CN117829569A

CN117829569A - Automated process scheduling method and system, electronic device and storage medium

Info

Publication number: CN117829569A
Application number: CN202311791005.6A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 石鹏
Original assignee: Megarobo Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Megarobo Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2023-12-22
Filing date: 2023-12-22
Publication date: 2024-04-05
Also published as: WO2025131091A1

Abstract

The embodiments of the present application provide a scheduling method and system, electronic device and storage medium for an automated process. The method includes: obtaining an ordered operation group of the automated process, wherein each operation in the ordered operation group has a dependency relationship according to the order of execution, and the ordered operation group includes at least one main operation and an associated operation of the main operation, wherein the main operation is the main functional operation performed by the main equipment in the automated process on the sample carried by the corresponding consumable, and the main operation includes a first main operation, and the first main operation corresponds to multiple first consumables; according to the ordered operation group, the corresponding relationship between the associated operation of the first main operation and the multiple first consumables, and the operation order of the first main operation on the multiple first consumables, the execution order of the associated operation of the first main operation is determined; and the automated process is scheduled at least based on the determined execution order. This scheme can realize accurate scheduling in various scenarios requiring order in the automated process.

Description

Scheduling method and system of automatic flow, electronic equipment and storage medium

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of automation technology, and in particular, to a scheduling method of an automation process, a scheduling system of an automation process, an electronic device, and a storage medium.

Background

In the field of automation technology, scheduling of automation flows is often involved. There may also be some scenarios requiring order when scheduling an automation flow. For example, the order of different consumables entering and exiting the multiple-input multiple-output device needs to meet a certain requirement, or the order of occupation and release of the multiple-input multiple-output device needs to meet a certain requirement, etc.

The existing scheduling method of the automatic flow does not consider the scenes of the required orders, so that the scheduling method is difficult to cope with the scenes of the required orders, and the equipment operation of the equipment pool is unreasonably distributed.

Disclosure of Invention

In order to at least partially solve the problems of the prior art, according to a first aspect of the present application, there is provided a scheduling method of an automated process, comprising:

acquiring an ordered operation group of an automatic flow, wherein each operation in the ordered operation group has a dependency relationship according to the execution sequence, the ordered operation group comprises at least one main operation and associated operation of the main operation, the main operation is a main functional operation executed by main equipment in the automatic flow aiming at a sample carried by a corresponding consumable, the main operation comprises a first main operation, the first main operation corresponds to a plurality of first consumables, and the associated operation of each main operation comprises an operation executed before or after the main operation and having a dependency relationship with the main operation;

Determining the execution sequence of the associated operation of the first main operation according to the corresponding relation among the ordered operation group, the associated operation of the first main operation and the first consumable materials and the operation sequence of the first main operation on the first consumable materials; and

the automated process is scheduled based at least on the determined order of execution.

Illustratively, determining the order of execution of the associated operations of the first main operation includes:

determining adjacent main operations of a first main operation in the ordered operation group according to the dependency relationship of serial operations in the ordered operation group;

determining the association operation of the first main operation according to the adjacent main operation, the ordered operation group and the corresponding relation of the first main operation; and

and determining the execution sequence of the associated operation of the first main operation according to the dependency relationship, the operation sequence of the first main operation on the plurality of first consumables and the corresponding relationship.

Illustratively, the neighboring primary operations of the first primary operation include a front neighboring primary operation that precedes the primary operation and is closest to the primary operation and/or a rear neighboring primary operation that follows the primary operation and is closest to the primary operation; the association operation of the first main operation comprises a front association operation and/or a rear association operation; the first main operation's pre-association operation includes an operation performed before the first main operation and having a dependency relationship with the first main operation, and the first main operation's post-association operation includes an operation performed after the first main operation and having a dependency relationship with the first main operation; the front association operation and the rear association operation of the first main operation correspond to the first consumable.

Illustratively, determining the associated operation of the first primary operation includes:

determining a front set consisting of front associated operations of the first main operation according to the ordered operation group and the determined front adjacent main operation and/or determining a rear set consisting of rear associated operations of the first main operation according to the ordered operation group and the determined rear adjacent main operation;

determining an execution order of associated operations of the first main operation, comprising:

sequencing each operation in the front set according to the dependency relationship to obtain a front initial list of the first main operation and/or sequencing each operation in the rear set according to the dependency relationship to obtain a rear initial list of the first main operation, wherein in the initial list, the sequence of different operations executed for the same first consumable is the same as the dependency relationship;

according to the operation sequence and the corresponding relation of the first main operation on the plurality of first consumables, updating the sequence of each operation executed for different first consumables in the front initial list and/or the rear initial list, and obtaining an updated front list and/or rear list, wherein in the front list and the rear list, the sequence of the operation corresponding to the former consumable is front, and the sequence of the operation corresponding to the latter consumable is rear; and

The execution sequence of the pre-association operation of the first main operation is determined according to the pre-list and/or the execution sequence of the post-association operation of the first main operation is determined according to the post-list.

Illustratively, determining a front set of front association operations of the first primary operation includes:

traversing the ordered set of operations to determine a first initial set of all previous operations of the first primary operation; and

adding the operation corresponding to the first consumable in the post operation of the front adjacent main operation of the first main operation into the first initial set to obtain a front set;

and/or

Determining a post set of post-association operations of the first main operation, comprising:

traversing the ordered set of operations to determine a second initial set of all post-operations of the first main operation; and

and adding the operation corresponding to the first consumable in the front operation of the next main operation after the first main operation into the second initial set to obtain a rear set.

Illustratively, updating the order of the individual operations performed for the different first consumables in the pre-initial list and/or the post-initial list comprises:

according to the corresponding relation, determining the head operation and the tail operation of each first consumable in the front initial list and/or the rear initial list; and

And according to the operation orders of the first main operation on the plurality of first consumables, placing the head operation of the first consumable with the corresponding operation order behind in the front initial list and/or the rear initial list after the tail operation of the first consumable with the corresponding operation order behind.

Illustratively, determining the neighboring primary operation of the first primary operation in the ordered set of operations includes:

determining an adjacent main operation list related to each main operation in the ordered operation group according to the dependency relationship and the corresponding relationship of the serial operation in the ordered operation group;

determining each first main operation in the ordered operation group according to the multiple-input multiple-output equipment node of the automatic flow; and

and searching adjacent main operations of each first main operation from the adjacent main operation list respectively.

Illustratively, the neighbor master operation list includes a front neighbor master operation list and a rear neighbor master operation list, and determining the neighbor master operation list for each master operation in the ordered operation group includes:

determining each main operation in the ordered operation group according to the equipment node of the automatic flow, and obtaining a main operation list;

according to the association attribute of each node of the automatic flow and the consumable, determining the corresponding relation between each operation in the ordered operation group and the consumable;

Determining the preceding operation and the subsequent operation of each operation according to the dependency relationship of serial operation in the ordered operation group, and obtaining a preceding operation list of the preceding operation of each operation and a subsequent operation list of the subsequent operation of each operation, wherein the preceding operation and the subsequent operation of each operation are respectively a preceding adjacent operation and a subsequent adjacent operation of the operation;

determining a front adjacent main operation of each main operation aiming at each corresponding consumable according to the main operation list, the corresponding relation and the preamble operation list to obtain a front adjacent main operation list; and

and determining the back adjacent main operation of each main operation aiming at each corresponding consumable according to the main operation list, the corresponding relation and the subsequent operation list so as to obtain a back adjacent main operation list.

Illustratively, determining a leading neighbor master operation for each consumable corresponding comprises:

for each of the primary operations,

determining all second consumables corresponding to the main operation according to the corresponding relation;

for each second consumable, traversing the preamble operation list by using a depth-first search algorithm, and sequentially searching each first pending operation corresponding to the second consumable forwards from the preamble operation corresponding to the second consumable of the main operation;

Judging whether the first operation to be determined belongs to a main operation or not according to the main operation list, if so, taking the first operation to be determined as a front adjacent main operation of the main operation and ending searching;

and/or

Determining a post-adjacent master operation for each consumable for each master operation includes:

for each of the primary operations,

for each second consumable, traversing a subsequent operation list by using a depth-first search algorithm, and sequentially searching each second pending operation corresponding to the second consumable backwards from the subsequent operation corresponding to the second consumable of the main operation;

judging whether the second undetermined operation belongs to the main operation according to the main operation list, if so, taking the second undetermined operation as a next adjacent main operation of the main operation and ending the search.

Illustratively, the method further comprises:

based on the analysis result of the automation flow, the operation sequence of the first main operation on the first consumable materials is determined.

According to another aspect of the present application, there is provided an automated process scheduling system, comprising:

the system comprises an acquisition module, a control module and a control module, wherein the acquisition module is used for acquiring an ordered operation group of an automatic flow, each operation in the ordered operation group has a dependency relationship according to the execution sequence, the ordered operation group comprises at least one main operation and associated operation of the main operation, the main operation is main functional operation executed by main equipment in the automatic flow aiming at samples carried by corresponding consumable materials, the main operation comprises a first main operation, the first main operation corresponds to a plurality of first consumable materials, and the associated operation of each main operation comprises operation which is executed before or after the main operation and has a dependency relationship with the main operation;

The determining module is used for determining the execution sequence of the associated operation of the first main operation according to the corresponding relation among the ordered operation group, the associated operation of the first main operation and the first consumable materials and the operation sequence of the first main operation on the first consumable materials; and

and the scheduling module is used for scheduling the automatic flow at least based on the determined execution sequence.

According to another aspect of the present application, there is provided an electronic device comprising a processor and a memory having stored therein computer program instructions which, when executed by the processor, are adapted to carry out the scheduling method of the above-described automated process.

According to another aspect of the present application, there is provided a storage medium having stored thereon program instructions for executing the scheduling method of the above-described automated process when running.

As described above, the existing scheduling method of the automation flow does not consider the above-mentioned requirement sequence scenes, so that the scheduling method is difficult to cope with the requirement sequence scenes, which results in unreasonable allocation of the device operations of the device pool. According to the scheme of the embodiment of the application, on the basis of acquiring the ordered operation group of the automatic process, the operation sequence of the consumable materials required in advance is fully considered, and the first main operation of each corresponding plurality of consumable materials is taken as a reference, so that the execution sequence of each associated operation of each first main operation is accurately determined according to the corresponding relation between the ordered operation group and the associated operation of the first main operation and the plurality of first consumable materials, and further, the accurate scheduling of the whole automatic process is realized. This approach allows for accurate scheduling in the context of various required orders in an automated process. The scheduling logic is simple and reasonable, the calculation amount is small, and the scheduling efficiency is high. Therefore, the method fully meets the diversified demands of the business in the automatic process, and the user experience is better.

In the summary, a series of concepts in a simplified form are introduced, which will be further described in detail in the detailed description section. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

Advantages and features of the present application are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Drawings

The following drawings of the present application are included to provide an understanding of the present application as part of the present application. Embodiments of the present application and descriptions thereof are shown in the drawings to explain the principles of the present application. In the drawings of which there are shown,

FIG. 1 shows a schematic flow chart of a scheduling method of an automated process according to one embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 2a illustrates a flow chart of an automated process according to one embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 2b shows a flow chart of an automated process according to another embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 3 illustrates a flow chart of a scheduling method of an automated process according to another embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 4 shows a schematic block diagram of a scheduling system of an automated process according to an embodiment of the present application; and

fig. 5 shows a schematic block diagram of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the application.

Detailed Description

In the following description, numerous details are provided to provide a thorough understanding of the present application. However, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the following description illustrates preferred embodiments of the present application by way of example only and that the present application may be practiced without one or more of these details. In addition, some technical features that are known in the art have not been described in detail in order to avoid obscuring the present application.

In order to at least partially solve the above technical problem, according to one aspect of the present application, a scheduling method of an automated process is provided. The scheduling method according to the embodiment of the application can be applied to an automatic process aiming at various suitable targets in various fields. For simplicity, the following is explained by taking an automated process in a laboratory automation system as an example.

The automatic process according to the embodiment of the application at least comprises a multi-input multi-output device. As the name implies, multiple-in is understood to mean that there are multiple consumables entering the device, and multiple-out is similarly understood to mean that there are multiple consumables being shipped from the device. It will be appreciated that for a multiple-in multiple-out device, the number of consumables that it is required to process is multiple. In some scenarios, the order in which the consumables are operated by the device needs to meet certain requirements. For example, for some mimo devices, the positions for storing consumables at the inlets thereof may be limited, so that consumables need to enter the device in a certain order, so as to avoid that when a consumable needs to process a certain consumable, the positions at the inlets of the device are occupied by other consumables, thereby causing misoperation or confusion of the flow of the device, and of course, for other reasons, the consumable needs to enter the device in a certain order. In the embodiment of the application, the order of processing consumables by the multiple-input multiple-output device is preset. Each operation in the automated process is scheduled based on fully considering the order in which the equipment processes the consumables.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic flow diagram of a scheduling method 1000 of an automated process according to one embodiment of the present application. As shown, the method 1000 includes step S1200, step S1400, and step S1600.

Step S1200, an ordered operation group of the automation flow is acquired. And each operation in the ordered operation group has a dependency relationship according to the execution sequence. For example, the start execution time of a later-executed operation depends on the end time of a previously-executed operation, so that the later-executed operation and the previously-executed operation have a dependency relationship. The ordered operation group comprises at least one main operation and associated operations of the main operation. The primary operation is the primary functional operation performed by the primary device in the automated flow for the sample carried by the corresponding consumable. The primary operation includes a first primary operation. The first main operation corresponds to a plurality of first consumables. The associated operation of each main operation includes an operation that is performed before or after the main operation and has a dependency relationship with the main operation.

The following describes an example of an enzyme-labeled instrument, which is a main device in an automation flow. In the automatic process, the microplate reader needs to perform microplate labeling operations such as labeling, reaction incubation and the like on samples in consumable materials, so that the microplate labeling operation is used as a main operation of the microplate reader. Before the microplate reader operation, a door opening operation and a door closing operation of the microplate reader are also required to be performed, and the door opening operation and the door closing operation of the microplate reader performed before the microplate reader operation can be called as a front operation of the microplate reader. Likewise, after the microplate reader operation, a door opening operation and a door closing operation of the microplate reader, which may be referred to as a post-operation of the microplate reader, also need to be performed. For the main device, the pre-operation and the post-operation may be performed by itself or may be performed by another device. And, in this example, the consumable material needs to be carried into the microplate reader under the premise that the microplate reader is opened, and then the microplate reader is closed to perform the microplate reader operation. And after the enzyme label operation is finished, the enzyme label instrument is opened, and consumable materials subjected to the enzyme label operation are conveyed out of the enzyme label instrument, and the enzyme label instrument is closed. It will be appreciated that for a microplate reader, each pre-operation of the microplate reader needs to be performed before a microplate operation, and each post-operation of the microplate reader needs to be performed after a microplate operation, so that the pre-and post-operations of the microplate reader have a dependency on the microplate operation. In the embodiment of the application, the front operation and the rear operation of the microplate reader can be used as the related operation of the microplate reader. It will be appreciated that an automated process typically includes multiple devices, and thus there are instances where multiple devices process one consumable in turn. For example, consumable a is first processed by a pipetting station before entering the microplate reader. In this case, the main operation of the pipetting station is a pipetting operation. For consumable a, the pipetting operation needs to be performed before the microplate reader operation, and thus there is also a dependency between the pipetting operation and the microplate reader operation for consumable a. The pipetting operation and the microplate reader operation are both main operations, and the pipetting operation can be referred to as a front adjacent main operation of the microplate reader operation. After performing a pipetting operation on consumable a (e.g. transferring a sample from another consumable to the consumable), it is also necessary to perform a transfer operation on consumable a, e.g. transferring consumable a to the outlet plate of the device and/or transferring consumable a by a robotic arm to the inlet plate of the microplate reader. It will be appreciated that the transfer operation performed on consumable a after the pipetting operation belongs to the post-operation of the pipetting workstation. These operations need to be performed before the microplate reader operation, so there is also a dependency relationship between these operations and the microplate reader operation, and these operations also belong to the association operations of the microplate reader operation. Thus, the association operation of the main device also includes a post operation performed by the main device of the preceding adjacent main operation of the main operation on the same consumable. It will be appreciated that the same consumable is the same consumable that both primary operations are to process. In other words, the two main operations correspond to the same consumable. In accordance with similar principles, the association of primary operations of a primary device may also include a post-operation performed by a primary device of a post-adjacent primary operation of the primary operation on the same consumable. In general, the associated operation of each main operation includes an operation having a dependency relationship with the main operation performed before and/or after the main operation.

For some devices, for example, the primary operation thereof deals with only one consumable. While for other devices, such as multiple-in multiple-out devices, it is desirable to process multiple consumables during a certain period of time. For a device that needs to process multiple consumables, such a primary operation may be referred to as a first primary operation in the embodiments of the present application for ease of distinction. And the plurality of consumables corresponding to or associated with the first master operation may be referred to as a first consumable. Taking a pipetting workstation as an example, the first consumable may comprise a pipetting gun head and an orifice plate. For simplicity, these two consumables may be referred to as the associated consumables for the pipetting operation.

An ordered set of operations in an automation flow may be an ordered set of operations performed by various devices in the automation flow. It will be appreciated that in this set there are dependencies between operations performed on the same consumable. The order in which the different operations with dependencies are in the ordered set of operations corresponds to the order in which the operations are performed by the automated process. For example, for consumable a, pipetting, transferring consumable to the outlet plate, transferring consumable to the microplate reader inlet plate, microplate reader opening, microplate reader closing, microplate reader opening, and microplate reader closing may be performed sequentially as operations in an ordered set of operations, which must not be reversed. It may be appreciated that, in the case where the mimo device needs to be specific to multiple consumables, there may or may not be a dependency relationship between operations performed for different consumables. For example, a microplate reader associates consumable a and consumable B, and the pre-operations performed by the microplate reader for consumable a and the pre-operations for consumable B may not have a dependency. However, since the microplate reader has a dependency between the front operation and the main operation performed with respect to the consumable a, and the microplate reader has a dependency between the main operation and the rear operation performed with respect to the consumable B, and the microplate reader processes the consumable a and the consumable B at the same time, in this case, the microplate reader indirectly has a dependency between the front operation performed with respect to the consumable a and the rear operation performed with respect to the consumable B. Thus, in the ordered set of operations, the order of the front operations performed by the microplate reader for consumable a is front, and the rear operations performed by the microplate reader for consumable B is rear.

Any suitable method may be employed to obtain an ordered set of operations of an automated process in accordance with embodiments of the present application. For example, in the process of editing an automated process by a user using process editing software, the process may be predefined through a human-machine interface. When the automatic flow is operated, the automatic flow can be analyzed to obtain an ordered operation group. FIG. 2a illustrates a portion of a flow chart of an automated process of one embodiment. As shown in fig. 2a, a flow consisting of a plurality of operations is shown. As can be seen from the figure, each of operations 1 and 2 has a dependency relationship with operation 3. Each of operations 4 and 5 has a dependency relationship with operation 3. Each of operations 6 and 7 has a dependency relationship with operation 8. Operations 9 and 10 each have a dependency relationship with operation 8. And each of operations 5 and 9 has a dependency relationship with operation 11. Each of operations 12 and 13 has a dependency relationship with operation 11. Operations 3, 8, and 11 are all first main operations. Operation 1, operation 2, operation 4, and operation 5 are associated operations of operation 3. Operations 6, 7, 9, and 10 are associated operations of operation 8. Operation 5, operation 9, operation 12, and operation 13 are associated operations of operation 11. Illustratively, after parsing the flow, an ordered set of operations may be obtained that consists of these operations. Reference is made to table 1 below. As shown in table 1, the first column thereof may be regarded as an example of a list of the respective operations in the ordered operation group obtained after parsing the flowchart of fig. 2 a. It will be appreciated that the order of the individual operations in the ordered set of operations without dependencies may be determined based on the actual situation. Thus, in other examples, there may be other orders between operations that do not have dependencies. For example, in an ordered set of operations, operation 2 may be preceded and operation 1 may be followed.

In the process of editing the automation flow by using the flow editing software, the attribute of each operation-related consumable can be defined through a human-computer interaction interface, and in this step, the corresponding relationship between each operation in the operation group and the consumable can be obtained through analysis of the automation flow. As shown in Table 1, each first master operation in FIG. 2a may be associated with a plurality of consumables, and the associated operation of each first master operation may be associated with one consumable. The first primary operated device shown in fig. 2a may be a multiple-input multiple-output device.

TABLE 1

	Associated consumables	Associated consumable list dictionary
			Operation 1	Consumable 1	key, operation 1, value: [ consumable 1 ]]
Operation 2	Consumable 2	key, operation 2, value: [ consumable 2 ]]
			Operation 3	Consumable 1, consumable 2	key, operation 3, value: [ consumable 1, consumable 2 ]]
Operation 4	Consumable 1	key, operation 4, value: [ consumable 1 ]]
			Operation 5	Consumable 2	key, operation 5, value: [ consumable 2 ]]
Operation 6	Consumable 3	key, operation 6, value: [ consumable 3 ]]
			Operation 7	Consumable 4	key, operation 7, value: [ consumable 4 ]]
Operation 8	Consumable 3, consumable 4	key, operation 8, value: [ consumable 3, consumable 4 ]]
			Operation 9	Consumable 3	key, operation 9, value: [ consumable 3 ]]
Operation 10	Consumable 4	key operation 10, value: [ consumable 4 ]]
			Operation 11	Consumable 2, consumable 3	key, operation 11, value: [ consumable 2, consumable 3 ] ]
Operation 12	Consumable 2	key, operation 12, value: [ consumable 2 ]]
			Operation 13	Consumable 3	key, operation 13, value: [ consumable 3 ]]

Step S1400, determining an execution sequence of the associated operations of the first main operation according to the corresponding relationship between the ordered operation group and the associated operations of the first main operation and the first consumables, and the operation sequence of the first main operation on the first consumables.

It will be appreciated that the order of operation of the first master operation on the plurality of first consumables represents the order in which the apparatus of the first master operation processes the plurality of first consumables. For example, the operation order of the first main operation on the plurality of first consumables may be determined based on the analysis result of the automation flow, because the user has determined the operation order of the first consumables associated with the corresponding first main operation when the automation flow is established, and thus the operation order of the first main operation on the plurality of first consumables may be obtained by analyzing the automation flow. For example, before running an automated process, a user may edit the process using process editing software, and may set an order in which the first consumable is operated by the first main operation using the human-computer interaction interface. And storing the order as an operation consumable attribute of the first main operation in an execution script of the automated process. When the automatic flow is operated, the order of the first main operation first consumable materials can be obtained by analyzing the automatic flow.

In this step, any suitable determining logic may be used to determine the first main operation according to the corresponding relationship between the ordered operation group and the associated operation of the first main operation and the plurality of first consumables, and the operation order of the first main operation on the plurality of first consumables. By way of example and not limitation, first, all primary operations in an ordered set of operations may be determined based on the parsing results of an automated process. Then, for each master operation, an adjacent master operation having an indirect dependency relationship with the master operation may be found according to the dependency relationship between the respective operations in the ordered operation group. Specifically, a main operation whose execution order is before and closest to the main operation may be searched from the ordered operation group as a preceding adjacent main operation of the main operation. The main operation whose execution order is closest to the main operation can also be found as the next adjacent main operation of the main operation. Then, according to the corresponding relation between each main operation and consumable, the main operation of the multiple-input multiple-output device, namely the first main operation in the embodiment of the application, can be determined. For example, the 3 main operations in table 1 may all be the first main operation. Thereafter, an associated operation for each first primary operation may be determined. Specifically, for each first main operation, with respect to each first consumable corresponding to the first main operation, the first consumable is searched for in the ordered operation group and all operations sequentially between the first main operation and the first main operation are executed as the first associated operation of the first main operation. And, according to the same principle, it is possible to find out the first consumable item from the ordered operation group and perform all operations sequentially between the first main operation and the next-to-next main operation of the first main operation as the next-to-next operation of the first main operation. For example, an operation set formed by all the pre-associated operations of the determined first main operation may be used as the pre-set of the first main operation. And the operation set formed by all the post-association operations of the determined first main operation can be used as the post-set of the first main operation. Thus, a front set and a rear set of each first main operation can be determined. It will be appreciated that the front set of each first main operation includes at least the front operation of the primary device of that first main operation, and may also include an operation performed on the consumable associated with that first main operation in the rear operation of the primary device of the preceding adjacent main operation of that first main operation. Likewise, the post-set of each first main operation includes at least a post operation of the main device of the first main operation, and may further include an operation performed on the consumable associated with the first main operation among the pre-operations of the main devices of the post-adjacent main operations of the first main operation. Then, the order of the operations having the dependency relationship in the front set and the rear set may be adjusted so that the front list and the rear list may be obtained. In other words, the order of the individual operations in the front list and the rear list is the same as the order of the operations in the ordered operation group. Then, the order of the operations in the front list and the rear list of each first main operation can be adjusted according to the corresponding relation between the operations and the consumable materials and the operation order of each first main operation on the consumable materials (first consumable materials). For example, the operations performed on different consumables in the front list or the rear list may be established to supplement the dependency relationship according to the operation order of the first main operation on the consumables. Thus, the order of the operations in the corresponding list can be determined from the supplemental dependency. The supplemental dependencies may be any suitable dependencies that satisfy the requirements of the first primary operation on the order of operations of the consumable.

The following description will take a list of any first main operations as an example. Alternatively, the first and last steps of the respective operations for each consumable in the pre-list may be determined. For example, if the first main operation requires 2 consumables to be operated, the first operation (for simplicity, may be referred to as a head operation) and the last operation (for simplicity, may be referred to as a tail operation) of each operation for the two consumables in the front list may be determined, respectively. Then, according to the operation sequence of the first main operation on the consumable, the dependency relationship between the tail operation of the previous consumable and the head operation of the next consumable can be established, and the supplementary dependency relationship can be obtained. Thus, according to the complementary dependency relationship, the execution order of the operations in the front list can be determined as follows: all operations for the previous consumable are performed first, and all operations for the subsequent consumable are performed later. It will be appreciated that in this example, the order of execution of the individual operations performed for the different consumables is serial in the previous list. Alternatively, the operation of the entry board of the main device that may occupy the first main operation may also be found from the front list. The head and tail operations for each consumable therein may then be determined only for those operations that may occupy the device entry pad (which may be referred to as occupied operations for simplicity). According to the method, the dependency relationship can be established for the tail operation of the previous consumable and the head operation of the next consumable in the occupation operations according to the order of the consumable operation of the equipment, and the supplementary dependency relationship can be obtained. Thus, according to the complementary dependency relationship, the execution order of the operations in the front list can be determined as follows: all occupation operations for the previous consumable are performed first, and all occupation operations for the next consumable are performed later. It will be appreciated that in such an example, only the occupied operations are serial, and the unoccupied operations (operations other than the occupied operations in the front list) may be parallel among the operations performed for different consumables.

In step S1600, the automated process is scheduled based at least on the determined execution order. It will be appreciated that the ordered set of operations of the automated process may also include the main operation, pre-operation, and post-operation of a non-multiple-input multiple-output device or other multiple-input multiple-output device that does not require consumable sequencing. For these operations, the front list and the rear list of each main operation may also be determined according to the method of determining the front list and the rear list of the first main operation described above. Finally, the automation flow may be scheduled according to the order of the operations in the front and rear lists of the respective primary operations, including the first primary operation, and the dependency relationship between the respective primary operations.

Illustratively, in step S1400, determining the execution order of the associated operations of the first main operation may include step S1410, step S1420, and step S1430.

In step S1410, adjacent main operations of the first main operation in the ordered operation group are determined according to the dependency relationship of the serial operations in the ordered operation group.

As previously described, the neighboring main operations of the first main operation may include a front neighboring main operation before the main operation that is closest to the main operation and/or a rear neighboring main operation after the main operation that is closest to the main operation.

With continued reference to fig. 2a and table 1. As described above, operations 3, 8, and 11 are all first main operations, and thus, for operation 3, operation 11 is its neighboring main operation and is the next-to-next main operation. For operation 8, operation 11 is its neighboring main operation and is the next-to-next main operation. For operation 11, operations 3 and 8 are each their immediately preceding primary operations.

According to embodiments of the present application, a plurality of suitable determination logic may be used to determine the neighboring primary operations of each first primary operation in the ordered set of operations, which is not limited by the present application.

In one example, a master operation list consisting of individual master operations may be generated from the attributes and dependencies of the operations in the ordered set of operations. Then, a list of neighboring primary operations for each primary operation may be determined based on the dependencies of the individual operations in the ordered set of operations. And finally, searching the adjacent main operation list of the first main operation of the corresponding MIMO device from the adjacent main operation lists of all the main operations.

By way of example and not limitation, step S1410 determines an adjacent primary operation of the first primary operation in the ordered set of operations, including step S1411, step S1412, and step S1413.

Step S1411, determining a neighboring main operation list for each main operation in the ordered operation group according to the dependency relationship and the correspondence relationship of the serial operations in the ordered operation group.

Serial operations are operations that have a dependency relationship. In this step, each operation shown in table 1 may be traversed, and the adjacent main operation list of each main operation may be determined according to whether each operation is an attribute of the main operation, the associated consumable of each operation, and the order of each operation having a dependency relationship in the ordered operation group. For example, a master operation list composed of individual master operations may be generated first according to the attributes and dependencies of the operations in the ordered operation group. Then, a correspondence list of each operation and consumable items such as shown in table 1 may be generated. Then, a preceding operation list and a subsequent operation list of each operation can be generated according to the operations with the dependency relationship in the ordered operation group. Wherein the preamble operation of each operation is an operation having a direct dependency relationship with the operation, which is performed before the operation. For example, a predecessor operation may be an operation in an ordered set of operations that has a dependency relationship with the operation and is the immediately preceding operation of the operation. Similarly, the subsequent operation of each operation is an operation having a direct dependency relationship with the operation that is performed after the operation. Finally, any suitable logic may be employed to determine the neighboring primary operation for each primary operation based on the primary operation list, the precursor operation list, and the subsequent operation list.

Illustratively, step S1411 may include step S1411a, step S1411b, step S1411c, step S1411d, and step S1411e.

In step S1411a, each main operation in the ordered operation group is determined according to the device node of the automation flow, and a main operation list is obtained. In the embodiment shown in fig. 2a, the main operations include operation 3, operation 8, and operation 11.

Step 1411b, determining a corresponding relation between each operation in the ordered operation group and the consumable according to the associated attribute of each node of the automation flow and the consumable. As shown in table 1, the correspondence between each operation and the consumable may be listed, so that the upstream operation and the downstream operation of each main operation can be traced back according to the trend of the consumable.

Step S1411c, determining a preceding operation and a following operation with respect to each operation according to the dependency relationship of the serial operation in the ordered operation group, and obtaining a preceding operation list of the preceding operation with respect to each operation and a following operation list of the following operation with respect to each operation. Wherein the preceding operation and the following operation of each operation are respectively a preceding adjacent operation and a following adjacent operation of the operation. In other words, the preceding operation is the operation with the most recent dependency before the current operation, and the following operation is the operation with the most recent dependency after the current operation. That is, for the current operation, the current operation execution starts after the preamble operation execution ends, and the subsequent operation execution starts after the current operation execution ends.

According to the examples shown in fig. 2a and table 1 above, the preamble operation and the following operation of each operation as shown in table 2 below can be determined from the dependency relationship of the serial operation in the ordered operation group.

TABLE 2

As shown in table 2, operation 1 and operation 2 have no preamble operation, and operation 3 has preamble operations of operation 1 and operation 2, and operation 4 and operation 5 have preamble operations of operation 3. And then, the preamble is operated as a key, and a preamble operation list dictionary can be obtained in a mode that the preamble sequence table of the operation is value.

Step 1411d, determining a front adjacent main operation of each main operation for each consumable part according to the main operation list, the corresponding relation and the preamble operation list, so as to obtain a front adjacent main operation list.

According to the embodiment of the application, any suitable method may be adopted, and the front adjacent main operation of each main operation for each corresponding consumable material is determined according to the main operation list, the corresponding relation and the preamble operation list.

In one example, step S1411d may include steps S1411d.1 to S1411d.3.

In step s1411d.1, for each main operation, all the second consumables corresponding to the main operation may be determined according to the correspondence relationship. For convenience of distinction, the second consumable refers specifically to the consumable processed by the current main operation. It will be appreciated that the second consumable may be the first consumable for the case where the current primary operation is the first primary operation, and not the first consumable for the case where the current primary operation is not the first primary operation. Taking operation 3 as an example, the corresponding second consumables are consumable 1 and consumable 2. According to the method and the device for processing the consumable supplies, a corresponding relation list between each operation in the ordered operation group and the consumable supplies can be determined, and then the consumable supplies corresponding to each main operation can be found out from the list.

Step s1411d.2, for each second consumable, traversing the preamble operation list by using a depth-first search algorithm, and sequentially searching forward each first pending operation corresponding to the second consumable from the preamble operation corresponding to the second consumable of the main operation.

For example, referring to table 1, referring to consumable 1, looking forward from operation 3, consumable 1 passes through operation 1, and the first pending operation is operation 1. Looking forward from operation 1 again, operation 1 has no preamble operation. Judging whether the first pending operation belongs to the main operation or not according to the main operation list, if so, taking the first pending operation as the front adjacent main operation of the main operation and ending the search. For operation 1, it is known from the main operation list that it does not belong to the main operation. And taking the consumable 2 as a reference, looking up the consumable from the operation 3 forwards, wherein the first operation to be determined is the operation 2, and the consumable does not belong to the main operation. Operation 2 does not have a preamble operation. Thus ending the lookup, operation 3 has no pre-neighbor master operation.

Taking operation 11 as an example, it corresponds to consumable 2 and consumable 3, and consumable 2 is used as a second consumable, and looking up forward, and operation 5 is a first pending operation, and according to the main operation list, it can be known that it does not belong to the main operation and does not belong to the adjacent main operation before. And continuing to search forward, wherein operation 3 is a first waiting operation and belongs to a front adjacent main operation. The search for consumable 2 as a second consumable is stopped after the finding of the previous neighboring master operation. And taking the consumable 3 as a second consumable, looking forward, and obtaining the operation 8 as a front adjacent main operation. The front adjacent main operations of the finalizing operation 11 include operation 3 and operation 8.

In the above scheme, by determining the consumable corresponding to the main operation, and then in the ordered operation group, according to the consumable and the previous operation of each operation, each main operation starts to search for the first pending operation having a direct or indirect dependency relationship with the main operation in sequence, and matches the first pending operation searched for each time with the main operation in the main operation list, so as to determine the previous adjacent main operation of each main operation. The scheme has simple logic, is not easy to have the conditions of judgment errors and omission, and is more accurate in scheduling scheme.

Step S1411e, determining a post-adjacent main operation of each main operation for each consumable part according to the main operation list, the correspondence relation and the subsequent operation list, so as to obtain a post-adjacent main operation list.

Similar to the scheme of determining the front neighboring main operation group of each main operation in the above-described step S1411f, step S1411e may also include the following steps S1411e.1 to S1411e.3. In step 1411e.1, all the second consumables corresponding to the main operation are determined according to the correspondence. In step 1411e.2, for each second consumable, traversing the subsequent list of operations using a depth-first search algorithm, looking up each second pending operation corresponding to the second consumable in turn back from the subsequent operation of the master operation corresponding to the second consumable. In step 1411e.3, whether the second pending operation belongs to the main operation is determined according to the main operation list, if yes, the second pending operation is used as the next adjacent main operation of the main operation, and the searching is ended. It will be appreciated that the scheme of determining the next adjacent master operation of each master operation by these three steps is similar to that of steps s1411d.1 to s1411d.3 described above. For brevity, the description is omitted here. In the above scheme, by determining the consumable corresponding to the main operation, and then in the ordered operation group, according to the consumable and the subsequent operation of each operation, each main operation starts to search for the second pending operation having a direct or indirect dependency relationship with the main operation in turn, and matches the first pending operation searched for each time with the main operation in the main operation list, so as to determine the next adjacent main operation of each main operation. The scheme has simple logic, is not easy to have the conditions of judgment errors and omission, and is more accurate in scheduling scheme.

Thus, the front adjacent main operation and the rear adjacent main operation of each main operation can be determined separately. And may generate a neighbor master operation list. For the foregoing flow chart of fig. 2a, for example, a list of neighboring primary operations for each primary operation as shown in table 3 below may be determined.

TABLE 3 Table 3

In step S1412, each first main operation in the ordered operation group is determined according to the multiple-input multiple-output device node in the automation flow. As described above, the first main operations correspond to at least 2 consumables, and thus, each first main operation can be determined according to the multiple-input multiple-output device node.

Step S1413, searching adjacent main operations of each first main operation from the adjacent main operation list. The first main operation is determined in step S1412, and in step S1411 described above, a list of adjacent main operations with respect to each main operation in the ordered operation group is determined according to the dependency relationship and the correspondence relationship of the serial operations in the ordered operation group. Thus, for each first master operation, its neighbor master operation may be looked up from the neighbor master operation list for each master operation. For the first main operation, the adjacent main operation can be the main operation of the device with one input and one output, or the first main operation of the device with multiple inputs and multiple outputs.

The scheme for determining the adjacent main operation of each first main operation is simpler and more reasonable in execution logic, and the determined adjacent main operation is more accurate, so that the scheduling efficiency and the accuracy of an automatic flow are improved.

In step S1420, the association operation of the first main operation is determined according to the adjacent main operation, the ordered operation group and the correspondence relation of the first main operation.

As previously described, the association operation of the first main operation includes a pre-association operation and/or a post-association operation. The pre-association operation of the first main operation includes an operation that is performed before the first main operation and has a dependency relationship with the first main operation. For each first main operation, the front associated operation thereof includes both the front operation of the first main operation and the operation performed by the associated consumable for the first main operation in the rear operation of the front adjacent main operation; the post-association operation includes both a post operation of the first main operation and an operation performed on the associated consumable of the first main operation in a pre operation of a post-adjacent main operation.

In this step, the associated operation of the first main operation may also be determined by a variety of suitable methods.

Illustratively, S1420 determines an association operation of the first main operation, which may include step S1421 and step S1422.

Step S1421, determining a front set of front association operations of the first main operation according to the ordered operation group and the determined front adjacent main operation.

Illustratively, step S1421 may include step S1421a and step S1421b.

Step S1421a, traversing the ordered set of operations, determining a first initial set of all previous operations of the first primary operation. The first initial set may be a pre-operation set for each first main operation. In the process that the user edits the automation flow by using the flow editing software, the pre-operation and the post-operation of each main operation can be defined through a human-computer interaction interface, and in this step, whether each operation has the attribute of the pre-operation of a certain main operation or not can be determined through analysis of the automation flow. Thus, a front operation set of each main operation can be obtained.

Fig. 2b shows a flow chart of an automated process according to another embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 2b, which may be a detailed flow chart of the flow chart of fig. 2 a. As shown, operation 5 in FIG. 2a may correspond to operations 5-1, 5-2, and 5-3 shown in FIG. 2 b. Operation 9 in fig. 2a may correspond to operations 9-1, 9-2, and 9-3 shown in fig. 2 b. Referring to fig. 2b, the front operation of operation 3 includes operation 1 and operation 2. The preceding operations of operation 8 include operation 6 and operation 7. The preceding operations of operation 11 include operations 5-2, 5-3 and operations 9-2, 9-3. Thus, as shown in Table 4 below, a set of pre-operations, i.e., a first initial set, of the individual main operations in the flow chart of FIG. 2b may be obtained.

TABLE 4 Table 4

Main operation	First initial set
		Operation 3	Operation 1, operation 2
Operation 8	Operation 6, operation 7
		Operation 11	Operation 5-2, operation 5-3, operation 9-2, operation 9-3

In step S1421b, the operation corresponding to the first consumable item in the operation subsequent to the first main operation is added to the first initial set to obtain a previous set. For the flowchart shown in fig. 2b, operation 3 and operation 8 do not have a pre-adjacent master operation, and thus step S1421b need not be performed. The front adjacent main operation of the operation 11 comprises an operation 3 and an operation 8, wherein the operation after the operation 3 corresponds to the operation 5-1 of the first consumable material and is added into the first initial set. The post-operation of operation 8 corresponds to operation 9-1 of the first consumable, also being added to the first initial set. The previous set thus obtained is shown in table 5 below.

TABLE 5

Step S1422, determining a rear set composed of the rear association operation of the first main operation according to the ordered operation group and the determined rear adjacent main operation. In this step, the post-set of each first primary operation may be determined using a variety of suitable methods. For example, a method similar to the above-described steps S1421a and S1421b may be employed to determine the rear set of each first main operation. Illustratively, step S1422 may include step S1422a and step S1422b.

Step S1422a, traversing the ordered set of operations, determining a second initial set of all the post-operations of the first main operation. Similar to step S1421a, the post-operations of operation 3 include operation 5-1, operation 5-2, and operation 4; the post operations of operation 8 include operation 9-1, operation 9-2, operation 10; the following operations of operation 11 include operation 12 and operation 13.

In step S1422b, the operation corresponding to the first consumable in the previous operation of the next-to-next main operation of the first main operation is added to the second initial set to obtain the rear set. For example, operation 5-3 may be added to the second initial set of operation 3, and operation 9-3 may be added to the second initial set of operation 8 to obtain a post set.

The scheme for determining the front set and the rear set of each first main operation is simpler in execution logic and smaller in calculation amount, and each associated operation including the first main operation in the determined front set and rear set can be ensured. Therefore, real-time and accurate scheduling of an automatic process is facilitated.

Finally, as shown in Table 6 below, a front set and a back set of the respective first primary operations in the flow chart of FIG. 2b may be obtained.

TABLE 6

According to the embodiment of the present application, the step S1421 and the step S1422 may be performed simultaneously or sequentially, and the order of execution of the two steps is not limited in the present application.

In step S1430, the execution sequence of the association operation of the first main operation is determined according to the dependency relationship, the operation sequence of the first main operation on the plurality of first consumables, and the correspondence relationship.

For example, step S1430 may include step S1431a and/or step S1431b, step S1432a and/or step S1432b, and step S1433a and/or step S1433b.

In step S1431a, the operations in the front set are ordered according to the dependency relationship to obtain a front initial list of the first main operation. Wherein in the initial list, the order of the different operations performed for the same first consumable is the same as the dependency relationship. It will be appreciated that table 6 determines the front and rear sets of the respective first primary operations, i.e. the respective total associated operations for each first primary operation. In this step, the operations in the front set and the rear set of each first main operation may be ordered to obtain a front initial list and a rear initial list, respectively. For example, for the front set of operations 11 shown in Table 6, since there is a dependency relationship between operations 5-1 and 5-2 for each operation corresponding to consumable 2, operation 5-1 performed earlier may be moved before operations 5-2 and 5-3, and operation 9-1 performed earlier may be moved before operations 9-2 and 9-3.

In step S1431b, the operations in the back set are ordered according to the dependency relationship to obtain a back initial list of the first main operation. Similar to step S1431a, the post-initial list of operation 3 in Table 6 is adjusted to be the order of operation 4, operation 5-1, operation 5-2, operation 5-3, operation 8, and the post-initial list of operation 9-1, operation 9-2, operation 9-3, operation 10.

In step S1432a, the pre-initial list is updated according to the operation order and the correspondence of the first main operation to the plurality of first consumables, and the updated pre-list is obtained. Wherein in the preceding list, the order of operations corresponding to the preceding consumable is preceding and the order of operations corresponding to the following consumable is following. For example, for operation 11 in fig. 2a, consumable 2 needs to go into the device earlier than consumable 3. Thus, the updating of the pre-initial list may be performed in the order that at least part of the operations corresponding to the consumable 2 are performed first (the at least part of the operations may be all operations corresponding to the consumable 2 in the pre-initial list, or may be operations only partially satisfying requirements, such as operations occupying the device entry board in the foregoing example), and at least part of the operations corresponding to the consumable 3 are performed later.

For example, step S1432a may include step S1432a.1 and step S1432a.2.

And step S1432a.1, determining the head operation and the tail operation of each first consumable in the front initial list according to the corresponding relation. Step s1432a.2 is to place the first operation of the first consumable with the operation order in front in the initial list after the last operation of the first consumable with the operation order in front according to the operation order of the first main operation on the plurality of first consumables.

Referring again to fig. 2b and table 6, it can be appreciated that for the associated consumable 2 of operation 11, the operation 5-1 performed first is moved to before operations 5-2 and 5-3 in step S1431a, and thus, in the previous initial list, the first operation of the corresponding consumable 2 is operation 5-1 and the last operation is operation 5-3. According to a similar principle, it can be derived that in the previous initial list, the first operation of the corresponding consumable 3 is operation 9-1 and the last operation is operation 9-3. As described above, the operation 11 precedes the operation order of the consumable 3 with respect to the operation order of the consumable 2. In other words, a dependency relationship may be established between operations 9-1 and 5-3. This ensures that operations 5-1, 5-2, 5-3 associated with consumable 2 are all prior to operations 9-1, 9-2, 9-3 associated with consumable 3. Thus, it can be ensured that the operations performed on the consumable 3 do not occupy the entry board of the consumable 2 into the device corresponding to the operation 11. And the smooth execution of the automatic flow is ensured.

Step S1432b updates the sequence of each operation performed on the different first consumables in the post-initial list according to the operation sequence and the corresponding relation of the first main operation on the plurality of first consumables, and obtains an updated post-list, wherein in the post-list, the sequence of the operation corresponding to the preceding consumable is preceding and the sequence of the operation corresponding to the following consumable is following.

Step S1432b may also include steps s1432b.1 and s1432b.2, similar to the scheme of the pre-update initial list described above. And step S1432b.1, determining the head operation and the tail operation of each first consumable in the initial list according to the corresponding relation. Step s1432b.2, according to the operation sequence of the first main operation on the plurality of first consumables, placing the first operation corresponding to the first consumable with the subsequent operation sequence in the subsequent initial list after the tail operation corresponding to the first consumable with the preceding operation sequence.

It can be understood that, according to the scheme of updating the pre-initial list according to the methods of the steps s1432a.1 and the steps s1432a.2 and updating the post-initial list according to the methods of the steps s1432b.1 and the steps s1432b.2, the generated pre-list and post-list do not disturb the sequence of operations corresponding to each first consumable, and the situation that operations of different first consumables are interspersed does not occur, so that logic confusion can be avoided, execution logic is simpler, and calculation amount is smaller.

Illustratively, according to the above steps s1432a.1 and s1432b.1, the head operation and the tail operation for each first consumable in the front initial list and the rear initial list of each first main operation in fig. 2b may be determined, and the results are shown in the following table 7.

TABLE 7

From the above steps s1432a.2 and s1432b.2, a front list and a rear list obtained by updating the front initial list and the rear initial list of each of the first main operations in fig. 2b may be determined. As shown in Table 8, a front set, a rear set, a front list, and a rear list for each first primary operation may be determined.

TABLE 8

In step S1433a, the execution order of the pre-association operation of the first main operation is determined according to the pre-list.

Step S1433b, determining the execution order of the post-association operation of the first main operation according to the post-list.

According to the embodiment of the application, the sequence of the operations in the front list of each first main operation determined by the steps can be directly determined as the execution sequence of the front associated operation of the first main operation; and the order of the respective operations in the post list of each first main operation determined through the above steps may be directly determined as the execution order of the post-association operations of the first main operation.

It will be appreciated that by the above-described scheme, for example in the automated flow illustrated in fig. 2b, it may be determined at least for operation 11 that operation 5-3 performed with respect to consumable 2 is performed before operation 9-3 performed with respect to consumable 3. In this way, no conflict situation occurs in which the consumable 3 is advanced to the equipment than the consumable 2. Therefore, various scenes of the automatic flow on the order requirement can be met, the logic for determining the execution order is simple, excessive system resources are not consumed, and the speed is high and errors are not easy to occur. Therefore, the scheduling method has higher scheduling efficiency and accuracy.

Fig. 3 shows a flow chart of an automated process according to another embodiment of the present application. As shown, the automation flow may first be parsed to obtain an ordered set of operations for the automation flow. Then, each main operation in the ordered operation group can be determined, and the corresponding relation between each operation in the ordered operation group and the consumable can be determined. Then, according to the dependency relationship between the operations in the ordered operation group, the preceding operation and the subsequent operation of the operations in the ordered operation group can be determined, and a preceding operation list and a subsequent operation list can be obtained. Furthermore, the front adjacent main operation and the rear adjacent main operation of each main operation can be determined by traversing the front operation list by using a depth-first search algorithm aiming at all consumable materials corresponding to each main operation, so that the adjacent main operation list of each main operation can be obtained. Next, a front set and a rear set of each primary operation may be determined for each first primary operation based on the determined list of neighboring primary operations for that primary operation and may traverse the ordered set of operations. In particular, a first initial set of all pre-operations of the first main operation and a second initial set of all post-operations of the first main operation may be first determined. And the operation corresponding to the first consumable in the post operation of the pre-adjacent main operation of the first main operation can be added into the first initial set to obtain a pre-set; the operation corresponding to the first consumable in the front operation of the next-to-next main operation of the first main operation may also be added to the second initial set to obtain the rear set. The operations in the front set of each first primary operation may then be ordered according to the dependencies to obtain a front initial list and a rear initial list of the first primary operation. And then, according to the operation sequence of each first main operation on a plurality of first consumables and the corresponding relation between each operation in the ordered operation group and the consumables, determining the head operation and the tail operation corresponding to each first consumable in the front initial list and the rear initial list of the first main operation, updating the front initial list and the rear initial list, and obtaining the updated front list and the updated rear list. Further, the execution order of the pre-associated operation of each first main operation may be determined from the pre-list of the first main operation, and the execution order of the post-associated operation of the first main operation may be determined from the post-list of the first main operation. Finally, the automated process may be scheduled based on at least the determined order of execution of the pre-association operations and the order of execution of the post-association operations for each of the first primary groups.

According to another aspect of the present application, a scheduling system for an automated process is also provided. Fig. 4 shows a schematic block diagram of a scheduling system 400 of an automated process according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown, the scheduling system 400 of the automated process includes an acquisition module 410, a determination module 420, and a scheduling module 430.

The obtaining module 410 is configured to obtain an ordered operation group of the automation flow, where each operation in the ordered operation group has a dependency relationship according to an execution sequence, the ordered operation group includes at least one main operation and an associated operation of the main operation, the main operation is a main functional operation executed by a main device in the automation flow for a sample carried by a corresponding consumable, the main operation includes a first main operation, the first main operation corresponds to a plurality of first consumables, and the associated operation of each main operation includes an operation executed before or after the main operation and having a dependency relationship with the main operation.

The determining module 420 is configured to determine an execution order of the associated operations of the first main operation according to the ordered operation group, the correspondence between the associated operations of the first main operation and the first consumables, and the operation order of the first main operation on the first consumables.

A scheduling module 430 for scheduling the automated process based at least on the determined execution order.

According to another aspect of the present application, there is also provided an electronic device. Fig. 5 shows a schematic block diagram of an electronic device 500 according to an embodiment of the application. As shown, the electronic device 500 includes a processor 510 and a memory 520. The memory 520 has stored therein computer program instructions that, when executed by the processor 510, are configured to perform the scheduling method 1000 of the automated process described above.

According to another aspect of the present application, there is also provided a storage medium. Program instructions are stored on a storage medium that, when executed, are used to perform the scheduling method 1000 of the automated process described above. The storage medium may include, for example, erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), portable read-only memory (CD-ROM), USB memory, or any combination of the foregoing storage media. The storage medium may be any combination of one or more computer readable storage media.

Those skilled in the art will understand the specific implementation and advantages of the scheduling system 400, the electronic device 500 and the storage medium of the above-mentioned automation process by reading the above-mentioned related description of the scheduling method 1000 of the automation process, and for brevity, the description is omitted here.

Although the illustrative embodiments have been described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is to be understood that the above illustrative embodiments are merely illustrative and are not intended to limit the scope of the present application thereto. Various changes and modifications may be made therein by one of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the present application. All such changes and modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the present application as set forth in the appended claims.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative elements and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, or combinations of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the solution. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed apparatus and method may be implemented in other ways. For example, the above-described device embodiments are merely illustrative, e.g., the division of the elements is merely a logical functional division, and there may be additional divisions when actually implemented, e.g., multiple elements or components may be combined or integrated into another device, or some features may be omitted or not performed.

In the description provided herein, numerous specific details are set forth. However, it is understood that embodiments of the present application may be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well-known methods, structures and techniques have not been shown in detail in order not to obscure an understanding of this description.

Similarly, it should be appreciated that in order to streamline the application and aid in understanding one or more of the various inventive aspects, various features of the application are sometimes grouped together in a single embodiment, figure, or description thereof in the description of exemplary embodiments of the application. However, the method of this application should not be construed to reflect the following intent: i.e., the claimed application requires more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive aspects lie in less than all features of a single disclosed embodiment. Thus, the claims following the detailed description are hereby expressly incorporated into this detailed description, with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment of this application.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that all of the features disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings), and all of the processes or units of any method or apparatus so disclosed, may be combined in any combination, except combinations where the features are mutually exclusive. Each feature disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings), may be replaced by alternative features serving the same, equivalent or similar purpose, unless expressly stated otherwise. Furthermore, those skilled in the art will appreciate that while some embodiments described herein include some features but not others included in other embodiments, combinations of features of different embodiments are meant to be within the scope of the present application and form different embodiments. For example, in the claims, any of the claimed embodiments may be used in any combination. Various component embodiments of the present application may be implemented in hardware, or in software modules running on one or more processors, or in a combination thereof. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that microprocessors or Digital Signal Processors (DSPs) may be used in practice to implement some or all of the functions of some of the modules in the scheduling system of an automated process according to embodiments of the present application. The present application may also be embodied as device programs (e.g., computer programs and computer program products) for performing part or all of the methods described herein. Such a program embodying the present application may be stored on a computer readable medium, or may have the form of one or more signals. Such signals may be downloaded from an internet website, provided on a carrier signal, or provided in any other form.

The foregoing is merely illustrative of specific embodiments of the present application and the scope of the present application is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily think about changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present application, and the changes or substitutions are intended to be covered by the scope of the present application. The protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A method for scheduling an automated process, comprising:

acquiring an ordered operation group of an automatic flow, wherein each operation in the ordered operation group has a dependency relationship according to the execution sequence, the ordered operation group comprises at least one main operation and associated operation of the main operation, the main operation is a main functional operation executed by main equipment in the automatic flow aiming at a sample carried by corresponding consumable, the main operation comprises a first main operation, the first main operation corresponds to a plurality of first consumable, and the associated operation of each main operation comprises an operation executed before or after the main operation and having a dependency relationship with the main operation;

determining the execution sequence of the associated operation of the first main operation according to the ordered operation group, the corresponding relation between the associated operation of the first main operation and the plurality of first consumables and the operation sequence of the first main operation on the plurality of first consumables; and

2. The method of scheduling an automated process of claim 1, wherein determining an order of execution of associated operations of the first primary operation comprises:

determining adjacent main operations of the first main operation in the ordered operation group according to the dependency relationship of the serial operation in the ordered operation group;

and determining the execution sequence of the association operation of the first main operation according to the dependency relationship, the operation sequence of the first main operation on the plurality of first consumables and the corresponding relationship.

3. The method of scheduling an automated process of claim 2, wherein the neighboring primary operations of the first primary operation include a front neighboring primary operation that is closest to the primary operation before the primary operation and/or a rear neighboring primary operation that is closest to the primary operation after the primary operation; the association operation of the first main operation comprises a front association operation and/or a rear association operation; the pre-association operation of the first main operation comprises an operation which is executed before the first main operation and has a dependency relationship with the first main operation, and the post-association operation of the first main operation comprises an operation which is executed after the first main operation and has a dependency relationship with the first main operation; the front association operation and the rear association operation of the first main operation both correspond to the first consumable.

4. The method for scheduling an automated process according to claim 3,

the determining the association operation of the first main operation includes:

the determining the execution sequence of the associated operation of the first main operation includes:

sorting the operations in the front set according to the dependency relationship to obtain a front initial list of the first main operation and/or sorting the operations in the rear set according to the dependency relationship to obtain a rear initial list of the first main operation, wherein in the initial list, the sequence of different operations executed for the same first consumable is the same as the dependency relationship;

updating the sequence of each operation performed on different first consumables in the front initial list and/or the rear initial list according to the operation sequence of the first main operation on the plurality of first consumables and the corresponding relation, and obtaining an updated front list and/or rear list, wherein in the front list and the rear list, the sequence of the operation corresponding to the previous consumable is front, and the sequence of the operation corresponding to the rear consumable is rear; and

And determining the execution sequence of the pre-association operation of the first main operation according to the pre-list and/or determining the execution sequence of the post-association operation of the first main operation according to the post-list.

5. The method of scheduling an automated process of claim 4, wherein said determining a front set of front associated operations of said first primary operation comprises:

traversing the ordered set of operations, determining a first initial set of all previous operations of the first main operation; and

adding the operation corresponding to the first consumable in the operation after the adjacent main operation before the first main operation into the first initial set to obtain the front set;

and/or

The determining a post-set of post-association operations of the first primary operation includes:

traversing the ordered set of operations, determining a second initial set of all post-operations of the first main operation; and

and adding the operation corresponding to the first consumable in the front operation of the next main operation after the first main operation into the second initial set to obtain the rear set.

6. The method of scheduling an automated process of claim 4, wherein updating the order of operations performed for different first consumables in the front initial list and/or the rear initial list comprises:

7. The method of scheduling an automated process of any one of claims 2 to 6, wherein said determining adjacent ones of said first primary operations in said ordered set of operations comprises:

determining an adjacent main operation list related to each main operation in the ordered operation group according to the dependency relationship of the serial operation in the ordered operation group and the corresponding relationship;

8. The automated process scheduling method of claim 7, wherein the list of neighboring primary operations comprises a front list of neighboring primary operations and a rear list of neighboring primary operations, the determining a list of neighboring primary operations for each primary operation in the ordered set of operations comprising:

determining a front adjacent main operation of each main operation aiming at each corresponding consumable according to the main operation list, the corresponding relation and the preamble operation list to obtain the front adjacent main operation list; and

and determining a back adjacent main operation of each main operation aiming at each corresponding consumable according to the main operation list, the corresponding relation and the follow-up operation list so as to obtain the back adjacent main operation list.

9. The method of scheduling an automated process of claim 8, wherein said determining each master operation for a pre-adjacent master operation of each consumable of the corresponding comprises:

For each of the primary operations,

judging whether the first operation to be determined belongs to the main operation according to the main operation list, if so, taking the first operation to be determined as a front adjacent main operation of the main operation and ending the search;

and/or

The determining of the next-to-next master operation for each consumable for each master operation includes:

for each of the primary operations,

for each second consumable, traversing the subsequent operation list by using a depth-first search algorithm, and sequentially searching each second pending operation corresponding to the second consumable backwards from the subsequent operation corresponding to the second consumable of the main operation;

judging whether the second undetermined operation belongs to the main operation according to the main operation list, if so, taking the second undetermined operation as a next adjacent main operation of the main operation and ending the searching.

10. The method of scheduling an automated process according to any one of claims 1 to 6, further comprising:

and determining the operation sequence of the first main operation on the first consumable materials based on the analysis result of the automatic flow.

11. A scheduling system for an automated process, comprising:

the system comprises an acquisition module, a control module and a control module, wherein the acquisition module is used for acquiring an ordered operation group of an automatic flow, each operation in the ordered operation group has a dependency relationship according to the execution sequence, the ordered operation group comprises at least one main operation and associated operations of the main operation, the main operation is a main functional operation executed by main equipment in the automatic flow aiming at samples carried by corresponding consumable materials, the main operation comprises a first main operation, the first main operation corresponds to a plurality of first consumable materials, and the associated operation of each main operation comprises an operation executed before or after the main operation and having a dependency relationship with the main operation;

12. An electronic device comprising a processor and a memory, wherein the memory has stored therein computer program instructions which, when executed by the processor, are adapted to carry out the scheduling method of an automated process according to any one of claims 1 to 10.

13. A storage medium having stored thereon program instructions for performing, when executed, the scheduling method of an automated process according to any one of claims 1 to 10.