System and method for creating a build set and bill of materials from a master source model

• US 8,712,876 B2
• Filed: 02/03/2012
• Issued: 04/29/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/06/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: MiTek Holdings, Inc. (Berkshire Hathaway Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: MiTek Holdings, Inc. (Berkshire Hathaway Incorporated)
• Inventors: Puerini, Gary Ronald, Kashian, Richard, Doherty, David, Hinson, Phelan James
• Primary Examiner(s): Shaawat, Mussa A
• Application Number:
  US13/365,937
• Publication Number:
  US 20120265654A1
• Time in Patent Office: 816 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 705/29
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/04 Forecasting or optimisation specially adapted for administrative or management purposes, e.g. linear programming or "cutting stock problem" market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities G06Q30/0202
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/067 Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0875 Itemisation or classification of parts, supplies or services, e.g. bill of materials

Abstract

A system and method for creating a build set and a BOM from user selected options from a single source model.

Claims

1. A system for creating a build set and a bill of materials, said system comprising:

a bill of materials (BOM) processor comprising;

a package creator processor creating a package for each computer-aided design (CAD) object, wherein said package includes at least one quantity of materials and at least one BOM rule;

a user interface configured for execution by the BOM processor for receiving a selection of a section of a build set;

a build set processor including a model copier copying a master source model including a set of said CAD objects from said selected section of the build set;

a package processor collecting the set of said CAD objects, determining said packages associated with the set of said CAD objects, and determining quantities of materials associated with said packages;

a rule processor applying said at least one BOM rule to determine said build set materials from the determined quantities of materials;

a building material processor merging similar of said build set materials to form a material list and associated quantities and removing said build set materials that have a zero value for associated quantities from the formed material list; and

a BOM creator processor applying a rounding rule associated with said package to said associated quantities, and creating a BOM from the rounded associated quantities and the formed material list;

an option string processor configured for;

determining which of said set of said CAD objects has associated option strings;

applying user selected option values to each of said associated option strings with each of the determined CAD objects; and

logically evaluating each of said associated option strings; and

a CAD object manipulator for manipulating each of the determined CAD objects based on the associated logically evaluated option string and saving the manipulated determined CAD objects in said build set.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said model copier copies selectable options associated with the set of said CAD objects, option strings associated with said selectable options, and graphical objects that have said option strings applied.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein said BOM processor comprises an auto dimension processor for displaying dimensions associated with the set of said CAD objects including points and sides, receiving selections of said dimensions, and creating external dimensions for each said side of said master source model, the external dimensions including opening positions, wall positions, side dimensions, nodes for said side dimensions, and dimension strings;

wherein the auto dimension processor is configured to create external dimensions including determining said nodes and said dimension strings from said master source model, determining positioning and display attributes from pre-selected settings assigned to said master source model, and determining internal dimensions, including internal horizontal dimensions and internal vertical dimensions, by assessing a template dimension manual set.

4. A tangible, non-transitory computer readable medium including computer executable instructions executable by a processor and comprising instructions for:

creating an electronic package, including quantities of materials and BOM rules, for each computer-aided design (CAD) object in the created package;

receiving a selection of a section of the build set;

collecting the CAD objects from the section;

determining the electronic package associated with each of the collected CAD objects;

determining the quantities of materials associated with the determined package;

applying at least one of the BOM rules to determine build set materials from the quantities of materials;

merging similar of the determined build set materials to form a material list and associated quantities; and

removing the determined build set materials that have a zero value for an associated quantity property for the determined build set materials from the material list;

applying a rounding rule associated with the determined package to the associated quantities;

creating the BOM from the rounded associated quantities and the material list;

copying a master source model including a set of CAD objects;

determining which of the set of the CAD objects has associated option strings with each of the determined CAD objects;

logically evaluating each of the associated option strings;

manipulating each of the determined CAD object based on the associated logically evaluated option string; and

storing the manipulated determined CAD objects in a build set.

5. The tangible computer readable medium of claim 4, wherein the instructions for manipulating further comprise selecting a manipulation option, said manipulation option being at least one of deleting the determined CAD object, copying the determined CAD object, and modifying a property of the determined CAD object.

6. The tangible computer readable medium of claim 4, wherein the instructions for determining further comprise determining, from an external option, an external box option with associated external CAD objects, wherein the external box option includes an external boundary box and an external option connection array, wherein the external option connection array includes at least one external option connection, wherein each of the at least one external option connection includes an external option connection option string, an external base point, and an external option point.

7. The tangible computer readable medium of claim 6, further comprising instructions for:

evaluating the external option connection option string associated with the at least one external option connection if there is no more than one of the at least one external option connections; and

deleting the external CAD objects within the external box option and the external boundary box if the evaluated external option connection option string resolves to “

false”

.

8. The tangible computer readable medium of claim 7, further comprising the instructions for:

assigning an external depth level to each external nested box option within the external box option;

ordering the external nested box options according to the external depth level; and

solving the external box option by solving each of the ordered external nested box options according to the external depth level.

9. The tangible computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein said instructions for solving each of the ordered external nested box options comprises instructions for:

determining a set of the at least one external option connections associated with the at least one external box option;

evaluating an external option connection option string associated with each of the set of the at least one external option connections;

copying the external CAD object contained within the external boundary box from the external option point to an external base point if the evaluated external option string resolves to “

true”

; and

deleting the at least one external box option after all the at least one external option connections have been evaluated.

10. The computer readable medium of claim 8, further comprising instructions for:

displaying dimensions associated with the CAD objects including points and sides;

receiving selections of the displayed dimensions;

creating external dimensions for each side of the master source model, wherein the external dimensions include opening positions, wall positions, side dimensions, nodes for the side dimensions, and internal dimension strings; and

storing the external dimensions in the build set.

11. The computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein said instructions for creating external dimensions comprise instructions for:

determining the nodes and the internal dimension strings from the master source model;

determining the opening positions, the wall positions, and display attributes from pre-selected settings assigned to the master source model;

determining internal dimensions, including internal horizontal dimensions and internal vertical dimensions, by assessing a template dimension manual set by the user; and

storing the internal dimensions in the build set.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 4, wherein the collected CAD objects are at least one of:

CAD objects associated with CAD entities, CAD objects contained within at least one closed line, CAD objects on at least one pre-selected layer, and CAD objects in at least one pre-selected external drawing.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 4, wherein the instructions for manipulating further comprise selecting a manipulation option, said manipulation option being at least one of deleting the determined CAD object, copying the determined CAD object, and modifying a property of the determined CAD object.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 4, further comprising instructions for:

determining, at least one box option, including a boundary box and an option connection array, wherein the option connection array includes at least one option connection, wherein each of the at least one option connection includes an option connection option string, a base point, and an option point;

evaluating the option connection option string associated with the at least one option connection if there is no more than one of the at least one option connections;

if the evaluated option connection option string resolves to “

false”

, deleting the CAD objects within the at least one box option and the boundary box from the build set;

assigning a depth level to each nested box option within the at least one box option;

ordering the nested box options according to the depth level; and

solving the at least one box option by solving each of the ordered nested box options according to the depth level.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 14,

said instructions for solving each of the ordered nested box options comprising instructions for:

determining a set of the at least one option connections associated with the at least one box option;

evaluating the option connection option string associated with each of the set of at least one option connections;

ignoring the at least one option connection if the evaluated option connection option string resolves to “

false”

;

copying the CAD objects contained within the boundary box from the option point to the base point if the evaluated option connection option string resolves to “

true”

; and

deleting the at least one box option after all the option connections have been evaluated, including the CAD objects contained within.