Collaborative editing of manufacturing drawings

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10657219-B2
Application number	US-201815960282-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 23, 2018
Priority date	Apr 21, 2017
Publication date	May 19, 2020
Grant date	May 19, 2020

Abstract

A method, executed by at least one processor, may include executing a first CAx application configured to enable a first user to edit a first 3D proprietary model comprising a plurality of features for a part that is to be manufactured, wherein the first 3D proprietary model is encoded in a first CAx format. The method may also include, executing a synchronization plugin module for the first CAx application and detecting, with the synchronization plugin module, a request by the first user to generate a first 2D manufacturing drawing and model corresponding to a selected view of the part that is to be manufactured. The method may also include initiating generation of a 2D collaborative model corresponding to the first 2D manufacturing model and initiating storage of the 2D collaborative model on a collaborative data store. A corresponding system and computer readable medium are also disclosed herein.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
a collaborative data store configured to store a 3D collaborative model comprising a plurality of features for a part that is to be manufactured, wherein the 3D collaborative model is encoded in a collaborative server format;
a collaborative server configured to manage the collaborative data store;
a first computer aided technology (CAx) client comprising at least one processor and configured to execute a first CAx application and enable a first user to edit or view a first 3D proprietary model wherein the first 3D proprietary model is encoded in a first CAx format that is different than the collaborative server format;
a second computer aided technology (CAx) client comprising at least one processor and configured to execute a second CAx application and enable a second user to edit or view a second 3D proprietary model wherein the second 3D proprietary model is encoded in a second CAx format that is different than the first CAx format and the collaborative server format;
one or more synchronization modules configured to execute on at least one of the first CAx client, the second CAx client, and the collaborative server, the one or more synchronization modules configured to synchronize the collaborative model with the first 3D proprietary model in response to updates to at least one of the first 3D proprietary model, the second 3D proprietary model, and the 3D collaborative model;
wherein the one or more synchronization modules are further configured to detect a request from the first user to generate a first 2D manufacturing drawing and model corresponding to a selected view of the part that is to be manufactured;
wherein the one or more synchronization modules are further configured to generate, responsive to the request from the first user, the first 2D manufacturing model and a 2D collaborative model corresponding to the first 2D manufacturing model and initiate storage of the 2D collaborative model on the collaborative data store;
wherein the first 2D manufacturing model is distinct from the first 3D proprietary model, the second 3D proprietary model, and the 3D collaborative model; and
wherein the first 2D manufacturing drawing and model enable the user to specify and update manufacturing dimensions and tolerances without updating any of the first 3D proprietary model, the second 3D proprietary model, and the 3D collaborative model.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more synchronization modules are further configured to generate a second 2D manufacturing model corresponding to the first 2D manufacturing model on the second CAx client.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the one or more synchronization modules are further configured to detect changes to the first 2D manufacturing model and propagate the changes to the 2D collaborative model.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the one or more synchronization modules are further configured to propagate the changes to the second 2D manufacturing model.

5. The system of claim 3 , wherein the changes to the first 2D manufacturing model comprise at least one of defining a dimension, defining a tolerance, and entering an annotation.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the 2D collaborative model is embedded within the 3D collaborative model or stored separately from the 3D collaborative model.

7. The system of herein the first 2D manufacturing model is embedded within the first 3D proprietary model or stored separately from the first 3D proprietary model.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more synchronization modules are further configured to synchronize the first 3D proprietary model and the second 3D proprietary model with the 3D collaborative model in response to insertion of the 2D model data within the 3D collaborative model.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first 2D manufacturing model conforms to the first CAx format.

10. The system of claim 2 , wherein the second 2D manufacturing model conforms to the second CAx format.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the request to generate the first 2D manufacturing model comprises a request to generate a 2D drawing corresponding to the selected view of the part that is to be manufactured.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the selected view of the part that is to be manufactured is selected by the first user.

13. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more synchronization modules comprise a plugin module for the first CAx application or the second CAx application.

14. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first CAx format or the second CAx format is selected from the group consisting of an AutoCAD format, a CATIA format, an NX format, and a Solidworks format.

15. A method, executed by at least one processor, the method comprising:
executing a first CAx application configured to enable a first user to edit or view a first 3D proprietary model comprising a plurality of features for a part that is to be manufactured, wherein the 3D proprietary model is encoded in a first CAx format;
executing a synchronization plugin module for the first CAx application,
detecting, with the synchronization plugin module, a request by the first user to generate a first 2D manufacturing drawing and model corresponding to a selected view of the part that is to be manufactured;
initiating generation of the first 2D manufacturing drawing and model responsive to the request by the first user;
initiating generation of a 2D collaborative model corresponding to the first 2D manufacturing model subsequent to the request by the first user;
initiating storage of the 2D collaborative model on a collaborative data store subsequent to the request by the first user;
wherein the first 2D model is distinct from the first 3D proprietary model, the second 3D proprietary model, and the 3D collaborative model; and
wherein the first 2D manufacturing drawing and model enable the user to specify and update manufacturing dimensions and tolerances without updating any of the first 3D proprietary model, the second 3D proprietary model, and the 3D collaborative model.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising initiating generation of a second 2D manufacturing model corresponding to the first 2D manufacturing model on a second CAx client.

17. The method of claim 15 , further comprising detecting changes to the first 2D manufacturing model and propagating the changes to the 2D collaborative model.

18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising propagating the changes to a second 2D manufacturing model edited by a second user.

19. The method of claim 17 , wherein the changes to the first 2D manufacturing model comprise at least one of defining a dimension, defining a tolerance, and entering an annotation.

20. The method of claim 15 , wherein the 2D collaborative model is embedded within the 3D collaborative model or stored separately from the 3D collaborative model.

21. The method of claim 15 , wherein the first 2D manufacturing model is embedded within the first 3D proprietary model or stored separately from the first 3D proprietary model.

22. A computer-readable medium that is not a transitory signal per se having one or more computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to conduct a method comprising:
executing a first CAx application configured to enable a first user to edit or view a first 3D proprietary model comprising a plurality of features for a part that is to be

Assignees

• Univ Brigham Young

Inventors

• Bowman Kelly Eric
• Carter Spencer
• Jackson Scott
• Collyer Jessica
• Christensen Scott
• Christensen Abigail
• Hugo Joanna
• Wardell Jacob

Classifications

• G06F2111/02

  CAD in a network environment, e.g. collaborative CAD or distributed simulation · CPC title

• G06F30/17

  Mechanical parametric or variational design · CPC title

• G06F2119/18

  Manufacturability analysis or optimisation for manufacturability · CPC title

• G06F30/00

  Computer-aided design [CAD] · CPC title

• H04L67/2895

  Intermediate processing functionally located close to the data provider application, e.g. reverse proxies · CPC title