JPH03147070A - Supporting device for design procedure - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To efficiently execute design and to alter design by deciding the values of respective pieces of information based on a restriction condition which is taken as the values of respective pieces of information in relation to respective pieces of information which are stored by means of the combination of output/input information and altering the restriction condition when the restriction condition is not satisfied. CONSTITUTION:A restriction condition storage means 3 stores information on the intensity of the restriction condition which is taken as the values of respective pieces of information in relation to respective pieces of information which are stored by the combination of output and input information in an information storage means 1. A decision means 5 decides the values of respective pieces of information based on the restriction condition stored in the restriction condition storage means 3. A restriction condition alteration means 7 alters the restriction condition when the restriction condition is not satisfied in the decision of the values of respective pieces of information by the decision means 5. Thus, design and the alteration of design can loosely and efficiently be executed if respective pieces of information cannot satisfy the restriction condition.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a design procedure device that semi-automatically supports design procedures using a computer, and more particularly relates to a design procedure device that semi-automatically supports design procedures using a computer. The present invention relates to a design procedure support device that supports design procedures.

(Prior Art) Conventional design procedure support devices using a computer generally have a procedure fixedly stored in the computer in the form of a flowchart in advance, and the design is performed or the design is changed according to this procedure. It is. Furthermore, if the design procedure changes due to a change in design philosophy, etc., it is necessary to change or add programs in response to the change in the design procedure.

In order to solve such problems, attempts have been made to realize flexible design procedures by using a knowledge engineering approach to store each piece of design procedure knowledge in the form of unit information such as a frame in a hierarchical structure. It is being done.

(Problem to be solved by the invention) In the conventional design procedure support device as described above, all parameter constraints C1l: are handled at the same level, so all parameter constraints can be determined by trial and error. As a result, there is a problem in that it is not possible to satisfy the constraints, and even if the user attempts to loosen the constraints, he or she does not know which parameters to loosen or to what degree.

The present invention has been made in view of the above, and its purpose is to provide a design procedure that sets constraints on each piece of information and supports efficient installation 1 and design changes while loosening these constraints. The goal is to provide support equipment.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above object, the design procedure support device of the present invention, as shown in FIG. The input information including the input data, related information, and relational expressions required for the above are combined as output information and input information, respectively, and the input information of each combination is composed of the output information of other combinations. an information storage means 1 that stores a plurality of combinations of information, and stores information regarding the severity of constraint conditions to be taken as the value of each information in relation to each information stored in the information storage means as a combination of output information and input information. a determining means 5 for determining the value of each piece of information based on the constraint conditions stored in the constraint storage means; If there is no constraint, constraint changing means 7 changes the constraint.
The gist is to have the following.

(Operation) The design procedure support device of the present invention stores information regarding the severity of constraints to be taken as the value of each information in relation to each information stored as a combination of output information and input information,
The value of each piece of information is determined based on this constraint, and if the constraint is not satisfied, the constraint can be changed.

(Example) Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in detail using the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a design procedure support device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The design procedure support device shown in FIG.
, a display device 13 consisting of a CRT display or the like that displays various design support information, etc., and input information consisting of knowledge about design procedures, specifically data values necessary for design, related information, relational expressions, etc., and the input information. an information storage device 15 constituting an information storage means that stores a plurality of output information such as design information extracted from the input device 11, and also stores constraint conditions for each piece of information; The information storage device 15 is searched for input information that has a combinatorial relationship with the desired information, and when the value of each information cannot satisfy the constraint conditions, the constraint conditions are loosened or changed. It is composed of a control device 17 that performs control.

FIG. 3 shows a frame consisting of a combination of output information and input information stored in the information storage device 15. As shown in the figure, the output information that is combined and stored in the information storage device 15 and the input information for the output information are shown according to a description called a frame (FralIle).

FIG. 3 shows, as an example, output information rAJ, and a plurality of input parameters B as input information for the output information A,
C and calculation procedure: A frame with A-b+c is shown. The calculation procedure =A-b+c indicates that the value a of the output parameter, which is the output information A, is calculated from the values of the input parameters B, C, and c.

Furthermore, in this A frame, as shown below in the calculation procedure, a "constraint condition group" which is a candidate group of constraint conditions for the output parameter A is [a set consisting of a constraint j and its "constraint condition level"]. It is described multiple times in the form of This constraint condition and constraint level are each ((4)1)
, ((more than 3°8) 2) ((more than 3.4) 3) are set.

Further, below the constraint group, a constraint level that must be currently observed is described, and this constraint level is set to (1). Furthermore, below this constraint condition level, the judgment of the constraint condition is described, and the judgment of this constraint condition is (NG).
It becomes.

In the present implementation ρ1, the constraint levels are the must-reach constraint (O) and the relaxable constraint (1 to 9), as shown in FIG.
9), and before constraints (100), and is further subcategorized into 101 stages (0-100).
It is classified as The must-reach constraint (0) is a constraint that must be achieved, and the relaxable constraint (1) is a constraint that must be achieved.
~99) are constraints that can be relaxed, and 1.2. ..., 99.

In the case shown in FIG. 3, the constraint level is "1", and although the constraint can be relaxed, it is the strictest constraint. In the same figure, the constraint condition of output parameter A specified as constraint level "1" is "4 or more", but the values of output parameter A are 3, 9, and the constraint is Since the condition is not satisfied, the determination of the constraint condition is rNGJ.

As explained above, the information stored in the information storage device 15 as a frame consisting of a combination of output parameters and input parameters is obtained from the input parameters and calculation procedures with which each output parameter has a combination relationship. This input parameter becomes the output parameter of a frame that forms another combination tM, and the output parameter of the other combination is also the input parameter of another combination, and so on. Each piece of information consists of a hierarchical structure. With such a configuration, the design procedure can be supported in any order, providing greater flexibility and improving efficiency.

As described above, each design parameter stored in a hierarchical structure as a frame in the information storage device 15 is calculated according to the calculation procedure described in the frame, and in this calculation process, it is necessary to satisfy the constraints of each parameter. If this is not possible, the value of each parameter can be calculated while relaxing the constraints on each parameter according to the processing flow shown in FIG.

Next, the constraint condition relaxation process will be explained with reference to the process flow shown in FIG.

In FIG. 5, the user first selects a parameter of interest (step 110), and checks whether the constraint level of that parameter is "0" or "1" or higher (step 120). If the constraint level is rOJ, 8
target, and the constraints cannot be relaxed.
Finish the process. If the constraint level is 1 or higher,
Since the target is not 8 and can be relaxed, a check is made to see if a constraint level higher than the current constraint level is previously defined as a constraint candidate to be relaxed (step 130).

If another constraint candidate to be relaxed has been defined in advance, the process proceeds to step 140, where 1 is added to the current constraint level, a new loose constraint is selected, and the parameters are output using this new constraint. The value is checked and the determination result is set as the constraint condition determination (step 150).

Further, in step 130, if another constraint to be relaxed is not defined in advance, step 16
Proceed to 0, the user decides whether to input at this moment,
If the user inputs a new constraint, 1 is added to the currently existing maximum constraint level to input a new constraint (step 17o).

Note that if the added result is 100, it is set to 1. The process then proceeds to step 150, where the output values of the parameters are similarly checked using the newly input constraint conditions, and the determination results are set as the determination of the constraint conditions.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, information regarding the severity of constraints to be taken as the value of each information in relation to each piece of information stored as a combination of output information and input information is recorded. The value of each information is determined based on this constraint condition, and if the constraint condition is not satisfied, the constraint condition can be changed, so if each information cannot satisfy the constraint condition, the value of each information can be determined. , it is possible to efficiently design and modify designs while relaxing constraints.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a claim correspondence diagram of the present invention, and Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a design procedure support device according to an embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a design procedure support device according to an embodiment of the present invention. A diagram showing a frame consisting of output information and input information, FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of classification of constraints used in the frame of FIG. 3, and FIG. 5 shows the operation of the design procedure support device of FIG. 2. It is a flowchart which shows. 11... Input device 13... Display device 15... Information storage device 17... Control device

Claims (1)

[Claims] The output information necessary for design, the input data necessary to obtain the information, related information, and input information including relational expressions are combined as output information and input information, respectively, and the input information of each combination is used as the output of other combinations. an information storage means that stores a plurality of combinations of the output information and input information constituted by information; and a value of each information in relation to each information stored in the storage means as a combination of output information and input information. a constraint storage means that stores information regarding the severity of the constraint conditions that should be used; a determination means that determines the value of each piece of information based on the constraint stored in the constraint storage means; and a value of each piece of information determined by the determination means. 1. A design procedure support device comprising: a constraint condition changing means for changing a constraint condition when the constraint condition cannot be satisfied in determining the constraint condition.