System for managing IFC version synchronized with BIM and method for managing IFC version thereof

• US 10,191,933 B2
• Filed: 01/16/2013
• Issued: 01/29/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 01/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Seokyoung Systems
• Original Assignee: Seokyoung Systems
• Inventors: Sohn, Young Seok, Choi, Sang Deok
• Primary Examiner(s): Gorney, Boris
• Assistant Examiner(s): Bui, Tiffany Thuy
• Application Number:
  US14/761,296
• Publication Number:
  US 20150379063A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,204 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/122 using management policies backup systems G06F11/1446; file migration policies for HSM systems G06F16/185
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/178 Techniques for file synchronisation in file systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1873 Versioning file systems, temporal file systems, e.g. file system supporting different historic versions of files
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2358 Change logging, detection, and notification replication G06F16/27
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/56 having vectorial format
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/08 Construction

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system for managing IFC versions by comparing two or more IFC files produced with a time interval therebetween so as to trace the alteration history, and to a method for managing the IFC file version thereof. A system for managing the IFC versions includes: a comparison target processing unit for acquiring first IFC file attribute information concerning a first IFC file and second IFC file attribute information concerning at least one second IFC file; a GUID comparison engine for comparing a first IFC file GUID set containing first IFC GUIDs with a second IFC file GUID set containing second IFC GUIDs; and a spatial object comparison engine for comparing a first IFC file spatial object information set containing first IFC file spatial objects with a second IFC file spatial object information set containing second IFC file spatial objects.

Claims

1. An information processing method of an Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) version management system, comprising:

(A) obtaining first IFC file attribute information related to a first IFC file and second IFC file attribute information related to at least one second IFC file;

(B) checking a change in a Globally Unique Identifier (GUID) set comprising GUID information included in the first IFC file and the second IFC file;

(C) checking a change in a spatial object Information set comprising at least one piece of spatial object information included in the first IFC file and the second IFC file,

(F) generating comparison information Indicating a change in any one of an area, a volume, a relationship, and a location of a spatial object and dissolving the comparison information on a screen,

wherein step (C) comprises checking a change in any one or more of an area and a volume of a spatial object, for at least one first IFC file spatial object included in the first IFC file and at least one second IFC file spatial object included in the second IFC file, wherein the change is checked between the first IFC file spatial object and the second IFC file spatial object when the GUID of the first IFC file spatial object is identical to the GUID of the second IFC file spatial object,

wherein whether IfcSpace exists in IfcSpatialStructureElement, corresponding to the first IFC file spatial object and the second IFC file spatial object, is checked, and the area or volume of the spatial object is calculated only when IfcSpace exists in the IfcSpatialStructureElement,

wherein, for each of the first IFC file spatial object and the second IFC file spatial object, if the area and volume of the spatial object are defined in IfcElementQuantity, the area is obtained from IfcQuantityArea and the volume is obtained from IfcQuantityVolume, and if not, the area and volume are calculated depending on whether the spatial object has a 2D form or a 3D form.

2. The information processing method of claim 1, wherein, for a first IFC file GUID set comprising GUIDs included in the first IFC file and a second IFC file GUID set comprising GUIDs included in the second IFC file,

step (B) is configured to extract a GUID, which is not included in the second IFC file GUID set but in the first IFC file GUID set, or to extract a GUID, which is not included in the first IFC file GUID set but in the second IFC file GUID set.

3. The information processing method of claim 1, wherein step (C) comprises checking a change in a relationship of a spatial object, for at least one first IFC file spatial object included in the first IFC file and at least one second IFC file spatial object included in the second IFC file,

wherein the change is checked between the first IFC file spatial object and the second IFC file spatial object when the GUID of the first IFC file spatial object is identical to the GUID of the second IFC file spatial object.

4. The information processing method of claim 3, wherein checking the change in the relationship of the spatial object comprises obtaining at least one first related object set, related to the first IFC file spatial object, obtaining at least one second related object set, related to the second IFC file spatial object, and comparing whether the first related object set is identical to the second related object set.

5. The information processing method of claim 4, wherein a first related object of the first related object set is an object included in relationship information of the first IFC file spatial object, and a second related object of the second related object set is an object included in relationship information of the second IFC file spatial object.

6. The information processing method of claim 3, wherein checking the change in the relationship of the spatial object comprises obtaining at least one first related object, related to the first IFC file spatial object, obtaining at least one second related object, related to the second IFC file spatial object, and comparing whether an attribute of the first related object is identical to an attribute of the second related object.

7. The information processing method of claim 1, wherein step (C) comprises checking a change in a location of a spatial object, for at least one first IFC file spatial object included in the first IFC file and at least one second IFC file spatial object Included in the second IFC file,

wherein the change is checked between the first IFC file spatial object and the second IFC file spatial object when the GUID of the first IFC file spatial object is identical to the GUID of the second IFC file spatial object.

8. The information processing method of claim 7, wherein whether X, Y, and Z coordinates of the first IFC file spatial object are identical to X, Y, and Z coordinates of the second IFC file spatial object is determined by checking IfcLocalplacement and ifcAxis2Placement of the first IFC file spatial object and the second IFC file spatial object.

9. The information processing method of claim 1, wherein the first IFC file attribute Information is generated by extracting attribute Information, which is distinguished from graphic data, from the first IFC file, and

the second IFC file attribute information is generated by extracting attribute Information, which is distinguished from graphic data, from the second IFC file.

10. The information processing method of claim 1, further comprising, before step (A),

(D) obtaining both information about a selection of the first IFC file or an equivalent of the first IFC file and information about a selection of the second IFC file or an equivalent of the second IFC file from a user of the IFC version management system.

11. The information processing method of claim 10, further comprising, before step (D),

(E) providing information about two or more of the IFC files or two or more of the equivalents of the IFC files to a terminal of the user of the IFC version management system,

wherein the information about the two or more of the IFC files or the two or more of the equivalents of the IFC files is presented according to a time sequence.

12. The information processing method of claim 1, wherein when the spatial object has a 2D form, the area and volume are calculated using information of IfcPoyLine defined in IfcShapeRepresentation, and

when the spatial object has a 3D form, the area and volume are calculated using Information of IfcExtrudedAreaSolid and information of ifcPolyLine, defined in ifcShapeRepresentation.

13. The Information processing method of claim 1, wherein when the area and volume of the spatial object are not defined in IfcElementQuantity and the spatial object has neither a 2D form nor a 3D form and when the area and volume of the spatial object are defined in B-REP form, the area and volume are calculated using information of IfcSurfaceOflinearExtrusion and Information of IfcPolyLine, defined in IfcRelSpaceBoundary.

14. The Information processing method of claim 1, wherein in step (C), for at least one first IFC file spatial object included in the first IFC file and at least one second IFC file spatial object included in the second IFC file, checking a change in any one or more of an area and volume of the spatial object, checking a change in a relationship of the spatial object, and checking a change in a location of the spatial object are sequentially performed,

wherein all the changes are checked between the first IFC file spatial object and the second IFC file spatial object when the GUID of the first IFC file spatial object is identical to the GUID of the second IFC file spatial object.

15. The information processing method of claim 1, wherein step (A) is configured to perform any one or more of a first IFC file attribute information obtaining method and a second IFC file attribute information obtaining method, the first IFC file attribute information obtaining method obtaining attribute information directly from the first IFC file and the second IFC file, and the second IFC file attribute information obtaining method obtaining the attribute information from an attribute information DB In which the attribute information extracted from the first IFC file and the second IFC file is stored.

16. The information processing method of claim 1, wherein when a number of IFC files having different versions, processed by the IFC version management system, is n (where n is an integer equal to or greater than 2),

a past IFC file becomes the first IFC file based on an IFC file generation date and a remaining IFC file becomes the second IFC file, among two IFC files having different versions, which are selected from among n files, and

step (A), (B), and (C) are performed for respective cases of _nC₂ combinations for selecting two files from among n files.

17. An Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) version management system, comprising:

a computer processor; and

a memory for storing computer executable instructions that when executed by the processor, cause the processor to implement;

a comparison target processor for receiving first IFC file attribute information related to a first IFC file and second IFC file attribute information related to at least one second IFC file;

a Globally Unique Identifier (GUID) comparison engine for comparing a first IFC file GUID set comprising first IFC file GUIDs of first IFC file attributes with a second IFC file GUID set comprising second IFC file GUIDs of second IFC file attributes, the first IFC file attributes and the second IFC file attributes being received by the comparison target processing unit;

a spatial object comparison engine for comparing a first IFC file spatial object information set comprising information of a first IFC file spatial object of the first IFC file attributes with a second IFC file spatial object information set comprising information of a second file spatial object of the second IFC file attributes, the first IFC file attributes and the second IFC file attributes being obtained by the comparison target processing unit, and

a comparison information output unit for generating comparison information indicating a change in any one among an area, a volume, a relationship, and a location of a spatial object, and to transmit the generated comparison information to a user system which displays the comparison information,

wherein the spatial object comparison engine comprises a spatial object checking engine which checks whether IfcSpace exists in IfcSpatialStructureElement corresponding to the first IFC file spatial object and the second IFC file spatial object, and information processing of the spatial object checking engine is performed for the first IFC file spatial object and the second IFC file spatial object only when IfcSpace exists in the IfcSpatialStructureElement,

wherein the spatial object comparison engine comprises an area-volume comparison engine, and for each of the first IFC file spatial object and the second IFC file spatial object, the area-volume comparison engine respectively obtains an area and a volume from ifcQuantitvArea and ifcQuantitvVolume if the area and volume of the spatial object are defined in ifcElementQuantity, and calculates the area and volume depending on whether the spatial object has a 2D form or a 3D form if the area and volume of the spatial object are not defined in IfcElementQuantity.

18. The IFC version management system of claim 17, wherein the GUID comparison engine extracts a GUID, which is not included in the second IFC file GUID set but in the first IFC file GUID set, or extracts a GUID, which is not included in the first IFC file GUID set but in the second IFC file GUID set.

19. The IFC version management system of claim 17, wherein the spatial object comparison engine comprises an area-volume comparison engine, and

for one or more of the first IFC file spatial objects and the second IFC file spatial objects, of which the GUIDs are the same, the area-volume comparison engine compares whether an area or volume in the first IFC file is identical to an area or volume in the second IFC file.

20. The IFC version management system of claim 17, wherein the spatial object comparison engine comprises a relationship comparison engine, and

for one or more of the first IFC file spatial objects and the second IFC file spatial objects, of which the GUIDs are the same, the relationship comparison engine compares whether an object set related to the first IFC file spatial object is identical to an object set related to the second IFC file spatial object.

21. The IFC version management system of claim 20, wherein checking a change in the relationship of the spatial object comprises obtaining at least one first related object set, related to the first IFC file spatial object, obtaining at least one second related object set, related to the second IFC file spatial object, and comparing whether the first related object set is identical to the second related object set.

22. The IFC version management system of claim 21, wherein a first related object of the first related object set is an object included in relationship information of the first IFC file spatial object, and a second related object of the second related object set is an object included in relationship information of the second IFC file spatial object.

23. The IFC version management system of claim 22, wherein whether X, Y, and Z coordinates of the first IFC file spatial object are identical to X, Y, and Z coordinates of the second IFC file spatial object is determined by checking IfcLocalplacement and IfcAxis2Placement of the first IFC file spatial object and the second IFC file spatial object.

24. The IFC version management system of claim 20, wherein the relationship comparison engine checks the change in the relationship of the spatial object through processes of obtaining at least one first related object, related to the first IFC file spatial object, obtaining at least one second related object, related to the second IFC file spatial object, and comparing whether an attribute of the first related object is identical to an attribute of the second related object.

25. The IFC version management system of claim 17, wherein the spatial object comparison engine comprises a location comparison engine, and

for one or more of the first IFC file spatial objects and the second IFC file spatial objects, of which the GUIDs are the same, the location comparison engine compares whether location information of the first IFC file spatial object is identical to location Information of the second IFC file spatial object.

26. The IFC version management system of claim 17, wherein the first IFC file attribute information is generated by extracting attribute information, which is distinguished from graphic data, from the first IFC file, and

the second IFC file attribute information is generated by extracting attribute Information, which is distinguished from graphic data, from the second IFC file.

27. The IFC version management system of claim 17, wherein the comparison target processing unit comprises a comparison target obtaining unit, and

the comparison target obtaining unit comprises a designated target obtaining unit for obtaining both information about a selection of the first IFC file or an equivalent of the first IFC file and information about a selection of the second IFC file or an equivalent of the second IFC file from a user of the IFC version management system.

28. The IFC version management system of claim 27, wherein the comparison target obtaining unit further comprises a comparison target transmission unit for providing information about two or more of the IFC files or two or more of the equivalents of the IFC files to a terminal of the user of the IFC version management system, and

the information about the two or more of the IFC files or the two or more of the equivalents of the IFC files is presented according to a time sequence.

29. The IFC version management system of claim 17, wherein when the spatial object has a 2D form, the area and volume are calculated using Information of IfcPolyLine defined in IfcShapeRepresentation, and

if the spatial object has a 3D form, the area and volume are calculated using information of IfcExtrudedAreaSolid and information of IfcPolyLine, defined in IfcShapeRepresentation.

30. The IFC version management system of claim 17, wherein when the area and volume of the spatial object are not defined in ifcElementQuantity and the spatial object has neither a 2D form nor a 3D form and when the area and volume of the spatial object are defined in B-REP form, the area and volume are calculated using Information of IfcSurfaceOflinearExtrusion and information of IfcPolyLine, defined in IfcRelSpaceBoundary.

31. The IFC version management system of claim 17, wherein, for at least one first IFC file spatial object included in the first IFC file and at least one second IFC file spatial object included in the second IFC file, the spatial object comparison engine sequentially performs checking a change in any one or more of an area and volume of the spatial object, checking a change in a relationship of the spatial object, and checking a change in a location of the spatial object,

wherein all the changes are checked between the first IFC file spatial object and the second IFC file spatial object when the GUID of the first IFC file spatial object is identical to the GUID of the second IFC file spatial object.

32. The IFC version management system of claim 17, wherein the comparison target processing unit obtains attribute information directly from the first IFC file and the second IFC file, or obtains the attribute information from an attribute information DB in which the attribute Information extracted from the first IFC file and the second IFC file is stored.

33. The IFC version management system of claim 17, wherein when a number of IFC files having different versions, processed by the IFC version management system, is n (where n is an integer equal to or greater than 2),

a past IFC file becomes the first IFC file based on an IFC file generation date and a remaining IFC file becomes the second IFC file, among two IFC files having different versions, selected from among n files, and

information processing of the GUID comparison engine and the spatial object comparison engine is performed for respective cases of _nC₂ combinations for selecting two files from among n files.