METHOD AND DEVICE FOR PERFORMING A MAINTENANCE FUNCTION

• US 20110153535A1
• Filed: 12/21/2010
• Published: 06/23/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thales SA
• Original Assignee: Thales SA
• Inventors: SANNINO, Christian, GAUDAN, Stéphanie, FOURNIER, François
• Granted Patent: US 8,650,142 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• 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 comprising a plurality of processing units using a description of the system under diagnosis, the description comprising a description of the processing and memory resources of the various processing units, said method comprising:

a step for determination of sub-systems based on the description by carrying out a hierarchical decomposition, the system being decomposed into various hierarchical levels into which the various processing units are grouped, a first hierarchical level being said to be lower than a second level when the first level comprises processing units composing processing units of the second level, the various processing units being identified as sub-systems;

for each sub-system, steps for;

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

allocation of a diagnostic method depending on the processing and memory resources of said sub-system; and

transfer of a diagnostic function to the sub-system depending on the diagnostic method allocated.

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

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

calculation of the logical relationships for the sub-systems implementing the second diagnostic method, by exploring the behavioral model of the system under diagnosis; 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.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the model of the system comprises objects representing the elements of the system and their behavior.

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

6. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the step for determining a model of the sub-systems and the step for calculating the logical relationships based on the model of the sub-system comprises the following sub-steps:

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

the determination of a behavioral model, based on the structural model; and

the determination of logical expressions using the behavioral model and a predefined database of symptoms.

7. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the step for determining a model of the sub-systems and the step for calculating the logical relationships based on the model of the sub-system comprises the following sub-steps:

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

the determination of a behavioral model, based on the structural model; and

the determination of logical expressions using the behavioral model and a predefined database of symptoms.

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

means for the hierarchical decomposition of the system under diagnosis into sub-systems based on the description;

means for the determination of a model of the sub-system starting from the description of the system;

means for the allocation of a diagnostic method depending on the processing and memory resources of said sub-system; and

means for the transfer of a diagnostic function to the sub-system depending on the diagnostic method allocated.

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

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

11. The device as claimed in claim 8, wherein the model of the system comprises objects representing elements of the system and their behaviors.

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

13. The device as claimed in claim 8, wherein the means for determining a model of the sub-system based on the description of the system comprises:

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

means for the generation of behavioral models, transforming the structural model into a behavioral model.