Method, apparatus, and product to associate computer aided design data and bill of materials data
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method of associating CAD data of an item with a corresponding BOM item in a particular bill of material (BOM) stored with at least one other BOM, the CAD data of the item including CAD information, the method comprising:
- collecting the CAD information from the CAD data of the item;
securely transferring the collected CAD information;
retrieving matching data of the corresponding BOM item in the particular BOM from a BOM database containing at least two BOMs, including the particular BOM;
comparing the BOM retrieved matching data with the corresponding collected transferred CAD information to ascertain if there is a match between the CAD data information and the retrieved matching data; and
in the case a match is obtained, associating the particular BOM item with the CAD data of the item,wherein each BOM is describable as a tree with each node a BOM item, wherein each BOM has an owner, and wherein the particular BOM and at least one other BOM stored in the BOM database with the particular BOM have different owners.
9 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method of associating CAD data of an item with an item in a bill of material (BOM). The BOM is stored remotely in a database containing BOMS, not necessarily having the same owner. The method includes for a selected item collecting data from the CAD data of the item, formatting the collected data for transfer, transferring the formatted collected data to a remote location from where the BOM database is accessible, retrieving matching BOM items from a database containing one or more BOMs, comparing the BOM data of the matching items with the corresponding collected transfer data to obtain a match, and associating the matched BOM item with the CAD data of the item. The BOM uniquely identifies items using a unique identifier, and the associating is by attaching to the CAD data of the item the unique identifier used in the BOM database for the item.
55 Citations
50 Claims
-
1. A computer-implemented method of associating CAD data of an item with a corresponding BOM item in a particular bill of material (BOM) stored with at least one other BOM, the CAD data of the item including CAD information, the method comprising:
-
collecting the CAD information from the CAD data of the item; securely transferring the collected CAD information; retrieving matching data of the corresponding BOM item in the particular BOM from a BOM database containing at least two BOMs, including the particular BOM; comparing the BOM retrieved matching data with the corresponding collected transferred CAD information to ascertain if there is a match between the CAD data information and the retrieved matching data; and in the case a match is obtained, associating the particular BOM item with the CAD data of the item, wherein each BOM is describable as a tree with each node a BOM item, wherein each BOM has an owner, and wherein the particular BOM and at least one other BOM stored in the BOM database with the particular BOM have different owners. - View Dependent Claims (2)
-
-
3. A computer-implemented method comprising:
-
associating CAD data of at least one item with a BOM item of at least one or more bills of material (BOMs) in a BOM database stored in a processing system, the BOM database arranged for storing a plurality of BOMs, each BOM describable as a tree with each node a BOM item, each BOM item in the BOM database having a unique identifier; and providing remote access to one or more elements of information in the BOM database to one or more users, wherein at least one BOM item in at least one of the BOMs is associated with an owner of a set of owners, and wherein two or more of the BOMs are associated with a respective owner of the set of owners, such that the database may contain BOMs associated with different respective owners. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
-
-
31. A computer-implemented method comprising:
-
comparing one or more features of an item to find matching existing items in one or more of CAD data and in a BOM database, the CAD data for each existing item associated with an existing item in the BOM database, the BOM database storing one or more bills of material (BOMs), each BOM describable as a tree with each node an item, each item in the BOM database having a unique identifier, the BOM database stored remotely from the CAD data; wherein the BOM database is for storing a plurality of BOMs, wherein at least one item in at least some of BOMs is associated with an owner of a set of owners, and wherein two or more of the BOMs are associated with a respective owner of the set of owners, such that the database may contain BOMs associated with different respective owners. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
-
-
37. A carrier medium carrying one or more computer readable code segments to instruct one or more processors of a processing system to implement a method comprising:
-
associating CAD data of at least one item with an item of at least one or more bills of material (BOMs) in a BOM database stored in a processing system, the BOM database arranged for storing a plurality of BOMs, each BOM describable as a tree with each node an item, each item in the BOM database having a unique identifier; and providing remote access to one or more items of information in the BOM database to one or more users, wherein at least one item in at least some of BOMs is associated with an owner of a set of owners, and wherein two or more of the BOMs are associated with a respective owner of the set of owners, such that the database may contain BOMS associated with different respective owners. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43)
-
-
44. An apparatus comprising:
-
means for storing a BOM database, the BOM database arranged for storing a plurality of bills of material (BOMs), each BOM describable as a tree with each node an item, each item in the BOM database having a unique identifier means for associating CAD data of at least one item with an item of at least one or more BOMs in the BOM database; and means for providing remote access to one or more items of information in the BOM database to one or more users, wherein at least one item in at least some of BOMs is associated with an owner of a set of owners, and wherein two or more of the BOMs are associated with a respective owner of the set of owners, such that the database may contain BOMs associated with different respective owners. - View Dependent Claims (45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50)
-
Specification