Representing geometry of a system in a modeling environment

• US 8,990,057 B1
• Filed: 02/12/2013
• Issued: 03/24/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/16/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The MathWorks, Inc.
• Original Assignee: The MathWorks, Inc.
• Inventors: Mirtich, Brian, Wendlandt, Jeffrey
• Primary Examiner(s): PHAN, THAI Q
• Application Number:
  US13/765,300
• Time in Patent Office: 770 Days
• Field of Search: 703/2, 703/6, 703/22, 345/474
• US Class Current: 703/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/00 Computer-aided design [CAD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/17 Mechanical parametric or variational design

Abstract

In an embodiment, an element, that represents an entity in a system, is generated. The generated element may be incorporated in a network that represents the system. The generated element may include geometry information about a geometry of the entity. The geometry information may be used in one or more computations associated with a simulation or an analysis of the system. The element may have a frame port that exposes a frame. The frame may represent at least a position and an orientation in a two dimensional or three dimensional space with respect to another frame in the network. The other frame in the network may be a reference frame that may be defined by a “world” that the system resides in. The generated element may be incorporated into the network by connecting the frame port to the network.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

generating an element for a network,

the generating the element being performed by a computing device,

the network representing a system,

the element including geometry information about a geometry of an entity of the system,

the geometry information being used in one or more computations associated with a simulation or an analysis of the system,

the element including a frame port that exposes a first frame, and

the first frame representing at least a position and an orientation in a two dimensional or three dimensional space with respect to a second frame in the network; and

incorporating the generated element into the network by connecting the frame port to the network,

the incorporating being performed by the computing device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a change associated with the geometry of the entity, and

adjusting at least one of the position or the orientation based on determining the change.

3. The method of claim 1, where the geometry includes one or more control points that define a curve of the entity.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying the first frame based on the second frame and the geometry information.

5. The method of claim 1, where incorporating the generated element into the network comprises:

connecting the frame port to another frame port of another element of the network.

6. The method of claim 1, where the element is one of a base element, a joint element, or a link element.

7. The method of claim 1, where generating the element for the network comprises:

receiving an input from a user of the computing device,

generating the geometry information based on the input, and

generating the element for the network based on the geometry information.

8. The method of claim 1, where generating the element for the network comprises:

receiving an input from a user of the computing device,

the input including a selection of a block from a library and a placement of the block in a block diagram view of the network, and

generating the element for the network based on the input.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

exposing the first frame by making one or more values that represent the position and the orientation available to one or more other elements in the network.

10. A device comprising:

one or more processors to;

generate an element for a network,

the network representing a system,

the element including a frame port that exposes a first frame, and

the first frame representing at least a position and an orientation in a two dimensional or three dimensional space with respect to a second frame in the network;

include, in the element, geometry information associated with a geometry of an entity of the system; and

incorporate the element into the network.

11. The device of claim 10, where the one or more processors are to:

define the position and the orientation of the first frame based on a projection of a particular point feature onto a particular plane feature of the entity.

12. The device of claim 10, where the one or more processors are further to:

establish the position and the orientation of the first frame based on the second frame and the geometry information.

13. The device of claim 10, where the one or more processors are further to:

perform a simulation or an analysis of the system by performing one or more computations using the geometry information.

14. The device of claim 10, where the one or more processors are further to:

determine a change associated with the geometry of the entity, and

adjust at least one of the position or the orientation based on determining the change.

15. The device of claim 10, where the geometry includes one or more of a radius of the entity or a circumference of the entity.

16. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions, the instructions comprising:

one or more instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to;

generate an element for a network,

the network representing a system,

the element having a frame port that exposes a first frame, and

the first frame representing at least a position and an orientation in a two dimensional or three dimensional space with respect to a second frame in the network;

include, in the element, geometry information associated with a geometry of an entity of the system; and

incorporate the element into the network.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, where the one or more instructions to generate the element comprise:

one or more instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to;

provide a user interface for display,

receive input via the user interface, and

generate the element for the network based on the input.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16,

where the element is a link element, and

where the input includes information identifying a size and a mass.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, where the one or more instructions to incorporate the generated element into the network comprise:

one or more instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to;

connect the frame port to another frame port of another element of the network.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, where the instructions comprise:

one or more instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to;

perform a simulation or an analysis of the system by performing one or more computations using the geometry information.