Method and apparatus for providing access to and working with architectural drawings on the internet

• US 20040225968A1
• Filed: 06/29/2004
• Published: 11/11/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 01/25/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Autodesk, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Autodesk, Inc.
• Inventors: Felser, Lawrence D, Wallace, John R, Look, Douglas G
• Granted Patent: US 7,484,183 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/778
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2111/02 CAD in a network environment, e.g. collaborative CAD or distributed simulation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2111/12 Symbolic schematics
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04812 Interaction techniques based on cursor appearance or behaviour, e.g. being affected by the presence of displayed objects
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1454 involving copying of the display data of a local workstation or window to a remote workstation or window so that an actual copy of the data is displayed simultaneously on two or more displays, e.g. teledisplay
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/13 Architectural design, e.g. computer-aided architectural design [CAAD] related to design of buildings, bridges, landscapes, production plants or roads
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/169 Annotation, e.g. comment data or footnotes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

An Internet-based design environment, implemented on a web server, for use by building, design, architectural, engineering, and construction personnel, wherein the design environment provides a graphical user interface having a virtual desktop (300) that resembles an architect'"'"'s desk, wherein the virtual desktop provides a virtual workspace for storing design documents and a set of basic virtual design tools (304, 306) for use in sketching, drawing, modeling, creating, and editing the stored design documents in the virtual workspace. The design documents may comprise different media types (314) and are persistently maintained on the web server. The virtual design tools comprise graphical icons that resemble physical objects with similar virtual functionality to the resembled physical objects and may be moved around the virtual workspace. The design environment supports multi-modal input, side-by-side layout of the stored documents, access permissions for users of the design environment, and the ability to interact with applications on the virtual desktop.

Claims

1. An Internet-based design environment, implemented on a web server computer, for use by building, design, architectural, engineering, and construction personnel, wherein the design environment provides a graphical user interface having a virtual desktop that resembles an architect'"'"'s desk, wherein the virtual desktop provides a virtual workspace for storing design documents and a set of basic virtual design tools for use in sketching, drawing, modeling, creating, and editing the stored design documents in the virtual workspace;

wherein the design documents are different media types and are persistently maintained on the web server;

wherein the virtual design tools comprise graphical icons represented by objects with persistent properties for each object, and wherein the virtual design tools may be moved around the virtual workspace; and

wherein the design environment supports multi-modal input, side-by-side layout of the stored documents, access permissions for users of the design environment, the ability to interact with applications on the virtual desktop, and the ability for multiple users at different locations to access and edit workspaces and documents simultaneously, while one user can see another user'"'"'s edits as the edits are made.

2. The design environment of claim 1 wherein one of the virtual design tools is selected from a group comprising a pencil, a pen, and tracing paper.

3. The design environment of claim 1 wherein a new virtual design tool can be added to the design environment by dragging and dropping the new design tool from an Internet-based catalog to the virtual workspace.

4. A method for providing access to architectural documents comprising:

maintaining, on one or more servers accessible from the Internet, persistent multiple architectural documents of different media types;

providing, to an online user, a set of basic virtual design tools that have persistent properties and may be copied, wherein the virtual design tools may be utilized to work with the architectural documents; and

providing a workspace for viewing, accessing, and modifying the architectural documents.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein a basic virtual design tool comprises virtual tracing paper that provides the ability to overlay several independent documents while maintaining transparent capabilities of the documents.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein a basic virtual design tool comprises a virtual graphical scaling tool that provides for setting an internal scale representation of an existing document by:

identifying a distance using an input device; and

specifying a unit of measurement represented by the distance.

7. The method of claim 4 wherein a basic virtual design tool comprises a graphical scaling element that provides the ability to modify an internal scale representation of a document without modifying a size of the document.

8. The method of claim 4 wherein a basic virtual design tool comprises a ruler tool that:

assists a user in drawing a line; and

displays a unit of measure.

9. The method of claim 4 wherein a basic virtual design tool comprises a resize document tool that enlarges a document size without scaling an image in the document.

10. The method of claim 4 wherein at least one of the architectural documents is a container document that provides for graphically associating multiple documents of various document types and wherein the container document can be moved between two or more workspaces as a unit using a graphical user interface.

11. The method of claim 4 wherein a new virtual design tool may be provided to the online user by copying the new virtual design tool from an Internet-based catalog.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the virtual design tool is copied by dragging and dropping the virtual design tool from the Internet-based catalog to the workspace.

13. A method for providing access to architectural documents comprising:

displaying a graphical virtual personal digital assistant (PDA) on a display of a desktop computer;

associating one or more architectural documents with the virtual PDA by graphically adding the architectural documents to the virtual PDA using an input device; and

synchronizing the virtual PDA with an actual personal digital assistant wherein the synchronization provides that the information displayed on the virtual PDA matches information displayed on the actual personal digital assistant.

14. A computer-implemented apparatus comprising:

a web based server accessible from the Internet configured to maintain persistent multiple architectural documents of different media types;

a set of basic virtual design tools, available to a user on the Internet through the server, wherein the virtual design tools have persistent properties, may be copied, may be utilized to work with the architectural documents; and

a virtual workspace, available to a user on the Internet through the server, for viewing, accessing, and modifying the architectural documents.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 wherein a basic virtual design tool comprises tracing paper that provides the ability to overlay several independent documents while maintaining transparent capabilities of the documents.

16. The apparatus of claim 14 wherein a basic virtual design tool comprises a graphical scaling tool that provides for setting an internal scale representation of an existing document by:

identifying a distance using an input device; and

specifying a unit of measurement represented by the distance.

17. The apparatus of claim 14 wherein a basic virtual design tool comprises a graphical scaling element that provides an ability to modify an internal scale representation of a document without modifying a size of the document.

18. The apparatus of claim 14 wherein a basic design tool comprises a ruler tool that:

assists a user in drawing a line; and

displays a unit of measure.

19. The apparatus of claim 14 wherein a basic design tool comprises a resize document tool that enlarges a document size without scaling an image in the document.

20. The apparatus of claim 14 wherein at least one of the architectural documents is a container document that provides for graphically associating multiple documents of various document types and wherein the container document can be moved between two or more workspaces as a unit using a graphical user interface.

21. The apparatus of claim 14 wherein a new virtual design tool may be available to the user by copying the new virtual design tool from an Internet-based catalog.

22. The apparatus of claim 14 wherein the virtual design tool is copied by dragging and dropping the virtual design tool from the Internet-based catalog to the virtual workspace.

23. A computer-implemented apparatus comprising:

a graphical virtual personal digital assistant (PDA) that may be displayed on a display of a desktop computer;

one or more architectural documents associated with the virtual PDA, wherein the association may be established by graphically adding the architectural documents to the virtual PDA using an input device; and

wherein the virtual PDA may be synchronized with an actual personal digital assistant wherein a synchronization process ensures that information displayed on the virtual PDA matches information displayed on the actual personal digital assistant.

24. An artide of manufacture for providing access to architectural documents comprising:

an interactive web site hosted on a web server wherein the interactive web site comprises;

means for maintaining, on the web server, persistent multiple architectural documents of different media types;

means for providing a set of basic virtual design tools that have persistent properties and may be copied, wherein the virtual design tools may be utilized to work with the architectural documents; and

means for providing a workspace for viewing, accessing, and modifying the architectural documents.

25. The article of manufacture of claim 24 wherein a basic virtual design tool comprises virtual tracing paper that provides the ability to overlay several independent documents while maintaining transparent capabilities of the documents.

26. The article of manufacture of claim 24 wherein a basic virtual design tool comprises a virtual graphical scaling tool that provides for setting an internal scale representation of an existing document by:

identifying a distance using an input device; and

specifying a unit of measurement represented by the distance.

27. The article of manufacture of claim 24 wherein a basic virtual design tool comprises a graphical scaling element that provides the ability to modify an internal scale representation of a document without modifying a size of the document.

28. The article of manufacture of claim 24 wherein a basic virtual design tool comprises a ruler tool that:

assists a user in drawing a line; and

displays a unit of measure.

29. The article of manufacture of claim 24 wherein a basic virtual design tool comprises a resize document tool that enlarges a document size without scaling an image in the document.

30. The article of manufacture of claim 24 wherein at least one of the architectural documents is a container document that provides means for graphically associating multiple documents of various document types and wherein the container document can be moved between two or more workspaces as a unit using a graphical user interface.

31. The article of manufacture of claim 24 further comprising means for providing a new virtual design tool by copying the new virtual design tool from an Internet-based catalog.

32. The article of manufacture of claim 24 wherein the means for providing the virtual design tool comprises means for dragging and dropping the virtual design tool from the Internet-based catalog to the workspace.

33. An article of manufacture for providing access to architectural documents comprising:

an interactive web site hosted on a web server wherein the interactive web site comprises;

means for displaying a graphical virtual personal digital assistant (PDA) on a display of a desktop computer;

means for associating one or more architectural documents with the virtual PDA by graphically adding the architectural documents to the virtual PDA using an input device; and

means for synchronizing the virtual PDA with an actual personal digital assistant wherein the synchronization provides that the information displayed on the virtual PDA matches information displayed on the actual personal digital assistant.