IP Library Granted Patent US 7,765,439
Granted Patent B2
US 7,765,439 · App. 11/878,677 · Granted Jul 27, 2010

Traceability management apparatus, storage medium storing program, and tracing method

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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 7,765,439
App. No.
11/878,677
Granted
Jul 27, 2010
Kind
B2
Abstract

A hardware-information acquisition part, in the case of modification or addition to hardware configurations of semiconductor manufacturing devices to be managed, obtains that update information. To check the range of influence of a failure, as a first step, a software-condition conforming device extracting part extracts devices which have installed software related to the failure. Then, a hardware-condition conforming device extracting part determines, according to the information obtained by the hardware information acquisition part, whether the extracted devices satisfy hardware conditions under which the failure occurs, and if so, extracts those devices as the ones affected by the failure. Accordingly, even in the case of modification or addition to hardware, it is possible to ensure traceability of failures or requirements and thereby to identify the range of influence of failures with efficiency and reliability.

Claims (49)

1. A traceability management apparatus for providing traceability of a plurality of computer devices, each of the computer devices including hardware components that can be modified or added, the traceability management apparatus comprising:

a software information acquisition part for acquiring installation history of software for each of said plurality of computer devices;

a hardware information acquisition part for acquiring update information about said hardware components for each of said plurality of computer devices;

a first device extracting part for, to trace the range of influence of a failure in software, extracting one or more computer devices which each have installed software containing said failure from said plurality of computer devices; and

a second device extracting part for extracting a device which satisfies a hardware condition under which said failure occurs from the devices which have installed software containing said failure, thereby to identify a failure-affected computer device;

wherein

said hardware condition includes information identifying a type of hardware components to be conditioned, information identifying contents of said hardware components to be identified, and a comparison operator, and

said second device extracting part compares the acquired update information about said hardware components of the devices which have installed software containing said failure, the type of said acquired update information being the type of hardware components to be conditioned included in said hardware condition, with the information identifying contents of said hardware components to be identified included in said hardware condition by the comparison operator included in said hardware condition, thereby judging whether said devices which have installed software containing said failure satisfy said hardware condition or not.

2. A traceability management apparatus for providing traceability of a plurality of computer devices, each of the computer devices including hardware components that can be modified or added, the traceability management apparatus comprising:

a software information acquisition part for acquiring installation history of software for each of said plurality of computer devices;

a hardware information acquisition part for acquiring

update information about said hardware components for each of said plurality of computer devices;

a first device extracting part for, to trace the range that satisfies a functional requirement from software, extracting one or more computer devices which each have installed software related to said functional requirement from said plurality of computer devices; and

a second device extracting part for extracting a device which satisfies a hardware condition required by said software from the devices which have installed software related to said functional requirements, thereby to identify a requirement-satisfying computer device;

wherein

said hardware condition includes information identifying a type of hardware components to be conditioned, information identifying contents of said hardware components to be identified, and a comparison operator, and

said second device extracting part compares the acquired update information about said hardware components of the devices which have installed software related to said functional requirements, the type of said acquired update information being the type of hardware components to be conditioned included in said hardware condition, with the information identifying contents of said hardware components to be identified included in said hardware condition by the comparison operator included in said hardware condition, thereby judging whether said devices which have installed software related to said functional requirements satisfy said hardware condition or not.

3. A computer-readable storage medium storing a program for a traceability management apparatus for providing traceability of a plurality of computer devices each of the computer devices including hardware components that can be modified or added, said traceability management apparatus comprising the following by execution of said program:

a software information acquisition part for acquiring installation history of software for each of said plurality of computer devices;

a hardware information acquisition part for acquiring update information about said hardware components for each of said plurality of computer devices;

a first device extracting part for, to trace the range of influence of a failure in software, extracting one or more computer devices which each have installed software containing said failure from said plurality of computer devices; and

a second device extracting part for extracting a device which satisfies a hardware condition under which said failure occurs from the devices which have installed software containing said failure, thereby to identify a failure-affected computer device;

wherein

said hardware condition includes information identifying a type of hardware components to be conditioned, information identifying contents of said hardware components to be identified, and a comparison operator, and

said second device extracting part compares the acquired update information about said hardware components of the devices which have installed software containing said failure, the type of said acquired update information being the type of hardware components to be conditioned included in said hardware condition, with the information identifying contents of said hardware components to be identified included in said hardware condition by the comparison operator included in said hardware condition, thereby judging whether said devices which have installed software containing said failure satisfy said hardware condition or not.

4. A computer-readable storage medium storing a program for a traceability management apparatus for providing traceability of a plurality of computer devices, each of the computer devices including hardware components that can be modified or added, said traceability management apparatus comprising the following by execution of said program:

a software information acquisition part for acquiring installation history of software for each of said plurality of computer devices;

a hardware information acquisition part for acquiring update information about said hardware components for each of said plurality of computer devices;

a first device extracting part for, to trace the range that satisfies a functional requirement from software, extracting one or more computer devices which each have installed software related to said functional requirement from said plurality of computer devices; and

a second device extracting part for extracting a device which satisfies a hardware condition required by said software from the devices which have installed software related to said functional requirement, thereby to identify a requirement-satisfying computer device;

wherein

said hardware condition includes information identifying a type of hardware components to be conditioned, information identifying contents of said hardware components to be identified, and a comparison operator, and

said second device extracting part compares the acquired update information about said hardware components of the devices which have installed software related to said functional requirements, the type of said acquired update information being the type of hardware components to be conditioned included in said hardware condition, with the information identifying contents of said hardware components to be identified included in said hardware condition by the comparison operator included in said hardware condition, thereby judging whether said devices which have installed software related to said functional requirements satisfy said hardware condition or not.

5. A tracing method for tracing a failure in software that is installed on a plurality of computer devices, each of the computer devices including hardware components that can be modified or added, the tracing method comprising the steps of:

a) acquiring installation history of said software for each of said plurality of computer devices;

b) acquiring update information about said hardware components for each of said plurality of computer devices;

c) extracting one or more computer devices which each have installed software containing said failure from said plurality of computer devices; and

d) extracting a device which satisfies a hardware condition under which said failure occurs, from the devices extracted in said step c);

wherein

said hardware condition includes information identifying a type of hardware components to be conditioned, information identifying contents of said hardware components to be identified, and a comparison operator, and

in step d), comparing the acquired update information about the devices extracted in step c), the type of said acquired update information being the type of hardware components to be conditioned included in said hardware condition, with the information identifying contents of said hardware components to be identified included in said hardware condition by the comparison operator included in said hardware condition, thereby judging whether said devices extracted in step c) satisfy said hardware condition or not.

6. A tracing method for tracing a functional requirement from software that is installed on a plurality of computer devices, each of the computer devices including hardware components that can be modified or added, the tracing method comprising the steps of:

a) acquiring installation history of said software for each of said plurality of computer devices;

b) acquiring update information about said hardware components for each of said plurality of computer devices;

c) extracting one or more computer devices which each have installed software related to said functional requirement from said plurality of computer devices; and

d) extracting a device which satisfies a hardware condition required by said software from the devices extracted in said step c);

wherein

said hardware condition includes information identifying a type of hardware components to be conditioned, information identifying contents of said hardware components to be identified, and a comparison operator, and

in step d), comparing the acquired update information about the devices extracted in step c), the type of said acquired update information being the type of hardware components to be conditioned included in said hardware condition, with the information identifying contents of said hardware components to be identified included in said hardware condition by the comparison operator identified in said hardware condition, thereby judging whether said devices extracted in step c) satisfy said hardware condition or not.

Assignments (2)
CHANGE OF NAME Recorded Feb 24, 2015
From: DAINIPPON SCREEN MFG. CO., LTD.
To: SCREEN HOLDINGS CO., LTD.
Reel/Frame 035071/0249 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jul 26, 2007
From: KASUBUCHI, KIYOTAKA; YAMAMOTO, HIROSHI
To: DAINIPPON SCREEN MFG. CO., LTD.
Reel/Frame 019682/0385 →