Managing component information during component lifecycle

• US 8,991,692 B2
• Filed: 06/10/2013
• Issued: 03/31/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Original Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Inventors: Kumar, Anil, Bates, Steven, Ung, Kevin Y.
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Thien M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Brown, Claude J
• Application Number:
  US13/914,294
• Publication Number:
  US 20140361074A1
• Time in Patent Office: 659 Days
• Field of Search: 235/375, 235/376, 235/380, 235/485, 235/492, 707610-617, 707/621
• US Class Current: 235/376
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0875 Itemisation or classification of parts, supplies or services, e.g. bill of materials
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/20 Administration of product repair or maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/04 Manufacturing
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/30 Computing systems specially adapted for manufacturing

Abstract

Provided are methods and systems for managing various component information during component lifecycles. The information may be collected and made available starting with fabrication of a component and throughout various operations that the component may be a part of. A component may be associated with an identifier, such as a barcode or a radio frequency identifier (RFID) tag, containing identifier information. The identifier information may be used to retrieve additional component information, such as fabrication information, assembly information, installation information, maintenance information, spare part number availability, ordering/expedite systems, digital geometry files, drawings, service history, interdependencies, warranty information, available upgrades or alerts, required regulatory actions or notices for presenting on a user interface of the reader. The component information may be available in the on-board memory of the reader and/or retrieved by the reader from a server.

Claims

1. A method for managing component information during component lifecycle of an aircraft, the method comprising:

obtaining identifier information from an identifier,

the identifier is associated with a component of the aircraft,

the component being subject to maintenance,

the identifier information obtained using a reader;

determining availability of maintenance information in an on-board memory of the reader,

wherein the on-board memory comprises pre-fetched information for the Aircraft,

the maintenance information corresponding to the identifier information;

if the maintenance information is not available in the on-board memory of the reader, sending a request to a maintenance server for the maintenance information and receiving a response from the maintenance server corresponding to the request; and

presenting an output on a user interface of the reader,

the output comprising one or more data selected from the group consisting of the identifier information, the maintenance information, and the response received from the maintenance server.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending a request to update the maintenance information to the maintenance server.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein at least a portion of the request to update the maintenance information is generated automatically by the reader.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the automatically generated portion of the request to update the maintenance information comprises one or more data selected from the group consisting of a current date, an identification of the reader, and an identification of a user of the reader.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein at least a portion of the request to update the maintenance information comprises data added by a user of the reader.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising verifying a version of the maintenance information available on the on-board memory of the reader.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifier is selected from the group consisting of a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag and a barcode.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the output presented on the user interface of the reader comprises information selected from the group consisting of maintenance instructions, maintenance history, component fabrication history, and aircraft assembly history.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising updating the identifier information.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising authenticating the request by the maintenance server.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the response received from the server is encrypted.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the request is sent and the response is received over the Internet.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the component is an aircraft component.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the component is an aircraft component installed on an aircraft.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the identifier information comprises interrogating the identifier using an RFID reader.

16. A method for managing component information during component lifecycle of an aircraft, the method comprising:

pre-fetching information to the reader;

receiving a first request for retrieving maintenance information,

the first request received from a reader,

the first request comprising identifier information;

retrieving the maintenance information from a database associated with the aircraft,

the maintenance information associated to the identifier information,

the maintenance information comprising data selected from the group consisting of maintenance instructions, maintenance history, component fabrication history, and aircraft assembly history; and

sending the maintenance information to the reader.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising receiving, from the reader, a second request for updating the maintenance information and updating the maintenance information in the database to create updated maintenance information.

18. The method of claim 17, sending the updated maintenance information to an additional reader.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising receiving additional identifier information and associating the additional identifier information with the maintenance information.

20. A computer system for managing component information during component lifecycle of the aircraft, the computer system comprising:

an identifier interface module for obtaining identifier information from an identifier,

a memory module for storing local maintenance information pre-fetched to the computer system;

a processing module for analyzing the identifier information to determine availability of maintenance information within the pre-fetched information in the memory module;

a communication module for sending a request to a maintenance server for the maintenance information and for receiving a response from the maintenance server; and

a user interface for displaying an output, the output comprising one or more data selected from the group consisting of the identifier information, the maintenance information, and the response from the maintenance server.