Scalable multi-user cad system and apparatus

A system for scalable multi-user CAD, the system comprising:

• a plurality of CAD workstations, each CAD workstation thereof configured to render geometry definitions that correspond to a viewed portion of a global CAD model, receive editing sequences from a user, generate feature changes from the editing sequences corresponding to the viewed portion of the global CAD model, and transmit the feature changes to a traffic consolidation server assigned to the CAD workstation;
• a plurality of traffic consolidation servers, each traffic consolidation server thereof configured to receive and consolidate feature changes from at least one CAD workstation to provide consolidated feature changes and transmit the consolidated feature changes to a CAD model server;
• the CAD model server configured to receive the consolidated feature changes, update the global CAD model, and convert at least a portion of the global CAD model to geometry definitions;
• and
• the CAD model server further configured to transmit the geometry definitions to a selected traffic consolidation server wherein the geometry definitions correspond to a viewed portion of the global CAD model for at least one CAD workstation assigned to the selected traffic consolidation server.

An apparatus for multi-user CAD, the apparatus comprising:

• an object rendering module configured to render geometry definitions corresponding to a viewed portion of a CAD model on a CAD workstation;
• a user interface module configured to receive editing sequences from a user;
• a change control module configured to generate feature changes for the CAD model corresponding to the editing sequences;
• a traffic consolidation/deconsolidation module configured to consolidate and deconsolidate feature changes from at least one CAD workstation, the traffic consolidation/deconsolidation module further configured to transmit geometry definitions corresponding to a portion of the CAD model;
• a model datastore configured to store a CAD model;
• and
• an update module configured to update the CAD model according to the feature changes and convert at least a portion of the CAD model to geometry definitions.