Patent ID: 7725497
Filing Date: 2010-05-25
Classification: G05B,Y02P

Abstract:
1. A method, comprising: defining a plurality of criteria for products of a manufacturing environment, each of said criteria represented by a predefined data structure stored in a database structure for representing a property of a product at least one of a plurality of manufacturing stages of a process flow performed in said manufacturing environment using a plurality of process tools, each of said criteria comprising a respective limited set of predefined characteristic values; receiving process data from said manufacturing environment, said process data comprising information about said at least one of said plurality of manufacturing stages of said products; operating on one of said predefined data structures to select one of said characteristic values associated with said one of the plurality of criteria based on said process data, said selected characteristic value providing a qualitative descriptor of said process data and defining a first instance for said one criterion; and storing and maintaining said predefined data structures associated with said plurality of criteria and said products in said database structure.