CAD-neutral application programming interface
AssigneeIntergraph Corporation
InventorsJim M Malaugh, David Croom
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Apparatus and method for a computer-aided design (CAD) system for dynamically switching from one CAD platform to another CAD platform. The invention includes building a library of generic CAD functions, each for directing a graphical manipulation process. Each one of the generic CAD functions is based on a platform-specific CAD function, there being a large number of common CAD functions among many different CAD platforms. The invention interprets received function calls and translates the call to a generic function call for invoking a generic CAD function. A processor then executes the generic CAD function, irrespective of the platform used to call the function.
Claims12
In a computer-aided design (CAD) system including a processor for executing one of a plurality of CAD platforms and a memory for storing a plurality of generic CAD functions, where the generic CAD functions are emulated after functions supported by a selected one of the plurality of CAD platforms, a method of executing neutral CAD functions comprising the steps of:
- determining which one of the plurality of the CAD plaforms is running;
- receiving a call to a specific CAD function via the running CAD platform;
- and
- forwarding the call directly to the running CAD platform if the running CAD platform is equivalent to the selected CAD platforms, otherwise redirecting the call to a corresponding one of the generic CAD functions in the memory.
In a computer-aided design (CAD) system, a method of executing functional manipulations of model data representing an entity, wherein specific functions of the functional manipulations are addressed by a different set of function calls between a first and a second CAD platform, the method comprising the steps of:
- abstracting functions of the first CAD platform into a generic set of function calls;
- building a set of generic executable functions based on the generic set of function calls;
- translating function calls from the second CAD platform into function calls for addressing the set of generic executable functions;
- and
- executing the generic executable functions according to the translated function calls.
In a computer-aided design (CAD) system having a processor supporting a plurality of CAD platforms, wherein each platform includes program code and a database, the database storing a library of functions addressable by corresponding function calls, and the program code directing the processor to execute specific CAD functions, an apparatus comprising:
- a generic CAD function emulator that builds a set of generic CAD functions from selected specific CAD functions;
- a CAD-neutral library that stores the set of generic CAD functions;
- and
- a plurality of CAD drivers coupled with the CAD-neutral library, each one configured to interact with a separate one of the plurality of CAD platforms, that receive a function call for a platform-specific function, and direct the function call to a corresponding generic function.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.