Error recovery in a computer aided design environment

• US 6,888,542 B1
• Filed: 01/27/1999
• Issued: 05/03/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 01/27/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Autodesk, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Autodesk, Inc.
• Inventors: Clauss, James M.
• Primary Examiner(s): JANKUS, ALMIS R
• Application Number:
  US09/238,075
• Time in Patent Office: 2,288 Days
• Field of Search: 345/964, 345/420, 700/182, 706/919, 714/2, 714/57
• US Class Current: 345/420
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/00 Computer-aided design [CAD]

Abstract

The present invention provides an improved error recovery method and apparatus for computer aided design (CAD) environments. When a failure is identified in a feature of a CAD assembly, a set of treatments is automatically provided for the failure from which to select. The set of treatments is based, at least in part, on the particular failure. In one embodiment, information to identify and/or illustrate one or more failures within a particular feature is collected and stored in persistent memory. Then, when the particular feature is indicated, the information can be retrieved and provided in various formats, including text, graphics, and/or procedures, to assist a user in better understanding the failures. In another embodiment, when a treatment is selected from a set of treatments for a particular failure, the selected treatment is automatically initiated.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

identifying a failure within a first failed feature in a computer aided design (CAD) assembly comprising a plurality of features; and

automatically providing a set of treatments for the failure within the first failed feature from which to select a treatment applicable to the failure, where;

said set of treatments is based at least in part on the failure within the first failed feature;

said failure is resulting from modifications of one or more features of the CAD assembly; and

the first failed feature is excluded from the CAD assembly.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

identifying failures within a plurality of additional failed features among a plurality of features comprising the CAD assembly; and

automatically providing a plurality of respective sets of treatments for each failure within the plurality of additional failed features from which to select a treatment for a corresponding failure, each of said plurality of respective sets of treatments based at least in part on a corresponding failure.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the identifying is based at least in part on at least one of an error message or a warning message generated during execution of the CAD assembly.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

generating a diagnosis object for each failed feature of the CAD assembly, each diagnosis object comprising information to facilitate at least one of identifying or illustrating at least one failure in a respective failed feature;

storing each diagnosis object in memory;

retrieving a diagnosis object from the memory corresponding to the first failed feature based on an indication of the first failed feature; and

providing information to facilitate at least one of identifying or illustrating the failure in the first failed feature based on the diagnosis object corresponding to the first failed feature.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the information comprises at least one of a CAD assembly identifier, a failure text description, a feature identifier, an instance transform, a feature geometry, a feature coordinate set, a failure result type, or a set of feature dependencies.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving a selection indicating the first failed feature.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein receiving the selection comprises at least one of

receiving a pointer command from a browser that lists the first failed feature;

receiving a toolbar command followed by a pointer indication in a list including the first failed feature;

or

receiving a menu command followed by a pointer indication in a list including the first failed feature.

8. The method of claim 6 further comprising:

providing an indication of at least one primary failed if the first failed feature is a secondary failed feature;

providing an option to select from at least one primary failed feature if the first failed feature is a secondary failed feature; and

if a primary failed feature is selected, then providing a set of treatments applicable to the primary failed feature.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising at leas one of:

providing a detailed textual description of the failure within the first failed feature;

designating the first failed feature in a graphical representation of the CAD assembly;

stepping through execution of the CAD assembly;

or

listing at least one feature upon which the first failed feature depends.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein providing the detailed textual description comprises at least one of:

providing at least one of an error message or a warning message corresponding to the failure within the first failed feature, said at least one of an error message or a warning message being generated during execution of the CAD assembly;

providing an extended message from a data structure of extended messages based on the failure within the first failed feature;

or

providing a calculated response based on a deviation of the failure within the first failed feature from acceptable values.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein designating the first failed feature comprises at least one of:

implementing a command to toggle highlighting of a representation of the first failed feature;

sonaring in on the representation;

or

zooming in on the representation.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising:

generating at least one of a set of at least one edge of the first failed feature, a set of at least one surface of the first failed feature, or a graphical error icon for use as the representation of the first failed feature, wherein the representation indicates where the first failed feature would have been generated in the CAD assembly.

13. The method of claim 9 wherein stepping through execution of the CAD assembly comprises at least one of:

executing only a next feature in the CAD assembly after receiving a next feature indication from a user;

sequentially executing the CAD assembly at a reduced rate;

pausing execution after each feature on which the first failed feature depends is executed;

or

designating only a most recently executed feature in the CAD assembly as the CAD assembly is executed.

14. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving a selection indicating one treatment of the set of treatments; and

automatically initiating the selected one treatment.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the set of treatments comprises at least one of an edit treatment, a delete treatment, a suppress treatment, a reorder treatment, or a targeted edit treatment, and wherein automatically initiating the selected one treatment comprises at least one of:

opening the user interface used to create the CAD assembly;

deleting the first failed feature from the CAD assembly;

suppressing the first failed feature in the CAD assembly;

moving the first failed feature to a different place in an execution sequence of the CAD assembly;

or

opening a reduced function user interface to edit a parameter of the first failed feature predicted to be responsible for the failure within the first failed feature.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein opening the user interface comprises at least one of:

zooming in on coordinates of the first failed feature in the CAD assembly;

designating the first failed feature in the CAD assembly;

or

rolling back execution of the CAD assembly to just before execution of the first failed feature.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein moving the first failed feature comprises at least one of:

receiving a user indication of where the first failed feature should be moved;

or

receiving a selection indicating a suggested location for the first failed feature.

18. The method of claim 15 wherein opening the reduced function user interface comprises:

opening a parameter editing field; and

suggesting at least one of a value and a value range for the parameter.

19. The method of claim 1 wherein automatically providing the set of treatments comprises:

accessing a plurality of available treatments, each of said available treatments including a list of failures to which the respective treatment applies;

comparing the failure within the first failed feature to the list of failures for each of said available treatments; and

generating the set of treatments based on the comparing.

26. The method of claim 1, further comprising

receiving a selection of a treatment from the set of treatments;

executing the treatment to resolve the failure within the first failed feature; and

including the first failed feature with the failure resolved in the CAD assembly.

20. An apparatus comprising:

first logic to identify a failure within a first failed feature in a computer aided design (CAD) assembly comprising a plurality of features; and

second logic to automatically provide a set of treatments for the failure within the first failed feature from which to select a treatment applicable to the failure, where;

said set of treatments is based at least in part on the failure within the first failed feature;

said failure is resulting from modifications of one or more features of the CAD assembly; and

the first failed feature is excluded from the CAD assembly.

21. The apparatus of claim 20 further comprising:

third logic to receive a selection indicating the first failed feature; and

fourth logic to provide information to facilitate at least one of identifying or illustrating the failure within the first failed feature.

22. The apparatus of claim 20 further comprising:

third logic to receive a selection indicating one treatment of the set of treatments; and

fourth logic to automatically initiate the selected treatment.

27. The apparatus of claim 20, further comprising

third logic to receive a selection of a treatment from the set of treatments;

fourth logic to execute the treatment to resolve the failure within the first failed feature; and

fifth logic to include the first failed feature with the failure resolved in the CAD assembly.

23. A machine readable storage medium having stored thereon machine executable instructions, execution of said instructions to implement a method comprising:

identifying a failure within a first failed feature in a computer aided design (CAD) assembly comprising a plurality of features; and

automatically providing a set of treatments for the failure within the first failed feature from which to select a treatment applicable to the failure, where;

said set of treatments is based at least in part on the failure within the first failed feature;

said failure is resulting from modifications of one or more features of the CAD assembly; and

the first failed feature is excluded from CAD assembly.

24. The machine readable storage medium of claim 23 having stored thereon machine executable instructions, execution of said instructions to implement the method further comprising:

receiving a selection indicating the first failed feature; and

providing information to facilitate at least one of identifying or illustrating the failure within the first failed feature.

25. The machine readable storage medium of claim 23 having stored thereon machine executable instructions, execution of said instructions to implement the method further comprising:

receiving a selection indicating one treatment of the set of treatments; and

automatically initiating the selected treatment.

28. The machine readable storage medium of claim 23 having stored thereon machine executable instructions, execution of said instructions to implement the method further comprising:

receiving a selection of a treatment from the set of treatments;

executing the treatment to resolve the failure within the first failed feature; and

including the first failed feature with the failure resolved in the CAD assembly.