JPH07219989A - Retrieving device for similar design case - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a similar design case retrieving device capable of quickly retrieving a similar design case having the same design specifications while considering of design restriction/interference relation between plural specification items. CONSTITUTION:The retrieving device is provided with a request specification input means 2 for inputting a request specification for an object to be designed, a design specification judging means 3 including a knowledge base 7 storing knowledge for judging a design specification to be applied from the request specification and an inference engine 8 for judging the design specification to be applied by the base 7 based upon the request specification, a design case storing means 4 for storing a design case base storing past design cases, a similar case retrieving means 5 for retrieving the past design case having practically the same design specification as that of the design specification judged by the means 3, and a retrieved result output means 6 for outputting the contents of the past design case retrieved by the means 5.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to past design cases in which design specifications are similar in the design work of an apparatus or machine having a large number of design standards and design patterns (hereinafter, these are collectively referred to as design specifications). The present invention relates to a similar design case search device for searching and presenting.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, according to required specifications for products,
There are many devices or machines that need to be selected from a large number of design specifications and designed accordingly. For example, in the field of elevator design, it is necessary to change the design pattern etc. depending on the purpose of use and conditions of use of the elevator. In the field of automobile engine design, whether horsepower or torque is prioritized Depending on the requirements such as what is the series, V type, horizontal facing, etc.,
Different design methods may determine engine layout and cylinder dimensions.

In particular, in the field of elevator design, there are many design specifications to be applied depending on the purpose of use and environment of use of the elevator, and the similar design case retrieval apparatus, which is the technical field to which the present invention belongs, can be suitably applied. . Therefore, in the following description, a similar design case search device for an elevator will be described, but it goes without saying that it is not limited to this.

In the design of elevators, there are many kinds of devices attached to the elevators, and since these accessory devices have a relationship influencing each other in the design, there is a wide range of knowledge and knowledge to integrate these in designing. Advanced technology is required. Therefore, in actual designing, it is widely practiced to reduce the design load for a new design target by utilizing all or part of the past design cases similar to the design target.

In order to support the design work utilizing the past design examples, by inputting the required specifications of the design object from the past, a similar past design example is stored from the design case base storing the past design examples. Several similar design case search devices for searching and presenting have been proposed.

In the conventional similar design case retrieval apparatus described above, when retrieving past design cases that are similar to the design subject, the required specifications are specified for each past design case stored in the design subject and the design case base. The mainstream method is to compare the values of both of the many specification items that compose, evaluate the degree of similarity between two cases based on the total number of specification items that have the same value, and search for cases with a high degree of similarity as similar design cases. Met.

Further, a value of the degree of importance is attached according to the degree of importance of each specification item, and a method of expressing the degree of similarity by the sum of the degree of importance values, and a degree of similarity value determined by the degree of difference between the values of the specification items are used. A method has also been proposed in which the values of both specification items are compared in advance and the degree of similarity is represented by the sum of the degree of similarity values.

[0008]

However, since the above-mentioned conventional similar design case retrieval device treats each specification item constituting the required specification as an independent item, it is determined by the existence of other specification items. The design constraint / interference relationship between the specification items such that the design specification of the specification item is restricted is not considered.

Therefore, the retrieved similar design cases may not be available. In other words, although the retrieved similar design cases are in good agreement with the input required specifications in terms of the degree of coincidence and similarity of the specification items, a design constraint / interference relationship between predetermined specification items is required. In some cases, it did not present the design specifications of.

Further, in the conventional method for retrieving similar design cases, at the time of retrieving, the value of each of a large number of specification items constituting the requirement specification for the input requirement specification and each case in the design case base is calculated. Since they are compared, there is also a problem that the search takes time and the search efficiency is poor.

On the other hand, a design specification judging device has been proposed, which pays attention to a design constraint / interference relationship between specification items and judges a design specification to be applied from the input required specifications (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-128180). However, no case has been proposed so far in which this is applied to a search for similar design cases.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to solve the problems of the above-mentioned conventional similar design case retrieval apparatus and retrieve similar design cases in consideration of the design constraint / interference relation between the specification items constituting the required specifications. An object of the present invention is to provide a similar design case search device that can be performed and has high search efficiency.

[0013]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a similar design case retrieval apparatus according to claim 1 of the present application has a requirement specification input means for inputting requirement specifications for a design object, and the inputted requirement. A knowledge base in which knowledge for determining a design specification to be applied from specifications is stored in the form of a rule, and a predetermined rule is searched and executed from the knowledge base based on the input required specification, and the design specification to be applied A specification specification determining means including an inference engine for determining the requirement, a requirement specification input in the past, a design specification applied to the requirement specification, and a design result performed by applying the design specification. Design case storing means for storing a design case base storing past design cases, and past design having substantially the same design specifications as the design specifications judged by the design specification judging means A similar case retrieving means for retrieving an example from the design case the base, is characterized in that it has a search result output means for outputting the contents of the past design cases the similar case retrieval means has retrieved.

In the similar design case retrieval apparatus according to claim 2 of the present application, in the similar design case retrieval apparatus according to claim 1, the design specification as the determination result of the design specification determining means and the design case base are obtained. The similarity case storing unit stores the knowledge about the degree of similarity of the design case to the design specification, and the similar case searching unit refers to the knowledge of the similarity knowledge storing unit when searching for a similar design case. It is characterized in that a design case having the same or similar design specifications is searched as a similar design case.

Further, the similar design case retrieval apparatus according to claim 3 of the present application is the similar design case retrieval apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the requirement specifications input via the requirement specification input means are included. Required specification / design specification storage means for storing the design specifications determined by the design specification determination means, and design result input means for inputting design results designed based on the design specifications determined by the design specification determination means. ,
Required specifications and design specifications stored in the storage means,
And a case addition means for inputting the design result inputted via the design result input means and registering the design result as an additional design case in the design case base.

The similar design case retrieval apparatus according to claim 4 of the present application is the similar design case retrieval apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the design object is an elevator. .

[0017]

With the above configuration, in the similar design case retrieval apparatus according to claim 1 of the present application, the design specification determination means limits the design restrictions between the specification items with respect to the requirement specifications input by the requirement specification input means. The design specification to be applied is determined by the inference engine while referring to the knowledge rule of the knowledge base in consideration of the interference relation, and the similar case search means pays attention to the design specification and has the same design specification from the design case base. A past design case is searched as a similar design case.

As a result, design restrictions between specification items
It is possible to directly search by design specifications in consideration of interference relationships, and it is possible to present past design cases that the designer really wants to refer to by the search result output means.

Further, as described above, the similar design case retrieval apparatus according to the first aspect uses the design specification as a direct clue when retrieving a case, so that the number of data to be compared is small, and thus the efficiency is improved. A good design case search can be realized.

The similar design case retrieval device according to claim 2 is
In addition to having the function of the similar design case retrieval device according to claim 1, the similarity knowledge storage means storing the knowledge about the degree of similarity of the design specifications provides information about the degree of similarity of the design specifications at the time of retrieval. Not only the design case of the design specification but also the design case having the similar design specification can be searched.

As a result, the designer can refer to similar design contents, design patterns, etc., and can be useful for designing when there is no identical design specification.

In addition, in the similar design case retrieval device according to claim 3, in addition to the operation of the similar design case retrieval device according to claim 1 or 2, the required specification / design specification storage means is a required specification input means. And the required specifications entered via
The design specification determined by the design specification determination unit is stored, and the design result is input via the design result input unit, so that the case addition unit designs the required specification, the design specification, and the design result as an additional design case. Can be registered on a case basis. As a result, according to the present invention, the number of design case-based cases increases as the number of uses increases, and more rich design cases can be presented to the designer.

Finally, the similar case retrieval device according to claim 4 is the similar design case retrieval device according to any one of claims 1 to 3 applied to the field of elevator design, and the auxiliary device and the purpose of use are as follows. It is possible to present a similar design example suitable for required specifications in the design of an elevator in which the design specifications of many accessory devices change depending on the existence of other accessory devices and the purpose of use.

[0024]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a similar design case retrieval device according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that for the sake of concrete understanding, the following description will be given of a case where it is applied to the design of an elevator.

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a first embodiment of the similar design case retrieval apparatus according to the present invention. As shown in the figure,
The similar design case retrieval apparatus 1 of the present embodiment includes a required specification input unit 2, a design specification determination unit 3, and a design case storage unit 4.
And the similar case search means 5 and the search result output means 6.

The above-mentioned required specification input means 2 is means for inputting required values for various specification items of the elevator, and means for the user to first input the conditions for operating the apparatus when using this apparatus. Is.

The design specification judging means 3 is means for judging a design specification to be applied to the required specifications from the required specifications, and has a knowledge base 7 and an inference engine 8. The knowledge base 7 is , The knowledge that determines the design specifications from the required specifications in the elevator design is stored in the form of rules.
The inference engine 8 is configured to select and execute a rule stored in the knowledge base 7 with respect to the requirement specification input from the requirement specification input means 2. FIG. 2 shows an example of the configuration of the rules of the knowledge base 7. The specification items that are the targets of design specification determination, “automatic landing device during power failure”,
For "auto announcement", the knowledge for design specification determination is rule group R1 that determines the specification of "automatic flooring device during power failure", rule group R2 that determines the specification of "auto announcement", and so on. It is grouped and stored.

On the other hand, the design case base of the design case storage means 4 stores the required specifications and past design cases consisting of the specification judgment result and the design result. FIG. 3 shows a configuration example of the above design case base. In FIG. 3, the design case base stores a plurality of past design cases C1, C2, ..., In the past design case C1, required specifications C11, specification judgment results C12, design results C13, and past design cases are stored. The required specification C21, the specification determination result C22, and the design result C23 are attached to C2 and stored.

The similar case retrieval means 5 inputs the design specifications judged by the design specification judgment means 3, and the design specifications C13, C23 of the past design cases C1, C2, ... ... is compared, and a design case in which the design specifications match is taken out as a similar design case.

The search result output means 6 is for outputting the similar design case searched by the case search means 5. In an actual device, the search result output means 6 may have an input / output device integrated with the required specification input means 2.

The operation of the similar design case retrieval apparatus 1 having the above configuration will be described below by using an example of elevator design.

The required specification input from the required specification input means 2 is composed of a plurality of specification items, and the value requested by the customer is given to each specification item. Examples of this specification item and its required value are as follows.

Automatic flooring device during power failure: Type A Special purpose: Emergency In this example, the value of the specification item "Automatic flooring device during power failure" is "Type A" and the specification is "Special purpose". It indicates the required specifications in which the value of the item is "emergency".

With respect to such required specifications, the rule for determining the design specifications of the knowledge base 7 specifies the design contents and work instructions for realizing the customer's requirements represented by the values of the specification items. It represents knowledge about design specifications including
It consists of an if section that describes the condition items (specification items and their values) and a then section that describes the judgment results (design specifications to be applied).

An example of the rules included in the rule group R1 for determining the specifications of the "automatic flooring device during power failure" is shown below.

<Rule Name <Automatic Flooring Device No. 1
＞ if Power failure automatic landing system: Type A and Special application: Emergency then Judgment target: Automatic power failure landing system Judgment result: Non-standard design pattern 1 This rule states that "The input required specifications are" Automatic power outage " If the "landing equipment" is specified as "type A" and the "special purpose" is designated as "emergency", the design specification of the "automatic landing equipment during power failure" to be applied is "non-standard design pattern 1". It means "becomes". In this way, this rule is applied to customers who have a "special purpose" that has a design constraint / interference relationship with the "automatic flooring device during power failure" when determining the design specifications of "automatic flooring device during power failure". It should be noted that the required value of is also used as the judgment condition.

Now, when there is an input from the required specification input means 2 of the required specifications of the above example, automatic flooring device during power failure: type A special purpose: emergency, the design specification determination means 3 uses the inference engine 8 to make a knowledge base. 7 to the rule of the above example <Automatic flooring device No. 1> is selected and the judgment target: automatic flooring device during power failure judgment result: a judgment result of non-standard design pattern 1 is given.

In reality, since the customer's required specifications consist of required values for a large number of specification items, the specification determination as described above is performed for each specification item, and the request in which the set of the determination results is input. It is the judgment result for the specifications.

After the specification is determined by the design specification determination means 3 as described above, the similar case retrieval means 5 retrieves a similar design case from the design case base of the design case storage means 4 based on the determination result. . In this case, the search for similar design cases is performed exclusively based on the design specifications that are the determination results. In the above example, the determination target is the "automatic landing device during power failure", and the specification determination result is "non-standard design pattern 1". All design cases that are are searched as similar design cases.

The similar design case retrieved in this way is output by the retrieval result output means 6. here,
In the above search, in addition to searching for design cases with the same required specifications and design specifications, if the design specifications are the same, design cases with different specification items or values of specification items are also searched as similar design cases, and vice versa. It should be noted that, if the design specifications are different, the design cases in which the specification items and the values of the specification items are the same are not retrieved, which is a remarkable operation.

That is, the design cases that can be truly used by the designer have the same design specifications, whereas the conventional similar design case retrieval apparatus has a specification item, for example, "automatic landing apparatus during power failure". If they are the same, the ones with different design specifications were searched. However, the design examples of the different design specifications are often not helpful at all. On the other hand, according to the similar design case retrieval device 1 of the present embodiment,
Even if the required specifications are slightly different, the same design specifications are retrieved as similar design cases, so that the designer can use the design results or refer to them for design work.

Further, the similar design case retrieval apparatus 1 of the present embodiment
Compares the specification judgment results for the input required specifications with the specification judgment results for the design cases in the design case base, so the values of the numerous specification items that make up each required specification are calculated one by one. It is possible to perform an efficient search, as compared with the conventional similar design case search device which is searched by comparison.

Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 4 shows the configuration of a similar design case search device according to the second embodiment. Similar design case retrieval device 11 in FIG.
Is obtained by adding the similarity knowledge storage means 12 to the similar design case retrieval apparatus 1 of FIG. 1, and in the following description, the same components as those of the similar design case retrieval apparatus 1 are designated by the same reference numerals. The description is omitted.

The similarity knowledge storage means 12 stores and holds knowledge about the similarity relationship between design specifications.
It is connected to the similar case search means 5 so that the similar case search means 5 can refer to the knowledge of the degree of similarity when searching for similar design cases.

An example of the knowledge of the similarity of the design specifications stored in the similarity knowledge storage means 12 is shown below. (Similarity knowledge regarding specification determination result of automatic flooring device during power failure-1) Non-standard design pattern 1-> non-standard design pattern 2-> non-standard design pattern 3 The similarity knowledge is referred to as "automatic flooring device during power failure". The specification judgment result for the specification item is "non-standard design pattern 1".
, The design specification most similar to the design content is “non-standard design pattern 2”, and the next similar design specification is “non-standard design pattern 3”. It represents knowledge about similarities.

In the similar design case retrieving apparatus 11 of this embodiment, the similar case retrieving means 5 inputs the design specification of the judgment result of the design specification judging means 3 and while referring to the similarity of the similarity knowledge storing means 12, The past design cases stored in the design case base of the design case storage unit 4 are searched, and the design cases having the same or similar design specifications are taken out as the similar design cases.

In the case of the above (similarity knowledge about specification determination result of automatic flooring device during power failure-1), the specification determination result for the "automatic flooring device during power failure" of the input required specifications is "non-standard design pattern". 1 ”, the similar case retrieval means 5 retrieves the design case of“ non-standard design pattern 1 ”from the design case base of the design case storage means 4, but there is no design case of“ non-standard design pattern 1 ”. In this case, a design case whose specification determination result is “non-standard design pattern 2” is searched by the similarity knowledge, and when a “non-standard design pattern 2” does not exist, a design case of “non-standard design pattern 3” is searched. To do. In this case, all the design cases within the similar range defined by the setting can be searched.

According to this embodiment, even if there is no design case having the same design specification in the design case base, the design knowledge can retrieve and present the design case having the similar design specification by the similarity knowledge. Since the design can be performed with reference to, it is possible to save the labor of the design.

Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The similar design case search apparatus of this embodiment is obtained by adding a means for adding a design case to the configuration of the similar design case search apparatus 1 of FIG. 1, and in the following description, the similar design case search apparatus 1 of FIG. The same parts are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted.

As shown in FIG. 5, the similar design case retrieving apparatus 21 of the present embodiment determines the input required specifications and this required specification in addition to the configuration of the similar design case retrieving apparatus 1 of FIG. In the required specification / design specification storage means 22, the design result input means 23 for inputting a design result performed based on the determined setting specification, and the required specification / design specification storage means 22. Case adding means 2 for inputting the stored requirement specifications and design specifications and the design result input from the design result input means 23 and registering them as additional design cases in the design case base of the design case storage means 4.
It is equipped with 4.

According to the similar design case retrieval device 21,
The designer inputs the required specifications as described in the first embodiment, advances the design using the similar design case presented by the apparatus, and obtains a predetermined design result. The design specifications determined by the design specification determining means 3 are stored / held in the required specifications / design specifications storing means 22. Next, the designer inputs the design result into the design result input means 2
3, the case adding means 24 combines the input design result with the requirement specifications and the design specifications stored / held previously to design the design case storage means 4 as a new design case. Register additional cases. As a result, the experience of designing can be accumulated, and a similar design case retrieval apparatus that retrieves and presents abundant similar design cases as they are used can be obtained.

[0052]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the similar design case retrieval apparatus of the present invention, the design specification determining means applies the required specifications while considering the design constraint / interference relationship between the specification items. The design case should be determined, and the similar case search means searches the design case base of the design case storage means for a past design case having the same design specification as the above design specification,
Since the search result output means presents the searched design case to the designer, the designer can always use the design case having the same design specification as the design specification of the object to be designed, which greatly saves the design. Can be realized.

Further, in the similar design case retrieval apparatus of the present invention provided with the similarity knowledge storage means, by referring to the similarity knowledge storage means, not only design cases having the same design specification but also similar designs It is also possible to search for design cases that have specifications. By presenting the design case of the similar design specifications to the designer, even for the design object that has not been designed in the past, the design labor can be saved by referring to the similar design case. it can.

Further, according to the similar design case retrieval apparatus of the present invention provided with the required specification / design specification storage means and the design result input means, once designed, the required specification / design specification storage means and the design result input By the action of the means, it is possible to obtain a device that can accumulate design experience and present abundant design cases as it is used.

Further, in any of the similar design case retrieval devices described above, only the design specifications of the respective design cases are compared and retrieved when retrieving the past design cases, so that all the specification items of the respective design cases are compared. It is possible to provide a similar design case search device that can perform a search with higher efficiency than a conventional similar design case search device and that promptly presents a similar design case.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a similar design case search device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a knowledge base in which knowledge for determining design specifications is stored in the form of rules.

FIG. 3 is a diagram exemplifying a configuration of each design case based on a design case of a design case storage unit.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a similar design case search device according to a second exemplary embodiment of the present invention to which similarity degree knowledge is added.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a similar design case search device according to a third embodiment of the present invention having a function of additionally registering design cases.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Similar Design Case Retrieval Device 2 Required Specification Input Means 3 Design Specification Determining Means 4 Design Case Storage Means 5 Similar Case Retrieval Means 6 Search Result Output Means 7 Knowledge Base 8 Inference Engine 11 Similar Design Case Retrieval Device 12 Similarity Knowledge Storage Means 21 Similar design case search device 22 Required specification / design specification storage means 23 Design result input means 24 Case addition means

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A requirement specification input means for inputting requirement specifications for a design object, a knowledge base storing knowledge for determining design specifications to be applied from the input requirement specifications in the form of rules, and Design specification determination means including an inference engine that determines a design specification to be applied by executing a predetermined rule from the knowledge base based on the required specification, the requirement specification input in the past, and the request A design case storage unit that stores a design case base that stores a past design case including the design specification applied to the specification and the design result performed by applying the design specification, and the design specification The similar case search means for searching the design case base for past design cases having substantially the same design specifications as the design specifications judged by the judgment means, and the similar case search means for searching A similar design case retrieving apparatus comprising: a retrieval result output means for outputting the contents of past design cases. 2. A similarity knowledge storage unit that stores knowledge about a degree of similarity between a design specification as a determination result of the design specification determining unit and a design specification of each design case of the design case base, the similar case 2. The search means searches a design case having the same or similar design specifications as a similar design case by referring to the knowledge of the similarity knowledge storage means when searching for a similar design case. Similar design case search device. 3. The storage unit for storing the required specifications input through the required specification input unit and the design specifications determined by the design specification determination unit, and the design specifications determined by the design specification determination unit. A design result input means for inputting a design result designed based on the requirement specification and the design specification stored in the storage means;
3. A case addition means for inputting the design result input via the design result input means and registering the design result as an additional design case in the design case base. The similar design case search device described in. 4. The similar design case retrieval apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the design object is an elevator.