Patent ID: 7489392

Claim:
A method for indicating inconsistency locations on a composite structure, the method comprising: electronically accessing positional data upon receipt of an inconsistency signal from an inconsistency detection system, the positional data defining an inconsistency location of an inconsistency on a composite structure; determining whether the inconsistency is unacceptable; determining whether the inconsistency can be removed using an automated system; determining whether the inconsistency requires manual intervention by an operator; and automatically causing a light source to direct light at the composite structure to indicate: the inconsistency location as defined by the positional data; whether the inconsistency is unacceptable; and if the inconsistency is determined to be unacceptable, at least one of: whether removal of the inconsistency can be automatically affected; and whether the inconsistency requires manually effected interaction by a user; wherein the electronically accessing includes extracting the positional data from a part fabrication file, the part fabrication file including numerical control (NC) data for a material placement machine to fabricate the composite structure.