Rendering and modifying CAD design entities in object-oriented applications

• US 8,762,941 B2
• Filed: 02/13/2009
• Issued: 06/24/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/16/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Armstrong Word Industries Incorporated, Armstrong World Industries Incorporated, Dirtt Environmental Solutions, ICE Edge Business Solutions Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Dirtt Environmental Solutions
• Inventors: Loberg, Barrie A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Zhen, Li B
• Assistant Examiner(s): NGUYEN, DUY KHUONG THANH
• Application Number:
  US12/444,893
• Publication Number:
  US 20100268513A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,957 Days
• Field of Search: 717/116
• US Class Current: 717/116
• 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

An object-oriented design program provides is configured to instantly render in a three-dimensional interface user CAD designs received as CAD-based design elements (e.g., CAD blocks or lines). The object-oriented program renders the user CAD designs regardless of whether the user designs are practical, or use finishes or colors that are in-stock for the selected design elements. In addition, the object-oriented program can also create intelligent software objects for the CAD-based elements at a later time, upon request by the user. The intelligent software objects can be configured to automatically resolve themselves in view of one or more system limitations and rules in related components, and to replicate any such resolution back to the CAD-based blocks if desired. Thus, a user can have the benefits of instant 3D rendering of CAD drawings with or without the automatic resolution provided by intelligent software objects, depending on the situation.

Claims

1. A method of using an object-oriented design program that utilizes an object-oriented database to instantly render user designs made in a Computer-Aided Design (“

CAD”

) program that utilizes a record-based linear database, comprising the acts of;

identifying one or more user requests through a user interface on a computer display to render one or more design elements created in the CAD program using the object-oriented design program, and importing one or more CAD records from the record-based linear database that represent the one or more design elements created in the CAD program;

automatically creating one or more unintelligent objects in the objected-oriented database using the one or more records, the one or more unintelligent objects comprising automatically independently executable software instructions apart from the CAD program with limited functionality, wherein the unintelligent objects are unlinked to one or more intelligent objects, and do not automatically resolve with changes to any other created object;

upon identifying a change in status to an object-oriented environment, creating one or more intelligent objects in response to one or more additional user design elements received through the user interface, wherein the one or more intelligent objects comprise independently executable software instructions apart from the CAD program with expanded functionality, wherein the intelligent objects are linked to one or more other intelligent objects, and automatically resolve with changes to any other linked intelligent object;

displaying a representation of a three-dimensional view of the one or more design elements corresponding to unintelligent objects and corresponding to one or more additional design elements corresponding to intelligent objects;

receiving one or more requests to create one or more new object-oriented intelligent objects corresponding to the one or more design elements; and

generating the one or more new object-oriented intelligent objects, wherein the one or more new object-oriented intelligent objects comprise automatically resolving software instructions that correlate with the one or more reference libraries and with one or more other object-oriented objects.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising the acts of:

receiving one or more user instructions to manipulate at least one design element in the user interface of the object-oriented design program; and

displaying the user-directed change to the at least one design element using other previously-generated rendering instructions.

3. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the user-directed change comprises a change in color or finish selection for the at least one design element.

4. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the user-directed change comprises a change in material for the at least one design element.

5. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the object-oriented design program further comprises one or more reference libraries that indicates available features for particular design elements.

6. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein:

the user-directed change comprises a change in material for the at least one design element; and

the one or more reference libraries comprise one or more values that indicate that the user-directed feature change does not correlate with what is available for the at least one design element.

7. The method as recited in claim 6, further comprising an act of rendering the user-directed change in material along with the rendering of the at least one design element in spite of the non-correlation per the one or more reference libraries.

8. The method as recited in claim 7, wherein the act of generating the one or more new object-oriented intelligent objects further comprises converting one or more new object-oriented unintelligent objects corresponding to the one or more design elements by linking the new object-oriented unintelligent objects to one or more other objects.

9. The method as recited in claim 7, further comprising:

the newly generated one or more new object-oriented objects automatically communicating with the one or more reference libraries; and

the newly generated one or more new object-oriented objects identifying that the user-directed change in features is unavailable for the at least one design element.

10. The method as recited in claim 9, further comprising automatically correcting the view of the at least one design element in the user interface of the object-oriented design program so that the user-directed feature change is no longer displayed.

11. The method as recited in claim 10, further comprising sending one or more updates to the CAD program that change one or more records corresponding to the at least one design element, wherein the one or more updates correspond to the automatic correction.

20. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising the acts of:

identifying that a status for one or more new design elements is set to a non-object oriented status, such that the user interface displays at least one design element that is not associated with an object, and a plurality of design elements that are associated with an intelligent and/or unintelligent object;

receiving a request to switch to an object-oriented design view; and

displaying only those design elements associated with an intelligent and/or unintelligent object, but not the one or more new design elements that were drawn in the non-object oriented status.

12. A method of using an object-oriented design program that utilizes an object-oriented database to instantly render user designs made in a computer-aided design (“

CAD”

) program that utilizes a record-based linear database, comprising the acts of;

identifying one or more user requests to render a three-dimensional representation of one or more design elements created in the CAD program;

importing from the record-based linear database of the CAD program into the object-oriented program one or more records that represent one or more design elements created by the user in the CAD program;

automatically creating a plurality of objects in the objected-oriented database based on the one or more records and one or more additional design elements created by the user;

wherein;

the plurality of objects comprise automatically resolving software instructions that are independently executable apart from the CAD program, and include;

i) one or more unintelligent software objects and ii) one or more intelligent software objects;

the one or more unintelligent software objects correspond to the imported one or more design elements, and are unlinked to another software object in the object-oriented database; and

the one or more intelligent objects correspond to the additional design elements, and are linked to another software object in the object-oriented database;

automatically displaying a representation of a three-dimensional view each imported and created design elements, including design elements corresponding to unintelligent objects and intelligent objects using previously-generated rendering instructions; and

for at least one design element corresponding to an unintelligent object, displaying in the user interface of the object-oriented design program at least one feature of the user-selected features from the feature file as being non-modifiable, and another feature of the user-selected features from the feature file as being modifiable.

13. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein:

the at least one feature displayed as being non-modifiable comprises dimension information; and

the another feature displayed as being modifiable comprises information related to color, finish, or material of the one or more design elements.

14. The method as recited in claim 12, further comprising:

receiving one or more user requests to generate one or more object-oriented intelligent objects corresponding to the received one or more design elements represented in the user interface of the object-oriented design program; and

displaying all of the user-selected features as being modifiable for each intelligent object even though design elements corresponding to unintelligent objects are also displayed, and include non-modifiable features.

15. The method as recited in claim 14, further comprising:

identifying that at least one record corresponding to the one or more imported design elements has been converted to an intelligent object and has been updated in the CAD program;

automatically determining through the intelligent object that the update in the CAD program is possible; and

automatically using additional rendering information that was previously generated to render the updates in the user interface of the object-oriented design program.

16. The method as recited in claim 14, wherein:

the one or more user requests comprise a request to create an intelligent object corresponding to one or more groupings of design elements represented in the user interface of the object-oriented design program; and

the one or more groupings are designated as a typical grouping.

17. The method as recited in claim 16, further comprising:

saving one or more intelligent objects corresponding to the typical grouping; and

providing one or more selectable options in a subsequent view of user interface of the object-oriented design program that provide access to the typical grouping.

18. The method as recited in claim 17, further comprising:

receiving one or more subsequent requests through the user interface of the object-oriented design program for the typical grouping; and

accessing one or more records and one or more features corresponding to the typical grouping from the saved one or more intelligent objects corresponding to the typical grouping.

19. A computer-program hardware storage device that is not a carrier wave or signal, having computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause one or more processors to perform a method of using an object-oriented design program that utilizes an object-oriented database to instantly render user designs made in a Computer-Aided Design (“

CAD”

) program that utilizes a record-based linear database, the method comprising;

identifying one or more user requests to render one or more design elements created in the CAD program using the object-oriented design program, and importing one or more records from the record-based linear database that represent the one or more design elements created in the CAD program;

automatically creating one or more unintelligent objects in the objected-oriented database using the one or more records, the one or more unintelligent objects comprising automatically independently executable software instructions apart from the CAD program with limited functionality, wherein the unintelligent objects are unlinked to one or more intelligent objects, and do not automatically resolve with changes to any other created object;

upon identifying a change in status to an object-oriented environment, creating one or more intelligent objects in response to one or more additional user design elements received through the user interface, wherein the one or more intelligent objects comprise independently executable software instructions apart from the CAD program with expanded functionality, wherein the intelligent objects are linked to one or more other intelligent objects, and automatically resolve with changes to any other linked intelligent object;

automatically displaying a representation of a three-dimensional view of the one or more design elements corresponding to unintelligent objects and corresponding to one or more additional design elements corresponding to intelligent objects;

receiving one or more requests to create one or more new object-oriented intelligent objects corresponding to the one or more design elements; and

generating the one or more new object-oriented intelligent objects, wherein the one or more new object-oriented intelligent objects comprise automatically resolving software instructions that correlate with the one or more reference libraries and with one or more other object-oriented objects.