Patent Document ID: 8275642
Application ID: 11625129
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A computer-implemented method of predicting a maintenance schedule for a system comprising a plurality of components and estimating a cost for warranty service of the system, the method comprising the steps performed by a computer of: collecting real-time component usage data for each of the plurality of components; obtaining component reliability data for each of the plurality of components; constructing, by a processor, a component life distribution module (CLDM) for each of the plurality of components based on the real time component usage data and the component reliability data for each of the plurality of components; obtaining from each CLDM a mean time to fail for each of the plurality of components; selecting a system life distribution model (SLDM); inputting the mean time to fail for each of the plurality of components into the SLDM to obtain an operating environment index for each of the plurality of components that represents the effect of environment conditions on the lifetime and reliability of each of the plurality of components; and predicting a maintenance schedule and calculating an adjusted cost of warranty service based on the operating environment index for each of the plurality of components, wherein the calculating further includes determining an instantaneous operating environment index (IOEl) representing current cycle of measurement for each of the plurality of components, determining a cumulative operating environment index (COEl) representing a cumulative effect of environmental conditions on each of the plurality of components using COEl=(IOEl 1 +IOEl 2 +. .. IOEl n )/n, where n represents a cycle of measurement, and determining a system cumulative operating environment index (SCOEl) representing an overall system's cumulative operating environment index using SCOEl=(W component 1 *COEl component 1 +W component 2 *COEl component 2. .. +W component n *COEl component n )/m, where m is number of system components and W represents a weight value associated with each of the system components, and the adjusted cost is determined using Cost adj =C base *(1+F(SCOEl)), where Cost adj is the adjusted cost, C base is a cost of maintenance and/or warranty services based on laboratory generated reliability data, and F(SCOEl) is a user defined function for adjustment.