Method of Determining Range Of Change in Design, Design Change Range Determining Apparatus, and Design Change Range Determining System

• US 20080077902A1
• Filed: 08/31/2007
• Published: 03/27/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Harashima, Ichiro, Nakashima, Keisuke
• Granted Patent: US 8,108,059 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 716/11
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2111/02 CAD in a network environment, e.g. collaborative CAD or distributed simulation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/00 Computer-aided design [CAD]

Abstract

A design change range determining apparatus assigns a link between the one and another elements to generate link information table regarding the assigned link, and when the element is specified through an input unit, retrieves link information table to obtain the parent node associated with the specified element, obtains a child node associated with the parent node, and further obtains a child node which is a parent node of the obtain child node; and display the obtained parent nodes and child nodes on a display.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of determining a range of influence due to a change of a design parameter of an element in a design data including a plurality of elements stored in a storage, wherein the design data including information of relation between the elements, wherein the design data includes information of relation between the elements, the method comprising the steps of:

collecting the design data in the storage;

associating one element with another element as either of a parent node or a child node on the basis of the obtained information of the relation between the elements in the design data to have a network structure to assign a link between the one and another elements to generate link information regarding the assigned link, storing the link information in the storage; and

when the element is specified through an input unit, retrieving link information in the storage to obtain the parent node corresponding to the specified element, obtaining a child node associated with the parent node, further obtaining a child node which is a parent node of the obtain child node; and

displaying the obtained parent nodes and child nodes on a display.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the design data comprises at least two of CAD data, BOM data, analysis flow data, and function data.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the step of setting a link strength indicating a strength in relation between the elements for each link in accordance with either a value entered through the input unit or a predetermined value.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the step of, when the obtained parent node and child nodes are displayed on the display, displaying the obtained parent node and the child nodes with emphasized displaying.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the step of, when the obtained parent node and child nodes are displayed on the display, the change range determining unit displaying either of a link between the obtained parent node and child node or a link between the child node and another child node.

6. A design change range determining apparatus for determining a range of influence due to a change of a design parameter of an element in design data, stored in a storage, including a plurality of elements, the apparatus comprising:

a link information collecting unit for collecting the design data in the storage, wherein the design data including information of a relation between the elements;

an inter-link element relation generating unit for associating one element with another element as either a parent node or a child node on the basis of the obtained information of the relation between elements in the design data to have a network structure to assign a link between the one and another elements to generate link information regarding the assigned link, storing the link information in the storage; and

a change range determining unit for, when the element is specified through an input unit, retrieving link information in the storage to obtain the parent node corresponding to the specified element, obtaining a child node associated with the parent node, further obtaining a child node which is a parent node of the obtain child node; and

displaying the obtained parent nodes and child nodes on a display.

7. The design change range determining apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein the design data comprises at least two of CAD data, BOM data, analysis flow data, and function data.

8. The design change range determining apparatus as claimed in claim 6, further comprising a link strength editing unit for setting a link strength indicating a strength in relation between the elements for each link in accordance with either a value entered through the input unit or a predetermined value.

9. The design change range determining apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein when the obtained parent node and child nodes are displayed on the display, the change range determining unit displays the obtained parent node and the child nodes with emphasized displaying.

10. The design change range determining apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein when the obtained parent node and child nodes are displayed on the display, the change range determining unit displays either of a link between the obtained parent node and child node or a link between the child node and another child node.

11. A design change range determining system comprising:

a design change range determining server for determining a range of influence due to a change of a design parameter of an element in design data, stored in a storage, including a plurality of elements; and

a client for transmitting data of an element of which design parameter is changed, wherein

the design data includes information of relation between the elements; and

wherein

the design change range determining server;

collects the design data in the storage, the design data including information of relation between the elements;

associates one element with another element as either a parent node or a child node on the basis of the obtained information of the relation between elements in the design data to have a network structure to assign a link between the cone and another elements to generate link information regarding the assigned link;

stores the link information in the storage;

when the element is specified through an input unit, retrieves link information in the storage to obtain the parent node corresponding to the specified element, obtains a child node associated with the parent node, and further obtains a child node which is a parent node of the obtain child node; and

displays the obtained parent nodes and child nodes on a display.

12. The system as claimed in claim 11, wherein the design data comprises at least two of CAD data, BOM data, analysis flow data, and function data.

13. The system as claimed in claim 11, wherein a link strength indicates a strength in relation between the elements for each link is set in accordance with either a value entered through the input unit or a predetermined value.

14. The system as claimed in claim 11, wherein when the obtained parent node and child nodes are displayed on the display, the obtained parent node and the child nodes are displayed with emphasized displaying.

15. The system as claimed in claim 11, wherein when the obtained parent node and child nodes are displayed on the display, either of a link between the obtained parent node and child node or a link between the child node and another child node is displayed.