Manufacturing process automation system using a file server...

Details Manufacturing process automation system using a file server... Manufacturing process automation system using a file server...

1999-04-27

2002-10-29

Picard, Leo (Department: 2125)

Data processing: generic control systems or specific application

Specific application, apparatus or process

Product assembly or manufacturing

C716S030000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06473664

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automation system and its control method. More particularly, this invention relates to an automation system and its control method used in the fabrication of semiconductor devices, thin film transistor liquid crystal displays (“TFT-LCD”), etc.
(b) Description of the Related Art
An automation system utilized in a conventional TFT-LCD assembly line, as shown in
FIG. 1
, includes a plurality of machines
30
a
~
30
n
, a plurality of machine servers
20
a
~
20
n
that correspond one-to-one to those plurality of machines and a host
10
controlling the machine servers.
The machines
30
a
~
30
n
. process a plurality of subjects such as glass, wafer, etc., stored in a work assembly
40
like a cassette under the control of machine servers. The machines
30
a
~
30
n
send job result data on the subjects to the corresponding machine servers
20
a
~
20
n.
The automation system utilized in the conventional TFT-LCD assembly line is described referring to FIG.
1
. In
FIG. 1
, suppose that a first machine
30
a
is a tester and a second machine
30
b
is a repairer.
First, the tester
30
a
picks up the glasses in the work assembly
40
, the cassette, moving by an automatic guided vehicle (“AGV”), which is an automatic transport system controlled by a controller, and then tests the glasses respectively. The job result data on the glasses are stored in a hard disk in the tester. After the test, the cassette
40
moves to the repairer
30
b
by the AGV.
The repairer
30
b
needs to repair the glasses using the job result data from the previous tester
30
a
. In the conventional system, an operator directly copies the job result data stored in the hard disk, to a floppy disk and then input them to the repairer
30
b
. Based on the job result data, the repairer
30
b
repairs the glasses.
The conventional system is inconvenient because the job result data of the tester
30
a
have to be stored in the hard disk of the tester
30
a
, copied to the floppy disk and input to the repairer
30
b
. The system also renders unnecessary delays when the floppy disk has an error. Also, since an operator manually exchanges the job result data, the conventional system may not work properly.
To resolve the above described problems, instead of a floppy disk, another conventional system uses a serial communication cable such as RS-232C to connect the tester and the repairer, and the job result data are transferred from the tester to the repairer through the cable.
However, since RS-232C is for a one-to-one communication, the tester can only share the data with the repairer connected by a cable. Hence, the conventional system using cables cannot cope with a system that a plurality of machines have to share with others the job result data executed in one machine. For this reason, an operator cannot but move the floppy disk directly from one machine to the other machines. Furthermore, the communication using RS-232C is slow and it takes too much time when transmitting a large amount of job result data.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to overcome the above-described problem. Another object of the present invention is to connect all machines to a file server by a network, sharing the job result data with all machines, automatically supplying the job result data to all machines.


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