CN117707484A - Techniques for generating sustainability insights incorporated into design software - Google Patents

Abstract

Techniques for generating sustainability insights that are incorporated into design software are disclosed. In various embodiments, a computer-implemented method for providing sustainability insight to a user of a design object is disclosed. The method comprises the following steps: determining a first value of a sustainability metric associated with a design of an object; displaying a visual indication of the first value of the sustainability metric via a Graphical User Interface (GUI); and detecting a change in the design of the object. The method further comprises the steps of: in response to detecting the change in the design of the object, determining a second value of the sustainability metric; and displaying, via the GUI, a visual indication of the second value of the sustainability metric.

Description

Techniques for generating sustainability insights incorporated into design software

Cross Reference to Related Applications

The present application claims priority from U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 63/375,763 entitled "techniques incorporated into design software for generating sustainability insights," filed on 9 and 15 of 2022. The subject matter of the related application is hereby incorporated by reference.

Technical Field

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to computer aided design, and more particularly, to providing sustainability insight during a computer aided design process.

Background

When designing an object, a designer (such as an engineer or architect) may desire to create an object that is environmentally sustainable. An object may be considered environmentally sustainable if the object has minimal or reduced adverse impact on the environment over the life cycle of the object. Sustainability of an object can be quantified or measured using various sustainability metrics associated with the manufacturing and/or use of the object. Some non-limiting examples of sustainability metrics associated with an object can include carbon emissions of the object, energy efficiency during manufacture and/or use of the object, natural resource consumption required to manufacture and/or operate the object, and so forth. Thus, when designing a sustainable object, designers attempt to improve the sustainability metric associated with the design of the objectFor exampleReducing carbon emissions of the object, improving energy efficiency of the object, etc.) and/or attempting to achieve one or more target sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object.

In conventional design systems, determining the sustainability impact of a change in a design (such as adding a new component to the object) is typically a careful and complex process when designing the object. This process typically requires repeated switching between look-up tables, external lifecycle assessment (LCA) software, spreadsheets, and Computer Aided Design (CAD) software. In addition, in view of the inconvenience associated with evaluating the sustainability metrics of a design, the design process in most scenarios proceeds without any sustainability evaluation until the design is finalized.

One disadvantage of conventional design systems is that the designer cannot integrate sustainability analysis during the design phase of the object and wait until many environmental properties of the design have been established and changed with difficulty and/or high cost. Thus, the final design of the object typically includes design choices that are not optimal from a sustainability perspective. In some scenarios, defects in the design system in tracking sustainability metrics during the conceptual and detailed phases of the design object result in the design failing to achieve a final object design that meets the target sustainability metrics at all. This requires restarting the design process, which is computationally inefficient and wasteful.

As the foregoing illustrates, there is a need in the art for more efficient techniques to provide sustainability insight to a designer throughout the process of designing an object.

Disclosure of Invention

One embodiment sets forth a computer-implemented method for providing sustainability insight to a user of a design object. The method comprises the following steps: determining a first value of a sustainability metric associated with a design of an object; displaying a visual indication of the first value of the sustainability metric via a Graphical User Interface (GUI); and detecting a change in the design of the object. The method further comprises the steps of: in response to detecting the change in the design of the object, determining a second value of the sustainability metric; and displaying, via the GUI, a visual indication of the second value of the sustainability metric.

At least one technical advantage of the disclosed techniques over the prior art is that in the disclosed techniques, sustainability goals of the design of an object can be more easily achieved when designing the object. In particular, in the disclosed techniques, as a designer makes a change to a design, the designer is presented in real-time with a visual indication of the impact of one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object. In this regard, a designer can readily determine the sustainability impact on a design caused by a change, such as adding a component to an object or changing a material contained in the object. Thus, in response to determining that a design change negatively affects a sustainability metric associated with an object design, a designer can identify and implement alternative options for changing the design to improve the sustainability metric prior to finalizing the design of the object. At least one other technical advantage of the disclosed techniques over the prior art is that in the disclosed techniques, the time taken to evaluate changes in sustainability metrics associated with design changes can be greatly reduced. In particular, in the disclosed techniques, the computation for determining the change in sustainability metrics associated with design changes can be offloaded to and performed by one or more backend services that have access to a repository of sustainability metrics associated with various material types. In this regard, assessing sustainability metrics associated with design changes, such as adding components to an object and/or changing material selections of components in the object, can be accomplished without switching between look-up tables, external lifecycle assessment (LCA) software, spreadsheets, and CAD software.

Drawings

So that the manner in which the above recited features of the present invention can be understood in detail, a more particular description of the invention, briefly summarized above, may be had by reference to embodiments, some of which are illustrated in the appended drawings. It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate only typical embodiments of this invention and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope, for the invention may admit to other equally effective embodiments.

FIG. 1 illustrates a CAD environment for generating sustainability insights during a design process, according to various embodiments of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a block diagram of a client device implementing the CAD application of fig. 1, according to various embodiments of the invention.

Fig. 3 is a block diagram of a back-end server implementing the analytics service of fig. 1, according to various embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates a graphical user interface of the CAD application of FIG. 1 according to various embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates a window for customizing a widget displayed by the graphical user interface of FIG. 4, according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example widget displaying a visual indication of one or more sustainability metrics for an absolute mode of operation in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example widget displaying a visual indication of one or more sustainability metrics for a relative operating mode in accordance with various embodiments of the disclosure.

Fig. 8 illustrates an example widget displaying a visual indication of one or more sustainability metrics for a relative operating mode in accordance with various embodiments of the disclosure.

Fig. 9A-9D illustrate example widgets displaying visual indications of one or more sustainability metrics for a relative mode of operation in accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example widget displaying a visual indication of one or more sustainability metrics for a relative mode of operation in accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example widget displaying a visual indication of one or more sustainability metrics for a relative operating mode in accordance with various embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example widget displaying a visual indication of one or more sustainability metrics for a relative mode of operation in accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 13A-13D illustrate example widgets displaying visual indications of one or more sustainability metrics for a relative mode of operation in accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 14A illustrates an example widget displaying visual indications of multiple sustainability metrics for an absolute mode of operation in accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 14B illustrates an example widget displaying a visual indication of a combination of multiple sustainability metrics displayed by the widget of fig. 14A, in accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 15 illustrates various examples of visual effects applicable to visual indications of sustainability metrics, in accordance with various embodiments of the disclosure.

Fig. 16A and 16B illustrate example pop-up windows associated with one or more sustainability metrics in accordance with various embodiments of the disclosure.

17A and 17B illustrate example component heatmaps associated with one or more sustainability metrics in accordance with various embodiments of the disclosure.

Fig. 18 illustrates an example pop-up window associated with the components of the heat map of fig. 17A, in accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 19A illustrates an example widget displaying visual indications of multiple sustainability metrics for a relative mode of operation in accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 19B illustrates an example widget showing a visual indication of the contribution of a display component to the change in one or more sustainability metrics displayed by the widget of FIG. 19A, in accordance with various embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 20 illustrates an example widget displaying a visual indication of contribution of a component to one or more sustainability metrics for a percentage mode of operation in accordance with various embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 21 illustrates an example widget displaying a visual indication of the contribution of a component to one or more sustainability metrics of an absolute mode of operation in accordance with various embodiments of the disclosure.

Fig. 22A and 22B illustrate example timeline views associated with one or more sustainability metrics in accordance with various embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 23 illustrates an example timeline view associated with one or more sustainability metrics in accordance with various embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 24 illustrates an example timeline view associated with one or more sustainability metrics, in accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 25 illustrates an example timeline view associated with one or more sustainability metrics, in accordance with various embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 26 illustrates an example timeline view associated with one or more sustainability metrics, in accordance with various embodiments of the disclosure.

Fig. 27A and 27B illustrate example flow diagrams associated with one or more sustainability metrics displayed by a widget, in accordance with various embodiments of the disclosure.

Fig. 28 illustrates an example flow diagram associated with one or more sustainability metrics in accordance with various embodiments of the disclosure.

29A-29C illustrate example visual indications of suggestions for improving one or more sustainability metrics in accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 30 illustrates an example process for generating sustainability insights in accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 31 illustrates an example process for generating sustainability insights in accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a more thorough understanding of embodiments of the invention. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that embodiments of the invention may be practiced without one or more of these specific details.

Overview of the System

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a system 100 for generating sustainability insights during a design process, in accordance with various embodiments of the present invention. As shown, the system 100 includes a Computer Aided Design (CAD) application 105, a Sustainability Insight (SI) service 110, a third party service 115, and a communication network 120 that connects one or more components of the system 100. SI service 110 includes SI application component 125 and SI analysis component 130. In the following description, the third party service 115 may be individually referred to as a third party service 115, and the SI analysis component 130 may be individually referred to as an SI analysis component 130.

As will be described in greater detail below, SI service 110 provides a design of objects that are generated and edited using CAD application 105For exampleA 3D model) associated sustainability insight. CAD application 105 can include any type of design and/or engineering-based application such as CAD application, computer Aided Engineering (CAE) application, modeler application, geometry generator application, software engineering suite, and the like. In some embodiments, CAD application 105 is stored and executed locally on a client computing device (such as a desktop computer, laptop computer, mobile device, or any other type of computing device suitable for practicing the various embodiments). In other embodiments, CAD application 105 is executed remotely on a server. Where it isIn each case, the client computing device is connected via a networkFor exampleNetwork 120) accesses CAD application 105 to generate and edit the design of the object.

In operation, a user interacting with a Graphical User Interface (GUI) of a computing device executing CAD application 105 may edit or make changes to the design of an object. For example, using CAD application 105 to make changes to the design of an object may include, but is not limited to, adding components to the design, changing the shape of the design, changing materials included in the design, changing the manufacturing method of the design, or changing some other related manufacturing and/or object properties associated with the design. As a user uses CAD application 105 to make changes to the design of an object, SI service 110 determines in real-time how changes to the design affect one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design. The sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object are indicative of the environmental sustainability of the design, and can include, but are not limited to, a price for manufacturing the design, carbon emissions associated with the design, energy efficiency associated with operating the design, recyclability of the design, water toxicity associated with the design, or some other metric associated with the environmental sustainability of the design. In other words, the sustainability metric quantifies or is a measure of a particular aspect associated with the sustainability of the design of the object. Further, SI service 110 displays visual indications in real-time, via a GUI of the computing device on which CAD application 105 is executing, of how changes to the design affect one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object. For example, the SI service 110 compiles the design of the object on the user For exampleA 3D model) of the same GUI, a widget indicating in real-time the impact of a change in the design on one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design. In some embodiments, SI service 110 displays widgets on a secondary display device that is different from the display device on which the GUI used by the user to edit the design of the object is displayed. For example, the SI service 110 displays the widget on a display of an auxiliary device (such as an auxiliary monitor, phone, tablet, or some other display device).

As shown in fig. 1, SI service 110 includes SI application component 125 and SI analysis component 130. In the following description, actions described as being performed by SI application component 125 or SI analysis component 130 may also be collectively referred to as actions performed by SI service 110. In some embodiments, SI application component 125 is implemented as a plug-in or extension to CAD application 105. In such an embodiment, SI application component 125 executes locally on the computing device along with CAD application 105. In other embodiments, SI application component 125 is implemented remotely on a server. In such an embodiment, SI application component 125 is connected to CAD application 105 via a network (such as network 120).

In some embodiments, SI application component 125 is implemented by a first computing device and one or more SI analysis components 130 are implemented by one or more other computing devices. In one example, SI application component 125 is implemented by a computing device executing CAD application 105, and SI analysis component 130 is implemented by one or more servers connected to system 100. In such an embodiment, SI application component 125 is connected to SI analysis component 130 via a network (such as network 120) to share information associated with the design of the object modeled with CAD application 105. In other embodiments, SI application component 125 and SI analysis component 130 are implemented by the same computing device (such as a computing device implementing CAD application 105 or a server connected to a computing device implementing CAD application 105). In some embodiments, SI application component 125 and SI analysis component 130 are implemented as a single component.

In operation, SI application component 125 captures or determines design data associated with a design as a user makes changes to the design with CAD application 105. In various embodiments, SI application component 125 captures or determines design data in real-time as changes are made to the design of the object. For example, SI application component 125 captures design data in response to detecting a change in the design. The captured design data may include, but is not limited to, one or more physical properties of the design of the object, such as size, material type, weight, etc., as changes are made to the design. SI application component 125 then provides the design data to one or more SI analysis components 130, for example, via network 120.

Based on the design data received from SI application component 125, one or more SI analysis components 130 calculate one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object based on the received design data. Calculating one or more sustainability metrics associated with a design of an object can include, but is not limited to, calculating new values of the one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design, updating existing values of the one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design, determining differences between old values and updated values of the one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design, determining how to improve the one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design, and/or determining other information associated with the sustainability metrics of the design. SI analysis component 130 then transmits the calculated sustainability metrics back to SI application component 125, which displays visual indications of the sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object in real-time as the user edits the design in CAD application 105.

In various embodiments, SI application component 125 displays a visual indication of the sustainability metrics within the perimeter of the CAD application 105's workspace as the user edits the design. As will be described in more detail below, the visual indication of the sustainability metrics can include one or more of the following: an indication of how recent changes to the design affect one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design, an indication of how various components of the design contributed to the one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design, a suggestion for improving the one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design, a timeline view indicating how the sustainability metrics associated with the design change over time, and/or other information indicating the sustainability metrics associated with the design. In some embodiments, SI application 125 displays a visual indication of the sustainability metric on a secondary display device, which is different from the display device on which the user edited the design of the object with CAD application 105. For example, the SI application component 125 displays the widget on a display of an auxiliary device (such as an auxiliary monitor, phone, tablet, or some other display device).

In some embodiments, the respective SI analysis component 130 calculates a single sustainability metric associated with the design of the object based on the received design data. In such an embodiment, a different SI analysis component 130 is used to calculate each respective sustainability metric associated with the design of the object. As an example, the first SI analysis component 130 calculates a first sustainability metric associated with the design of the objectFor examplePrice), the second SI analysis component 130 calculates a second sustainability metric associated with the design of the objectFor exampleCarbon emissions), and a third SI analysis component 130 calculates a third sustainability metric associated with the design of the objectFor exampleEnergy efficiency). In other embodiments, a single SI analysis component 130 may calculate more than one sustainability metric and/or all sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object.

In some cases, SI analysis component 130 locally calculates a sustainability metric associated with the design of the object. That is, the SI analysis component 130 may use pricing locally stored within the SI service 110 and included in the design of the object, sustainability parameters of the materials included in the design of the object based on the design data received from the SI application component 125 Example(s) Such asCarbon emissions, energy efficiency, toxins, etc.) and/or data associated with one or more of the information associated with sustainability of the design of the object. As an example, if a user changes an object design by adding a steel beam to the object, SI analysis component 130 may use data associated with pricing and/or sustainability parameters associated with the steel stored locally within SI service 110 in calculating sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object. When the data is stored on a computing device used to implement one or more of SI application component 125 or SI analysis component 130, the data is considered to be stored locally within SI service 110.

However, in some cases, the data required to calculate the sustainability metrics may not be stored locally within the SI service 110. For example, a user may change an object design by adding components made of a particular material to the design, but pricing and/or sustainability data associated with the particular material may not be stored locally within the SI service 110. In this case, SI analysis component 130 may access one or more third party services 115 via network 120 to obtain data associated with the particular material added to the component of the object. In some cases, SI analysis component 130 requests and receives data associated with the particular materials of the component from one or more third party services 115. In this case, SI analysis component 130 then calculates a sustainability metric associated with the design of the object based on the particular material data received from third party service 115 and the design data received from SI application component 125. In other cases, the SI analysis component sends the design data received from the SI application component 125 to one or more third party services 115. In this case, the one or more third party services then calculate one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object based on the particular material data externally stored at the one or more third party services 115 and the design data received from the SI analysis component 130. Further, in this case, the one or more third party services 115 then transmit the calculated sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object to the SI analysis component 130, which then sends the calculated sustainability metrics to the SI application component 125 for display in real-time within the working area of the CAD application 105.

Fig. 2 is a block diagram of an example client computing device 200 that may be used to implement CAD application 105 and/or SI application component 125 in conjunction with system 100 of fig. 1, according to various embodiments of the invention. Client computing device 200 may be implemented as, but is not limited to, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a mobile device, or any other type of computing device suitable for practicing the various embodiments. As shown, client computing device 200 may include, but is not limited to, a CPU 202, a graphics subsystem 204, an I/O device interface 206, a network interface 208, an interconnect 210, a storage unit 212, and a system memory 214.

In some embodiments, CPU 202 is configured to retrieve and execute programming instructions stored in system memory 214, such as CAD application 105 and/or SI application components. Similarly, the CPU 202 is configured to store and retrieve application data (e.g., software libraries) residing in the system memory 214. Interconnect 210 is configured to facilitate the transfer of data (such as programming instructions and application data) between CPU 202, graphics subsystem 204, I/O device interface 206, network interface 208, storage unit 212, and system memory 214.

In some embodiments, graphics subsystem 204 is configured to generate and transmit frames of image and/or video data to display device 216. In some implementations, the graphics subsystem 204 may be integrated with the CPU 202 into an integrated circuit. The display device 216 may include any technically feasible means for generating an image for display. For example, the display device 216 may be manufactured using Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) technology, cathode ray technology, and Light Emitting Diode (LED) display technology. Input/output (I/O) device interface 206 is configured to receive input data from user I/O devices 218 and to transmit the input data to CPU 202 via interconnect 210. For example, the user I/O device 218 may include one of more buttons, a keyboard and a mouse, or other pointing devices. The I/O device interface 206 also includes an audio output unit configured to generate an electrical audio output signal.

The network interface 208 is configured to transmit and receive data associated with the design of the object via the network 120. For example, network interface 208 is used to transfer design data from CAD application 105 and/or SI application component 125 to SI analysis component 130 and/or third party service 115. As another example, the network interface 208 is configured to receive information associated with one or more sustainability metrics from the SI analysis component 130 and/or the third-party service 115. In some embodiments, the network interface 208 is configured to communicate using well known ethernet standards. The network interface 208 is coupled to the CPU 202 via an interconnect 210.

The storage unit 212 (such as a hard disk drive or a flash memory storage drive) is configured to store nonvolatile data. For example, the storage unit 212 may store one or more of the following: design data 220 associated with the design of the object, material sustainability data 222 associated with sustainability parameters for various materials that can be used to create and/or edit the design of the object in CAD application 105, material pricing data 224 associated with pricing of various materials that can be used to create and/or edit the design of the object in CAD application 105, and/or other data. Design data 220 may include data associated with the design of the object, which SI application component 125 sends to SI analysis component 130 for use in determining one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object. For example, design data 220 includes one or more physical properties associated with the design of the object, such as size, material type, weight, and the like. In some embodiments, the storage unit 212 does not store data associated with sustainability parameters and/or pricing of the material. In some implementations, the design data 220 may also include sustainability metrics associated with previous versions of the design and/or sustainability metrics associated with the design prior to making one or more changes to the design.

The system memory 214 includes programming instructions and application data including an operating system 226, a Graphical User Interface (GUI) 228, CAD application 105, and/or SI application components 125. Operating system 226 performs system management functions, such as managing hardware devices, including graphics subsystem 204, I/O device interface 206, network interface 208, and storage unit 212. The operating system 226 also provides a process and memory management model for the GUI 228, CAD application 105, and/or SI application component 125. GUI 228, such as windows and object metaphors, provides a mechanism for user interaction with client computing device 200. In addition, GUI 228 provides mechanisms for user interaction with CAD application 105 and/or instances of CAD application 105 executing on client computing device 200. Those skilled in the art will recognize a variety of operating systems and user interfaces that are well known in the art and suitable for incorporation into client computing device 200.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, CAD application 105 and SI application component 125 are shown and described as being stored on a client computing device200 in the system memory 214. However, as described above, those skilled in the art will appreciate that CAD application 105 and/or SI application component 125 may execute on other types of computing devices, on separate computing devices, and/or remotely on one or more servers. For example, as described above, in some embodiments CAD application 105 is executed remotely on a server. In such an embodiment, the computing instance executing on the client computing device 200 is performed via a network @ For exampleNetwork 120) accesses CAD application 105 executing on a server so that a user of client computing device 200 can interact with CAD application 105 using GUI 228. Further, as described above, in some embodiments, SI application component 125 executes remotely on a server, while CAD application 105 executes on client computing device 200. In such an embodiment, SI application component 125 is connected to CAD application 105 via a network (such as network 120). In some embodiments, SI application component 125 is integrated within CAD application 105. In such an embodiment, CAD application 105 performs one or more of the functions described herein as being performed by SI application component 125 and/or SI service 110.

Fig. 3 is a block diagram of a back-end server 300 that may be used to implement one or more SI analysis components 130 in conjunction with the system 100 of fig. 1, in accordance with various embodiments of the present invention. The backend server 300 may be implemented as, but is not limited to, a server, desktop computer, laptop computer, mobile device, or any other type of computing device suitable for practicing the various embodiments. As shown in FIG. 3, the backend server 300 includes, but is not limited to, a Central Processing Unit (CPU) 302, an input/output (I/O) device interface 304, a network interface 306, an interconnect 308, a system memory 310, and a system storage 312.

In some embodiments, CPU 302 is configured to retrieve and execute programming instructions stored in system memory 310, such as SI analysis component 130. Similarly, the CPU 302 is configured to store application data (e.g., software libraries) and retrieve application data from the system memory 310. The interconnect 308 is configured to facilitate the transfer of data (such as programming instructions and application data) between the CPU 302, the I/O device interface 304, the network interface 306, the system memory 310, and the system storage 312. The I/O device interface 304 is configured to receive input data from the I/O device 314 and to transmit the input data to the CPU 302 via the interconnect 308. For example, the I/O devices 314 may include one or more buttons, a keyboard, a mouse, and/or other input devices. The I/O device interface 304 is also configured to receive output data from the CPU 302 via the interconnect 308 and to transmit the output data to the I/O device 314.

The system storage 312 may include one or more hard disk drives, solid state storage devices, or similar storage devices. The system storage 312 is configured to store non-volatile data such as files (e.g., audio files, video files, subtitles, application files, software libraries, etc.). For example, the system storage 312 is configured to store one or more of design data 316, material sustainability data 318, material pricing data 320, and/or other data associated with the design of the object. Design data 316 may include data associated with one or more object designs created and/or edited using CAD application 105. For example, design data 316 includes one or more physical properties associated with the design of the object, such as size, material type, weight, and the like. In addition, design data 316 may include information associated with previous and current versions of objects designed using CAD application 105. For example, design data 316 may include data indicating sustainability metrics associated with a previous version of the design and/or a current version of the design. In some implementations, the design data 316 may include a timeline or history indicating how the sustainability metrics are associated with the design as the design changes over time. Design data 316 may also include information associated with object design references and/or other targets associated with design objects. In some implementations, design data 220 received from CAD application 105 and/or SI application component 125 via network 120 may be stored as design data 316 in system storage 312.

The material sustainability data 318 includes information associated with sustainability parameters for a wide range of materials that can be used to create and/or edit a design of an object in the CAD application 105. As an example, the material sustainability data 318 can be implemented as one or more network-connected material data table directories and/or tables that include information associated with sustainability parameters (such as carbon emissions, energy efficiency, hidden carbon, weight, etc.) used by the SI analysis component 130 to calculate one or more sustainability metrics associated with the object design. The material sustainability data 318 can be updated periodically or temporarily. Similarly, material pricing data 320 includes information associated with pricing of a wide range of materials that may be used to create and/or edit designs of objects in CAD application 105. For example, material pricing data 320 may be implemented as one or more network-connected material data table directories and/or tables that include pricing information used by SI analysis component 130 to calculate one or more sustainability metrics associated with the object design. The material pricing data 320 may be updated periodically or temporarily. In some embodiments, the material sustainability data 318 and the material pricing data 320 are combined into the same catalog or table or tables. The material sustainability data 318 and material pricing data 320 can be updated with new data received from one or more third-party services 115 via the network 120.

The system memory 310 includes one or more SI analysis components 130 that calculate sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object. As described above, SI analysis component 130 receives design data associated with the object design from CAD application 105 and/or SI application component 125 to SI analysis component 130 and/or third party service 115. Based on the received design data and one or more of the design data 316, material sustainability data 318, and/or material pricing data 320, the SI analysis component 130 calculates one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design in real-time as the user edits the design of the object. SI analysis component 130 then transmits the one or more sustainability transmission metrics to CAD application 105 and/or SI application component 125 for display to provide one or more sustainability insights associated with the design of the object to the user of the design object in real-time.

In some cases, SIThe analysis component 130 requires data that is not stored in the system memory device 312For exampleData not included in the design data 316, the material sustainability data 318, or the material pricing data 320) to calculate one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object. In this case, the SI analysis component may request one or more third party services 115 to assist in calculating one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object. In some embodiments, requesting assistance from one or more third party services 115 includes requesting that one or more third party services 115 provide data, such as material pricing data and/or material sustainability data, required to calculate one or more sustainability metrics. In such an embodiment, in response to receiving the requested data from the one or more third party services 115, SI analysis component 130 uses the data received from the one or more third party services 115 to calculate one or more sustainability metrics. In some embodiments, requesting assistance from one or more third party services 115 includes requesting the one or more third party services 115 to calculate one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design. In such an embodiment, SI analysis component 130 transmits design data associated with the design to one or more third party services 115, and the one or more third party services 115 calculate one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design and transmit the one or more sustainability metrics to SI analysis component 130. In some embodiments, the one or more third party services 115 are implemented by one or more computing devices similar in architecture to the backend server 300. However, those skilled in the art will appreciate that one or more third party services 115 may be implemented by any type of computing device suitable for practicing the various embodiments.

In some embodiments, only a single SI analysis component 130 executes on a single backend server 300. In such an embodiment, a plurality of backend servers 300 are connected to the system 100, wherein each backend server 300 executes a respective SI analysis component 130. In other embodiments, multiple SI analysis components 130 execute on a single backend server 300. In some embodiments, SI application component 125 also executes on backend server 300. Thus, in such an embodiment, SI service 110 is implemented remotely by one or more backend servers 300. Further, in such an embodiment, SI service 110 is connected to CAD application 105 via network 120. In some embodiments, SI analysis component 130 executes on the same computing device on which CAD application 105 and/or SI application component 125 are executing. For example, in some embodiments, SI analysis component 130 executes on client computing device 200.

FIG. 4 is an example screenshot of a GUI 400 that a user may use to interact with CAD application 105 to create and/or edit a design of an object. For example, GUI 400 may be implemented as GUI 228 of client computing device 200. As shown, GUI 400 includes a workspace 402 for CAD application 105. Within the workspace 402, a user may interact with a model or design of an object 406, for example, using a cursor 404. That is, using the cursor 404, a user may edit the design of the object 406 by interacting with the model of the object 406 in the CAD application 105 For exampleAdding components, removing components, changing materials of components, etc.). In the example shown, the object 406 being designed is a building, and thus, a model of the building is displayed within the workspace 402 of the GUI 400.

As further shown in FIG. 4, sustainability widget 408 is displayed within the perimeter of CAD application 105. In the example shown, the sustainability widget is displayed in the upper right corner of the workspace 402 of the GUI 400. Although shown as being located in the upper right hand corner of the GUI 400, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the sustainability widget can be located at any suitable location within the GUI 400. For example, the sustainability widget 408 can be displayed at the bottom of the GUI 400, at the top of the GUI 400, at the left side of the GUI 400, at the right side of the GUI 400, within the workspace 402, outside the workspace 402, and/or at some other location on the GUI 400.

The sustainability widget 408 provides a visual indication of one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object 406. For example, the sustainability widget 408 displays values and/or other indicators associated with sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object 406. As described, in operation, sustainability gadgets 408 are updated in real-time by SI service 110 as the user makes changes to the design of objects 406 in CAD application 105 to provide sustainability insight to the user. For example, as a user makes a change to the design of the object 406, the SI service 110 detects the change to the design of the object and determines in real-time how the change to the design of the object 406 affects one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object 406. Further, after determining how the sustainability metrics are affected by the changes in the design, the SI service 110 updates the display of the sustainability widget 408 to reflect the updated values of the one or more sustainability metrics. That is, the SI service 110 causes the sustainability widget 408 to display a visual indication of updated values of one or more sustainability metrics in response to detecting a change in the design of the object 406. Thus, the sustainability widget 408 provides sustainability insight to the user in real-time as the user changes the design of the object 406 in the CAD application 105.

As will be described in greater detail below, the sustainability widget 408 can visualize sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object 406 in a variety of ways. For example, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, sustainability widget 408 is implemented as a bar graph that displays information associated with multiple sustainability metrics for the design of object 406. In some embodiments, sustainability widget 408 is implemented as a different type of graph, such as a circular bar graph, a horizontal bar graph, or a timeline view, displaying information associated with one or more sustainability metrics for the design of object 406. In some implementations, the sustainability widget 408 displays a visual indication of one or more sustainability metrics associated with a single constituent included in the design of the object 406. In some implementations, the sustainability widget 408 displays a visual indication of one or more sustainability metrics associated with more than one component included in the overall design of the object 406 and/or the overall design. In some implementations, the sustainability widget 408 can provide suggestions as to how to improve one or more of the sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object 406.

In some implementations, the sustainability widget 408 can display a visual indication of a comparison between a current value of the sustainability metric associated with the design of the object 406 and a target or benchmark value of the sustainability metric. The goal and/or reference value of the sustainability metric can be determined based on user input, a value of the sustainability metric associated with a previous version of the design, a value of the sustainability metric associated with the competitor design, and/or some other parameter associated with the design of the object 406. As an example, it will be assumed that the price associated with the design of object 406 is the first sustainability metric displayed by sustainability widget 408. In such an example, the sustainability widget 408 can display a visual indication of a comparison between the price of the current design of the object 406 and the target or benchmark price for the design of the object 406. Further, in such examples, the sustainability widget displays a visual indication of the amount of progress made toward achieving the target price of the design of the object.

In some implementations, one or more sustainability metrics displayed by the sustainability widget 408 can be determined based on user input. For example, the user may choose to display a visual indication of a first sustainability metric associated with the design of the object 406 via the sustainability widget 408. As another example, the user may choose to display a visual indication of a first sustainability metric and a second sustainability metric associated with the design of the object 406 via the sustainability widget 408. As another example, the user may choose to display visual indications of the first sustainability metric, the second sustainability metric, and the third sustainability metric associated with the design of the object 406 via the sustainability widget 408. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the sustainability widget 408 can display a visual indication of any suitable combination of sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object 406 as desired by the user.

In some cases, when the sustainability widget 408 displays a visual indication of multiple sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object 406, the SI service 110 can take different amounts of time in calculating an updated value for each sustainability metric in response to a change in the design of the object 406. In this case, SI service 110 may update the visual indication of the corresponding sustainability metric when computing the updated value, even though SI service 110 has not completed computing the updated value of the other sustainability metrics. For example, if the SI service 110 completes computing the updated value of the first sustainability metric before computing the updated value of the second sustainability metric, the SI service 110 can cause the sustainability widget 408 to update the visual indication of the first sustainability metric without updating the visual indication of the second sustainability metric. In some cases, SI service 110 causes sustainability widget 408 to apply a visual effect (such as a fade out or graying out) to a visual indication of sustainability metrics for which computing updated values has not been completed by SI service 110. In other cases, the SI service 110 does not update the visual representation of the corresponding sustainability metrics until the SI service 110 has completed calculating the updated value for each sustainability metric being displayed by the sustainability widget 408.

In some embodiments, the information displayed by sustainability widget 408 depends on the operating mode of SI service 110 and/or CAD application 105. In such an embodiment, the sustainability widget 408 can display a first type of visual indication of one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object 406 when the SI service 110 is operating in the first mode of operation and a second type of visual indication of one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object 406 when the SI service 110 is operating in the second mode of operation. In such an embodiment, the mode of operation of SI service 110 may be determined based on one or more of the following: user input, predetermined user preferences, the type of object being designed, the type of sustainability metric being displayed by sustainability widget 408, and/or some other parameter of the design of object 406.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example custom window 500 that a user may use to define a sustainability widget 408 displayed by the GUI 400. That is, using the cursor 404 and/or other input devices for interacting with the CAD application 105 and the SI service 110, the user may customize which sustainability information is displayed by the sustainability widget 408 and/or how the sustainability widget 408 displays sustainability information. Thus, as a user edits the design of object 406 in CAD application 105, SI service 110 can provide the user with custom sustainability insight associated with the design of object 406 in real-time based on user input to custom window 500.

In the example shown in fig. 5, custom window 500 allows a user to select one or more of the following: the operational mode 502 of the SI service 110, the first sustainability metric 504 associated with the design of the object 406 to be determined by the SI service 110 and displayed via the sustainability widget 408For examplePrice), a first goal 506 of a first sustainability metric 504, a second sustainability metric 508 associated with the design of the object 406 to be determined by the SI service 110 and displayed via the sustainability widget 408For exampleLife-time carbon emissions), a second objective 510 of a second sustainability metric 508, a third sustainability metric 512 @ associated with the design of the object 406 to be determined by the SI service 110 and displayed via the sustainability widget 408For exampleImplicit carbon emissions), a third objective 514 of a third sustainability metric 512, and a design benchmark 516. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the selectable options included in the custom window 500 of fig. 5 are provided by way of example only and are not limiting on the implementation of the custom window 500. Further, those skilled in the art will appreciate that custom window 500 may include more or fewer selectable options than those shown in FIG. 5. For example, in some implementations, more or less than three sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object 406 can be selected via the custom window 500. Further, sustainability metrics other than those shown in FIG. 5 can be selected by the user via custom window 500.

In some embodiments, the user selectable options for the operational mode 502 of the SI service 110 include an absolute operational mode and a relative operational mode. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the absolute and relative modes of operation are just two examples of possible modes of operation of SI service 110. Further, those skilled in the art will appreciate that SI service 110 may operate in additional modes of operation.

The user may select the absolute mode of operation when the object 406 is designed from scratch and/or when there is no goal of the sustainability metric associated with the design of the object 406. When operating in the absolute mode of operation, SI service 110 determines and displays, via sustainability widget 408, a visual indication of an original value of one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design of object 406. However, when operating in the absolute mode of operation, SI service 110 does not display a comparison between the current value of the one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design of object 406 and the corresponding target value via sustainability widget 408.

Fig. 6 shows an example of a sustainability widget 600 displayed to a user, e.g., via GUI 400, when SI service 110 is operating in an absolute mode of operation. The sustainability widget 600 can be implemented, for example, as the sustainability widget 408 shown in FIG. 4. In the example shown in fig. 6, the sustainability widget 600 is implemented as a bar chart. However, those skilled in the art will appreciate that bar graphs are but one non-limiting example of what may be used to implement sustainability widget 600.

As shown, the sustainability widget 600 displays a first sustainability metric 504 associated with the design of the objectFor examplePrice), a second sustainability metric 508 associated with the design of the objectFor exampleLife cycle carbon emissions) second visual indication 604 and third sustainability metric 512 associated with the design of the objectFor exampleImplicit carbon emissions). Visual indications 602, 604, and 606 of sustainability metrics are shown as respective bars in a bar graph. For example, the first visual indication 602 is implemented as a first bar that displays a first sustainability metric 504 @ associated with the design of the objectFor examplePrice). In some embodiments, the first visual indication 602 further includes an indication of a first sustainability metric 504 #For examplePrice) of the current value. In the example shown, the value 3.60 is located at the top of the bar of the first visual indication 602 to indicate the first sustainability metric 504 #For examplePrice) is 3.60. Also, in the example shown, the value 1.80 is located at the second visionThe top of the bar indicated 604 is used to indicate the second sustainability metric 508 # For exampleLife cycle carbon emissions) is 1.80 and the value 6.60 is located at the top of the bar of the third visual indication 606 to indicate a third sustainability metric of 512 #For exampleImplicit carbon emissions) is 6.60.

In some embodiments, different patterns are usedFor exampleColors, gradations, logos, etc.) to mask and/or fill the visual indications 602, 604, and 606. For example, the first visual indication 602 may be populated with a first pattern and the second visual indication 604 may be populated with a second pattern. In some implementations, the style of a particular visual indication changes as the value of the sustainability metric associated with the visual indication changes. For example, the style of the first visual indication 602 may change as the value of the first sustainability metric 504 changes. In one particular example, the color of the first visual indication 602 gradually changes from the first color as the first sustainability metric 504 increases from a low value to a high valueFor exampleBlue) to a second color #For exampleRed).

When SI service 110 operates in the absolute mode of operation, SI service 110 determines updated values of sustainability metrics 504, 508, and 512 displayed by sustainability widget 600 in real-time as a user of CAD application 105 makes changes to the design of the object. Further, SI service 110 causes sustainability widget 600 to display updated values of sustainability metrics 504, 508, and 512 in real-time such that a user can see the impact of a change in the design of an object on one or more of sustainability metrics 504, 508, and 512 associated with the design of the object. For example, when a user adds a component (such as a steel beam) to the design of the object, SI service 110 determines updated values for sustainability metrics 504, 508, and 512 based on the component added to the design of the object and causes sustainability widget 600 to display the updated values for sustainability metrics 504, 508, and 512 in real-time.

In some implementations, the SI service 110 causes the sustainability widget 600 to display a previous value of the sustainability metric and a current value of the sustainability metric associated with the design of the object such that the user can more easily seeThe effect of changes in the design of the object on the sustainability metrics. In such an embodiment, the previous value of the sustainability metric is the value of the sustainability metric prior to making the change to the design of the object, and the current value of the sustainability metric is the value of the sustainability metric after making the change to the design of the object. In the example shown in FIG. 6, an indicator (such as dashed line 608) is included in the third sustainability metric 512 #For exampleImplicit carbon emissions) to indicate a previous value of the third sustainability metric 512 prior to making a change to the design of the object. Thus, a user may readily determine the impact of a change in the design of the object on the third sustainability metric 512 by looking at the difference between the dashed line 608 and the top of the bar of the third visual indication 606. Furthermore, in the example shown in fig. 6, the sustainability widget 600 also displays a numerical value of 3.00 of the previous value of the third sustainability metric 512. Thus, a user may easily determine that a change in the design of the object causes the third sustainability metric 512 to increase from a value of 3.00 to a value of 6.60. While the above description of displaying previous values of the sustainability metrics is provided with respect to the third sustainability metric 512, those of skill in the art will appreciate that the above description applies equally to displaying previous and current values of other sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object, such as the first sustainability metric 504 and the second sustainability metric 508.

In some embodiments, when the SI service 110 updates the value of the sustainability metric displayed by the sustainability widget 600, the SI service 110 applies a temporary visual effect to the sustainability widget 600 to indicate to the user that a change to the sustainability widget 600 has been made. For example, when the sustainability widget 600 is updated in view of a change in the design of an object, the SI service 110 can cause the sustainability widget 600 to flash, change color, zoom in, and/or exhibit some other visual effect over a short period of time.

In some embodiments, sustainability widget 600 also includes sustainability icon 610. In such an embodiment, the sustainability icon 610, when selected by the user, provides the user with a menu of options. In one example, selecting the sustainability icon 610 causes the custom window 500 to be presented to the user. In other examples, selecting the sustainability icon 610 causes other information and/or selectable options associated with the sustainability widget 600 to be presented to the user.

Referring back to fig. 5, in some cases, the relative mode of operation is selected as the mode of operation 502 of SI service 110. The user may select the relative mode of operation when the user considers one or more goals of the sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object. For example, when a user desires to improve and/or track one or more sustainability metrics associated with a design of an object relative to a design reference (such as a previous version of the design and/or a competitor design), the user may select a relative mode of operation. When operating in the relative mode of operation, SI service 110 determines and displays, via sustainability widget 408, a visual indication of a comparison between one or more sustainability metrics associated with the current design of object 406 and one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design reference. For example, SI service 110 determines a difference between a first sustainability metric associated with the current design of object 406 and a first sustainability metric associated with the design benchmark, and then displays a visual indication of the difference via sustainability widget 408. In some implementations, when operating in the relative mode, the SI service 110 determines an amount of progress made toward achieving the target value of the sustainability metric relative to the design base and displays a visual indication of progress toward achieving the target value relative to the design base via the sustainability widget 408. For example, the SI service 110 determines an amount of progress of the first sustainability metric relative to the reference design toward achieving a target value of the first sustainability metric associated with the current design of the object and displays a visual indication of the progress via the sustainability widget 408.

With respect to FIG. 5, a user may define values of targets 506, 510, and 514 of the sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object 406 relative to the design reference 516. Design criteria 516 may include one or more of the following: sustainability metrics associated with previous versions of an object's design, associated with an object's competitor designAnd/or sustainability metrics associated with some other design of the object with which the user desires to compare the current design of the object. In some embodiments, the design criteria 516 are manually determined by a user. In such an embodiment, the user manually defines the reference value for one or more sustainability metrics associated with the current design of the object. For example, the user may measure the first sustainability metric [ ]For examplePrice) is defined as $10.00, which means that the user desires to keep the price of the current design of the object below $10.00. As another example, the user may measure the second sustainability metric [ ]For exampleLife cycle carbon emissions) is defined as 10kg, which means that the user desires to keep the life cycle carbon emissions of the current design of the subject below 10 kg.

In some embodiments, such as in the example shown in fig. 5, sustainability metrics targets 506, 510, and 514 are defined by the user as percentage values. In such an embodiment, the percentage value of the corresponding target indicates the percentage by which the user desires to improve the sustainability metric relative to the design reference 516. For example, the first goal 506 has a value of 5%, which means that the user expects the first sustainability metric 504 @ to be associated with the current design of the object as compared to the first sustainability metric of the design benchmark 516For examplePrice) improved by 5%. Improving the price metric associated with the current design of the object by 5% would include reducing the price of the current design of the object by 5% relative to the price of design reference 516. As another example, the second objective 510 has a value of 10%, which means that the user expects the second sustainability metric 508 @ associated with the current design of the object as compared to the second sustainability metric of the design benchmark 516For exampleLife cycle carbon emissions) improved by 10%. Improving the life span carbon emission metric associated with the current design of the subject by 10% would include reducing the life span carbon emission of the current design of the subject by 10% relative to the life span carbon emission of the design reference 516.

In some embodiments, sustainability metrics targets 506, 510, and 514 are defined by the user as absolute values. In such an embodiment, the absolute value of the corresponding targetIndicating the absolute amount the user desires to improve upon the sustainability metrics in the design references 516. For example, the user may define the first goal 506 as having a value of $5.00, meaning that the user expects the first sustainability metric 504 [ ] associated with the current design of the object as compared to the first sustainability metric of the design benchmark 516Example(s) Such asPrice) improvement by $5.00. Improving the price metric associated with the current design of the object by $5.00 would include reducing the price of the current design of the object by $5.00 relative to the price of the design reference 516. As another example, the user may define the second objective 510 as having a value of 2.00kg, which means that the user expects the second sustainability metric 508 @ associated with the current design of the object as compared to the second sustainability metric of the design benchmark 516For exampleLife cycle carbon emissions) was improved by 2.00kg. Improving the life span carbon emission metric associated with the current design of the subject by 2.00kg would include reducing the life span carbon emission of the current design of the subject by 2.00kg relative to the life span carbon emission of the design reference 516.

Fig. 7 shows an example of a sustainability widget 700 displayed to a user, for example via GUI 400, when SI service 110 is operating in a relative mode of operation. The sustainability widget 700 can be implemented, for example, as the sustainability widget 408 shown in FIG. 4. In the example shown in fig. 7, the sustainability widget 700 is implemented as a ring bar chart. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the annular bar graph is but one non-limiting example of what may be used to implement the sustainability widget 700.

As shown, sustainability widget 700 displays a visual indication of a first sustainability metric 504 and a second sustainability metric 508 associated with the design of the object. First sustainability metric 504%For examplePrice) includes a first shaded portion 702 of a first annular bar or ring 704. Second sustainability metric 508%For exampleLife cycle carbon emissions) includes a second shaded portion 706 of a second annular band or ring 708. The sustainability widget 700 also includes a sustainability icon 710, similar to the sustainability icon 610 described above.

Vision of sustainability metricsShadow part included in indicationFor example702 or 706) corresponds to achieving a measure of sustainability relative to the design reference orientation For example504 or 508). In addition, the shadow part is filled with corresponding ringsFor example704 or 708) corresponds to whether the sustainability metric is improving or deteriorating. For example, when the shadow portion is in the first directionFor exampleClockwise) the sustainability metrics are improving or progressing toward the goal relative to the design base. In contrast, when the shadow portion is in the second directionFor exampleCounterclockwise) the sustainability metrics are deteriorating relative to the design references. Thus, for example, if the shaded portion included in the visual indication of the sustainability metric fills 50% of the ring in the clockwise direction, the sustainability metric has achieved 50% of the target relative to the sustainability metric of the design reference. Similarly, as another example, if the shaded portion included in the visual indication of the sustainability metric fills 25% of the ring in a counterclockwise direction, the sustainability metric has been degraded by 25% relative to the sustainability metric of the design reference.

In some embodiments, the first color is used when the sustainability metric is improving or progressing relative to the design references For exampleGreen) and/or first patternFor exampleGradual, marked, etc.) to fill in the shadow. Thus, in such an embodiment, the shaded portion is displayed in a first color or pattern as the shaded portion fills the corresponding ring in a clockwise direction. Similarly, in such an embodiment, a second color is used when the sustainability metric is deteriorating relative to the design referenceFor exampleRed) and/or a second pattern to fill the shadow portion. Thus, in such an embodiment, the shaded portion is displayed in the second color and/or the second pattern when the shaded portion fills the respective ring in a counter-clockwise direction.

Regarding the example shown in FIG. 7, a first sustainability metric 504 #For examplePrice) the first shaded portion 702 included in the visual indication has filled about 33% of the first ring 704 in a counter-clockwise direction. Thus, when in useWhen the user views sustainability widget 700, the user can determine that the current value of the first sustainability metric 504 has degraded or increased in price by 33% relative to the design reference. In addition, a second sustainability metric 508 #For exampleLife cycle carbon emissions) has filled about 50% of the second ring 708 in a clockwise direction. Thus, when the user views sustainability widget 700, the user can determine that the current value of second sustainability metric 508 has achieved 50% of the targeted reduction in life carbon emissions relative to the design baseline.

Similar to sustainability gadgets 408 and 600 described above, SI service 110 determines updated values of sustainability metrics 504 and 508 displayed by sustainability gadget 700 in real-time as a user of CAD application 105 makes changes to the design of the object. Further, SI service 110 causes sustainability widget 700 to display a visual indication of updated values of sustainability metrics 504 and 508 in real-time such that a user can see the impact of a change in the design of an object on achieving one or more of the sustainability metrics targets relative to the design references. For example, when a user adds a component (such as a steel beam) to the design of the object, SI service 110 determines updated values for sustainability metrics 504 and 508 based on the component added to the design of the object and causes sustainability widget 700 to display the updated values for sustainability metrics 504 and 508 caused by changes in the design of the object in real-time.

Displaying a visual indication of an updated value of the sustainability metric caused by the design change can include increasing or decreasing a size of a shadow portion included in the visual indication of the sustainability metric in the first direction or the second direction around the ring. As an example, it will be assumed that SI service 110 determines that adding components to the design of the object will measure a second sustainability metric of 508 #, relative to the design reference For exampleLife-time carbon emissions) was reduced by 2%. Continuing with this same example, it will be assumed that the second objective 510 of the second sustainability metric 508 is defined by the user as reducing the life span carbon emissions by 10% relative to the design criteria. Thus, in this example, the SI service 110 determines, in real time, that life-time carbon emissions are caused by the design of adding components to the objectDecreasing by 2% results in a 20% progression toward the second goal 510 of the second sustainability metric 508. Accordingly, SI service 110 updates the display of sustainability widget 700 in real-time by increasing the size of second shaded portion 706 by 20% in a clockwise direction around second ring 708.

As another example, it will be assumed that SI service 110 determines that adding components to the design of an object measures a first sustainability metric of 504 [ ] relative to the design referenceFor examplePrice) is increased by 1%. Continuing with this same example, it will be assumed that the first goal 506 of the first sustainability metric 504 is defined by the user as reducing the price by 10% relative to the design criteria. Thus, in this example, SI service 110 determines in real-time that a price increase of 1% by the design of adding components to the object results in a 10% rollback towards the progress of first goal 506 of first sustainability metric 504. Accordingly, the SI service 110 updates the display of the sustainability widget 700 in real-time by increasing the size of the first shaded portion 702 by 10% in a counter-clockwise direction around the first ring 704.

In some embodiments, when SI service 110 updates the value of the sustainability metric displayed by sustainability widget 700, SI service 110 applies a temporal visual effect to sustainability widget 700 to indicate to the user that a change to sustainability widget 700 has been made. For example, when the sustainability widget 700 is updated in view of a change in the design of the object, the SI service 110 can cause the sustainability widget 700 to flash, change color, zoom in, and/or exhibit some other visual effect over a short period of time.

Although sustainability widget 700 is described above with respect to a percentage value, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the above description also applies to scenarios in which sustainability metrics targets (e.g., targets 506, 510, 514, etc.) and/or sustainability metrics associated with design references (e.g., design reference 516) are defined as absolute values. Furthermore, while sustainability widget 700 is shown and described above as a circular bar graph, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the above description of sustainability widget 700 also applies to other types of graphs that can be employed to implement sustainability widget 700. For example, if the sustainability widget 700 is instead implemented using a vertical bar graph, as the sustainability metric improves relative to the design base or progresses toward the first target by a first amount, the visual indication corresponding to the sustainability metric can darken in the first direction (e.g., upward) in the first amount of the vertical bar graph. Similarly, if the sustainability widget 700 is implemented using a vertical bar graph, the visual indication corresponding to the sustainability metric can reduce the shadow of the vertical bar graph in a second direction (e.g., downward) by an amount corresponding to the amount by which the sustainability metric has degraded relative to the design reference.

Furthermore, although the annular bar graph implementation of the sustainability widget 700 is described above with respect to the relative mode of operation of the SI service 110, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the annular bar graph can also be used to implement the sustainability widget when the SI service 110 is operating in an absolute mode of operation. Further, while sustainability widget 700 is used to display visual indications of two sustainability metrics associated with a design of an object, those skilled in the art will appreciate that sustainability widget 700 can display visual indications of more or less than two sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object.

Fig. 8 shows another example of a sustainability widget 800 displayed to a user, for example via GUI 400, when SI service 110 is operating in a relative mode of operation. The sustainability widget 800 can be implemented, for example, as the sustainability widget 408 shown in FIG. 4. In the example shown in fig. 8, the sustainability widget 800 is a horizontal bar chart. As a user edits a design of an object in CAD application 105, SI service 110 updates the display of sustainability widget 800 in real-time to indicate how changes in the design affect sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object.

As shown, the sustainability widget 800 displays a visual indication of a first sustainability metric 504 and a second sustainability metric 508 associated with the design of the object. The visual indication of the first sustainability metric 504 (e.g., price) includes a first shaded portion 802 of a first horizontal bar 804. The visual indication of the second sustainability metric 508 (e.g., life cycle carbon emissions) includes a second shaded portion 806 of a second horizontal bar 808. The sustainability widget 800 also includes a sustainability icon 810, similar to the sustainability icon 610 described above.

Similar to sustainability widget 700, the amount or size of the shaded portion (e.g., 802 or 806) included in the visual indication of the sustainability metric (e.g., 504 or 508) corresponds to the amount of progress taken toward the goal of achieving the sustainability metric relative to the design reference. Furthermore, the direction in which the shaded portion fills the respective horizontal bar (e.g., 804 or 808) corresponds to whether the sustainability metric is improving or deteriorating. For example, as the shaded portion fills the corresponding horizontal bar in a first direction (e.g., to the right) relative to the center of the horizontal bar, the sustainability metric is improving or progressing toward a target relative to the design reference. In contrast, when the shaded portion fills the corresponding horizontal bar in a second direction (e.g., to the left) relative to the center of the horizontal bar, the sustainability metric is deteriorating relative to the design reference. Thus, for example, if the shaded portion included in the visual indication of the sustainability metric fills 50% of the horizontal bar in the direction to the right of the center, the sustainability metric has achieved 50% of the target relative to the sustainability metric of the design reference. Similarly, as another example, if the shaded portion included in the visual indication of the sustainability metric fills 25% of the horizontal bar in the direction to the left of the center, the sustainability metric has degraded 25% relative to the sustainability metric of the design reference.

As described above, in some implementations, when the sustainability metric is improving or progressing relative to the design base, the first color (e.g., green) and/or the first pattern (e.g., gradation, logo, etc.) is used to fill the shadow portion. Thus, in such an embodiment, the shaded portion is displayed in the first color and/or the first pattern when the shaded portion fills the corresponding horizontal bar in the direction to the right of the center. Similarly, in such embodiments, the shadow portion is filled with a second color (e.g., red) and/or a second pattern when the sustainability metric is deteriorating relative to the design reference. Thus, in such an embodiment, the shaded portion is displayed in a second color and/or a second pattern when the shaded portion fills the corresponding horizontal bar in a direction to the left of the center.

In addition, SI service 110 determines updated values of sustainability metrics 504 and 508 displayed by sustainability widget 800 in real-time as a user of CAD application 105 makes changes to the design of the object. Further, SI service 110 causes sustainability widget 800 to display a visual indication of updated values of sustainability metrics 504 and 508 in real-time such that a user can see the impact of a change in the design of an object on achieving one or more of the sustainability metrics targets relative to the design references. With respect to the example shown in fig. 8, displaying the updated value of the sustainability metric caused by the design change can include increasing or decreasing the size of the shadow portion in the first direction or the second direction relative to the center of the horizontal bar.

As an example, it will be assumed that SI service 110 determines that adding components to the design of the object reduces second sustainability metric 508 (e.g., life carbon emissions) by 2% relative to the design reference. Continuing with this same example, it will be assumed that the second objective 510 of the second sustainability metric 508 is defined by the user as reducing the life span carbon emissions by 10% relative to the design criteria. Thus, in this example, SI service 110 determines in real-time that a 2% reduction in life cycle carbon emissions by the design of adding components to the object results in a 20% progression toward second target 510 of the second sustainability metric. Accordingly, the SI service 110 updates the display of the sustainability widget 800 in real-time by increasing the second shaded portion 806 by 20% in the direction to the right of the center of the second horizontal bar 808.

Although a horizontal bar graph implementation of the sustainability widget 800 is described above with respect to a relative mode of operation of the SI service 110, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the sustainability widget may also be implemented using a horizontal bar graph when the SI service 110 is operating in an absolute mode of operation. Further, while sustainability widget 800 is used to display visual indications of two sustainability metrics associated with a design of an object, those skilled in the art will appreciate that sustainability widget 800 can display visual indications of more or less than two sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object.

Fig. 9A-9D illustrate various examples of sustainability widgets 900A-900D that may be displayed to a user, for example, via GUI 400, when SI service 110 is operating in a relative mode of operation. The sustainability gadgets 900A-900D can be implemented, for example, as the sustainability gadget 408 shown in FIG. 4. As the user edits the design of the object in CAD application 105, SI service 110 updates the display of sustainability gadgets 900A-900D in real-time to indicate how changes in the design of the object affect the sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object.

Each of the sustainability widgets 900A-900D displays a visual indication of a first sustainability metric 504 and a second sustainability metric 508 associated with the design of the object. The visual indication of the first sustainability metric 504 (e.g., price) includes a first shaded portion 902 of a first bar 904 (e.g., a ring, a semi-annular bar, an arc bar, etc.). The visual indication of the second sustainability metric 508 (e.g., life cycle carbon emissions) includes a second shaded portion 906 of a second bar 908 (e.g., ring, semi-annular bar, arc bar, etc.). The sustainability gadgets 900A-900D also include a sustainability icon 910, similar to the sustainability icon 610 described above.

Similar to the sustainability gadgets described above, in sustainability gadgets 900A-900D, the amount or size of the shaded portion (e.g., 902 or 906) included in the visual indication of the sustainability metrics (e.g., 504 or 508) corresponds to the amount of progress taken toward the goal of achieving the sustainability metrics relative to the design references. In addition, in the sustainability gadgets 900A-900D, the shaded portion (e.g., 902 or 906) included in the visual indication of the sustainability metrics (e.g., 504 or 508) is filled with a taper pattern that further corresponds to the amount of progress taken toward the goal of achieving the sustainability metrics (e.g., 504 or 508) relative to the design reference. For example, as the sustainability metrics become closer to the implementation targets relative to the design references, the shaded portions are filled with a first color gradation pattern that progresses from a first color (e.g., blue) to a second color (e.g., green). As another example, as the sustainability metric deteriorates relative to the design base and becomes farther from the implementation target, the shaded portion is filled with a second color gradation pattern that progresses from a third color (e.g., orange) to a fourth color (e.g., red).

Furthermore, similar to the sustainability widget described above, the direction in which the shaded portion (e.g., 902 or 906) fills the respective bar (e.g., 904 or 908) corresponds to whether the sustainability metric is improving or deteriorating. With respect to sustainability widgets 900A, 900C, and 900D, as the sustainability metrics (e.g., second sustainability metrics 508) improve relative to the design references, the shaded portions (e.g., 902 or 906) included in the visual indications of the sustainability metrics fill the respective bars (e.g., 904 or 908) in a counter-clockwise direction. In contrast, when the sustainability metric is deteriorating relative to the design reference, the shaded portion (e.g., 902 or 906) included in the visual indication of the sustainability metric fills the respective bar (e.g., 904 or 908) in a clockwise direction.

As shown in fig. 9A, the sustainability widget 900A includes a first bar 904 and a second bar 908 implemented as a loop. As shown in fig. 9C, the sustainability widget 900C includes a first bar 904 and a second bar 908 implemented as a dashed arc bar. The portions of the dashed arcuate strips 904, 908 in the sustainability widget 900C are filled with a corresponding color corresponding to whether the sustainability metric is deteriorating or improving. For example, the portions of the dashed arcuate bars 904, 908 that extend in a counter-clockwise direction relative to the center of the dashed arcuate bars 904, 908 are filled with a first color (e.g., green) to indicate to the user that the measure of sustainability of movement in the counter-clockwise direction is improving relative to the design reference. Similarly, the portions of the dashed arcuate bars 904, 908 that extend in a clockwise direction relative to the center of the dashed arcuate bars 904, 908 are filled with a second color (e.g., red) to indicate to the user that the sustainability metric of movement in the clockwise direction is deteriorating relative to the design reference. As shown in fig. 9D, the sustainability widget 900D includes a first bar 904 and a second bar 908 implemented as arcuate bars and filled with a first color and a second color in a manner similar to that described above with respect to sustainability widget 900C.

With respect to the sustainability widget 900B shown in FIG. 9B, as the sustainability metrics improve relative to the design references, the shaded portions (e.g., 902 or 906) included in the visual indication of the sustainability metrics fill the respective bars (e.g., 904 or 908) in a clockwise direction. In contrast, when the sustainability metric is deteriorating relative to the design reference, the shaded portion (e.g., 902 or 906) included in the visual indication of the sustainability metric fills the respective bar (e.g., 904 or 908) in a counter-clockwise direction. As shown, the sustainability widget 900B includes a first bar 904 and a second bar 908 implemented as semi-annular bars. As further shown, the sustainability widget 900B includes a first point 912 added to the end of the first bar 904 to indicate when the initial goal of the second sustainability metric 508 has been achieved. Further, the sustainability widget 900B includes a second point 914 added to an end of the second bar 908 to indicate that the first sustainability metric 504 has been degraded by a particular amount relative to the design base.

Although implementations of the sustainability gadgets 900A-900D are described above with respect to the relative mode of operation of the SI service 110, those skilled in the art will appreciate that these implementations may also be used to implement sustainability gadgets when the SI service 110 is operating in an absolute mode of operation. Further, while sustainability gadgets 900A-900D are used to display visual indications of two sustainability metrics associated with a design of an object, those skilled in the art will appreciate that sustainability gadgets 900A-900D can display visual indications of more or less than two sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object.

Fig. 10 shows another example of a sustainability widget 1000 displayed to a user, for example via a GUI 400, when the SI service 110 is operating in a relative mode of operation. The sustainability widget 1000 can be implemented, for example, as the sustainability widget 408 shown in FIG. 4. As a user edits a design of an object in CAD application 105, SI service 110 updates the display of sustainability widget 1000 in real-time to indicate how changes in the design affect sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object.

As shown, the sustainability widget 1000 displays a visual indication of a first sustainability metric 504 and a second sustainability metric 508 associated with the design of the object. The visual indication associated with the first sustainability metric 504 (e.g., price) includes a first region 1002, a first shaded portion 1004, and a first circle 1006 disposed within the first region 1002. The size of the first shaded portion 1004 corresponds to the current amount or value of the first sustainability metric 504, and the first circle 1006 corresponds to the target of the first sustainability metric 504. As the first sustainability metric 504 progresses toward the target relative to the design reference, the SI service 110 reduces the size of the first shaded portion 1004 relative to the first region 1002. In contrast, when the first sustainability metric 504 deteriorates relative to the design reference, the SI service 110 increases the size of the first shaded portion 1004 relative to the first region 1002. When the first shaded portion 1004 is located within the first circle 1006, the goal of the first sustainability metric 504 has been achieved relative to the design reference. When the first shaded portion 1004 is located outside of or beyond the boundary of the first circle 1006, the goal of the first sustainability metric 504 has not been achieved relative to the design reference.

Similarly, the visual indication associated with the second sustainability metric 508 (e.g., life cycle carbon emissions) includes a second region 1008, a second shaded portion 1010, and a second circle 1012 disposed within the second region 1008. The size of the second shaded portion 1010 corresponds to the current quantity or value associated with the second sustainability metric 508, and the second circle 1012 corresponds to the goal of the second sustainability metric 508. As the second sustainability metric 508 progresses toward the target relative to the design base, the SI service 110 reduces the size of the second shaded portion 1010 relative to the second region 1008. In contrast, when the second sustainability metric 504 deteriorates relative to the design reference, the SI service 110 increases the size of the second shaded portion 1010 relative to the second region 1008. When the second shaded portion 1010 is located within the second circle 1012, the goal of the second sustainability metric 508 has been achieved relative to the design reference. When the second shaded portion 1010 is outside of or beyond the boundary of the second circle 1012, the goal of the second sustainability metric 508 has not been achieved relative to the design reference.

Although sustainability widget 1000 is used to display visual indications of two sustainability metrics associated with a design of an object, those skilled in the art will appreciate that sustainability widget 1000 can display visual indications of more or less than two sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object.

Fig. 11 shows another example of a sustainability widget 1100 displayed to a user, for example via a GUI 400, when the SI service 110 is operating in a relative mode of operation. The sustainability widget 1100 can be implemented, for example, as the sustainability widget 408 shown in FIG. 4. The sustainability widget 1100 is similar in implementation to the sustainability widget 700 described above. However, sustainability widget 1100 includes some additional display elements that provide additional sustainability insight to a user designing an object in CAD application 105. As a user edits a design of an object in CAD application 105, SI service 110 updates the display of sustainability widget 1100 in real-time to indicate how changes in the design affect sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object.

As shown, the sustainability widget 1100 displays a visual indication of a first sustainability metric 504 and a second sustainability metric 508 associated with the design of the object. The visual indication of the first sustainability metric 504 (e.g., price) includes a first shaded portion 1102 of a first annular bar or ring 1104. Further, the visual indication of the first sustainability metric 504 includes a first target line 1106 indicating a target of the first sustainability metric 504 relative to the design reference. The visual indication of the second sustainability metric 508 (e.g., life cycle carbon emissions) includes a second shaded portion 1108 of a second annular bar or ring 1110. Further, the visual indication of the second sustainability metric 508 includes a second target line 1112 and a target point 1114 indicating a target of the second sustainability metric 504 relative to the design reference. The sustainability widget 1100 also includes a sustainability icon 1116, similar to the sustainability icon 610 described above. 13

Regarding the visual indication of the second sustainability metric 508, the SI service 110 adds a target point 1114 to the second loop 1110 to indicate that the goal of the second sustainability metric 508 has been achieved once relative to the design references. For example, if it is assumed that the user defined the goal of the second sustainability metric 508 as being reduced by 10% relative to the design reference, the SI service 110 adds the target point 1114 to the visual indication of the second sustainability metric 508 in response to determining that the current value of the second sustainability metric 508 has been reduced by 10% relative to the design reference a single time. Continuing with this example, if SI service 110 determines that second sustainability metric 508 has been reduced another 10% relative to the design reference after first achieving the goal of second sustainability metric 508 relative to the design reference, SI service 110 updates sustainability widget 1100 by adding second target point 1114 to the visual indication of second sustainability metric 508. Further, each time the second sustainability metric 508 achieves a target improvement relative to the design references, the SI service 110 adds an additional target point 1114 to the visual indication of the second sustainability metric 508 displayed by the sustainability widget 1100. While the above description of the target point is provided with respect to the visual indication of the second sustainability metric 508, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the description applies equally to the visual indication of the addition of the target point to the first sustainability metric 504 or some other sustainability metric displayed by the sustainability widget 1100.

As described above, the visual indication of the second sustainability metric 508 also includes a second target line 1112 indicating a target of the second sustainability metric 504. In some implementations, the second target line 1112 indicates a middle or sub-target of the second sustainability metric 508. For example, SI service 110 may adjust and/or define intermediate targets in real-time to further refine second sustainability metrics 508 and display second target targets 1112 in real-time on visual indications of second sustainability metrics 508. Thus, when editing a design in CAD application 105, a user may track progress toward achieving an intermediate goal of second sustainability metric 508 by looking at the position or end portion of second shaded portion 1108 relative to second target line 1112. For example, if the second shaded portion 1108 increases beyond the second target line 1112, the user may determine that the intermediate objective of the second sustainability metric 508 has been met.

While the above description of the target line is provided with respect to the visual indication of the second sustainability metric 508, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the description applies equally to the visual indication of the first sustainability metric 504 or some other sustainability metric displayed by the sustainability widget 1100. Further, while sustainability widget 1100 is used to display visual indications of two sustainability metrics associated with a design of an object, those skilled in the art will appreciate that sustainability widget 1100 can display visual indications of more or less than two sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object.

Fig. 12 shows another example of a sustainability widget 1200 displayed to a user, for example via GUI 400, when SI service 110 is operating in a relative mode of operation. The sustainability widget 1200 can be implemented, for example, as the sustainability widget 408 shown in FIG. 4. As a user edits a design of an object in CAD application 105, SI service 110 updates the display of sustainability widget 1200 in real-time to indicate how changes in the design affect sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object.

The sustainability widget 1200 includes a visual indication of a plurality of sustainability metrics relative to a design reference. For example, sustainability widget 1200 is implemented as a divergent bar graph centered on design reference origin 1202. As the corresponding sustainability metrics improve relative to the corresponding design references, the SI service 110 increases the size of the visual indication or bar associated with the sustainability metrics in a direction to the right of the design reference origin 1202. In contrast, as the respective sustainability metrics deteriorate relative to the corresponding design references, the SI service 110 increases the size of the visual indication or bar associated with the sustainability metrics in a direction to the left of the design reference origin 1202.

In the example shown, sustainability widget 1200 displays visual indications of five different sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object. For example, the sustainability widget 1200 displays a visual indication of a first sustainability metric 1204 (e.g., carbon emissions), a visual indication of a second sustainability metric 1206 (e.g., price), a visual indication of a third sustainability metric 1208 (e.g., metric a), a visual indication of a fourth sustainability metric 1210 (e.g., metric B), and a visual indication of a fifth sustainability metric 1212 (e.g., metric C). Although sustainability widget 1200 is used to display visual indications of five sustainability metrics associated with a design of an object, those skilled in the art will appreciate that sustainability widget 1200 can display visual indications of more or less than five sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object.

Fig. 13A-13D illustrate various examples of sustainability widgets 1300A-1300D that may be displayed to a user, for example, via GUI 400, when SI service 110 is operating in a relative mode of operation. Each of the sustainability widgets 1300A-1300D can be implemented, for example, as the sustainability widget 408 shown in fig. 4. As a user edits a design of an object in CAD application 105, SI service 110 updates the display of a respective one of sustainability widgets 1300A-1300D in real-time to indicate how changes in the design affect sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object.

Each sustainability widget 1300A-1300D displays a visual indication of a plurality of sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object relative to the corresponding design reference. In particular, each sustainability widget 1300A-1300D displays a visual indication of the sustainability metric as a growth level of the plant. The level of growth of the plant included in the visual indication of the sustainability metric corresponds to the amount of progress the sustainability metric has made toward achieving the goal relative to the design benchmark. For example, plants of relatively high growth levels will be included in visual indications of sustainability metrics approaching achievement goals relative to design criteria. Likewise, plants of relatively low growth levels will be included in the visual indication of sustainability metrics far from the achievement goal relative to the design benchmark.

In the example shown in fig. 13A-13D, sustainability gadgets 1300A-1300D each use plant growth levels to display visual indications of six different sustainability metrics relative to corresponding design references. For example, each sustainability widget 1300A-1300D displays a visual indication of a first sustainability metric 1302 (e.g., carbon emissions), a visual indication of a second sustainability metric 1304 (e.g., M2), a visual indication of a third sustainability metric 1306 (e.g., EC), a visual indication of a fourth sustainability metric 1308 (e.g., GH), a visual indication of a fifth sustainability metric 1310 (e.g., XF), and a visual indication of a sixth sustainability metric 1312 (e.g., nitrogen dioxide). While sustainability gadgets 1300A-1300D are used to display visual indications of six sustainability metrics associated with a design of an object, those skilled in the art will appreciate that sustainability gadgets 1300A-1300D can display visual indications of more or less than six sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object.

Fig. 14A and 14B illustrate various examples of sustainability widgets 1400A and 1400B that may be displayed to a user, e.g., via GUI 400, when SI service 110 is operating in an absolute mode of operation. Each of the sustainability widgets 1400A and 1400B can be implemented, for example, as sustainability widget 408 shown in fig. 4. As a user edits a design of an object in CAD application 105, SI service 110 updates the display of a respective one of sustainability gadgets 1400A and 1400B in real-time to indicate how changes in the design affect sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object.

The sustainability widget 1400A is similar to the sustainability widget 600 described above with respect to FIG. 6. As shown, the sustainability widget 1400A displays a first visual indication 1402 of a first sustainability metric 504 (e.g., price) associated with the design of the object, a second visual indication 1404 of a second sustainability metric 508 (e.g., life-time carbon emissions) associated with the design of the object, and a third visual indication 1406 of a third sustainability metric 512 (e.g., implied carbon emissions) associated with the design of the object. Visual indications 1402, 1404, and 1406 of sustainability metrics are shown as respective bars in a bar graph. The sustainability widget 1400A also includes a sustainability icon 1408, similar to the sustainability icon 610 described above.

However, in some cases, a user may desire to combine visual indications of similar and/or related sustainability metrics associated with a design of an object into a single visual indication. For example, when referring to the design of an object, the user may consider the second sustainability metric 508 (e.g., life-time carbon emissions) to be similar to or related to the third sustainability metric 512 (e.g., implied carbon emissions). Thus, to reduce the amount of information displayed by the sustainability widget 1400A, a user may desire to combine the second visual indication 1404 of the second sustainability metric 508 (e.g., life-time carbon emissions) with the third visual indication 1406 of the third sustainability metric 512 (e.g., implied carbon emissions) into a single visual indication of the combined carbon emission sustainability metric.

As shown in FIG. 14B, the sustainability widget 1400B displays a single visual indication 1410 of a combined carbon emission sustainability metric 1412. That is, the single visual indication 1410 is a combination of the second visual indication 1404 of the second sustainability metric 508 (e.g., life-cycle carbon emissions) and the third visual indication 1406 of the third sustainability metric 512 (e.g., implied carbon emissions). While operating within CAD application 105, a user may toggle between the display of sustainability widget 1400A and the display of sustainability widget 1400B, for example, using cursor 404.

Although sustainability gadgets 1400A and 1400B are shown and described above with respect to an absolute mode of operation of SI service 110, those skilled in the art will appreciate that SI service 110 may also incorporate visual indications of sustainability metrics displayed by sustainability gadgets when SI service 110 is operating in a relative mode of operation. Furthermore, while sustainability widget 1400B is described as combining two visual indications of a sustainability metric into a single visual indication of a combined sustainability metric, those of skill in the art will appreciate that more than two visual indications of sustainability metrics can be combined into a single sustainability metric.

In some cases, when SI service 110 determines an updated value of the sustainability metric associated with the design of the object, SI service 110 cannot determine the exact value of the sustainability metric with absolute certainty. In this case, SI service 110 determines an approximate updated value of the sustainability metric that includes a degree of uncertainty. That is, SI service 110 may determine an approximation of the sustainability metric that lies within a range or tolerance of possible values. As an example, in response to a user changing the design of an object, SI service 110 may determine that the update price of the design of the object has a value between $10.00 and $11.00.

Thus, when SI service 110 does not determine the exact value of the sustainability metric but rather determines an approximation of the sustainability metric, SI service 110 can apply a visual effect to the visual indication of the sustainability metric to indicate the degree of uncertainty associated with the determined value of the sustainability metric. As an example, if the sustainability widget is implemented as a bar graph, the SI service 110 can apply a visual effect to the end of a bar included in the visual indication of the sustainability metric to indicate the degree of uncertainty associated with the value of the sustainability metric determined by the SI service 110. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the SI service 110 may apply the uncertainty visual effect to any type of visual indication of the sustainability metrics displayed by the sustainability widget, not just the bars in the bar graph.

FIG. 15 illustrates various examples of uncertainty visual effects that may be applied to visual indications of sustainability metrics displayed by sustainability widgets. As shown, the first uncertainty visual effect 1502 includes a first dashed line 1502A indicating a maximum possible value of the sustainability metric and a second dashed line 1502B indicating a minimum possible value of the sustainability metric. The second uncertainty visual effect 1504 gradually narrows the visual indication of the sustainability metric from the minimum possible value of the sustainability metric to a point that indicates the maximum possible value of the sustainability metric. The third uncertainty visual effect 1506 uses a shading response for the visual indication of the sustainability metric, wherein the color of the visual indication fades gradually from the minimum possible value of the sustainability metric to the maximum possible value of the sustainability metric. Visual uncertainty effects 1508, 1510, 1512, 1514, 1516, and 1518 are other examples of visual effects that may be applied to visual indications of sustainability metrics displayed by sustainability gadgets. As shown, the visual uncertainty effects 1510, 1512, 1514, 1516 display a midpoint within a range of possible values of the sustainability metric.

In some cases, a user may desire to view additional information or details associated with a sustainability metric for a design that is not displayed by the sustainability widget. Thus, in some embodiments, a user may interact with the sustainability widget to view additional information associated with the sustainability metrics of the design. In such an embodiment, in response to detecting a user interaction with the sustainability widget, the SI service 110 generates a pop-up window displaying additional information associated with the designed one or more sustainability metrics. As an example, when designing an object in CAD application 105, a user may interact with a sustainability widget (e.g., one or more of the sustainability widgets described herein) displayed by GUI 400, for example, using cursor 404. Continuing with this example, the SI service 110 detects user interactions with the sustainability widget and, in response, generates a pop-up window displaying additional information associated with one or more sustainability metrics for the design of the object. User interaction with the sustainability metrics can include, but is not limited to, hovering over the sustainability widget with the cursor 404, clicking on the sustainability widget with the cursor 404, hovering over a visual indication of a particular sustainability metric displayed by the sustainability widget with the cursor 404, or clicking on a visual indication of a particular sustainability metric displayed by the sustainability widget with the cursor 404.

Fig. 16A illustrates an example pop-up window 1600A generated by SI service 110 and displayed to a user when the user interacts with sustainability widget 1605A. SI service 110 may display popup window 1600A, but is not limited to being displayed near sustainability widget 1605A, overlapping sustainability widget 1605A, near a model of an object in CAD application 105, and/or at some other location within the perimeter of CAD application 105. As shown, the sustainability widget 1605A displays a visual indication of a first sustainability metric 504 (e.g., price), a visual indication of a second sustainability metric 508 (e.g., life-time carbon emissions), and a visual indication of a third sustainability metric 512 (e.g., implied carbon emissions). When a user of CAD application 105 interacts with a visual indication of third sustainability metric 512, for example, using cursor 404, SI service 110 generates and displays a pop-up window 1600A that includes additional details associated with third sustainability metric 512. As shown, the pop-up window 1600A displays additional details associated with the reference value of the third sustainability metric 512, the change in the third sustainability metric 512 for the current design from the design reference, and the target value of the third sustainability metric 512. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the information displayed by the pop-up 1600A is provided as an example, and that additional information or details associated with the sustainability metrics can be displayed by the pop-up 1600A. Furthermore, while the pop-up 1600A is described with respect to the third sustainability metric 512, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the description of the pop-up 1600A also applies to pop-up windows associated with other sustainability metrics of the design.

Fig. 16B illustrates an example pop-up window 1600B generated by SI service 110 and displayed to a user when the user interacts with sustainability widget 1605B. For example, SI service 110 may display popup window 1600B, but is not limited to being displayed near sustainability widget 1605B, overlapping sustainability widget 1605B, near a model of an object in CAD application 105, and/or at some other location within the perimeter of CAD application 105. As shown, the sustainability widget 1605B displays a visual indication of a first sustainability metric 504 (e.g., price) and a visual indication of a second sustainability metric 508 (e.g., life-time carbon emissions). When a user of CAD application 105 interacts with a visual indication of first sustainability metric 504, for example, using cursor 404, SI service 110 generates and displays a pop-up window 1600B that includes additional details associated with first sustainability metric 504. As shown, the pop-up window 1600B displays a timeline view indicating how the first sustainability metrics 504 of the design of the object changes over time as the user makes changes to the design object. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the information displayed by the pop-up 1600B is provided as an example, and that additional information or details associated with the sustainability metrics can be displayed by the pop-up 1600B. Furthermore, while pop-up 1600B is described with respect to first sustainability metric 504, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the description of pop-up 1600B also applies to pop-up windows associated with other sustainability metrics for the design of an object.

In some cases, a user may desire to understand how one or more components included in the design of an object contribute to a sustainability metric associated with the design of the object. For example, when a user desires to improve a particular sustainability metric associated with a design of an object, it may be useful for the user to understand which components may cause sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object to deteriorate and/or which components may cause sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object to improve. Accordingly, SI service 110 may generate and display additional information indicating contributions of various components included in the design of the object to one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object.

In some implementations, SI service 110 uses the techniques described above with respect to fig. 1-3 to determine the contribution of components to the sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object. For example, SI service 110 determines the contribution of the component to the sustainability metric based on one or more of: data included in design data 316 associated with the component (e.g., data indicative of one or more physical parameters of the component), data in material sustainability data 318 associated with the component (e.g., sustainability data associated with materials used to construct the component), and/or data in material pricing data 320 associated with the component (e.g., data associated with prices of materials used to construct the component). In some implementations, the SI service 110 displays information indicating the contribution of the component to a particular sustainability metric associated with the design of the object in response to the user request and/or action. For example, the SI service 110 may generate a pop-up window including information indicating the contribution of the component to a particular sustainability metric associated with the design of the object in response to detecting a user interaction with the sustainability widget being displayed to the user.

Fig. 17A illustrates an example pop-up window 1700A generated by SI service 110 and displayed to a user when the user interacts with sustainability widget 1702. SI service 110 may display popup window 1700A, but is not limited to being displayed near sustainability widget 1702, overlapping sustainability widget 1702, near a model of an object in CAD application 105, and/or at some other location within the perimeter of CAD application 105. As shown, sustainability widget 1702 displays a visual indication of a first sustainability metric 504 (e.g., price) associated with a design of the object and a visual indication of a second sustainability metric 508 (e.g., life-time carbon emissions) associated with the design of the object. When a user of CAD application 105 interacts with a visual indication of second sustainability metric 508, for example, using cursor 404, SI service 110 generates and displays a pop-up window 1700A that includes details associated with the respective contributions of the design components to second sustainability metric 508. For example, SI service 110 determines a contribution value or amount of one or more components included in the design of the object to second sustainability metric 508 and displays information associated with a respective contribution of the one or more components included in the design of the object to second sustainability metric 508 via pop-up window 1700A.

In the example shown in fig. 17A, a pop-up window 1700A displays a respective visual indication or rendered heat map of each component included in the design of the object based on the respective contribution of the component to the second sustainability metric 508. For example, the heat map includes a gradient scale 1704 that gradually changes from a first color (e.g., blue) on the left side of the scale 1704 to a second color (e.g., red) on the right side of the scale 1704. The first color on the left side of the scale 1704 indicates the smallest contribution of the component to the second sustainability metric 508, while the second color on the right side of the scale 1704 indicates the largest contribution of the component to the second sustainability metric 508. Further, as the color of the scale 1704 changes in a left-to-right direction along the scale 1704, the left-to-right changing color of the scale 1704 indicates that the contribution to the second sustainability metric 508 increases. Thus, when a rendering of a first component included in the design of the object is displayed in the pop-up window 1700A in a color to the left of the scale 1704, the user may determine that the first component contributes less to the second sustainability metric 508 than a second component included in the design of the object, which is displayed in the pop-up window 1700A in a color to the right of the scale 1704. SI service 110 may determine respective contributions of components included in the design of the object to second sustainability metrics 508 and display, via pop-up window 1700A, a rendered rendering of each component included in the design of the object in real-time based on the respective contributions of the components to second sustainability metrics 508. Similarly, FIG. 17B illustrates an example pop-up window 1700B generated by the SI service 110 and displayed to a user in the form of a colored heat map to indicate the respective contributions of the components included in the design of the object to the first sustainability metrics 504.

Although a colored heat map is used in the example shown in fig. 17A and 17B, one skilled in the art will appreciate that a pop-up window may otherwise indicate the respective contributions of the components included in the design of the object to the sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object. For example, in some embodiments, SI service 110 generates and displays a pop-up window that includes respective values and/or percentages associated with respective contributions of components included in the design of the object to sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object. In some embodiments, SI service 110 generates and displays a pop-up window that includes an ordered list of components included in the design of the object, where the list is ordered in descending or ascending order according to the sizes of the respective contributions of the components included in the design of the object to the sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object.

In some cases, a user may desire to view additional information associated with displaying various components of their rendering in a pop-up window (such as pop-up window 1700A and/or pop-up window 1700B). Thus, in some implementations, a user may interact with a rendering of a component displayed in a pop-up window to view additional information associated with the contribution of the component to one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object. As shown in the example illustrated in fig. 18, when a pop-up window 1700A is displayed to the user, the user may interact with the pop-up window 1700A to display a second pop-up window 1800 that displays additional information associated with the first component 1802 included in the design. For example, using the cursor 404, the user may interact with the rendering of the first component 1802 displayed in the pop-up window 1700A (e.g., by clicking on and/or hovering over the cursor 404). In response to detecting a user interaction with the rendering of the first component 1802 displayed in the pop-up window 1700A, the SI service 110 generates and displays a second pop-up window 1800.

As shown, the second pop-up window includes additional information associated with the contribution of the first component 1802 to the plurality of sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object. For example, as indicated by the second popup window 1800, the first component 1802 contributed 1% of the first sustainability metric 504 (e.g., price) and contributed 26% of the second sustainability metric 508 (e.g., life carbon emissions). Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the information displayed by the second pop-up window 1800 is provided as an example, and that additional information or details associated with the components included in the design of the object may be displayed by the second pop-up window 1800. Furthermore, while the pop-up 1800 is described with respect to the first component 1802 included in the design of the object, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the description of the second pop-up 1800 also applies to pop-up windows associated with other components of the design.

In some cases, a user may desire to understand how components included in the design of an object contribute to a sustainability metric associated with the design of the object without being presented with additional pop-up windows (such as the heat map pop-up windows 1700A, 1700B described above and shown in fig. 17A-17B). Thus, the SI service 110 may generate and display a sustainability widget that provides a visual indication of the contribution of the components included in the design of the object to one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object.

In some embodiments, SI service 110 generates and displays such sustainability widgets in response to receiving user input indicating a visual indication of which component included in the design of the object the user desires to view contribution of the component to one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object. For example, a user of CAD application 105 may use cursor 404 to interact with a design (e.g., a 3D model) of an object to select or otherwise indicate to SI service 110 which component or group of components the user desires to view a visual indication of the contribution of one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design. In some examples, within CAD application 105, a user selects components included in a design by interacting with an exploded view of the design of an object. With respect to the example shown in fig. 4 in which the object 406 is a building, when a user desires to view a visual indication of the contribution of a window to one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object, the user may select and/or interact with a window included in the model of the object 406.

In response to detecting user input indicating a visual indication that a user desires to view contributions of components and/or groups of components to one or more sustainability metrics associated with a design of an object, SI service 110 determines, in real-time, the contributions of components and/or groups of components to the one or more sustainability metrics. For example, SI service 110 determines the contribution of the component to the sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object based on one or more of: data included in design data 316 associated with the component (e.g., data indicative of one or more physical parameters of the component), data included in material sustainability data 318 associated with the component (e.g., sustainability data associated with materials used to construct the component), and/or data included in material pricing data 320 associated with the component (e.g., data associated with prices of materials used to construct the component). Further, SI service 110 generates and displays in real-time sustainability widgets that provide visual indications of contribution of constituent parts to one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object.

Fig. 19A shows an example of a sustainability widget 1900A displayed to a user, for example via GUI 400, when SI service 110 is operating in a relative mode of operation. The sustainability widget 1900A is similar to the sustainability widget 700 described above and can be implemented, for example, as the sustainability widget 408 shown in FIG. 4. As shown, sustainability widget 1900A displays a visual indication of a first sustainability metric 504 and a second sustainability metric 508 associated with the design of the object. The visual indication of the first sustainability metric 504 (e.g., price) includes a first shaded portion 1902 of a first ring 1904 that indicates an amount of progress toward a goal of achieving the first sustainability metric 504 relative to a design reference. Similarly, the visual indication of the second sustainability metric 508 (e.g., life cycle carbon emissions) includes a second shaded portion 1906 of the second ring 1908 that indicates an amount of progress toward a goal of achieving the second sustainability metric 508 relative to the design reference.

In some cases, when the user is viewing sustainability widget 1900A, the user may desire to view additional information related to the contribution of the components included in the design of the object to first sustainability metric 504 and/or second sustainability 508. Thus, in this case, the user provides an input indicating, for example using the cursor 404, a visual indication of the contribution of the components included in the design of the user's desired viewing object to the first sustainability metric 504 and/or the second sustainability metric 508. As described above, in some examples, the user uses the cursor 404 to select or otherwise interact with a component included in the design of the object (the user desires to view a visual indication of the contribution of the component to the first sustainability metric 504 and/or the second sustainability metric 508). In other examples, the user may additionally use cursor 404 to interact with sustainability icon 1910 to indicate to SI service 110 that the user desires to view a visual indication of the contribution of the component to one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object. For example, using the cursor 404, the user may interact with the sustainability icon 1910 to open a menu and/or one or more selectable options that the user can interact with to indicate that the user desires to view a visual indication of the contribution of the component to the one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object.

In response to detecting the user input, SI service 110 determines, in real-time, contribution of the component and/or the group of components to one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object. Further, SI service 110 generates and displays visual indications of contributions of components and/or groups of components to one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object.

FIG. 19B illustrates an example of a sustainability widget 1900B displayed to a user, for example via GUI 400, to provide a visual indication of the contribution of a component to the variation of one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object. The sustainability widget 1900B can be implemented, for example, as the sustainability widget 408 shown in FIG. 4. Further, in the illustrated example, SI service 110 generates and displays sustainability widget 1900B in place of and/or in addition to sustainability widget 1900A in response to detecting user input indicating that the user desires to view a visual indication of the contribution of the component to one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object.

As shown, sustainability widget 1900B displays a visual indication of a first sustainability metric 504 and a second sustainability metric 508 associated with the design of the object. The visual indication of the first sustainability metric 504 (e.g., price) includes a first shaded portion 1902 of a first ring 1904 that indicates an amount of progress toward a goal of achieving the first sustainability metric 504 relative to a design reference. In addition, the visual indication of the second sustainability metric 508 (e.g., life cycle carbon emissions) includes a second shaded portion 1906 of the second ring 1908 that indicates an amount of progress toward a goal of achieving the second sustainability metric 508 relative to the design reference. Sustainability widget 1900B also includes a sustainability icon 1910 that is similar to sustainability icon 610 described above.

Furthermore, sustainability widget 1900B displays a visual indication of the contribution of the component to the first sustainability metric 504 and the second sustainability metric 508 associated with the design of the object. In particular, sustainability widget 1900B displays a visual indication of the contribution of the component to the variation of sustainability metrics 504, 508 associated with the current design of the object relative to the design base. The visual indication of the contribution of the component to the first sustainability metric 504 includes a first overlapping shaded portion 1912 that overlaps the first ring 1904 to indicate the amount of the component's contribution to the change in the first sustainability metric 504. The amount or size of the first overlapping shaded portion 1912 corresponds to the amount of contribution of the component parts to the variation of the first sustainability metric 504. In the example shown, the first overlapping shaded portion 1912 indicates that the component contributes approximately 7% to the increase in the first sustainability metric 504 relative to the design base. Similarly, the visual indication of the contribution of the component to the second sustainability metric 508 includes a second overlapping shaded portion 1914 that overlaps the second ring 1908 to indicate the amount of the component's contribution to the change in the second sustainability metric 508. The amount or size of the second overlapping shaded portion 1914 corresponds to the amount of contribution of the component to the change in the second sustainability metric 508. In the example shown, the second overlapping shaded portion 1914 indicates that the component contributes approximately 5% to the reduction in the second sustainability metric 508 (e.g., life cycle carbon emissions) relative to the design baseline.

Although sustainability widget 1900B is shown and described above as a ring bar graph, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the above description of displaying a visual indication of the contribution of a constituent part to the change in sustainability metrics also applies to other implementations of sustainability widgets described herein (e.g., horizontal bar graphs, arc bar graphs, etc.). Furthermore, while sustainability widget 1900B is used to display a visual indication of the contribution of a component to two sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object, those skilled in the art will appreciate that sustainability widget 1900B can display a visual indication of the contribution of the component to more or less than two sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object.

As described above, sustainability widget 1900B displays a visual indication of the contribution of the component to the variation of sustainability metrics 504, 508 associated with the current design of the object relative to the design base. However, in some cases, a user may desire to view a visual indication of the contribution of the component to the value of the sustainability metric rather than the contribution of the component to the change in the sustainability metric. For example, a user may desire to understand how many percentages of the sustainability metrics associated with the design of an object are attributable to particular components included in the design. Thus, in some embodiments, SI service 110 generates and displays a sustainability widget that provides a visual indication of the component's contribution to the amount or percentage of the value of the sustainability metric associated with the design of the object.

FIG. 20 illustrates an example of a sustainability widget 2000 displayed to a user, for example via a GUI 400, to provide a visual indication of the contribution of components to one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design of an object. The sustainability widget 2000 can be implemented, for example, as the sustainability widget 408 shown in FIG. 4. As shown, sustainability widget 2000 displays a visual indication of a first sustainability metric 504 and a second sustainability metric 508 associated with the design of the object. The visual indication of the first sustainability metric 504 (e.g., price) includes a first shaded portion 2002 of the first ring, 2004 indicating an amount of progress toward achieving the goal of the first sustainability metric 504 relative to the design base. The visual indication of the second sustainability metric 508 (e.g., life cycle carbon emissions) includes a second shaded portion 2006 of the second ring 2008 that indicates an amount of progress relative to the design reference toward a goal of achieving the second sustainability metric 508. The sustainability widget 2000 also includes a sustainability icon 2010, similar to the sustainability icon 610 described above.

Further, sustainability widget 2000 displays a visual indication of the contribution of the component to the first sustainability metric 504 and the second sustainability metric 508 associated with the design of the object. In particular, sustainability widget 2000 displays a visual indication of the percentage contribution of the component to the sustainability metrics 504, 508 of the current design. The visual indication of the contribution of the component to the first sustainability metric 504 includes a first overlapping shadow portion 2012 that overlaps the first ring 2004 to indicate a percentage of the first sustainability metric 504 that is attributed to the component. Further, the amount or size of the first overlapping shaded portion 2012 corresponds to the contribution of the component parts to the first sustainability metric 504. In the example shown, the first overlapping shaded portion 2012 indicates that the component contributes approximately 25% of the first sustainability metric 504. In other words, 25% of the first sustainability metric 504 associated with the design of the object is attributed to the component. Similarly, the visual indication of the contribution of the component to the second sustainability metric 508 includes a second overlapping shaded portion 2014 that overlaps the second ring 2008 to indicate the percentage of the second sustainability metric 508 attributed to the component. Further, the amount or size of the second overlapping shaded portion 2014 corresponds to the contribution of the component to the second sustainability metric 508. In the example shown, the second overlapping shaded portion 2014 indicates that the constituent components contribute approximately 25% of the second sustainability metric 508 (e.g., life-time carbon emissions). In other words, the 25% percent of life cycle carbon emissions associated with the design of the object are attributed to the component.

In some cases, SI service 110 determines whether to display sustainability widget 1900B or sustainability widget 2000 based on a user-selected mode of operation of SI service 110. For example, SI service 110 generates and displays sustainability widget 2000 instead of sustainability widget 1900B in response to user selection of the percentage component view operation mode. As another example, when the user selects the change component view operation mode, SI service 110 generates and displays sustainability widget 1900B instead of sustainability widget 2000. In some implementations, the user can switch between viewing sustainability widget 1900B and sustainability widget 2000 by changing the operational mode of SI service 110 between a variant component view mode and a percentage component view mode.

In some cases, when SI service 110 is operating in an absolute mode of operation (which is described above with respect to fig. 4-6), a user may desire to view a visual indication of the contribution of the component to one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object. Thus, fig. 21 illustrates an example of a sustainability widget 2100 displayed to a user, for example via GUI 400, when SI service 110 is operating in an absolute mode of operation to provide a visual indication of contribution of components to one or more sustainability metrics associated with a design of an object. The sustainability widget 2100 can be implemented, for example, as the sustainability widget 408 shown in FIG. 4.

As shown, the sustainability widget 2100 displays a first visual indication 2102 of a first sustainability metric 504 (e.g., price) associated with a design of an object, a second visual indication 2104 of a second sustainability metric 508 (e.g., life carbon emissions) associated with the design of the object, and a sustainability icon 2106 similar to the sustainability icon 610 described above. The sustainability widget 2100 also includes a first change line 2108 indicating a previous value of the first sustainability metric 504 prior to making a change to the design and a second change line 2110 indicating a previous value of the second sustainability metric 508 prior to making the change to the design. The sustainability widget 2100 also includes a third visual indication 2112 of the contribution of the component to the first sustainability metric 504 and a fourth visual indication 2114 of the contribution of the component to the second sustainability metric 508. The size or length of the respective visual indication 2112, 2114 corresponds to the amount of the corresponding sustainability metric 504, 508 attributed to the component. For example, because third visual indication 2112 is about 40% of the length of first visual indication 2102 of first sustainability metric 504, a user viewing sustainability widget 2100 can understand that about 40% of first sustainability metric 504 is attributed to a component.

In some cases, a user may desire to understand how one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design of an object change over a period of time. For example, a user may desire to understand how one or more sustainability metrics associated with a design of an object change during the design process. Thus, the SI service 110 may generate and display a timeline view that provides a visual indication of how one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object change over time. SI service 110 may generate a timeline view based on stored data (such as design data 316) including previous values of sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object. In addition, SI service 110 may update and display the timeline view in real-time as the user makes changes to the design of the object.

In some implementations, the SI service 110 generates and displays the timeline view in response to receiving user input. For example, a user of CAD application 105 may interact with the design of the object and/or the currently displayed sustainability widget using a cursor 404 or some other input device to indicate to SI service 110 a timeline in which the user desires to view changes in one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object. In some examples, the user selects a visual indication of the sustainability metrics displayed by the sustainability widget to indicate to the SI service 110 a timeline in which the user desires to view a change in the sustainability metrics. In some examples, the user selects from a menu and/or one or more selectable options to display a timeline view associated with the sustainability metrics.

Fig. 22A shows an example of a timeline view 2200A generated by SI service 110 and displayed to a user, for example, via GUI 400. As shown, the timeline view 2200A provides visual indications of how the second sustainability metric 508 (e.g., life-time carbon emissions) associated with the design of the object changes over time. The timeline view 2200A includes a plurality of data points 2202-1 through 2202-7 that indicate respective values of the second sustainability metric 508 at various points in time. For example, the first data point 2202-1 provides a visual indication of a value of the second sustainability metric 508 associated with the design of the object at a first point in time, the second data point 2202-2 provides a visual indication of a value of the second sustainability metric 508 associated with the design of the object at a second point in time that occurs after the first point in time, and so on.

The timeline view 2200A also includes a target line 2204 that indicates a target value (e.g., 0.79 kg) or design basis for the second sustainability metric 508. Thus, when viewing the timeline view 2200A, the user can understand how the value of the second sustainability metric 508 associated with the design of the object changes relative to the target line 2204 over a period of time. For example, the user may determine that the second sustainability metric 508 meets the target value or design criteria at the first and second points in time because the first and second data points 2202-1, 2202 are below the target line 2204. Similarly, the user can determine that the second sustainability metric 508 does not meet the target value or design benchmark at a point in time after the second point in time because the third data point 2202-3 through the seventh data point 2202-7 are higher than the target line 2204.

As further shown in FIG. 22A, SI service 110 has applied visual effects to data points 2202-1 through 2202-7 to indicate an uncertainty associated with the determined value of second sustainability metric 508 indicated by data points 2202-1 through 2202-7. For example, when generating the timeline view 2200A, the SI service 110 may determine that the particular value of the second sustainability metric 508 at a point in time may have been any value within a range or tolerance of values. Accordingly, the SI service 110 applies visual effects to the respective data points 2202 to indicate the uncertainty associated with the determined values of the data points 2202. In the example shown in FIG. 22A, the uncertainty visual effect applied to each data point 2202-1 through 2202-7 is a gradual effect. FIG. 22B illustrates another example timeline view 2200B in which uncertainty associated with the values of data points 2202-1 through 2202-7 is indicated to a user by concatenating the minimum possible value of data points 2202-1 through 2202-7, the maximum possible value of data points 2202-1 through 2202-7, and the intermediate possible value of data points 2202-1 through 2202-7.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the information displayed by the timeline views 2200A, 2200B is provided as an example, and that additional information or details associated with changes in the sustainability metrics over time can be displayed by the timeline views 2200A, 2200B. Furthermore, while the timeline views 2200A, 2200B display changes in the second sustainability metric 508 over a period of time, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the above description of the timeline views 2200A, 2200B also applies to timeline views that display changes in different sustainability metrics associated with the design of an object, such as the first sustainability metric 504. In some implementations, the user can switch between viewing a first timeline view that displays a visual indication of a change in the first sustainability metric over time and a second timeline view that displays a visual indication of a change in the second sustainability metric over time.

In some cases, to help a user better understand the change over time of sustainability metrics associated with the design of an object, SI service 110 generates a timeline view that also includes respective visual indications of the states of the design at various points in time. Fig. 23 shows an example of a timeline view 2300 generated by SI service 110 and displayed to a user, for example via GUI 400. As shown, the timeline view 2300 provides visual indications of how the second sustainability metric 508 (e.g., life-time carbon emissions) associated with the design of the object changes over time. In particular, the timeline view 2300 includes a plurality of data points 2302-1 through 2302-7 that indicate how the value of the second sustainability metric 508 changes over time relative to the target line 2304. For example, the first data point 2302-1 provides a visual indication of the value of the second sustainability metric 508 associated with the design of the object at a first point in time, the second data point 2302-2 provides a visual indication of the value of the second sustainability metric 508 associated with the design of the object at a second point in time that occurs after the first point in time, and so on.

The timeline view 2300 additionally provides a visual indication of how the state of the design of the object changes over time with respect to the change in the second sustainability metric 508. In particular, the timeline view 2300 includes a plurality of model renderings 2306-1 through 2306-7 that provide respective visual indications of states of the design at particular points in time. For example, a first model rendering 2306-1 provides a visual indication of the state of the design at a first point in time, a second model rendering 2306-2 provides a visual indication of the state of the design at a second point in time, and so on. Further, the particular model rendering 2306 displayed in the timeline view 2300 corresponds to a particular data point 2302. For example, the first data point 2302-1 indicates the value of the second sustainability metric 508 at the first point in time, where the state of the design is similar to the first model rendering 2306-1. Thus, by viewing the timeline view 2300, a user may better understand how the second sustainability metric 508 associated with the design of the object changes over a period of time in view of the corresponding changes or states of the designs represented by the model renderings 2306-1 through 2306-7.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the information displayed by the timeline view 2300 is provided as an example, and that additional information or details associated with changes in the sustainability metrics over time can be displayed by the timeline view 2300. Furthermore, while the timeline view 2300 displays a change in the second sustainability metric 508 over a period of time, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the above description of the timeline view 2300 also applies to timeline views that display a change in a different sustainability metric (such as the first sustainability metric 504) associated with a design of an object.

In some cases, a user may desire to understand how particular components included in the design of an object affect one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object over a period of time. Thus, the SI service 110 may generate and display a timeline view that also includes respective visual indications of changes over time in sustainability metrics associated with the constituent parts included in the design of the object. Fig. 24 shows an example of a timeline view 2400 that SI service 110 generates and displays to a user, e.g., via GUI 400. As shown, the timeline view 2400 provides visual indications of how the second sustainability metric 508 (e.g., life-time carbon emissions) associated with the design of the object changes over time. In particular, similar to the timeline views 2200A, 2200B, and 2300, the timeline view 2400 includes a plurality of data points 2402-1 through 2402-7 that indicate how the value of the second sustainability metric 508 changes over time relative to the target line 2404.

The timeline view 2400 also provides visual indications of how the second sustainability metrics 508 associated with or attributed to a particular component included in the design of the object changed over time. For example, the timeline view 2400 includes a plurality of component data points 2406-1 through 2406-3 that indicate how the values of the second sustainability metrics 508 attributed to particular components included in the design of the object change over time. For example, if a user changes the size, shape, material, and/or other parameters of a component over a period of time, the plurality of component data points 2406-1 through 2406-3 indicate how those changes of the component affect the second sustainability metric 508 associated with the component over time.

As further shown, the timeline view 2400 provides a visual indication of how the status of a component included in the design of an object changes over time with respect to the change in the second sustainability metric 508 associated with that component. In particular, timeline view 2400 includes a plurality of component model renderings 2408-1 through 2408-3 that provide respective visual indications of the status of components at various points in time. The state of a component may include, for example, the size, shape, material, and/or other physical parameters of the component included in the design. Thus, by viewing the timeline view 2400, a user may better understand how the second sustainability metric 508 associated with the design of the object changes over a period of time in view of the corresponding changes in the components visually represented by the component model renderings 2408-1 through 2408-3.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the information displayed by the timeline view 2400 is provided as an example, and that additional information or details associated with changes in sustainability metrics associated with the constituent parts can be displayed by the timeline view 2400. Furthermore, while the timeline view 2400 displays a change in the second sustainability metric 508 associated with a constituent part over a period of time, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the above description of the timeline view 2400 also applies to timeline views that display a change in a different sustainability metric (such as the first sustainability metric 504) associated with a constituent part.

In some cases, a user may desire to view additional information or details associated with the timeline view. Accordingly, the SI service 110 may generate and display a pop-up window that provides additional information associated with the timeline view. In some implementations, the SI service 110 generates and displays a pop-up window associated with the timeline view in response to receiving a user request and/or detecting a user interaction with the currently displayed timeline view. For example, when a user interacts with (e.g., hovers over, clicks on, etc.) a portion of the timeline view using the cursor 404, the SI service 110 detects the user interaction and, in response, generates and displays a pop-up view that provides additional information associated with the portion of the timeline view with which the user interacted.

Fig. 25 shows an example of a timeline view 2500 generated by SI service 110 and displayed to a user, for example via GUI 400. As shown, the timeline view 2500 provides visual indications of how the second sustainability metric 508 (e.g., life-time carbon emissions) associated with the design of the object changes over time. In particular, similar to the other timeline views described above, the timeline view 2500 includes a plurality of data points 2502-1 through 2502-7 that indicate how the value of the second sustainability metric 508 changes over time relative to the target line 2504. In addition, similar to the timeline view 2300, the timeline view 2500 additionally uses multiple model renderings 2506-1 to 2506-7 that provide respective visual indications of the states of the design at various points in time to provide visual indications of how the design of the object changes over time. In the example shown, the timeline view is also displayed near the sustainability widget 2508.

As further shown, a pop-up window 2510 is displayed over the timeline view 2500. In particular, a pop-up window 2510 is displayed over the second data point 2502-2 and provides additional information associated with the second sustainability metric 508 associated with the design of the object at a second point in time indicated by the timeline view. For example, the SI service 110 generates and displays a popup window 2510 over the second data point 2502-2 in response to detecting a user interaction with the second data point 2502-2 and or the second model rendering 2506-2. As shown, the pop-up window 2510 displays information such as a value of the second sustainability metric 508 at a second point in time, an indication of the second point in time (e.g., the time at which the second data point 2502-2 and/or the second model rendering 2506-2 was created), and an indication of what components included in the design of the object contributed to the second sustainability metric 508 and the contribution of that component at the second point in time.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the information displayed by the popup window 2510 is provided as an example and that more or less information associated with the second sustainability metric 508 can be displayed by the popup window 2510. Furthermore, while the pop-up 2510 displays additional information associated with the second sustainability metric 508 at a second point in time, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the above description of the pop-up 2510 also applies to pop-up windows displaying information associated with the second sustainability metric 508 at other points in time indicated by the timeline view 2500 and pop-up windows displaying information associated with other sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object, such as the first sustainability metric 504.

In some cases, the target value of the sustainability metric and/or the design references associated with the design of the object change during the design process. For example, a user may define a first goal and/or design reference for a sustainability metric at a first point in time during a design process and define a different second goal and/or design reference for the sustainability metric at a second point in time during the design process. Thus, the SI service 110 may generate and display a timeline view that provides visual indications of how the sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object change over time relative to the changing target values of the sustainability metrics and/or design references.

Fig. 26 shows an example of a timeline view 2600 generated by SI service 110 and displayed to a user, for example, via GUI 400. As shown, the timeline view 2600 provides visual indications of how the second sustainability metric 508 (e.g., life-time carbon emissions) associated with the design of the object changes over time. Similar to the other timeline views described above, the timeline view 2600 includes a plurality of data points 2602-1 through 2602-7 that indicate how the value of the second sustainability metric 508 changes over a period of time. For example, the first data point 2602-1 provides a visual indication of the value of the second sustainability metric 508 associated with the design at a first point in time, the second data point 2602-2 provides a visual indication of the value of the second sustainability metric 508 associated with the design at a second point in time that occurs after the first point in time, and so on.

Further, the timeline view 2600 provides a visual indication of how the goals of the second sustainability metrics 508 change over time. In particular, the timeline view 2600 includes a plurality of targets 2604-1 through 2604-7 that indicate how the target values and/or design references of the second sustainability metric 508 change over a period of time. For example, the first target 2604-1 provides a visual indication of the target value of the second sustainability metric 508 at the first time point, the second data point 2602-2 provides a visual indication of the target value of the second sustainability metric 508 at the second time point, and so on. Thus, by viewing the timeline view 2600, a user can determine how the second sustainability metrics 508 associated with the design of the object behave over time relative to the respective objectives of the second sustainability metrics 508. For example, the user may determine that the second sustainability metric 508 meets the corresponding target value at the fifth point in time because the fifth data point 2602-5 is below the fifth target 2604-5 of the second sustainability metric 508. Similarly, the user may determine that the second sustainability metric 508 does not meet the corresponding target value at the first point in time because the first data point 2602-1 is higher than the first target 2604-1 of the second sustainability metric 508.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the information displayed by the timeline view 2600 is provided as an example, and that additional information or details associated with changes in the sustainability metrics over time can be displayed by the timeline view 2600. Further, while the timeline view 2600 shows a change in the second sustainability metric 508 over a period of time, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the above description of the timeline view 2600 also applies to timeline views that display a change in a different sustainability metric (such as the first sustainability metric 504) associated with the design of an object.

Fig. 27A illustrates an alternative embodiment of a timeline view or flowsheet 2700A that may be generated by SI service 110 and displayed, for example, via GUI 400, to provide a visual indication of a change in sustainability metrics over time. In particular, flow diagram 2700A provides a visual indication of how respective contributions of components included in the design of the object to second sustainability metric 508 of the design change over time, with time increasing in a left-to-right direction relative to flow diagram 2700A. Each component included in the design of an object is represented as a corresponding layer 2702 in flow graph 2700A. In the example shown, the design of the object includes ten components, and thus, the ten components included in the design of the object are represented by respective layers 2702-1 to 2702-10 stacked on top of each other. Layer 2702, which corresponds to a component, begins in flow diagram 2700A at the point in time that the component is added to the design of the object.

At a given point in time, which may be considered as a vertical line drawn through stacked layers 2702-1 to 2702-10 in the illustrated example, the contribution of a particular component to the second sustainability metric 508 of the design is represented by the thickness of layer 2702 corresponding to the component included in the design of the object. For example, assume that layer 2702-5 corresponds to a fifth component included in the design of the object, and at a given point in time, the thickness of layer 2702-5 corresponds to the contribution of the fifth component to second sustainability metric 508 associated with the design of the object. Thus, if the contribution of the fifth component to the second sustainability metric 508 decreases, then the layers 2702-5 thin. Likewise, if the contribution of the fifth component in the design to the second sustainability metric 508 increases, then the layers 2702-5 thicken. By looking at flow graph 2700A, a user can determine which components included in the design of the object contributed more to second sustainability metric 508 than other components by comparing the thicknesses of layers 2702-1 through 2702-10. For example, if at a first point in time, layer 2702-5 is thicker than layer 2702-6, the user may determine that at the first point in time, the fifth component of the design contributes more to the second sustainability metric 508 than the sixth component of the design. As shown, flow diagram 2700A may be displayed alongside sustainability widget 2704A. Although the above description of flow graph 2700A is provided with respect to second sustainability metric 508, those skilled in the art will appreciate that flow graph 2700A can also display information associated with other sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object, such as first sustainability metric 504.

In some cases, when viewing flow diagram 2700A, a user may desire to view additional information associated with a contribution of a particular component to second sustainability metrics 508 associated with the design of the object. Accordingly, SI service 110 may generate and display additional information associated with contribution of constituent elements to second sustainability metric 508 in response to receiving the user request and/or detecting user interaction with flow diagram 2700A. For example, when a user interacts with a particular layer 2702 of flowsheet 2700A using cursor 404 (e.g., hovers over a portion of layer 2702, clicks on a portion of layer 2702, etc.), SI service 110 detects the user interaction and, in response, generates and displays additional information associated with the contribution of the component corresponding to layer 2702 to second sustainability metric 508.

In some implementations, the SI service 110 generates and displays additional information associated with the contribution of the component to the second sustainability metric 508 in the form of a pop-up window (such as a pop-up window similar to other pop-up windows described herein). In some implementations, the SI service 110 generates and displays additional information associated with the contribution of the component to the second sustainability metric 508 in the form of a sustainability widget (such as one of the sustainability widgets 1900B, 2000, or 2100 described herein). Fig. 27B illustrates an example flow diagram 2700B generated and displayed by SI service 110 in response to detecting a user interaction with layers 2702-5 included in flow diagram 2700A. As shown in fig. 27B, SI service 110 applies a visual effect to selected layer 2702-5 to make selected layer 2702-5 noticeable relative to other layers 2702. Further, SI service 110 generates and displays sustainability widget 2704B that provides a visual indication of the contribution of the fifth component to the first sustainability metric 504 and the second sustainability metric 508 associated with the design of the object. The sustainability widget 2704B can be generated and displayed using one or more of the techniques described above with respect to sustainability widgets 1900B, 2000, and 2100.

As described above, in some cases, to help a user better understand the change over time in sustainability metrics associated with the design of an object, SI service 110 generates a timeline view that also includes respective visual indications of the states of the design at various points in time. Thus, FIG. 28 shows an example of a flow diagram 2800 that provides a visual indication of how the state of the design of an object changes. SI service 110 generates and displays flowsheet 2800 to a user, for example, via GUI 400. Similar to flow diagram 2700A, flow diagram 2800 includes a plurality of layers 2802-1 through 2802-10 that provide respective visual indications of contributions of components included in the design of the object to sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object.

As further shown, similar to timeline view 2300, flow graph 2800 provides visual indications of how the state of the design of the object changes over time. In particular, flowsheet 2800 includes a plurality of model renderings 2804-1 through 2804-4 that provide respective visual indications of the state of the object's design at various points in time. For example, a first model rendering 2804-1 provides a visual indication of the state of the design at a first point in time, a second model rendering 2804-2 provides a visual indication of the state of the design at a second point in time, and so on. Thus, by looking at flow graph 2800, a user may better understand how the contribution of components to second sustainability metrics 508 associated with the design of an object changes over a period of time in view of the corresponding changes in the state of the design of the object represented by model renderings 2804-1 through 2804-4. Flowsheet 2800 is also shown adjacent to sustainability widget 2806.

In some cases, when a user makes a change to the design of an object, it will be helpful for the user to know the particular manner in which the sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object can be improved. For example, if a user determines that one or more sustainability metrics associated with a design of an object are unsatisfactory (e.g., too high, exceeding a goal, exceeding a design benchmark, etc.) by viewing the sustainability widget, it would be helpful for the user to learn particular changes to the one or more sustainability metrics of the design that can be made to the design.

Accordingly, SI service 110 may generate and display suggestions to the user for improving one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object. Further, as the user edits the design of the object, SI service 110 may generate and display suggestions in real-time for improving one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object. Suggestions for improving sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object can include, but are not limited to, one or more of the following: a suggestion to change a material of one or more components included in a design of an object, a suggestion to replace a first component included in a design of an object with a different component, a suggestion to change a manufacturing process used to create an object, a suggestion to change a size and/or weight of components included in an object, and/or a suggestion to make some other change to a geometry of a design of an object that improves one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design of an object.

In some implementations, the SI service 110 generates and/or displays suggestions for improving one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object in response to receiving a request from the user. In such an embodiment, using the cursor 404 and/or some other input device, the user may request that the SI service 110 provide suggestions for improving one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object. In response to receiving the user request, SI service 110 generates and displays, e.g., via GUI 400, suggestions as to how to improve one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object. In one particular example, the user requests the SI service 110 to provide a suggestion for improving a particular sustainability metric (such as the first sustainability metric 504) associated with the object. In such an example, SI service 110 generates and displays suggestions for improving a particular sustainability metric associated with the design of the object in response to receiving the user request. In another particular example, the user requests the SI service 110 to provide a suggestion for improving the contribution of a particular component included in the design of the object to a sustainability metric associated with the object (such as the first sustainability metric 504). In such an example, in response to receiving the user request, SI service 110 generates and displays a suggestion for changing the particular component to improve the contribution of the particular component to the sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object.

In some embodiments, SI service 110 generates and displays suggestions for periodically improving one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object. In some embodiments, SI service 110 generates and displays suggestions for temporarily improving one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object. In some embodiments, SI service 110 generates and displays suggestions for improving one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object in response to a trigger event, such as detecting a change in the design of the object, detecting an increase in the sustainability metric associated with the design of the object, detecting that the sustainability metric associated with the design of the object exceeds a target value of the sustainability metric and/or a design benchmark, and/or some other trigger event.

In operation, SI service 110 may generate suggestions for improving one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object in a manner similar to the manner in which SI service 110 calculates sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object. For example, as described above with respect to fig. 1-3, SI service 110 includes one or more SI analysis components 130 that determine values of one or more sustainability metrics associated with a design of an object based on design data = and one or more of design data 316, material sustainability data 318, and/or material pricing data 320 received from SI application component 125. Thus, in a similar manner, the one or more SI analysis components 130 may determine a change in the design of the object that will improve one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object based on the design data received from the SI application component 125 and one or more of the design data 316, the material sustainability data 318, and/or the material pricing data 320.

For example, the one or more SI analysis components 130 may simulate a change in the design of the object (e.g., change a material type of one or more components included in the design, change a size of one or more components included in the design, etc.) and then determine whether the simulated design change improves one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object based on the simulated change in the design of the object and one or more of the design data 316, the material sustainability data 318, and/or the material pricing data 320. When the one or more SI analysis components 130 determine that the simulated design change will improve one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object, the one or more SI analysis components 130 generate a suggestion to implement the simulated design change and transmit the suggestion to the SI application component 125, which displays the suggestion to the user. In some cases, SI service 110 requests one or more third party services 115 to generate suggestions for improving one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object. In this case, in response to receiving the suggestion from the one or more third party services 115, the SI service 110 displays the suggestion to the user.

As described above, after generating a suggestion to improve one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object, the SI service 110 displays the suggestion to the user, e.g., via the GUI 400. In some cases, displaying the suggestion includes displaying an instruction to make a change to one or more components of the design. As an example, SI service 110 may display a suggestion stating "change material X of a component to material Y. In some cases, displaying the suggestion further includes displaying details associated with implementing the effect of the suggestion. For example, the SI service may display a suggestion stating "change material X of the constituent part to material Y to reduce carbon emissions by Z%". SI service 110 may display the suggestions to the user at any suitable location within the perimeter of CAD application 105. For example, SI service 110 may display suggestions to the user near the design of the object being edited by the user (such as object 406), on or near a sustainability widget displayed to the user (such as sustainability widget 408), and/or at any other location within a GUI (such as GUI 400) of CAD application 105.

In some cases, before displaying the suggestions to the user, SI service 110 generates and displays notifications that one or more suggestions are available for improving sustainability metrics associated with the design of the object. For example, as shown in the example shown in fig. 29A, SI service 110 generates and displays a notification icon 2900 in proximity to sustainability icon 2902 to indicate to the user that one or more suggestions for improving one or more sustainability metrics associated with the design are available. To view the suggestion indicated by notification icon 2900, the user may click on and/or otherwise interact with notification icon 2900 and/or sustainability icon 2902 using cursor 404 to display the suggestion. In the example shown, notification icon 2900 indicates that two suggestions are available.

In some cases, SI service 110 displays a single suggestion at a time in response to receiving a user selection to view one or more suggestions indicated by notification icon 2900. For example, in the example shown in fig. 29B, SI service 110 displays a single suggestion 2904 to the user. In other cases, in response to receiving a user selection to view one or more suggestions indicated by notification icon 2900, SI service 110 displays a list of available suggestions to the user. For example, in the example shown in fig. 29C, SI service 110 displays suggestion list 2906 to the user.

FIG. 30 is an example flowchart of method steps for providing sustainability insight to a user of a design object, in accordance with various embodiments. Although the method steps are described with reference to the systems and processes of fig. 1-29, those of skill in the art will understand that any system configured to implement the method steps in any order falls within the scope of the present invention.

As shown, the method 3000 begins at step 3002, where a first value of a sustainability metric associated with a design of an object is determined. For example, SI service 110 determines a value of a sustainability metric (such as first sustainability metric 504) associated with an object being designed by the user in CAD application 105.

At step 3004, a visual indication of a first value of a sustainability metric associated with the design of the object is displayed. For example, the SI service 110 generates and displays a sustainability widget, such as any of the example sustainability widgets described herein, that includes a visual indication of the value of the sustainability metric. SI service 110 displays a visual indication of a first value of the sustainability metric, for example, within the perimeter of CAD application 105.

At step 3006, a target value of the sustainability metric is received. For example, SI service 110 receives target values and/or design references for sustainability metrics from users via custom window 500. In step 3008, a change in the design of the object is detected. For example, SI service 110 detects that a user has made a change to the design of an object (e.g., added a component, changed the material of a component, etc.) in CAD application 105.

In response to detecting the change in the design, at step 3010, a second value of a sustainability metric associated with the design of the object is determined. For example, SI service 110 determines an updated value of a sustainability metric associated with the design of the object in response to detecting a change in the design of the object. At step 3012, a relationship between the second value of the sustainability metric and the target value of the sustainability metric is determined. For example, SI service 110 determines, but is not limited to, one or more of: whether the second value of the sustainability metric meets the target value of the sustainability metric, an amount of progress made toward achieving the target value of the sustainability metric based on the second value of the sustainability metric, a percentage difference between the second value of the sustainability metric and the target value of the sustainability metric, and the like.

At step 3014, a visual indication of a relationship between the second value of the sustainability metric and the target value of the sustainability metric is displayed. For example, the SI service 110 generates and displays a sustainability widget, such as any of the example sustainability widgets described above with respect to the relative mode of operation of the SI service 110, including a visual indication of a second value of the sustainability metric relative to a target value of the sustainability metric and/or a design reference. Further, SI service 110 displays a visual indication of the relationship between the second value of the sustainability metric and the target value of the sustainability metric in place of the visual indication of the first value of the sustainability metric displayed at step 3004.

FIG. 31 is an example flowchart of method steps for providing sustainability insight to a user of a design object, in accordance with various embodiments. Although the method steps are described with reference to the systems and processes of fig. 1-29, those of skill in the art will understand that any system configured to implement the method steps in any order falls within the scope of the present invention.

As shown, method 3100 begins at step 3102, where a value of a sustainability metric associated with a design of an object is determined. For example, SI service 110 determines a value of a sustainability metric (such as first sustainability metric 504) associated with an object being designed by the user in CAD application 105.

At step 3104, a target value of the sustainability metric is determined. For example, SI service 110 determines the target value based on the target value and/or design reference of the sustainability metrics entered by the user via custom window 500. As described herein, the target value may be, for example, a target value of a sustainability metric associated with the design of the object that the user desires to achieve in designing the object, a percentage improvement in the sustainability metric relative to the design reference, an absolute improvement in the sustainability metric associated with the design reference, or some other target value associated with the sustainability metric.

At step 3106, an amount of progress toward achieving the target value of the sustainability metric is determined based on the value of the sustainability metric and the target value of the sustainability metric. In one example, SI service 110 determines an amount of progress toward achieving the target value of the sustainability metric based on a difference between the value of the sustainability metric and the target value of the sustainability metric. In another example, SI service 110 determines an amount of progress toward achieving the target value of the sustainability metric based on a difference between the target value of the sustainability metric and a percentage difference between the value of the sustainability metric and the design reference. For example, if it is assumed that the target value of the sustainability metric is a 10% decrease in the sustainability metric relative to the design reference, the SI service 110 determines an amount of progress toward achieving the target value of the sustainability metric based on a percentage difference between the target value of the sustainability metric and the design reference. Continuing with the example, the SI service then determines an amount of progress toward achieving a 10% reduction in the sustainability metric relative to the design benchmark based on a difference between the determined percentage difference between the value of the sustainability metric and the design benchmark and the target value reduced by 10%.

At step 3108, a visual indication of the amount of progress toward achieving the target value of the sustainability metric is displayed. For example, the SI service 110 generates and displays a sustainability widget, such as any of the example sustainability widgets described above with respect to the relative mode of operation of the SI service 110, including a visual indication of an amount of progress toward achieving a target value of the sustainability metric.

In summary, the disclosed techniques provide sustainability insight in real-time to users who are creating new object designs and/or changing existing object designs. In operation, the sustainability insight service determines a first value of a sustainability metric associated with the design of the object and displays a visual indication of the first value of the sustainability metric. In response to detecting a change in the design of the object, the sustainability insight service determines an updated value of the sustainability metric based upon the change in the design of the object. With the disclosed techniques, the sustainability insight service also determines a relationship between the updated value of the sustainability metric and the target value of the sustainability metric. The sustainability insight service then displays a visual indication of the relationship between the updated value of the sustainability metric associated with the design of the object and the target value.

1. According to some embodiments, a computer-implemented method includes: determining a first value of a sustainability metric associated with a design of an object; displaying a visual indication of the first value of the sustainability metric via a Graphical User Interface (GUI); detecting a change in the design of the object; in response to detecting the change in the design of the object, determining a second value of the sustainability metric; and displaying, via the GUI, a visual indication of the second value of the sustainability metric.

2. The method according to clause 1, further comprising: receiving a target value of the sustainability metric; and determining a relationship between the second value of the sustainability metric and the target value of the sustainability metric.

3. The method of clause 1 or clause 2, wherein displaying the visual indication of the second value of the sustainability metric further comprises displaying a visual indication of the relationship between the second value of the sustainability metric and the target value of the sustainability metric.

4. The method of any of clauses 1-3, wherein displaying the visual indication of the relationship between the second value of the sustainability metric and the target value of the sustainability metric further comprises: displaying the second value of the sustainability metric with a first type of visual indication when the second value of the sustainability metric exceeds the target value of the sustainability metric; and displaying the second value of the sustainability metric with a second type of visual indication when the second value of the sustainability metric is less than the target value of the sustainability metric.

5. The method according to any one of clauses 1 to 4, further comprising: determining a first value of a second sustainability metric associated with the design of the object, wherein the second sustainability metric is different from the sustainability metric; and displaying, via the GUI, a visual indication of the first value of the second sustainability metric and the visual indication of the first value of the sustainability metric.

6. The method according to any one of clauses 1 to 5, further comprising: in response to detecting the change in the design of the object, determining a second value of the second sustainability metric; and displaying, via the GUI, a visual indication of the second value of the second sustainability metric.

7. The method according to any one of clauses 1 to 6, further comprising: determining a contribution to the sustainability metric of a first component included in the design of the object; and displaying, via the GUI, a visual indication of the contribution of the first component to the sustainability metric.

8. The method according to any one of clauses 1 to 7, further comprising: detecting a user interaction with the visual indication of the first value of the sustainability metric; and in response to detecting the user interaction with the visual indication of the first value of the sustainability metric, displaying, via the GUI, a pop-up window including information associated with the sustainability metric.

9. The method according to any one of clauses 1 to 8, further comprising: generating a suggestion for reducing a value of the sustainability metric; and displaying the suggestion to a user via the GUI.

10. The method according to any one of clauses 1 to 9, wherein the sustainability metric is a metric selected from the group consisting of: a measure of carbon emissions associated with the design of the object, a price associated with the design of the object, recyclability of the design of the object, energy efficiency of the design of the object, and a measure of water toxicity associated with the design of the object.

11. According to some implementations, one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media include instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the steps of: determining a first value of a sustainability metric associated with a design of an object; displaying a visual indication of the first value of the sustainability metric via a Graphical User Interface (GUI); detecting a change in the design of the object; in response to detecting the change in the design of the object, determining a second value of the sustainability metric; and displaying, via the GUI, a visual indication of the second value of the sustainability metric.

12. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of clause 11, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to perform the steps of: receiving a target value of the sustainability metric; and determining a relationship between the second value of the sustainability metric and the target value of the sustainability metric.

13. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of clause 11 or clause 12, wherein displaying the visual indication of the second value of the sustainability metric further comprises displaying a visual indication of the relationship between the second value of the sustainability metric and the target value of the sustainability metric.

14. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of any one of clauses 11-13, wherein displaying the visual indication of the relationship between the second value of the sustainability metric and the target value of the sustainability metric further comprises: displaying the second value of the sustainability metric with a first type of visual indication when the second value of the sustainability metric exceeds the target value of the sustainability metric; and displaying the second value of the sustainability metric with a second type of visual indication when the second value of the sustainability metric is less than the target value of the sustainability metric.

15. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of any one of clauses 11-14, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to perform the steps of: determining a first value of a second sustainability metric associated with the design of the object, wherein the second sustainability metric is different from the sustainability metric; and displaying, via the GUI, a visual indication of the first value of the second sustainability metric and the visual indication of the first value of the sustainability metric.

16. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of any one of clauses 11-15, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to perform the steps of: in response to detecting the change in the design of the object, determining a second value of the second sustainability metric; and displaying, via the GUI, a visual indication of the second value of the second sustainability metric.

17. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of any one of clauses 11-16, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to perform the steps of: determining a contribution to the sustainability metric of a first component included in the design of the object; and displaying, via the GUI, a visual indication of the contribution of the first component to the sustainability metric.

18. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of any one of clauses 11-17, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to perform the steps of: detecting a user interaction with the visual indication of the first value of the sustainability metric; and in response to detecting the user interaction with the visual indication of the first value of the sustainability metric, displaying, via the GUI, a pop-up window including information associated with the sustainability metric.

19. According to some embodiments, a system comprises: a memory storing a sustainability insight service; and a processor coupled to the memory. The sustainability insight service, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to: determining a first value of a sustainability metric associated with a design of an object; displaying a visual indication of the first value of the sustainability metric via a Graphical User Interface (GUI); detecting a change in the design of the object; in response to detecting the change in the design of the object, determining a second value of the sustainability metric; and displaying, via the GUI, a visual indication of the second value of the sustainability metric.

20. The system of clause 19, wherein the visual indication of the first value of the sustainability metric is included in a sustainability widget displayed within a perimeter of a computer-aided design workspace via the GUI.

The description of the various embodiments has been presented for purposes of illustration, but is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the disclosed embodiments. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the described embodiments.

Aspects of embodiments of the present invention may be embodied as a system, method or computer program object. Accordingly, aspects of the disclosure may take the following form: an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment (including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may all generally be referred to herein as a "module" or "system. Furthermore, aspects of the present disclosure may take the form of a computer program object embodied in one or more computer-readable media having computer-readable program code embodied thereon.

Any combination of one or more computer readable media may be utilized. The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer-readable storage medium would include the following: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a Random Access Memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. In the context of this document, a computer readable storage medium may be any tangible medium that can contain, or store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

Aspects of the present disclosure are described above with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) and computer program objects according to embodiments of the disclosure. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, implement the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. Such a processor may be, but is not limited to, a general purpose processor, a special purpose processor, an application specific processor, or a field programmable processor.

The flowcharts and block diagrams in the figures illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementations of systems, methods and computer program objects according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. In this regard, each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portion of code, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be noted that, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may in fact be executed substantially concurrently or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based systems which perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions.

The invention has been described above with reference to specific embodiments. However, those skilled in the art will understand that various modifications and changes may be made thereto without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims. For example, and without limitation, although many of the descriptions herein refer to particular types of application data, content servers, and client devices, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the systems and techniques described herein are applicable to other types of application data, content servers, and client devices. The foregoing description and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.

Claims (20)

1. A computer-implemented method, the computer-implemented method comprising:

determining a first value of a sustainability metric associated with a design of an object;

displaying a visual indication of the first value of the sustainability metric via a Graphical User Interface (GUI);

detecting a change in the design of the object;

in response to detecting the change in the design of the object, determining a second value of the sustainability metric; and

a visual indication of the second value of the sustainability metric is displayed via the GUI.

2. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

receiving a target value of the sustainability metric; and

a relationship is determined between the second value of the sustainability metric and the target value of the sustainability metric.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein displaying the visual indication of the second value of the sustainability metric further comprises displaying a visual indication of the relationship between the second value of the sustainability metric and the target value of the sustainability metric.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein displaying the visual indication of the relationship between the second value of the sustainability metric and the target value of the sustainability metric further comprises:

Displaying the second value of the sustainability metric with a first type of visual indication when the second value of the sustainability metric exceeds the target value of the sustainability metric; and

when the second value of the sustainability metric is less than the target value of the sustainability metric, the second value of the sustainability metric is displayed in a second type of visual indication.

5. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

determining a first value of a second sustainability metric associated with the design of the object, wherein the second sustainability metric is different from the sustainability metric; and

a visual indication of the first value of the second sustainability metric and the visual indication of the first value of the sustainability metric are displayed via the GUI.

6. The method of claim 5, the method further comprising:

in response to detecting the change in the design of the object, determining a second value of the second sustainability metric; and

a visual indication of the second value of the second sustainability metric is displayed via the GUI.

7. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

determining a contribution to the sustainability metric of a first component included in the design of the object; and

a visual indication of the contribution of the first component to the sustainability metric is displayed via the GUI.

8. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

detecting a user interaction with the visual indication of the first value of the sustainability metric; and

in response to detecting the user interaction with the visual indication of the first value of the sustainability metric, a pop-up window including information associated with the sustainability metric is displayed via the GUI.

9. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

generating a suggestion for reducing a value of the sustainability metric; and

the suggestion is displayed to a user via the GUI.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the sustainability metric is a metric selected from the group consisting of: a measure of carbon emissions associated with the design of the object, a price associated with the design of the object, recyclability of the design of the object, energy efficiency of the design of the object, and a measure of water toxicity associated with the design of the object.

11. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

determining a first value of a sustainability metric associated with a design of an object;

displaying a visual indication of the first value of the sustainability metric via a Graphical User Interface (GUI);

detecting a change in the design of the object;

in response to detecting the change in the design of the object, determining a second value of the sustainability metric; and

a visual indication of the second value of the sustainability metric is displayed via the GUI.

12. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 11, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

receiving a target value of the sustainability metric; and

a relationship is determined between the second value of the sustainability metric and the target value of the sustainability metric.

13. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 12, wherein displaying the visual indication of the second value of the sustainability metric further comprises displaying a visual indication of the relationship between the second value of the sustainability metric and the target value of the sustainability metric.

14. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 13, wherein displaying the visual indication of the relationship between the second value of the sustainability metric and the target value of the sustainability metric further comprises:

displaying the second value of the sustainability metric with a first type of visual indication when the second value of the sustainability metric exceeds the target value of the sustainability metric; and

when the second value of the sustainability metric is less than the target value of the sustainability metric, the second value of the sustainability metric is displayed in a second type of visual indication.

15. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 11, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

determining a first value of a second sustainability metric associated with the design of the object, wherein the second sustainability metric is different from the sustainability metric; and

a visual indication of the first value of the second sustainability metric and the visual indication of the first value of the sustainability metric are displayed via the GUI.

16. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 15, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

in response to detecting the change in the design of the object, determining a second value of the second sustainability metric; and

a visual indication of the second value of the second sustainability metric is displayed via the GUI.

17. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 11, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

determining a contribution to the sustainability metric of a first component included in the design of the object; and

a visual indication of the contribution of the first component to the sustainability metric is displayed via the GUI.

18. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 11, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

detecting a user interaction with the visual indication of the first value of the sustainability metric; and

in response to detecting the user interaction with the visual indication of the first value of the sustainability metric, a pop-up window including information associated with the sustainability metric is displayed via the GUI.

19. A system, the system comprising:

a memory storing a sustainability insight service; and

a processor coupled to the memory, wherein the sustainability insight service, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to:

determining a first value of a sustainability metric associated with a design of an object;

displaying a visual indication of the first value of the sustainability metric via a Graphical User Interface (GUI);

detecting a change in the design of the object;

in response to detecting the change in the design of the object, determining a second value of the sustainability metric; and

a visual indication of the second value of the sustainability metric is displayed via the GUI.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the visual indication of the first value of the sustainability metric is included in a sustainability widget displayed within a perimeter of a computer-aided design workspace via the GUI.