Method and Apparatus for Modification of Production Schedule

Method and Apparatus for Modification of Production Schedule

       Enclosed is a new method to edit a production schedule
displayed as rectangular regions so as to balance the load of total
production.  Editing functions are associated with a location in the
display.  Therefore, modification process can be performed modelessly
with a pointing device.

      In the system a rectangular region means a product, as in
Figure 1. The height of a rectangle stands for the load, and the
width stands for the period.  The system has three editing functions:
period modification, load modification, and location move.  These
editing functions are associated with a location in a rectangular
region, as in Figure 2.

      The period modification is associated with upper corners of a
rectangular region.  The width of the region varies according to the
move of a pointing device preserving the size of the region while the
location of the opposite corner is fixed.  Thus the height of the
region is updated according to the width and the size of the region.

      The load modification is associated with upper and side
boundaries of a rectangular region.  The size of the region varies
according to the move of a pointing device, while the difference of
the size is distributed to other rectangular regions.

      The location move is associated with the center of a
rectangular region.  The location of the region varies according to
the move of a pointing device.