JPH09288690A - Cooperative design supporting system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a cooperative design supporting system capable of making respective designers able to simultaneously and parallelly advance design work for mutually related design data and updating the design data in a form according to the intention of the respective designers. SOLUTION: The design data edited in respective design devices 1 connected through a network N are respectively individually managed in local design data management parts 12, integrally managed in a shared design data management part 21 and made referrable in common in the respective design devices 1. In the case of updating the design data managed by the shared design data management part 21, the updating history is managed in a history management part 22. Then, a cooperation supporting part 23 manages the matching of the design data individually managed by the respective design devices 1 and the design data integrally managed by the shared design data management part 21, and in the case that inconsistency is generated between the design data, the design data integrally managed by the shared design data management part 21 and the design data individually managed by the respective local design data management parts 12 are returned to the point of time when consistency is attained, based on the updating history managed by the history management part 22.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a collaborative design support system for supporting a plurality of designers in parallel and simultaneously designing using a plurality of designing devices connected by a network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When a plurality of designers use a plurality of design devices (design tools) connected by a network to proceed with a design in parallel, each designer makes a new creation or correction. In order to make the edited design data (design contents) consistent with each other, it is necessary to transmit the design data edited by each design device to another design device. Conventionally, such transmission of design data is performed by a document or CA for each design phase.
Although it has been performed in the form of D data, this is not efficient, and therefore a method has been proposed in which it is automatically transmitted between design devices in parallel with the progress of design.

For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 6-176084 provides an integrated database management device for centrally managing design data used by all design tools, and allows all design tools to access the integrated database management device.
A mounting design support apparatus has been proposed which eliminates duplication of design data and eliminates inconsistency between design data.
Further, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-12354, when design data is edited by each design device, related design data on a shared database is interlocked and corrected based on a preset constraint, thereby coordinating design data. A collaborative design management network system has been proposed.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned packaging design support device, in order to prevent inconsistency between design data, the design tool is edited while design work is being performed. It was necessary to prevent the target design data from being updated by other design tools.
Therefore, while the design work is being performed by a certain design tool, it is possible to simultaneously proceed with the design in the range where the design data does not interfere with the other design tool, but the design work regarding the design data in the interfered range is interrupted. Must be,
The efficient co-design work could not be done. Further, in the above-mentioned collaborative design management network system, since automatic update processing based on constraints is performed, design data not intended by the designer is updated from another design tool and In addition to causing confusion, there is a problem in that the range of design data that does not originally overlap the data area may be modified depending on the design of the constraint.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a collaborative design support system in which each designer can simultaneously carry out design work even for mutually related design data. To do. Another object of the present invention is to provide a collaborative design support system in which design data is updated in a manner in line with the intention of each designer.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, in the collaborative design support system of the present invention, design data edited by each design device connected via a network is individually managed by each design device. At the same time, when the design data managed by the shared design data management unit is updated and the design data managed by the shared design data management unit is updated, the history history is managed by the history management unit. . The coordinating support unit manages the matching between the design data individually managed by each design device and the design data managed by the shared design data management unit. Based on the update history managed by the management unit, the design data integratedly managed by the shared design data management unit and the design data individually managed by each designing device are returned to a point where consistency can be achieved. Therefore, each designer can proceed with the design work in parallel until the inconsistency occurs in the design data related to each other.

Further, in the collaborative design support system of the present invention, the shared design data management unit assigns the update right of the design data edited by each design device for each item of the design data to the device having the update priority right and the update right. It is managed by dividing it into devices that have the right. Then, in response to the design data update request from the design apparatus, the cooperation support unit determines which of the above update rights is issued by the design apparatus that has issued the update request. While updating the design data managed by the management unit, in the case of a device having the right to update, the design managed by the shared design data management unit after the approval of the update from another design device that refers to the design data Update the data. Therefore, the device having the priority right is allowed to continue the design work immediately based on the updated design data, and the device having the priority right but the device having the right to update the relevant design The design data is updated in accordance with the person's intention.

Further, in the collaborative design support system according to the present invention, the collaborative support unit further transmits the design data to another design device that refers to the design data in response to the design data update request from the design device having the update priority. If an inquiry is made and the approval from the other design device is not obtained, the update is canceled and a message of update cancellation is notified to the design device that requested the update, and the design data to be individually managed is updated before the update. Let the contents return. Therefore, the design data is updated in accordance with the intention of each designer related to the device having the priority.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A collaborative design support system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, the collaborative design support system of this embodiment has a configuration in which a plurality of design apparatuses 1 are connected by a network N and a shared design data management apparatus 2 is connected to the network N. In the following description, when it is necessary to distinguish individual design devices 1, these design devices 1 will be referred to as design device a, design device b, design device c, ....

The design apparatus 1 is composed of a personal computer or the like in which a design tool program is installed, and manages and stores a design editing section 11 that edits design data and design data that the design apparatus 1 is in charge of editing. The local design data management unit 12 and the cooperation interface unit 13 for exchanging messages for coordinating the design data are provided. The shared design data management device 2 is composed of a personal computer or the like in which a design data management program is installed, and shares the design data sent from each design device 1 so that each design device 1 can commonly manage and store the design data. The design data management unit 21, the history management unit 22 that manages history information of update of design data managed by the shared design data management unit 21, the design data individually managed by each design device 1, and the shared design data management unit 21. And a cooperation support unit 23 that manages the matching with the design data that is integratedly managed.

In designing using the collaborative design support system having such a configuration, each designer operates each designing device 1 to perform the design work of his / her own charge, and to create a new design data or Edits design data such as changes. Then, the guarantee of the consistency between the design data edited by the design device 1 is realized by the shared design data management device 2 as follows. Each design device 1
Edits the design data, stores the design data in the local design data management unit 12, and sends an update request message including the design data from the collaboration interface unit 13 via the network N to the shared design data management device 2 Send to.

This update request message is accepted by the cooperation support unit 23 of the shared design data management device 2, and the cooperation support unit 2
3 reflects the design data included in the update request under the predetermined condition on the design data that the shared design data management unit 21 collectively manages, and the design data updated by another related design device 1 Inquire whether the update is possible by attaching. At the same time, the content of the update process based on the design data included in the update request message is recorded in the history management unit 22 as history information. Then, the other related design apparatus 1 judges whether or not the update request can be accepted in response to the inquiry about whether or not the update is possible, and if it is accepted, the local design data management unit 12 individually manages the unique design data. On the other hand, if it is not accepted, an update cancellation request message is returned to the cooperation support unit 23.

When the cooperation support section 23 receives this update cancellation request message, the shared design data management section 21 is based on the history information managed by the history management section 22.
Restores the design data that is managed and accumulated to the original, and transmits the update history message related to the cancellation together with the update cancellation message to the related design apparatus 1. Upon receiving this update cancellation message, the design apparatus 1 restores the design data managed by the local design data management unit 12 based on the update history information, and the shared design data management unit 21 manages and stores the design data. Maintain data integrity.

In this embodiment, the shared design data management unit 2 manages the design data update right, and the cooperation support unit 23 gives priority to the design device 1 that has issued the design data update request. If there is a priority right, the design data included in the update request is immediately reflected in the design data that is managed by the shared design data management unit 21 in the same manner as described above. On the other hand, if you have no priority,
When there is a response from the design device having the priority to approve the update, the design data managed by the shared design data management unit 21 is updated. As a result, it is possible to prevent chaotic design updates that ignore the design responsibility range, and improve the efficiency of design work.

Next, the collaborative design support system of this embodiment will be described more concretely by taking an electronic circuit design work as an example. In mechanical design and the like, similar collaborative design can be performed with a similar system configuration and procedure. FIG.
4 shows an example of design data managed by the local design data management unit 13 and the shared design data management unit 21, and this design data relates to an image processing circuit (design target). The image processing circuit is an image sensor, A
It is composed of four subsystems: an A / D converter, an image converter, and a video memory. Then, for example, the image conversion unit is composed of block 1, block 2, and block 3,
The block 2 is composed of a chip 1, a chip 2 and a chip 3. It should be noted that the three subsystems other than the image conversion unit are similarly configured by blocks and chips.

In the present embodiment, each component shown in FIG. 2 is called a design object, and this design object includes attributes and attribute values. The attributes include, for example, the specifications of the image conversion unit, such as cost, image conversion rate, cost, and color depth. This design object can be expressed, for example, as shown in FIG. 3, and the design object of the image conversion unit includes the name of the object “image conversion unit”,
The name of the upper object that is the higher element of the image conversion unit "image processing circuit", the name of the lower object that is the lower element of the image conversion unit "(block 1, block 2, block 3)", attribute and attribute value " (Cost 580
0, conversion rate 30, color depth 24) "are included.

Here, the set-up of the design work for the electronic circuit will be described. Usually, the design work is carried out step by step such as basic design, rough design and detailed design. At the basic design stage, the subsystem configuration of the entire system and the required specification items are determined. In the example of the image processing circuit shown in FIG. 2, the required specifications of the top-level image processing circuit are first determined and the Determine the system configuration. Next, the subsystem configuration, the block configuration that satisfies each of the specifications, and the configuration thereof are determined, and the system configuration and specifications are determined top-down. Then, at the schematic design stage, the electronic components that realize the blocks of the electronic circuit are determined,
At the detailed design stage, the connections between electronic components and the layout on the printed circuit board are determined.

By the way, the design work requires various specialized knowledge, and it is difficult for one person to perform all the designs. Therefore, a plurality of designers who are familiar with various specialized fields share the design in many cases. Even in the design of an image processing circuit, for example, in the basic design stage, the system designer mainly determines the specifications of the entire system and the outline specifications of the subsystem, and for each subsystem, a subsystem expert, that is, An image sensor expert, an A / D converter expert, an image conversion expert, etc. design the block.

When designing in such a shared range, it is usual that the ranges shared by the designers overlap each other to some extent. For example, when deciding the specifications of the image conversion unit, the system designer who has the right to decide the specifications mainly decides the specifications, but it is up to the image conversion unit expert to verify the specifications considering the circuit implementation level. Since it cannot be determined unless it is determined, the expert of the image conversion unit may change the specification. Furthermore, when performing design work, it is necessary to refer to design data outside the design range of the user. Therefore, the shared design data management unit 21 of the shared design data management device 2 stores the design data shared by the design devices a, b, and c, including the above-mentioned shared range and reference range between designers. Manage.

The sharing range and the reference range among the designers are specifically classified and managed as shown in FIG. 4, and the design objects accessible by each designer are the priority design objects from the top. , The design object in charge, and the reference design object. The priority design object is a design object to which the designer preferentially has an update right, and each design object is registered as a priority design object by any one designer. The responsible design object is a design object for which the designer has an update right as a designing scope, and the priority design object is also the responsible design object. The reference design object is a design object that the designer refers to at the time of design work, and the responsible design object is also the reference design object. That is, the responsible design object and the reference design object overlap between designers.

In the example shown in FIG. 4, the design object "image processing circuit (whole)" is registered as a design object in charge because all designers have the design update right. Also, design object "A / D converter"
Is registered as an object referred to by the system designer, the A / D converter designer, and the image processing unit designer. The local design data management unit 1 of each design device 1
In 2, the design objects (that is, the priority design object, the responsible design object, and the reference design object) up to the reference range of the designer who is using the design apparatus 1 are managed.

The shared design data management unit 21 is, for example, as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, such a sharing range and a reference range between designers are managed in association with design objects. FIG.
The example shown in is a design object for the image conversion unit. The designer "A" who accesses the design object as the priority design object is a priority update right holder, and the designer who accesses the design object is the design object in charge "( The attribute “ABC)” is held as an update right holder, and the designer “(ABCEF)” who accesses the design object as a reference design object is held as a reference person.

Further, the history management unit 22 manages history information in order to manage the history of updating the design data, and the history information is a set of history records for each update request message. As shown in FIG. 6, the history record includes an update request message identifier (message ID),
Type of update processing (command) such as change, addition, deletion, design object name of update target (object), original value of updated attribute value (old value), updated attribute value (changed value), update It contains the time (time stamp) of the request message. In the example of the history record shown in FIG. 6, the update request message with the ID “M101” is issued at the time “11905”, and the attribute “cost” of the design object “image conversion unit” is “5800” to “470”.
The change to 0 "is managed.

Next, the operation of the collaborative design support system according to this embodiment will be described. First, in a situation where no inconsistency between design data has occurred, each designer in the collaborative design support system can proceed with the design work without being aware of other designers. In the following description, the designer A uses the designing device a, the designer B uses the designing device b, and the designer C uses the designing device c to add or change design data through the design editing unit 11. Perform editing work such as deletion. For example, when the designer A edits the design data using the design device a, the edited contents are reflected in the local design data management unit 12 of the design device a and shared by the update request message from the collaboration interface unit 13. It is transmitted to the design data management device 2. After transmitting the update request message, the cooperation interface unit 13 waits for a reply message from the shared design data management device 4 indicating a temporary update completion, an update completion, an update failure, or an update cancellation.

In the shared design data management device 2 that has received the update request message, the cooperation support unit 23 analyzes the update request message, compares it with the design data stored in the shared design data management unit 21, and determines the update target. One of the following processes (1) to (3) is selected based on the right of the design apparatus (that is, the designer who uses the design apparatus) with respect to the design object. (1) When the design device has the preferential update right for the design object, the contents of the shared design data management unit 21 are updated, and the design device which refers to the design object is informed of the update processing. Send a message. In addition,
Since the design device that has issued the update request message has undergone the update processing, it is possible to continue the subsequent design work.

(2) When the design device has only the update right to the design object, an update request message is sent to the design device having the priority update right, and when the design device having the priority update right approves it. Only shared design data management unit 2
The contents of No. 1 are updated, and a message indicating that the updating process has been performed is sent to the designing device that refers to the design object. It should be noted that until the approval is obtained, the design device that has issued the message suspends the design work. (3) When the design device does not have the update right, the fact that the update is not permitted is transmitted to the design device as an update-disabled message. It should be noted that such update contents of the design data are stored in the history management unit 22 as a history record, and when a complaint is made from a design device other than the design device having the preferential update right for the update of the design data, the history management unit 22 Use the history record saved in to restore the design data to the contents before the update and prompt the redesign.

FIGS. 7 to 9 show typical message flows transmitted and received in the design data update process. FIG. 7 shows a message flow when a designer A who has a preferential update right for a certain design object updates the design data by using the design device a. It is transmitted to the shared design data management device 2 as a message. Upon receiving the update request message, the cooperation support unit 23 searches the contents of the shared design data management unit 21, and if the design apparatus a determines that it has the preferential update right for the design object to be updated, the design data is updated as it is. Then, the temporary update completion message is returned to the designing device a and the designing device a continues designing.

Further, the shared design data management device 2 uses another design device b which refers to the design object to be updated.
To send an update notification message to the design device b to make an adjustment for the update. The design device b returns an update acceptance message to the shared design data management device 2 when the adjustment for the update is completed, and the shared design data management device 2 considers that the update is completed when the update acceptance message is received. Then, the update completion message is transmitted to the design device a. That is, the update of the design data performed by the designer A having the priority update right is immediately reflected in the shared design data management unit 21, and the designer A can immediately continue the subsequent design work. However, the update in the shared design data management unit 21 is in a tentative state, and is confirmed when the confirmation of the approval of the update is obtained from another related designer.

FIG. 8 is a message flow when the designer A has only the design update right for the design object, and the design data update request message made by the designer A using the design apparatus a is a shared design. When the update request message is transmitted to the data management device 2, the update request message is transmitted to the design device b having the priority update right, and when the update accept message from the design device b is returned, the shared design data management unit 2
1 is updated. However, this update is in a tentative state, and a tentative update completion message is returned to the designing device a to allow the designing device a to continue designing.

After that, as in the case shown in FIG. 7, the shared design data management device 2 sends an update notification message to another design device c which refers to the design object to be updated, and the shared design data management device 2 When the management device 2 receives the update acceptance message from the design device c, the management device 2 considers that the update is completed, and sends the update completion message to the design device a. That is, the update of the design data performed by the designer A having the update right is reflected in the shared design data management unit 21 with the consent of the designer having the priority update right, and the designer A
Can continue the subsequent design work. However, the update in the shared design data management unit 21 is in a temporary state,
Confirm when confirmation of renewal consent is obtained from other related designers.

FIG. 9 shows a message flow when the designer A has the preferential update right to the design object, but the approval is not obtained from other designers. Also in this case, FIG. Similar to the case shown, the update process is temporarily performed. However, in this case, when the related design device b that has received the update notification message fails the adjustment and returns the update cancellation request message to the shared design data management device 2, the shared design data management device 2 receives this and receives the update cancellation request message. Perform update cancellation processing.

In this update cancellation processing, the design data held by the shared design data management unit 12 is returned to the original contents before receiving the update request message, and the update cancellation message is transmitted to the designing apparatus a. Based on this update cancellation message, the design apparatus a restores the design data held by the local design data management unit 12 to the state before the design update and redesigns. As a method of performing the adjustment work for the design update notification and the design update request,
Either the method of presenting the contents of the message to the designer and making the adjustment by the designer, or the method of providing the adjustment rule in the design apparatus and performing the automatic processing may be adopted.

Next, the processing of the cooperation support unit 23 when receiving the update request message will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. Upon receiving the update request message (step S1), the cooperation support unit 23 extracts the design object to be updated corresponding to the message from the shared design data management unit 21 (step S2). Next, it is determined whether or not there is a design device that references the design object to be updated other than the design device that issued the update request message (step S3). As a result, if there is no other design device to refer to, the design data managed by the shared design data management unit 21 is updated (step S4), and then an update completion message is sent to the design device that issued the update request message. A reply is sent and the process is terminated (step S5).

On the other hand, if there is another design device to be referred to, it is judged whether or not the design device which has issued the update request message has the priority update right for the design object to be updated (step S6), and the priority is given. When the user has the update right, the priority update process shown in FIG. 11 is executed (step S7).
If it does not have the preferential update right, it is determined whether the design device that has issued the update request message has the update right for the design object to be updated (step S
8) If the user has the update right, the non-priority update process shown in FIG. 12 is executed (step S9). Then, when the design device that has issued the update request message does not have the preferential update right or the update right for the design object to be updated, the update impossible message is returned to the design device and the process is terminated (step S10). ).

In the priority update process shown in FIG. 11, first, the shared design data management unit 2 follows the contents of the update request message.
After updating the contents of 1 (step S11), a temporary update completion message is returned to the design apparatus that has issued the update request message (step S12). Then, the update notification message is transmitted to all the design devices having the update right for the design object to be updated (step S13), and the replies from these design devices are received (step S14). Then, it is judged from these replies whether all the designing devices have approved the update (step S15). If not, the update cancellation process shown in FIG. 13 is executed (step S16) while the approval is accepted. If so, the update completion message is transmitted to the design apparatus that has issued the update request message, and the process ends (step S17).

In the non-priority update processing shown in FIG. 12, first, an update request message is transmitted to a design device having a priority update right for a design object to be updated (step S2).
1) Receive a reply to the update request message (step S22). From this reply, it is determined whether the design device having the preferential update right has consented to the update (step S23), and if not approved, the design device that has issued the update request message is sent a non-updatable message for processing. It ends (step S24). On the other hand, if the consent is obtained, the above-described priority update process (steps S11 to S11)
The same process as S17) is executed and the process ends (steps S25 to S31).

In the update canceling process shown in FIG. 13, the shared design data managing unit 2 is used by using the update history information (the set of history records shown in FIG. 6) managed by the history managing unit 22.
The processing of returning the contents of 1 and the contents of the local design data management unit 12 of the related design apparatus to the state before update without contradiction is performed. Note that FIG. 14 shows the concept of history information managed by the history management unit 22, and history records 10 for each update request from each design device 1 are accumulated and managed in time series. In the description of this update cancellation processing, it is assumed that the history record 10 that is the object of update cancellation is R, and that new history records are sequentially accumulated up to the latest r until the update cancellation processing is actually performed. To do. Then, by performing the update canceling process on the latest record r to the history record R, the process for returning to the state before the update process for the history record R is performed.

In this update cancellation process, first, the history record corresponding to the cancellation target update process is extracted from the history management unit 22 and set as the value R (step S41). Next, it is necessary to initialize the variable L representing the set of history records of the update process for performing the cancel process to an empty list (step S42) and cancel the update of the contents of the local design data management unit 12 in response to the cancel of the update. Initialize a variable T representing a set of design devices with an empty list (step S
43). Next, the latest history record with the latest time stamp is set to the value r (step S44), and first,
The update process of the shared design data management unit 21 corresponding to the latest update record r is canceled (step S45).

Next, in order to reflect this cancellation processing in the sets L and T, the canceled history record r is added to the variable L (step S46), and the design object related to the canceled history record r is referred to the variable T. A set of design device names (designer names) that are present (step S4)
7). Then, the value of the variable r is changed to the history record immediately preceding the canceled history record (step S48), and the value r and the value R are temporally compared (step S49). As a result, if the value r is newer (most recent) than the value R, there is another history record up to the history record related to the update request message to be canceled, so the above processing is repeated. (Steps S45 to S4
8) Perform update cancellation processing for these history records and add to the lists L and T.

When the value r becomes older than the value R, the update cancellation processing and addition to the lists L and T are performed for all the history records after the history record R related to the update request message to be canceled. Therefore, the update cancellation message to which the set L of history records is attached is transmitted to all the design devices included in the elements of the list variable T, and the process ends (step S50). In this way, by sending the update cancellation message together with the set of history records to all the design devices related to the update cancellation, the local design data management unit 1 is sent to the related design devices.
The contents of 2 can be returned to the state before the update without any contradiction. Note that these design apparatuses can perform efficient redesign by reusing the history record transmitted at the time of redesign.

[0041]

As described above, in the collaborative design support system according to the present invention, when a mismatch occurs between design data, the shared design data management unit is controlled based on the update history managed by the history management unit. Since the design data that is integratedly managed and the design data that is individually managed by each design device are restored to the point where they can be matched, each designer can run in parallel until the design data related to each other also becomes inconsistent. Can proceed with the design work. Further, in the collaborative design support system according to the present invention, since the update of the design data is adjusted based on the update right and the consent from each designer, it is possible to immediately continue the design work based on the updated design data. While permitting, the design data can be updated in accordance with the intention of each designer involved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a collaborative design support system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram illustrating the structure of design data.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram illustrating the contents of a design object.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of assigning update rights.

FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram exemplifying contents of design data managed by a shared design data management unit.

FIG. 6 is a conceptual diagram illustrating the contents of a history record.

FIG. 7 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a message flow.

FIG. 8 is a conceptual diagram illustrating the flow of messages.

FIG. 9 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a message flow.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing procedure of a cooperation support unit.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing procedure of priority update processing.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing procedure of non-priority update processing.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing procedure of update cancellation processing.

FIG. 14 is a conceptual diagram showing a set of history records.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, a, b, c ... Design device, 2 ... Shared design data management device, 10 ... History record, 11 ...
Design editing unit, 12 ... Local design data management unit,
13 ... Coordination interface unit, 21 ... Shared design data management unit, 22 ... History management unit, 23 ...
Cooperation support department, N ... Network,

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of design devices are connected via a network, and design data edited by each design device is individually managed by each design device, and is integratedly managed by a shared design data management unit, and each design device is managed by each design device. In the collaborative design support system that can be referred to in common, the history management unit that manages the update history of design data managed by the shared design data management unit, the design data individually managed by each design device, and the shared design data management unit Manages the consistency with the design data to be integratedly managed, and when a mismatch occurs, the design data to be integratedly managed by the shared design data management unit and each designing device are individually managed based on the update history managed by the history management unit. A collaborative design support system, comprising: a collaborative support unit that returns design data to a time point at which consistency can be obtained. 2. The collaborative design support system according to claim 1, wherein the shared design data management unit has an update right of the design data edited by each design device for each item of the design data, and a device having an update priority. , The device having the right to update is managed separately, and the cooperation support unit determines, in response to the design data update request from the design device, which one of the above-mentioned update rights is issued by the design device that issued the update request, and gives priority. In the case of a device with the right, the design data managed by the shared design data management unit is immediately updated, while in the case of the device with the right to update, approval of the update from other design devices that refer to the design data is required. A collaborative design support system characterized by updating the design data managed by the shared design data management unit after the acquisition. 3. The collaborative design support system according to claim 2, wherein the collaborative support unit sends another design device that refers to the design data in response to a design data update request from a design device having an update priority. If the approval from the other design device is not obtained, the update is canceled and a message of update cancellation is sent to the design device that requested the update, and the design data to be individually managed is updated before the update. A collaborative design support system characterized by returning to the contents of.