Method and device for performing a maintenance function

• US 8,650,142 B2
• Filed: 12/21/2010
• Issued: 02/11/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thales SA
• Original Assignee: Thales SA
• Inventors: Gaudan, Stphanie, Sannino, Christian, Fournier, Franois
• Primary Examiner(s): Chaki, Kakali
• Assistant Examiner(s): SITIRICHE, LUIS A
• Application Number:
  US12/974,195
• Publication Number:
  US 20110153535A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,148 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 706/46
• 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: G06F 11/0739 in a data processing system embedded in automotive or aircraft systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/079 Root cause analysis, i.e. error or fault diagnosis in a hardware test environment G06F11/22; in a software test environment G06F11/36

Abstract

A method for performing a maintenance function of a system under diagnosis includes a step for hierarchical decomposition of the system under diagnosis into sub-systems based on the model of the system and, for each sub-system, steps for determination of a model of the sub-system starting from the model of the system, and allocation of a diagnostic method depending on the processing and memory resources of said sub-system. The method allocated is a first diagnostic method based on the model of the system or a second diagnostic method based on predefined logical relationships. The method further includes calculation of the logical relationships for the sub-systems implementing the second diagnostic method, and the transfer of the logical relationships to the sub-systems implementing the second method and the transfer of the model to the sub-systems implementing the first method.

Claims

1. A method for performance of a maintenance function of a system under diagnosis, the system under diagnosis comprising a plurality of processing units using a description of the system under diagnosis, the description of the system under diagnosis comprising a description of processing and memory resources of the plurality of processing units, said method comprising:

determining sub-systems of processing units based on the description of the system under diagnosis by carrying out a hierarchical decomposition, the system under diagnosis being decomposed into various hierarchical levels into which the plurality of processing units are grouped, a first hierarchical level being lower than a second hierarchical level when the first hierarchical level comprises processing units of the second hierarchical level, and

for each sub-system of processing units;

determining a behavioral model of the sub-system with a model editor enabling the behavioral model of the sub-system to be generated starting from the description of the system under diagnosis; and

allocating a diagnostic method based on processing and memory resources of said sub-system; and

transferring a diagnostic function to the sub-system based on the allocated diagnostic method.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the allocated diagnostic method is chosen between a first diagnostic method based on a behavioral model of the system under diagnosis and a second diagnostic method based on predefined logical relationships.

3. The method as claimed in claim 2, further comprising:

calculating logical relationships for each sub-system implementing the second diagnostic method, by exploring the behavioral model of the system under diagnosis; and

transferring the logical relationships to each sub-system implementing the second diagnostic method and transferring the behavioral model of the system under diagnosis to each sub-system implementing the first diagnostic method.

4. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the behavioral model of the system under diagnosis comprises objects representing elements of the system and behavior of the elements.

5. The method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the behavioral model of the system under diagnosis comprises dependency relationships between the objects, a dependency relationship between a first object and a second object indicating that operation of the first object impacts operation of the second object.

6. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein determining the behavioral model of each sub-system and calculating the logical relationships for each sub-system comprises:

determining a structural model of the system under diagnosis based on the description of the system under diagnosis, the structural model including physical and logical relationships between objects of the structural model;

determining the behavioral model of the system under diagnosis based on the structural model; and

determining logical expressions using the behavioral model of the system under diagnosis and a predefined database of symptoms.

7. A device for performing a maintenance function of a system under diagnosis, the system under diagnosis comprising a plurality of processing units using a description of the system under diagnosis, the description of the system under diagnosis comprising a description of processing and memory resources of the plurality of processing units, said device comprising:

means for hierarchically decomposing the system under diagnosis into sub-systems of processing units based on the description of the system under diagnosis;

means for determining a behavioral model of each sub-system starting from the description of the system under diagnosis;

means for allocating a diagnostic method based on processing and memory resources of each sub-system; and

means for transferring a diagnostic function to each sub-system based on the allocated diagnostic method.

8. The device as claimed in claim 7, wherein the allocated diagnostic method is chosen between a first diagnostic method based on a behavioral model of the system under diagnosis and a second diagnostic method based on predefined logical relationships.

9. The device as claimed in claim 8, further comprising means for calculating logical relationships for each sub-system implementing the second diagnostic method, by exploring the behavioral model of the system under diagnosis.

10. The device as claimed in claim 8, wherein the behavioral model of the system under diagnosis comprises objects representing elements of the system and behavior of the elements.

11. The device as claimed in claim 10, wherein the behavioral model of the system under diagnosis comprises dependency relationships between the objects, a dependency relationship between a first object and a second object indicating that operation of the first object impacts operation of the second object.

12. The device as claimed in claim 7, wherein the means for determining a behavioral model of each sub-system based on the description of the system under diagnosis comprises:

means for generating structural models based on descriptions of each sub-system, a structural model including physical, logical and functional relationships between objects of the structural model; and

means for generating behavioral models of the sub-systems by transforming the structural models into the behavioral models of the sub-systems.