Reusable software components for invoking computational models

A system comprising:

• a set of objects having generic interfaces for controlling encapsulated computational models;
• process management software executing within a computer operating environment to control a manufacturing process, wherein the process management software includes an embedded control module;
• and
• a model aggregator to receive input values and commands from the control module and to distribute the input values and commands to the objects via the generic interfaces,
• wherein at least a portion of the input values correspond to process data measured from the manufacturing process,
• wherein the control module directs the model aggregator to invoke the computational models in parallel to simulate the manufacturing process and compute predicted output values based on the input values, and
• wherein the predicted output values are hypothetical adjustments to be made to the manufacturing process.

A computer-readable medium comprising instructions causing a processor to:

• instantiate a set of objects encapsulating computational models and including generic interfaces for invoking the computational models, wherein each of the models performs a mathematical simulation of a manufacturing process to compute predicted output values based on input values;
• instantiate a model aggregator to distribute input values to the objects and to receive predicted output values computed by the computational models encapsulated within the objects;
• and
• instantiate a control module to receive the output values from the model aggregator and to display the output values, wherein the predicted output values are hypothetical adjustments to be made to the manufacturing process.

A method comprising:

• encapsulating a plurality of different computational models within respective objects, wherein each object provides a generic interface for invoking the encapsulated computational model;
• embedding a control module within an executable software program;
• and
• invoking the set of objects from the control module to execute the computational models in parallel to simulate a manufacturing process and compute predicted output values based on the simulation, wherein the predicted output values are hypothetical adjustments to be made to the manufacturing process.

A system comprising:

• a set of objects encapsulating respective computational models that simulate a manufacturing process, wherein each of the models receives one or more inputs values and computes one or more predicted output values based on the simulation;
• and
• a software program executing within a computer operating environment and having an embedded control module to invoke the computational models in parallel to produce the predicted output values computed by the encapsulated computational models,
• wherein the computational models compute the predicted output values by one or more of neural networks, linear regression, partial least squares (PLS), or principal component analysis.