Method and apparatus for component assembly using continuous selection
AssigneeApple Inc.
InventorsAshley N. Saulsbury, Nicholas I. Reid
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A manufacturing process for providing an assembly formed of a first piece and a best fitted second piece is described. The manufacturing process is carried out by performing at least the following operations: receiving the first piece characterized in accordance with at least a first attribute, selecting the best fitted second piece from a buffer, the selecting based in part upon a best matching value of a second attribute in relation to the first attribute replacing the selected best fitted second piece with another second piece such that the number of second pieces in the buffer remains about the same, and forming the assembly the first part and the second part to form the assembly.
Claims15
A non-transitory computer readable medium executable by a processor in a computer assisted manufacturing apparatus to assemble an electronic device, the non-transitory computer readable medium comprising computer code for:
- scanning each one of a plurality of first parts to measure manufacturing variations in a plurality of first part attributes of each one of the plurality of first parts, wherein the plurality of first part attributes includes at least two attributes from the group consisting of a length, a height, a weight, a color and a roughness;
- scanning a second part to measure manufacturing variations in a plurality of second part attributes, wherein each attribute in the plurality of second part attributes has a corresponding attribute in each of the plurality of first part attributes;
- rejecting the second part when a difference between the measured second part attributes and at least one corresponding attribute of each one of the plurality of first parts falls outside of a design specification of the electronic device;
- selecting at least one of the plurality of first parts, each one of the selected first parts having first part attributes that when compared with the corresponding second part attributes fall within tolerances of the design specification of the electronic device;
- selecting a best matching first part from the selected first parts using a pick and place machine that selects the best matching first part in accordance with a merit function that weights an amount of variation between a first set of corresponding attributes of the first parts and the second part substantially more than an amount of variation from a second set of corresponding attributes of the first parts and the second part;
- and
- assembling the electronic device by inserting the best matching first part into an opening defined by the second part.
A manufacturing process of matching one of a plurality of first parts with a second part to form an electronic device, the manufacturing process comprising:
- scanning each one of a plurality of first parts to measure manufacturing variations in a plurality of first part attributes on each of the first parts with a first determining apparatus, wherein the plurality of first part attributes include at least two attributes from the group consisting of a length, a height, a weight, a color and a roughness;
- scanning the second part to measure manufacturing variations in a plurality of second part attributes with a second determining apparatus, each second part attribute of the plurality of second part attributes having a corresponding first part attribute for each of the plurality of first parts;
- selecting at least one first part, a difference between first part attributes of each of the selected first parts and corresponding second part attributes falling within tolerances defined by a design specification associated with the electronic device;
- selecting a best matching first part from the selected first parts using a selector unit that selects the best matching first part in accordance with a merit function that weights an amount of variation between a first set of corresponding attributes of the first parts and the second part substantially more than an amount of variation from a second set of corresponding attributes of the first parts and the second part;
- and
- forming the electronic device by inserting the best matching first part into an opening defined by the second part.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.