Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US8095229?dq=6289460
Timestamp: 2017-02-23 23:46:33
Document Index: 46082516

Matched Legal Cases: ['arts 215', 'arts 315', 'arts 315', 'art 410', 'art 410', 'art 510', 'art 510', 'art 610', 'art 610', 'art 713', 'art 713']

Patent US8095229 - Three-dimensional (3D) manufacturing process planning - Google PatentsSearch Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More »Sign inPatentsManufacturing process planning is usually considered as not intuitive for non-expert user. This is because a user needs to deal with processes, describing a work to be done, and other abstract concepts that are loosely related to the real world. Accordingly, a method and corresponding apparatus according...http://www.google.com/patents/US8095229?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US8095229 - Three-dimensional (3D) manufacturing process planningAdvanced Patent SearchTry the new Google Patents, with machine-classified Google Scholar results, and Japanese and South Korean patents.Publication numberUS8095229 B2Publication typeGrantApplication numberUS 12/330,261Publication dateJan 10, 2012Filing dateDec 8, 2008Priority dateDec 8, 2008Fee statusPaidAlso published asUS20100145490Publication number12330261, 330261, US 8095229 B2, US 8095229B2, US-B2-8095229, US8095229 B2, US8095229B2InventorsMarino Muser, Pascal Lecland, Albert Wang, Patrick MerlatOriginal AssigneeDassault Systemes DELMIA Corp.Export CitationBiBTeX, EndNote, RefManPatent Citations (6), Referenced by (1), Classifications (15), Legal Events (4) External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, EspacenetThree-dimensional (3D) manufacturing process planning
US 8095229 B2Abstract
A manufacturing process is a description of work to be done to manufacture a product. Manufacturing process planning involves describing and generating a description of the work to be done to manufacture the product. A manufacturing process engineer is tasked with such describing and generating of the description of the work to be done to manufacture the product.
An example embodiment of the present invention may be implemented in the form of a method or corresponding apparatus for defining a manufacturing process. The method and corresponding apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention includes, given a manufactured product formed of one or more parts, for each user interaction, describing (e.g., generating graphical-type description of) a work to be done in response to a user interacting with a three-dimensional representation of the one or more parts, and providing the user with feedback of the describing in the form of a graphical representation of the work to be done. The manufacturing process is defined by the graphical representation of the work to be done.
FIG. 1 compares embodiments of the present invention describing a work to be done with other solutions describing a work to be done. Embodiments of the present invention describe a work to be done in response to a user interacting with a three-dimensional representation of parts that form a product. For example in FIG. 1, an embodiment describes the work to be done 105 in response to the user covering (denoted by arrow 107) a three-dimensional representation of a box 110 a with a three-dimensional representation of a lid 110 b. In contrast to embodiments of the present invention, other solutions describe a work to be done merely with a textual description of the work to be done, such as “cover a box with a lid” 115 stripped of any graphical illustration or visual guidance/feedback.
FIG. 1 further illustrates that with other solutions describing a work to be done with a text-only description of the work to be done, there is a need to validate the description to check or otherwise verify that an outcome of the work to be done, as described by the description, is as intended. For example in FIG. 1, the text-only description of the work to be done “cover a box with a lid” 115 may or may not result in the intended lidded box. As such, the description 115 needs to be validated. Not knowing and having to verify an outcome of a work to be done, as described by a text-only description, compounds the abstract and less intuitive nature of other solutions describing work to be done with a description of the work to be done.
FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate other solutions in the art for defining a manufacturing process. With other solutions, manufacturing process planning is usually considered to be composed of three major steps: i) defining a manufacturing process, ii) associating a three-dimensional representation of parts (also referred to as geometry) to the manufacturing process, and iii) assigning the manufacturing process to resource(s). In the first step of defining a manufacturing process, a user, such as a manufacturing process engineer, describes steps to be executed, i.e., work to be done, to manufacture a product. In FIG. 2A, a flow diagram representation of the manufacturing process 205 represents the manufacturing process sequence of steps/course of work to be done (stripped of 3D illustrative demonstration). The user describes the work to be done with text-only descriptions of the work to be done: “assemble front axle” 210 a, “add steering wheel to front axle” 210 b, “assemble rear axle” 210 c, and “assemble front axle with steering wheel, rear axle, and seat” 210 d. In the first step of defining the manufacturing process, the user uses a two-dimensional (2D) editor. Next, in the second step of associating geometry to the manufacturing process, the user associates a front axle geometry 215 a, front axle and steering wheel geometry 215 b, rear axle geometry 215 c, and front axle, rear axle, steering wheel, and seat geometry 215 d to the respective text descriptions of the work to be done 210 a-d. Finally, in the third step of assigning the manufacturing process to resource(s), the user assigns which resource (e.g., a machine or human) will perform the work to be done described by the descriptions of the work to be done 210 a-d. These other solutions illustrated in FIGS. 2A-2B, however, have technical problems and deficiencies. For example, the first step of defining a manufacturing process and the second step of associating a three-dimensional representation of parts to the manufacturing process are not necessarily done by the user completely sequentially. The user, however, must work with an abstract view of the manufacturing process (viz., the text-based flow diagram representation of the manufacturing process 205 of FIG. 2A) using a two-dimensional editor. This is not intuitive. Even after the three-dimensional representation of the parts 215 a-d are assigned to the manufacturing process (FIG. 2B), the mainly text (flow diagram) representation of the manufacturing process 205 still remains two-dimensional. The user runs a process verification utility or other utility to create a three-dimensional graphical representation of the manufacturing process to well understand what the manufacturing process does.
The embodiment of FIGS. 3A-C may be described as follows. A manufacturing process is represented in three-dimensions as a user-interactive graphical representation of the manufacturing process 305. In the example illustrated in FIGS. 3A-C, the manufacturing process represented is an “assembly” process.
In FIG. 3B, with the embodiment, a user modifies the process number-1 306 a by manipulating the three-dimensional output to be produced 310 a. User interaction may be by way of known graphical user interface commands and operations. For example, in the case illustrated in FIG. 3B, the user selects a three-dimensional representation of parts 315 from the process number-1 306 a. The user drags (moves) the three-dimensional representation of parts 315 and “drops” them (denoted by arrow 316) onto an “empty space” or work area 320. The empty space 320 initially represents an absence of a process as contrasted with the sub-process 306 a, 306 b, and 306 c. It may be convenient to think of the empty space 320 as an “undefined” process or a work to be done that is not yet described.
Given the first manufacturing process described above, in response to a user moving (denoted by arrow 411) the three-dimensional representation of the first part 410 a and the three-dimensional representation of the second part 410 b from the graphical representation of the first unit of work to be done 405, for example, to an “empty space” the embodiment decomposes the first manufacturing process into a second manufacturing process. An empty space initially represents graphically an absence of a work to be done (i.e., a work to be done not yet described) as contrasted with the graphical representation of the first unit of work to be done 405.
These embodiments of the present invention contemplate, for example, the following: i) describing work to be done in response to a user “disassembling” a product into one or more parts forming the product and ii) describing work to be done in response to a user “assembling” a product from one or more parts forming the product.
For example, a manufacturing process engineer may think of a manufacturing process to manufacture a product as taking the product apart. In this case, describing a work to be done for manufacturing the product in response to the user “disassembling” the product (i.e., the user interacts with a three-dimensional representation of one or more parts forming the product in a manner that disassembles the product graphically) accommodates the manufacturing process engineer's way of thinking.
Conversely, a manufacturing process engineer may think of a manufacturing process to manufacture a product as putting the product together. In this case, describing a work to be done for manufacturing the product in response to the user “assembling” the product (i.e., the user interacts with a three-dimensional representation of one or more parts forming the product in a manner that assembles the product graphically) accommodates the manufacturing process engineer's way of thinking.
Given the manufacturing process described above, in response to a user deleting or “un-assigning” the three-dimensional representation of the third part 510 c from the graphical representation of the unit of work to be done 505 (denoted by an “X” 511), the embodiment updates the manufacturing process to describe the unit of work to be done on the set of work inputs that includes the first part, the second part, and not the third part, the three-dimensional representations of which the user deleted (i.e., the three-dimensional representation of the third part 510 c).
Given the first manufacturing process and the second manufacturing process described above, in response to a user moving or “re-assigning” the three-dimensional representation of the second part 610 b from the graphical representation of the first unit of work to be done 605 to the graphical representation of the second unit of work to be done 607 (denoted by an arrow 611), the embodiment: i) updates the first manufacturing process to describe the first unit of work to be done on the first set of work inputs that includes the first part and not the second part; and ii) updates the second manufacturing process to describe the second unit of work to be done on the second set of work inputs that includes the second part, the three-dimensional representation of which the user moved (i.e., the three-dimensional representation of the second part 610 b) and the third part.
Given the manufacturing process described above, in response to a user moving or “assigning” a three-dimensional representation of an available part 713 to the graphical representation of the unit of work to be done 705 (denoted by an arrow 711), the embodiment updates the manufacturing process to describe the unit of work to be done on the set of work inputs that includes the first part and the available part, the three-dimensional representation of which the user moved (i.e., the three-dimensional representation of the available part 713).
In light of the foregoing, those skilled in the art will readily recognize that embodiments of the present invention also contemplate describing a work to be done in response to a user interacting with a three-dimensional representation of one or more parts in other ways. For example, an embodiment of the present invention, responsive to a user interacting with a three-dimensional representation of parts in a manner representative of “painting” the parts, describes a work to be done as painting the parts. For example, an embodiment of the present invention, responsive to a user interacting with a three-dimensional representation of more or parts in a manner representative of “welding” the parts, describes a work to be done as welding the parts. A user may interact with a three-dimensional representation of one or more parts in numerous ways and embodiments of the present invention describe a work to be done in response to the user interacting with the three-dimensional representation of the one or more parts in any one of those numerous ways.
For example, in FIG. 10, a first side of a graphical representation of a manufacturing process 1005 represents the manufacturing process and an “output” product of the manufacturing process 1010 in a graphical manner, e.g., as a three-dimensional representation of the product manufactured. That is, the first side 1005 represents a work to be done, the output or outcome of which is the product 1010 represented. In response to a user interacting (denoted by arrows 1006) with the first side of the graphical representation of the manufacturing process 1005, the first side 1005 is “flipped” to a second side of the graphical representation of the manufacturing process 1015. The second side 1015 represents a resource 1020 (e.g., a machine or human) implementing the manufacturing process in a graphical manner, e.g., as a three-dimensional representation of the resource. That is, the second side 1015 represents the work to be done being implemented or otherwise done by the resource 1020 represented.
Patent CitationsCited PatentFiling datePublication dateApplicantTitleUS6324438 *May 11, 1999Nov 27, 2001North Carolina State UniversityMethods and apparatus for rapidly prototyping three-dimensional objects from a plurality of layersUS7016821 *Apr 20, 2001Mar 21, 2006Dassault SystemesSystem and method for the industrialization of partsUS7733339 *May 5, 2008Jun 8, 2010Raytheon CompanySystem and method for partitioning CAD models of parts into simpler sub-parts for analysis of physical characteristics of the partsUS20020072820 *Dec 7, 2001Jun 13, 2002Thackston James D.System and process method for facilitating efficient communication of specifications for parts and assemblies with a mechanism for assigning responsibilityUS20020183877 *Apr 20, 2001Dec 5, 2002Jean-Francois RameauSystem and method for the industrialization of partsUS20090030661Jul 25, 2007Jan 29, 2009The Boeing CompanyThree-Dimensional Process Planning* Cited by examinerReferenced byCiting PatentFiling datePublication dateApplicantTitleUS9292626Dec 10, 2012Mar 22, 2016Palo Alto Research Center IncorporatedComputer numerical control (CNC) machining tool and method for controlling a CNC machining toolClassifications U.S. Classification700/96, 700/82International ClassificationG06F19/00Cooperative ClassificationG05B2219/31044, G05B2219/32128, G05B19/41805, Y02P90/20, Y02P90/185, G06Q50/04, G06Q10/06, Y02P90/04, Y02P90/30European ClassificationG05B19/418A, G06Q10/06, G06Q50/04Legal EventsDateCodeEventDescriptionJan 6, 2009ASAssignmentOwner name: DASSAULT SYSTEMES DELMIA CORP.,MICHIGANFree format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:MUSER, MARINO;LECLAND, PASCAL;WANG, ALBERT;AND OTHERS;SIGNING DATES FROM 20081204 TO 20090105;REEL/FRAME:022061/0120Owner name: DASSAULT SYSTEMES DELMIA CORP., MICHIGANFree format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:MUSER, MARINO;LECLAND, PASCAL;WANG, ALBERT;AND OTHERS;SIGNING DATES FROM 20081204 TO 20090105;REEL/FRAME:022061/0120Apr 10, 2012CCCertificate of correctionMay 19, 2014ASAssignmentOwner name: DASSAULT SYSTEMES AMERICAS CORP., MASSACHUSETTSFree format text: MERGER;ASSIGNORS:DASSAULT SYSTEMES DELMIA CORP.;DASSAULT SYSTEMES AMERICAS CORP.;REEL/FRAME:032921/0974Effective date: 20131223Jun 16, 2015FPAYFee paymentYear of fee payment: 4RotateOriginal ImageGoogle Home - Sitemap - USPTO Bulk Downloads - Privacy Policy - Terms of Service - About Google Patents - Send FeedbackData provided by IFI CLAIMS Patent Services