US 8,554,520 B2Granted

Systems and methods for differentiating and associating multiple drawings in a CAD environment

AssigneeAuto Prep, LLC

InventorsJoseph P. Reghetti, Phillip M. Schaeffer

Life of this patent

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Abstract

Systems and methods for facilitating CAD design of one or more structures by automatically categorizing and/or associating multiple drawings without pre-existing knowledge as to the type of drawings being categorized. In some examples, a computing system receives a set of CAD drawings from a third-party, and a host manager automatically determines which of the drawings are host, stand-alone, and external reference drawings. Moreover, the host manager can determine which of a set of external references comprises a broken reference, such as a network pathway that does not contain the desired external reference. For each broken or corrupt reference, the host manager can create a dummy (proxy) drawing that can be inserted in place of the broken reference so that the system can process (e.g., bind) the set of drawings without crashing. An interface may be further provided for displaying the categorized set of drawings to the user.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A method for managing a batch of computer aided design (CAD) drawings, the method comprising:

receiving with a first computing device a plurality of CAD drawings associated with a design of one or more structures, wherein the plurality of CAD drawings comprises at least one host drawing and a plurality of external reference drawings;
storing a list of the plurality of CAD drawings in a memory;
for each of the plurality of CAD drawings,
accessing an external reference listing within the CAD drawing structured to identify one or more external reference drawings related to the particular CAD drawing, and
if the external reference listing identifies no external reference drawings, storing an identification of the particular CAD drawing within a first database,
otherwise, storing an identification of each of the one or more external reference drawings within a second database;
identifying as external reference drawings, with a host manager module executing on the first computing device, first ones of the plurality of CAD drawings identified in the second database and storing the external reference drawings in a first location;
identifying as stand-alone drawings, with the host manager module, second ones of the plurality of CAD drawings identified in the first database and storing the stand-alone drawings in a second location;
identifying as host drawings, with the host manager module, third ones of the plurality of CAD drawings not identified in at least one of the first database and the second database and storing the host drawings in a third location;
and
outputting to a user interface an indication of the external reference drawings, the stand-alone drawings and the host drawings.

8 more elements

A system for managing a batch of computer aided design (CAD) drawings, the system comprising:

a plurality of CAD drawings comprising at least one host drawing and a plurality of external reference drawings;
at least one storage device configured to store at least the plurality of CAD drawings and a list of each of the plurality of CAD drawings;
a first database;
a second database;
and
a host manager module executing on at least one computing device, the host manager module being configured to, for each of the plurality of CAD drawings,
access a listing of the CAD drawing to identify any external reference drawings associated with the particular CAD drawing,
store an identification of the particular CAD drawing in the first database if the listing identifies no external reference drawings, and
if the listing identifies one or more external reference drawings, store an identification of each of the one or more external reference drawings within the second database;
and wherein the host manager module is further configured to,
identify first ones of the plurality of CAD drawings identified in the second database as external reference drawings and store the external reference drawings in a first memory location,
identify second ones of the plurality of CAD drawings identified in the first database as stand-alone drawings and store the stand-alone drawings in a second memory location, and
identify third ones of the plurality of CAD drawings not identified in at least one of the first database and the second database as host drawings and store the host drawings in a third memory location.

10 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 12/716,757Filed 3 Mar 2010 · continuation in part
Priority: 1 May 2007
Published: US 2010/0138762 A130 Sep 2010
Granted: 8 Oct 2013
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification4 codes

G06F 30/12
Geometric CAD: characterised by design entry means specially adapted for CAD, e.g. graphical user interfaces [GUI] specially adapted for CAD
G06F 30/00
Computer-aided design [cad]
G06F 2111/02
Details relating to CAD techniques: cAD in a network environment, e.g. collaborative CAD or distributed simulation
G06F
Computing and data processing

Family

Application60/915,198Us provisional application · filed 1 May 2007
Application60/915,195Us provisional application · filed 1 May 2007
Application12/150,845Parent of this continuation-in-part · filed 1 May 2008
Application12/150,792Parent of this continuation-in-part · filed 1 May 2008
PCT/US2008/005602Parent of this continuation-in-part · filed 1 May 2008
Application61/157,460Us provisional application · filed 4 Mar 2009
US 2010/0250615 A1Pre-grant publication · published 30 Sep 2010
US 8,368,717 B2Parent of this continuation-in-part
Application12/598,418Parent of this continuation-in-part
US 2009/0148050 A1Published application
US 2009/0273598 A1Published application
US 2010/0138762 A1Published application
US 8,732,599 B2Related patent
US 8,554,520 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.