Device, system, and method of computer aided design (CAD)

• US 8,514,222 B2
• Filed: 02/08/2009
• Issued: 08/20/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/13/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Autodesk, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Autodesk, Inc.
• Inventors: Seroussi, Jonathan, Weiss, Tal
• Primary Examiner(s): Tung, Kee M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Cain, II, Leon T
• Application Number:
  US12/367,533
• Publication Number:
  US 20100042676A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,654 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 345/420
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2111/02 CAD in a network environment, e.g. collaborative CAD or distributed simulation
• 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

Abstract

Device, system, and method of Computer-Aided-Design (CAD). A system of CAD may include a client application to communicate with a server and to render to a user a viewport including at least a portion of a CAD model based on data received from the server, wherein the client application is capable of receiving section information from the server, wherein the section information defines a plurality of geometric sections of the CAD model; selecting at least one section of the plurality of sections based on a relationship between the viewport and the boundaries of the plurality of geometric sections; requesting from the server one or more files corresponding to the at least one selected section; receiving the one or more files corresponding to the at least one selected section; and rendering the viewport based on the one or more files. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Claims

1. A system of computer aided design (CAD), the system comprising:

A client application executing on a computer and configured to communicate with a sever and to render, on a display device, to a user a viewport including at least a portion of a CAD model based on data received from the server, wherein the client application is capable of;

receiving section information from the server, wherein;

the section information defines a plurality of geometric sections of the CAD model;

the section information includes boundary information representing a plurality of boundaries defining the plurality of geometric sections, respectively, and a plurality of identifiers to identify the plurality of geometric sections, respectively and a plularity of geometric elements are distributed to the plurality of geometric sections by the server, wherein each of the plurality of geometric elements comprises a two-dimensional or three dimensional geometric entity figure, shape, and/or contour that is defined by one or more vertices, points and/or lines;

selecting at least one section of the plurality of sections based on a intersecting relationship between the viewport and the boundaries of the plurality of geometric sections;

requesting, from the server one or more files corresponding to the at least one selected section, wherein the one or more files include information of one or more of the plurality of geometric elements of the CAD model, which are included within the boundary of the selected section;

receiving the one or more files corresponding to the at least one selected section; and

rendering the viewport based on the one or more files.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the client application is to select the at least one section by selecting one or more sections intersecting with the viewport.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the client application is to request from the server the one or more files corresponding to a plurality of selected sections by sending to the server, substantially simultaneously, a plurality of requests via two or more communication channels.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the section information includes size information representing data sizes of the plurality of sections, and wherein the client application is to distribute the plurality of requests to the channels based on the data sizes of the selected sections.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the client application comprises a single threaded application, and wherein the client application comprises a task manager to manage, according to a multitasking scheme, a plurality of operations for rendering the CAD model by wrapping the plurality of operations by a plurality of respective task objects and assigning the task objects to a plurality of execution queues.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the plurality of operations include at least one of a data-retrieval operation to retrieve the data corresponding to one or more portions of the CAD model, a construction operation to construct the one or more portions based on the retrieved data, and an editing operation to edit the CAD model.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more files include at least one of a leading-points file including leading point data of the one or more elements, a rough-geometry file including rough geometry data of the one or more elements, a precision-geometry file including precision data of the one or more elements, and a metadata file including metadata corresponding to the one or more elements.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the client application is to request the precise-geometry file corresponding to the selected section, if a ratio between a width of the viewport and a display width for displaying the viewport is less than a resolution of the display.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the requested files corresponding to the selected section includes spatially compressed geometric information corresponding the section and one or more parameters of a predefined compression scheme, and wherein the client application is capable of decompressing the compressed geometric information based on the one or more parameters.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the one or more parameters include a bit size of a compressed coordinate, which is less than a bit-size of a coordinate of the CAD model.

11. The system of claim 1 comprising the server, wherein the server comprises a stateless server to handle the request for one or more files independently from another request for one or more files.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of geometric sections are defined according to a pyramid scheme including one or more pyramid structures, wherein each pyramid structure includes one or more levels, and wherein each level includes at least one geometric section.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein at least one of said pyramid structures includes a plurality of levels, and wherein the number of sections in each level is at least two times the number of sections in an immediately-preceding level.

14. A method of computer aided design (CAD), the method comprising:

receiving from a server section information defining a plurality of geometric sections of a CAD model, wherein;

the section information includes boundary information representing a plurality of boundaries defining the plurality of geometric sections, respectively, and a plurality of identifiers to identify the plurality of geometric sections, respectively and a plurality of geometric elements are distributed to the plurality of geometric sections by the server, wherein each of the plurality of geometric elements comprises a two-dimensional or three dimensional geometric entity figure, shape, and/or contour that is defined by one or more vertices, points and/or lines;

selecting at least one section of the plurality of sections based on a intersecting relationship between the viewport and the boundaries of the plurality of geometric sections;

requesting, from the server one or more files corresponding to the at least one selected section, wherein the one or more files include information of one or more of the plurality of geometric elements of the CAD model, which are included within the boundary of the selected section;

receiving the one or more files corresponding to the at least one selected section; and

rendering the viewport based on the one or more files.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein selecting the at least one section comprises selecting one or more sections intersecting with the viewport.

16. The method of claim 14 comprising requesting from the server the one or more files corresponding to a plurality of selected sections by sending to the server, substantially simultaneously, a plurality of requests via two or more communication channels.

17. The method of claim 16 comprising distributing the plurality of requests to the channels based on the data sizes of the selected sections.

18. The method of claim 14 comprising managing, according to a multitasking scheme, a plurality of operations for rendering the CAD model by wrapping the plurality of operations by a plurality of respective task objects and assigning the task objects to a plurality of execution queues.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the plurality of operations include at least one of a data-retrieval operation to retrieve the data corresponding to one or more portions of the CAD model, a construction operation to construct the one or more portions based on the retrieved data, and an editing operation to edit the CAD model.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein the one or more files include at least one of a leading-points file including leading point data of the one or more elements, a rough-geometry file including rough geometry data of the one or more elements, a precision-geometry file including precision data of the one or more elements, and a metadata file including metadata corresponding to the one or more elements.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein requesting the one or more files corresponding to the selected section comprises requesting the precise-geometry file corresponding to the selected section, if a ratio between a width of the viewport and a display width for displaying the viewport is less than a resolution of the display.

22. The method of claim 14, wherein at least one of the requested files corresponding to the selected section includes spatially compressed geometric information corresponding the section and one or more parameters of a predefined compression scheme, and wherein the method comprises decompressing the compressed geometric information based on the one or more parameters.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the one or more parameters include a bit size of a compressed coordinate, which is less than a bit-size of a coordinate of the CAD model.

24. The method of claim 14, wherein the plurality of geometric sections are defined according to a pyramid scheme including one or more pyramid structures, wherein each pyramid structure includes one or more levels, and wherein each level includes at least one geometric section.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein at least one of said pyramid structures includes a plurality of levels, and wherein the number of sections in each level is at least two times the number of sections in an immediately-preceding level.

26. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-useable medium having executable programming instructions stored thereon, wherein the executable program instructions when executed on a computer causes the computer to:

receive from a server section information defining a plurality of geometric sections of a CAD model, wherein;

the section information includes boundary information representing a plurality of boundaries defining the plurality of geometric sections, respectively, and a plurality of identifiers to identify the plurality of geometric sections, respectively and a plurality of geometric elements are distributed to the plurality of geometric sections by the server, wherein each of the plurality of geometric elements comprises a two-dimensional or three dimensional geometric entity figure, shape, and/or contour that is defined by one or more vertices, points and/or lines;

selecting at least one section of the plurality of sections based on a intersecting relationship between the viewport and the boundaries of the plurality of geometric sections;

requesting, from the server one or more files corresponding to the at least one selected section, wherein the one or more files include information of one or more of the plurality of geometric elements of the CAD model, which are included within the boundary of the selected section;

receiving the one or more files corresponding to the at least one selected section; and

rendering the viewport based on the one or more files.

27. The computer program product of claim 26, wherein the computer-readable program causes the computer to select one or more sections intersecting with the viewport.

28. The computer program product of claim 26, wherein the computer-readable program causes the computer to request from the server the one or more files corresponding to a plurality of selected sections by sending to the server, substantially simultaneously, a plurality of requests via two or more communication channels.

29. The computer program product of claim 26, wherein the computer-readable program causes the computer to manage, according to a multitasking scheme, a plurality of operations for rendering the CAD model by wrapping the plurality of operations by a plurality of respective task objects and assigning the task objects to a plurality of execution queues.

30. The computer program product of claim 26, wherein the one or more files include at least one of a leading-points file including leading point data of the one or more elements, a rough-geometry file including rough geometry data of the one or more elements, a precision-geometry file including precision data of the one or more elements, and a metadata file including metadata corresponding to the one or more elements.

31. The computer program product of claim 30, wherein the computer-readable program causes the computer to request the precise-geometry file corresponding to the selected section, if a ratio between a width of the viewport and a display width for displaying the viewport is less than a resolution of the display.

32. The computer program product of claim 26, wherein at least one of the requested files corresponding to the selected section includes spatially compressed geometric information corresponding the section and one or more parameters of a predefined compression scheme, and wherein the computer-readable program causes the computer to decompress the compressed geometric information based on the one or more parameters.

33. The computer program product of claim 32, wherein the one or more parameters include a bit size of a compressed coordinate, which is less than a bit-size of a coordinate of the CAD model.

34. The computer program product of claim 26, wherein the plurality of geometric sections are defined according to a pyramid scheme including one or more pyramid structures, wherein each pyramid structure includes one or more levels, and wherein each level includes at least one geometric section.