Information storage and retrieval system and method

What is claimed to and desired to be secured by United State Letters Patent is:

1. In a computer system having a CPU, an input/output device electronically coupled to said CPU, a first storage means electronically coupled to said CPU and a second storage means electronically coupled to said CPU, a method of information storage and retrieval comprising the steps of:

(1) logically classifying a body of data and arranging sid classified data in the form of a hierarchal information tree having a plurality of mutually exclusive paths leading to the classified data located at various levels in the hierarchy of said tree;

(2) storing said hierarchy of classified data in said first storage means;

(3) entering one or more keywords at said input/output device;

(4) generating at said input/output device a display of the mutually exclusive paths for one or more said levels in the hierarchal structure of said tree;

(5) selecting from the mutually exclusive paths displayed at said input/output device a concurrent set of paths leading through said hierarchal tree to a new subset of data;

(6) encoding each selected set of concurrent paths in a single bit string representation;

(7) storing each encoded set of concurrent paths;

(8) generating at said input/output device a list of one or more keywords;

(9) retrieving from said second storage means one or more of said encoded sets of concurrent paths corresponding to the keywords generated at said input/output device; and

(10) displaying at said input/output device the subset of data accessed through said hierarchal tree by each said retrieved set of concurrent paths.

2. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein said computer system further comprises a microprocessor electronically interconnected between said CPU and said second storage means, and wherein said method further comprises the steps of:

transmitting each encoded set of paths to said microprocessor prior to storage in said second storage means;

using said microprocessor to compact the format length of each said encoded set of paths prior to storage;

transmitting each retrieved set of encoded paths to said microprocessor; and

using said microprocessor to expand the format length of each said retrieved encoded set of paths back to its original format length prior to using said retrieved encoded set of paths to access data.

3. A method as defined in claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

entering a logical combination of keywords at said input/output device;

retrieving from said second storage means each encoded set of concurrent paths addressed by the entered keywords; and

logically intersecting one or more of said retrieved encoded sets of paths so as to identify a resulting set of encoded concurrent paths that will provide concurrent multiple path access through said hierarchal tree to the intersection of all data subsets corresponding to the logical combination of keywords entered at said input/output device.

4. In a computer system comprising a CPU with a main programmed memory, an input/output device electronically coupled to said CPU, and first and second storage memories electronically coupled to said CPU, a method of storing, interrelating and retrieving data that has been logically classifed and arranged in the form of a hierarchal information tree having a plurality of mutually exclusive paths leading to the classified data located at various levels in the hierarchy of said tree, the method comprising the steps of:

(1) storing said hierarchy of classified data in said first storage memory;

(2) recalling from said first storage memory and generating at said input/output device a display of the mutually exclusive paths for one or more said levels in the hierarchal structure of said tree;

(3) selecting from the mutually exclusive paths displayed at said input/output device a concurrent set of paths leading through said hierarchal tree, said concurrent set of paths identifying a new subset of data retrievable from the hierarchal tree structure; p1 (4) encoding said concurrent set of paths in a single bit string and thereafter storing the encoded set of concurrent paths in said second storage memory;

(5) repeating steps (1) to (4) a selected number of times;

(6) recalling from said second storage memory two or more of the encoded sets of concurrent paths;

(7) logically intersecting two or more said retrieved sets of concurrent paths such that a new set of encoded paths will result;

(8) decoding said new set of concurrent paths resulting from step (7); and

(9) displaying at said input/output device the data accessed through said hierarchal tree by said new set of concurrent paths resulting from step (7).

5. In a computer-assisted manufacturing plant having a CPU with a main memory, an input/output device electronically coupled to said CPU, and a storage memory electronically coupled to said CPU, a method of planning and standardizing each sequence of manufacturing operations to be performed in manufacturing a plurality of different parts, the method comprising the steps of:

(1) logically classifying and arranging a plurality of part shape attributes in the form of a first hierarchal information tree having a plurality of mutually exclusive paths leading to the classified part shape attributes that are located at various levels in the hierarchy of said first tree;

(2) logically classifying and arranging a plurality of materials attributes in the form of a second hierarchal information tree having a plurality of mutually exclusive paths leading to the classified materials attributes that are located at various levels in the hierarchy of said second tree;

(3) logically classifying and arranging a plurality of manufacturing steps in the form of a third hierarchal information tree having a plurality of mutually exclusive paths leading to the classified manufacturing steps that are located at various levels in the hierarchy of said third tree;

(4) storing said first, second and third trees in said storage memory;

(5) entering one or more of said part shape attributes and said materials attributes at said input/output device, each said entered attribute defining a keyword;

(6) recalling from said storage memory and generating at said input/output device a display of the mutually exclusive paths for one or more levels in the hierarchal structure of said third tree;

(7) selecting from the displayed paths of said third tree a concurrent set of paths corresponding to one of said entered keywords, said concurrent set of paths identifying a series of manufacturing steps for producing the attribute defined by said keyword;

(8) encoding in a single bit string said concurrent set of paths selected in step (7), and storing said encoded set of paths in said main CPU memory in an address identified by said keyword;

(9) repeating steps (6) through (8) for each said keyword;

(10) obtaining a drawing of a part to be manufactured;

(11) recalling from said storage memory and generating at said input/output device a display of one or more levels in the hierarchy of each said first and second trees;

(12) selecting from the levels displayed in step (11) a list of one or more part shape and materials attributes that are descriptive of said part to be manufactured;

(13) identifying from said main CPU memory all keywords matching the attributes of said list;

(14) retrieving from said main CPU memory the encoded set of paths for each matching keyword;

(15) logically intersecting the encoded sets of paths retrieved in step (14), so that one encoded set of paths will result from said intersection;

(16) decoding the concurrent set of paths resulting from the intersection of step (15);

(17) generating at said input/output device a display of the manufacturing steps identified in said third tree by the concurrent set of paths decoded in step (16);

(18) obtaining the raw materials corresponding to the part to be manufactured; and

(19) manufacturing said part by performing the manufacturing steps displayed in step (17).

6. In a computer system comprising:

(A) a CPU with a main programmed memory;

(B) an input/output device electronically coupled to said CPU;

(C) first and second storage memories electronically coupled to said CPU; and

(D) a data base stored in said first storage memory and comprising:

(i) a hierarchal information tree having a plurality of mutually exclusive paths leading to a plurality of attributes that are logically classified and located at various levels in the hierarchy of said tree; and

(ii) a hierarchal decision table tree having a plurality of mutually exclusive paths leading to a plurality of attributes that match one or more of the attributes of said hierarchal information tree, each attribute in said decision table tree terminating in a group of nodes that identify a particular subset of data contained in said decision table tree;

a method of information storage and retrieval comprising the steps of:

(1) recalling from said first storage memory and generating at said input/output device a display of the mutually exclusive paths for one or more said levels of the hierarchal information tree;

(2) selecting from the mutually exclusive paths displayed at said input/output device a concurrent set of paths leading through said hierarchal information tree, said concurrent set of paths identifying a new subset of the attributes classified therein;

(3) encoding said concurrent set of paths in a single bit string and thereafter storing the encoded set of concurrent paths in said second storage memory;

(4) recalling said encoded set of concurrent paths from said second storage memory and identifying the subset of selected attributes accessed through said concurrent set of paths;

(5) searching said decision table tree for all attributes contained therein that match the attributes identified in step (4); and

(6) displaying at said input/output device all data subsets defined by the attributes of said decision table tree found to match the attributes identified in step (4).

7. In a computer-assisted manufacturing plant comprising:

(A) a CPU with a main programmed memory;

(B) an input/output device electronically coupled to said CPU;

(C) first and second storage memories electronically coupled to said CPU; and

(D) a data base stored in said first storage memory and comprising:

(i) a first hierarchal classification tree having a plurality of mutually exclusive paths leading to a plurality of part shape attributes that are logically classified and located at various levels in the hierarchy of said first tree;

(ii) a second hierarchal classification tree having a plurality of mutually exclusive paths leading to a plurality of materials attributes that are logically classified and located at various levels in the hierarchy of said second tree; and

(iii) a hierararchal decision table tree having a plurality of mutually exclusive paths leading to a plurality of attributes that match one or more of the part shape and materials attributes of said first and second trees, each said matching attribute in said decision table tree terminating in a particular group of nodes which identify a series of manufacturing operations for producing the matching attribute;

a method of planning and standardizing each sequence of manufacturing operations to be performed in manufacturing a plurality of different parts, the method comprising the steps of:

(1) obtaining a drawing of a part to be manufactured;

(2) recalling from said first storage memory and generating at said input/output device a display of the mutually exclusive paths for one or more levels in the hierarchy of said first tree;

(3) selecting from the mutually exclusive paths displayed in step (2) a concurrent set of paths leading through said first tree, said concurrent set of paths identifying a subset of the part shape attributes classified in said first tree;

(4) encoding the concurrent set of paths of step (3) in a single bit string and thereafter storing the encoded set of concurrent paths in said second storage memory;

(5) recalling from said first storage memory and generating at said input/output device a display of the mutually exclusive paths for one or more of the levels in said second tree;

(6) selecting from the mutually exclusive paths displayed in step (5) a concurrent set of paths leading through said second tree, said concurrent set of paths identifying a subset of materials attributes classified therein;

(7) encoding the concurrent set of paths of step (6) in a single bit string and thereafter storing the encoded set of concurrent paths in said second storage memory;

(8) recalling each encoded set of concurrent paths from said second storage memory and identifying the subsets of selected part shape and materials attributes accessed through each said concurrent set of paths;

(9) searching said decision table tree for all part shape and materials attributes contained therein that match the part shape and materials atrributes identified in step (8);

(10) displaying at said input/output device all manufacturing operations defined by the attributes of said decision table tree that are found to match the attributes identified in step (8);

(11) obtaining the raw materials corresponding to the part to be manufactured; and

(12) manufacturing said part by performing the manufacturing operations displayed in step (10).

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BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to computerized systems and methods for information storage and retrieval, and more particularly the present invention relates to a computerized system and method for the compact storage and rapid retrieval and manipulation of data that is classified and stored in the form of hierarchal information trees.

2. The Prior Art

Computerized information storage and retrieval systems have long been used to help keep track of materials and parts used at large manufacturing facilities. For example, some aircraft manufacturing companies may have as many as a half a million active parts in their inventory at any given time. Many of the parts used by aircraft manufacturing companies or other large manufacturing facilities are made by the companies themselves from raw materials which are kept on hand.

One of the major problems which these types of large manufacturing facilities have experienced in the past is the problem of how to insure that the manafacturing process for the same or similar parts is both uniform and as efficient as possible. Inefficient routing of a part from one work station to another work station may give rise to additional time and expense in manufacturing the part. Furthermore, failure to follow the same manufacturing process for subsequent parts which are the same or similar to parts previously manufactured further contributes to wasted time and inefficiency in making the parts.

Prior attempts to achieve uniformity and standardization in the process plans used by large manufacturing facilities have relied upon the development of generic process plans for certain part families. Under this type of system, the various parts which are made and stored are first classified into part families. For each part family, a generic process plan is then developed. When it is desired to produce a particular part, the appropriate generic process plan is retrieved and the process planner then modifies the generic plan to meet the requirements of the particular part which is to be made.

Although this system has helped to reduce the nonuniformity and has helped to eliminate some of the waste involved in manufacturing plants which must make a wide variety of parts, it will nevertheless be appreciated that much nonuniformity and inefficiency is still inherent in the system because each generic plan must be modified to meet the particular needs of each part that is to be made. Furthermore, since typically many process planners are employed, inconsistencies further develop because one process planner may not modify the generic plan in the same way as a more experienced process planner might.

It can thus readily be appreciated that it would be highly desirable to be able to provide a computerized information storage and retrieval system capable of quickly generating, storing and accessing individualized process plans for each of the parts manufactured at a large manufacturing facility. Unfortunately, present computerized information storage and retrieval systems are not efficient enough to be able to economically provide this capability.

The efficiency of computerized information storage and retrieval systems is a function of how compactly the data may be stored and how quickly the data may be retrieved, separated, compared and interrelated.

Prior art information storage and retrieval systems have relied upon the use of lists to access and manipulate computerized data. These lists are generated by searching through the data base for classes of data corresponding to a selected attribute. In this manner, several long lists of data may be generated, each list of data corresponding to a particular attribute. Since some classes of data may correspond to more than one attribute, data is often redundantly stored in several lists.

In order to then separate or combine that data which corresponds to a given combination of attributes, it is necessary to compare each item in one list with each of the items in the other lists. As can be appreciated, searching through a large data base, generation of long lists and the individual comparison item by item between these lists is disadvantageous in that it results in redundant storage of information, long retrieval times and difficult manipulation of data that is retrieved. This is particularly true where the generated lists require storage on secondary storage devices such as magnetic disks, which are mechanically slow and difficult to operate.

Other prior art systems for information storage and retrieval have attempted to eliminate some of the foregoing problems by using lists and pointers. In this type of system, each item in the generated list is provided with an encoded instruction which points to the location of the next item whether it is in the same or an adjacent list. Although this may somewhat help to eliminate redundant storage of information, retrieval time and manipulation of the retrieved data is nevertheless long and relatively difficult.

Accordingly, what is needed is a computerized information storage and retrieval system capable of more efficiently storing, retrieving, separating or otherwise interrelating large bodies of data. Such an invention is described and claimed herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION AND OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

The computerized information storage and retrieval system and method of the present invention provide highly compact storage and concurrent multiple path access to data that is stored and classified under a hierarchal information tree. The system and method of the present invention also provide rapid manipulation of encoded path representations so as to more efficiently effect separation, comparison and interrelation of retrieved data.

It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide a novel system and method for computerized information storage and retrieval.

Another primary object of the present invention is to provide a computerized information storage and retrieval system and method which eliminate the need for directly manipulating the data base with lists and pointers by providing for concurrent multiple path access to selected data that is stored and classified under a hierarchal information tree.

A further object of the information storage and retrieval system and method of the present invention is to provide rapid manipulation of encoded path representations so as to permit more efficient separation, comparison and interrelation of data accessed through multiple paths of the information tree.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a computerized information storage and retrieval system capable of utilizing retrieved data in rapid, multi-variable decision making.

Another object of the computerized information storage and retrieval system of the present invention is to provide for highly compact data storage.

Another object of the present invention is to significantly reduce the cost and time associated with computerized information storage and retrieval.

These and other objects and features of the present invention will become more fully apparent from the following description and appended claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram illustrating the components of the computerized information storage and retrieval system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram generally illustrating a hierarchal information tree used for classifying data.

FIG. 3 is a procedural flow diagram illustrating the method for searching and encoding a set of paths which have been searched through a hierarchal information tree.

FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram illustrating the storage of an encoded set of paths in a buffer register.

FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram illustrating the storage of an encoded set of paths in a buffer register after compacting the format of the encoded paths.

FIG. 6 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a logical arithmetic unit used to combine one or more encoded set of paths.

FIG. 7A is a procedural flow diagram illustrating the method for retrieving and combining one or more encoded sets of paths.

FIG. 7B is a continuation of the procedural flow diagram illustrated in FIG. 7A.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a portion of an exemplary hierarchal information tree used for classifying part shape data.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a portion of an exemplary hierarchal information tree for classifying materials selection data.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a portion of an exemplary hierarchal information tree for classifying manufacturing processes.

FIG. 11 is a schematic block diagram illustrating the storage of various keywords with their associated encoded path representations.

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram illustrating a sequence of manufacturing operations developed according to the information storage and retrieval system and method of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a schematic block diagram illustrating the storage of an encoded path representation for a particular sequence of manufacturing operations for a part which is to be manufactured.

FIG. 14 diagrammatically illustrates a hierarchal decision table tree which may be used with the information storage and retrieval system and method of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Reference is now made to the figures wherein like parts are designated with like numerals throughout.

1. General

Those of ordinary skill in the art will readily recognize that the information storage and retrieval system and method of the present invention may be adapted to any of a wide variety of applications, including library applications, failure diagnostics, retrieval of test data, tool and die design, generation of parametric designs using computer graphics, production of comprehensive work piece statistics for part drawing files, or inventory control and monitoring. Attention is therefore initially directed to a general description of the system and method of the present invention. The general description is then followed by a description of a particular embodiment of the information storage and retrieval system of the present invention as applied to the problem of process planning in large manufacturing facilities.

The components of the information storage and retrieval system of the present invention are functionally illustrated in the block diagram of FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 1, a central processing unit (CPU) 20 is connected by line 21 to an input/output device 22. The CPU 20 may be any one of several types of commerically available main-frame computers, minicomputers or microprocessors. For example, CPU 20 may be an IBM 360/370 series main-frame computer, an HP 3000 or PDP 11 minicomputer or a Billings 102 microprocessor. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, input/output device 22 is a CRT terminal. Clearly, other suitable types of input/outout devices could be used.

As will be hereinafter more fully described, the information storage and retrieval system of the present invention is operated according to a series of programmed instructions. The operational instructions for the system are functionally divided into a system control segment 24, a keyword/path entry segment 25, a keyword/path retrieval segment 26 and a path correlation segment 27. Each of the instructional segments 24-27 may be electronically stored on a programmable read only memory (PROM) 23 or other suitable electronic memory device which is electrically connected to CPU 20 as schematically illustrated by line 30.

The data base which is manipulated by the information storage and retrieval system is electronically stored and classified in the form of hierarchal information trees. These trees are the result of applying classification theory to a given set of data. For example, as illustrated generally in FIG. 2, a given set of data may be broken down into subsets of data which are designated by the letters A, B and C. Each of these subsets may be further broken down into additional subsets and so on. In this manner, a hierarchy of linked subsets is developed which may be used to classify the data. Thus, in the example illustrated in FIG. 2, the data is broken down into a hierarchy having four levels of data. Each level in the hierarchy consists of several decisional branches which are called nodes. Nodes A through C represent the first level in the hierarchy, nodes D through K represent the second level in the hierarchy, nodes L through T represent the third level in the hierarchy and nodes U through V represent the fourth level in the hierarchy.

Referring again to FIG. 1, it will be seen that external secondary storage devices 32-34 are connected to the CPU 20 as schematically illustrated by line 36. The secondary storage devices 32-34 may be any suitable type of electronic storage medium such as a disk or tape. In the illustrated embodiment, secondary storage devices 32-34 are read only memory (ROM) integrated circuits. The ROM circuits 32-34 are used to electronically store the data which is classified in the form of a hierarchal information tree. Thus, for the hierarchal information tree generally illustrated in FIG. 2, each of the nodes A through V would be electronically stored in a discrete storage address in one of the ROM circuits 32-34. As hereinafter more fully described, this data is selectively recalled by the CPU 20 when it is desired to search and retrieve selected information.

Each of the ROM circuits 32-34 is also interconnected as at line 42 to the additional ROM circuits 38-40. ROM circuits 38-40 are in turn connected through line 44 to CPU 20. Alphanumeric descriptions for each of the nodes A-V are stored in corresponding locations in the ROM circuits 38-40. This enables the CPU 20 to output on the CRT terminal 22 an alphanumeric description for each level in the hierarchy of the information tree. For example, as described more fully below, CPU 20 may sequentially recall each level in the hierarchy of the information tree. As each level in the hierarchy of the tree is called by CPU 20, the corresponding alphanumeric descriptions for each of the nodes A-V in the level of the hierarchy which has been recall