Integration of manufacturing control functions using a multi-functional vision system
First Claim
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1. A manufacturing control system, comprising:
- quality control, safety control, logistics, and automation control functions for controlling aircraft manufacturing operations within a manufacturing area, wherein the logistics function monitors a position and a status of aircraft components, to track the aircraft components against an expected location and time within the manufacturing area, wherein the safety function predicts a collision between vehicles within the manufacturing area, and wherein the aircraft components comprise components for assembly of aircraft;
a vision system for viewing the aircraft components within the manufacturing area and for producing images of the viewed aircraft components, wherein the vision system includes digital cameras each having pan, tilt and zoom functions, wherein the digital cameras are directed to view the aircraft components through use of one of the pan, tilt, and zoom functions to point and zoom the digital cameras at aircraft components that are subject of the logistics function not within a field of view of the digital cameras when used to perform the safety function; and
a systems control for extracting vision data from the images and for providing the extracted vision data to the quality control, safety control, logistics, and automation control functions.
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Abstract
A manufacturing control system comprises a vision system for viewing operations within a manufacturing area and for producing vision data representing the viewed operations. A systems control analyzes the vision data, and controls at least two control functions related to the manufacturing operations based on the analyzed vision data.
16 Citations
22 Claims
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1. A manufacturing control system, comprising:
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quality control, safety control, logistics, and automation control functions for controlling aircraft manufacturing operations within a manufacturing area, wherein the logistics function monitors a position and a status of aircraft components, to track the aircraft components against an expected location and time within the manufacturing area, wherein the safety function predicts a collision between vehicles within the manufacturing area, and wherein the aircraft components comprise components for assembly of aircraft; a vision system for viewing the aircraft components within the manufacturing area and for producing images of the viewed aircraft components, wherein the vision system includes digital cameras each having pan, tilt and zoom functions, wherein the digital cameras are directed to view the aircraft components through use of one of the pan, tilt, and zoom functions to point and zoom the digital cameras at aircraft components that are subject of the logistics function not within a field of view of the digital cameras when used to perform the safety function; and a systems control for extracting vision data from the images and for providing the extracted vision data to the quality control, safety control, logistics, and automation control functions. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A manufacturing control system, comprising:
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a vision system including a plurality of vision sensors for viewing aircraft components within a manufacturing area and for recording images of the viewed aircraft components, wherein the vision sensors comprise digital cameras each having pan, tilt and zoom functions, wherein the digital cameras are directed to view the aircraft components through use of one of the pan, tilt, and zoom functions to point and zoom the vision sensors at aircraft components that are subject of a logistic function not within a field of view of the vision sensors used to perform a safety function, wherein the logistics function monitors a position and a status of the aircraft components, to track the aircraft components against an expected location and time within the manufacturing area, wherein the safety function predicts a collision between vehicles within the manufacturing area, and wherein the aircraft components comprise components for assembly of aircraft; a plurality of manufacturing control functions for controlling manufacturing operations within the manufacturing area, each of the manufacturing control functions including means for analyzing vision data and for controlling a manufacturing operation based on results of the analysis; and a systems control for controlling the vision system and for providing the vision data to each of the manufacturing control functions at differing preselected times using the images recorded by the vision sensors. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A computer implemented method comprising:
concurrently controlling a combination of safety and logistics operations within a manufacturing area, comprising; viewing the manufacturing area with a vision system, including using vision sensors to view aircraft components within the manufacturing area and record images of the viewed aircraft components, wherein the vision sensors comprise digital cameras each having pan, tilt and zoom functions to point and zoom the vision sensors at aircraft components that are subject of a logistics function that is not within a field of view of the vision sensors used to perform a safety control function, wherein the logistics function monitors a position and a status of the aircraft components to track the aircraft components against an expected location and time within the manufacturing area, and wherein the safety function predicts a collision between vehicles within the manufacturing area; extracting vision data from the recorded images using a processor, creating extracted vision data; sending the extracted vision data to manufacturing control functions at differing preselected times, wherein the manufacturing control functions include the safety control and logistics functions; and using the extracted vision data to perform the safety control and logistics functions in the manufacturing area. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A computer implemented method comprising:
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directing a vision system having a digital camera to view aircraft components in an aircraft manufacturing area using pan, tilt, or zoom functions of the camera, wherein the aircraft components comprise a first aircraft component and a second aircraft component that is different than the first aircraft component; recording images of the first aircraft component; extracting vision data from the recorded images of the first aircraft component using a processor to create extracted vision data for the first aircraft component; using the extracted vision data for the first aircraft component to perform a safety function, wherein the safety function predicts a collision between vehicles within the manufacturing area; directing the vision system to view a second aircraft component in a different field of view using the pan, tilt, or zoom functions of the digital camera; recording images of the second aircraft component; extracting vision data from the recorded images of the second aircraft component using the processor to create extracted vision data for the second aircraft component; and using the extracted vision data for the second aircraft component to perform a logistics function to track the second aircraft component against an expected location and time in the aircraft manufacturing area.
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Specification