JP2003030257A - Product configuration management method, its implementation device, and its processing program - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] To provide a technology capable of reducing the work time or cost required for grasping only the change information of a product necessary for a user. In a product configuration management method for managing a product configuration used in a design / manufacturing process, a step of creating a summarization rule indicating a rule for summarizing a product configuration,
Summarizing the pre-change and post-change product configurations according to the generated summarization rule, comparing the summarized pre-change product configuration with the post-change product configuration, and outputting the comparison result And steps.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a product composition management apparatus for managing a product composition, and more particularly to a product composition management apparatus for comparing a product composition before change and a product composition after change and displaying changed parts. It relates to technology that is effective when applied.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a product configuration management system, there are many systems that support change management of product configurations and component parts. Among the change management of product structure, in the system that shows the difference by comparing multiple product structures based on the change history, there is a simple change from the highest level to the highest level of the changed component element. It is shown as a part. As a method related to this type, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-66139 can be cited.

[0003]

In the method of showing the comparison result of the product configurations shown in the prior art, the parts other than the partially modified configuration (for example, up to the highest level) are regarded as changed components. Since it is shown, there is a problem that necessary change information is overlooked, etc., and there is a problem that a large amount of work time or cost is required for a user who wants to specify the influence range of the change.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems and to provide a technique capable of reducing the work time or cost required for grasping only the product change information required by the user.

[0005]

According to the present invention, a product composition management device for managing a product composition used in a design / manufacturing process outputs a comparison result of product structures before and after a change summarized according to a summarization rule. Is.

In the present invention, the PDM (Product Data Manager)
ment) Enter the pre-summarization configuration pattern and post-summarization configuration pattern that consist of a part of the product configuration included in the design information of the system, and the change information recipient type that indicates the type of user who receives the change information. Accept from users and create summarization rules that show the rules for summarizing product configurations.

Next, the product configurations before and after the change are summarized in accordance with the created summarization rule, and the summarized before-change product structure and the summarized after-change product structure are generated and then generated. The summarized summarized before-change product structure and the summarized summarized after-change product structure are compared, and the difference between before and after the change in the summarized product structure is output as the comparison result.

[0008] Here, the term "summarization" means an abstraction based on a rule inputted in advance, and the relation of a plurality of parts in a product is integrated into one by the abstraction. When the product configurations are compared, the amount of information shown as the comparison result can be controlled according to the purpose of use of the user by targeting the abstracted product configurations.

That is, when the pre-summarization constituent pattern and the post-summarization constituent pattern are input, by inputting a pattern for summarizing a product composition unnecessary for the user, the summarization before change is performed. The product structure and the summarized post-change product structure are those in which unnecessary product structures are hidden, and the summarized before-change product structure and the summarized after-change product structure in which this unnecessary product structure is hidden are compared. By doing so, it is possible to output only the change information necessary for the user among the change information of the product.

As described above, according to the product composition management apparatus of the present invention, since the comparison result of the product composition before and after the change summarized in accordance with the summarization rule is output, only the product change information necessary for the user is output. It is possible to reduce the work time or cost required for grasping.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION A product configuration management apparatus of one embodiment for comparing a product configuration before a change and a product configuration after a change to display changed parts will be described below.

FIG. 1 shows a product configuration management device 10 of this embodiment.
It is a figure which shows schematic structure of 0. As shown in FIG. 1, the product configuration management apparatus 100 according to the present exemplary embodiment includes a summarization rule creation processing unit 121, a product configuration summarization processing unit 122, a summarization completed product configuration comparison processing unit 123, and a virtual part registration process. Part 1
24 and.

The summarization rule creation processing unit 121 is a processing unit that creates a summarization rule indicating a rule for summarizing the product configuration. The product configuration summarization processing unit 122 is a processing unit that summarizes the product configurations before and after the change according to the created summarization rule.

The summarized product structure comparison processing unit 123
The processing unit compares the summarized product structure before change with the product structure after change and outputs the comparison result. The virtual component registration processing unit 124 is a processing unit that registers a virtual component that virtually represents the hierarchical relationship of the configuration that is a part of the product configuration with one terminal node.

A program for causing the product structure management apparatus 100 to function as the summarization rule creation processing unit 121, the product structure summarization processing unit 122, the summarizing product structure comparison processing unit 123, and the virtual part registration processing unit 124 is a CD. -RO
After being recorded in a recording medium such as M and stored in a magnetic disk or the like, it is loaded into a memory and executed. The recording medium for recording the program may be a recording medium other than the CD-ROM. The program may be installed in the information processing apparatus from the recording medium and used, or the recording medium may be accessed through the network to use the program.

In FIG. 1, creation of summarization rules according to the present embodiment, summarization of product configurations, and comparison of summarized product configurations (hereinafter, these series of processing flows are simply referred to as "series flow"). ) Is an example of a device configuration for executing the above.

The product configuration management device 100 includes a storage device 110 for storing data, a calculation device 120 for performing various calculations using the data, a display device 143 for displaying calculation results of the calculation device 120, and a tree. Tree editing tool 150 for editing the product configuration management device 100
The PDM system 101 includes a keyboard 141 and a mouse 142 for operating the
Works in conjunction with.

The storage device 110 also stores a summarization rule area 111 for storing summarization rules, a configuration pattern area 112 for storing configuration patterns, a virtual part area 113 for storing information about virtual parts, and a summarized pre-change product structure. And the summarized post-change product configuration area 115 for storing the summarized post-change product configuration area 115.

The arithmetic unit 120 further includes a summarization rule creation processing unit 121 for creating summarization rules, a product configuration summarization processing unit 122 for summarizing product configurations, and a summarization for comparing two summarized product configurations. Finished product composition comparison processing unit 1
23, virtual part registration processing unit 124 for registering virtual parts
Is equipped with.

The PDM system 101 is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-
It is a system for fetching and editing design information and part-related information of each part constituting a product as shown in Japanese Patent No. 331052, and managing the obtained configuration information of each part in a tree structure. In this embodiment, the PDM system is 1
Although it is assumed that there is one type and the type of product managed by the PDM system 101 is also one, it is also possible to cooperate with a plurality of PDM systems or manage a plurality of products.

The tree structure has terminal nodes (hereinafter,
The leaf) holds information for identifying the component.
In non-leaf nodes (hereinafter called intermediate nodes),
A certain intermediate node is distinguished from other intermediate nodes by the child node of the intermediate node without holding the information for identifying the component.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an internal structure of the tree structure of this embodiment and an example thereof. As shown in FIG. 15A, the tree structure internally has information 1511 for identifying a node, information 1512 for identifying a node of a child node of the node, and information 15 for identifying a component of the node.
It is represented by a two-dimensional data table composed of 13 and other information 1514 indicating the relationship between the node and its child nodes. The parent-child relationship between one node and its child node is represented by one row of data in this data table.

However, if the node is an intermediate node, the information 1513 for identifying a part has no data. Conversely, if the node is a leaf, there is no data in the information 1512 for identifying the child node node and the other information 1514 indicating the relationship between the nodes. Less than,
This data table is called a tree structure table.

The information 1513 for identifying a part is an identifier used to uniquely identify a part in the PDM system 101. If this identifier is a "part number", the tree structure table identifies the part. The “part number” is held as the identification information, and if the “part number” is the same, the “part number” is held.

The tree structure table 153 shown in FIG.
0 is an example of a tree structure table corresponding to the tree structure 1560 of FIG. Tree structure table 1
In 530, the node number 1531 is used as the information 1511 for identifying the node, and the information 1 for identifying the node of the child node.
The child node node number 1532 as 512, the component number 1533 as the component identification information 1513, and the effective date 15 as the other information 1514 indicating the node relationship.
Has 34 and status 1535. However, PDM
The identifier used to uniquely identify a component in the system 101 is a “component number”. Also, "P
“-111” 1561, “P-112” 1562, and “P-113” 1563 are part numbers.

FIG. 2 shows the creation of the summarization rule of this embodiment.
It is a figure which shows the flow of a series of processes of the summary of a product structure, and the comparison of the summarized product structure. Hereinafter, based on FIG. 2, a series of flows using the product configuration management apparatus 100 will be described.

First, the designer 211 uses the PDM system 1
01 product design information 251 and summarization rule 2
61 is created and registration is instructed (S201). Designer 2
When 11 instructs the registration of the summarization rule, the summarization rule creation processing unit 121 of FIG. 1 registers the created summarization rule in the summarization rule area 111.

Further, the designer 211 creates and registers the virtual part 262 as needed (S202). Designer 21
When the virtual component registration processing unit 124 of FIG. 1 instructs the virtual component registration, the virtual component registration processing unit 124 of FIG.
Register at 13.

When confirming the change of the structure of the product, the manufacturer 212 first gives an instruction to summarize the pre-change product structure 252 (S203). When the manufacturer 212 gives an instruction to summarize the pre-change product structure 252, the product structure summarization processing unit 122 of FIG. 1 summarizes the pre-change product structure 252 and creates a summarized pre-change product structure 263. . Similarly, the manufacturer 212 gives an instruction to summarize the changed product configuration 253 (S204). When the manufacturer 212 gives an instruction to summarize the changed product structure 253, the product structure summarization processing unit 122 in FIG. 1 summarizes the changed product structure 253 and creates a summarized changed product structure 264. .

Next, the manufacturer 212 uses the pre-change product configuration 2
52 is instructed to compare the changed product configuration 253. When the manufacturer 212 instructs the comparison of the pre-change product structure 252 and the post-change product structure 253, the summarized product structure comparison processing unit 123 of FIG.
3 and the post-change product structure 264 summarized are compared, and the comparison result 254 is shown to the manufacturer 212 (S205).

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the summarization rule of this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 3, the summarization rule created by the designer 211 in S201 is the rule identifier 30
1, a pre-summarization configuration pattern 302, a post-summarization configuration pattern 303, and a change information recipient type 304. The summarization rule identified by one rule identifier 301 corresponds to one row of data in this data table. Hereinafter, this data table will be referred to as a summarization rule table.

The configuration pattern mentioned here is a kind of tree structure and has the same format as the tree structure managed by the PDM system 101. However, the leaf of the configuration pattern holds information for identifying a component or information for identifying a virtual component. An intermediate node does not hold information for identifying a component or information for identifying a virtual component, and a child node of the intermediate node distinguishes an intermediate node from other intermediate nodes.

The construction pattern is created by the designer 211 operating the tree editing tool 150.

The tree editing tool 150 is a keyboard 1
A program for causing the product configuration management apparatus 100 to function as a processing unit that newly creates a tree, adds a branch or a node to the created tree, or deletes a branch or a node by using the 41 or the mouse 142. Is. that time,
This tool has a graphical user interface, and the user can edit the tree while visually confirming the state of the tree on the display device 143. It also provides a function of recalling data managed by the PDM system 101 or data stored in the storage device 110 and using the data for editing the tree as needed.

FIG. 4 shows the product configuration management device 10 of this embodiment.
It is a figure which shows the structure table of 0, and its example. Figure 4
As shown in (A), the configuration pattern internally has information 411 for identifying a node, information 412 for identifying a node of a child node of the node, and information for identifying whether the node is a part or a virtual part. It is represented by a two-dimensional data table composed of 413, information for identifying the component of the node or information 414 for identifying the virtual component, and other information 415 indicating the relation of the node. The parent-child relationship between one node and its child node is represented by one row of data in this data table.

However, if the node is an intermediate node, the information 413 for identifying a part or a virtual part and the information for identifying a part or the information 414 for identifying a virtual part have no data. On the contrary, if the node is a leaf, the information 412 for identifying the node of the child node and the other information 415 indicating the relationship between the nodes have no data.

Further, one data table has one identifier 421. The pre-summarization configuration pattern 302 and the post-summarization configuration pattern 303 of the summarization rule table hold this identifier 421. Hereinafter, this data table will be referred to as a configuration pattern table.

Of the information for identifying a part or the information for identifying a virtual part 414, the information for identifying a part is an identifier used for uniquely identifying a part in the PDM system 101, and this identifier is If it is "part number", the configuration pattern table holds "part number" as the information for identifying the part, and if it is "part number", it holds "part number".

FIG. 5 shows the product configuration management device 10 of this embodiment.
It is a figure which shows the virtual part table of 0, and its example. The virtual parts are created by the designer 211 as necessary in the virtual parts area 11.
5 is a two-dimensional data table composed of information 511 for identifying a virtual part and information 512 about the virtual part such as various specification values of the virtual part, as shown in FIG. 5A. expressed. One virtual component identified by the information 511 for identifying one virtual component corresponds to one row of data in this data table. Hereinafter, this data table will be referred to as a virtual parts table.

The virtual parts table 530 shown in FIG.
It is an example of a virtual parts table. Virtual parts table 53
0 has a virtual part identifier 531 as information 511 for identifying a virtual part, and a name 532 and a creation date 533 as information 512 about the virtual part such as various specification values of the virtual part.

Of the information for identifying parts or the information for identifying virtual parts 414, the information for identifying virtual parts is the information 511 for identifying virtual parts.

The configuration pattern table 430 shown in FIG.
4 is an example of a configuration pattern table corresponding to the configuration pattern 460 of FIG. Configuration pattern table 4
In FIG. 30, the node number 431 is used as the information 411 for identifying the node, the node number 432 of the child node is used as the information 412 for identifying the node of the child node, and the component or virtual component is used as the information 413 for identifying whether it is a component or a virtual component. The identification information 433, the part number or virtual part identifier 434 as the information for identifying the part or the information 414 for identifying the virtual part, the effective date 435 and the status 436 as the other information 415 indicating the node relationship, and the identifier 421.
"Configuration pattern table 1" which is the identifier 441 as
have. However, in the PDM system 101,
The identifier used to uniquely identify the component is the "component number", and the information 511 for identifying the virtual component in the virtual component table is the "virtual component identifier". Further, "P-111" 461 and "P-112" 463 are part numbers, and "V-111" 462 is a virtual part identifier.

FIG. 12 is a PAD showing the flow of the summarization rule creation of this embodiment. The summarization rule creation processing unit 121 of FIG. 1 first receives an instruction to create a summarization rule (S1201). When receiving the instruction, one row is added to the summarization rule table to store a new summarization rule (S1202).

Next, the input of the pre-summarization constituent pattern is received from the tree editing tool 150 (S1203). The input includes information about all the nodes of the pre-summary configuration pattern and information about the parent-child relationship of the nodes.
When the pre-summarization configuration pattern is input, a configuration pattern table is created for the input configuration pattern (S
1204), the identifier of the created configuration pattern table is stored in the added row (S1205). Further, the created configuration pattern is stored in the configuration pattern area 112 (S1206).

Similarly, an input of the post-summarization constituent pattern is accepted from the tree editing tool 150 (S1207), a constituent pattern table is created for the inputted constituent pattern (S1208), and the identifier of the created constituent pattern table is set as described above. Store in the added row (S120
9). Further, the created configuration pattern is stored in the configuration pattern area 112 (S1210).

The summarization rule creation processing section 121 further includes
The change information recipient type is accepted (S1211), and when the input is received, it is stored in the added line (S121).
2).

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing the flow of creating the configuration pattern table of this embodiment. In FIG. 13, a PAD diagram is used to show the flow of the process of creating the configuration pattern table performed by the summarization rule creation processing unit 121 in steps 1204 and 1208 of FIG.

The summarization rule creation processing unit 121 first
It is confirmed whether or not a configuration pattern table holding the same configuration pattern as the input processing target configuration pattern already exists in the configuration pattern area 112 of FIG. 1 (S
1301). If it exists, the identifier of the configuration pattern is acquired (S1302).

If the configuration pattern table holding the same configuration pattern as the processing target configuration pattern does not exist in the configuration pattern area 112, a new configuration pattern table is created (S1303).

Further, for all the nodes of the configuration pattern to be processed (S1304), one row is added to the created configuration pattern table (S1305), and a process of storing data is performed (S1306). The summarization rule creation processing unit 121 sets the identifier 421 in the created configuration pattern table after performing the processes of step 1305 and step 1306 for all the nodes of the processing target configuration pattern (S1307).

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing the flow of registration of the configuration pattern of this embodiment. In FIG. 14, step 1 of FIG.
A PAD diagram shows the flow of processing of data registration in the configuration pattern table performed by the summarization rule creation processing unit 121 at 306.

The summarization rule creation processing part 121 identifies the node 411 for the node to be processed.
Check whether or not is already assigned (S140
1) If it is assigned, obtain the information 411 for identifying the assigned node (S1402),
If not assigned, the information 411 for identifying the node is assigned to the processing target node so as to be unique in the configuration pattern table (S1403).

Next, the information 411 for identifying the acquired or assigned node is stored in the line added in step 1305 of FIG. 13 (S1404).

The summarization rule creation processing unit 121 next
By referring to the input of the tree editing tool 150 accepted in steps 1203 and 1207 of FIG. 12, it is confirmed whether the processing target node is an intermediate node or a leaf (S).
1405).

If it is an intermediate node, it is confirmed whether or not the information 412 for identifying the node of the child node of the intermediate node is already assigned (S1406), and if it is assigned, the assigned child node is checked. Obtains the information 412 for identifying the node (S1407),
If not assigned, the information 412 for identifying the node of the child node is assigned to the child node so as to be unique in the configuration pattern table (S1408).
Next, the information 412 for identifying the acquired or assigned child node is stored in the line added in step 1305 of FIG. 13 (S1409). The summarization rule creation processing unit 121 further stores other information 415 indicating the node relationship in the added row (S141).
0).

If the node to be processed is a leaf, the information for identifying the part or the information 414 for identifying the virtual part is stored in the line added in step 1305 of FIG. 13 (S1411).

The PDM system 1 is used to create the summarization rule.
While referring to the whole or part of the current or past product structure managed by 01, the parts development of the whole or part of the future product structure is predicted,
It may be created within the range of the information of the parts managed by the current PDM system 101.

The pre-summarization configuration pattern and the post-summarization configuration pattern registered in the summarization rule are stored in the parts currently managed by the PDM system 101 or in the virtual parts area 113 by using the tree editing tool 150. Virtual parts that have already been stored can be freely combined and created.

Further, the summarization rule need not be created at one time, and can be created at any time. Therefore, when new parts that can replace conventional parts are introduced, or when it is possible to realize the same function although the way of combining parts is different from the conventional one, it is only necessary You can create summarization rules.

FIG. 23 is a PAD showing the flow of registration of virtual parts according to this embodiment. Virtual part registration processing unit 1 in FIG.
24 first receives an instruction to register a virtual part (S
2301). When the instruction is received, one row is added to the virtual parts table to store a new virtual part (S230).
2).

Next, the input of the information 511 for identifying the virtual part is accepted (S2303), it is confirmed whether the input value is unique in the virtual part table (S2304), and if it is not unique, the re-input is accepted (S2305). .

If the input value is unique in the virtual parts table, it is further confirmed whether it is unique to the information 1513 for identifying the parts of the parts currently managed by the PDM system 101 (S2306). If it is not unique, re-input is accepted (S2307). If unique, move to the next processing.

Next, the virtual part registration processing section 124 stores the input information 511 for identifying the virtual part in step 230.
It is stored in the line added to the virtual parts table in 2 (S23).
08). Further, the information 512 on the virtual part is received (S2309), and the input value is stored in the row added to the virtual part table in step 2302 (S231).
0).

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of summarizing the product configuration of this embodiment. In S203 and S204 of FIG. 2, the summarization executed by the product structure summarization processing unit 122 according to the instruction of the manufacturer 212 means a partial structure of the instructed product structure (hereinafter, referred to as a partial structure) as shown in FIG. (Referred to as a tree), a subtree that matches the pre-summarization constituent pattern 302 of any summarization rule shown in FIG. 3 is replaced with the post-summarization constituent pattern 303 of the summarization rule. However, the matching here means a state in which all the parent-child relationships between the nodes of the two subtrees are all the same and all the leaves are the same. The state in which the leaves are the same means a state in which the information for identifying the parts set in the leaves or the information 414 for identifying the virtual parts are the same. The replacement process is repeated recursively as long as the matching subtree and the pre-summarization constituent pattern match.

FIG. 16 is a PAD showing the flow of summarization in this embodiment. The product configuration summarization processing unit 122 of FIG.
First, accepts an instruction for summarization (S1601).
Upon receiving the instruction, the information regarding the product configuration is read from the PDM system 101 (1602), and the instruction indicating which part of the product configuration is to be subjected to the summarization process is accepted (S1603). Hereinafter, this product configuration is referred to as a processing target product configuration.

Next, an instruction indicating whether the processing target product configuration is to be processed as the pre-change product configuration or the changed product configuration is accepted (S1604).
Further, the change information recipient type is accepted (S1605),
The summarization rule table is read from the summarization rule area 111 (S1606).

The change information recipient type is an index used for allocating the summarization rule to be applied. In step 1606, the set change information recipient type is the change information received in step 1605. Read processing is limited to the summarization rule that is equal to the value of the recipient type.

Next, the product structure summarization processing unit 122 resets the count value C to "0" (S1608), applies all the read summarization rules (S1609), and applies the summarization rules to the product structure to be processed. It is confirmed whether it can be applied and applied (S1610). After repeating the processing of step 1610 for all the read summarization rules, the product configuration summarization processing unit 122 confirms the count value C (S1611), and unless the count value C is “0”, the product configuration summarization processing unit 122 performs steps 1608 to 1611. The process is performed again (S1607, S1612).

When the above processing is completed, step 160
4, it is checked whether or not it is instructed to perform the processing as the product configuration before the change (S1613), and when it is instructed to perform the processing as the product configuration before the change, the product configuration summarization processing unit 122 determines the processing target. The summarized configuration of the product configuration is stored in the summarized pre-change product configuration area 114 (S1
614), the correspondence with the processing target product configuration is saved (S1).
615).

If it is instructed in step 1604 to perform processing as the changed product configuration, the summarized configuration of the product configuration to be processed is stored in the summarized modified product configuration area 115 (S1616). The correspondence with the processing target product configuration is saved (S1617).

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing the flow of confirmation and application of applicability of the summarization rule of this embodiment. In FIG. 17,
In step 1610 of FIG. 16, the product configuration summarization processing unit 12
A PAD diagram is used to show the flow of processing for confirming whether or not to apply the summarization rule and for applying the summarization rule.

The product structure summarization processing unit 122 first calculates the depth A of the product structure to be processed (S1701). Similarly, the depth B of the pre-summarization configuration pattern of the summarization rule whose applicability is to be confirmed is calculated (S170).
2). Here, the depth indicates the number of hierarchies of the tree structure.

Next, a value C obtained by adding 1 to the difference between the depth A and the depth B is calculated (S1703). Here, it is assumed that this value C is a value different from the count value C. If this value is 1 or more, the product configuration summarization processing unit 122 (S1
704), for each node from the first layer to the Cth layer of the product structure to be processed (S1705), a subtree is created and it is confirmed whether or not it matches the pre-summarization configuration pattern, and the matching subtree is summarized as described above. The configuration rule is replaced with the post-summarization configuration pattern (S1706).

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing a flow of processing for creating a subtree according to the present embodiment and for confirming a match with the post-summarization constituent pattern. FIG. 18 shows, using a PAD diagram, the flow of the process for creating a subtree and confirming the match with the pre-summarization configuration pattern, which is performed by the product configuration summarization processing unit 122 in step 1706 of FIG.

First, the product structure summarization processing unit 122 extracts and creates a C level subtree rooted at the node mentioned in step 1705 from the product structure to be processed (S1801). Next, the match flag M is set to off (S1802).

The product structure summarization processing unit 122 then confirms whether the root of the pre-summarization structure pattern is an intermediate node or a leaf (S1803). If it is an intermediate node, it is confirmed whether the intermediate nodes match (S180
4) If the results match (S1805), the match flag M is set to ON (S1806). If the root of the pre-summarization configuration pattern is a leaf, it is confirmed whether the leaves match (S1807), and if the result is a match (S18).
08), the match flag M is set to ON (S180)
9).

If the match flag M is set to ON (S1810), the product structure summarization processing unit 122 replaces the part of the product structure to be processed corresponding to the subtree with the post-summarization structure pattern ( S1811). Further, the count value C is decremented by 1 (S1812).

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing a flow of confirmation of matching of intermediate nodes according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 19, among the nodes of the pre-summarization configuration pattern of the processing target, which is called “confirmation of matching of intermediate nodes”, whether the node that is the intermediate node matches any node of the processing target subtrees. The flow of the processing to confirm is shown using a PAD diagram. The node which is the intermediate node is hereinafter referred to as a node P.

The product structure summarization processing unit 122 first sets the match flag N to ON (S1901), and acquires the node list to be confirmed from the subtree (S190).
2). Hereinafter, this node list is referred to as a node list Q. Next, the following process is performed for all the nodes included in the node list Q (S1903).

First, the product structure summarization processing unit 122 counts the number of leaf nodes among the child nodes of the nodes in the node list Q and the child nodes of the node P (S1904) and compares them (S1905). ). If they match, the number of intermediate nodes among the child nodes of the two nodes is further counted (S190
6) and compare (S1907). If they match, for all child nodes of the two nodes (S190
8) Then, it is confirmed whether the child nodes match (S1909).

After the above processing, if the match flag N is set to ON (S1910), the product structure summarization processing unit 122 sets the processed flag to the node of the node list Q that matches the node P. It is set (S1911), and the result is returned to the caller of this processing as "match" (S1912).
On the other hand, if the match flag N is set to OFF, the result is returned to the caller of this processing as "non-match" (S191).
3).

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing the flow of processing for acquiring a node list to be confirmed in this embodiment from a subtree. In FIG. 20, a PAD diagram is used to describe the flow of the process performed by the product structure summarization processing unit 122 in step 1902 of FIG. 19 and step 2202 of FIG. Is shown.

The product structure summarization processing unit 122 first initializes the node list (S2001), and then the node to be processed by the pre-summarization structure pattern, that is, the node P or the same layer as the node R described later. It is confirmed whether or not the processed flag is set for all the nodes of the subtree in (S2002) (S2003). If it is not set, it is confirmed whether or not a parent node exists in the processing target node (S2004), and if it is present, it is further confirmed whether or not the processing target node is a child node of the matching parent node. (S2005). If it is a child node of the matching parent node, it is added to the processing target node list (S2006). Also, step S2003
In step S2, if the parent node does not exist in the processing target node, the parent node is added to the processing target node list (S2).
007).

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing a flow of confirmation of matching of child nodes according to this embodiment. In FIG. 21, the flow of the process of confirming the matching of the child nodes, which is performed by the product configuration summarization processing unit 122 in step 1909 of FIG. 19, is shown using a PAD diagram.

The product structure summarization processing unit 122 confirms whether the node to be processed is an intermediate node or a leaf (S2101). If it is an intermediate node, the match of the intermediate node is confirmed (S2102), and if the result is not a match (S2103), the match flag N is set to OFF (S2104). If the processing target node is a leaf, the matching of the leaves is confirmed (S2105), and if the result does not match (S2106), the matching flag N is set to OFF (S2107).

FIG. 22 is a diagram showing a flow of confirmation of leaf coincidence according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 22, it is referred to as “confirmation of matching of leaves”, and it is confirmed whether a node that is a leaf among the nodes of the pre-summarization configuration pattern of the processing target matches any node of the subtree of the processing target. The process flow is shown using a PAD diagram. The above-mentioned node which is a leaf is hereinafter referred to as a node R.

The product structure summarization processing unit 122 first sets the match flag L to OFF (S2201), and acquires the node list to be confirmed from the subtree (S220).
2). Hereinafter, this node list is referred to as a node list Q. Next, the following process is performed for all the nodes included in the node list Q (S2203).

First, the product structure summarization processing section 122 compares the information identifying the parts of the node R and the node to be processed or the information identifying the virtual parts 414 (S220).
4). If they match, the match flag L is set to ON (S2
205), the processed flag is set to the node to be processed (S2206), and the iterative process of step 2203 ends (S2207).

After the above processing, if the match flag L is set to ON (S2208), the product structure summarization processing unit 122 returns the result as "match" to the caller of this processing (S2209). ). On the other hand, if the match flag L is set to OFF, the result is returned to the caller of this processing as "non-match" (S2210).

For example, the case where the product structure 601 of FIG. 6 is summarized by applying the summarization rule table of FIG. 3 will be described. The manufacturer 212 sets X as the change information recipient type.
When is specified, since the subtree 611 matches the configuration pattern 322 of the identifier 321 “rule 1”, the subtree 611 is replaced with the configuration pattern 323 to form the subtree 613. Further, the subtree 612 is the configuration pattern 3 of the identifier 331 “rule 3”.
32, so replace it with the configuration pattern 333,
Let it be a partial tree 614. Therefore, as a result of the summarization S603,
The product structure 601 is summarized into a summarized product structure 602.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of summarizing the product configuration of this embodiment. On the other hand, the change information recipient type is Y
Is specified, the product structure 702 is summarized in FIG. That is, in the case of the product configuration 701, the partial tree 711
Matches the configuration pattern 322 of the identifier 321 “Rule 1”, but Y is not set in the change information recipient type 324 of the identifier 321 “Rule 1”, and thus is left unchanged. The subtree 712 matches the configuration pattern 332 of the identifier 331 “rule 3”, and the change information recipient type 334 of the identifier 331 “rule 3” is set to Y. Therefore, the subtree 712 is replaced with the configuration pattern 333, and the subtree 7
13 Therefore, as a result of the summarization S703, the product configuration 701 is summarized into the summarized product configuration 702.

FIG. 24 is a diagram showing a flow of comparison of summarized product configurations of this embodiment. FIG. 24 shows the flow of the process of comparing the summarized product configurations performed by the summarized product configuration comparison processing unit 123 of FIG. 1 using a PAD diagram.

The summarized product structure comparison processing unit 12 of FIG.
3 receives an instruction to compare the summarized product configurations (S2401). When the instruction is received, the summarized before-change product configuration is read from the summarized before-change product composition area 114 (S2402), and the summarized after-change product composition is read from the summarized after-change product composition area 115 (S2402).
2403). The summarized product configuration comparison processing unit 123
The read product configurations before and after the change are compared (S240
4) The display result is displayed on the display device 143.

The comparison processing performed in step 2404 follows the well-known tree structure comparison processing. A known tree structure comparison process is, for example, the method disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-231506.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of comparison of the product configurations before and after the change, which are summarized in this embodiment. FIG. 8 shows a comparative example of the summarized before-change product structure 810 and the summarized after-change product structure 820.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of summarization of the pre-change product configuration of this embodiment. In FIG. 9, the product configuration before change 9
An example of summarization from 01 to the pre-change product configuration 810 is shown.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of summarization of the changed product structure according to the present embodiment. FIG. 10 shows an example of summarization from the changed product structure 1001 to the changed product structure 820.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of the summarization rule of this embodiment. FIG. 11 shows the summarization rule used in the summarization shown in FIGS. 9 and 10.

The summarized before-change product structure 810 of FIG.
Is a summary (S902) of the pre-change product configuration 901 of FIG. 9 based on the summarization rule of FIG. 11. Similarly, the summarized post-change product configuration 820 is the post-change product configuration of FIG. 1001 is summarized (S1002) based on the summarization rule of FIG. However, it is assumed that X is designated as the change information recipient type.

Here, the parts 9A1, 9A2, 9A3,
Part 9A4, part 9A5, part 9A6, part 9A7, part 9A8,
The parts 9B1, 9B2, tentative 91, and tentative 92 are information 414 for identifying parts or information 414 for identifying virtual parts.

As a result of the summarization, the virtual part 811 and the virtual part 821 become the same "temporary 91", and the virtual part 815
And the virtual part 825 become the same “temporary 92”. Further, the component 813 and the component 823 are the same “part 9A4”. On the other hand, the part 814 exists only in the summarized before-change product structure 810, and the part 822 exists only in the summarized after-change product structure 820.

Therefore, the summarized product structure before change 810
Comparing the post-change product structure 820 summarized with (S8
01), a comparison result 850 is obtained. That is, the added mark 852, the deleted mark 854, and the changed marks 851 and 853 are the comparison result 850.
Is displayed on the display device 143.

[0103] In addition, "Part 9" of the pre-change product configuration 901 of FIG.
"A7" has been deleted from the post-change product structure 1001 in FIG. 10, but in the summarized before-change product structure 810 and the summarized after-change product structure 820, this part is "temporary 92".
It can be seen that the change information for deleting “part 9A7” is hidden.

As described above, in this embodiment, when the product configurations before and after the change are compared, the change information is compared using the summarized product configuration, thereby hiding the change information unnecessary for the manufacturer 212. be able to. In addition, since the amount of information shown as the comparison result can be controlled for each user by designating the change information recipient type, the designer 2
11 can transmit different change information to a user such as a sales person in a department different from the manufacturer 212.

In the present embodiment, the product configuration management device 100
There is only one type of PDM system linked to
Although the product managed by the M system 101 is also one kind, a plurality of summarization rule areas 111, configuration pattern areas 112, and virtual part areas 113 are prepared, or even a single area has a plurality of products. It is possible to easily expand to multiple products by adding a mechanism that can hold information about products and holding the correspondence between data and products. It is also easy to extend to multiple PDM systems.

The processing of S201 in FIG. 2 is performed by the summarization rule creation processing unit 121, the processing of S202 is performed by the virtual component registration processing unit 124, the processing of S203 and S204 is performed by the product configuration summarization processing unit 122, and the processing of S205 is performed. It is assumed that the processing is performed by the summarized product configuration comparison processing unit 123.

Each processing unit of the above-described product structure management apparatus 100 may be configured by hardware or software. For example, when the process of FIG. 2 is configured by software, a program for performing the process of FIG. 2 is stored in a recording medium such as a floppy (registered trademark) disk, a CD-ROM, a hard disk, and is read by a computer and executed. Is also good. Further, the program for performing the processing of FIG. 2 may be distributed via a communication line including wireless communication such as the Internet. Further, the program for performing the process of FIG. 2 may be distributed in the state of being encrypted, modulated, or compressed via the Internet or the like or stored in a recording medium.

In the conventional technology up to now, the side to which the product configuration information is transmitted at the time of design change (for example, the manufacturer or the sales person in charge).
Need to refer to the configuration information that has an influence on the transmitted side, other than the work of referring to the entire product configuration information when notified of the design change. After referring to the information of the entire product configuration, the part that affects the transmitted side was manually searched by trial and error from the information of the entire product configuration. After being transmitted through
Since the part that affects the transmitted side is displayed at any time, the range that affects the transmitted side can be clearly specified and the work time of the above-described work can be shortened.

Up to now, the side (designer) who transmits the change of the product configuration information has an influence on the change information and the information (parts) constituting each product configuration (who influences and what work is done). Although the range indicating whether it is affected) was added,
According to the present embodiment, it is possible to specify the range in which the change information and the influence are exerted in the information that summarizes the product configuration, and it is necessary to specify the range in which the change information and the influence are exerted on each piece of information constituting the product configuration. Since it does not exist, the setting work time can be shortened.

Further, in the present embodiment, a person who is not affected by the design change does not know about the design change, and it is possible to reduce the noise of information that appears due to the information that does not affect himself.

As described above, according to the product composition management apparatus of the present embodiment, since the comparison result of the product composition before and after the change summarized according to the summarization rule is output, the product change information necessary for the user. It is possible to reduce the work time or cost required only when grasping.

[0112]

According to the present invention, the comparison result of the product configurations before and after the change summarized according to the summarization rule is output, so that the working time required to grasp only the change information of the product necessary for the user. Alternatively, the cost can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a product configuration management device of the present embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a flow of a series of processes for creating summarization rules, summarizing product configurations, and comparing summarized product configurations according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a summarization rule of this embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration table of a product configuration management device of the present embodiment and an example thereof.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a virtual parts table of the product configuration management device of the present embodiment and an example thereof.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of summarizing the product configuration of the present embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of summarizing the product configuration of the present embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a comparison of the product configurations before and after the change, which are summarized in the present embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of summarization of a pre-change product configuration according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of summarizing a changed product configuration according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a summarization rule of this embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a PAD diagram showing a flow of creating a summarization rule according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a flow of creating a configuration pattern table according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a flow of configuration pattern registration according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an internal structure of a tree structure of the present embodiment and an example thereof.

FIG. 16 is a PAD diagram showing a flow of summarization according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing the flow of confirmation and application of applicability of the summarization rule of the present embodiment.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing a flow of processing for creating a subtree according to the present embodiment and confirming a match with a post-summarization constituent pattern.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing a flow of confirmation of matching of intermediate nodes according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing a flow of processing of acquiring a node list to be confirmed in the present embodiment from a subtree.

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing a flow of confirmation of matching of child nodes according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 22 is a diagram showing a flow of confirmation of matching of leaves according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 23 is a diagram P showing a flow of registration of virtual parts according to the present embodiment.
FIG.

FIG. 24 is a diagram showing a flow of comparison of summarized product configurations according to the present embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

100 ... Product configuration management device, 101 ... PDM system,
110 ... Storage device, 111 ... Summarization rule area, 112
... Structure pattern area, 113 ... Virtual part area, 114 ...
Summarized pre-change product configuration area, 115 ... Summarized post-change product configuration area, 120 ... Computing device, 130 ... Control device, 141 ... Keyboard, 142 ... Mouse, 143 ... Display device, 150 ... Tree editing tool, 121 ... summarization rule creation processing unit, 122 ... product configuration summarization processing unit, 12
3 ... Summarized product configuration comparison processing unit, 124 ... Virtual component registration processing unit, 1511 ... Information for identifying node, 151
2 ... Information for identifying the node of the child node, 1513 ... Information for identifying the part, 1514 ... Other information indicating the relationship between the nodes, 1530 ... Tree structure table, 1531 ... Node number, 1532 ... Node number of the child node, 1533
... part number, 1534 ... effective date, 1535 ... status, 1560 ... tree structure, 156-11563 ... part number, 211 ... designer, 212 ... manufacturer, 251 ... design information, 252 ... pre-change product configuration, 253 ... change Post-product configuration, 254 ... Comparison result, 261 ... Summarization rule, 262
… Virtual parts, 263… Summary of product structure before change, 26
4 ... Summarized post-change product configuration, 301 ... Rule identifier, 302 ... Pre-summarization configuration pattern, 303 ... Post-summarization configuration pattern, 304 ... Change information recipient type, 321 ...
Identifier: 322 ... Configuration pattern, 323 ... Configuration pattern, 324 ... Change information recipient type, 331 ... Identifier, 3
32 ... Configuration pattern, 333 ... Configuration pattern, 334 ...
Change information Recipient type, 411 ... Information for identifying node,
412 ... Information for identifying nodes of child nodes, 413 ... Information for identifying parts or virtual parts, 414 ... Information for identifying parts or information for identifying virtual parts, 415 ... Other information indicating node relationships, 421 ... Identifier, 430 ...
Configuration pattern table, 431 ... Node number, 432 ...
Node number of child node, 433 ... Information identifying component or virtual component, 434 ... Component number or virtual component identifier,
435 ... Effective date, 436 ... Status, 441 ... Identifier, 460 ... Configuration pattern, 461 ... Part number, 462
... virtual part identifier, 463 ... part number, 511 ... information for identifying virtual part, 512 ... information about virtual part, 5
30 ... Virtual part table, 531 ... Virtual part identifier, 5
32 ... Name, 533 ... Creation date, 601 ... Product configuration, 60
2 ... Summarized product structure, 611-614 ... Partial tree, 7
01 ... Product structure, 702 ... Summarized product structure, 711
... 713 ... Partial tree, 810 ... Summarized before-change product configuration, 811 ... Virtual parts, 813 ... Parts, 814 ... Parts,
815 ... Virtual parts, 820 ... Summarized changed product structure, 821 ... Virtual parts, 822 ... Parts, 823 ... Parts,
825 ... Virtual parts, 850 ... Comparison results, 851 and 85
3 ... Mark indicating change, 852 ... Mark indicating addition, 854 ... Mark indicating deletion, 901 ...
Product structure before change, 1001 ... Product structure after change.

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Makoto Ito             5030 Totsuka Town, Totsuka Ward, Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture             Ceremony company Hitachi Ltd. software division (72) Inventor Nobuhiro Shimohira             5030 Totsuka Town, Totsuka Ward, Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture             Ceremony company Hitachi Ltd. software division F-term (reference) 5B046 KA05 KA07

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. In a product composition management method for managing a product composition used in a designing / manufacturing process, a step of creating a summarization rule indicating a rule for summarizing a product composition, and a method according to the created summarization rule. And a step of summarizing the product structure before and after the change and a step of comparing the summarized product structure before the change and the product structure after the change and outputting the comparison result. How to manage the product configuration. 2. The product according to claim 1, wherein the product configuration is summarized by different summarization rules depending on the type of the change information recipient, and the change information unnecessary for the recipient of the change information is concealed. Configuration management method. 3. When outputting the comparison result, the component parts that are different before and after the change, the newly added component parts, and the deleted component parts are displayed for each node. The product configuration management method according to claim 2. 4. A product composition management device for managing a product composition used in a design / manufacturing process, and a summarization rule preparation processing section for preparing a summarization rule showing a rule for summarizing a product composition, The product composition summarization processing unit that summarizes the product composition before and after the change according to the summarization rule described above is compared with the summarized product composition before the change and the product composition after the change, and the comparison result is compared. A product configuration management device comprising: a summarized product configuration comparison processing unit for outputting. 5. A summarization rule for creating a summarization rule indicating a rule for summarizing a product structure in a program for causing a computer to function as a product structure management device for managing a product structure used in a design / manufacturing process. A creation processing unit, a product configuration summarization processing unit that summarizes the product configuration before and after the change according to the created summarization rule, and the summarized product configuration before the change and product configuration after the change A program that causes a computer to function as a summarized product configuration comparison processing unit that compares the above and outputs the comparison result.