Parallel input / output expansion device for equipment

Abstract

This enables efficient expansion of parallel input / output devices without the need to develop separate communication protocols. [Solution] The present invention relates to a parallel input / output expansion device for equipment, characterized in that it expands the parallel input / output device of equipment without the need for separate program development or protocol changes, and enables free signal control to multiple ports within the wireless communication range through a single parallel input / output device. According to the present invention as described above, a single slave communication device can freely control signals to multiple load ports within the wireless communication range, which has the effect of reducing the installation cost of communication devices.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a parallel input / output expansion device for equipment. More specifically, without separate program development or protocol change, it expands the parallel input / output device of equipment, enables free signal control for a plurality of ports within the wireless communication range through one parallel input / output device, simplifies the installation work, and reduces the installation cost.

Background Art

[0002] Generally, in the semiconductor factory's logistics transportation, an Automated Material Handling System (AMHS) is used to transport products to the manufacturing equipment in each manufacturing process so that the products are manufactured according to the processes of each manufacturing equipment. Such an automated material handling system transports a carrier containing a semiconductor substrate or a liquid crystal substrate to the process equipment or buffer installed on the manufacturing process line according to the instructions of the upper system (OCS), and after the products have completed the process in the manufacturing equipment, it stores them again and uses an automated guided vehicle to transport them to the manufacturing equipment in the next process.

[0003] The transport cart transmits and receives necessary data with the manufacturing equipment according to the SEMI-E84 communication protocol and sequence via a parallel input / output device (PIO) to transport the carrier, and smoothly implements the transport / loading of the carrier. E84 communication is a communication rule defined by SEMI (Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International) and is a communication protocol required during the logistics movement between devices.

[0004] The parallel input / output device includes an infrared (IR) communication device and a wireless (RF) communication device according to the communication medium. In the case of a parallel input / output device using IR communication, due to the characteristics of the medium, if the arrangements of the parallel input / output device installed on the transport cart and the parallel input / output device installed on the process equipment do not match, communication between the two is impossible.

[0005] On the other hand, in the case of parallel input / output devices that use wireless media, communication is possible between the parallel input / output devices installed on the transport cart and the parallel input / output devices installed on the process equipment, even if their arrangements do not match.

[0006] Process equipment often has two or more ports where the transport cart transmits the carrier. When a single piece of process equipment has multiple ports and uses IR communication as the communication medium, alignment between communication devices is necessary. As shown in Figure 1, in the case of equipment (200) with four ports (210), one parallel input / output device (220) is required for each port (210). Furthermore, since a typical transport device (100) is larger than each port (210), there is a drawback that, for example, if the transport device (100) is communicating with port 2 (Port2) via a wireless communication medium (110), the parallel input / output devices (220) for adjacent ports (Port1 and Port3) cannot operate.

[0007] Furthermore, when using wireless communication as the communication medium, a single parallel input / output device can be used for multiple ports. However, due to the SEMI-E84 communication standard, only two ports can be designated as signals via the CS_0 and CS_1 terminals, which limits port expansion.

[0008] Furthermore, since the equipment where the IR communication device is installed is programmed to use only the CS_0 signal from the E84 signal set, cost reductions can be considered by changing the IR communication medium to a wireless communication medium (110) as shown in Figure 2, using all CS_0 and CS_1 signals, and enabling one parallel input / output device (220, 230) to control two ports. However, this also requires changes to the equipment program, so there are many procedural difficulties in actually implementing it.

[0009] Therefore, a method is needed to expand the parallel input / output devices of the equipment to overcome these constraints.

[0010] In Patent Document 1 below, the applicant proposed a data transmission method for an automated transport system that enables signal control for multiple load ports of a manufacturing facility using a single slave communication device. This method involves the master communication device (communication device for the reverse transport cart) setting an unused signal terminal as a port expansion signal terminal, generating port control data using signals output from the port expansion signal terminal and port selection signal terminals (CS_0, CS_1), and transmitting this data to a slave communication device of the process equipment.

[0011] However, in the case of the applicant's prior registered patent mentioned above, a method is employed to expand ports by utilizing NC signals (unused signal terminals) in parallel signals. As a result, the transport cart and equipment have to perform an additional step of generating or deleting the signal (port selection information) and then transmitting the E84 data. Furthermore, because the signal is transmitted together with the E84 data, the SEMI E84 communication standard is changed, resulting in the drawback that transport carts or equipment wishing to expand their ports cannot use it unless they develop an expansion E84 communication protocol. [Prior art documents] [Patent Documents]

[0012] [Patent Document 1] Korean Registered Patent No. 1749309 Publication [Patent Document 2] Korean Registered Patent No. 0609297 Publication [Patent Document 3] Korean Registered Patent No. 0292029 Publication [Overview of the project] [Problems that the invention aims to solve]

[0013] This invention was devised to solve the aforementioned problems, and its objective is to enable efficient expansion of parallel input / output devices without developing a separate communication protocol. [Means for solving the problem]

[0014] According to one aspect of the present invention for achieving the above-described objectives, a parallel input / output expansion device for equipment is provided, which includes: a wireless communication device that sets identification information corresponding to a plurality of ports provided in process equipment, transmits data received via wireless communication with a parallel input / output device of a transport trolley to the ports, and transmits data received from each port to the parallel input / output device of the transport trolley; a basic input / output device that transmits data received from the wireless communication device to each port via an interface, transmits data collected from each port to the wireless communication device, and, if the identification information contained in the received data is the identification information of the first port, collects the data of the first port and transmits it to the wireless communication device; and a plurality of expansion input / output devices that transmit data from the basic input / output device via an interface, and, if the identification information contained in the received data is the identification information of its own port, outputs the corresponding port value, collects the data of the corresponding port and transmits it to the basic input / output device.

[0015] In accordance with another aspect of the present invention for achieving the above-mentioned objectives, a parallel input / output expansion device for equipment is provided, characterized in that it includes a wireless communication device that sets identification information corresponding to a plurality of ports provided in process equipment, transmits data received via wireless communication with a parallel input / output device of a transport trolley to the ports, transmits data received from each port to the parallel input / output device of the transport trolley, and collects data from the first port if the identification information contained in the received data is the identification information of the first port, and a plurality of expansion input / output devices that, if the identification information contained in the data received from the wireless communication device via an interface is the identification information of their own port, output the corresponding port value, collect data from the corresponding port and transmit it to the wireless communication device, the plurality of expansion input / output devices being connected to the wireless communication device via an interface.

[0016] Here, the interface is preferably one of the following serial interfaces: RS-232, RS-485, RS-422, I2C, SPI, USB, or CAN. Further, the identification information can be any one of wireless identification information corresponding to the corresponding port, channel information, or the tag number of the station where the carrier truck stops for work.

[0017] In addition, the data received through the wireless communication between the parallel input / output device of the carrier truck and the device can include at least one or more of the E84 data, additional information data, port identification information, and wireless communication establishment status information of the parallel input / output device of the carrier truck. It is more desirable that the parallel input / output device of the carrier truck performs control processing on a plurality of ports of the equipment within the wireless communication range of the wireless communication device.

[0018] Furthermore, in the data collection process, it is more desirable that the information collected from each port is transmitted from the extended input / output device at the end to the basic input / output device in order through the reverse direction of the serial interface and then transmitted to the wireless communication device.

Advantages of the Invention

[0019] According to the present invention, by installing only one parallel input / output device at the port end of the equipment, it is possible to freely perform signal control on a plurality of load ports within the wireless communication range, and there is an effect of reducing the installation cost of the communication device.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0020] [Figure 1] Shows a communication method between a master parallel input / output device and a slave parallel input / output device using an IR communication medium. [Figure 2] Shows a method of performing communication between a master parallel input / output device and a slave parallel input / output device using a conventional wireless communication medium. [Figure 3] Shows a method of performing communication between a master parallel input / output device and a slave parallel input / output device using a wireless communication medium according to the present invention. [Figure 4] Shows an exemplary connection diagram of a parallel input / output expansion device of equipment according to the present invention. [Figure 5]An exemplary connection diagram of a parallel input / output expansion device for equipment according to another embodiment of the present invention is shown.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0021] The embodiments described in the present invention and the configurations shown in the drawings are merely preferred embodiments of the present invention and do not represent all of the technical problems of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of the rights of the present invention is not limited to the embodiments and drawings described in the text. That is, since the embodiments can be variously modified and can have various forms, the scope of the rights of the present invention should be understood to include equivalents that can solve the technical problems. Also, the objectives or effects presented in the present invention do not mean that a specific embodiment must include all of these or only such effects, and the scope of the rights of the present invention is not limited by these.

[0022] All terms used herein shall have the same meaning as commonly understood by those of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention pertains, unless otherwise defined. Terms defined in commonly used dictionaries shall be interpreted as having a meaning consistent with the meaning in the relevant technical context, and shall not be interpreted as having an ideal or overly formal meaning unless explicitly defined in the present invention.

[0023] Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 3 shows a method of communication between a master parallel input / output device and a slave parallel input / output device using a wireless communication medium according to the present invention, and FIG. 4 shows an exemplary connection diagram of a parallel input / output expansion device for equipment according to the present invention.

[0024] Referring to Figures 3 and 4, the parallel input / output expansion device for equipment according to the present invention has a configuration that includes a wireless communication device (22), a basic input / output device (23) connected to it via an interface (30), and a plurality of expansion input / output devices (24, 25, 26) connected to the basic input / output device (23) via an interface (40).

[0025] The basic input / output device (23) and the expansion input / output devices (24, 25, 26) are connected to each other in a cascade structure, and the interface has a direct signal communication structure.

[0026] Here, the interfaces (30, 40) can be serial interfaces such as serial communication, I2C, CAN, or serial I / O drivers.

[0027] It is desirable that the basic input / output device (23) operates as a master controller in relation to the expansion input / output devices (24, 25, 26), and that the expansion input / output devices (24, 25, 26) operate as slave controllers.

[0028] The wireless communication device (22) has the function of transmitting data received via wireless communication with the parallel input / output device (11) of the transport trolley (10) to the basic input / output device (23) and expansion input / output devices (24, 25, 26) of the corresponding port, and transmitting data received from the basic input / output device (23) and expansion input / output devices (24, 25, 26) of the port to the parallel input / output device (11) of the transport trolley (10).

[0029] Therefore, the wireless communication device (22) sets identification information corresponding to multiple ports and waits, and when wireless communication with the parallel input / output device (11) of the transport cart (10) is established, it checks which port the communication was established (received). Here, the identification information for each port is either the wireless identification information (ID), channel information (CH) corresponding to that port, or the tag number of the station where the transport cart stops for work.

[0030] In other words, the wireless communication device (22) holds identification information corresponding to each port, and when the return cart (10) attempts to communicate wirelessly with a specific port while in a receiving standby state for multiple wireless RFIDs, the data received at that port is reflected.

[0031] Furthermore, the wireless communication device (22) transmits E84 data, additional information data, port information, and wireless communication establishment status received from the parallel input / output device (11) of the transport cart (10) to the basic input / output device (23) via the interface (30), and transmits input values ​​from the input data of the ports input from the basic input / output device (23) that match the port information to the parallel input / output device (11) of the transport cart (10) via wireless communication. Here, the additional information data refers to process information that the logistics part and the manufacturing equipment part need to share locally, including the carrier ID.

[0032] The basic input / output device (23) generates output values ​​for ports 2-4 based on information input from the wireless communication device (22) (E84 data from the parallel input / output device (11) of the transport trolley (10), additional information data, port information, and wireless communication establishment status), and transmits these values ​​to the expansion input / output devices (24, 25, 26), while also functioning as an input / output device for port 1. Furthermore, the basic input / output device (23) collects input data for port 1 and input data for each port from the expansion input / output devices (24, 25, 26) and transmits these to the wireless communication device (22).

[0033] The expansion input / output devices (24, 25, 26) output port values ​​received from the basic input / output device (23) via the interface (40), collect input values ​​corresponding to each port, and transmit them to the basic input / output device (23) via the interface (40).

[0034] The process by which communication between the transport cart and the equipment is performed through the parallel input / output expansion device of the present invention is as follows. First, if a piece of equipment has four ports, a wireless ID / CH is assigned to each port. As the transport cart (10) transports a carrier to the equipment, the parallel input / output device (11) of the transport cart (10) attempts to establish wireless communication with the wireless communication device (22). Once wireless communication is established between the parallel input / output device (11) and the wireless communication device (22), the parallel input / output device (11) transmits port information (the wireless ID / CH of the port) and E84 data to the wireless communication device (22).

[0035] When the wireless communication device (22) receives data via the parallel input / output device (11), it transmits the received E84 data, port information, and wireless communication establishment status information to the basic input / output device (23) via the interface.

[0036] The basic input / output device (23) analyzes the data received from the wireless communication device (22), outputs the port value corresponding to port 1 if the received port information is port 1, and transmits the data received from the wireless communication device (22) to the expansion input / output devices (24, 25, 26) via the interface if the received port information is ports 2 to 4.

[0037] Each expansion input / output device (24, 25, 26) analyzes the received data and outputs the received port value if the received port information is for its own port. If the received port information is not for its own port, it transmits the data to the next expansion input / output device. Through this process, data transmission from the conveying device (10) to each port (21) of the equipment is completed.

[0038] Meanwhile, in the data acquisition process, the information collected at each port (21) is transmitted in the reverse direction via the interface to the expansion input / output devices (24, 25, 26), then to the basic input / output device (23), and then to the wireless communication device (22). The wireless communication device (22) transmits the data to the transport trolley (10) via wireless communication.

[0039] This process makes it very easy to expand ports via wireless communication without changing the SEMI-E84 protocol, and allows a transport cart to access multiple ports using a single parallel input / output device.

[0040] Figure 5 shows an example diagram illustrating the connection of a parallel input / output expansion device for equipment according to another embodiment of the present invention. In the embodiment shown in Figure 5, the basic input / output device (23) in Figure 4 is integrated into the wireless communication device (22), the wireless communication device (22) is connected via the interface (50) through the connector (27) of port 1, and each expansion input / output device (24, 25, 26) is directly connected to the wireless communication device (22) via the interface (60).

[0041] In this embodiment as well, the interfaces (50, 60) can be serial interfaces such as serial communication, I2C, or CAN, or serial I / O drivers.

[0042] In this embodiment, the wireless communication device (22) directly collects data from port 1, while the extended input / output devices (24, 25, 26), which transmit and collect data to ports 2-4, collect data from each port by communicating directly with the wireless communication device (22) via the interface (60) and transmit it directly to the wireless communication device (22). This is a difference from the embodiment shown in Figure 4.

[0043] Although the present invention has been described in relation to the preferred embodiments described above, various modifications and variations are possible without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the appended claims include these modifications and variations that fall within the spirit of the invention. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0044] 10 Transport carts 11, 220, 230 parallel input / output devices 20, 200 equipment 21, 210 ports 22 Wireless communication devices 23 Basic input / output device 24, 25, 26 Expansion Input / Output Devices 27 Connectors 30, 40, 50, 60 Interfaces 100 Conveying device 110 Wireless communication media

Claims

1. A wireless communication device that sets identification information corresponding to multiple ports provided on the process equipment and waits, checks which port has established communication when wireless communication with the parallel input / output device of the transport cart is established, transmits the data received through the wireless communication with the parallel input / output device of the transport cart to the corresponding port, and transmits the data collected from each port to the parallel input / output device of the transport cart, A basic input / output device that generates output values ​​for the multiple ports based on the data received from the wireless communication device via a serial interface and transmits them to each port, and transmits the data collected from each port and the data of the first port collected in correspondence with the identification information contained in the received data to the wireless communication device, Includes a plurality of extended input / output devices connected to each other via the serial interface, which transmit data for each port collected in correspondence with the identification information of each port included in the data received from the basic input / output device to the basic input / output device, The wireless communication device is a parallel input / output expansion device for equipment, characterized in that it transmits input data from ports input through the basic input / output device that matches port identification information to the parallel input / output device of the transport table via the wireless communication device.

2. A wireless communication device that sets identification information corresponding to multiple ports provided in the process equipment and waits, confirms which port communication has been established when wireless communication with the parallel input / output device of the transport cart is established, transmits the data received through the wireless communication with the parallel input / output device of the transport cart to the corresponding port, transmits the data received from each port to the parallel input / output device of the transport cart, has the identification information of the first port and collects data from the first port, Includes a plurality of expansion input / output devices connected to the wireless communication device via a serial interface, which transmit data from each port collected in correspondence with the identification information of each port included in the data received from the wireless communication device to the wireless communication device, The wireless communication device is characterized in that it transmits the input data of the first port and the input data from the ports input through the plurality of expansion input / output devices that matches the port identification information to the parallel input / output device of the transport table via the wireless communication device.

3. The parallel input / output expansion device for equipment according to claim 1 or claim 2, characterized in that the serial interface is one of the serial interfaces RS-232, RS-485, RS-422, I2C, SPI, USB, or CAN.

4. The parallel input / output expansion device for equipment according to claim 1 or claim 2, characterized in that the identification information corresponding to the plurality of ports is one of the following: wireless identification information corresponding to the port, channel information, or the tag number of the station to be stopped for work.

5. The parallel input / output expansion device for the equipment according to claim 1 or 2 is characterized in that the data received through the wireless communication with the parallel input / output device of the transport trolley includes at least one of the E84 data of the parallel input / output device of the transport trolley, additional information data, port identification information, and wireless communication establishment status information.

6. The parallel input / output device for the transport trolley is characterized in that it performs control processing for the plurality of ports of the process equipment within the wireless communication range of the wireless communication device, as described in claim 1 or 2.

7. The parallel input / output expansion device for equipment according to claim 1, characterized in that, in the data acquisition process, the information acquired at each port is transmitted in the reverse direction of the serial interface, from the terminal expansion input / output device to the basic input / output device, and then transmitted to the wireless communication device.

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