JPH02150972A - Design procedure supporting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simplify a troublesome design supporting procedure and to make design faster by storing information necessary for the design, heading information and a determining method at every design history, and designating a parameter to be altered when the design is to be altered. CONSTITUTION:A design history storage part 25 successively stores the heading information used for the past vehicle design, and the determining method to determine the output parameter is stored into each heading information. A design knowledge group storage part 27 combines design procedure knowledge, output information, a data value, sub-information, etc., and stores the plural combinations. A knowledge control part 29 retrieves the heading information, namely the parameter name, to be design-altered from the storage part 25, when an 'input' is indicated as the determining method, the part 29 urges a user to input the information, and when 'expression' is indicated, the calculation value of the relational expression of the sub-information is made into the output parameter. The control part 29 can efficiently execute processings such as the design alteration by repeating the above processings, the respective types of the troublesome design supporting procedures are simplified, and the design can be made faster.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Object of the Invention 1 (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a design procedure support device that supports, for example, a vehicle design procedure.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, there are programs using high-level languages such as Fortran to support the design of the above-mentioned vehicles. This program is used to sequentially input data into a design concept (concept), for example, a program for starting from 0 to 400 to support the design. In the process of supporting the design, if a design change occurs during O-400 launch, the flowchart is redesigned and the so-called depacking is performed to test the execution of the program after programming. However, the series of operations from the above flowchart to depacking requires time and effort, and causes a delay in the processing time of design support.

As a countermeasure for this, a description called a frame is used to assemble heading information consisting of information necessary for design, and sub-information consisting of data values necessary to obtain this heading information, related information, relational expressions, etc. Build the vehicle design according to. This system supports vehicle design by using many of the frames mentioned above.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) Conventional devices use a large number of frames to support design, so the relationships among the frames are complicated. In particular, users with little experience in vehicle design have trouble understanding the relationships between the frames. This could have caused a delay in the time it takes to understand the relationships and support the design. Also, if a design change occurs during design support, the user must know how to use the changed data because a large number of frames are used to design the vehicle. It is difficult to understand whether the vehicle design is optimal by inputting information into the frame.For this reason, users feel troublesome to operate the design procedure, and a countermeasure has been desperately needed.

This invention has been made in view of the above, and its purpose is to reduce the complexity of operations that support various design procedures, and to provide an efficient and flexible design procedure support device. be.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problem) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides information necessary for design, data values necessary for obtaining the information, and related information, as shown in FIG. a first information storage means 1 storing a plurality of pieces of information and information including relational expressions as combinations of heading information and sub-information, respectively; a second information storage means 3 that stores the heading information used in the design and the method for determining the value of the heading information for each history of the design; When arbitrary heading information is specified among the searched heading information, a search means 5 searches for heading information from the specified heading information to the latest history and a determination method for each heading information; and a calculation means 7 for calculating a value for each piece of heading information based on a determination method for each piece of heading information.

(Function) In the design procedure support device having the above configuration, when arbitrary heading information is specified among the information necessary for design stored for each design history and the method information for determining the value of the heading information, Search for the heading information from the heading information to the latest history and the method for determining the value for each heading information. Since the value of the index information is redesigned using the determination method for each index information based on the searched index information and determination method, the complexity of operations supporting various design procedures can be reduced.

(Embodiment) Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the configuration of an embodiment of the design procedure support apparatus of the present invention.

The above-mentioned design procedure support device includes an input horn section 211 display section 23,
Design history storage unit 25. It has a design knowledge group storage section 27 and a knowledge control section 29.

The input unit 21 includes a keyboard 21 for inputting desired information necessary for design, which is output data desired by the user of the apparatus, and other information.

The display unit 23 is a display device that displays data, parameters, calculated output data, etc. that must be further input and determined by the user during the design support operation for calculating output data.

The design n history storage unit 25 stores heading information, which will be described later, used in the vehicle designs that have been designed up to now, in the order in which they were used in the design, and each heading information has a
A determination method for determining an output parameter (value of heading information) described as "pot" is stored. For example, when the determining method is "input", the output parameter is determined by the value input by the user from the input section 21, while when "5ikiJ", the knowledge control section 29
The output parameters are determined by the relational expression of kiJ.

The design knowledge group storage unit 27 stores design procedure knowledge, specifically, output information desired by the user, heading information consisting of information necessary for design, data values necessary to obtain the heading information, and related information. A plurality of combinations of sub-information consisting of information, relational expressions, etc. are stored.

The knowledge control unit 29 searches the design knowledge group storage unit 27 for heading information, which is the desired output data, design information, etc. inputted from the input unit 21, and obtains sub-information for the heading information. When the sub information has no value and is undetermined, and this undetermined sub information is information that can be input from the input section 21, control is performed to input the undetermined sub information from the input section 21. In addition, the knowledge control unit 2
9, when the acquired sub-information is unconfirmed and this unconfirmed information is not information that can be input from the input section 21, the unconfirmed sub-information is used as heading information until all of this unconfirmed sub-information is confirmed. The sub information for the heading information is stored in the design knowledge group storage unit 27. In this manner, output data for the desired heading information input from the input section 21 is obtained based on all the sub-information and the relational expression.

Further, the knowledge control unit 29 receives from the input unit 21 by the user, in addition to the heading information that has been designed so far, the heading information name, so-called parameter name, of the encroaching frame whose design is to be changed, for example. The design layer storage unit 25 is searched for the specified parameter name. When a parameter name is searched, the knowledge control unit 29 prompts the user to input the parameter name if the determination method of the searched parameter is "input", and sets the input value as a so-called output parameter. On the other hand, the decision method is
5ikiJ, the knowledge control unit 29 uses the calculated value of the relational expression of the n1 information as a so-called output parameter. .

After calculating the output parameters, the two knowledge control units redesign the parameters in the same manner as above according to the following parameter name determination method.

By repeating the above process, design changes, etc. can be performed efficiently. For details, see Japanese Patent Application No. 63-145657.

FIG. 3 shows various frames 31 consisting of combinations of heading information and sub information stored in the design knowledge group storage section 27. As shown in the figure, the heading information and the sub information related to the heading information that are combined and stored in the design knowledge group storage unit 27 are arranged in a frame (1" lam
e).

In other words, a frame is shown with "△" as design information, which is one of the vehicle performance that the user wants, for example rO-400 ■ Starting acceleration, but in this frame, the top column has a heading As information, rAJ is l” 1an
ce, and n1 information related to the heading information rAJ is shown in the column below this. This sub-information is, for example, as shown in the same figure.
(inCut) and the formula (siki).

The output (ouLput) in the sub information is the heading information rA
The output value for J and the output parameters mentioned above are shown.
In this case, for this output, [(value)
It is written as 1f-needed 5ikiJ, indicating that it is necessary to calculate the formula (5iki) when a value is required. Note that the process of evaluating something described in a mathematical formula in this way is called starting a daemon.

In addition, the input (inpLIt) in the sub information is rAJ
It describes the information that needs to be input in order to obtain the information, and this input information includes rBbJrccJ. In addition, the formula (5iki) includes a formula (b 10c) for calculating rAJ using the input j information.

In addition, the input information described in the above-mentioned frame input includes the information input from the input unit 21 and the information about this person from the design knowledge group storage unit 27 as heading information. There is information you are looking for. The input information that needs to be input from the former input section 21 is displayed to the user via the display section 23, and the user views this display and inputs data for the input information. In addition, as the latter heading information, the design knowledge group storage unit 2
The input information obtained from 7 is, for example, rbJ, "C", so-called input parameters, etc. shown in FIG.
is the information described in the frame input (input) in Fig. 3, but this input information rbJ is not input immediately from the input section 21, but as a frame as shown in Fig. 3. The information stored in the design knowledge group storage section 27 is retrieved by the knowledge control section 29.

That is, in order to obtain the output value for the heading information rAJ shown in FIG.
It is necessary to obtain information such as rBJ and "C" of be. FIG. 4 shows the hierarchical structure of such knowledge frames. In the same figure, FA
, J and K'' indicate the top level information, below which rB,
CJ indicates information such as rBJ, rCJ, etc.

1-1. It shows information below Il and tji. In such a hierarchy of information constituting a knowledge frame, each piece of information is sequentially determined according to the hierarchy.

For example, in the example of the relationship between parameters shown in FIG. 4, parameter C can be determined by determining the values of parameters E and F, and furthermore, E can be determined by determining the values of parameters ``)'' and ``2''.

Here, F, )1.1 is the lowest layer parameter which is the lowest information. E is a parameter determined by the lowest layer parameter H11, and C is also a parameter determined by E and F.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a so-called history file 33, which is a method for determining the names of parameters (heading information) used in the order of vehicle designs stored in the design history storage unit 25 and the values of the parameter names.

The parameters used in the design order are F, 1. K...C, and among these, the determining method is "input" for parameters F, 1. These are the three parameters of H. The above parameter F, 1. H is the lowest layer parameter in the parameter relationship example shown in FIG. 4, and the output parameter is determined by the value input by the user from the input unit 21. on the other hand,
The parameters E and C are determined by the relational expression described in ``5ikiJ'', which is the method for determining the input parameters of the frame.For example, the parameter E has a value when the parameters H and I are ``input''. When decided, rsiki
The output parameter is determined by J, that is, by a relational expression having a variable H1. Furthermore, when the parameter F is entered by the user from the input unit 21, the parameter F is determined, and the output parameter of the parameter C is determined by the frame "5ikiJ".The employment history file 33 is It stores parameter names and determination methods.

Here, when a design change occurs, the user can redesign by inputting the name of the parameter to be changed from the input section 21. For example, when a user specifies a parameter H stored in the design history storage section 25 from the input section 21, the user inputs change data from the input section 21. By inputting the change data, the knowledge control unit 29 changes the parameters E and C.
The design is changed by calculating according to [5ikiJ of the frame.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained in Figs. 6 and 7 (a) to ().
This will be explained using the processing flowchart of e).

First, after turning on the power to the device, the knowledge control section 29
Display processing items. If the user specifies an item for vehicle design from the processing items on the display section 23 using the input section 21 as a design concept, for example, frame i at 0-400 start, the process proceeds to step 110. On the other hand, the designer (well, among the parameters already used in the design, for example, the parameter C
If it is a return unit whose design is to be changed, the process advances to step 200. In addition, if the designer wants to redesign all the parameters from parameter I to parameter C that have already been used in the design, step 30
For example, if the value changing section changes the data of only the parameter I and redesigns only the parameters that affect this parameter I according to the history, the process advances to step 400. Further, if the designer is a history reading section that selects a history file 33, etc., the knowledge control section 29 proceeds to step 500, and if the designer is a history storage section that saves the history file 33 in the design history storage section 25, the process proceeds to step 600. In addition, history file 3
3, the user cannot select step 100 (steps 100 to 110).

Proceeding to step 110, when frame: is specified, the knowledge control unit 29 stores 0 to 400 from the setting 31 knowledge group storage unit 27.
Search for frame i at the time of departure.

When this frame i is searched, the knowledge control unit 29 checks whether there is an output value for the heading information [△] from the sub information of this frame i, and if there is an output value, outputs the output value ( Steps 110-120, 180).

When there is no output value for the above frame i, the knowledge control unit 2
Step 9 is to judge from the description of the sub-information whether or not this output value should be input by the user (step 130), and if the output value is to be input by the user, the display section 23 indicates that fact. The output value is displayed and notified to the user, and the user inputs the output value from the input unit 21 to obtain the output value (steps 140, 180).

On the other hand, if the input is not input by the user in step 130, the [output (output):
1f-needed 5ikiJ starts the daemon and calculates from 5iki, but in this case, it is first necessary to obtain each input necessary for this 5iki. Therefore, the knowledge control unit 29 searches the design knowledge group storage unit 27 for information, ie, knowledge, for each input of the sub information of the frame.

Incidentally, the relation of the frame 31 shown in FIG. 3 is turned on and recorded in the design knowledge group storage section 27 (steps 150 and 160).

As the above input (1nput), for example, rbJ,
"C" etc., each frame with each of these inputs as heading information is sequentially searched from the design knowledge group storage unit 27, and the searched frame is similarly input (input).
put), the same search process is further repeated to find the value for each input (1nput) until all the values are found (step 160).

Specifically, the case of determining the value of rBJ will be explained with reference to FIG. 3. Input of frame “Δ” in Fig. 3 (in
To find the value for rBJ which is
It is necessary to find a frame that uses BJ as heading information, but this is done by searching the design knowledge group storage section 27 in the same way as when finding the rAJ frame. On the other hand, 1
If it is written in the form f-neede (dIll-db), the knowledge control unit 29 will search from the dm-db database written below this frame.

Similarly, when all the input values for r A J in Fig. 3 are calculated, the values of all the calculated inputs are expressed by the formula (b + c ).
From this equation, the output value for rAJ is determined and output (steps 170-180).

Proceeding to step 200, the knowledge control unit 29 reads the history file 33 from the design history storage unit 25 and displays it on the display unit 23. After the display, the user specifies a parameter name used in a past design, for example, parameter I, from the input unit 21 (steps 200 to 210).

When the parameter I is specified, the knowledge control unit 29 selects the output parameters (K, C, H,
While setting the value of E) to an undetermined state,
Put n in an undetermined state. Furthermore, if the history file 33 has not been read, the knowledge control unit 29 deletes the history after the specified parameter (2) and returns to step 100 (steps 220 to 230).

Proceeding to step 300, the knowledge control unit 29 reads the history file 33 from the design history storage unit 25 and displays it on the display unit 23. The user specifies the parameter name for parametric design from the displayed history file 33. When the parameter name is specified, the knowledge control unit 29 sets the numbers of the specified parameters (K, C, H, E) in an undetermined state (steps 300 to 330).

The knowledge control unit 29 whose parameter values are in an undetermined state is
If the determination method of parameters H and I is "input", display section 2
Step 3 prompts you to enter data. Further, the knowledge control unit 29 determines that if the determination method of parameters E and F is “5ikiJ, then 5ik
After calculating and determining the output parameter C according to the description of i, the process returns to step 100 (step 340).

Proceeding to step 400, the intelligence control section 29 reads the history file 33 from the design history storage section 25 and displays it on the display section 23. After the display, the user selects the parameter name to be changed, for example, parameter I, and enters the data to be changed in the input section 2.
Enter from 1. Note that data can be input for parameters whose determination method is only "input" (step 400).
~410).

When the data to be changed is input to the parameter, the knowledge control unit 29 prompts the user to input the parameter 1 to be changed using the determination method described in the history file 33 using the data to be changed. When data is input from the designer, the knowledge control unit 29 determines the parameters H determined after parameter I.
, E, and C using the same method as the history. When the redesign is completed, the process returns to step 100 (step 420).

Proceeding to step 500, the knowledge control unit 29 reads the history file 33 from the design history storage unit 25 and displays the comment of the history file name. After the display, the user inputs the name of the history file to be read, and the knowledge control unit 29 searches the input history file from the design history storage unit 25. After the search, if the user wants to re-enter the file name, press the appropriate key and return to step 500; if to cancel, press the appropriate key and return to step 100, and the user selects the history file 3.
If selection 3 is to be executed, the process advances to step 530 (steps 500 to 520).

Proceeding to step 530, the knowledge control unit 29 controls the display unit 23
The history file 33 displayed on the screen is deleted and all parameter values are left undetermined. The knowledge control unit 29 also controls the parameters and relative of the history file 33.
on is also set in an undetermined state (step 530).

Proceeding to step 600, the knowledge control section 29 displays the display section 23.
When the user presses the continue key after displaying the item ``Design Complete'', the process returns to step 100.

On the other hand, when the user presses the end key, the knowledge control unit 29 prompts the display unit 23 to input a file name, and when the user inputs a file name, the history file 33 of the file name is stored in the design history storage unit 25. The process returns to step 100 (steps 600 to 620).

As a result, even when changing the design, by specifying the parameters that the user wants to change, it is possible to support the design without making the user feel that the operation is complicated.

This embodiment is applicable not only to vehicle design but also to support various design procedures.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, the order in which heading information that has already been designed is stored, and among the stored heading information, for example, heading information whose design is desired to be changed is specified, When data etc. are input, the design is redesigned from the heading information specified by the entered data etc. to the latest heading information, so the complexity of procedures for supporting various designs can be reduced and the design can be speeded up.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a claim correspondence diagram of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the design procedure support device of the present invention, and FIG.
4 is a diagram showing a frame, FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the relationship between parameters, FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a history file, and FIGS. 6 and 7 are flow charts showing the operation of the present invention. 1... First information storage means 3... Second information storage means 5... Search means 7... Representation means 25... Design history storage section 29... Knowledge control section 31. ...Frame 33...
History File Agent Patent Attorney Tamotsu Miyoshi No. 1 Ko No. 31

Claims (1)

[Claims] A first information storage means that stores a plurality of information necessary for design and information including data values, related information, and relational expressions necessary to obtain the information, each as a combination of heading information and sub information. and, among the plurality of heading information stored in the first information storage means, second information storing the heading information used in the design and the method for determining the value of the heading information for each history of the design. storage means and this second
When any heading information is specified among the heading information used in the design stored in the information storage means of , the heading information from the specified heading information to the latest history and the determination method for each heading information are searched. 1. A design procedure support device comprising: a search means for calculating a value for each piece of index information retrieved by the search means, using a determination method for each piece of index information.