Patent Document ID: 5469361
Application ID: 08254483
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. Apparatus for controlling manufacturing operations by a plurality of manufacturing tools, each of said manufacturing tools having a tool controller associated therewith, said apparatus comprising: manufacturing operation command accepting means, for accepting a command to perform a manufacturing operation on one of said manufacturing tools; sequential step determining means, responsive to an accepted command, for determining a sequence of steps to implement the manufacturing operation; a plurality of operational instruction generating means, a respective one of which is responsive to a respective step in the sequence of steps, for generating operational instructions for the tool controller associated with the one manufacturing tool, to implement the respective step; and means for providing the operational instructions, generated by the plurality of generating means, to the tool controller of the one manufacturing tool, such that the tool controller controls the one manufacturing tool to perform the manufacturing operation; wherein said sequential step determining means comprises: a database, having a plurality of entries for each of a corresponding plurality of manufacturing operations, each entry including parameters for the associated manufacturing operation and an indication of a sequence of steps for the associated manufacturing operation; means for matching an accepted command to a corresponding database entry and for providing an indication that an accepted command does not match any entry in said database; means for sequentially activating predetermined ones of said operational instruction generating means, in a sequence determined by the corresponding database entry, and for providing the associated parameters from the corresponding database entry to the activated operational instruction generating means; and means, responsive to said indication that an accepted command does not match any entry in said database, for effecting creation of a new database entry for the accepted command which does not match any entry in said database, said effecting means comprising: means for receiving plurality of instructions corresponding to a plurality of manufacturing operations, each instruction including parameters for the associated manufacturing operation and an indication of a sequence of steps for the associated manufacturing operation; and means responsive to receipt of said plurality of instructions corresponding to a plurality of manufacturing operations, for storing the received instructions as entries in said database.