Patent ID: 7567948
Filing Date: 2009-07-28
Classification: G06N,G06Q,Y10S

Abstract:
1. A method of identifying candidate parts of a product failure over a computer network wherein the candidate parts are used to issue a recall, comprising using a computer to perform the steps of: searching a bill of materials retrieved over the computer network by scanning the bill of materials for parts with part attribute data of a failed product; acquiring part attribute values from the part attribute data of the failed product; storing parts records of parts having attribute values whose generated degree of support is higher than a predetermined value and further storing the attribute values of the parts stored in the parts records as frequently-appearing part attribute values; assembling together a record of common parts having the stored frequently-appearing part attribute values and storing the record of common parts having the stored frequently-appearing part attribute values in a database; assembling together a record of all common parts associated with the failed product and storing the record of all common parts associated with the failed product in the database; calculating a failure entropy among the record of all common parts associated with the failed product; calculating a failure entropy among the record of common parts having the frequently-appearing part attribute; calculating an information gain based on a difference between the failure entropy calculated among the record of all common parts associated with the failed product and the failure entropy calculated among the record of parts having the stored frequently-appearing part attribute; and identifying parts having the frequently-appearing part attribute wherein the calculated information gain is greater than a predetermined threshold value, wherein the identified parts are automobile parts used to issue the recall.