Claims
- 1. A method of managing a processing system having a plurality of functional requirements, the method comprising the steps of:
determining a time to completion for each of a plurality of processes in a current period; determining a wait time for each of the plurality of processes in the current period; determining a system period in response to the plurality of times to completion and the plurality of wait times; and initializing the plurality of functional requirements based on the system period.
- 2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of initializing the plurality of functional requirements is performed at the expiration of the system period.
- 3. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of initializing the plurality of functional requirements is performed at the occurrence of a key functional requirement.
- 4. The method of claim 1 wherein the plurality of processes comprises semiconductor wafer fabrication processes.
- 5. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of determining a wait time for each of the processes is responsive to a respective one of a plurality of transport availabilities.
- 6. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of determining a wait time for each of the processes is responsive to a respective one of a plurality of subsequent process availabilities.
- 7. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of calculating a function state vector in response to the steps of determining a time to completion and determining a wait time.
- 8. A system for processing items according to a plurality of processing tasks, each of the processing tasks having a processing station, the system comprising:
a monitor module in communication with the processing stations, the monitor module determining a completion time for each of the plurality of processing tasks in a current processing period; and a processor in communication with the monitor module, the processor determining a plurality of wait times for each of the plurality of processing tasks in response to the completion times, the processor determining a system period in response to the plurality of wait times and the plurality of completion times, the wait times governing movement of items among the processing tasks.
- 9. The system of claim 8 further comprising a transport module in communication with the processor, the transport module moving at least one of the items from one of the processing locations to another of the processing locations based on the wait times.
- 10. The system of claim 8 wherein the processor generates a re-initialization signal at the expiration of the termination period.
- 11. A data structure stored in a memory, the data structure comprising a plurality of data elements, each of the data elements indicating the state of a functional requirement of a periodic multiple processing task system.
RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] The present application claims the benefits of U.S. Provisional Application Serial No. 60/362,252, entitled “System Integration Through the Creation of Time-Dependent Periodic Complexity from Time-Dependent Combinatorial Complexity” and filed on Mar. 6, 2002, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
Provisional Applications (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
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60362252 |
Mar 2002 |
US |