CAD integration through virtual persistent identifiers and design change recognition

A method of integrating changes to a computer aided manufacturing software application file for a manufactured component, said method comprising the steps of:

• obtaining a first computer aided design file comprising a first set of identifiers corresponding to component entities including faces for the manufactured component;
• displaying a first solid model of the manufactured component, said first solid model based on said first computer aided design file;
• obtaining a second computer aided design file comprising a second set of identifiers corresponding to component entities including faces for a revised version of the manufactured component;
• displaying a second solid model of the revised version of the manufactured component, said second solid model based on said second computer aided design file;
• and
• matching at least one face on said second solid model to at least one face on said first solid model;
• using a design change vector (DCV) software program to change the second set of identifiers in the second computer aided design file back to identifiers used in the first computer aided design file;
• once all faces present in both the first and second solid models are matched, identifying added or deleted entities between the first and second solid models;
• stabilizing the identifiers for the matched faces and designating these stabilized identifiers as a set of virtual persistent identifiers;
• implementing the set of virtual persistent identifiers by the design change vector (DCV) software program by providing for at least three options that include:
• (i) a remap option used to build a remap table using the DCV software program that maps the first set of identifiers to the second set of identifiers, (ii) an indirection option by building a conversion table between the first solid model of the first computer aided design file and a receiving application, and (iii) a redirection option changes the second set of identifiers and does not does build a reference table between the first solid model and an integrated engineering application;
• and
• outputting an integrated receiving CAD file by using the virtual persistent identifiers determined and implemented by the design change vector (DCV) software program.