JPS6146564A - Method and device for automatically generating constitution of arrangement by size - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To not define position selecting rules individually with the LISP language or the like but generate automatically position selecting rules with easy data input by inputting answers to questions based on fundamental patterns as coordinate values. CONSTITUTION:An arrangement rule generating rule 2a is provided in a knowledge base 2, and each fundamental pattern of the rule 2a consists of an IF part and a THEN part. In case of generation of position selecting rules, questions are given to an operator on a basis of fundamental patterns 400-530, and the operator designates answers to them as coordinate values on a tablet 11 by a pen 12 to generate position selecting rules. It is discriminated whether all question items are given him or not; and if questions are left, questions are given him successively similarly, and input information of the operator to these questions are read in and are entered in fundamental patterns to generate arrangement position selecting rules. By this simple method that answers to questions based on fundamental patterns are inputted with coordinate values, position selecting rules are generated automatically.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Application of the Invention] The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for automatically creating a form arrangement configuration for automatically arranging and configuring form objects such as shape objects and figures in a specific space, and in particular to a method and apparatus for automatically arranging and configuring form objects such as shape objects and figures in a specific space. This invention relates to a rule creation method and device.

[Background of the invention]

When placing an object in a certain space, the proper placement position of the object is determined by the volume of the placed object, its position,
It is determined depending on the volume and position of things other than the arranged objects that exist in space.

Therefore, it is difficult to provide a definitive procedure in advance for selecting a location for placing an object or the like.

Conventionally, combinatorial optimization methods have been used to deal with such placement problems. When using this technique, an approach is taken in which one aspect of the placement problem, for example the placement area, is set as an objective function and this is optimized.

However, with this technique, it is difficult to handle information other than the elements considered in the objective function, such as information such as arranging a certain object so that it satisfies a certain positional relationship with respect to a reference object. Therefore, it is difficult to automatically create a layout plan similar to that designed by experts using various types of knowledge.

Recently, artificial intelligence researchers in the United States have been able to automatically place parts inside computer casings. A system named 'rRI J was developed. This system has a set of rules for determining component placement positions.
It is configured to call and use appropriate rules according to the progress of the layout plan.

However, in this system, the placement position of the object is determined in advance, and it cannot be applied when the placement position cannot be specified in advance.

For this reason, the present applicant previously proposed Japanese Patent Application No. 58-22204 entitled ``Form Arrangement Structure Automatic Creation System''.

This system maintains countermeasures for various situations that occur during the planning process as placement position selection rules consisting of a condition part and an action part, even when it is difficult to specify the placement position of the placement target etc. in advance. Then, by calling and using an appropriate rule from among the layout position selection rules depending on the situation, an appropriate layout configuration can be automatically created.

However, the above placement position selection rules need to be defined one by one by the system developer using LISP language etc.
It takes a long time to create rules for selecting placement locations.

[Purpose of the invention]

An object of the present invention is to solve the problems of the prior art as described above, and to automatically create placement position selection rules by simple data input without having to define them one by one using LISP language or the like. An object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for automatically creating a form layout and configuration.

[Summary of the invention]

In order to achieve the above object, the simple creation method of arrangement rules in the form arrangement configuration automatic creation system according to the present invention is as follows:
The position of a reference object necessary for indicating the placement position of the placement target based on a placement rule creation rule registered in advance within the system to determine the placement possible position of the placement target having a shape.

It is characterized by requesting external input for the possible placement range of the placement target and automatically creating a placement position selection rule for selecting the placement position of the placement target based on the coordinate value input in response to the request. be.

[Embodiments of the invention] Hereinafter, the configuration of the present invention will be explained in detail using an example.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an automatic configuration layout and configuration creation system to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied.

In Fig. 1, 1 is the main body of the system for automatically creating morphological layouts and configurations, and 2 is a knowledge base consisting of a collection of facts and rules. It is composed of functions to check whether the conditions are satisfied or not. 2a is 1
This is a created and stored arrangement position selection rule.

3 is a rule call control mechanism; 4 is a data structure storage unit for layout plan creation status; the rule call control mechanism 3 refers to the information content of the data structure storage unit 4 for layout plan creation status, and uses appropriate Select the appropriate rule. According to the selected rule, the contents of the layout plan creation status data structure storage unit 4 are checked and information is written to the layout plan creation status data structure storage unit 4.

Reference numeral 6 denotes a graphic display device, which outputs and displays the layout plan based on the information on the layout plan creation status data structure storage section 4 using functions in the knowledge base 2. 7 on the screen of the graphic display device 6 indicates the shape of the space in which objects are placed (in this example, the external shape of the computer room).
and 9 indicate the previously described objects (in this embodiment, a central processing unit, a magnetic tape device, etc.), and 10 indicates the possible arrangement range of the arrangement target.

11 is a tablet, 12 is a pen, and 13 is a connection for transferring information obtained from the pen 12 to the graphic display device 6.

In this embodiment, the system is implemented using the LISP language. Although the basics of the LISP language are very simple, it is highly extensible, allows for dynamic manipulation of list structures, and is easy to create programs, making it ideal for cases where it is difficult to specify the placement location of objects in advance. As such, it is suitable for creating layout position selection rules through trial and error through dialogue with the user.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the main part of the arrangement rule creation rule.

In the data structure storage unit 4 for layout plan creation status shown in FIG.
), r mondai power ikek houhou taiwa” (2)
If two pieces of information exist, YM shown in (3)
By executing the function ODI FY ((4), (5)
is a function argument) Graphic display device 6
After interacting with the operator via , data (6), (7), and (8) for calling the next rule to be executed are written into the data structure storage unit 4 for layout plan creation status.

In (3), YMODI FY has the symbol @ at the beginning, but this is a symbol for function classification and has no particular meaning.

(9) to (21) are YMODI FY functions, and (1
0).

After initializing various variables necessary for interaction with the operator in (11), acceptance of interaction human power information from the operator in (12) to (15), and necessary functions (16)
) to (21) are executed. The interactive human power information from the operator includes parallel movement of the placed object (S LI DE), movement with rotation (MOVE),
This includes editing the contents of the knowledge base 2 (EDIT).

(22) The following is an EDIT function that is executed when the operator specifies edit processing.

In the EDIT function, the operator specifies the edit mode at (24). If the operator input is E, the editing process is terminated (25), and if the input is S, the created placement position selection rule is stored in the knowledge base 2 (26), and if the input is CI or EAR. If so, the display on the screen of the graphic display device 6 is erased (27). In other cases, the name of the object to be placed by the operator (in (24), a display output of "Tai Shou Kiki" indicates that the name of the object to be placed has been recognized by the device as one of the input information. ), as shown in (28), I
Use the EDITEDIT function. The IEDITEDIT function operator creates a placement position selection rule for the placement object whose name was previously input.

Since the IEDITEDIT function is large, it will not be shown directly in the diagram, and its contents will be shown in the flowchart of FIG.

The function IEDIT copies the basic pattern of the placement rule creation rule stored in advance (301).

FIG. 4 shows the contents of the copy in record format.

Now, apart from the explanation of the flowchart of FIG. 3, FIG. 4 will be explained. This record is roughly divided into a name entry section for the object to be placed, which is the target of creating placement position selection rules;
an IF section in which constraints on the placement position of the object to be placed are written;
It consists of a THEN section that indicates the specific placement position under the constraint conditions.

410 of the IF section is a name entry section for an object This is the name entry area for the object Y that serves as a reference for the calculation. 430° and 440 are parts where information about the positional relationship of object X with respect to object Y is entered, and 4.30
The direction is written in 440, and the distance is written in 440. 450 is 4
No. 20: This is a field where the name of the object 2 is entered, which serves as a reference for defining the position of the object Y entered. 460. and 470
is a part in which information on the positional relationship of object Y with respect to object Z is entered, 460 is a direction, and 470 is a distance. Similarly, in the IF section, the positional relationships between the objects that have already been placed are entered in 480.... The above 410 to 480 entered in the IF section in this way define the positional relationship of the object W entered in the arrangement target object name entry section 400 with respect to the already arranged objects x, y, z, .

In the THEN section, possible placement positions of the object W to be placed under the conditions of the IF section are shown with the object X entered in 410 as a reference. At this time, the possible placement positions are not limited to one location, and possible placement positions are shown including alternatives. 490° 500 is a part where information on the proposed arrangement position l is entered, and 490 indicates the direction with respect to the object X.
In 500, the possible arrangement range in the direction of 490 is written. , 510 and 520 are sections in which information about the arrangement position plan 2 is entered, in which the direction with respect to the object X is entered in 510, and the possible arrangement range in the direction of 510 is entered in 520, respectively. Below, positions that can be similarly arranged are shown at 530 . . . .

FIG. 3 will be explained again.

This relates to 530 in which a question is asked to the operator based on the basic pattern of the arrangement rule creation rule as shown in FIG. The operator's input information for this question is read (303), and the read information is transferred to 400 to 5 in Fig. 4.
30 (, 304). Note that the operator answers the questions by specifying the coordinate values shown on the tablet 11 with the pen 12.

Next, it is determined whether all the questions have been completed, and if there are still questions, the questions are issued one after another in the same way, the input information from the operator is read, and the basic pattern is filled in and placed. Create selection rules (305,
302, 303, 304). When all the questions have been completed, the created placement position selection rule is stored in the knowledge base 2 (306).

In this way, the arrangement position selection rule can be automatically created by a simple method of inputting an answer to a question based on a basic pattern using coordinate values.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a placement position selection rule created by the above method.

The arrangement position selection rule shown in FIG. 5 is the content shown in FIG. 4 written in the LISP language, and is configured so that it can be used as is by the rule call control mechanism 4 shown in FIG.

501 in Figure 5. ．． Reference numerals 502 correspond to the IF section and THEN section in FIG. 4, respectively.

501, if the card reader (CR) and the console display (CD>) are arranged in a manner that satisfies the relationship described by Uhou Hidarimuki (rightward/leftward), etc., the object to be arranged under this condition is This means thinking about possible placement locations.

502 shows a proposed arrangement position under the above conditions, where the object to be arranged can be placed in the card reader (CR)'s Migina Ravi (aligned on the right), Hidarina Ravi (aligned on the left), or Hidarimuki Chikaku (aligned on the left).・Nearby) suggestions are shown for each location.

FIG. 6 shows the arrangement plan shown in FIG. 5 displayed on the graphic display 6 of FIG.

In FIG. 6, numeral 7 indicates the shape of the space in which the objects shown in FIG. 1 are arranged, that is, the outer shape of the computer room. 8.
and 9 are already placed objects in FIG. 1, specifically, 8
9 indicates a card reader (CR), and 9 indicates a console display (CR).

10a, 10b, and 10c are the arrangement plan 50 shown in FIG.
2 shows the specific positions of each.

In Figure 6, 14, 15. i6 indicates the pillar of the computer room, 1
7 indicates the entrance to the computer room. Further, the numbers shown below and to the right of the computer room 7 indicate coordinate values for indicating the positional relationship.

In this embodiment, various types of physical equipment are assumed as objects to be arranged, but it is also possible to set objects having a certain shape, such as figures, as objects to be arranged. Further, in this embodiment, an example is shown in which the configuration is mainly performed using software, but parts for which a hardware configuration is more advantageous may also be configured using hardware.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the method and device for automatically creating a form arrangement configuration of the present invention, the arrangement position selection method

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Based on a placement rule creation rule registered in advance in the system in order to determine the possible placement position of the placement target having a shape, necessary for indicating the placement position of the placement target. Automatically create placement position selection rules for requesting external input for the position of the reference object and the possible placement range of the placement target, and selecting the placement position of the placement target based on the coordinate value input in response to the request. A method for automatically creating a form layout configuration. 2. A knowledge base that stores in advance a placement rule creation rule for determining the placement possible position of a placement object having a shape, and a knowledge base that stores in advance a placement rule creation rule for determining the possible placement position of a placement object having a shape, and a knowledge base for indicating the placement position of the placement object based on the placement rule creation rule. means for requesting an external input via a display unit for inputting the position of a necessary reference object and the possible arrangement range of the arrangement target; means for inputting an answer to the request in the form of coordinate values; An apparatus for automatically creating a form layout and configuration, comprising means for automatically creating a layout position selection rule for selecting a layout position of the placement object based on coordinate values.