Patent ID: 7532999
Filing Date: 2009-05-12
Classification: G01B,G01D

Abstract:
1. A method of attempting to determine a root cause of a subject problem related to at least one of a measurement system under test (MSUT) and a fleet of at least one other measurement system, the method comprising the steps of: storing a plurality of root cause signatures, each root cause signature including an association of a stored problem profile including characteristics of a known problem and at least one root cause of the known problem; determining whether the subject problem exists by evaluating at least one of a tool matching precision and a fleet matching precision; in response to the subject problem existing, creating a subject problem profile including characteristics of the subject problem; and attempting to determine the root cause of the subject problem by comparing the subject problem profile to the stored problem profiles of the plurality of root cause signatures, whereby the root cause is determined by a match between the subject problem profile and at least one of the stored problem profiles of the plurality of root cause signatures.