METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR AUTOMATICALLY CREATING A BILL OF MATERIALS

• US 20200134560A1
• Filed: 10/29/2018
• Published: 04/30/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Digibilt Inc.
• Original Assignee: Digibilt Inc.
• Inventors: McLINDEN, John H., Chapel, Christian A.
• Granted Patent: US 10,997,553 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• 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: G06Q 10/0875 Itemisation or classification of parts, supplies or services, e.g. bill of materials
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/08 Construction
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 17/05 Geographic models

Abstract

A method and system for automatically creating Bills of Materials. A Building Information Model (BIM) electronic drawing is created on a 3D BIM program using Bill of Material standards. The BIM electronic drawing is exported, filtered and stored into a database with a cloud Software as a Service (SaaS) service on a cloud communications network The data is analyzed to produce in real-time a Bill of Materials accurate down to an individual piece level (e.g., stud, board, pipe, duct, etc.) for desired physical structures (e.g., houses, townhomes, multi-unit housing, etc.). The Bill of Materials includes a report produced in a standard and repeatable format, thereby reducing risk, reducing costs and ensuring a trackable level of quality for the builders of the desired physical structure and eliminating any need for estimating of any quantity, cost, installation time, installation cost or waste factor for any one of the plural physical components used to build the desired physical structure.

Claims

1. A method for automatically creating a bill of materials, comprising:

creating, on a network device with one or more processors in a pre-determined layout in a non-transitory computer readable medium, a Building Information Model (BIM) electronic drawing in a three-dimensional (3D) BIM modeling program for a desired physical structure, the BIM electronic drawing created using a Bill of Materials application on the 3D BIM modeling program including a set of Bill of Material guidelines used to automatically create a Bill of Materials including a report produced in a standard and repeatable format and including a plurality of digital representations of a plurality of physical components used to build the desired physical structure including structural components, fastening components, utility components and covering components;

sending a first message from the network device via a cloud communications network to a cloud Software as a Service (SaaS) application on a cloud server network device with one or more processors, to request a Bill of Materials for the BIM electronic drawing for the desired physical structure be automatically created, the first message including an electronic link to the BIM electronic drawing;

receiving the first message on the SaaS service on the cloud server network device via the cloud communications network from the application on the network device;

creating with the SaaS service on the cloud server network device a new blank database in a pre-determined layout in a non-transitory computer readable medium on the cloud communications network to store digital information for the BIM electronic drawing for the desired physical structure;

accessing with the SaaS service on the cloud server network device an existing set of a plurality of master tables including a plurality of Bill of Material field identifiers to store digital information from the BIM electronic drawing for the digital representations of the plurality of physical components used to build the desired physical structure;

populating with the SaaS service on the cloud server network device the set of the plurality of master tables with digital information from the link to the BIM electronic drawing from the first message including the digital information from the digital representations of the plurality of physical components used to build the desired physical structure;

importing with the SaaS service on the cloud server network device from the link to the BIM electronic drawing from the first message a plurality of 3D modeling program tables and filters from the 3D modeling program used to create the BIM electronic drawing in the 3D modeling program;

filtering with the SaaS service on the cloud server network device the plurality of 3D modeling program tables to exclude non-essential tables and non-essential information and grouping of filtered plurality of 3D modeling tables by instance and type of the plurality of physical components from the BIM electronic drawing;

comparing with the SaaS service on the cloud server network device a plurality of 3D modeling program field identifiers from the imported and filtered 3D modeling program tables with a plurality of master field identifiers in the plurality of master tables to determine if a match occurs, and if so,

copying with the SaaS service on the cloud server network device digital information from a matched 3D modeling program table field into a corresponding master table field;

storing in the database with the SaaS service on the cloud server network device the set of the plurality of master tables including the plurality of Bill of Material field identifiers with digital information populated from the BIM electronic drawing and copied from the imported and filtered 3D modeling program tables; and

creating automatically in real-time from the database with the SaaS service on the cloud server network device in the non-transitory computer readable medium, a Bill of Materials for the BIM electronic drawing for the desired physical structure, the Bill of Materials including the report produced in the standard and repeatable format with a calculated quantity, purchase cost, installation time, installation cost and waste factor for the plurality of physical components used to build the desired physical structure, the Bill of Materials further providing a full list of physical materials including product or trade name for the physical materials and an electronic link to installation instructions for the plurality of physical components used to build the desired physical structure,

thereby with the created Bill of Materials reducing risk, reducing costs and ensuring a trackable level of quality for the builders of the desired physical structure and

thereby eliminating any need for estimating of any quantity, cost, installation time, installation cost or waste factor for any one of the plurality of physical components used to build the desired physical structure.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

displaying on a display component on the network device from the SaaS service on the cloud server network device via the cloud communications network the automatically created Bill of Materials; and

sending the automatically created Bill of Materials from the SaaS service on the cloud server network device to the network device via the cloud communications network.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

creating the BIM electronic drawing on the network device directly with the SaaS service on the cloud server network device via the cloud communications network, wherein the SaaS service provides access to the 3D modeling program for creation of the BIM electronic drawing.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the 3D BIM modeling program includes a AUTODESK REVIT, AUTOCAD, VECTORWORKS, MICROSTATION, ARCHICAD, SOLIDWORKS, TC CREO or SKETCHUP, 3D BIM modeling program.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein, the network device includes a desktop computer, laptop computer, tablet computer, mobile phone, non-mobile phone with display, smart phone, Internet phone, Internet appliance, personal digital/data assistants (PDA), portable game console, non-portable game console, wearable network device, cable television (CATV) set-top box, satellite television (SATV) set-top box, Internet television set-top box and digital televisions including high definition televisions (HDTV) and three-dimensional (3DTV) televisions.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the cloud service network device providing a cloud computing Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), a cloud Platform as a Service (PaaS) and a cloud Software as a Service (SaaS) including a cloud SaaS service for automatic creation in real-time of a Bill of Materials via the cloud communications network.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the pre-determined layout in the non-transitory computer readable medium for the Bill of Materials includes:

a Family Name, Type Name, Count, Actual Quantity, Unit, Unit Cost, Minimum Order Quantity, Quantity to Order and Total Cost, portions for each of the plural physical components used to build the desired physical structure.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the Bill of Materials includes BIM templates comprising annotations, constraints and objects used to draw building structures at a piece level representing material size, shape, location, quantity and orientation with detailing, fabrication, assembly, and installation information, wherein quantity, size, shape, location and orientation of each piece is measured automatically from the BIM electronic drawing without referring to annotations.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the database on the cloud server network device includes one or more cloud storage objects with a plurality of individual storage fields accessible with REpresentational State Transfer (REST), Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) or Application Programming Interface (API) protocols and wherein the database on the cloud server network device includes a Structural Query Language (SQL) Relational DataBase Management System (RDBMS) database.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the SaaS provides the ability to add items to the Bill of Materials which are not drawn in the BIM modeling program including fastening components and covering components for the desired physical structure.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the automatically created Bill of Materials report produced in the standard and repeatable format includes a report creation method and report format certified by a certifying standards organization to industry-wide standards and requirements to ensure trust, safety, security and sustainability of the standard and repeatable format of the Bill of Materials report.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the automatically created Bill of Materials report includes a unique structure identifier for the physical structure including a list of the plurality of physical components used to build the desired physical structure, unique features of the desired physical structure, specifications and builders of the desired physical structure, the unique structure identifier used to track title registrations, product registrations, recalls, warranty claims, damage claims and insurance coverage associated with the desired physical structure, wherein the structure identifier is a bar code identifier.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the structure identifier is a bar code identifier.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the desired physical structure includes buildings comprising houses, multi-unit housing, apartments, schools, offices, factories, restaurants, warehouses, physical infrastructures, comprising water, wastewater, refuse, electricity, gas, wind, solar, lighting, roads, bridges, ports, tunnels or communication utilities comprising wired and wireless utilities.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the BIM electronic drawing is created on the network device by architects, structural engineers, Mechanical Electrical Plumbing (MEP) engineers, infrastructure designers, communications utilities designers or contractors.

16. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

updating the BIM electronic drawing via the 3D BIM modeling program on the network device for the desired physical structure;

sending a second message from the network device to the SaaS service on the cloud server network device via the cloud communications network to create an updated Bill of Materials from the updated BIM electronic drawing, the second message including a second electronic link to the updated BIM electronic drawing;

updating the database via the SaaS service on the cloud server network device with updated information collected from the updated BIM electronic drawing;

creating in real-time from the database on the SaaS service on the cloud server network device the updated Bill of Materials for the updated BIM electronic drawing; and

sending the updated Bill of Materials from the service on the cloud server network device to the network device via the cloud communications network.

17. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

selecting on the network device a desired 3D project model from a set of a plurality of existing 3D project models; and

creating a project model BIM electronic drawing using the Bill of Materials application on the 3D BIM modeling program.

18. The method of claim 15 wherein the set of the plurality of the existing 3D project models includes a plurality of different existing 3D project models for single family homes, townhouses and multi-unit housing.

19. A non-transitory computer readable medium have stored therein a plurality of instructions for causing one or more processors on one or more network devices to execute the steps comprising:

creating, on a network device with one or more processors in a pre-determined layout in a non-transitory computer readable medium, a Building Information Model (BIM) electronic drawing in a three-dimensional (3D) BIM modeling program for a desired physical structure, the BIM electronic drawing created using a Bill of Materials application on the 3D BIM modeling program including a set of Bill of Material guidelines used to automatically create a Bill of Materials including a report produced in a standard and repeatable format and including a plurality of digital representations of a plurality of physical components used to build the desired physical structure including structural components, fastening components, utility components and covering components;

sending a first message from the network device via a cloud communications network to a cloud Software as a Service (SaaS) application on a cloud server network device with one or more processors, to request a Bill of Materials for the BIM electronic drawing for the desired physical structure be automatically created, the first message including an electronic link to the BIM electronic drawing;

receiving the first message on the SaaS service on the cloud server network device via the cloud communications network from the application on the network device;

creating with the SaaS service on the cloud server network device a new blank database in a pre-determined layout in a non-transitory computer readable medium on the cloud communications network to store digital information for the BIM electronic drawing for the desired physical structure;

accessing with the SaaS service on the cloud server network device an existing set of a plurality of master tables including a plurality of Bill of Material field identifiers to store digital information from the BIM electronic drawing for the digital representations of the plurality of physical components used to build the desired physical structure;

populating with the SaaS service on the cloud server network device the set of the plurality of master tables with digital information from the link to the BIM electronic drawing from the first message including the digital information from the digital representations of the plurality of physical components used to build the desired physical structure;

importing with the SaaS service on the cloud server network device from the link to the BIM electronic drawing from the first message a plurality of 3D modeling program tables and filters from the 3D modeling program used to create the BIM electronic drawing in the 3D modeling program;

filtering with the SaaS service on the cloud server network device the plurality of 3D modeling program tables to exclude non-essential tables and non-essential information and grouping of filtered plurality of 3D modeling tables by instance and type of the plurality of physical components from the BIM electronic drawing;

comparing with the SaaS service on the cloud server network device a plurality of 3D modeling program field identifiers from the imported and filtered 3D modeling program tables with a plurality of master field identifiers in the plurality of master tables to determine if a match occurs, and if so,

copying with the SaaS service on the cloud server network device digital information from a matched 3D modeling program table field into a corresponding master table field;

storing in the database with the SaaS service on the cloud server network device the set of the plurality of master tables including the plurality of Bill of Material field identifiers with digital information populated from the BIM electronic drawing and copied from the imported and filtered 3D modeling program tables; and

creating automatically in real-time from the database with the SaaS service on the cloud server network device in the non-transitory computer readable medium, a Bill of Materials for the BIM electronic drawing for the desired physical structure, the Bill of Materials including the report produced in the standard and repeatable format with a calculated quantity, purchase cost, installation time, installation cost and waste factor for the plurality of physical components used to build the desired physical structure, the Bill of Materials further providing a full list of physical materials including product or trade name for the physical materials and an electronic link to installation instructions for the plurality of physical components used to build the desired physical structure,

thereby with the created Bill of Materials reducing risk, reducing costs and ensuring a trackable level of quality for the builders of the desired physical structure and

thereby eliminating any need for estimating of any quantity, cost, installation time, installation cost or waste factor for any one of the plurality of physical components used to build the desired physical structure.

20. A system for automatically creating a bill of materials, comprising in combination;

a cloud communications network;

a cloud server network device with one or more processors providing a cloud computing Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), a cloud Platform as a Service (PaaS) and a cloud Software as a Service (SaaS) including a cloud SaaS service for automatic creation in real-time of a Bill of Materials via the cloud communications network;

a network device with one or more processors and a non-transitory computer readable medium;

for creating, on a network device with one or more processors in a pre-determined layout in a non-transitory computer readable medium, a Building Information Model (BIM) electronic drawing in a three-dimensional (3D) BIM modeling program for a desired physical structure, the BIM electronic drawing created using a Bill of Materials application on the 3D BIM modeling program including a set of Bill of Material guidelines used to automatically create a Bill of Materials including a report produced in a standard and repeatable format and including a plurality of digital representations of a plurality of physical components used to build the desired physical structure including structural components, fastening components, utility components and covering components;

for sending a first message from the network device via a cloud communications network to the cloud Software as a Service (SaaS) application on a cloud server network device with one or more processors, to request a Bill of Materials for the BIM electronic drawing for the desired physical structure be automatically created, the first message including an electronic link to the BIM electronic drawing;

for receiving the first message on the SaaS service on the cloud server network device via the cloud communications network from the application on the network device;

for creating with the SaaS service on the cloud server network device a new blank database in a pre-determined layout in a non-transitory computer readable medium on the cloud communications network to store digital information for the BIM electronic drawing for the desired physical structure;

for accessing with the SaaS service on the cloud server network device an existing set of a plurality of master tables including a plurality of Bill of Material field identifiers to store digital information from the BIM electronic drawing for the digital representations of the plurality of physical components used to build the desired physical structure;

for populating with the SaaS service on the cloud server network device the set of the plurality of master tables with digital information from the link to the BIM electronic drawing from the first message including the digital information from the digital representations of the plurality of physical components used to build the desired physical structure;

for importing with the SaaS service on the cloud server network device from the link to the BIM electronic drawing from the first message a plurality of 3D modeling program tables and filters from the 3D modeling program used to create the BIM electronic drawing in the 3D modeling program;

for filtering with the SaaS service on the cloud server network device the plurality of 3D modeling program tables to exclude non-essential tables and non-essential information and grouping of filtered plurality of 3D modeling tables by instance and type of the plurality of physical components from the BIM electronic drawing;

for comparing with the SaaS service on the cloud server network device a plurality of 3D modeling program field identifiers from the imported and filtered 3D modeling program tables with a plurality of master field identifiers in the plurality of master tables to determine if a match occurs, and if so,

for copying with the SaaS service on the cloud server network device digital information from a matched 3D modeling program table field into a corresponding master table field;

for storing in the database with the SaaS service on the cloud server network device the set of the plurality of master tables including the plurality of Bill of Material field identifiers with digital information populated from the BIM electronic drawing and copied from the imported and filtered 3D modeling program tables;

for creating automatically in real-time from the database with the SaaS service on the cloud server network device in the non-transitory computer readable medium, a Bill of Materials for the BIM electronic drawing for the desired physical structure, the Bill of Materials including the report produced in the standard and repeatable format with a calculated quantity, purchase cost, installation time, installation cost and waste factor for the plurality of physical components used to build the desired physical structure, the Bill of Materials further providing a full list of physical materials including product or trade name for the physical materials and an electronic link to installation instructions for the plurality of physical components used to build the desired physical structure,

thereby with the created Bill of Materials reducing risk, reducing costs and ensuring a trackable level of quality for the builders of the desired physical structure and

thereby eliminating any need for estimating of any quantity, cost, installation time, installation cost or waste factor for any one of the plurality of physical components used to build the desired physical structure;

for displaying on a display component on the network device from the SaaS service on the cloud server network device via the cloud communications network the automatically created Bill of Materials; and

for sending the automatically created Bill of Materials from the SaaS service on the cloud server network device to the network device via the cloud communications network.