Designing an assembly of objects in a computer-aided design system

A non-transitory computer readable medium containing a computer program for designing an assembly of objects in a system of computer-aided design, the computer program comprising code means for causing the system of computer-aided design to take the steps of:

• selecting, upon user action, a first object and a second object of the assembly, the first object and the second object having no interface information, an interface information being a publication enhanced by mating information;
• identifying at least one publication of the first object and at least one publication of the second object, a publication of a particular object being a link to an element of geometry of the said particular object and making public elements of geometry of the particular object available for interfacing with the another object;
• computing, in a processor, an interface information of the first object and an interface information of the second object for each said at least one identified publication of the first object and at least one identified publication of the second object, the computed interface information being a publication having enhanced assembly data to build a fully specified constraint when matched with another compatible interface information, the computed interface information being not matched with the said another compatible interface information at the time of its computation, the enhanced assembly data including mating information about interfacing the particular object with the another object;
• computing, in a processor, a set of positions of the first object on the second object of the assembly by trying every combination of geometrical constraints provided by the interface information, the computing of the set of positions comprising:
• computing every matchings of the interface information of the first object and the second object;
• and
• solving geometric constraints between the first object and the second object after each computation of said every matchings;
• and
• displaying, on a display, simultaneously at least two 3D representations of the computed positions of the first object on the second object, wherein each representation of a computed position is a representation of an assembly of the first and second objects, and wherein the simultaneous displayed multiple representations each one of the computed positions have a level of transparency that is determined according to a ranking, based on predetermined criteria, of the respective one of the computed positions.

An apparatus for designing an assembly of objects in a system of computer-aided design, the apparatus comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory with computer code instructions for implementing a method for designing an assembly of objects stored therein, the memory operatively coupled to said processor such that the computer code instructions configure the processor to implement:
• selecting, upon user action, a first object and a second object of the assembly, the first object and the second object having no interface information, an interface information being a publication enhanced by mating information;
• identifying at least one publication of the first object and at least one publication of the second object, a publication of a particular object being a link to an element of geometry of the said particular object and making public elements of geometry of the particular object available for interfacing with the another object;
• computing an interface information of the first object and an interface information of the second object for each said at least one identified publication of the first object and at least one identified publication of the second object, the computed interface information being a publication having enhanced assembly data to build a fully specified constraint when matched with another compatible interface information, the computed interface information being not matched with the said another compatible interface information at the time of its computation, the enhanced assembly data including mating information about interfacing the particular object with the another object;
• computing a set of positions of the first object on the second object of the assembly by trying every combination of geometrical constraints provided by the interface information, the computing of the set of positions comprising:
• computing every matchings of the interface information of the first object and the second object;
• and
• solving geometric constraints between the first object and the second object after each computation of said every matchings;
• and
• displaying simultaneously at least two 3D representations of the computed positions of the first object on the second object, wherein each representation of a computed position is a representation of an assembly of the first and second objects, and wherein the simultaneous displayed multiple representations each one of the computed positions have a level of transparency that is determined-according to a ranking, based on predetermined criteria, of the respective one of the computed positions.