JP2006018461A - Design supporting system and its method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a design supporting system and method for linking the operation procedure information of design to be acquired from a design navigation system with design information to be used by CAD software. <P>SOLUTION: Specific design operation data matched with predetermined conditions are narrowed down and extracted from a design operation database 2 in which data related with the design operation of a product are stored, and the model data of a specific site related with the design operation data extracted by a model data processing part 3 are called, and the shape data of the model data are changed by a shape data changing part 4, and the shape of the specific site are prepared by a shape data preparing part 5. Thus, it is not necessary for a designer to directly perform any shape data preparing operation by the shape data preparing part 5, and it is possible to automatically generate the shape after design examination, and to instantaneously confirm the generation result. Thus, it is possible to perform product design by maintaining quantity in a constant level regardless of the insufficiency of experience or skill of each designer. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a system and method for supporting design by navigating a design while presenting necessary work procedures to a worker who performs a product design work, and more specifically, when a predetermined design value is changed. It is suitable for use in automatically creating shape data corresponding to this and providing design support.

  In recent years, products that have a shorter life cycle than ever have been increasing along with the diversification of demands of product purchasers. It is important that such short-lived products start selling products ahead of competitors and rapidly expand their market share. For this reason, manufacturers are increasingly demanding quickness from product design departments and manufacturing departments in order to successively introduce new products that meet consumer preferences.

  In such an environment, particularly with regard to product design, a trend to rationalize design work using CAD software that can be used on a computer terminal has permeated. In fact, many cases have been reported in which CAD software has been introduced in design work and products have been produced in a short period of time to ensure superiority in the market. CAD software is useful for streamlining design work. Proven to be a tool. However, it has become clear that as long as CAD software is used, the number of man-hours for design work can always be reduced and the product development period is not greatly shortened.

  In other words, the CAD software has a large role in supporting design work, more specifically shape data creation work, and is developed as shape data after the design of the product shape, etc. is settled in the designer's head. If CAD software is used for work, the work efficiency can be improved. The CAD software is based on existing data, for example, when part of the shape is changed, added, or similar shape is created, compared to the shape data creation operation that is manually re-started from the beginning. This is because the speed can be significantly increased. On the other hand, when the product image is not yet solidified, it is not expected that the work efficiency will be greatly increased because the manual reworking is simply replaced with the work on the CAD software.

  Therefore, the key to improving the efficiency of the design work is to identify the required shape from the functions required for the target product at the conceptual stage before the actual shape data creation work, and its dimensions and shape It depends on how optimal and quick the product specifications such as mutual positional relationships can be designed. This can be acquired in the process of performing a similar design by an experienced designer based on many years of experience, and is called so-called design know-how and intuition. Therefore, it is inevitable that a design beginner who has just been in charge of the design work searches for an information source corresponding to the design know-how from a vast amount of materials and the like when determining the product specifications.

  Therefore, for design beginners in particular, a collection of design know-how (hereinafter referred to as design items) related to the target product is extracted and presented in time series, and the designer is guided to work according to the design items. Various navigation systems or devices have been proposed (for example, Patent Document 1). A tool that supports design using such a navigation system is useful not only for beginners of design but also for skilled designers. Even an expert designer does not always know all the details of design work done in the past, so recall past memories from the information obtained from the navigation system and reduce design man-hours. This is because it becomes possible.

  In this way, designers have been able to meet the demand for rapid product design by utilizing the functions of both the navigation system and CAD software.

JP 2001-067380 A

  However, the navigation system presents work procedures for the purpose of assisting the reproduction of the thought process of the designer, whereas the CAD software is intended to assist the execution or reproduction of the shape data creation work. As a result, both sides supported the designers in an organic manner, and as a result, the design work was not rationalized comprehensively. For example, the designer has consumed a great deal of time in the creation of shape data using CAD software in response to the clarification of detailed work procedures and design items to be considered by the navigation system. It does not contribute to the reduction of the total design man-hours that is the original purpose. This has been a big problem especially for designers who are not sufficiently trained in CAD software.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and improves the efficiency of the overall design work by linking the design work procedure information obtained from the navigation system and the design information used in the CAD software, and One of the purposes is to improve at least one of the design quality.

  The design support system of the present invention is created by a first storage means for accumulating data related to product design work, a shape data creation means for creating the shape of the product for each specific part, and the shape data creation means Model data processing means for storing all or a part of the shape data of the specific part shape and the procedure for creating the specific part shape as model data of the specific part and storing them in the second storage means The work data extracting means for extracting specific design work data from the design work data stored in the first storage means according to a predetermined condition, and the design work data extracted by the work data extracting means. Shape data changing means for changing the shape data of all or part of the template data of the specific part, the shape data creating means, It is characterized in that to re-create a specific portion of the product based on the serial form new shape data changed by the data changing unit.

Further, the shape change by the shape data changing means selectively includes a setting for deleting an arbitrary shape included in the specific part.
Further, the first storage means stores data including a design specification of the product, a mechanism or structure related to the design specification, a component related to the mechanism or structure, a design item related thereto, and a mutual relationship between them. The work data extracting means stores the design items based on the mutual relationship of the data while setting at least one model of the product as a narrowing condition.
Further, the shape data creation means is an arbitrary CAD software tool capable of previously describing or storing an operation for creating a shape as a series of creation procedures. Or, when creating a shape having a similar relationship, it has an automatic creation function that can be automatically performed based on the series of creation procedures, and the shape data of the template data is obtained by the shape data changing means. When the item is changed, the shape of the product is recreated using the automatic creation function.
Further, the template data changed by the shape data changing unit is additionally stored in the second storage unit as template data already set for a model that is similar, derived, or diverted with respect to the product. It is characterized by accumulation.
In addition, it has data analysis means for performing an arbitrary performance evaluation on the specific part, or the shape data creation means includes the data analysis means, and an analysis result by the data analysis means is set by the shape data change means It is characterized by being reflected in shape data.

  The design support method of the present invention includes a storage step of storing data related to product design work in a first storage medium, a shape data creation step of creating the shape of the product for each specific part, and the shape data creation A template that makes it possible to store all or a part of the shape data of the specific part shape created in the process and the creation procedure of the specific part shape as template data of the specific part in the second storage means and to be recalled A data processing step, a work data extraction step for extracting and extracting specific design work data from the design work data stored in the first storage medium in the storage step according to a predetermined condition, and an extraction in the work data extraction step A shape data changing step for changing all or part of the shape data of the template data of the specific part related to the designed design data, and the shape data Forming step is characterized in that to re-create a specific portion of the product based on the new shape data changed by said shape data changing step.

  According to the present invention, the shape of a product can be created for each specific part (for example, a part), the shape data and the creation procedure of the specific part shape can be processed as template data, and data related to the design work of the product Specific design work data that conforms to a predetermined condition is extracted and extracted from the first storage means storing the data, and the shape data is changed by calling the template data of a specific part related to the extracted design work data. Thus, the information related to the extracted design work data and the shape information used by the shape data creation means (for example, CAD system) can be organically linked.

In other words, since only the design work data that conforms to the predetermined conditions is presented to the designer as a work procedure, the designer only has to create the shape data of the product shape after the design study according to the work procedure. In particular, in the invention, shape data is created by using pre-registered template data in a CAD system. In addition, since the template data is configured to be processed in units of specific parts, if the parts related to the work procedure to be presented to the designer are specified, the creation of shape data can be processed consistently. . For this reason, the designer can automatically generate the shape after design examination without directly performing the shape data creation work in the CAD system, and the generation result can be confirmed instantaneously.
In addition, while following the work procedure incorporating past know-how, the template data registered for general use is utilized to the maximum, so that it is not affected by the experience of individual designers and lack of skills. Design can be performed while maintaining the quality.

DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an integrated design support system 100 of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, an integrated design support system 100 of this embodiment includes a design navigation system 1 that supports the reproduction of a designer's thought process, and shape data creation that supports the reproduction of work for creating product shape data. In order to cooperate with the system 5, in addition to the systems 1 and 5, a design work database 2 in which design items related to the target product are stored, a template database 6, a template data processing unit 3, The configuration includes a shape data changing unit 4 and a design database 7.
Hereinafter, each of these components will be described in order.

<Schematic configuration of design navigation system 1>
First, the configuration of the design navigation system 1 will be described.
The design navigation system 1 is a system that searches a database for work contents that are considered necessary for a specific model for an operator (designer) who designs a specific model of a product.

  Items that designers must pay attention to when designing products include, for example, design items from a structural aspect to ensure the strength and durability of the product, and no harm in consideration of the consumer's usage environment Design items from the safety aspect to ensure compliance, design items from the conflict prevention aspect to prevent infringement of patent rights held by third parties, and design items that are restricted in relation to manufacturing processes, etc. In general, it is very diverse. The designer needs to comprehensively judge all these design items. First, the design items necessary to design the overall mechanism and structure of the product in the conceptual design corresponding to the upstream design step. Must be extracted, and a design flow must be generated that indicates in what procedure these design items should be performed. Next, in the detailed design corresponding to the downstream design step, it is necessary to determine the design items in which the design items extracted in the concept design are more detailed, the dimensions of the parts to be used, and the like.

  For example, if you look at a mobile phone, several hundreds of design items such as “Study of rated resistance”, “Study of withstand voltage”, and “Placement and orientation of connectors” are required for the design of one model. The Even veteran designers with abundant design experience should be able to extract these numerous design items without excess and deficiency, and build what should be considered from the design items in order. It is a difficult task. If you are an inexperienced designer, you may not even know what to start with. For this reason, it takes time to extract low-level design items even though important design items have not been decided, and these extracted design items are also subject to change due to changes in higher-level important design items. In some cases, the previous extraction work was wasted and the efficiency was very poor. The design navigation system solves this. The designer can easily and sequentially extract the design items of the model to be designed while interacting with the design navigation system 1, that is, while being guided by the design navigation system 1. .

  Specifically, in the case of this embodiment, the work data extraction unit 11 of the design navigation system 1 extracts design items appropriate for the model to be designed from the design work database 2. This design work database 2 includes useful information on models that have been designed in the past, such as information on product defects, design measures taken to eliminate these defects, patent information on products or parts, and other designs. Alternatively, information related to the entire design work that should be noted in the manufacturing process is stored so that it can be extracted as a design item. A method for registering various kinds of information related to the design work in the design work database 2 is not particularly limited, but can be easily registered by using an interface presented on the display device 13. Is desirable.

FIG. 4 shows an example of the user interface screen. This user interface screen is a dialog box for registering the parts used in the product. First, a part name (part 1, part 2, etc.) is entered in the part name input field 41 in the screen. Next, information regarding the input component name is set in the component information column 42. In this example, there are “part type name” in the A column of the component information column 42, “part number” in the B column, “material” in the C column, and “cost” in the D column. Enter the required value or character, such as type A and type B.
In the part information column 42 and subsequent columns, there are fields for setting the relation between the part having the input part name and its design specification. For example, in column J, “design standard name” is set to “design specification 1” and “design standard value” is set to “value 1a” (this setting is set on another user interface screen). In order to associate “design specification 1” having “value 1a” with the type A of the input component described above, as shown in FIG. Set “○” mark. Thus, when designing a product including a type A part, it can be seen that the data of the design specification 1 is the value 1a, and conversely, the part of the value 1a as the design specification 1 is the type A. You will understand. By setting the extraction conditions in this way, it is possible to achieve a relationship between the part and the design specification.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a user interface screen for registering a design item (here, “design item 1-1-2”) 55 and its attributes. Here, the description is limited to the description of the functions particularly related to the present invention. A “parent information” column 57 on the right side of the screen represents a design item positioned higher than a design item to be input. If this column is blank, it needs to be set. This parent-child relationship corresponds to the design item list 56 on the left side of the screen, and if a new design item is registered, it is defined in a predetermined hierarchy shown in the tree display.
The “necessary condition” column 58 on the right side of the screen is for associating the design item 55 with the design specification or part registered on the user interface screen shown in FIG. When you click the “Add” button 59 on the right end, a list of design specifications or parts that are already registered (not shown) will appear. To do. As a result, the design navigation system 1 extracts appropriate design items from among the enormous design items of all models stored in the design work database 2 based on the design specifications of the specific model or the parts to be used. It becomes possible.

  An example in which design specifications and parts of a model to be designed are input by a designer, the design navigation system 1 extracts design items from the design work database 2 and outputs them to the monitor screen of the display device 13. It is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 6, the designer can obtain information displayed in a tree format, so that the relationship between the design items can be grasped at a glance, and the design work can be determined while navigating to the presented information. I'll do it. Note that the association between the above-described design items and parts plays a major role for cooperation with the shape data creation system 5 described later.

In this embodiment, when registering various types of information such as design specifications, design items, and parts in the design work database 2, a user interface having a tabular format is presented to set necessary values, characters, or symbols. Although configured, the present invention is not necessarily limited to this, and an input field in an arbitrary format may be presented. Moreover, it cannot be overemphasized that the design navigation system 1 may contain structures other than the structure mentioned above.
The design item corresponds to “design work data” described in the claims. Similarly, the work data extraction unit 3 is “work data extraction means”, and the design work database 2 is “first storage means”. Furthermore, the template database 6 corresponds to “second storage means”.

<About creation of shape data by the shape data creation system 5>
Next, the creation contents of the product shape data by the shape data creation system 5 in the integrated design support system 100 will be described.
In order to facilitate understanding of the present invention, in the present embodiment, the shape data creation system 5 will be described as a CAD software system 5 (hereinafter referred to as “CAD system 5”). The CAD software function used in the CAD system 5 of this embodiment is the same as the CAD software widely used in the market, and the user (designer) confirms the desired shape on the monitor screen while interacting with the CAD system 5. It has a function to create. The CAD system 5 includes a two-dimensional CAD system and a three-dimensional CAD system. The present invention can be applied to either system, but in this embodiment, the three-dimensional CAD system is used. I will explain. The shape creation system corresponds to “shape data creation means” recited in the claims.
Here, a case where shape data of a mobile phone is created will be described.

  When the shape of the mobile phone is created by the CAD system 5, even if the shape of the mobile phone drawn on the monitor screen of the display device 53 is the same, the creation method (creation procedure) varies depending on the designer. This basically relates to how the designer defines the cell phone geometry. The product is not limited to the mobile phone handled in this embodiment, but a product is usually composed of a large number of parts. However, the shape of each part is regarded as a solid mass such as a rectangular parallelepiped or a sphere, and by adding a mass or performing a difference operation. A method of defining and creating the entire shape (solid modeling), a method of creating and defining the surface surrounding the mobile phone as a flat or curved surface (surface modeling), and creating and defining the shape of the mobile phone as a straight line or a curve There are various creation methods such as a method (wire modeling) and a method in which these methods are combined in various ways. In the CAD system 5, for example, the attribute structure related to the shape when defined as a chunk is different from the attribute structure related to the shape when defined as a surface, and the shape definition in each creation method is different from the CAD data structure. Will be reflected.

  By the way, it is not possible to determine which of these creation methods is optimal. This is based on the determination of which method can be easily created in view of the complexity of the number of parts and the shape, or the data structure defined by the CAD system 5 is convenient for the NC data used in the machining center of the machining process. This is because it is judged by which method the data can be converted well. For this reason, the designer needs to carefully create the shape data after carefully considering which creation method should be used to create the CAD shape data. Moreover, it is important that once the optimum production method is determined, there are special circumstances if the same machining center is used for products with similar shapes in order to maintain the CAD shape data quality above a certain level. Unless it occurs, it is preferable not to change it unnecessarily, and it should be unified among designers.

  In addition, when the mobile phone shape data is created by the CAD system 5, the effect of reusing the mobile phone shape data of the designed model for the design of the current model is greater than the case of handwriting. There is. That is, as with general business documents, if the shape data created on the CAD system 5 is the same or similar to the shape created in the past, the shape for the model is created from the beginning. It is known that it is possible to significantly reduce the man-hours for creation by recalling past similar shape data and making appropriate modifications. For this reason, it is important to register created or standard shape data as template data (template), and the designer should call the template data with the shape closest to the shape to be created. It is.

  Therefore, the present invention takes advantage of the above-mentioned characteristics of data creation by CAD, and based on the fact that the product is composed of parts, for each part, specifically, a connector, a camera, For each antenna, the standard shape data is registered in advance in the template database 6 as template data. When creating a shape of a mobile phone of another model in the CAD system 5, if the connector is created, the connector template data is obtained. If the antenna is created, the antenna template data is obtained from the template database 6. call. Then, the connector type of a desired shape is selected, or the dimension value of the template data is changed according to the desired shape value, so that the shape of the entire mobile phone is created.

  FIG. 3 shows an example of the configuration of the template data 30 stored in the template database 6. As shown in FIG. 3, the template data 30 includes not only the shape data 31 of the mobile phone but also a creation procedure 32 that defines a series of flows until the designer completes the creation of the specific part. ing. Since it is specified which defined processing 36 to 38 uses the shape data values 33 to 35 set as default values, the CAD system 5 determines the shape of the part when the template data 30 is input. It can be created according to the creation procedure 32. When the default value is changed to an arbitrary value, a series of processes 36 to 38 using the changed value is started and a new part shape is created. The shape data of each part is stored in the design database 7.

  For this reason, if each designer specifies only the shape data 31 of the part that needs to be changed, instead of creating the shape of the product from the beginning, the changed shape can be automatically created. This uses the proven creation procedure 32 for completing each part, so that the quality of the CAD shape data can be maintained and the creation time can be reduced because it is automatically created. become.

  The “specific part” described in the claims basically means the shape of a part of the product as in this embodiment, and in this embodiment, it refers to each part constituting the mobile phone. The present invention can also be applied to a case where the part is a part having a smaller configuration than the product itself or the part meant in the present embodiment.

<Cooperation between design navigation system 1 and shape data creation system 5>
Here, cooperation between the design navigation system 1 and the shape data creation system (CAD system) 5 described above, which is a major feature of the present invention, will be described.
As described above, in the design navigation system 1 that presents a designer with design items necessary for a model to be designed as a design flow, components are associated with the design items. On the other hand, the CAD system 5 that creates the shape of a part (specific part) creates a desired shape by using the model data 30 that stores the shape data 31 of the part and a series of creation procedures 32 for creating the part. In the present invention, when a part related to a design item presented by the design navigation system 1 is designed, the part information, that is, the model data 30 is handed over to the CAD system 5 to create a part shape. The two systems 1 and 5 are linked through the template data 30.

As shown in FIG. 1, it is a template data processing unit 3 and a shape data changing unit 4 that process the template data 30 for linking two systems.
When the template data 30 of the cellular phone part is created by the CAD system 5, the template data processing unit 3 can store the model data 30 in the template database 6, and conversely, the specified template data 30 is stored in the template database. 6 and output to the CAD system 5. When the design data is extracted by the work data extraction unit 11 of the design navigation system 1, the template data processing unit 3 extracts the part template data 30 from the template database 6. Further, the template data processing unit 11 exchanges the template data 30 with the shape data changing unit 4 described later.

  The shape data changing unit 4 changes the default values 33 to 35 set in the part template data 30 output by the template data processing unit 3. For example, if a specific part is not required on a certain model, you can set the part to be deleted, specify a new part size to change the part size, or change the position (placement) of the part To do. As a result, the template data 30 changed by the shape data changing unit 4 is sent again to the CAD system 5 via the template data processing unit 3, and the changed part shape can be drawn on the CAD system 5. Become.

  Next, the overall operation of the integrated design support system 100 will be described with reference to the operation flowchart of FIG. In the design work database 2, it is assumed that the work data registration unit 12 has already stored design items that are the basis of the design tree using the registration screen shown in FIG.

The integrated design support system 100 inputs design specifications such as a model to be designed from the designer in the design navigation system 1 (step 20). Needless to say, the information input as the design specification may be information other than the model.
The work data extraction unit 11 extracts related structures and related parts from the design work database 2 using the information input in step 20 as an extraction condition (step 21), and further designs corresponding to the extracted related structures or related parts. The items are extracted and a design tree as shown in FIG. 6 is displayed on the display device 13 (step 22). That is, information on “related structure and related design item”, “related part and related design item”, or “related structure, related part and related design item” is presented to the designer. At the same time, the work data extraction unit 11 outputs the extracted related parts to the template data processing unit 3. The template data processing unit 3 inputs the parts extracted by the work data processing unit 11.

The information output from the work data extraction unit 11 to the template data processing unit 3, that is, the template data is not limited to being related parts. For example, a mobile phone forms a product shape by fitting a case (liquid crystal side) and a cover (back liquid crystal side), but this fitting shape corresponds to one design item. In some cases, it is output to the template data processing unit 3 as type data.
Further, the work data processing unit 11 does not specify the parts related to the design item, and outputs only the design items to the template data processing unit 3, and the template data processing unit 3 selects the related parts from the design work database 2. It may be specified.

  Next, the template data processing unit 3 calls the template data 30 of the identified part from the template database 6 (step 23). Then, the template data 30 is output to the CAD system 5.

  When creating a shape with a value set as a default without changing the template data 30, the CAD system 5 creates a part creation creation procedure 36 stored in the template data 30 input from the template data processing unit 3. In accordance with ˜38, parts are automatically created using the shape data (default values) 33˜35 without intervention of the designer's operation. For example, FIG. 3 shows template data 30 when a part can be created by three shape data and three processing procedures. Default values 33 to 35 are set for the three shape data x, y, and z, respectively. The three processes 36 to 38 indicate that each process should be executed in the order of process 1 → process 2 → process 3, and designate shape data used for each process. Specifically, first, x = 150 is used in process 1, then y = 280 is used in process 2, and then x = 150 and z = 45 are used in process 3 to complete the part shape. To do. Originally, each designer has to operate the three processing contents with the CAD system 5, but the same operation is always performed according to a pre-stored creation procedure. When the CAD system 5 creates the shape of the part, it outputs it to the display device 53 (step 26).

  On the other hand, a case where a new shape is created by changing the shape data 31 of the template data 30 will be described. The procedure up to step 23 is the same as that described above. Since the shape data 31 is changed in the determination in step 24, the process proceeds to step 25. The shape data changing unit 4 changes the default values 33 to 35 of the shape data 31 set in the template data 30 according to an instruction from the designer. Here, the shape data changing unit displays a shape data change list (hereinafter referred to as a spec sheet) as shown in FIGS. 7 to 9 on the monitor screen of the display device 13.

FIG. 7 is a screen example of a spec sheet relating to arrangement. In the center of the spec sheet, a schematic diagram of the front, bottom and side of the mobile phone is shown. Each main part displays position data in the x, y, and z directions along with its name. When it is desired to change the arrangement of each part, the check button on the left side of the name is designated by marking the check mark, and the position data is changed to desired position data as necessary. In the lower right corner of the screen, the default value of the template data 30 is displayed.
Although not shown in FIG. 7, in addition to changing the position of each part, a check button is provided for designating that the part is to be deleted, and the part is deleted when the check button is marked. It may be.

  FIG. 8 is a screen example of a spec sheet relating to a connector incorporated in a mobile phone. This specification sheet shows a list comparing products of a plurality of connector manufacturers with respect to standards or conditions related to connectors. For example, when it is desired to change from a connector of company A to a connector of company D, if a check mark is placed on the check button at the top of the picture displaying the connector of company D, shape data using the connector of company D is created. be able to.

  Similarly, FIG. 9 is a screen example of a spec sheet relating to an antenna incorporated in a mobile phone. This spec sheet also shows a list comparing the products of a plurality of antenna manufacturers regarding the standards or conditions related to the antenna. For example, shape data using a short single antenna can be created by marking the second antenna from the left.

  Next, in step 25, the CAD system 5 creates a changed part shape based on the spec sheet shape data specified in step 24. At this time, the default values 33 to 35 of the shape data 31 set in the template data 30 are replaced with values changed in the spec sheet. Then, each of the parts creation processes 36 to 38 stored in the template data 30 described above creates a changed part according to the creation procedure using the replaced value.

  FIG. 10 is an example of a screen when the mobile phone before the shape data change is created by the CAD system. FIG. 11 is a specification sheet for specifying addition of the camera and changing from the A company to the D company connector. It is an example of a screen after shape data change at the time. In addition, in FIG. 11, in order to compare with the shape before adding a camera and before changing a connector, the enlarged view of each part is inserted.

  Even when the shape is created without changing the template data 30 described above, the specification sheet on which the default values 33 to 35 are displayed is presented to the designer, and the input of “OK” is obtained from the designer. The shape creation may be performed according to the processing procedure 32 stored in the template data 30.

In addition, when the designer specifies the changed shape data in the spec sheet, there is a possibility that a large or small value may be input inappropriately due to an input error or misunderstanding. In order to prevent this, upper and lower limit values are set for each shape data value in the spec sheet as shown in FIG. As a result, when a value exceeding this limit value is input, the shape data changing unit 4 displays an inappropriate data value on the monitor screen of the display device 13 and prompts the designer to input again. It may be.
In the present embodiment, the template data 30 is stored in the template database 6. However, the template data 30 may be stored in a database in which the template database 6 and the design database 2 are integrated. .

According to the integrated design support system 100 of the present embodiment, since it is possible to create a part shape based on the template data 30, it is possible to utilize high-quality existing CAD data for creating the part shape. In particular, a spec sheet having a style in which data can be easily changed is presented to the designer, and if a change value is designated on the spec sheet, the shape data 30 is directly changed on the CAD system 5. Therefore, the designer does not need to perform any operation for changing the shape in the CAD system 5. As a result, the number of work steps required to create the part shape can be greatly reduced.
Furthermore, in the case of a designer unfamiliar with the operation of the CAD system 5, a CAD data structure according to a specific creation procedure should be originally constructed, but the CAD data structure is inappropriately changed due to a CAD operation error. However, according to the integrated design support system 100 of the present embodiment, since the creation procedure 32 is not changed, the essential structure of the CAD data can be left unchanged, and the quality of the design can be improved. Can be kept constant.

(Other embodiments)
The integrated design support system according to the present embodiment is characterized in that when the shape data 31 is changed by the shape data changing unit 4, the changed shape data is additionally stored in the design database 7. This is conceptually shown in FIG. 12 and FIG.
As shown in FIG. 12, when a new model A is designed, the designer obtains information on “template” data, “model” spec sheet, and “model” design flow from the design work database 2. Call to design model A. When the design of the model A is completed, the “model A” product data, the “model A” spec sheet, and the “model A” design flow are recorded in the design database 7. Further, as shown in FIG. 13, when the model B is newly designed, it is the same as the model A described above, but when the model A ′ similar, derived, or diverted to the model A is designed, The designer calls the “model A” product data, the “model A” spec sheet, and the “model A” design flow information from the design database 7 to design the model B. Then, separately from the product data of the model A, the product data of the model B or the model A ′ is additionally registered in the design database 7. Further, model data of model B or model A ′ is additionally registered in the model database 6.

  Further, depending on the product, the configuration and shape of the parts used may hardly change even if the model is different. In such a case, it may be more convenient to handle all or a large number of parts as a set, rather than the idea of assembling each part to construct a product. Therefore, the specification sheet or model data of each part may be collectively operated so that the cooperation with the CAD system 5 can be achieved by the method described above. The data analysis unit 52 may be configured to exist outside the CAD system 5.

  Furthermore, in another embodiment, the integrated design support system can evaluate the performance of parts by performing various analyzes on the parts such as structural analysis, thermal analysis, failure analysis (reliability analysis), vibration analysis, and layout analysis. A data analysis unit 52 is provided in the CAD system 5, the shape data is optimized based on the analysis result of the data analysis unit 52, and the shape data is processed by the template data processing unit 3 and the design navigation system 1. It is configured to be able to.

  In the above description, the design navigation system 1, the CAD system 5, and the configurations 2 to 4 that link the two systems function as an integrated unit in the integrated design support system 100. The configuration need not be limited to. For example, in a client / server system, one system (for example, the design navigation system 1) may be placed on the server and another system (for example, the CAD system 5) may be constructed as a client / server system on the client. You may comprise so that the process mentioned above can be performed only to a client or only a server.

  Furthermore, FIG. 14 shows an example of a spec sheet different from the configuration of the spec sheet described above. In the case of this spec sheet, the shape data portion of the part to be changed can be easily specified and changed to a desired value. Thus, in the present invention, the input interface for changing the shape data using the spec sheet varies depending on the part shape, and is not limited to the example shown in the present embodiment.

  The above-described contents are merely examples for explaining the technical idea of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to these. Normal knowledge in the technical field of the present invention is required to realize the technical idea of the present invention. It is clear that the fundamental technical idea of the present invention remains unchanged even if a person has an addition / change of each configuration of the integrated design support system and a method for defining template data.

  Another object of the present invention is to supply a storage medium storing software program codes for realizing the functions of the integrated design support system 100 of the above-described embodiment to a system or apparatus, and the computer (or CPU or CPU) of the system or apparatus. Needless to say, this can also be achieved when the MPU) reads and executes the program code stored in the storage medium.

  In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the present embodiment, and the storage medium storing the program code and the program code constitute the present invention. As a storage medium for supplying the program code, ROM, flexible disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, CD-R, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card, and the like can be used.

  Further, by executing the program code read by the computer, not only the functions of the present embodiment are realized, but also an OS or the like running on the computer based on an instruction of the program code performs actual processing. It goes without saying that a case where the function of this embodiment is realized by performing part or all of the above and the processing thereof is included.

It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the integrated design assistance system which is one Embodiment of this invention. 5 is an overall operation flowchart of the integrated design support system. It is a figure which shows the structure of the template data which is one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of a user interface screen for registering the components relevant to the design item used as the basis of a design tree in the design navigation system of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of a user interface screen for registering the design item used as the basis of a design tree, and its attribute in the design navigation system of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example which output the design item extracted from the design work database to the monitor screen. It is a figure which shows an example of the data change list (spec sheet) for changing shape data. It is a figure which shows an example of the data change list (spec sheet) for changing shape data. It is a figure which shows an example of the data change list (spec sheet) for changing shape data. It is a figure which shows the example of a screen when the mobile telephone before shape data change is produced with the CAD system. It is a figure which shows the example of a screen after shape data change when it is designated to add a camera and to change a connector by a data change list (spec sheet). It is the figure which showed notionally a mode that model data etc. are registered into a database when changing shape data. It is the figure which showed notionally a mode that model data etc. are registered into a database when changing shape data. It is a figure which shows an example of the data change list (spec sheet) for changing shape data.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Design navigation system 2 Design work database 3 Model data processing part 4 Shape data change part 5 Shape data creation part 11 Work data extraction part 12 Work data registration part 13 Display apparatus 30 Model data 31 Shape data 32 Processing procedure 33 Shape data Default value of X 34 Default value of shape data Y 35 Default value of shape data Z 36 Process 1
37 Process 2
38 Treatment 3
41 Part Name Input Field 42 Part Information Field 51 CAD Software 52 Data Analysis Unit 53 Display Device 55 Design Item 56 Design Item List 57 “Parent Information” Field 58 “Required Conditions” Field 59 “Add” Button 100 Integrated Design Support System

Claims (12)

First storage means for accumulating data related to product design work;
Shape data creating means for creating the shape of the product for each specific part;
All or part of the shape data of the specific part shape created by the shape data creation means and the creation procedure of the specific part shape are stored in the second storage means as the template data of the specific part and can be called up. Template data processing means to be
Work data extraction means for extracting and extracting specific design work data from the design work data stored in the first storage means according to a predetermined condition;
Shape data changing means for changing all or part of the shape data of the template data of the specific part related to the design work data extracted by the work data extracting means,
The design support system, wherein the shape data creation means recreates a specific part of the product based on the new shape data changed by the shape data change means.   The design support system according to claim 1, wherein the shape change by the shape data change unit selectively includes a setting for deleting an arbitrary shape included in the specific part. The first storage means stores data including a design specification of the product, a mechanism or structure related to the design specification, a component related to the mechanism or structure, a design item related thereto, and a mutual relationship thereof. ,
3. The design support system according to claim 1, wherein the work data extraction unit extracts the design items based on the mutual relationship of the data while setting at least one model of the product as a narrowing condition. 4. . The shape data creation means is an arbitrary CAD software tool capable of previously describing or storing an operation for creating a shape as a series of creation procedures, and is the same, approximate, or similar to an already created shape. When creating a shape in the relationship of, having an automatic creation function that can be automatically performed based on the series of creation procedures,
The shape of the product is recreated by using the automatic creation function when the shape data of the template data is changed by the shape data changing means. The design support system described in 1.   The template data changed by the shape data changing unit is additionally accumulated in the second storage unit as already set template data for a model that is similar, derived, or diverted with respect to the product. The design support system according to claim 1, wherein the system is a design support system. Data analysis means for performing an arbitrary performance evaluation on the specific part, or the shape data creation means includes the data analysis means,
The design support system according to claim 1, wherein an analysis result by the data analysis unit is reflected in shape data set by the shape data change unit. A storage step of storing data relating to product design work in a first storage medium;
A shape data creation step for creating the shape of the product for each specific part;
All or part of the shape data of the specific part shape created in the shape data creation step and the procedure for creating the specific part shape are stored in the second storage means as the template data of the specific part and can be called up. The template data processing process to be
A work data extraction step of extracting and extracting specific design work data from the design work data stored in the first storage medium in the storage step according to a predetermined condition;
A shape data changing step for changing all or part of the shape data of the template data of the specific part related to the design work data extracted in the work data extracting step,
The design support method, wherein the shape data creation step re-creates a specific part of the product based on the new shape data changed in the shape data change step.   The design support method according to claim 7, wherein the shape change in the shape data change step selectively includes a setting for deleting an arbitrary shape included in the specific part. The storing step stores data including a design specification of the product, a mechanism or structure related to the design specification, a component related to the mechanism or structure, a design item related thereto, and a mutual relationship thereof. Memorize it on the medium,
9. The design support method according to claim 7, wherein the work data extracting step extracts the design item based on the mutual relationship of the data while setting at least one model of the product as a narrowing condition. . The shape data creation step is executed on any CAD software tool that can preliminarily describe or store a shape creation operation as a series of creation procedures. Or, when creating a similar shape, execute an automatic creation function that can be automatically performed based on the series of creation steps,
10. The shape of the product is recreated using the automatic creation function when the shape data of the template data is changed in the shape data changing step. The design support method described in 1.   The template data changed in the shape data changing step is additionally accumulated in the second storage medium as already set template data for models that are similar, derived, or diverted with respect to the product. The design support method according to any one of claims 7 to 10, wherein: A data analysis step for performing an arbitrary performance evaluation on the specific part, or the shape data creation step includes the data analysis step,
The design support method according to claim 7, wherein an analysis result in the data analysis step is reflected in shape data set in the shape data changing step.

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