Prediction and scheduling server

• US 8,623,672 B2
• Filed: 02/15/2011
• Issued: 01/07/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/19/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Applied Materials Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Applied Materials Incorporated
• Inventors: Norman, David Everton, Howells, Alan George, Ahn, Tae Young
• Primary Examiner(s): Bahta, Kidest
• Application Number:
  US13/028,004
• Publication Number:
  US 20110208337A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,057 Days
• Field of Search: 438/14, 700/121, 700/97
• US Class Current: 438/14
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/80 Management or planning

Abstract

A server creates a plurality of projects pertaining to providing manufacturing service results. Each of the plurality of projects specifies operations to be performed relating to providing the manufacturing service results and at least one of the plurality of projects generates a requested manufacturing service result. The server initiates the at least one project that generates the requested manufacturing service result, wherein the at least one project is associated with an execution engine. The initiation of the at least one project may include sending input data to the execution engine based on configuration data that is associated with the execution engine, and obtaining the requested manufacturing service result from the execution engine. The server provides the requested manufacturing server result to at least one recipient.

Claims

1. A method, implemented by a server computing system programmed to perform the following, comprising:

maintaining, by the server computing system, a plurality of projects including at least one prediction project and at least one scheduling project with the plurality of projects pertaining to providing manufacturing service results, wherein each of the plurality of projects specifies one or more operations to be performed relating to providing the manufacturing service results, and wherein the at least one scheduling project generates a requested manufacturing schedule;

initiating, by the server computing system, the at least one project that generates the requested manufacturing schedule, wherein the at least one project is associated with an execution engine and initiating the at least one project comprises sending input data to the execution engine based on configuration data that is associated with the execution engine, and obtaining the requested manufacturing schedule from the execution engine; and

providing, by the server computing system, the requested manufacturing schedule to at least one recipient.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of projects comprises at least one of:

a data collection project and a service project.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein initiating the at least one project that generates the requested manufacturing schedule comprises:

configuring a trigger for the at least one project to execute upon completion of at least one other project of the plurality of projects.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein sending the input data to the execution engine comprises:

obtaining the input data from at least one other project of the plurality of projects.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of projects comprises at least one data collection project, a prediction project, and a scheduling project, and wherein the scheduling project generates the manufacturing schedule.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the plurality of projects further comprises at least one of:

a plurality of scheduling projects and a plurality of prediction projects, each project corresponding to an area of a manufacturing facility.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein initiating the at least one project that generates the requested manufacturing schedule comprises:

executing the prediction project in response to detecting execution of the at least one data collection project is complete, wherein executing the prediction project comprises using data collected by the at least one data collection project and generating prediction result data; and

initiating the scheduling project to generate the requested manufacturing schedule in response to detecting the execution of the prediction project is complete, wherein initiating the scheduling project comprises using the data collected by the at least one data collection project and the prediction result data from the execution of the prediction project.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the server computing system hosts a service management system and the execution engine is provided by a third party, wherein the third party is a third party to a developer of the service management system.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration data that is associated with the execution engine describes an input schema and an output schema for the execution engine.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein maintaining the plurality of projects comprises:

displaying a project user interface allowing a user to specify the plurality of projects for providing manufacturing service results;

receiving, via the project user interface, user input defining one or more properties for each operation identified in the plurality of projects; and

storing the plurality of projects with the properties in a persistent storage unit for subsequent execution in response to a project trigger.

11. A system comprising:

a persistent storage unit to store a plurality of projects including at least one prediction project and at least one scheduling project with the plurality of projects pertaining to providing manufacturing service results, wherein each of the plurality of projects specifies one or more operations to be performed relating to providing the manufacturing service results, and wherein the at least one scheduling project generates a requested manufacturing schedule; and

a processor coupled to the persistent storage unit to initiate the at least one project that generates the requested manufacturing schedule, and to provide the requested manufacturing schedule to at least one recipient, wherein the at least one project is associated with an execution engine and to initiate the at least one project comprises sending input data to the execution engine based on configuration data that is associated with the execution engine and obtaining the requested manufacturing schedule from the execution engine.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein to initiate the at least one project that generates the requested manufacturing schedule comprises the processor:

to configure a trigger for the at least one project to execute upon completion of at least one other project of the plurality of projects.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein to send the input data to the execution engine comprises the processor:

to obtain the input data from at least one other project of the plurality of projects.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the plurality of projects comprises at least one data collection project, a prediction project, and a scheduling project, and wherein the scheduling project generates the manufacturing schedule.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein to initiate the at least one project comprises the processor:

to execute the prediction project in response to detecting the execution of the at least one data collection project is complete, wherein to execute the prediction project comprises the processor to use data collected by the at least one data collection project and to generate prediction result data; and

to initiate the scheduling project to generate the requested manufacturing service result in response to detecting the execution of the prediction project is complete, wherein to initiate the scheduling project comprises the processor to use the data collected by the at least one data collection project and the prediction result from the execution of the prediction project.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the system hosts a service management system and the execution engine is provided by a third party, wherein the third party is a third party to a developer of the service management system.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the configuration data that is associated with the execution engine describes an input schema and an output schema for the execution engine.

18. A computer-readable non-transitory storage medium including instructions that, when executed by a computer system, cause the computer system to perform a set of operations comprising:

maintaining a plurality of projects including at least one prediction project and at least one scheduling project with the plurality of projects pertaining to providing manufacturing service results, wherein each of the plurality of projects specifies one or more operations to be performed relating to providing the manufacturing service results, and wherein the at least one scheduling project generates a requested manufacturing schedule;

initiating the at least one project that generates the requested manufacturing schedule, wherein the at least one project is associated with an execution engine and initiating the at least one project comprises sending input data to the execution engine based on configuration data that is associated with the execution engine, and obtaining the requested manufacturing schedule from the execution engine; and

providing the requested manufacturing schedule to at least one recipient.

19. The computer-readable non-transitory storage medium of claim 18, wherein initiating the at least one project that generates the requested manufacturing schedule comprises:

configuring a trigger for the at least one project to execute upon completion of at least one other project of the plurality of projects.

20. The computer-readable non-transitory storage medium of claim 18, wherein sending the input data to the execution engine comprises:

obtaining the input data from at least one other project of the plurality of projects.

21. The computer-readable non-transitory storage medium of claim 18, wherein the plurality of projects comprising at least one data collection project, a prediction project, and a scheduling project, wherein the requested manufacturing schedule comprises a manufacturing schedule, and wherein initiating the project that generates the requested manufacturing schedule comprises:

executing the prediction project in response to detecting execution of the at least one data collection project is complete, wherein executing the prediction project comprises using data collected by the at least one data collection project and generating prediction result data; and

initiating the scheduling project to generate the requested manufacturing schedule in response to detecting the execution of the prediction project is complete, wherein initiating the scheduling project comprises using the data collected by the at least one data collection project and the prediction result data from the execution of the prediction project.

22. The computer-readable non-transitory storage medium of claim 18, wherein the computing system hosts a service management system and the execution engine is provided by a third party, wherein the third party is a third party to a developer of the service management system.