Patent ID: 7826916

Claim:
A method for controlling semiconductor manufacturing equipment in a waiting mode, comprising: retrieving information about a waiting time for a product to be provided to the semiconductor manufacturing equipment on a production line, the product being subjected to predetermined processing by the semiconductor manufacturing equipment; comparing the waiting time with a period of time required for energy saving control, the period of time required for the energy saving control including: lowering electric power and other energy used by the semiconductor manufacturing equipment in the waiting mode to a low-energy level at which the processing is not ready, and then raising the electric power and the other energy to a level at which the processing is ready; and providing the energy saving control during the waiting time if the waiting time is longer than the required period of time, the energy saving control providing a plurality of patterns in which the electric power and the other energy at the low-energy level and the required period of time are different from each other and, of the plurality of patterns, when only one pattern of the plurality of patterns has the required period of time shorter than the waiting time, the energy saving control is provided with the only one pattern, and when two or more patterns have the required period of time shorter than the waiting time, a pattern is selected from the two or more patterns having the lowest electric power and other energy at the low-energy level, the energy saving control being provided with the selected pattern.