronic circuits comprising:
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generating CAD data, a bill of materials and an approved component vendor list for an electronic circuit; and employing said CAD data, said bill of materials and said approved component vendor list for automatically generating; a pick &
place machine-specific component loading specification;a pick &
place machine-specific component placement sequence; andpick &
place machine-specific component data for governing the operation of at least one specific pick &
place machine in a manufacturing line, said employing said CAD data, said bill of material and said approved component vendor list for automatically generating pick &
place machine specific component data for governing the operation of at least one specific pick &
place machine including automatically generating said pick &
place machine-specific component data by employing a first database containing pick &
place machine-independent, geometric component data and a second database containing machine-specific, component manufacturer-independent rules for generating said pick &
place machine-specific component data, whereinsaid first database also contains pick &
place machine-independent, component supply dat;said employing said CAD data, said bill of materials and said approved component vendor list for automatically generating pick &
place machine-specific component loading specification, pick &
place machine-specific component placement sequence and pick &
place machine-specific component data for governing the operation of at least one specific pick &
place machine in a manufacturing line also comprises;employing said CAD data, said bill of materials, said approved component vendor list and said first database to search for component data for new components; and employing said first database and said second database to auto-generate said pick &
place machine specific component data;said employing said CAD data, said bill of materials and said approved component vendor list for automatically generating pick &
place machine-specific component loading specification, pick &
place machine-specific component placement sequence and pick &
place machine-specific component data for governing the operation of at least one specific pick &
place machine in a manufacturing line also comprises;prior to said employing said CAD data said bill of materials, said approved component vendor list and said first database to search for component data for new components, employing said CAD data, said bill of materials and said approved component vendor list to form combined printed circuit assembly data; following said employing said first database and said second database, selecting a pick &
place machine line;thereafter, employing said combined printed circuit assembly data together with said pick &
place machine specific component data to balance said pick &
place machine line; andthereafter, employing a computer to provide said pick &
place machine-specific component loading specification, said pick &
place machine-specific component placement sequence and said pick &
place machine-specific component data for governing the operation of at least one specific pick &
place machine in a manufacturing line to at least one pick &
place machine in said pick &
place machine line. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 28)
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10. The method of manufacturing electronic circuits according to claim and also comprising:
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providing manually generated CSF parameters for said at least one PCN; automatically adding said manually generated CSF parameters to said first database for said at least one PCN; and automatically adding said manually generated CSF parameters as default CSF parameters to said first database for CV/CAT#s corresponding to said at least one PCN.
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26. A method of manufacturing electronic circuits comprising:
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generating CAD dad, a bill of materials and an approved component vendor list for an electronic circuit; and employing said CAD data, said bill of materials and said approved component vendor list for automatically generating; a pick &
place machine-specific component loading specification;a pick &
place machine-specific component placement sequence; andpick &
place machine-specific component data for governing the operation of at least one specific pick &
place machine in a manufacturing line, said employing said CAD data, said bill of materials and said approved component vendor list for automatically generating pick &
place machine specific component data for governing the operation of at least one specific pick &
place machine including automatically generating said pick &
place machine-specific component data by employing a first database containing pick &
place machine-independent, geometric component data and a second database containing machine-specific component manufacturer-independent rules for generating said pick &
place machine-specific component data, wherein;prior to said employing said CAD data, said bill of materials, said approved component vendor list and said first database, automatically populating a component vendor-specified component geometric parameters (CCL) portion of said first database; and said first database also contains pick &
place machine-independent, component supply data;said employing said CAD data, said bill of materials and said approved component vendor list for automatically generating pick &
place machine-specific component loading specification, pick &
place machine-specific component placement sequence and pick &
place machine-specific component data for governing the operation of at least one specific pick &
place machine in a manufacturing line comprises;employing said CAD data, said bill of materials, said approved component vendor list and said first database to search for component data for new components; and employing said first database and second database to auto-generate said pick &
place machine specific component data;said automatically populating comprises employing a component library which maps CV/CAT#s to component packaging shape parameters; said employing a component library comprises employing said component library which includes; a first stage mapping which maps CV/CAT#s to component packaging shape identifiers; and a second stage mapping which maps said component packaging shape identifiers to component packaging shape parameters; said automatically populating comprises; obtaining at least one CV/CAT#for which no mapping exists in said CCL portion; employing said first stage mapping to obtain a component packaging shape identifier corresponding to said at least one CV/CAT#; employing said second stage mapping to obtain component packaging shape parameters corresponding to said component packaging shape identifier corresponding to said at least one CV/CAT#; employing said component packaging shape identifier corresponding to said at least one CV/CAT#said component packaging shape parameters corresponding to said component packaging shape identifier to provide an auto-generated generic component shape identifier and auto-generated GCG parameters; and adding said auto-generated generic component shape identifier and said auto-generated GCG parameters to said CCL portion for said at least one CV/CAT#. - View Dependent Claims (27)
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29. An apparatus for manufacturing electronic circuits comprising:
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a computerized electronic circuit data generator operative for generating CAD data, a bill of materials and an approved component vendor list for an electronic circuit; and a computerized generator operative for employing said CAD data, said bill of materials and said approved component vendor list for automatically generating; a pick &
place machine-specific component loading specification;a pick &
place machine-specific component placement sequence; andpick &
place machine-specific component data for governing the operation of at least one specific pick &
place machine in a manufacturing line, said computerized generator including;a first database containing pick &
place machine-independent, geometric component data and pick &
place machine-independent, component supply data;a second database containing machine-specific, component manufacturer-independent rules for generating said pick &
place machine-specific component data;computerized new component data searching functionality operative to employ said CAD data, said bill of materials, said approved component vendor list and said first database to search for component data for new components including; computerized component supply data searching functionality operative to search first database for pick &
place machine independent component supply data for said new components; and
a PCN selector operative to select at least one PCN corresponding to ones of said components for which Generic Component Geometric (GCG) parameters are not available;
GCG CV ICAT# obtaining functionality operative to obtain a CV/CAT# corresponding to said at least one PCN corresponding to ones of said new components for which GCG parameters are not available; and
GCG searching functionality operative to employ said CV/CAT# to search at least part of said first database for corresponding GCG parameters;
first computerized searching functionality operative to search said first database for at least one additional PCN having at least one corresponding CV/CAT#, which is different from said CV/CAT#, in common with said at least one PCN corresponding to ones of said new components for which GCG parameters are not available;
second computerized searching functionality operative to search said first database for at least one different CV/CAT#corresponding to said at least one additional PCN, which does not correspond to said at least one PCN corresponding to ones of said new components for which GCG parameters are not available; and
proximate GCG parameter searching functionality operative to employ said at least one different CV ICAT#to search at least part of said first database for GCG parameters corresponding to said at least one different CV/CAT#computerized auto-generating functionality operative to employ said first database and said second database to auto-generate said pick &
place machine specific component data; anda computerized combined printed circuit assembly data generator operative to employ said CAD data, said bill of materials and said approved component vendor list to form combined printed circuit assembly data.
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30. An apparatus for manufacturing electronic circuits comprising:
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a computerized electronic circuit data generator operative for generating CAD data, a bill of materials and an approved component vendor list for an electronic circuit; and a computerized generator operative for employing said CAD data, said bill of materials and said approved component vendor list for automatically generating; a pick &
place machine-specific component loading specification;a pick &
place machine-specific component placement sequence; andpick &
place machine-specific component data for governing the operation of at least one specific pick &
place machine in a manufacturing line, and computerized generator including;a first database containing pick &
place machine-independent, geometric component data and pick &
place machine-independent, component supply data;a second database containing machine-specific, component manufacturer-independent rules for generating said pick &
place machine-specific component data;computerized new component data searching functionality operative to employ said CAD data, said bill of materials, said approved component vendor list sand said first database to search for component data for new components, including;
computerized auto-generation functionality operative to employ said first database and said second database to auto-generate said pick &
place machine specific component data, including;
component supply parameter auto-generation functionality operative to employ said first database and said second database to auto-generate pick &
place machine specific component supply parameters; and
component shape parameter auto-generation functionality operative to employ said first database and said second database to auto-generate pick &
place machine specific component shape parameters; and
a computerized combined printed circuit assembly data generator operative to employ said CAD data, said bill of materials and said approved component vendor list to form combined printed circuit assembly data; and
wherein;said component shape parameter auto-generation functionality comprises; a PCN selector operative, for a specific pick &
place machine in said pick &
place machine line, to select at least one PCN in said combined printed circuit assembly data for which at least one of corresponding pick &
place machine specific component shape parameters and a corresponding pick &
place machine specific component shape identifier is not available;GCG parameter obtaining functionality operative to employ at least one generic component shape identifier to obtain GCG parameters corresponding to said at least one PCN in said combined printed circuit assembly data for which at least one of corresponding pick &
place machine specific component shape parameters and a corresponding pick &
place machine specific component shape identifier is not available;rules operating functionality operative to employ at least part of said GCG parameters to access appropriate ones of said machine-specific, component manufacturer-independent rules for generating said pick &
place machine-specific component data and to operate said appropriate ones of said machine-specific, component manufacturer-independent rules for generating said pick &
place machine-specific component data based on at least one of said GCG parameters to yield corresponding values; andvalue assigning functionality operative to assign said corresponding values to corresponding ones of said pick &
place machine-specific component shape parameters. - View Dependent Claims (31)
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32. An apparatus for manufacturing electronic circuits comprising:
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a computerized electronic circuit data generator operative for generating CAD data, a bill of materials and an approved component vendor list for an electronic circuit; and a computerized generator operative for employing said CAD data, said bill of materials and said approved component vendor list for automatically generating; a pick &
place machine-specific component loading specification;a pick &
place machine-specific component placement sequence; andpick &
place machine-specific component data for governing the operation of at least one specific pick &
place machine in a manufacturing line, said computerized generator including;a first database containing pick &
place machine-independent, geometric component data and pick &
place machine-independent, component supply data; anda second database containing machine-specific, component manufacturer-independent rules for generating said pick &
place machine-specific component data;computerized new component data searching functionality operative to employ said CAD data, said bill of materials, said approved component vendor list and first database to search for component data for new components, including computerized auto-generation functionality operative to employ said first database and said second database to auto-generate said pick &
place machine specific component data;a computerized combined printed circuit assembly data generator operative to employ said CAD data, said bill of materials and said approved component vendor list to form combined printed circuit assembly data; and a computerized database populating functionality operative to automatically populate a CCL portion of said first database, wherein; said computerized database populating functionality also comprises component library which maps CV/CAT#s to component packaging shape parameters; said component library comprises a first stage mapping which maps CV ICA T#s to component packaging shape identifiers and a second stage mapping which maps said component packaging shape identifiers to component packaging shape parameters; and said computerized database populating functionality comprises; CCL CV/CAT#obtaining functionality operative to obtain at least one CV/CAT#for which no mapping exists in said CCL portion; component packaging shape identifier obtaining functionality operative to employ said first stage mapping to obtain a component packaging shape identifier corresponding to said at least one CV ICA T#; and component packaging shape parameter obtaining functionality operative to employ said second stage mapping to obtain component packaging shape parameters corresponding to said component packaging shape identifier corresponding to said at least one CV/CAT#.
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Specification