Industrial machine management system and method

• US 20020065572A1
• Filed: 11/21/2001
• Published: 05/30/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 11/27/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Ina, Hideki, Ogura, Masaya, Ogushi, Nobuaki
• Granted Patent: US 6,957,112 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/96
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/4184 characterised by fault tolerance, reliability of production system
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0216 Human interface functionality, e.g. monitoring system providing help to the user in the selection of tests or in its configuration
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/02 Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]

Abstract

A system for quickly and easily optimizing the parameters of an industrial machine or solving any trouble in industrial machine is provided. A factory (100) and vendor (200) are connected through a data communication network (300). A management apparatus (120) selectively gives the operation right of an industrial machine (110) to a factory-side operation apparatus (130) or a vendor-side operation apparatus (210) arranged at a remote site. The operation apparatus having the given operation right can operate the industrial machine (110) and obtain information representing the operation condition of the industrial machine.

Claims

1. A management system for managing an industrial machine using a data communication network, comprising:

a management apparatus for selectively giving an operation right of the industrial machine to one of a first operation apparatus arranged in a factory where the industrial machine is installed and a second operation apparatus arranged at a remote site from the factory where the industrial machine is installed; and

a control apparatus for operating the industrial machine in accordance with an instruction from the operation apparatus to which the operation right has been given by said management apparatus and providing information representing an operation condition of the industrial machine to the operation apparatus.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the second operation apparatus and said control apparatus are connected through the data communication network.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein said management apparatus selectively gives the operation right of the industrial machine to one of the first and second operation apparatuses in accordance with an instruction from a manager of the industrial machine.

4. The system according to claim 3, wherein

the system further comprises a manager setting section for setting the manager of the industrial machine, and

said management apparatus selectively gives the operation right of the industrial machine to one of the first and second operation apparatuses in accordance with an instruction from the manager set by said manager setting section.

5. The system according to claim 1, further comprising a limiting section for limiting contents of operation of the industrial machine by the first operation apparatus through said control apparatus when the manager of the industrial machine is a manager of the second operation apparatus.

6. The system according to claim 1, further comprising a limiting section for limiting contents of operation of the industrial machine by the second operation apparatus through said control apparatus when the manager of the industrial machine is a manager of the first operation apparatus.

7. The system according to claim 1, further comprising a security system for making information related to the operation of the industrial machine by the first operation apparatus secret to the second operation apparatus and making information related to the operation of the industrial machine by the second operation apparatus secret to the first operation apparatus.

8. The system according to claim 7, wherein said security system makes some or all pieces of information, which are secret to the second operation apparatus, public to the second operation apparatus in accordance with an instruction from the first operation apparatus and makes some or all pieces of information, which are secret to the first operation apparatus, public to the first operation apparatus in accordance with an instruction from the second operation apparatus.

9. The system according to claim 8, wherein when the operation right of the industrial machine is given to the first operation apparatus, said security system makes the information representing the operation condition of the industrial machine public to the second operation apparatus in accordance with an instruction from the first operation apparatus, and when the operation right of the industrial machine is given to the second operation apparatus, said security system makes the information representing the operation condition of the industrial machine public to the first operation apparatus in accordance with an instruction from the second operation apparatus.

10. The system according to claim 1, wherein the second operation apparatus is arranged in a business office of a person in charge of manufacturing, sales, or maintenance of the industrial machine or a person in charge of services about the industrial machine.

11. The system according to claim 1, wherein the industrial machine comprises a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus.

12. The system according to claim 11, wherein said semiconductor manufacturing apparatus comprises any one of an exposure apparatus, CVD apparatus, etching apparatus, CMP apparatus, resist coating apparatus, development apparatus, ashing apparatus, and inspection apparatus.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the second operation apparatus and control apparatus are connected through the data communication network.

15. The method according to claim 13, wherein in the management step, the operation right of the industrial machine is selectively given to one of the first and second operation apparatuses in accordance with an instruction from a manager of the industrial machine.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein

the method further comprises the setting step of setting the manager of the industrial machine, and

in the management step, the operation right of the industrial machine is selectively given to one of the first and second operation apparatuses in accordance with an instruction from the manager set in the setting step.

17. The method according to claim 13, further comprising the limiting step of limiting contents of operation of the industrial machine by the first operation apparatus through the control apparatus when the manager of the industrial machine is a manager of the second operation apparatus.

18. The method according to claim 13, further comprising the limiting step of limiting contents of operation of the industrial machine by the second operation apparatus through the control apparatus when the manager of the industrial machine is a manager of the first operation apparatus.

19. The method according to claim 13, further comprising the security step of making information related to the operation of the industrial machine by the first operation apparatus secret to the second operation apparatus and making information related to the operation of the industrial machine by the second operation apparatus secret to the first operation apparatus.

20. The method according to claim 19, wherein in the security step, some or all pieces of information, which are secret to the second operation apparatus, are made public to the second operation apparatus in accordance with an instruction from the first operation apparatus, and some or all pieces of information, which are secret to the first operation apparatus, are made public to the first operation apparatus in accordance with an instruction from the second operation apparatus.

21. The method according to claim 20, wherein in the security step, when the operation right of the industrial machine is given to the first operation apparatus, the information representing the operation condition of the industrial machine is made public to the second operation apparatus in accordance with an instruction from the first operation apparatus, and when the operation right of the industrial machine is given to the second operation apparatus, the information representing the operation condition of the industrial machine is made public to the first operation apparatus in accordance with an instruction from the second operation apparatus.

22. The method according to claim 13, wherein the second operation apparatus is arranged in a business office of a person in charge of manufacturing, sales, or maintenance of the industrial machine or a person in charge of services about the industrial machine.

23. The method according to claim 13, wherein the industrial machine comprises a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus.

24. The method according to claim 23, wherein the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus comprises any one of an exposure apparatus, CVD apparatus, etching apparatus, CMP apparatus, resist coating apparatus, development apparatus, ashing apparatus, and inspection apparatus.

13. A management method of managing an industrial machine using a data communication network, comprising:

the management step of selectively giving an operation right of the industrial machine to one of a first operation apparatus arranged in a factory where the industrial machine is installed and a second operation apparatus arranged at a remote site from the factory where the industrial machine is installed; and

the control step of sending an instruction from the operation apparatus to which the operation right has been given in the management step to a control apparatus of the industrial machine to cause the control apparatus to control the industrial machine and sending information representing an operation condition of the industrial machine from the control apparatus to the operation apparatus.