SE1551105A1

SE1551105A1 - Method and software for modifying a computer model of a floor plan of a house

Info

Publication number: SE1551105A1
Application number: SE1551105A
Authority: SE
Inventors: Andersson Ronny; Ernesto Pascal Korell Manuel; Bonev Martin
Original assignee: Achoice Ab
Priority date: 2015-08-26
Filing date: 2015-08-26
Publication date: 2017-02-27
Also published as: SE542725C2; WO2017032744A1; EP3341910A1

Abstract

The present invention relates to producing floor plans for houses, and in particular to a method for modifying a computer model of a floor plan of a house taking into account any constraints defined for individual parts of the computer model.For publication: Figure 1

Description

METHOD AND SOFTWARE FOR MODIFYING A COMPUTER MODEL OF AFLOOR PLAN OF A HOUSE Technical field The present invention relates to producing floor plans for houses, and inparticular to a method for modifying a computer model of a floor plan of ahouse taking into account any constraints defined for individual parts of thecomputer model.

Backqround of the invention Architecture design describes a knowledge-based process of defininga house solution based on individual customer preferences. Traditionally,architecture design has been organized as a recurring dialogue between thecustomer (private owner, commercial real estate owner, etc.), architect andpossibly other consultants. To ensure the feasibility of the architecture designof a building (house, warehouse, etc.), the transition from conceptual todetailed design is further supported by the advice of contactors, technicalconsultants and component vendors for e.g. walls, windows, kitchen etc. Afeasible design that meets the customer preferences can be created basedon the collaboration of the individual parties, also called domain experts, andtheir experience, i.e. knowledge base, concerning their responsibility. This isa cumbersome, expensive and time consuming process. ln order to reduce the complexity for a customer that wants to build ahouse, systems exist which provides a limited number of floor plans which allare feasible when it comes to architecture design. ln these type of systems,the customer can enter data relating to e.g. size of the building site, numberof rooms, number of floors, size of rooms etc. The system then provide afeasible design selected from the limited number of floor plans, which as faras possible meet the preferences of the customer.

US2011213593 (Wilson) describe such a rules-based computerimplemented design. However, a problem with such a system is that only alimited number of floor plans (templates) are provided. Each such templaterequires a substantial amount of work from an architect and builders, vendors etc. as described above, and the customer still can only choose between fewgeneral and fixed predefined options. ln other words, a customer can choose between either standardbuildings or a customized one done mainly manually through the traditionaldesign process.

Consequently, there is a need for a system which provides thecustomer with an increased flexibility when defining a floor plan, and whichstill ensure feasibility of the architecture design outputted by the system.

Summary of the invention ln view of the above, an objective of the invention is to solve or at leastreduce one or several of the drawbacks discussed above. Generally, theabove objective is achieved by the attached independent patent claims.

According to a first aspect, the present invention is realized by amethod for modifying a computer model of a floor plan of a house, thecomputer model comprising a plurality of individual parts arranged in ahierarchy structure, each of the plurality of individual parts comprising one ormore pieces of attribute data, each piece of attribute data relating to anattribute of the individual part, wherein at least some of the plurality ofindividual parts comprises constraints, each constraint defining possiblevalues of a corresponding piece of attribute data, wherein the plurality of individual parts comprises a first and a secondindividual part, the first individual part comprising a first attribute, and thesecond individual part comprising a second attribute, wherein the firstindividual part comprises a first constraint defining possible values of a pieceof attribute data relating to the first attribute, wherein the second individualpart comprises a second constraint defining possible values of a piece ofattribute data relating to the second attribute, the method comprises: - determining that the modification will alter a piece of attribute data towhich the first or second constraint correspond, - determining that the altered piece of attribute data will have a valuewhich is not a possible value according to the first or the second constraint, - aborting the modification. lt should be noted that the method also may comprise the steps of: - determining that the modification will alter a piece of attribute data towhich the first or second constraint correspond, 3 - determining that the altered piece of attribute data will have a valuewhich is a possible value according to both the first or the second constraint, - continuing with the modification.

Generally, in the below description, most examples and embodimentsrelate to occasions where a piece of attribute data is altered to have a valuewhich is not a possible value according to a constraint. However, theexamples should be interpreted to also include the occasions where a pieceof attribute data is altered to have a value which is a possible value accordingto all constraints, which means that the modification may not be aborted. lt should also be noted that if the altered piece of attribute data doesnot correspond to a constraint, the modification may be accepted.

The modification may be directed to the individual part comprising thefirst or second constraint, i.e. to the first or second individual part itself, or itmay be directed to another individual part of the plurality of individual parts ofthe house, wherein the modification of the other individual part indirectlycauses alteration of the piece a piece of attribute data to which the first orsecond constraint correspond.

The present invention is based upon the realization that for a floor planof a house, there exist a number of constrains that need to be complied within order to have a feasible architecture design. Such constrains may originfrom guidelines defining what “good” architecture are, e.g. a room intended tobe a bedroom should not be a long and narrow room, a room intended forlaundry should not be placed directly adjacent to a room intended to be usedas a living room, a bedroom should comprise at least one window etc. Otherexamples of such constraints comprises e.g. that the living room should beplaced towards the garden, or that there should exist a door between thekitchen and the laundry.

The constraints may also origin from regulatory demands on the floorplan of a house, e.g. that all spaces (rooms and corridors) in a house must belarge enough for a wheel chair to turn around in, regulations relating to fireescape possibilities, regulations relating to energy requirements or safetyrequirements, etc.

Moreover, the constraints may origin from a technical design point ofview, e.g. there must exist a certain distance between two windows in a wallin order to ensure that the required structural strength (e.g. bearing capacity)of the wall is not compromised. The constraints may further origin from cost demands for parts of the building, or the entire building. A constraint may alsoorigin from possible positions of the building on the construction site or plot. lt is also envisaged that the constrain may origin from a design point ofview, i.e. what type of colors that fit together, what type of bathroom furniturethat fit together etc.

By implementing such constraints where needed for individual parts ofthe computer model of the floor plan, a customer can adjust the floor planaccording to his or hers individual preferences, and still rely on the feasibilityof the architecture design of the adjusted floor plan.

By the term “computer model of a floor plan” should, in the context ofpresent specification, be understood a computer representation of the floorplan made in any suitable software, for example a Computer-aided design(CAD) software or a configuration software. The individual parts of thecomputer model are arranged in a hierarchy structure. For example, thecomputer model comprises the house which may be considered as the topnode of the hierarchy structure. The house may comprise a number ofmodules, for example a bedroom module, living room module and a kitchenmodule. Such modules may thus be child nodes of the top node. Eachmodule comprises individual rooms and further spaces such as corridors,which are child nodes of the respective module node. Each room compriseswalls; a wall may comprise a window, etc. A kitchen may comprise a stove, arefrigerator etc. ln this way, a hierarchy structure of the floor plan isorganized, which thus comprises a plurality of individual parts. ln other words,by the term “individual part” should, in the context of present specification, beunderstood any part that a floor plan may comprise, e.g. a room, a wall, atoilet, a window, an electrical plug, a radiator, a roof, a foundation etc. lt should be noted that the term “floor plan” should be interpreted asdescribing the interior layout and/or the exterior layout of a house. By layout itshould be understood relationships between rooms, spaces and otherphysical features at one level of a house. A floor plan may be a 2Drepresentation of a level of a house, or it may be a 3D representation of alevel of a house.

Each individual part has one or more attributes, and the values ofthose attributes are stored in pieces of attribute data. An attribute may be anydefinition of the individual part. For example, if the individual part is a window,then an attribute may be position of the window on a wall, height of thewindow, length of the window, color of the window frame, type of the window, vendor of the window, cost of the window, delivery time of the window, U-value of the window etc. The value of each attribute, stored in the attributedata connected to the concerned attribute, may be a point (x, y) defining aposition, and integer defining the height, an integer defining the length, a textdefining the color etc.

Each individual part may further comprise constraints defining thepossible values of a corresponding piece of attribute data. For example, if theattribute is the color of the window, the constraint of that attribute, definingpossible values of the piece of attribute data relating to the color attribute ofthe window may define a list of selectable colors, e.g. white, brown and black.lf the attribute is the length of the window, the constraint for possible valuesmay define an interval of feasible lengths of a window from an architecturepoint of view. This interval may further be mapped on available sizes of awindow for the selected vendor of the window. ln some systems, a constraint is named a rule. ln the following description of example embodiments of the inventions,a first and a second individual part are described in order to set out differentpossible embodiments, possibilities, advantages and definitions of the methodfor modifying a computer model of a floor plan of a house. Each individualpart has an attribute and a corresponding constraint defining possible valuesfor the piece of attribute data of the attribute.

So, when a user modifies computer model of a floor plan, it can bedetermined if the modification will alter a piece of attribute data to which aconstraint corresponds. lf no such piece of attribute data is altered, themodification may be performed without further considerations, or byconsidering other limitations of the individual parts of the computer model aswill be described below. However, if it is determined that the modification willalter a piece of attribute data to which a constraint correspond, it may furtherbe determined if the altered piece of attribute data will have a value which isnot a possible value according to constraint of the attribute data. lf the alteredpiece of attribute data is still having a possible value according to theconstraint of the attribute data, the modification may be performed withoutfurther considerations, or by considering other limitations of the individualparts of the computer model as will be described below. However, if it isdetermined that the altered piece of attribute data will have a value which isnot a possible value according to the constraint, the modification can be aborted. ln this way, it may be ensured that no modification is made which isnot recommended as described above.

With this invention, a user can define a feasible architecture designthrough software according to his or hers individual preferences, withouthaving any special knowledge regarding guidelines for good architecture,regulatory demands on floor plans or technical design requirements on thestructure of a house. By disallowing any adjustment that would lead tobreakage of any of the above rules/guidelines, the user can perform theseadjustments without advice from outside domain experts.

According to some embodiments, the first attribute of the first individualpart is connected to the second attribute of the second individual part suchthat altering the piece of attribute data relating to the first attribute will incuraltering of the piece of attribute data relating to the second attribute. Forexample, by modifying a size of a room, the sizes of the walls of the room arealso modified accordingly. When the size of a wall comprising a window isadjusted, so is the distance from the window to at least one corner of theroom. So when the first individual part is adjusted in any way, and it isdetermined that the modification will alter the value of the piece of attributedata relating to the first attribute, it needs to be determined if the dependentpiece of attribute data relating to the second attribute as a consequence havea value which is not a possible value according to the second constraint. lnthis case, the modification of the first individual part is aborted. By connectingattributes for different individual parts of the computer model together, thesystem of ensuring that no individual part gets a value which is not allowed issimplified and streamlined. By automatically checking each modification ofattributes during a cascading modification of attribute values againstconstraints of the modified attributes, the complexity of ensuring that norule/guideline is broken is reduced.

According to some embodiments, the first individual part is not adescendent to the second individual part in the hierarchy structure. Byallowing connections between attributes and/or constraints of individual partswhich do not directly map to the dependency of individual parts in thehierarchy structure, the flexibility of the method for modifying a computermodel of a floor plan of a house is increased. For example, the first individualpart may correspond to a first wall of a first room of the floor plan, and thesecond individual part may correspond the a second wall of a second room ofthe floor plan, wherein the first and the second room are adjacently positioned in the floor plan, wherein the first wall of the first room and the second wall ofthe second room corresponds to a shared wall between the first and thesecond room. ln this case, some modifications, e.g. of the size of the firstwall, material of the first wall etc., needs to be reflected for the second wall.For example, if the first room is a bathroom of the house which may have oneset of constraints relating to material of the walls, the size of the room etc.,while the second room is a bedroom of the house which may have anotherset of constraints relating to material of the walls, the size of the room etc., ashared wall of the two rooms must meet the constraints for both rooms. Byallowing the above described connection between attributes of individualparts, the value of attributes for e.g. the size of the bathroom may beindividually modified without risking that another part of the floor plan, e.g. theadjacent bedroom, will have attribute values (size etc.) which do not meetregulations/guidelines etc.

A further example of connected attributes/constraints betweenindividual parts not mapping to the dependency of individual parts in thehierarchy structure is a single opening in a shared wall which needs to be atthe same position in the wall no matter if the user modifies the bathroom orthe bedroom. Yet another example is the placement of a window both inrelation to the interior and the exterior of the house, i.e. the placement of thewindow of the interior wall and on the exterior wall of the house.

According to some embodiments, the piece of attribute data relating tothe second attribute is locked for modification. ln case the modification of thecomputer model is directed to the first individual part, and it is determined thatthe modification will alter the value of the piece of attribute data relating to thefirst attribute (which will incur altering of the piece of attribute data relating tothe second attribute which is locked for modification), the modification of thefirst individual part is aborted. For example, the user may be ready andsatisfied with the modification of a first room and thus wants no furthermodification of attributes of this room to take place. ln that case, the user canlock attributes of the first room, e.g. values relating to the size of the room,such that these attributes cannot be modified. ln case the user subsequentlytries to modify an attribute connected to the locked attributes, such amodification can be disallowed. By allowing such locking of an attribute of anindividual part, the user can modify other parts of the floor plan without furtherconsidering if such modification may change parts of the house which he/sheis satisfied with.

According to some embodiments, Iocking a specific individual part ofthe computer model of the floor plan may lock all individual parts beingdescendent to the specific individual part in the hierarchy structure.

According to some embodiments, the piece of attribute data of thesecond attribute is locked for modification, wherein the modification of thecomputer model is directed to the first individual part, wherein the methodfurther comprises the steps of: - determining that the modification will alter the value of the piece ofattribute data relating to the first attribute, - requesting a confirmation from a user that the modification should becompleted, - receive data indicating an answer from the user, - determining if the answer is affirmative or negative, and - if the answer is determined to be affirmative, continuing with themodification of the first individual part, - if the answer is determined to be negative, aborting the modificationof the first individual part.

Such an embodiment may advantageously give the user a greaterflexibility when it comes to Iocking attributes and adjusting connectedattributes. The user may thus override previously made decision to lockattributes and their values from editing (modification).

According to some embodiments, a constraint of an individual part maybe connected to an attribute (and its value) of another individual part. ln otherwords, the second constraint may be connected to the first attribute, such thataltering the piece of attribute data relating to the first attribute may incuraltering of the possible values of the piece of attribute data relating to thesecond attribute defined in the second constraint. For example, for securityreasons it may be required that an electrical plug of a bathroom is placed witha minimum distance to running water in the bathroom. So if a position of thesink of the bathroom is modified, this may mean that the constraints for wherethe electrical plug may be positioned in the bathroom are modified. Anotherexample is if the size of the bathroom is reduced, the constraints for the sizeof a bath tub in the bathroom may also be adjusted in order to have enoughroom for a wheel chair to turn around on the floor of the bathroom. ln this case, wherein the modification of the computer model is directedto the first individual part, the method may comprise: 9 - determining that the modification will alter the value of the piece ofattribute data relating to the first attribute, - determining that modification will alter the possible values of the pieceof attribute data relating to the second attribute as defined in the secondconstraint, - determining that the piece of attribute data relating to the secondattribute will have a value which is not a possible value according to thesecond constraint, - aborting the modification of the first individual part.

So if a constraint of a attribute is modified such that the value (piece ofattribute data) of the attribute do no longer meet the constraint, themodification of the individual part resulting in the modification of the constraintmay be aborted (which will result in that the modification of the constraint isreverted and the constraint is left as it was).

According to some embodiments, for the above situation, automaticmodification the value of the piece of attribute data relating to the secondattribute may be employed, so the modified value is a possible valueaccording to the second constraint. After such automatic modification, themodification of the first individual part may be completed.

For the above described example of the size of the bathroom and thesize of the bathtub, the size of the bathtub may be automatically adjustedwhen the size of the bathroom is adjusted such that enough space for turningaround a wheel chair in the bathroom still exists.

According to some embodiments, the first individual part correspondsto a part of the floor plan positioned on a first wall of a first room of the floorplan, wherein the second individual part corresponds to a part of the floor planpositioned on a second wall of the first room of the floor plan. For example,the first individual part may correspond to a first window positioned on the firstwall, and the second individual part may correspond to a second windowpositioned on the second wall, wherein the first attribute relates to the positionof the first window on the first wall, and wherein the second attribute relates tothe position of the window on the second wall. ln order to meet requirement ofstructural strength of the walls of the room, a certain distance betweenwindows may be required. Such distance may span over a corner of thehouse. ln this case, modification of the first window towards the cornerbetween the first and the second wall may result in that the possible positions of the second window of the second wall are modified so that the minimumdistance to the corner from the second window is increased. ln a second aspect, the present invention provides a computerprogram product comprising a computer-readable storage medium withinstructions adapted to carry out the method of the first aspect when executedby a device having processing capability.

The computer program product may output any of: CAD models of thefloor plan, building permit documents for the floor plan, cost estimation forbuilding the house, lead time for building the house, construction instructionsfor building the house, building code requirements such as energyperformance, construction design etc.

The computer program product may be implemented as a part ofexisting drawing software such as any CAD software, or it may be anindependently developed computer program product.

The second aspect may generally have the same features andadvantages as the first aspect.

Brief description of the drawinqs The above, as well as additional objects, features and advantages ofthe present invention, will be better understood through the followingillustrative and non-limiting detailed description of embodiments of the presentinvention, with reference to the appended drawings, where the samereference numerals will be used for similar elements, wherein: figure 1 shows by way of example a floor plan according toembodiments, figure 2 shows by way of example how individual parts of the floor plancan be locked for modification, figure 3 shows by way of example a floor plan according toembodiments.

Detailed description of embodiments Some embodiments according to the present invention will now bedescribed in conjunction with the schematic floor plan 100 shown in figure 1.The floor plan 100 shows a part of house 102 which comprises two rooms104, 106 and a corridor 108. The first room is a bedroom 104, and the secondroom is a bathroom 106. ln this example, the hierarchy structure of thecomputer model of the floor plan 100 comprises a top node which is the 11 house 102 in itself. The top node is connected to three child nodes, which arethe two rooms 104, 106 and the corridor 108. The bedroom 110 has a childnode which is the wall 110, and the bathroom has a child node which is thewall 112. The rooms 104, 106 and the corridor 108 each have further childnodes such as other walls, windows etc. but these will not be describedfurther in this example. The computer model thus comprises six individualparts, a house 102, a bedroom 104 having a wall 110, a bathroom 106 havinga wall 112 and a corridor 108. The house 102, the rooms 102, 104 and thecorridor 108 each has an attribute 122, 124, 132, 134 describing the length ofthe respective individual part, and an attribute 120, 126, 128, 130 describingthe width of the respective individual part. Other attributes exist but are notfurther described here. The value of an attribute is described in a piece ofattribute data, each of the individual parts 102, 104, 106, 108 comprisingpieces of attribute data. ln this example, the house 102, the bedroom 104 andthe bathroom 106 comprises constraints relating to the width 120, 126, 128,and length 122, 124, 134 of the individual part while the corridor onlycomprises a constraint relating to the width 132 of the corridor. Theconstraints may have different origins and reasons. For example, since thebedroom 104 in this example is a master bedroom of the house 102, thebedroom 104 should, according to guidelines defining what “good”architecture look like, be larger than e.g. 400*400 cm (width*length) in orderto accommodate a king size bed. The bathroom 106 may have similarconstraints, but here the minimum size may be 300*300 cm. The corridor 108may have a constraint describing possible values of the width 128 of thecorridor in order to be adapted to disabled persons, which for example canmeans that the width 128 may not fall below 100 cm. Moreover, the part ofthe house 102 cannot be larger than 750*800 cm in order to fit on theavailable building site area. These constraints are merely by way of exampleand other constraints relating to the size are equally possible.

The wall 110 and the wall 112 comprise an attribute 136, 138 each,which describe a position of the wall in the house. The walls 110, 112 eachcomprises a constraint for this point 136, 138 which relate to the sizes of therooms 104, 106 respectively.

This floor plan 100 is presented, in software, to a user who is planningon building a house. The user wants to make some modifications of the floorplan and starts by reducing the width 128 of the corridor 108 from the currentwidth of 125 cm. The modification will thus alter a piece of attribute data 12 having a constraint. The user reduces the width 128 of the corridor to 75 cm,and the software thus, after determining that that the altered piece of attributedata will have a value which is not a possible value according to theconstraint of the width 128 of the corridor 108, will abort the modification. Theuser may according to some embodiments be notified about the reason towhy the modification was not completed. The width 128 of the corridor 108may be kept as it was before the modification started i.e. 125 cm, or the width128 may be modified to the minimum value of the constraint i.e. 100 cm.

Next, the user wants to enlarge the bedroom length 122. The user thusmoves the left wall of the bedroom 104 such that the length 122 is increasedfrom 500 to 600 cm. This size is within the range of possible values accordingto the constraint of the length 122 of the bedroom 104. However, the lengthattribute 122 of the bedroom 104 is connected to the length attribute 134 ofthe house 102 such that altering the piece of attribute data relating to thelength 122 of the bedroom 104 will incur altering of the piece of attribute datarelating to the length 134 of the house 102. So even if the modification of thecomputer module is directed to the bedroom 104, the software may, afterdetermining that the modification will alter the value of the piece of attributedata relating to length 122 of the bedroom 104, determine that the piece ofattribute data relating to the length 134 of the house 102 will have a value(e.g. 820 cm) which is not a possible value according to the constraint of thelength 134 of the house 102 and thus abort the modification of the size of thebedroom. The user may be notified as described above, and the size of thebedroom104 may be kept as it was, or it may be modified such that the length134 of the house 102 still meets the constraint.

The user may want to modify the ratio between the size of the bedroom104 and the bathroom 106. This may be done by moving the walls 110, 112 inthe floor plan 100. ln this case, a first individual part corresponds to the wall110 of the bedroom 104 of the floor plan 100, and a second individual partcorrespond the wall 112 of the bedroom 106 of the floor plan 100, wherein thebedroom 104 and the bathroom 106 are adjacently positioned in the floor plan100, wherein the wall 110 of the bedroom 104 and the wall 112 of thebathroom 106 corresponds to a shared wall between the rooms 104, 106. Anfirst attribute 136 of the position of the wall 110 is connected to a secondattribute 138 of the wall 112 part such that altering the piece of attribute datarelating to the first attribute 136 will incur altering of the piece of attribute datarelating to the second attribute 138. However, when the user moves the wall, 13 the software checks so none of the rooms 104, 106 will have sizes that fallbelow the constraints relating to length 122, 124 of the rooms describedabove. ln case this happens, the modification of the wall 110 (or wall 112) willbe aborted.

According to some embodiments, the attribute with constraints mayrelate to a single opening 138 in the shared wall 110, 112. The opening ofe.g. the wall 110 must correspond to the opening of the other wall 112.

The software may comprise possibilities to lock individual parts of thefloor plan for modification. Figure 2 describe by way of example such scenariofor the floor plan 100 of figure 1. Consequently, the first attribute 136 of theposition of the wall 110 is connected to the second attribute 138 of the wall112 part such that altering the piece of attribute data relating to the firstattribute 136 will incur altering of the piece of attribute data relating to thesecond attribute 138. However, in this scenario, the user has previouslylocked the position 138 of the wall 112 (symbolized by the locking symbol202). ln other words, the piece of attribute data (value for the position 138 ofthe wall 112) relating to the second attribute (position 138 of the wall 112) islocked for modification. When the user subsequently tries to modify the wall110 of the bedroom 104 by e.g. moving it, the software thus will determinethat the modification will alter the value of the piece of attribute data relatingto the first attribute 136 of the wall 110 (which will incur altering of the piece ofattribute data relating to the second attribute 138 of the wall 112), and thusabort the modification of the wall 110. According to some embodiments, theuser may be able to lock the entire bathroom 106 (symbolized by the lockingsymbol 204) which in turn will lock all individual parts of the floor plan 100being decedents to the node of the bathroom 106 in the hierarchy structure ofthe computer model. ln this case, also the attribute 138 of the wall 112 will belocked and the same procedure as described above may take place.

According to some embodiments, when the user tries to, indirectly ordirectly, modify parts of the floor plan 100 which are locked for modification,the software may request a confirmation from a user that the modificationshould be completed. So, for the example of figure 2, if the user tries to movethe wall 110 of the bedroom 104 (which indirectly will modify the lockedattribute 138 of the wall 112), the software may request a confirmationregarding if the modification should be completed or not. When the useranswers, the software will continue with the modification of the wall 110 if the 14 answer is affirmative, and abort with the modification of the wall 110 if theanswer is negative.

Figure 3 shows the bedroom 104 and the bathroom 106 of the floorplan 100 of figure 1. According to some embodiments, the method formodifying a computer model of a floor plan of a house, and the softwareimplementing the method, may comprise connections between a constraint(relating to a first attribute) and a second attribute for which the constraint donot define possible values of a piece of attribute data. According to theseembodiments, altering the piece of attribute data relating to the first attributemay incur altering of the possible values of the piece of attribute data relatingto the second attribute defined in the second constraint. ln figure 3, the bedroom 104 comprises three windows 308, 310, 312(being individual parts of the computer model). Each of the windows 308, 310,312 comprises an attribute 302, 304, 306 which relate to a distance from arespective window 308, 310, 312 to the top left corner of the bedroom 104.The rightmost window 312 of the bedroom 104 further comprises an attribute305 which relate to a distance from the window 312 to the top right corner ofthe bedroom 104. The bathroom 106 comprises a window 314 which has anattribute which relate to a distance from the window 314 to the top left cornerof the bathroom 106. As described above, in order to meet requirement ofstructural strength of the walls of the rooms 104, 106, a certain distancebetween windows may be required. Such distance may span over a cornerbetween two walls e.g. a distance between the window 308 of the left wall ofthe bedroom 104 and the left window 310 of the top wall 316 of the bedroom.Such distance may also span over a single wall, e.g. a distance between theleft 310 and the right 312 window of the top wall 316 of the bedroom 104.Such distance may further span over two walls, one in the bedroom 104 andone in the bathroom 106. Since the two rooms 104, 106 are adjacentlypositioned in the floor plan; such two walls form a straight single wall, e.g. thetop wall 316 of the bedroom 104 in the floor plan 100 and the top wall 318 ofthe bathroom 106 in the floor plan 100.

For example, if the user modifies the floor plan 100 by moving thewindow 310 to the right, the distance between the two top windows 310, 312of the bedroom 104 is reduced. The constraint of far from the top left corner ofthe bedroom the window 312 must be positioned, i.e. the constraint definingpossible values of piece of attribute data relating to the attribute 306, isamong other things based on the required distance between the windows 310, 312. This means that when user modifies the floor plan 100 by movingthe left window 310 to the right, this may incur altering of the possible valuesof the piece of attribute data relating to the attribute 306 defined in theconstraint of the right window 312 such that the constraint only define suchpossible values that ensures the required minimum distance between the twowindows 310, 312. So, when the modification of the computer model isdirected to the window 310, the software performs the following checks. First,it determines that the modification will alter the value of the piece of attributedata relating to the first attribute 304. lf this is true, it is then determined if thatmodification will alter the possible values of the piece of attribute data relatingto the second attribute 306 as defined in the constraint of the window 312. lfsuch possible values are altered, it is then determined if the piece of attributedata relating to the second attribute 306 will have a value which is not apossible value according to the second constraint, i.e. if the right window 312is too far to the left in order to have a required minimum distance to the leftwindow 310. lf this is true, the modification of the window 310 may beaborted. According to some embodiments, instead of aborting themodification of the left window 310, the software may automatically modify thevalue of the piece of attribute data relating to the second attribute 306 so themodified value is a possible value according to the second constraint, i.e. thesoftware may automatically move the right window 312 a bit to the right suchthat a required minimum distance to the left window 310 is kept.Modifications of the other windows of figure 3 may be handled in a similar way. For example, the first individual part may correspond to a firstwindow 308 positioned on a first wall of the bedroom 104, and the secondindividual part may correspond to a second window 310 positioned on thesecond wall 316, wherein the first attribute 302 relates to the position of thefirst window 308 on the first wall, and wherein the second attribute 304 relatesto the position of the second window 310 on the second wall 316. ln order tokeep a required minimum distance between the windows 308, 310, movingthe vertically placed window 308 of the floor plan 100 upwards may result inaltering of the possible values of the piece of attribute data relating to thesecond attribute 304 (e.g. position on the wall, distance to the top left corneretc.) defined in the constraint of the horizontally placed window 304. ln casethe horizontally placed window 310 is positioned to far to the left to meet thealtered constraint, the modification of the vertically placed window 308 in thefloor plan 100 may be aborted, or the distance 304 to the top left corner from 16 the horizontally placed window 310 in the floor plan 100 may be automaticallyadjusted to meet the altered constraint.

A further example is if the user wants to modify the right most window312 of the bedroom 104 by moving the window 312 to the right. ln order tokeep a required minimum distance between the moved window 312 and thewindow 314 of the bathroom, such modification may be aborted or thewindow 314 of the bathroom may be automatically moved to the right asdescribed above.

As described above, constraints may relate to energy consumptionrequirements of the house 102, wherein the energy consumption being anattribute of the house 102 having a constraint. For example, if the user wantsto modify a size of a window 310, 312, 314, the software may be arranged tocheck if the new window size will alter the piece of attribute data relating tothe energy consumption attribute of the house such that altered piece ofattribute data will have a value which is not a possible value according to theenergy consumption constraint of the house, and in that case abort themodification of the size of the window 310, 312, 314.

Other examples of connection of constraints and attributes exist. Forexample, if the type (being an attribute) of a wall is changed from an outerwall to an inner wall, this may change the selectable materials (anotherattribute) for the wall according to a constraint of the wall relating to theselectable materials of the wall.

Further, it should be noted that the described structure of the floor planand the individual parts of the floor plan, the structure being object-based,with classes and parts representing objects, expressed through attributes,attribute data and constraints, facilitate reuse of specific parts, rooms,modules etc. across different floor plans since the already defined constraints,attributes and attribute data can be copied to the new floor plan. Eachindividual part may inherit the characteristics of a generic class of theindividual part (window, wall etc) through the attribute and attribute data,which are specific for the specific generic class. And when for example avendor of an inner wall is selected, attribute data such as a particularthickness, lead time, cost, price and U-value may be used for the wall.Consequently specific individual parts from different vendors differ in theirparticular attribute data, whereas the attribute remain the same.

Moreover, by including a cost attribute for each individual part of thefloor plan, wherein the piece of attribute data for the cost attribute is 17 automatically updated if the material, size, vendor/manufacturer etc. of theindividual part is modified, the present structure of the software for modifyinga computer model of a floor plan can be used for always presenting anupdated price for the floor plan when a modification is performed. lf a leadtime attribute is included for each individual part whose corresponding pieceof attribute data is updated when something is modified for the individual part,the present structure of the software for modifying a computer model of a floorplan can be used for always presenting an updated lead time for the floor planwhen a modification is performed.

The present invention can also be used for immediately creating abuilding permit application, since the constraint based approach may ensurethat the floor plan has a feasible architecture design.

The present disclosure contemplates methods and program productson any machine-readable media for accomplishing various operations. Theembodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented using existingcomputer processors, or by a special purpose computer processor for anappropriate system, incorporated for this or another purpose, or by ahardwired system. Embodiments within the scope of the present disclosureinclude program products comprising machine-readable media for carrying orhaving machine-executable instructions or data structures stored thereon.Such machine-readable media can be any available media that can beaccessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer or othermachine with a processor. By way of example, such machine-readable mediacan comprise RAM, ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical diskstorage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or anyother medium which can be used to carry or store desired program code inthe form of machine-executable instructions or data structures and which canbe accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer or othermachine with a processor.

When information is transferred or provided over a network or anothercommunications connection (either hardwired, wireless, or a combination ofhardwired or wireless) to a machine, the machine properly views theconnection as a machine-readable medium. Thus, any such connection isproperly termed a machine-readable medium. Combinations of the above arealso included within the scope of machine-readable media. Machine-executable instructions include, for example, instructions and data whichcause a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or special 18 purpose processing machines to perform a certain function or group offunctions.

Claims

1. A method for modifying a computer model of a floor plan (100) of ahouse (102), the computer model comprising a plurality of individual parts(102, 104, 106, 108, 110, 112, 308, 310, 312, 314) arranged in a hierarchystructure, each of the plurality of individual parts comprising one or morepieces of attribute data, each piece of attribute data relating to an attribute(120, 122,124, 126, 128,130, 132,134, 136, 138, 302, 304, 305, 306, 307)of the individual part, wherein at least some of the plurality of individual partscomprises constraints, each constraint defining possible values of acorresponding piece of attribute data, wherein the plurality of individual parts comprises a first and a secondindividual part, the first individual part comprising a first attribute, and thesecond individual part comprising a second attribute, wherein the firstindividual part comprises a first constraint defining possible values of a pieceof attribute data relating to the first attribute, wherein the second individualpart comprises a second constraint defining possible values of a piece ofattribute data relating to the second attribute, the method comprises: - determining that the modification will alter a piece of attribute data towhich the first or second constraint correspond, - determining that the altered piece of attribute data will have a valuewhich is not a possible value according to the first or the second constraint, - aborting the modification.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first attribute of the first individual part is connected to thesecond attribute of the second individual part such that altering the piece ofattribute data relating to the first attribute will incur altering of the piece ofattribute data relating to the second attribute, wherein the modification of the computer model is directed to the firstindividual part, wherein the method further comprises the steps of: - determining that the modification will alter the value of the piece ofattribute data relating to the first attribute, - determining that the piece of attribute data relating to the secondattribute will have a value which is not a possible value according to thesecond constraint, - aborting the modification of the first individual part.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first individual part is not adescendent to the second individual part in the hierarchy structure.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first individual part corresponds toa first wall of a first room of the floor plan, wherein the second individual partcorrespond the a second wall of a second room of the floor plan, wherein thefirst and the second room are adjacently positioned in the floor plan, whereinthe first wall of the first room and the second wall of the second roomcorresponds to a shared wall between the first and the second room.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the first and second attribute relates toa single opening in the shared wall.

6. The method of any one of claims 2-5, wherein the piece of attributedata relating to the second attribute is locked for modification, wherein themodification of the computer model is directed to the first individual part,wherein the method further comprises the steps of: - determining that the modification will alter the value of the piece ofattribute data relating to the first attribute, - aborting the modification of the first individual part.

7. The method of any one of claims 2-5, wherein the piece of attributedata of the second attribute is locked for modification, wherein themodification of the computer model is directed to the first individual part,wherein the method further comprises the steps of: 21 - determining that the modification will alter the value of the piece ofattribute data relating to the first attribute,- requesting a confirmation from a user that the modification should becompleted,- receive data indicating an answer from the user,- determining if the answer is affirmative or negative, and- if the answer is determined to be affirmative, continuing withthe modification of the first individual part,- if the answer is determined to be negative, aborting themodification of the first individual part.

8. The method of any one of claims 1-7, wherein the second constraint is connected to the first attribute, suchthat altering the piece of attribute data relating to the first attribute may incuraltering of the possible values of the piece of attribute data relating to thesecond attribute defined in the second constraint, wherein the modification of the computer model is directed to the firstindividual part, the method comprises: - determining that the modification will alter the value of the piece ofattribute data relating to the first attribute, - determining that modification will alter the possible values of the pieceof attribute data relating to the second attribute as defined in the secondconstraint, - determining that the piece of attribute data relating to the secondattribute will have a value which is not a possible value according to thesecond constraint, - aborting the modification of the first individual part.

9. The method of any one of claims 1-7, wherein the second constraint is connected to the first attribute, suchthat altering the piece of attribute data relating to the first attribute may incuraltering of the possible values of the piece of attribute data relating to thesecond attribute defined in the second constraint, 22 wherein the modification of the computer model is directed to the firstindividual part, the method comprises: - determining that the modification will alter the value of the piece ofattribute data relating to the first attribute, - determining that modification will alter the possible values of the pieceof attribute data relating to the second attribute as defined in the secondconstraint, - determining that the piece of attribute data relating to the secondattribute will have a value which is not a possible value according to thesecond constraint, - automatically modify the value of the piece of attribute data relating tothe second attribute so the modified value is a possible value according to thesecond constraint, - continuing with the modification of the first individual part,

10.part corresponds to a part of the floor plan positioned on a first wall of a first The method of claim any one of claims 8-9, wherein the first individual room of the floor plan, wherein the second individual part corresponds to apart of the floor plan positioned on a second wall of the first room of the floorplan.

11.a first window positioned on the first wall, wherein the second individual part The method of claim 10, wherein the first individual part corresponds to corresponds to a second window positioned on the second wall, wherein thefirst attribute relates to the position of the first window on the first wall, andwherein the second attribute relates to the position of the window on thesecond wall.

12.medium with instructions adapted to carry out the method of any one of A computer program product comprising a computer-readable storage claims 1-11 when executed by a device having processing capability.