A CAD collaborative design system

Abstract

The present invention relates to a CAD collaborative design system, which allows CAD files to be stored according to a timeline, and versions created, modified, and updated at different times can be easily restored and consulted; and the CAD files are stored in the form of summary files and incremental databases, which not only reduces the amount of data transmission, but also ensures the accuracy of file restoration, and improves the efficiency of the entire CAD system in file management. The present invention also provides a new reference method, which not only allows CAD drawing engineers to easily filter the content of referenced files, but also allows them to share the reference rules they set with other collaborative parties; and the multi-level display method avoids many problems caused by nesting in existing external references, and increases the flexibility when referencing external files; finally, the present invention realizes the simultaneous editing and viewing of changes in referenced content by copying and superimposing the referenced content (which can be filtered and selectively displayed) into the currently edited CAD file, making collaborative work more convenient and efficient.

Description

[0001] Priority application

[0002] The present application claims the priority of Chinese invention patent applications (i) CN201810778814.6 “A method and system for timeline management of CAD graphic data”, (ii) CN201810779355.3 “A method for referencing external files in a CAD graphic system”, (iii) CN201810779485.7 “A hierarchical display system for references in a CAD graphic system”, and (iv) CN201810777826.7 “A method for viewing reference changes in a CAD graphic in an editable drawing environment” filed on July 16, 2018, and these four priority invention patent applications are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. Technical Field

[0003] The present invention relates to a computer aided design (CAD) collaborative design system. Background Art

[0004] There are three characteristics of CAD collaborative design projects: first, there are many disciplines, many graphic files, and the reference relationship between graphic files is intricate; second, the format of the drawing files is complex, and most of them are binary data, and the data is relatively random; third, the file size of the drawing is large, ranging from a few MB to hundreds of MB. With the improvement of computer hardware technology, the size of the drawing files may be even larger in the future. Especially in the process of promoting collaborative design projects, engineers of various disciplines need to constantly refer to each other's CAD drawings to draw their own drawings (for example, water supply and drainage engineers need to refer to the architectural drawings that are being drawn and not yet completed by architectural engineers when drawing water supply and drainage CAD drawings). The references between the collaborative parties may also be multi-level (for example, HVAC drawings refer to electrical drawings, electrical drawings refer to water supply and drainage drawings, and water supply and drainage drawings also refer to architectural drawings). In addition, the drawing process often requires repeated modifications and repeated selections between different versions.

[0005] Traditional CAD systems have many drawbacks in terms of file management, transmission and storage, as well as file reference functions (e.g., external references). For example, CAD file storage and transmission data overhead is high and inefficient, and it is often inconvenient for CAD users to view CAD file versions created and edited at different times. In addition, due to the limitations of the external reference reference method, a series of problems have arisen: (i) the current CAD drawing has a single filtering method when referencing external files, making it difficult to accurately focus on the elements that the current user is most concerned about; (ii) it is difficult to conveniently handle nested relationships, and it is cumbersome to switch between the nesting modes of "overlay" and "attachment"; and (iii) it is impossible to view changes in the content of the referenced drawing while editing the current CAD drawing, and it is very troublesome to switch between the editing interface and the viewing change interface. These all negatively affect the efficiency of CAD collaborative design work, and even have the risk of causing confusion in collaborative design projects. Summary of the invention

[0006] In response to the above technical problems, the present invention provides a novel CAD collaborative design system, which includes four sub-inventions (i.e., invention A, invention B, invention C and invention D) and various variations and extensions based on these four sub-inventions.

[0007] The present invention first discloses a timeline management system (and method, computer storage medium, computer terminal) for CAD files, characterized in that it includes: a first data summary file and an incremental database; the first data summary file includes a first data item index table and first data summary information; the incremental database stores first data detailed information corresponding to the first data summary information; the first data item index table is used to search the first data detailed information corresponding to the first data summary information in the incremental database; and the data summary file is set to be associated with a first restore point. The present invention adopts a data summary file and an incremental database to manage CAD files, which can reduce the amount of data transmission during file restoration by transmitting incremental data, and can also quickly and accurately restore CAD files by preserving the integrity of the information in the data summary file.

[0008] In another aspect, the present invention also discloses a method for referencing external files in a CAD system, a referencing device, a computer-readable storage medium, and a computer terminal. The reference method comprises the following steps: creating at least one first universal reference rule file independent of the referenced file according to at least one reference condition, and independently storing it in an extensible file format; and referencing at least one of the referenced files according to at least one selected first universal reference rule file. The present invention adopts a reference rule file independent of the referenced file, which can not only be reused by users, but also avoids repeated setting of reference conditions, and improves the efficiency and accuracy of users' collaborative drawing operations.

[0009] On the other hand, the present invention also discloses a hierarchical operating system (and method, computer storage medium, computer terminal) referenced by a CAD system, characterized in that it includes: a first file, containing at least one first element; a second file, containing at least one second element; the at least one first element is copied and superimposed into the second file; the at least one first element is associated with a first control point, and the at least one first element can be independently operated through the first control point. The present invention solves the problem that the external reference method in the existing CAD system is difficult to convert the nested content display mode (i.e., between the overlay type and the additional type), allowing CAD users to easily and quickly choose to display or hide the nested content, making multi-level drawing reference / reference more convenient and quick, and improving the work efficiency during CAD drawing collaborative design.

[0010] On the other hand, the present invention also discloses a method (and system, computer storage medium, computer terminal) for viewing reference changes in a CAD drawing in an editable environment, characterized in that it includes the following steps: DS101 obtains a first file and a second file; DS102 the first file references the second file and superimposes the first element on the second file into the first file; DS103 obtains a third file; DS104 obtains the first change element of the third file compared with the second file; and DS105 superimposes the first change element into the first file. The present invention allows CAD drawing users to view the update status of referenced drawings while continuing to edit the current CAD drawing, thereby solving the technical problem in existing CAD systems that it is necessary to display and view the changes of referenced drawings outside the current CAD drawing, and then return to the current CAD drawing to continue editing, thereby improving the convenience and efficiency of CAD collaborative design.

[0011] Compared with traditional CAD systems, the CAD collaborative design system provided by the present invention allows CAD files to be stored according to a timeline, and versions created, modified, and updated at different times can be restored and consulted conveniently and quickly; and the use of summary files and incremental databases reduces the amount of data transmission and ensures the accuracy of file restoration, thereby improving the efficiency of the entire CAD system in file management.

[0012] The new reference method not only allows CAD drawing engineers to easily filter the contents of referenced files, but also allows them to share the reference rules they set with other collaborators; the multi-level display method avoids many problems caused by nesting in existing external references, and increases the flexibility when referencing external files; finally, the present invention copies and overlays the referenced content (which can be filtered and selectively displayed) into the currently edited CAD file, thereby achieving simultaneous editing of the current file and viewing changes in the referenced content through the same interface, making collaborative work more convenient and efficient. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention or the prior art, the following is a brief introduction to the drawings required for use in the embodiments or the prior art descriptions. In all the drawings, similar elements or parts are generally identified by similar reference numerals. In the drawings, each element or part is not necessarily drawn according to the actual proportion. Obviously, the drawings described below are some embodiments of the sub-inventions A, B, C and D of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can also be obtained based on these drawings without paying creative labor.

[0014] Figure 1 The present invention is a flow chart of an embodiment of a timeline management method for CAD graphic data invented by A.

[0015] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of an embodiment of a timeline management method for CAD graphic data invented by A.

[0016] Figure 3a The present invention is a flowchart of an embodiment of a timeline management method for CAD graphic data invented by A.

[0017] Figure 3b The present invention is a flowchart of an embodiment of a timeline management method for CAD graphic data invented by A.

[0018] Figure 4a The present invention is a flowchart of an embodiment of a timeline management method for CAD graphic data invented by A.

[0019] Figure 4b The present invention is a flowchart of an embodiment of a timeline management method for CAD graphic data invented by A.

[0020] Figure 5a A flowchart of an embodiment of a method for referencing an external file in a CAD system invented by B;

[0021] Figure 5b A flowchart of another embodiment of a method for referencing an external file in a CAD system invented by B;

[0022] Figure 6 An example of a standard layer combination plan in a CAD system invented by B;

[0023] Figure 7 An example of creating a new drawing in a CAD system invented by B;

[0024] Figure 8 An example of introducing drawings into a CAD system invented by B;

[0025] Fig. 9 An example of drawing entities in a CAD system invented by B;

[0026] Fig.10 An example of drawing entities in a CAD system invented by B;

[0027] Fig.11 An example of a new reference rule in a CAD system invented by B;

[0028] Fig.12 An example of setting and saving a reference rule file in a CAD system invented by B;

[0029] Fig.13 An example of importing reference files and reference rule files into a CAD system invented by B;

[0030] Fig.14 An example of adding a new filtering rule to a CAD system invented by B;

[0031] Fig.15 A functional module diagram of an embodiment of a device for referencing external files in a CAD system invented by B;

[0032] Fig.16 A flowchart of another embodiment of a method for referencing an external file in a CAD system invented by B;

[0033] Fig.17 A functional module diagram of another embodiment of a device for referencing external files in a CAD system invented by B;

[0034] Fig.18 A schematic diagram of a partial hardware structure of an embodiment of a computer terminal invented by B;

[0035] Fig.19 A schematic diagram of a partial hardware structure of another embodiment of a computer terminal invented by B;

[0036] Fig. 20 A schematic diagram of an embodiment of user-defined reference conditions in a method for referencing external files in a CAD system according to the invention of reaction B.

[0037] FIG21 is a flowchart of a hierarchical display method embodiment referenced by the CAD graphics system of the invention C;

[0038] Fig. 22 A schematic diagram of the entity figure in drawing c of the embodiment of the invention C;

[0039] Fig.23 A schematic diagram of the entity figure in drawing b of the embodiment of the invention C;

[0040] Fig.24 A schematic diagram of the entity figure in drawing a of the embodiment of the invention C;

[0041] Fig.25 The hierarchical tree relationship diagram cited in the embodiment of the invention of C;

[0042] Fig.26 A schematic diagram in which a reference to drawing c is removed from drawing a of the embodiment of invention C;

[0043] Fig. 27 It is a schematic diagram of the embodiment of the invention C with referenced drawings b and c removed from drawing a;

[0044] Fig.28 A flow chart of an embodiment of a hierarchical operation method cited by the C invention CAD system;

[0045] Fig.29 A flow chart of an embodiment of a hierarchical operation method cited by the C invention CAD system;

[0046] Fig.30 A schematic diagram of an embodiment of a hierarchical operating system used in the CAD system of the invention of C.

[0047] Fig.31 A flow chart of an embodiment of a method for viewing reference changes of a CAD drawing in an editable drawing environment of the present invention;

[0048] Fig.32 A schematic diagram of a CAD graphic drawn by B in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0049] Fig.33 A is a schematic diagram of a CAD graphic drawn by A with reference to B in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0050] Fig.34 This is a schematic diagram of a CAD graphic after modification by B in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0051] Fig.35 This is an interface diagram of A viewing and editing B modifying a graphic in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0052] Fig.36A is a schematic diagram of a graphic drawn by A with reference to the modified CAD graphic of B in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0053] Fig.37a A flow chart of an embodiment of a method for viewing reference changes of a CAD drawing in an editable drawing environment of the present invention;

[0054] Figure 37b The present invention is a flow chart of a method for viewing reference changes of CAD graphics in an editable drawing environment.

[0055] Fig.38 The present invention is a schematic diagram of a system embodiment for viewing reference changes of CAD graphics in an editable drawing environment.

[0056] Fig.39 It is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of the CAD collaborative design system of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0057] In order to make the purpose, technical solution and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention clearer, the technical solution in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0058] Herein, suffixes such as "module", "component" or "unit" used to represent elements are only used to facilitate the description of the present invention, and have no specific meanings by themselves. Therefore, "module", "component" or "unit" can be used mixedly.

[0059] It should be noted that the various sub-inventions in the present invention (A invention, B invention, C invention and D invention) can be combined to derive other technical solutions, solve more technical problems and produce more technical effects. Therefore, the descriptions of each sub-invention in this article can be mutually verified, explained, illustrated, combined, combined and integrated. For example, some embodiments of the inventions B, C and D can be combined to form a more efficient and convenient technical solution for referencing external files. The combination of the invention A and other sub-inventions allows the edited and modified CAD files to be more efficiently stored and shared with the collaborative parties.

[0060] However, the description of each sub-invention in this article may involve some identical or similar terms. If these identical or similar terms conflict or contradict in understanding and meaning, the understanding and meaning of these terms in the description of the sub-invention to which they belong shall prevail. For example, the terms "first document", "second document", "referenced document" and so on may appear in different sub-inventions. In this case, the "first document" in invention B shall prevail in terms of its understanding and meaning in invention B, and the "first document" in invention C shall prevail in terms of its understanding and meaning in invention C.

[0061] Definition of noun:

[0062] "Entity": In this article, an entity refers to the graphic data on a CAD file that is displayed on the CAD drawing interface. An entity has attributes, which are data values ​​that control specific visual characteristics of an entity or element (such as visibility, color, and line style). In different embodiments, an entity may also be referred to as a "pixel" or "element".

[0063] "Object": In this article, objects refer to information on CAD files that will not be displayed in the CAD drawing interface, such as layers, text styles, dimension styles, etc. In this article, "style" refers to a named collection of attributes used to classify and define specific geometric and text elements (such as line styles or text styles).

[0064] "Element": In this article, element refers to all possible information on a CAD file, including "entities" and "objects", and can also be blocks, groups, and unit definitions based on "entities" and / or "objects".

[0065] "File": In this article, file refers to various files that can be run in the CAD system and are used to draw, edit, modify, store, and view CAD drawings. Common CAD file formats include, but are not limited to, DWG, DXF, DWT, DWF, DWL, DWS, DWX, MNU, MNC, MNL, MNS, CUI, CUIX, SHX, PAT, LIN, CTB, STB, PLT, PC3, etc.

[0066] "Collaborators": In this article, collaborators refer to users who participate in a drawing project and work together. The collaborators may have the same expertise (for example, multiple engineers from the architectural profession drawing together) or different expertise (for example, architectural engineers, water supply and drainage engineers, electrical engineers, and HVAC engineers drawing together). The collaborators refer to each other's drawings.

[0067] "Control point": In this article (especially for the C invention), a control point refers to an abstract description of a group of operating elements (including entities, objects, blocks, groups), which is similar to the concept of a handle. Through the control point, this set can be quickly located, and then a series of operations on the elements in the set can be performed. Of course, in some special cases, a group / set may contain only one operating element. In addition, in this article, "associated with" a control point means accepting the control of the control point, and the operating object associated with it can be operated through the control point.

[0068] A invention: A timeline management system, method, computer-readable storage medium and computer terminal for CAD files

[0069] A invention relates to the field of CAD, and specifically to a timeline management method and system for CAD graphic data.

[0070] In recent years, Internet technology, especially mobile Internet technology, has been widely used in the field of CAD design. The original CAD whole-drawing transmission technology has high overhead and low efficiency, which is not conducive to collaborative design and sharing of results in the Internet and mobile fields. In recent years, source code version control systems (VCS) represented by Subversion (SVN) and Git have been widely used in the field of software collaborative development, but such software is mainly aimed at small-sized plain text files, while CAD graphic data is usually binary, with a complex format and much larger size.

[0071] Version control systems, represented by Subversion, store information in the form of file change lists. Such systems view the information they store as a set of basic files and the differences between each file that accumulate over time. When creating a version (i.e., a restore point), the difference relative to the previous version is generated and recorded. When tracing back historical versions, it is necessary to start from the basic file, merge the differences at each restore point in sequence, and finally restore the file version required by the user. Since the differences are stored, the amount of data in such systems is relatively small. However, since the differences need to be analyzed and processed, the algorithm is more complex, the amount of calculation is larger, and it is also more prone to errors.

[0072] Version control systems represented by Git store information in the form of full-text snapshots. This type of system regards data as a set of snapshots of a small file system. Every time a restore point is created, an update is submitted, or the project status is saved, it mainly makes a snapshot of all the files at that time and saves the index of this snapshot. For efficiency, if the file has not been modified, they will no longer re-store the file, but only keep a link to the previously stored file. Conversely, even if the modification is small, the entire file must be re-stored. Since full-text snapshots are stored, the amount of data in this type of system is relatively large. However, since the snapshot is complete and does not need to process differences, its algorithm is simpler, and its performance and reliability are higher. However, to transmit this snapshot, its I / O overhead will be much greater than transmitting only the differences.

[0073] There are three characteristics of CAD design projects: first, there are many disciplines and graphic files, and the reference relationships between graphic files are intricate; second, the format of the drawing files is complex, and most of the data is binary data, and the data is relatively random; third, the file size of the drawings is large, ranging from a few MB to hundreds of MB. With the improvement of computer hardware technology, the size of drawing files may be even larger in the future.

[0074] Traditional CAD file management systems (management software, network disk, cloud storage systems, etc.) either do not have a timeline function when storing and transmitting CAD files, or archive and generate versions based on the entire CAD file (similar to Git-type systems, which also store information in full-text snapshot form). When processing design changes, such systems must store and transmit complete file files even if the content of each drawing change is small, resulting in high data overhead and traffic consumption.

[0075] Moreover, since CAD design projects involve many graphic files and each graphic file is relatively large in size, if full-text snapshot data storage is used, the number of files and restore points will continue to increase over time, and the number of snapshots will continue to accumulate. To access and transmit these snapshots, the data overhead required will be considerable.

[0076] In addition, since the graphic files of CAD design projects are in complex binary format and large in size, if the difference accumulation storage method represented by Subversion is used, the algorithm for collecting and processing difference data will inevitably be complex, slow, and prone to errors. Due to the high randomness of data, even a small modification may result in a large number of differences between the two versions of the file. Therefore, compared with the full-text snapshot, the storage advantage of the difference accumulation method may not be obvious.

[0077] The purpose of the invention is to provide a new CAD file management method that can be applied to CAD collaborative design systems, and to overcome or alleviate the technical problems of file storage, transmission and management in existing CAD systems to a certain extent.

[0078] A timeline management system for CAD files, characterized in that it includes: a first data summary file and an incremental database; the first data summary file includes a first data item index table and first data summary information; the incremental database stores first data detailed information corresponding to the first data summary information; the first data item index table is used to search the incremental database for the first data detailed information corresponding to the first data summary information; and the data summary file is set to be associated with a first restore point.

[0079] Furthermore, the invention A also includes: a timeline, and the first restore point is set on the timeline according to the time when it was created.

[0080] Furthermore, the time axis includes multiple restore points, and the multiple restore points are arranged in sequence according to their creation time.

[0081] Furthermore, invention A also includes a second data summary file, including a second incremental data item index table and second data summary information; the incremental data detailed information of the second data summary information relative to the first data summary information is stored in the incremental database; including a second incremental data item index table for searching the incremental database for second data detailed information corresponding to the second data summary information; and the second data summary file is set to be associated with a second restore point.

[0082] Furthermore, the first restore point and the second restore point are arranged on the timeline in sequence according to the time of creation.

[0083] Furthermore, the second data detailed information includes (i) the incremental data detailed information, and (ii) a portion or all of the first data detailed information.

[0084] Furthermore, the first data summary file is saved in a full-text snapshot manner.

[0085] Furthermore, it is characterized in that the first data summary file is generated based on one or more CAD drawings, and the one or more CAD drawings are related to the same engineering project.

[0086] Furthermore, the first data summary information includes one or more summary information of author information, creation time, modification time and / or thumbnail.

[0087] Furthermore, it is characterized in that the first data detailed information is a metadata item (metadata).

[0088] Furthermore, the first data detailed information includes one or more CAD elements and element attributes corresponding to the one or more CAD elements, and the element attributes include the insertion position, stretching size ratio, start and end point information and / or rendering information of the element in the CAD drawing.

[0089] A invention also discloses a user terminal of a CAD system, characterized in that it includes: a restore point acquisition module, used to obtain a first restore point from a timeline storage device; a restore point parsing module, connected to the restore point acquisition module, used to parse a first data summary file associated with the first restore point, the first data summary file including a first data item index table and first data summary information; a file restoration module, connected to the restore point parsing module, to obtain the first data item index table and the first data summary information, and to obtain first data detailed information corresponding to the first data summary information from an incremental database of the timeline storage device, and to restore and generate a first file.

[0090] Furthermore, the invention A also includes: the restore point acquisition module acquires the first restore point on the time axis in the timeline storage device.

[0091] Furthermore, the restore point acquisition module also obtains a second restore point from the timeline storage device; the restore point parsing module obtains a second data summary file through the second restore point, including a second incremental data item index table and second data summary information; the file restoration module obtains second data detailed information corresponding to the second data summary information from the incremental database of the timeline storage device based on the second incremental data item index table and the second data summary information, and restores to generate a second file.

[0092] Furthermore, the second data detailed information includes: stored in the incremental database, (i) incremental data detailed information of the second data summary information relative to the first data summary information; and (ii) a part or all of the detailed information in the first data detailed information.

[0093] Furthermore, the first data summary file is saved in a full-text snapshot manner.

[0094] Furthermore, the first data summary file includes one or more CAD drawings, all related to the same engineering project.

[0095] Furthermore, the first data summary information includes one or more summary information of author information, creation time, modification time and / or thumbnail.

[0096] Furthermore, the first data detailed information is metadata item (metadata).

[0097] Furthermore, the first data detailed information includes one or more CAD elements and element attributes corresponding to the one or more CAD elements, and the element attributes include the insertion position, stretching size ratio, start and end point information and / or rendering information of the element in the restored CAD drawing.

[0098] A invention also discloses a timeline management method for CAD files, characterized in that it includes the following steps: AS101 obtains one or more first CAD files; AS102 creates a first data summary file based on the one or more first CAD files, and the first data summary file includes a first data item index table and first data summary information of the one or more CAD files; AS103 extracts first data detailed information corresponding to the first data summary information from the one or more first CAD files, stores the first data detailed information in an incremental database, and records its first storage path in the first data item index table; AS104 creates a first restore point and associates the first data summary file with the first restore point.

[0099] Furthermore, the invention A also includes the following steps: AS105 records the first restore point on the timeline according to the time when it is created.

[0100] Furthermore, the A invention also includes the following steps: AS106 obtains one or more second CAD files; AS107 creates a second data summary file based on the one or more second CAD files, the second data summary file including a second data item index table and second data summary information of the one or more CAD files; AS108 compares the first data summary file and the second data summary file, and stores detailed information of the incremental data of the second data summary file relative to the first data summary file in an incremental database, so that the incremental database includes all second data detailed information corresponding to the second data summary information, and records its second storage path in the second data item index table; AS109 creates a second restore point and associates the second data summary file with the second restore point.

[0101] Furthermore, the invention A also includes the following steps: AS110 records the second restore point on the timeline according to the time when it is created.

[0102] Furthermore, the first data summary file is saved in a full-text snapshot manner.

[0103] Furthermore, the one or more first CAD files all relate to the same engineering project.

[0104] Furthermore, the first data summary information includes one or more summary information of author information, creation time, modification time and / or thumbnail.

[0105] Furthermore, the first data detailed information is metadata item (metadata).

[0106] Furthermore, the first data detailed information includes one or more CAD elements and element attributes corresponding to the one or more CAD elements, and the element attributes include the insertion position, stretching size ratio, start and end point information and / or rendering information of the element in the restored CAD drawing.

[0107] A invention also discloses a method for restoring a CAD file, characterized in that it includes the following steps: AS201 obtains a first restore point and a first data summary file associated with the first restore point from a timeline storage device, the first data summary file including a first data item index table and first data summary information; AS202 obtains first data detailed information corresponding to the first data summary information from an incremental database of the timeline storage device according to the first data item index table and the first data summary information; AS203 restores and generates a first file according to the first data detailed information and the first data summary file.

[0108] Furthermore, the first restoration point is recorded on the timeline of the timeline storage device.

[0109] Furthermore, the A invention also includes the following steps: AS204 obtains a second restore point and a second data summary file associated with the second restore point from the timeline storage device, the second data summary file including a second data item index table and second data summary information; AS205 obtains incremental data detailed information corresponding to the incremental data from the incremental database based on the second data item index table and the incremental data of the second data summary information compared to the first data summary information; AS206 combines the first data detailed information and the incremental data detailed information, and generates a second file by restoring according to the second data summary file.

[0110] Furthermore, the first data summary file is saved in a full-text snapshot manner.

[0111] Furthermore, the first data summary file is generated based on one or more CAD drawings, and the one or more CAD drawings are related to the same engineering project.

[0112] Furthermore, the first data summary information includes one or more summary information of author information, creation time, modification time and / or thumbnail.

[0113] Furthermore, the first data detailed information is metadata item (metadata).

[0114] Furthermore, the first data detailed information includes one or more CAD elements and element attributes corresponding to the one or more CAD elements, and the element attributes include the insertion position, stretching size ratio, start and end point information and / or rendering information of the element in the restored CAD drawing.

[0115] In order to make the purpose, technical solution and advantages of the embodiment of invention A clearer, the technical solution in the embodiment of invention A will be described clearly and completely below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiment of invention A. Obviously, the described embodiment is a part of the embodiment of invention A, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiment of invention A, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of invention A.

[0116] A. Invention Example 1

[0117] The CAD graphic data of the invention A consists of two parts: one is a data summary file, and the other is an incremental database for accessing actual data.

[0118] The data summary file consists of two parts. The main part is the index table used to retrieve data items in the incremental database, and the other part is used to store other necessary graphic data summary information, such as author, creation time, modification time, thumbnail, etc.

[0119] The incremental database is used to store detailed data of objects in CAD drawings, namely metadata items, which contain all necessary information to construct this object. When the drawing is modified, the metadata of the newly added or modified object is added to the database to form a new data item.

[0120] The timeline of a CAD design project consists of a series of restore points over time. Each restore point makes a full-text snapshot of the file at that time based on the data summary, and makes an index pointing to the full-text snapshot of the data summary. Each file at the restore point has a corresponding data summary file. The data summary is used to retrieve the necessary metadata set from the incremental database when restoring this file.

[0121] like Figure 1 As shown, the invention A discloses a timeline management method for CAD graphic data, comprising the following steps:

[0122] Step AS01, set the timeline storage device A200 to store data in categories

[0123] The timeline storage device A200 is configured to establish corresponding data summary files A202 and corresponding incremental databases A204 for all selected CAD graphics: the timeline storage device A200 reads and parses all selected CAD graphics, records the object metadata in each CAD graphics file in the corresponding incremental database A204, and calculates the index A206 of each data item, and fills the index A206 into the data summary file A202 and saves it; the data summary file A202 includes an index table A206 and other necessary graphic data summary information (such as author, creation time, modification time, thumbnail, etc.) for retrieving data items in the incremental database A204 file; the incremental database A204 is used to store detailed data of objects in the CAD graphics, that is, metadata items. When the graphics are modified, the metadata of the newly added or modified objects is added to the incremental database to form a new data item.

[0124] Step AS02, establish a baseline restore point 208

[0125] The CAD user imports a required set of CAD graphics into the timeline storage device A200 through the import function.

[0126] Note that the A invention adopts the "global timeline" approach, that is, each restore point (including the baseline restore point) contains a complete set of related CAD drawings (for example, architectural drawings, water supply and drainage drawings, electrical drawings, HVAC drawings, etc., all related to a project). In other words, the A invention establishes a timeline for the entire set of CAD drawings, rather than establishing a separate timeline for each CAD drawing - the benefit of such a global timeline is that CAD users can obtain the full set of CAD drawings related to the project at each restore point, which is conducive to the overall management of CAD drawings of multiple people, multiple professions, and multiple versions, and avoids confusion.

[0127] For this group of data summary files A202 that need to be synchronized to the server, the timeline storage device A200 creates a baseline restore point A208 for this group of data summary files A202. The timeline storage device A200 sends the newly created baseline restore point information A208, the selected data summary file A202 and the related incremental data A204 to the server, and the server creates an archive.

[0128] Step AS03, obtaining the base restore point 208

[0129] By checking out, the reference restore point A208 of the CAD design project is obtained from the server, and the timeline storage device A200 downloads the selected reference restore point A208 to the local computer of the CAD user and creates a working snapshot for the reference restore point A208 locally.

[0130] Step AS04, expand the restore point content

[0131] The data summary file A202 in the working snapshot is opened by the CAD software, and the timeline storage device A200 analyzes the index table A206 of the data summary file A202, synchronizes the graphic data to the local incremental database A204 in an incremental manner, and then assembles the graphic data into a data format recognizable by the CAD editing software.

[0132] Step AS05, save the modified information

[0133] Use CAD software to modify and save the CAD graphics. The timeline storage device A200 analyzes the modifications made, saves the newly added, deleted or modified object data information to the incremental database A204, and then updates the corresponding data summary file A202a (for example, the index table is updated to A206a).

[0134] Step AS06, create a new restore point A210

[0135] A group of data summary files that need to be synchronized to the server is selected, and the timeline storage device A200 creates a new restore point A210 for this group of data summary files A202a. The timeline storage device A200 sends the newly created new restore point information A210, the selected data summary file A202a and the related incremental data to the server, and the server creates an archive.

[0136] Please note that although the invention A adopts the "global timeline" approach, the "global" in the "global timeline" means that each restore point contains all the files of the project at that time, and only some of the files have been changed relative to the previous restore point. This part of the change can include all local modifications, or only some local modifications, and the latter may be more common, so the submission of the data summary file A202a in step AS06 is "selective". For example: the CAD user has changed 10 files, but only wants to submit 3 of them, then the CAD user can select these 3 files as the object of this submission, and the remaining 7 files can be discussed later.

[0137] Let's take a more practical example: Imagine a designer is working on two design tasks (or changes) in parallel, one of which has been completed and involves modifications to three files, and the other is still in progress and involves modifications to seven files. At this point, the designer needs to submit only the three files related to the completed task, so a "selection" must be made before submitting. The selection is: the files that have been changed due to the completed task. Changes include: addition, modification, or deletion.

[0138] Step AS07, Update to restore point

[0139] Collaborative users can use the update function to update their CAD graphics version to the latest version or select a restore point to be updated. The method is as follows: the timeline storage device A200 downloads the selected restore point from the server to the local computer and updates the corresponding working snapshot. The timeline storage device A200 parses the information of this restore point, finds the modified CAD graphics file, and then downloads the data summary file corresponding to the CAD graphics file to the local computer and updates it to the working snapshot.

[0140] Figure 2 The bold arrow in the figure indicates the part with changed data.

[0141] A. Invention Example 2

[0142] In some embodiments, invention A discloses a timeline storage device for CAD drawings, characterized in that it includes: a first data summary file and an incremental database; the first data summary file includes a first data item index table and first data summary information; the incremental database stores the first data detailed information corresponding to the first data summary information; the first data item index table is used to search the incremental database for the first data detailed information corresponding to the first data summary information; and the data summary file is set to be associated with a first restore point.

[0143] In some embodiments, the invention A further comprises a time axis, and the first restore point is set on the time axis according to the time when it was created. In some embodiments, the time axis comprises a plurality of restore points, and the plurality of restore points are arranged in sequence according to the time when they were created.

[0144] In some embodiments, invention A also includes a second data summary file, including a second incremental data item index table and second data summary information; the incremental data detailed information of the second data summary information relative to the first data summary information is stored in the incremental database; including a second incremental data item index table for searching the incremental database for second data detailed information corresponding to the second data summary information; and the second data summary file is set to be associated with a second restore point.

[0145] In some embodiments, the first restore point and the second restore point are arranged on the timeline in sequence according to the time of creation. In some embodiments, the second data detailed information includes (i) the incremental data detailed information, and (ii) part or all of the detailed information in the first data detailed information. In some embodiments, the first data summary file is saved as a full-text snapshot. In some embodiments, the first data summary file is generated based on one or more CAD drawings, and the one or more CAD drawings all relate to the same engineering project. In some embodiments, the first data summary information includes author information, creation time, modification time and / or one or more summary information in thumbnails. In some embodiments, the first data detailed information is a metadata item (metadata).

[0146] A. Invention Example 3

[0147] In some embodiments, invention A discloses a user terminal of a CAD system, characterized in that it includes: a restore point acquisition module, used to obtain a first restore point from a timeline storage device; a restore point parsing module, connected to the restore point acquisition module, used to parse a first data summary file associated with the first restore point, the first data summary file including a first data item index table and first data summary information; a file restoration module, connected to the restore point parsing module, to obtain the first data item index table and the first data summary information, and to obtain first data detailed information corresponding to the first data summary information from the incremental database of the timeline storage device, and to restore and generate a first file.

[0148] In some embodiments, invention A further includes: the restore point acquisition module acquires the first restore point on the timeline in the timeline storage device.

[0149] In some embodiments, the restore point acquisition module also obtains a second restore point from the timeline storage device; the restore point parsing module obtains a second data summary file through the second restore point, including a second incremental data item index table and second data summary information; the file restoration module obtains second data detailed information corresponding to the second data summary information from the incremental database of the timeline storage device based on the second incremental data item index table and the second data summary information, and restores to generate a second file.

[0150] In some embodiments, the second data detailed information includes: incremental data detailed information of the second data summary information relative to the first data summary information stored in the incremental database; and part or all of the detailed information in the first data detailed information. In some embodiments, the first data summary file is saved as a full-text snapshot. In some embodiments, the first data summary file includes one or more CAD drawings, all related to the same engineering project. In some embodiments, the first data summary information includes author information, creation time, modification time and / or one or more summary information in thumbnails. In some embodiments, the first data detailed information is metadata items (metadata).

[0151] A. Invention Example 4

[0152] In some embodiments, the invention discloses a method for managing CAD drawings, characterized in that it includes the following steps (see Figure 3a ): AS101 obtains one or more first CAD files; AS102 creates a first data summary file based on the one or more first CAD files, the first data summary file including a first data item index table and first data summary information of the one or more CAD files; AS103 extracts first data detailed information corresponding to the first data summary information from the one or more first CAD files, stores the first data detailed information in an incremental database, and records its first storage path in the first data item index table; AS104 creates a first restore point and associates the first data summary file with the first restore point.

[0153] In some embodiments, the invention A further comprises the following steps: AS105 records the first restore point on the timeline according to the time when it is created.

[0154] In some embodiments, the invention A further comprises the following steps (see Figure 3b ): AS106 obtains one or more second CAD files; AS107 creates a second data summary file based on the one or more second CAD files, the second data summary file including a second data item index table and second data summary information of the one or more CAD files; AS108 compares the first data summary file with the second data summary file, stores detailed information of incremental data of the second data summary file relative to the first data summary file in an incremental database, so that the incremental database includes all second data detailed information corresponding to the second data summary information, and records its second storage path in the second data item index table; AS109 creates a second restore point, and associates the second data summary file with the second restore point.

[0155] In some embodiments, the invention A further comprises the following steps: AS110 records the second restore point on the timeline at the time when it is created. In some embodiments, the first data summary file is saved in the form of a full-text snapshot. In some embodiments, the one or more first CAD files are all related to the same engineering project. In some embodiments, the first data summary information includes author information, creation time, modification time and / or one or more summary information in a thumbnail. In some embodiments, the first data detailed information is metadata.

[0156] A. Invention Example 5

[0157] In some embodiments, the invention discloses a method for restoring a CAD file, characterized in that it includes the following steps: Figure 4a ); AS201 obtains a first restore point and a first data summary file associated with the first restore point from a timeline storage device, wherein the first data summary file includes a first data item index table and first data summary information; AS202 obtains first data detailed information corresponding to the first data summary information from an incremental database of the timeline storage device according to the first data item index table and the first data summary information; AS203 restores and generates a first file according to the first data detailed information and the first data summary file. In some embodiments, the first restore point is recorded on a timeline of the timeline storage device.

[0158] In some embodiments, the invention A further comprises the following steps: Figure 4b ): AS204 obtains a second restore point and a second data summary file associated with the second restore point from the timeline storage device, wherein the second data summary file includes a second data item index table and second data summary information; AS205 obtains incremental data detailed information corresponding to the incremental data from the incremental database according to the second data item index table and the incremental data of the second data summary information compared to the first data summary information; AS206 combines the first data detailed information and the incremental data detailed information, and generates a second file by restoring according to the second data summary file.

[0159] In some embodiments, the first data summary file is saved in a full-text snapshot format. In some embodiments, the first data summary file is generated based on one or more CAD drawings, and the one or more CAD drawings are related to the same engineering project. In some embodiments, the first data summary information includes author information, creation time, modification time, and / or one or more summary information in a thumbnail. In some embodiments, the first data detailed information is metadata.

[0160] Compared with the prior art, invention A has the following technical features:

[0161] 1. The method of storing timeline information is snapshot-based (i.e., using full-text snapshots to save data summary files), while the method of storing restore point data is incremental, which is a combination of the two. 2. Because the method of transmitting and processing CAD graphics in the A invention is data summary plus incremental data, the A invention does not take a full-text snapshot of the entire CAD graphics. 3. The A invention traces the design changes between each restore point by analyzing the data summary file and incremental data, rather than comparing the differences based on the entire CAD graphics.

[0162] A invention creates a timeline based on the entire engineering design project, rather than creating an independent timeline for each CAD graphic file in the project.

[0163] Based on the above technical features, the beneficial effects of the invention A are as follows: 1. The invention A manages the timeline and data information of CAD graphics in the form of data summary plus data increment, rather than complete graphic files, thereby reducing the storage and transmission overhead of CAD graphic data and improving the processing performance of the data line storage device. 2. The invention A establishes a global timeline based on engineering design projects, rather than establishing an independent timeline for each CAD graphic file in the project, thereby ensuring that the graphic data of the project at each restore point is complete and consistent, and it is not easy to mix new and old graphics. For example: in a design scenario where the electrical layout drawing is based on the architectural plan, if the two file versions obtained are not compatible, the result of the drawing may be wrong. The way the invention A establishes a timeline can avoid such errors. 3. The invention A transmits the incremental data of CAD graphics, rather than the entire CAD graphic file, thereby greatly reducing the amount of CAD graphic data transmitted and improving the transmission efficiency. 4. The invention A traces design changes by analyzing data summaries and incremental data, thereby improving the efficiency of viewing design changes.

[0164] Specifically, the invention A creates a data summary file for the CAD graphic file, and then establishes a timeline by storing a full-text snapshot of the data summary. The incremental data (i.e., the difference part) generated by file modification is also stored in the incremental database. The data summary is much smaller than the original file. In addition, it also contains all the necessary information and metadata indexes to process the original file, that is, the data summary file has integrity.

[0165] Since the data summary file has a small size, the timeline information is established by storing the full-text snapshot of the data summary. Compared with the original snapshot (Git method), the data consumption of the invention A is smaller, that is, the storage space requirement and I / O overhead of the device are reduced. This advantage is particularly suitable for mobile devices (small memory) and the Internet (slow transmission and high fees).

[0166] Here is an example to illustrate the technical advantage of invention A: Take a CAD design project with an initial number of 100 files as an example. If the average file size is 10MB, there are a total of 200 restore points, and each restore point modifies an average of 5 files, the amount of data changed for each file each time is 100KB. The benchmark data is: (10MB / file * 100) = 1GB. Based on the full-text snapshot method, to store the complete timeline of this project, the amount of additional data required is: (10MB / file * 5 * 200) = 10GB. Invention A uses the data summary of the graphic file as a snapshot to establish a restore point, and the modified data (difference part) is stored separately in the corresponding incremental database. Because the data summary stores the index of the data item rather than the data item itself, its size is much smaller than the original image, assuming it is: 1 / 10 (i.e. 1MB). Based on the technical solution of A's invention, to store the complete timeline of this project, the amount of additional data required is: [(1 / 10MB+100KB)*5*200]=1.1GB, which is about 1 / 10 of the full-text snapshot method. The smaller the size of the index item is compared to the data item, the more obvious the access advantage of A's invention is.

[0167] In addition, since the timeline device of the invention of A stores data summaries, and the data summary files are complete, when the user needs to trace the design changes between versions (restore points), the invention of A only needs to compare the data summary files on the two restore points to obtain complete change information (for example, by comparing the data summary information to find the incremental data summary, and then obtaining the incremental data detailed information corresponding to the incremental data summary from the incremental database). In other words, the user can restore the file from any restore point to another restore point only through the data summary file, instead of starting from the base file and sequentially merging the differences on each restore point to restore the file version like Subversion. This recovery method based on difference merging obviously requires analyzing and processing more data. Therefore, compared with the differential timeline device, the performance and reliability of the invention of A are higher, that is, the performance and data security of the device are improved; and the efficiency is improved, solving the efficiency problem when tracing design changes.

[0168] The application fields of invention A are wide, including, but not limited to, network storage, sharing and protection of CAD graphic data. Other application scenarios of invention A are as follows: 1. Data files meet the requirements of metadata. That is, data files can be decomposed into smaller metadata sets. 2. Used for incremental storage or reading of disk files. 3. Used for incremental transmission of files or data in a network environment. 4. Used for backup and recovery of data files.

[0169] The above describes the embodiment of the invention A in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, but the invention A is not limited to the above specific implementation methods. The above specific implementation methods are only illustrative and not restrictive. Under the enlightenment of the invention A, ordinary technicians in this field can also make many forms without departing from the scope of protection of the invention A and the claims, all of which belong to the protection of the invention A. For example, in the above embodiment 1, although the timeline storage device is placed in a remote server (for example, the cloud of the CAD collaborative design system), a CAD user can also create a timeline storage device in his local computer terminal and create a complete engineering project timeline (also known as a private timeline). The CAD user can upload the private timeline he has established to the cloud of the CAD collaborative design system as a whole, so that his collaborators can obtain CAD files at different restore points. From another perspective, although the invention A is particularly suitable for CAD collaborative design systems, the invention A can also be used in non-collaborative design projects, and a CAD drawing engineer can also use the invention A to manage the CAD files of his drawing points.

[0170] Invention B: Method and device for referencing external files in a CAD system, computer-readable storage medium, and computer terminal

[0171] B invention relates to a method for referencing external files in a CAD system, a referencing device, a computer-readable storage medium and a computer terminal.

[0172] In the traditional CAD drawing process, each discipline needs to rely on drawings or other external files provided by other disciplines. Usually, they will introduce drawings provided by other disciplines into their own drawings in the form of external references, and draw with reference to the floors, rooms, walls and other elements in the drawings. A single discipline often focuses on certain elements, and the drawings of other disciplines may be too complicated for them because they include elements from other aspects. Therefore, when introducing drawings provided by other disciplines, filtering rules need to be set.

[0173] In the prior art, there are only two common types of filtering rules for external reference (XREF) files in CAD systems: (i) setting a clipping area and (ii) setting a hidden layer. The types of filtering rules are too simple to perform complex and flexible operations on imported CAD drawings. Even if the referenced (or imported) CAD drawings vary greatly, since there are only two common types of filtering rules (setting a clipping area or setting a hidden layer), CAD software users can only choose between these two types of rules.

[0174] In addition, in the existing CAD system, the external reference file and the filtering rules for the external reference file are a piece of binary data stored in the dwg file, so the filtering rules are closely combined with the CAD drawing data (that is, the filtering rules and the CAD drawing data are stored together in a strongly coupled manner), resulting in that this set of specific filtering rules cannot be conveniently used for other external reference files. In addition, each referenced external reference file may be referenced multiple times by different users. If specific filtering rules are set separately for each reference, the reference work will become very cumbersome and boring, and prone to errors. In other words, this strongly coupled storage method makes the reuse rate of filtering rules low, and the cost of modification and maintenance is also high.

[0175] In addition, since the filtering rules are stored in the dwg drawings, adding any new functions will lead to changes in the CAD drawing file format. However, widely circulated files such as dwg drawings are not easily modified. Therefore, it is difficult to expand these existing functions. In other words, the filtering means are solidified and have poor scalability.

[0176] The purpose of the invention B is to provide a new CAD system reference method, which can overcome or alleviate the above-mentioned defects of the external reference method in the existing CAD system to a certain extent.

[0177] In order to achieve the above-mentioned purpose, invention B discloses a method for referencing external files in a CAD system, which is characterized in that it includes the following steps: creating at least one first general reference rule file independent of the referenced file based on at least one reference condition, and storing it independently in an extensible file format; referencing at least one of the referenced files based on at least one selected first general reference rule file.

[0178] Furthermore, the first general reference rule file is obtained by expanding the second general reference rule file sent by the collaborating party, and the second general rule file is created according to at least one reference condition selected by the collaborating party.

[0179] Further, the reference rule file is stored in XML (Extensible Markup Language) format. Further, the reference condition includes layer filter operation instructions, clipping area filter operation instructions, and / or drawing filter operation instructions. Further, the drawing filter operation instructions are custom reference conditions added based on each object type and its characteristics in the referenced file.

[0180] Invention B also discloses a method for referencing external files in a CAD system, characterized in that it includes the following steps: obtaining at least one third general reference rule file sent by a collaborating party; referencing at least one referenced file based on at least one selected third general reference rule file; wherein the third general reference rule file is created in advance based on at least one reference condition selected by the collaborating party, and is independently stored in an extensible file format.

[0181] Further, the reference rule file is stored in XML format. Further, the reference condition includes layer filter operation instructions, clipping area filter operation instructions, and / or drawing filter operation instructions. Further, the drawing filter operation instructions are custom reference conditions added based on each object type and its characteristics in the referenced file.

[0182] Invention B also discloses an external file reference device applied to a CAD system, characterized in that it includes: a reference rule file creation module, used to create at least one first general reference rule file independent of the referenced file according to at least one reference condition, and store it independently in an extensible file format; a first storage module, used to store at least one of the first general reference rule files created by the reference rule file creation module; a first reference module, used to reference at least one of the referenced files according to at least one selected first general reference rule file.

[0183] Furthermore, the first general reference rule file is obtained by the reference rule file creation module by expanding the second general reference rule file sent by the collaborating party, and the second general rule file is created according to at least one reference condition selected by the collaborating party.

[0184] Furthermore, it is characterized in that the reference rule file is stored in XML format. Further, it is characterized in that the reference condition includes a layer hiding operation instruction, a clipping area hiding operation instruction, and / or a drawing filtering operation instruction. Further, the drawing filtering operation instruction is a custom reference condition added based on each object type and its characteristics in the referenced file.

[0185] Invention B also discloses an external file reference device applied to a CAD system, characterized in that it includes: an acquisition module, used to acquire at least one second general rule file sent by a collaborating party; a second reference module, used to reference at least one referenced file based on at least one selected second general reference rule file; wherein the second general reference rule file is created in advance based on at least one reference condition added by the collaborating party, and is independently stored in an extensible file format.

[0186] Further, the reference rule file is stored in XML format. Further, the reference condition includes a hidden layer operation instruction, a cropping region operation instruction, and a drawing filter operation instruction. Further, the drawing filter operation instruction is a custom reference condition added based on each element type and its characteristics in the referenced file.

[0187] Invention B also discloses a computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that the computer-readable storage medium includes a set of instructions, which, when executed, cause at least one processor to perform operations including: creating at least one first general reference rule file independent of the referenced file based on at least one reference condition, and independently storing it in an extensible format; referencing at least one of the referenced files based on at least one selected first general reference rule file; or, when executed, cause at least one processor to perform operations including: obtaining at least one third general reference rule file sent by a collaborating party; referencing at least one referenced file based on at least one selected third general reference rule file; wherein the third general reference rule file is created in advance based on at least one reference condition selected by the collaborating party, and is independently stored in an extensible file format.

[0188] Furthermore, the first general reference rule file is obtained by expanding the second general reference rule file sent by the collaborating party, and the second general rule file is created according to at least one reference condition selected by the collaborating party.

[0189] Invention B also discloses a computer terminal, characterized in that it includes at least one processor and a computer-readable storage medium coupled to the processor, wherein:

[0190] The computer-readable storage medium includes a set of instructions, which, when at least one processor executes the instructions, causes the at least one processor to perform the following operations: creating at least one first general reference rule file independent of the referenced file based on at least one reference condition, and independently storing it in an extensible format; referencing at least one of the referenced files based on at least one selected first general reference rule file; or, when at least one processor executes the instructions, causes the at least one processor to perform the following operations: obtaining at least one third general reference rule file sent by a collaborating party; referencing at least one referenced file based on at least one selected third general reference rule file; wherein the third general reference rule file is created in advance based on at least one reference condition selected by the collaborating party, and is independently stored in an extensible file format.

[0191] Furthermore, the first general reference rule file is obtained by expanding the second general reference rule file sent by the collaborating party, and the second general rule file is created according to at least one reference condition selected by the collaborating party.

[0192] Beneficial technical effects of invention B: invention B generates at least one reference rule file independent of the referenced file according to the reference conditions, so that when the referenced file is introduced, any reference rule file that meets the actual needs can be specified (it can be created by the CAD drawing engineer himself or obtained from other collaborative parties) without repeatedly setting the reference conditions, which greatly improves work efficiency and better ensures the correctness of the reference (for example, it avoids mistakes when repeatedly setting the reference conditions); in addition, invention B uses an extensible file format to store the reference rule file, such as the XML format, so that it is independent of the referenced file and extensible, so that new reference conditions can be created according to actual needs.

[0193] In order to make the purpose, technical solution and advantages of the embodiment of invention B clearer, the technical solution in the embodiment of invention B will be described clearly and completely in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiment of invention B. Obviously, the described embodiment is a part of the embodiment of invention B, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiment of invention B, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of invention B.

[0194] B. Invention Example 1

[0195] In some embodiments of the invention B, a method for referencing an external file in a CAD system comprises the following steps: Figure 5a ):

[0196] Step BS01: Generate at least one reference rule file according to at least one reference condition added to the referenced file. The at least one reference rule file is independent of the referenced file and is stored in an extensible file format.

[0197] Step BS02: introducing the referenced file into the main file according to the selected at least one reference rule file.

[0198] In some embodiments of the invention B, a method for referencing an external file in a CAD system comprises the following steps: Figure 5b ):

[0199] Step BS11, adding at least one citation condition for the cited document;

[0200] Step BS12, generating a reference rule file according to the at least one reference condition, wherein the reference rule file is in XML format;

[0201] Step BS13, specifying the reference rule file to filter the referenced file when referencing the referenced file.

[0202] Step BS14, adding the filtered referenced files to the main file.

[0203] The reference method for external files disclosed in the above embodiments is of great significance for collaborative CAD drawing: more and more CAD drawing projects are completed by engineers from multiple disciplines in collaboration. Therefore, the process of mutual collaboration often involves mutual reference / mutual reference of CAD files between different disciplines (in this article, the referenced and referenced files are referred to as "referenced files"; the CAD drawings that receive and incorporate "referenced files" are referred to as "master files"). When the master file references / references the referenced file, the user can add reference conditions related to the referenced file (filtering the elements in the referenced file). The reference condition can be a reference condition that has been associated with the referenced file (for example, the current user or other users have previously set one or more reference conditions for the referenced file), or it can be a newly added reference condition, or it can be a modification of the previously set reference condition.

[0204] In some embodiments, the above-mentioned reference conditions are stored separately to form a reference rule file, which is independent of the referenced file and the master file. In some embodiments, "independent" means that the reference rule file can be created, saved, modified, updated, and transferred separately - for example, a water supply and drainage engineer can share the reference rule file he created with another water supply and drainage engineer without sharing the referenced CAD files.

[0205] The reference file can adopt an extensible file format, for example, the reference rule file can be stored in XML format. XML is a simple, platform-independent and widely adopted standard language, and is a "metalanguage" used to define other languages. Simply put, XML provides a method for describing structured data. XML is also a meta-markup language, i.e., it defines a syntactic language for defining other domain-specific, semantic, and structured markup languages. Users can define the tags they need, which is the extensibility of the language. In the XML file, content and expression are separated, so that different users can define different reference conditions according to their own needs.

[0206] In addition to XML, other extensible file formats and markup languages ​​are also applicable to the invention B to store reference rule files, such as GML (Generalized Markup Language), SGML (The Standard Generalized Markup Language), HTML (HyperText Markup Language), XHTML (Extensible HyperText Markup Language), XAML (Extensible Application Markup Language), JSON (JavaScript Object Notation), etc.

[0207] Therefore, compared with the traditional CAD software system, the external reference in the prior art only records an external dwg file path name. In addition to recording the dwg file, the B invention also records an additional reference rule file independent of the external dwg file. When referencing an external dwg file, the reference rule file will be opened, and according to the reference conditions recorded in the reference rule file, the entities (also called primitives, pixels), objects, blocks, groups and / or layers in the dwg file that meet the rules are loaded.

[0208] In some embodiments of the invention B, the reference rule file can adopt three reference rule modes: layer display, region clipping, and graphic filtering. Each mode records corresponding feature information according to its own characteristics. In other embodiments of the invention B, the reference rule modes include, but are not limited to, filtering, replacing, and adding.

[0209] Taking area clipping as an example, this reference rule stipulates that only entities within a certain area can be displayed. Therefore, this reference rule records a series of two-dimensional points and a coordinate transformation matrix. After reading this reference rule, the CAD drawing system software will determine whether the entity's outer area is within this area. Entities that are not in the area will not be displayed.

[0210] The following is an example of a reference rule file, in XML format, showing three reference rule modes: layer display, region clipping, and graphic filtering:

[0211]

[0212] First, in the Layers node, the filtered layer name "Section Line" is recorded. If the referenced drawing contains a layer named "Section Line", the entities on this layer will not be imported.

[0213] Secondly, the point location information of the reserved area is recorded in the node ReservedArea. All entities outside the reserved area in the referenced drawing will not be introduced.

[0214] Again, the conditions used when filtering graphics are recorded under the node Filters, and each condition is a Filter node. Here is a specific Filter, which means that when the value of the attribute (color) of the AcDbCircle type entity (circle) numbered 1302 is equal to (Operator is 0) -1073741824; (that is, BYLAYER), it will not be introduced.

[0215] In traditional CAD, data such as clipping areas and hidden layers set for external references are stored in dwg drawings. Any addition of new functions will lead to changes in the drawing file format. Files such as dwg drawings, which are widely circulated, will not be easily modified. Therefore, it is difficult to expand these existing functions.

[0216] In addition, the management and dissemination of traditional CAD drawings are highly dependent on the personal qualities of personnel. Dividing a drawing into multiple files can easily lead to file loss or confusion. Therefore, traditional CAD stores external reference setting data in dwg drawings.

[0217] However, the invention B stores all dwg drawing files and XML reference rule files in the same CAD collaborative software system and archives them in the CAD collaborative software system. Since the CAD collaborative software system regulates the use of dwg drawing files and XML reference rule files by users, the management of files can be tracked by historical records, and the dissemination of files can be expanded by project management. Therefore, the technical solution of the independent reference rule files adopted by the invention B will not be affected by personnel management errors.

[0218] B. Invention Example 2

[0219] Let's take an example to illustrate how invention B works. In this engineering project B200, the upstream specialty is architecture, and the downstream specialty is water supply and drainage. Engineers specializing in water supply and drainage need to make a water supply and drainage design for the bathroom and kitchen in the drawings provided by the architecture specialty (for the convenience of demonstration, the pipe design is not shown in the example below, and a washing machine, sink, and stove are used instead). In the building, there is a drawing "Standard Floor.dwx" B202. This drawing only has architectural information, including room layout, room functions, etc. (for example, dining room, kitchen, living room, bedroom, bathroom, stairwell), such as Figure 6 shown.

[0220] When the water supply and drainage engineer draws the water supply and drainage diagram, he first creates a drawing B204 of "Bathroom.dwx" in the first-level directory (electrical, water supply and drainage, architecture, HVAC and reference rules are all in the first-level directory). Figure 7 "New drawing"), and import drawing "Standard layer.dwx" B202 (such as Figure 8 As shown in the figure – for easy distinction, the standard floor numbered B202a under the building and the standard floor numbered B202b under the bathroom drawing). Find the location of the bathroom B206 and draw entity B208 in it (as shown in the figure). Fig. 9 ), and save and close.

[0221] In the water supply and drainage drawing directory, create a drawing named "Kitchen.dwx" B210 and import the drawing "Standard Layer.dwx" B202. Find the location of the kitchen B212 and draw entity B214 in it, such as Fig.10 as shown, and save and close.

[0222] The next step is to make the general drawing. Because the annotation information is already in "Standard Layer.dwx" B202, it is necessary to remove the annotation information from "Standard Layer.dwx" B202 in the water supply and drainage drawing.

[0223] First, create a general reference rule file B216 to filter the annotation information from the "Standard Layer.dwx" B202 in the water supply and drainage drawings, and only keep the useful entities (such as sinks, toilets, etc.) B208 and B214. For example, with "Bathroom.dwx" B204 as the base map, select the file, right-click, and select "New Reference Rule" B216 in the pop-up menu (such as Fig.11 Click "Filter Graphics", set reasonable parameters in the "Exclude Object Selection" dialog box, remove all annotations, and only leave the water supply and drainage entities (for example, sinks, toilets, etc.), and save the file "Water Supply and Drainage.drf" B218 (as shown in the figure below). Fig.12 shown).

[0224] Create "General Plan.dwx" B220, import "Standard Floor.dwx" B202, and then import "Bathroom.dwx" B204 and "Kitchen.dwx" B210. When referencing the latter two files, specify the reference rule file as "Water Supply and Drainage.drf" B218, such as Fig.13 shown. Fig.14 It shows that according to the reference rule file "Water Supply and Drainage.drf" B218, "General Drawing.dwx" B220 only retains useful water supply and drainage entities (for example, sinks, toilets, etc.) when introducing "Bathroom.dwx" B204 and "Kitchen.dwx" B210, and removes other annotation information in the water supply and drainage drawings brought from "Standard Layer.dwx" B202.

[0225] In some embodiments of the method for referencing external files in the CAD graphics system of the invention B, the reference rule file is an XML file, which is extensible, easy to save and disseminate, and independent of the drawing file. When referencing a drawing, any reference rule file can be specified without repeatedly setting the reference rules, which greatly improves work efficiency and ensures correctness. It is no longer limited to the limitations of the external reference function of CAD and will not affect the original drawing file.

[0226] The XML format is used for the reference rule file mainly because of the inherent reliability and scalability of the XML format, and the technology for parsing and generating XML format files is very mature and has low maintenance costs. However, since the rule file in the B invention is independent, any other file format can be used, not limited to the XML format.

[0227] B. Invention Example 3

[0228] Based on the method for referencing external files in a CAD system of the first embodiment, the invention B also provides an external file referencing device B300 applied to a CAD system, which will be described below in conjunction with specific drawings and embodiments.

[0229] See also Fig.15 , is a functional module diagram of an embodiment of an external file reference device applied to a CAD system according to B's invention. Specifically, the external file reference device B300 of this embodiment includes:

[0230] The reference rule file generation module B301 is used to generate at least one reference rule file independent of the referenced file according to at least one reference condition added by the referenced file, and store it independently of the referenced file in an extensible format; the first storage module B302 is used to store the reference rule file generated by the above-mentioned reference rule file generation module B301; the first reference module B303 is used to reference the corresponding referenced file according to the selected reference rule file.

[0231] .Since a CAD drawing project is usually completed by multiple disciplines in collaboration, and each discipline needs to view different objects in the referenced file, once the current user introduces a referenced file (specifically, introduces other CAD drawings in the form of external references, or introduces external files such as blocks, Excel tables or pictures by insertion or other methods), the current user may add at least one reference condition to the referenced file according to his or her actual needs (specifically, the reference condition includes a hide layer operation instruction, a crop area operation instruction, and / or a filter drawing operation instruction) to complete the reference to the referenced file, such as hiding certain objects in the referenced file (for example, hiding the annotation information related to the basic building), or changing the characteristics of certain objects (such as color changes or line width adjustments, etc.).

[0232] However, in order to avoid storing the at least one reference condition added by the current user together with the referenced file, in this embodiment, the at least one reference condition added to the referenced file is stored separately to make it independent of the referenced file, that is, the reference rule file generation module B301 obtains the at least one reference condition added by the current user for the referenced file, and generates at least one reference rule file based on the at least one reference condition, and stores it in the above-mentioned first storage module B302 in an extensible file format to make it independent of the referenced file.

[0233] In a specific embodiment, the drawing filtering operation instruction is a custom reference condition added based on each element type and its characteristics in the referenced file (see Fig. 20 ), that is, the user can select the objects in the referenced file that need to be hidden (i.e., filtered) or the objects that need to be referenced in a changed manner according to actual needs, and then select the corresponding reference method, for example, select an entity, and then choose to change the color of the entity to red, etc.; or, select an entity, and then choose to hide the entity; or, select an entity, and then hide all elements except the entity and only display the entity. Specifically, the objects include various elements contained in the referenced file, and their types are varied, such as the walls, stoves, sinks, company logos, and tabulation instructions in a CAD drawing "Kitchen.dwx", as well as annotations such as size, model, or function; of course, other types can also be included.

[0234] In a specific embodiment, the storage module B302 is only used to store the reference rule file generated by the reference rule file generation module B301, and the reference rule file is stored in XML format.

[0235] In this embodiment, the referenced file may be pre-associated with at least one reference rule file, or may not be pre-associated with any reference rule file. Therefore, in another specific embodiment, the storage module B302 is not only used to store the reference rule file generated by the reference rule file generation module B301, but also used to store at least one reference rule file set by other users that is pre-associated with the referenced file when the referenced file is introduced; of course, further, the storage module B302 can also be used to store the referenced file at the same time, but the referenced file and the reference rule file are partitioned for storage, thereby ensuring independent storage between the two.

[0236] In a specific embodiment, once the current user selects a reference rule file, the reference module B303 references the corresponding referenced file according to the selected reference rule file. The selected reference rule file may be generated by the reference rule file generation module B301 according to the reference conditions added by the current user, or may be generated in advance by the reference rule file generation module of the corresponding device of other users according to the reference conditions added by other users, and then introduced by the current user together with the referenced file through the CAD system.

[0237] The reference device of this embodiment can also be integrated into a CAD system, that is, as a sub-function application of the CAD system.

[0238] B. Invention Example 4

[0239] Invention B also provides another method for referencing external files in a CAD system, which is described in detail below with reference to specific embodiments and drawings.

[0240] See also Fig.16 , which is a flowchart of another embodiment of a method for referencing an external file in a CAD system invented by B. Specifically, the method for referencing in this embodiment includes the steps of:

[0241] BS41, obtain at least one reference rule file that is pre-associated with the referenced file.

[0242] Since a project is usually completed by collaboration among multiple disciplines, in the actual process, the current user usually imports a referenced file, and the referenced file has been pre-associated with at least one reference rule file. Therefore, when the current user imports the referenced file, the reference rule file associated with the referenced file will also be imported at the same time.

[0243] In a specific embodiment, at least one reference rule file pre-associated with the referenced file is generated in advance based on at least one reference condition added to the referenced file by other users, and is stored independently of the referenced file in an extensible file format. Specifically, the reference rule file is stored in XML format, and when the current user introduces the referenced file, the reference rule file associated with the referenced file will also be introduced at the same time.

[0244] In a specific embodiment, the referenced file may be other CAD drawings introduced in the form of external references, or may be external files such as blocks, Excel tables or pictures introduced in the form of insertion or other methods, and the reference condition includes a hiding layer operation instruction, a cropping area operation instruction, and a drawing filtering operation instruction, wherein the drawing filtering operation instruction is a custom reference condition added based on each element type and its characteristics in the referenced file ( Fig. 20 ).

[0245] In a specific embodiment, the reference condition includes a hidden layer operation instruction, a crop region operation instruction, and / or a drawing filter operation instruction. The drawing filter operation instruction is a custom reference condition added based on each object type and its characteristics in the referenced file. Fig. 20 ), that is, the user can select the objects in the referenced file that need to be hidden (i.e., filtered) or the objects that need to be referenced in a changed manner according to actual needs, and then select the corresponding reference method, for example, select an entity, and then choose to change the color of the entity to red, etc., or select an entity, and then choose to hide the entity; or select an entity, and then hide all elements except the entity and only display the entity. Specifically, the objects include various elements contained in the referenced file, and their types are varied, such as the walls, stoves, sinks, company logos, and tabulation instructions in a CAD drawing "Kitchen.dwx", as well as annotations such as size, model, or function; of course, other types can also be included.

[0246] BS42, references the corresponding referenced file according to the selected at least one reference rule file.

[0247] Usually, if there is no special need, sometimes the current user can directly apply at least one reference rule file that has been previously associated with the referenced file, without adding new reference conditions to form a new reference rule file. Therefore, in this embodiment, once the current user selects at least one reference rule file that has been previously associated with the referenced file, the referenced file can be directly referenced according to the selected reference rule file.

[0248] B. Invention Example 5

[0249] Based on the reference method of Example 4, Invention B also provides an external file reference device applied to a CAD system, which is described below in conjunction with specific drawings and embodiments.

[0250] See also Fig.17 , which is a functional module diagram of another embodiment of an external file reference device applied to a CAD system, in particular, the external file reference device B500 in this embodiment includes:

[0251] The reference rule file acquisition module B501 is used to acquire at least one reference rule file associated with the referenced file;

[0252] The second quoting module B502 is used to quote the quoted file according to the selected at least one quoting rule file.

[0253] Since a project is usually completed by collaboration among multiple disciplines, in the actual process, the current user usually introduces a referenced file through the CAD system, and the referenced file is pre-associated with at least one reference rule file, that is, when the current user introduces the referenced file, the reference rule file that has been pre-associated with the referenced file is also introduced and stored in the CAD system; therefore, when the current user introduces the referenced file, the reference rule file that has been pre-associated with the referenced file is obtained through the reference rule file acquisition module B501; and when the current user selects the corresponding reference rule file through the corresponding operation, the second reference module B502 references the referenced file according to the selected reference rule file.

[0254] In a specific embodiment, the reference rule file is generated in advance based on at least one reference condition added to the referenced file by other users, and is stored independently of the referenced file in an extensible file format. Specifically, the reference rule file is stored in XML format.

[0255] In a specific embodiment, the referenced file may be other CAD drawings introduced in the form of external references, or may be external files such as blocks, Excel tables or pictures introduced in the form of insertion or other methods, and the reference condition includes a hiding layer operation instruction, a cropping area operation instruction, and a drawing filtering operation instruction, wherein the drawing filtering operation instruction is a custom reference condition added based on each element type and its characteristics in the referenced file ( Fig. 20 ).

[0256] In a specific embodiment, the reference condition includes a hidden layer operation instruction, a crop region operation instruction, and / or a drawing filter operation instruction. The drawing filter operation instruction is a custom reference condition added based on each object type and its characteristics in the referenced file. Fig. 20), that is, the user can select the objects in the referenced file that need to be hidden (i.e., filtered) or the objects that need to be referenced in a changed manner according to actual needs, and then select the corresponding reference method, for example, select an entity, and then choose to change the color of the entity to red, etc.; or, select an entity, and then choose to hide the entity; or, select an entity, and then hide all elements except the entity and only display the entity. Specifically, the objects include various elements contained in the referenced file, and their types are varied, such as the walls, stoves, sinks, company logos, and tabulation instructions in a CAD drawing "Kitchen.dwx", as well as annotations such as size, model, or function; of course, other types can also be included.

[0257] In this embodiment, the storage module and the storage module in the above-mentioned embodiment 3 may be the same storage medium or different storage media; accordingly, the reference module in this embodiment is the same as the reference module in the above-mentioned embodiment 3.

[0258] Of course, the reference device of this embodiment can also be integrated into the CAD system, that is, as a sub-function application of the CAD system.

[0259] B. Invention Example 6

[0260] Invention B also provides a computer-readable storage medium. In this embodiment, the computer-readable storage medium can be a RAM memory, a flash memory, a ROM memory, an EPROM memory, an EEPROM memory, a register, a hard disk, a mobile hard disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art.

[0261] The computer-readable storage medium stores one or more programs, and the one or more programs can be executed by one or more processors to implement part or all of the steps in the above-mentioned embodiment 1 or the above-mentioned embodiment 3.

[0262] A computer-readable storage medium in this embodiment stores one or more external file reference programs to generate at least one reference rule file according to the reference rule file added to the referenced file, and store it in an extensible file format independently of the referenced file. Compared with the traditional method of storing the reference rules in the form of binary data in the dwg drawing file and closely integrating it with the drawing data, in this embodiment, when introducing the referenced file, any reference rule file can be specified according to actual needs, without repeatedly setting the reference conditions, which greatly improves work efficiency and ensures correctness; further, since the reference rule file is independent of the referenced file, in addition to the traditional layer filtering and clipping area filtering methods, a new reference method for graphic filtering can be added, so that the objects to be filtered and their filtering methods can be quickly selected according to the object types and characteristics in the drawing.

[0263] B. Invention Example 7

[0264] The implementation of the above-mentioned various embodiments of the invention B is based on a computer terminal B600, which can be implemented in various forms. For example, mobile computer terminals such as mobile phones, tablet computers, laptop computers, and handheld computers, as well as fixed computer terminals such as digital TVs and desktop computers. In the description of this embodiment, a desktop computer will be used as an example for explanation, and those skilled in the art will understand that the structure according to the implementation of the invention B can also be applied to mobile computer terminals.

[0265] See also Fig.18 , is a schematic diagram of the hardware structure of a computer terminal invented by B. The computer terminal B600 may include: a display unit B601, a user input unit B602, a memory B603, a processor B604, a computer-readable storage medium B605 and other components. Those skilled in the art can understand that Fig.18 The computer terminal structure shown in the figure does not constitute a limitation on the computer terminal. The computer terminal may include more or fewer components than shown in the figure, or combine certain components, or arrange the components differently.

[0266] Combine the following Fig.14 and Fig.15 The following is a detailed introduction to the various components of the computer terminal B700:

[0267] The display unit B701 is used to display information input by the user or information provided to the user. The display unit B701 may include a display panel, which may be configured in the form of a liquid crystal display (LCD), an organic light-emitting diode (OLED), etc.

[0268] The user input unit B702 may be used to receive input digital or character information, and to generate key signal input related to user settings and function control of the electronic device. Specifically, the user input unit B702 may include a keyboard, a mouse, and other input devices, such as a touch panel. The user input unit B702 may also include other input devices, such as one or more of function keys (such as volume control keys, switch keys, etc.), trackballs, joysticks, etc., which are not specifically limited here.

[0269] Furthermore, if a touch panel is used as an input unit, it can cover the display panel. When the touch panel detects a touch operation on or near it, it is transmitted to the processor B704 to determine the type of touch event. Then the processor B704 provides corresponding visual output on the display panel B701 according to the type of touch event. Fig.19 In the figure, the touch panel and the display panel B701 are two independent components to realize the input and output functions of the mobile computer terminal B700, but in some embodiments, the touch panel and the display panel B701 can be integrated to realize the input and output functions of a desktop computer, which is not limited here.

[0270] The memory B703 is used to store software programs and various data. The memory B703 may mainly include a program storage area and a data storage area, wherein the program storage area may store an operating system, an application required for at least one function (e.g., a CAD application), etc.; the data storage area may store data created according to the use of the computer device (e.g., audio data, drawing data, reference rule files), etc. In addition, the memory B703 may include a high-speed random access memory, and may also include a non-volatile memory, such as at least one disk storage device, a flash memory device, or other volatile solid-state storage devices.

[0271] See also Fig.18 and Fig.19 In a specific embodiment, the computer-readable storage medium is a part of the memory, such as a program storage area. Of course, it can also be used as a storage unit alone, and the computer-readable storage medium includes a set of instructions. When at least one processor executes the set of instructions, it causes at least one processor to perform the following operations: generating at least one reference rule file independent of the referenced file according to at least one reference condition added by the referenced file, and storing it in an extensible format independently of the referenced file; and referencing the referenced file according to at least one selected reference rule file.

[0272] The processor B704 is the control center of the electronic device, which uses various interfaces and lines to connect various parts of the entire electronic device, and executes various functions of the computer and processes data by running or executing software programs and / or modules stored in the memory B704, and calling data stored in the memory B703, thereby monitoring the computer as a whole. The processor B704 may include one or more processing units; preferably, the processor B704 may integrate an application processor, which mainly processes the operating system, user interface, and application programs.

[0273] although Fig.18 and Fig.19 Not shown, the computer terminal B700 may also include a communication module, etc., which will not be described in detail here.

[0274] It should be noted that, in this article, the terms "include", "comprises" or any other variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, so that a process, method, article or device including a series of elements includes not only those elements, but also other elements not explicitly listed, or also includes elements inherent to such process, method, article or device. In the absence of further restrictions, an element defined by the sentence "comprises a ..." does not exclude the existence of other identical elements in the process, method, article or device including the element.

[0275] Through the description of the above implementation methods, those skilled in the art can clearly understand that the above-mentioned embodiment methods can be implemented by means of software plus a necessary general hardware platform, and of course by hardware, but in many cases the former is a better implementation method. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the invention B, or the part that contributes to the prior art, can be embodied in the form of a software product, which is stored in a storage medium (such as ROM / RAM, magnetic disk, optical disk), and includes a number of instructions for a computer terminal (which can be a mobile phone, computer, server, or network device, etc.) to execute the methods described in each embodiment of the invention B.

[0276] The embodiments of the invention B are described above in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, but the invention B is not limited to the above-mentioned specific implementation modes, which are merely illustrative and not restrictive. Under the inspiration of the invention B, ordinary technicians in this field can make many forms without departing from the scope of protection of the invention B and the claims, all of which are within the protection of the invention B.

[0277] C Invention: Hierarchical operating system, method, computer-readable storage medium and computer terminal referenced by CAD system

[0278] C invention relates to a hierarchical operation method referenced by a computer-aided design (CAD) system and its system, computer-readable storage medium, and terminal.

[0279] External Reference (XREF) means that in the CAD environment, users can use external references to see any other drawings in their current drawing file. For example, when designer A is drawing drawing a, he introduces a drawing b (or other formats, such as PDF or pictures, etc.) drawn by other designers into drawing a as a base map reference in the form of external reference. Among them, drawing b is the external file referenced by drawing a, that is, the external reference.

[0280] Collaborative design is a way of designing a project by collaborating on a shared server platform and using the external reference function of the CAD system. The files in the design process are split into several module files according to the design requirements of different disciplines and then assembled. In other words, multiple people in multiple locations work together to design a project. In the collaborative design process, designers of different disciplines will reference CAD drawings drawn by other designers, which results in various reference relationships. For example, when designer A draws drawing a, he uses drawing b drawn by designer B as a base map reference, and designer B's drawing b also references drawing c drawn by designer C, which forms a nested reference relationship.

[0281] However, designers of different professions often focus on different areas. Therefore, when there are complex reference relationships, the reference type can be specified as "overlay" or "attachment".

[0282] If the user selects "Overlay", then other external references nested in the external references referenced in the current drawing will not be displayed in the current drawing. For example, when designer A draws drawing a, he references drawing b and selects "Overlay reference", then the external reference c nested in drawing b will not be displayed in the current drawing a.

[0283] If the user selects "Additional Reference", then other external references nested in the external reference referenced in the current drawing will also be displayed in the current drawing. For example, when designer A draws drawing a, he references drawing b and selects "Additional Reference", then drawing a will display drawing b and the external reference drawing c nested in drawing b.

[0284] In actual engineering applications, once the type of external reference is specified, it is difficult to change the reference relationship between the external reference and other nested external references. For example, drawing b uses the "overlay" reference method to reference drawing c and the "additional" reference method to reference drawing d, and drawing a specifies the reference type of drawing b as "additional". At this time, drawing a displays both drawings b and drawing d, but drawing c is not displayed. If you want to display drawing c later, you can only start from the beginning, that is, first change the reference method of drawing b to reference drawing c (that is, change it to "additional"), and then reintroduce external reference b into drawing a.

[0285] Similarly, if you do not want to display drawing d later, you can only start from the beginning, that is, first change the reference method of drawing b to drawing d (that is, change it to "overlay type"), and then reintroduce external reference b into drawing a. Therefore, in traditional CAD systems, the operation of changing the reference type is very cumbersome and not flexible enough. In addition, the user of the current drawing may not have the necessary authority to change the reference method of the drawing he has selected for reference to other drawings - for example, when a HVAC engineer refers to a water supply and drainage drawing, he may not have the authority to change the reference method of the water supply and drainage drawing to the architectural drawing (the authority at this time belongs to the water supply and drainage engineer).

[0286] On the other hand, in a reference relationship with multiple levels of nested references, a file usually repeatedly references an external reference, such as drawing a repeatedly references two external reference drawings b, and drawing b references drawing c. Once drawing b is detached or uninstalled, the two drawings b repeatedly referenced in drawing a and drawing c in it will disappear, that is, each external reference cannot be operated independently, which has poor flexibility, is inconvenient for users to operate, and reduces work efficiency.

[0287] The purpose of the invention is to provide a new type of CAD system reference method, which can overcome or alleviate the above-mentioned defects of the external reference method in the existing CAD system to a certain extent.

[0288] In order to achieve the above-mentioned purpose, C invention discloses a hierarchical operating system referenced by a CAD system, characterized in that it includes: a first file, containing at least one first element; a second file, containing at least one second element; the at least one first element is copied and superimposed into the second file; the at least one first element is associated with a first control point, and independent operation of the at least one first element can be achieved through the first control point.

[0289] Furthermore, the at least one second element is associated with a second control point, and independent operation on the at least one second element can be achieved through the second control point.

[0290] Further, the at least one first element and the at least one second element are both copied and superimposed into the third file.

[0291] Further, the first control point is set as a sub-control point of the second control point, and the second control point can be used to implement simultaneous operations on (i) the at least one second element and (ii) the at least one first element associated with the first control point.

[0292] Further, the at least one first element and the at least one second element are both copied and superimposed into the third file.

[0293] Furthermore, it also includes a fourth file, which contains at least one fourth element, and the at least one fourth element is copied and superimposed on the second file. The at least one fourth element is associated with a fourth control point, and the at least one fourth element can be independently operated through the fourth control point.

[0294] Furthermore, the first file and the fourth file are the same CAD drawing.

[0295] Further, the at least one first element is also directly associated with the second control point, and the at least one first element and the at least one second element can be operated simultaneously through the second control point. Further, the operation is display, hide, bind, detach, overload or unload. Further, the at least one first element and the at least one second element are entities, objects, blocks and / or groups on the CAD drawing.

[0296] In order to overcome and alleviate the defects of the external reference method in the existing CAD system, C invention also discloses a hierarchical operation method referenced by the CAD system, characterized in that it includes the following steps: obtaining at least one first element from a first file; creating a first control point, associated with the at least one first element; copying and superimposing the at least one first element into a second file; and independently operating the at least one first element through the first control point.

[0297] Furthermore, the method also includes the following steps: obtaining at least one second element from a second file; creating a second control point associated with the at least one second element; copying and superimposing the at least one first element and the at least one second element into a third file; and independently operating the at least one second element through the second control point.

[0298] Furthermore, the method further includes the following steps: setting the first control point as a sub-control point of the second control point, and simultaneously operating (i) the at least one second element and (ii) the at least one first element associated with the first control point through the second control point.

[0299] Furthermore, the method also includes the following steps: obtaining at least one fourth element from a fourth file; creating a fourth control point associated with the at least one fourth element; copying and superimposing the at least one fourth element into the second file; and independently operating the at least one fourth element through the fourth control point.

[0300] Further, the first file and the fourth file are the same CAD drawing. Further, the steps are further included: directly associating the at least one first element with the second control point; and simultaneously operating the at least one first element and the at least one second element through the second control point. Further, the operation is display, hide, bind, detach, reload or unload. Further, the at least one first element is an entity, object, block and / or group on the CAD drawing.

[0301] In order to overcome and alleviate the defects of the external reference method in the existing CAD system, C invention also discloses a hierarchical operating system referenced by the CAD system, characterized in that it includes: a file storage module for storing a first file and a second file; an element acquisition module for acquiring at least one first element from the first file; a control point creation module for creating a first control point and associating it with the at least one first element; a copy and overlay module for copying and overlaying the at least one first element into the second file; and a control point operation module for independently operating the at least one first element associated with the first control point.

[0302] Furthermore, the element acquisition module acquires at least one second element from the second file; the control point creation module creates a second control point and associates it with the at least one second element; the copy and overlay module copies and overlays the at least one first element and the at least one second element into a third file, and the third file is stored in the file storage module; the control point operation module independently operates the at least one second element associated with the second control point.

[0303] Furthermore, the C invention also includes: a control point hierarchy construction module, used to set the first control point as a sub-control point of the second control point; the control point operation module realizes simultaneous operation of (i) the at least one second element and (ii) the at least one first element associated with the first control point by operating the second control point.

[0304] Furthermore, the element acquisition module acquires at least one fourth element from a fourth file, and the fourth file is stored in the file storage module; the control point creation module creates a fourth control point and associates it with the at least one fourth element; the copy and overlay module copies and overlays the at least one fourth element into the second file; and the control point operation module independently operates the at least one fourth element by operating the fourth control point.

[0305] Further, the first file and the fourth file are the same CAD drawing. Further, the invention C also includes: the control point creation module directly associates the at least one first element with the second control point; the control point operation module simultaneously operates the at least one first element and the at least one second element by operating the second control point. Further, the control point operation module can realize display, hiding, binding, detaching, overloading and / or unloading. Further, the at least one first element is an entity, object, block and / or group on the CAD drawing.

[0306] In order to overcome and alleviate the defects of the external reference method in the existing CAD system, C invention also discloses a computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that the computer-readable storage medium includes a set of instructions, which, when executed, cause at least one processor to perform the following operations: obtaining at least one first element from a first file; creating a first control point associated with the at least one first element; copying and superimposing the at least one first element into a second file; and independently operating the at least one first element through the first control point.

[0307] In order to overcome and alleviate the defects of the external reference method in the existing CAD system, C invention also discloses a computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that it includes at least one processor and a computer-readable storage medium coupled to the processor, wherein the computer-readable storage medium includes a set of instructions, and when at least one processor executes the instructions, it causes at least one processor to perform the following operations: obtaining at least one first element from a first file; creating a first control point; associating with the at least one first element, copying and superimposing the at least one first element into a second file; and independently operating the at least one first element through the first control point.

[0308] In order to make the purpose, technical solution and advantages of the embodiment of the invention C clearer, the technical solution in the embodiment of the invention C will be described clearly and completely in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiment of the invention C. Obviously, the described embodiment is a part of the embodiment of the invention C, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiment of the invention C, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of the invention C.

[0309] C. Invention Example 1

[0310] Take the steps of invention C as an example. A, B, and C work together to draw the drawings for their respective tasks. A needs to refer to B's content when drawing, and B needs to refer to C's content. A may not need to see C's content. The steps are as follows:

[0311] C draws the graphics (C106) and submits it to the server;

[0312] B downloads C's drawing (C106), and refers to C when drawing his own drawing (C104). The content of C (C106) will be copied and superimposed on B (C104).

[0313] A downloads B's drawing (C104), and when drawing his own drawing (C102), he refers to B (C104). The content of B (C104) will be copied and superimposed on A (C102).

[0314] At this point, there is a nested relationship from A to B and then to C (Figure 21(a));

[0315] If A needs to see the content of C (C106), he can choose to expand the sub-references of B. C will copy the content of C (C106) and overlay it on A (C102). In this way, A (C102) can see the content of B (C104) and C (C106) at the same time.

[0316] If A does not need to see C (C106), he chooses to close the sub-reference of B, and C will delete the copy of C, so that A only sees the content of B (C104).

[0317] A (C108) can reference multiple copies of B (Figure 21 (b)), set as B1 (C110) and B2 (C114). Closing the child C1 (C112) of B1 (C110) or closing B1 (C110) itself will not affect the content display of B2 (C114) and / or its child C2 (C116). This achieves a flexible display effect of multiple referenced contents without interfering with each other.

[0318] C. Embodiment 2 of the invention

[0319] Let's simulate a usage scenario. The current working drawing is a.dwx (C400). We refer to two b.dwx (C300a and C300b) at different locations. The b.dwx file also refers to c.dwx (C200). The content of c is as follows: Figure 2 The figure shown is a graph c (C202); the content of b is as follows Fig.23 The content of c plus the graphic b (C302) is shown; the content of a is as follows Fig.24The contents of two b are added to the figure a (C402), forming Fig.25 As shown in the tree relationship C500, when the CAD user temporarily does not want to see the content of one of the copies c (C202b), he can issue a command to the collaborative system to close the reference, and then the specified copy c (C202b) will disappear, and the content of a will become as follows Fig.26 The content of b can also be closed. Each level can be controlled, and each reference can be controlled independently. The effect of closing b (C300a) after closing c (C202b) is as follows: Fig. 27 shown.

[0320] In some embodiments, independent control is achieved through control points - for example, c(C202b) is associated with a control point, and this control point can achieve independent control of this set of elements by adding a unique tag to the elements in c.dwx(C200), or by extracting the common attributes of the elements in c.dwx(C200) (for example, all from the drawing c.dwx(C200)). In addition to the above two methods, other common control methods in CAD systems can also be applied in the C invention and fall within the scope covered by the C invention.

[0321] C. Invention Example 3

[0322] In some embodiments, the invention C discloses a hierarchical display system referenced by a CAD graphics system, including: a first CAD drawing (e.g., a HVAC drawing); a second CAD drawing (e.g., an electrical drawing), the second CAD drawing is referenced by the first CAD drawing, the content of the second CAD drawing is copied and superimposed on the first CAD drawing, and can be displayed or hidden; a third CAD drawing (e.g., an architectural drawing), the third CAD drawing is referenced by the second CAD drawing, the content of the third CAD drawing is copied and superimposed on the second CAD drawing, and can be displayed or hidden; the first CAD drawing references the second CAD drawing and indirectly references the third CAD drawing (i.e., forming a so-called nested relationship), the content of the third CAD drawing is also copied and superimposed on the first CAD drawing, and can also be displayed or hidden. In these embodiments, the invention C does not need to reinsert the reference, and can display and close the reference by simply clicking on the operation interface, without limiting the top-level reference to be operated, and the operation of each reference is independent, and the references to the same source reference can be controlled separately.

[0323] C. Invention Example 4

[0324] In some embodiments, invention C discloses a hierarchical operating system referenced by a CAD system, characterized in that it includes: a first file, containing at least one first element; a second file, containing at least one second element; the at least one first element is copied and superimposed into the second file; the at least one first element is associated with a first control point, and independent operation of the at least one first element can be achieved through the first control point.

[0325] The difference between the C invention and the existing CAD drawing platform is that the content of the referenced CAD drawing (i.e., the "first file") (i.e., various CAD elements, such as entities, objects, blocks, and groups) is copied and superimposed on the current CAD drawing (i.e., the "second file"), and the copied and superimposed content is associated with the first control point, so it can be directly controlled by the user who edits the current CAD drawing - for example, one or more first elements extracted from the first file (for example, the drawing drawn by the construction engineer is the first file, and there are building walls on the drawing) can be displayed on the drawing drawn by the water supply and drainage engineer (the second file) through the first control point, or the building walls can be completely hidden.

[0326] Further, in some embodiments, one or more second elements (e.g., pipes, sinks) on the second file (e.g., water supply and drainage drawings) are associated with the second control point, and the water supply and drainage engineer can also control the one or more second elements through the second control point (display or hide water supply and drainage entities such as pipes and sinks). In this embodiment, because the first element (e.g., building entity) and the second element (e.g., water supply and drainage entity) on the second file are controlled by different control points, when the water supply and drainage engineer controls the display or hiding of the first element through the first control point, the second element on the second file is not affected. Similarly, when the water supply and drainage engineer controls the display or hiding of the second element through the second control point, the first element copied and superimposed on the second file is also unaffected. In other words, through the control point, the water supply and drainage engineer who draws the current CAD drawing can independently control and operate the water supply and drainage entities and / or objects drawn by himself, and can also independently control and operate the building entities and / or objects copied and superimposed from the building CAD drawing.

[0327] Further, in some embodiments, the first element (eg, architectural entity and / or object) and the second element (eg, water supply and drainage entity and / or object) are both copied and superimposed into a third file (eg, electrical CAD drawing).

[0328] As mentioned above, in the prior art, after CAD drawings are stacked and nested, it is very troublesome to switch between displaying the first element (i.e., selecting an additional reference between the first file and the second file) and hiding the first element (i.e., selecting an overlay reference between the first file and the second file). The reference type between the first file and the second file must be reset, and downstream engineers (e.g., electrical engineers in this embodiment) often do not have the authority to modify the reference type set by water supply and drainage engineers. This type of problem is particularly difficult in collaborative drawing engineering projects, because there may be many levels of CAD drawings, far more than the three-level stacking described in the embodiment here.

[0329] However, in the embodiment of the invention of C, because the first element is associated with the first control point, it can be independently displayed or hidden by operating the first control point. Therefore, when the electrical engineer wants to view the building wall, the first element can be displayed through the first control point, and when the electrical engineer only wants to see the water supply and drainage pipes, sinks and other elements, the first element can be completely hidden through the second control point. This avoids the trouble of resetting the reference relationship between the building drawings and the water supply and drainage drawings in the prior art, and improves the work efficiency during collaborative work.

[0330] In some embodiments, the first control point can be set as a sub-control point of the second control point, so that the second control point can be used to simultaneously operate (i) the at least one second element and (ii) the at least one first element associated with the first control point. In these embodiments, when the downstream electrical engineer copies and overlays the second element in the second file into the third file through the second control point, the first element is also copied and overlaid into the third file at the same time; and the downstream electrical engineer can simultaneously operate the first element (e.g., building entity) and the second element (e.g., water supply and drainage entity) through the second control point to display or hide the first element and the second element at the same time. Of course, if the downstream electrical engineer only wants to hide the building entity, it can also be achieved by operating the first control point alone without causing any impact on the display of the water supply and drainage entity.

[0331] In some embodiments, the hierarchical operating system referenced by the CAD system of the invention of C also includes a fourth file (e.g., HVAC CAD drawing), the fourth file contains at least one fourth element (e.g., HVAC entities and objects), the at least one fourth element is copied and superimposed into the second file, the at least one fourth element is associated with a fourth control point, and the at least one fourth element can be independently operated through the fourth control point. In these embodiments, the water supply and drainage engineer can control and operate the building elements and HVAC elements respectively through the first control point and the fourth control point. In other embodiments, the fourth file and the first file are a CAD drawing file, then the water supply and drainage engineer can also display or hide the building elements in different positions through the first control point and the fourth control point. In other words, the same CAD drawing can be repeatedly copied and superimposed into the upper-level CAD drawing, and their individual operation and control can also be achieved.

[0332] In some embodiments, unlike setting the first control point as a sub-control point of the second control point, the first element in the first file can be directly associated with the second control point, and the simultaneous operation of the first element and the second element can also be achieved. In other words, in these embodiments, the second control point is associated with the first element and the second element at the same time. When the downstream electrical engineer needs to display or hide the building element and the water supply and drainage element at the same time, it only needs to operate the second control point to complete it. Of course, if the downstream electrical engineer only needs to hide the building element, then it can be achieved by operating the first control point alone. At this time, only the building element is hidden, and the water supply and drainage element will not be affected.

[0333] In some embodiments, the operations may include, in addition to display and hide, binding, detaching, reloading or unloading.

[0334] In some embodiments, the at least one first element and the at least one second element are entities, objects, blocks and / or groups on a CAD drawing.

[0335] C. Invention Example 5

[0336] In some embodiments, the invention discloses a hierarchical operation method referenced by a CAD system, characterized in that it includes the following steps: Fig.28 ):

[0337] CS101 obtains at least one first element from a first file,

[0338] CS102 creates a first control point associated with the at least one first element,

[0339] CS103 copies and superimposes the at least one first element into the second file,

[0340] CS104 independently operates the at least one first element through the first control point.

[0341] The difference between the C invention and the existing CAD drawing external reference method is that the content (i.e., various CAD elements, such as entities, objects, blocks, and groups) of the referenced CAD drawing (i.e., the "first file", such as the architectural CAD drawing) is copied and superimposed on the current CAD drawing (i.e., the "second file", such as the water supply and drainage CAD drawing). Moreover, the copied and superimposed content is associated with the first control point, so it can be directly controlled by the user who edits the current CAD drawing, that is, one or more first elements extracted from the first file (for example, the drawing drawn by the construction engineer is the first file, and there are building walls on the drawing) can be displayed on the drawing drawn by the water supply and drainage engineer (the second file) through the first control point, and the building walls can also be completely hidden.

[0342] In some embodiments, the operating method of the invention further comprises the following steps: Fig.29 ): CS105 obtains at least one second element from the second file; CS106 creates a second control point and associates it with the at least one second element; CS107 copies and overlays the at least one first element and the at least one second element into the third file; CS108 independently operates the at least one second element through the second control point.

[0343] In some embodiments, the operating method of the invention of C also includes the following steps: setting the first control point as a sub-control point of the second control point, and simultaneously operating (i) at least one second element and (ii) at least one first element associated with the first control point through the second control point.

[0344] In some embodiments, the operating method of the invention of C also includes the following steps: obtaining at least one fourth element from a fourth file; creating a fourth control point associated with the at least one fourth element; copying and superimposing the at least one fourth element into the second file; and independently operating the at least one fourth element through the fourth control point.

[0345] In some embodiments, the first file and the fourth file are the same CAD drawing. These embodiments actually reflect that a CAD file can be repeatedly referenced by another CAD file, but the CAD user can still achieve independent control over these multiple repeated references by setting different control points.

[0346] In some embodiments, the operation method of the invention of C further includes the following steps: directly associating the at least one first element with the second control point; and simultaneously operating the at least one first element and the at least one second element through the second control point. One of the applicable scenarios of these embodiments is that downstream HVAC engineers need to refer to both the building and electrical conditions when drawing, and do not need to look at the building or electrical layout separately. Therefore, the elements of the architectural drawings and the electrical drawings are associated with the same control point, that is, multiple levels of elements can be switched on and off simultaneously through one control, which can improve the efficiency of CAD users in drawing in this scenario.

[0347] In some embodiments, the operation is to display, hide, bind, detach, overload or unload. In some embodiments, the at least one first element is an entity, object, block and / or group on a CAD drawing.

[0348] C. Invention Example 6

[0349] In some embodiments, the invention discloses a hierarchical operating system C500 referenced by a CAD system, characterized in that it includes: a file storage module C501, used to store a first file and a second file; an element acquisition module C502, used to acquire at least one first element from the first file; a control point creation module C503, used to create a first control point and associate it with the at least one first element; a copy and overlay module C504, used to copy and overlay the at least one first element into the second file; a control point operation module C505, used to independently operate the at least one first element associated with the first control point. In some embodiments, these modules can be placed independently or integrated together.

[0350] In some embodiments, the element acquisition module C502 acquires at least one second element from the second file; the control point creation module C503 creates a second control point and associates it with the at least one second element; the copy and overlay module C504 copies and overlays the at least one first element and the at least one second element into a third file, and the third file is stored in the file storage module C501; the control point operation module C505 independently operates the at least one second element associated with the second control point.

[0351] In some embodiments, the operating system of the invention of C also includes: a control point hierarchy construction module C506, used to set the first control point as a child control point of the second control point; the control point operation module C505 realizes simultaneous operation of (i) the at least one second element and (ii) the at least one first element associated with the first control point by operating the second control point.

[0352] In some embodiments, the element acquisition module C502 acquires at least one fourth element from a fourth file, and the fourth file is stored in the file storage module C501; the control point creation module C503 creates a fourth control point and associates it with the at least one fourth element; the copy and overlay module C504 copies and overlays the at least one fourth element into the second file; and the control point operation module C505 independently operates the at least one fourth element by operating the fourth control point.

[0353] In some embodiments, the first file and the fourth file are the same CAD drawing.

[0354] In some embodiments, the control point creation module C503 directly associates the at least one first element with the second control point, and the control point operation module C505 simultaneously operates the at least one first element and the at least one second element by operating the second control point.

[0355] In some embodiments, the control point operation module C505 can realize display, hiding, binding, detaching, reloading and / or unloading. In some embodiments, the at least one first element is an entity, object, block and / or group on a CAD drawing.

[0356] C. Invention Example 6

[0357] In some embodiments, invention C discloses a computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that the computer-readable storage medium includes a set of instructions, which, when executed, cause at least one processor to perform operations including: obtaining at least one first element from a first file; creating a first control point associated with the at least one first element; copying and superimposing the at least one first element into a second file; and independently operating the at least one first element through the first control point.

[0358] C. Embodiment 7 of the invention

[0359] In some embodiments, invention C discloses a computer terminal, characterized in that it includes at least one processor and a computer-readable storage medium coupled to the processor, wherein the computer-readable storage medium includes a set of instructions, which, when executed by at least one processor, causes at least one processor to perform operations including the following: obtaining at least one first element from a first file; creating a first control point associated with the at least one first element; copying and superimposing the at least one first element into a second file; and independently operating the at least one first element through the first control point.

[0360] Through the above embodiments, it can be seen that the C invention has at least the following technical advantages:

[0361] 1. Convenient and fast: When it is necessary to display or hide the CAD elements of the external reference due to actual needs, engineers do not need to reinsert the reference (for example, convert between overlay type and append type), but can simply click the corresponding control point in the CAD collaborative system operation interface to display and close the referenced content.

[0362] Existing CAD drawing platforms usually use external references, so the nested reference type (overlay reference or additional reference) cannot be easily modified after adding. Whether you want to hide the nested reference (i.e., change from additional type to overlay type) or show the nested reference (i.e., change from overlay type to additional type), you must open the referenced drawing to adjust the reference method of the nested reference.

[0363] The difference between the C invention and the existing CAD drawing platform is that the content of the referenced CAD drawing is copied and superimposed on the current CAD drawing, and the copying and superimposition can be directly controlled by the user editing the current CAD drawing. Therefore, when the CAD drawings are superimposed layer by layer to form a nested relationship, the user editing the current CAD drawing can control the display or hiding of the nested content by deciding whether to perform the copying and superimposition operation between the CAD drawings.

[0364] 2. Hierarchical operation: You can still operate on nested references at any level. You are not restricted to operating on the top-level references, nor do you need to operate on the end node of the path (i.e. Fig.25 C2 (C200, C200a, C200b), also called "leaf nodes"), starts to close layer by layer upwards.

[0365] 3. Each reference operation is independent, and references to the same source reference can be controlled individually, which solves the problem of external reference mode that all can be turned on and off at one time.

[0366] 4. The C invention allows collaborative design to avoid the problem of circular references to a certain extent - a graphic that contains nested references pointing to itself is called a circular reference. For example, graphic A is attached to graphic B, graphic B is attached to graphic C, and graphic C is attached to graphic A. The reference sequence A>B>C>A is a circular reference. The external reference method in the existing CAD system cannot handle the problem of circular references well - the "overlay type" directly avoids the circular situation (because C will not be displayed), and the cycle will be interrupted in the "attachment type". In the C invention, because the drawings of each level are independently controlled, for example, A referenced by C can be closed independently, so even if C circularly references A, there will be no problem - for example, when the HVAC drawing references the water supply and drainage drawing, and the water supply and drainage drawing references the architectural drawing, if the architectural drawing then circularly references the HVAC drawing, it is only necessary to set a sub-control point that controls the HVAC drawing under the control point of the architectural drawing. Therefore, the C invention can accept circular reference relationships.

[0367] The embodiments of the invention C are described above in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, but the invention C is not limited to the above-mentioned specific implementation modes, which are merely illustrative and not restrictive. Under the inspiration of the invention C, ordinary technicians in this field can make many forms without departing from the purpose of the invention C and the scope of protection of the claims, all of which are within the protection of the invention C.

[0368] D invention: Method, system, computer-readable storage medium and computer terminal for viewing reference changes in CAD drawings in an editable environment

[0369] D invention relates to a method, system, computer-readable storage medium and computer terminal for viewing reference changes in a CAD drawing in an editable environment.

[0370] When multiple people work together to complete a project, they are not completely independent of each other. There will be reference relationships between them. They will do their own work based on the work results of others, and also provide references for the work of others. And a meaningful design result will not be formed in one go, but will be gradually improved after many modifications. The above situation will lead to an important step in collaborative work, which is to update the modifications of other people's CAD drawings (that is, reference files or reference files) to synchronize the latest results and ensure that the subsequent design work will not deviate. However, after the update, you will often find that a lot of content has been changed. If it affects your own work content, you need to accurately locate the corresponding modifications and modify your work to adapt to the current status, which will take a lot of energy and time.

[0371] Although the current traditional CAD drawing platforms are equipped with drawing comparison tools, users are required to save the old and new versions of CAD drawings, use the comparison tool to load the two versions of files, and then the differences between the two versions of CAD drawings will be displayed in the drawing area. Such drawing comparison tools have the following technical problems. In the process of collaborative drawing on the existing CAD drawing platform, reference to other people's CAD drawings is always made using external references (XREF for short). For example, A refers to B, and B is modified and saved as a new version B'. After A updates the reference to B, he can directly see the content of the latest version of B, that is, B', and the old version of B is no longer displayed; therefore, if A wants to see what changes have been made from B to B', he can only manually save an old version of B file for comparison every time he is prompted to update. The comparison process is to use a comparison tool to compare the old version of B and the new version of file B' (for example, the "DWG Compare" tool provided in AUTOCAD), but this comparison process is performed outside of A's own CAD drawing: for example, a new drawing will be formed in AUTOCAD, which contains the comparison results, and the name of the comparison image is a combination of the comparison drawing file names, that is, Compare_filename1 and filename2.dwg. Therefore, A cannot see the contents of his own CAD drawing at this time. Even if A finds that B's modification affects his own design, he can only write down the modification and then open his own CAD drawing to make the corresponding modification.

[0372] This traditional method of comparing referenced files to view modifications to referenced files makes it difficult to quickly find and locate the modified and updated content when updating the content of the referenced files. Each version of the referenced file needs to be maintained by itself, and when viewing changes in external referenced files, the content of the current CAD drawing cannot be seen, which is not conducive to the efficient development of collaborative work.

[0373] The purpose of the invention is to provide a new method for editing and viewing changes in a CAD system, attempting to overcome or alleviate to a certain extent the technical problem that editing and viewing changes cannot be performed simultaneously in the existing CAD system.

[0374] In order to achieve the above-mentioned purpose, D invention discloses a method for viewing reference changes in a CAD drawing in an editable environment, characterized in that it includes the following steps: DS101 obtains a first file and a second file; DS102 the first file references the second file, and superimposes the first element on the second file into the first file; DS103 obtains a third file; DS104 obtains the first changed element of the third file compared with the second file; and DS105 superimposes the first changed element into the first file.

[0375] Further, on the first file, the superimposed first element is displayed in a first display mode; and the superimposed first changed element is displayed in a second display mode.

[0376] Further, on the first file, 1) elements common to the second file and the third file are displayed in a first style; 2) elements existing only in the second file are displayed in a second style; and 3) elements existing only in the third file are displayed in a third style.

[0377] Furthermore, the D invention also includes: editing the first file, and drawing a second element on the first file.

[0378] Furthermore, the D invention also includes: DS106 obtains a fourth file; DS107 obtains a second change element of the fourth file compared with the third file; DS108 superimposes the second change element into the first file.

[0379] Furthermore, the superimposed second change element is displayed on the first file in a third display mode.

[0380] Furthermore, the first change element includes one or more of an added element, a deleted element, and a modified element.

[0381] Furthermore, the first change element is based on incremental data of the third file compared to the second file.

[0382] Furthermore, the second file and the third file are different versions of the same CAD drawing.

[0383] Furthermore, the invention also includes storing the first file, the second file, and the third file.

[0384] In order to overcome or alleviate the technical problem that editing and viewing changes cannot be performed simultaneously in the existing CAD system, the invention D also discloses a system D500 for viewing reference changes in a CAD drawing in an editable environment, characterized in that it includes: a file acquisition module D501, an element acquisition module D502, a copy and overlay module D504, and an update monitoring module D507; the file acquisition module D501 is configured to acquire a first file and a second file; the element acquisition module D502 is connected to the file acquisition module D501 and is configured to acquire a first element on the second file; the copy and overlay module D504 is connected to the element acquisition module D502 and is configured to overlay the first element into the first file; the update monitoring module D507 is connected to the file acquisition module D501 and is configured to prompt the file acquisition module D501 to acquire a third file, and compare the second file and the third file to find a first changed element; the element acquisition module D501 is connected to the update monitoring module D507 to acquire the first changed element, and overlay the first changed element into the first file through the copy and overlay module D504.

[0385] Furthermore, the D invention also includes a display control module D508, which displays the superimposed first element in a first display mode; and displays the superimposed first changing element in a second display mode.

[0386] Furthermore, the D invention also includes a display control module D508, which, on the first file, 1) displays the elements common to the second file and the third file in a first style; 2) displays the elements that only exist in the second file in a second style; and 3) displays the elements that only exist in the third file in a third style.

[0387] Furthermore, the D invention also includes a file editing module D509, which is used to edit the first file and draw a second element on the first file.

[0388] Furthermore, the file acquisition module D501 is configured to acquire a fourth file; the update monitoring module D507 is configured to compare the third file and the fourth file, find a second change element, and overlay the second change element onto the first file through the copy and overlay module D504.

[0389] Further, on the first file, the display control module D508 displays the superimposed second changing element in a third display mode.

[0390] Furthermore, the first change element includes one or more of an added element, a deleted element, and a modified element.

[0391] Furthermore, the first change element is based on incremental data of the third file compared to the second file.

[0392] Furthermore, the second file and the third file are different versions of the same CAD drawing.

[0393] Furthermore, the D invention also includes a file storage module, which is configured to store the first file, the second file, and the third file.

[0394] In order to overcome or alleviate the technical problem that editing and viewing changes cannot be performed simultaneously in the existing CAD system, D invention also discloses a computer-readable storage medium for viewing reference changes of CAD drawings in an editable environment, characterized in that the computer-readable storage medium includes a set of instructions, which, when executed, cause at least one processor to perform operations including the following: DS101 obtains a first file and a second file; DS102 the first file references the second file, and superimposes the first element on the second file into the first file; DS103 obtains a third file; DS104 obtains the first change element of the third file compared with the second file; and DS105 also superimposes the first change element into the first file.

[0395] In order to overcome or alleviate the technical problem that editing and viewing changes cannot be performed simultaneously in the existing CAD system, D invention also discloses a computer terminal for viewing reference changes of CAD drawings in an editable environment, characterized in that it includes at least one processor and a computer-readable storage medium coupled to the processor, wherein the computer-readable storage medium includes a set of instructions, and when at least one processor executes the instructions, it causes at least one processor to perform the following operations: DS101 obtains a first file and a second file; DS102 the first file references the second file, and superimposes the first element on the second file into the first file; DS103 obtains a third file; DS104 obtains the first change element of the third file compared with the second file; and DS105 also superimposes the first change element into the first file.

[0396] In order to make the purpose, technical solution and advantages of the embodiment of the invention D clearer, the technical solution in the embodiment of the invention D will be described clearly and completely in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiment of the invention D. Obviously, the described embodiment is a part of the embodiment of the invention D, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiment of the invention D, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of the invention D.

[0397] D. Invention Example 1

[0398] like Fig.31 As shown, the method for viewing reference changes of CAD graphics in an editable drawing environment includes the following steps:

[0399] For the convenience of description, the current draftsman is set as A and the referenced party is set as B;

[0400] B draws his own drawing (DS01) and submits it to the server (DS02). The server records a version B1 (DS03).

[0401] A draws his own drawings and refers to B's work. The reference process will copy B's content and overlay it on A's drawings. A can refer to B's content when drawing his own drawings (DS04);

[0402] B modifies his own drawing and submits it to the server again (DS05). The server records the second version B2 (DS06).

[0403] A updates the referenced drawing. At this time, A will see the latest status of B's ​​drawing (DS07);

[0404] When A checks the changes, the system will compare the first and second versions (i.e. B1 vs. B2), analyze and obtain the incremental data of the two versions, and these added, deleted and modified objects will be superimposed in different colors in the drawing interface of A (DS08); A can see and modify his own content while checking these differences (DS09).

[0405] D. Invention Example 2

[0406] Simulate an application scenario of D's invention, two CAD users A and B work together. A draws file a.dwx, B draws file b.dwx, A quotes / refers to B's work results, and draws a frame to surround B's content. Fig.33 As shown, the current status of b.dwx is as follows Fig.32 As shown. The circle D202 and the square wireframe D204 are the contents of b.dwx, and A draws a surrounding wireframe D302 around them. It should be noted that A cannot modify the referenced content of b.dwx at this time, that is, the circle D202 and the square frame D204 in the frame D302 cannot be modified, and they belong to the referenced reference file content - for example, the downstream water supply and drainage engineer can only draw his own water supply and drainage drawings by referring to the architectural CAD drawings drawn by the upstream construction engineer, and usually has no authority to modify and adjust the drawings of the construction engineer.

[0407] At this time, B modifies the b.dwx file in his CAD operation terminal, draws a new line D406, and moves the position of circle D202 (the circle in the new position is marked as D202a). Then B submits the modification and stores it on the server. At this time, the b.dwx file is as follows: Fig.34 As shown. At this time, A is prompted by the system that an update is required (for example, A receives a prompt message on his CAD operating terminal). After the update, A hopes to check what content B has modified in this update and whether it will have any impact on the drawing that A is drawing. In the embodiment of D's invention, A does not need to find the previous version of b.dwx at this time. When A uses a graphical interface to request to view the changes, the system will compare the incremental data of the new and old versions, and then superimpose the added, deleted and modified content in different colors (or other different forms, for example, using dotted lines or bold) on the current drawing area. A can continue to edit and modify the content of his own drawing while viewing the changes in b.dwx.

[0408] The system displays the comparison Fig.35 As shown, in an actual operating system, different colors can be used to mark newly added content (for example, newly added lines D406) and modified content (for example, moved circle D202a), and a specific interface can be used to provide a list of all modified content (for example, the list on the left). Clicking on an item in the list can accurately locate the graphic position, which is convenient for viewing when the amount of change is large. In the process of viewing these changes, the wireframe D302 drawn by A himself is perfectly displayed on the CAD drawing that A is currently drawing, and can be modified directly, thus providing the current drawing in an editable environment, and at the same time, changes in the drawings of others that are referenced can be viewed. In this simulated scenario, A enlarges the wireframe D302 drawn by himself to frame the newly added line D406 and the moved circle D202a. The modification effect is as follows: Fig.36 shown.

[0409] D. Invention Example 3

[0410] D invention discloses a method for viewing reference changes of CAD drawings in an editable environment, characterized in that it includes the following steps: Fig.37a ): DS101 obtains a first file and a second file; DS102 the first file references the second file and superimposes the first element on the second file into the first file; DS103 obtains a third file; DS104 obtains the first changed element of the third file compared with the second file; and DS105 superimposes the first changed element into the first file.

[0411] In some embodiments, the first element superimposed on the first file is displayed in a first display mode; and the first changing element superimposed on the first file is displayed in a second display mode. According to different application scenarios, the first display and the second display modes can use different colors, different line styles (for example, virtual and real, thick and thin), and different highlighting methods (for example, the changing element can be made semi-transparent or in watermark mode).

[0412] In some embodiments, on the first file, elements common to the second file and the third file are displayed in a first style; elements existing only in the second file are displayed in a second style; and elements existing only in the third file are displayed in a third style.

[0413] Please note that different terms are used here for display modes, such as "Xth display mode" and "Xth style display", which is mainly to facilitate the distinction of different display systems in different embodiments. In the embodiment of the D invention, the selection of the display mode is mainly to facilitate the user to clearly view the changes in the content of the referenced file. As long as the display mode can achieve this purpose in the CAD system, it can be applied to the D invention and should also be within the protection scope of the D invention.

[0414] In some embodiments, the D invention further includes: editing the first file, and drawing a second element on the first file.

[0415] In some embodiments, the D invention further comprises the following steps: Figure 37b ): DS106 obtains a fourth file; DS107 obtains a second change element of the fourth file compared with the third file; DS108 superimposes the second change element into the first file.

[0416] In some embodiments, D invention displays the second changing element superimposed on the first file in a third display mode.

[0417] In some embodiments, the first change element includes one or more of adding elements (for example, adding a new CAD entity line on the referenced drawing), deleting elements (for example, deleting a CAD entity line on the referenced drawing), and modifying elements (for example, moving, lengthening, shortening, rotating, or drawing a CAD entity line on the referenced CAD drawing).

[0418] In some embodiments, the first change element is based on the incremental data of the third file compared to the second file. In some embodiments, the second file and the third file are different versions of the same CAD drawing. In some embodiments, the D invention also includes storing the first file, the second file, and the third file.

[0419] D. Invention Example 4

[0420] D invention also discloses a system D500 for viewing reference changes in CAD drawings in an editable environment, characterized in that it includes a file acquisition module D501, an element acquisition module D502, a copy and overlay module D504, and an update monitoring module D507; the file acquisition module D501 is configured to acquire a first file and a second file; the element acquisition module D502 is connected to the file acquisition module D501, and is configured to acquire a first element on the second file; the copy and overlay module D504 is connected to the element acquisition module D502, and is configured to overlay the first element into the first file; the update monitoring module D507 is connected to the file acquisition module D501, and is configured to prompt the file acquisition module D501 to acquire a third file, and compare the second file with the third file to find a first changed element; the element acquisition module D502 is connected to the update monitoring module D507, acquires the first changed element, and overlays the first changed element into the first file through the copy and overlay module D504.

[0421] In some embodiments, the various modules described above may be implemented by computer hardware and software in the user's local computer terminal; or some modules may be in the local computer and some in a remote server; or all modules may be located in a remote server and their operating results may be displayed on a local display via the network.

[0422] Compared with traditional CAD systems, it is obvious that the D invention superimposes the changed elements and updated contents into the CAD drawing currently being edited, allowing the current CAD user to see the changes without closing or moving the current CAD drawing, so that the current CAD drawing can continue to be edited, making collaborative design more convenient and working more efficient.

[0423] In some embodiments, the file acquisition module D501 may be acquired from a local computer terminal (i.e., files that can be used in the CAD system and are originally stored in the local computer of the drawing engineer), or may be a newly created CAD file in the local CAD drawing software, or may be a CAD file acquired through network transmission from a remote server or the cloud. When acquiring a CAD file from a remote server, it may be that all relevant files of a large CAD drawing project are transmitted together in the form of a file package, or it may be based on the existing CAD drawings locally, and the required CAD file is formed by superimposing and absorbing incremental data.

[0424] In some embodiments, the operating mechanism of the element acquisition module D502 is to acquire elements that meet the requirements by analyzing and parsing the properties of elements (e.g., entities, objects, blocks, groups, etc.), or in some embodiment systems, identify and search for certain marks / identifications / tags to acquire the required CAD elements.

[0425] In some embodiments, the copying and superimposing is to copy the required elements and then add them to the CAD drawing currently being drawn. However, these superimposed introduced elements are only used as references for the current CAD drawing and cannot be modified by the current CAD user. For example, when electrical engineers and HVAC engineers quote architectural CAD drawings, even if they have suggestions for the wall arrangement of the drawings provided by the architectural engineer, they must also feedback to the architectural engineer through, for example, adding comments to the collaborative system, and cannot modify it by themselves, otherwise confusion may occur in the collaborative design project. In different application scenarios, the D invention can be implemented in different ways. For example, in some embodiments, the referenced content is only displayed on different layers and can be modified. When downstream electrical engineers and HVAC engineers store CAD drawings, only the electrical and HVAC contents are saved respectively, and the architectural content is not saved (i.e., the electrical and HVAC CAD drawings only have electrical and HVAC CAD elements respectively). Of course, if it is necessary to store the referenced content such as architecture together, it is also possible. In other embodiments, the modification permission can be locked by setting an identification / mark / tag for the referenced content so that it cannot be modified. Of course, in some application scenarios and embodiments, there may be a "chief designer" or a "chief design team" who can be given the authority to modify the referenced content - for example, the chief designer can adjust the architectural, water supply and drainage, electrical and HVAC elements at the end of the project.

[0426] In some embodiments, the D invention further includes a display control module D508, which displays the superimposed first element in a first display mode; and displays the superimposed first changing element in a second display mode.

[0427] In some embodiments, the D invention also includes a display control module D508, which displays, on the first file, elements common to the second file and the third file in a first style; displays elements that only exist in the second file in a second style; and displays elements that only exist in the third file in a third style.

[0428] In some embodiments, the D invention further includes: a file editing module D509, for editing the first file and drawing a second element on the first file.

[0429] In some embodiments, the file acquisition module D501 is configured to acquire a fourth file; the update monitoring module D507 is configured to compare the third file and the fourth file, find a second change element, and overlay the second change element onto the first file through the copy and overlay module D504.

[0430] In some embodiments, on the first file, the display control module D508 displays the superimposed second change element in a third display mode. In some embodiments, the first change element includes one or more of an added element, a deleted element, and a modified element. In some embodiments, the first change element is based on the incremental data of the third file compared to the second file. In some embodiments, the second file and the third file are different versions of the same CAD drawing. In some embodiments, the D invention also includes a file storage module, which is configured to store the first file, the second file, and the third file. The file storage module can be either in a local computer terminal or in a cloud server.

[0431] D. Invention Example 5

[0432] D invention also discloses a computer-readable storage medium for viewing reference changes of CAD drawings in an editable environment, characterized in that the computer-readable storage medium includes a set of instructions, which, when executed, cause at least one processor to perform operations including the following: DS101 obtains a first file and a second file; DS102 the first file references the second file, and superimposes the first element on the second file into the first file; DS103 obtains a third file; DS104 obtains the first change element of the third file compared with the second file; and DS105 superimposes the first change element into the first file.

[0433] D. Embodiment 6 of the invention

[0434] D invention also discloses a computer terminal for viewing reference changes of CAD drawings in an editable environment, characterized in that it includes at least one processor and a computer-readable storage medium coupled to the processor, wherein the computer-readable storage medium includes a set of instructions, and when at least one processor executes the instructions, it causes at least one processor to perform the following operations: DS101 obtains a first file and a second file; DS102 the first file references the second file, and superimposes the first element on the second file into the first file; DS103 obtains a third file; DS104 obtains the first change element of the third file compared with the second file; and DS105 superimposes the first change element into the first file.

[0435] Please note that the purpose of D's invention is to view changes in the referenced or referenced content, not to view changes in the CAD drawing currently being edited. That is, when A references B, A can see the content of B for reference only when drawing, but cannot modify B. A can only draw and modify A's own things. At this time, if B has been modified, A can use the system and method provided by D's invention to view what changes have been made to the current B relative to the old B, and thus modify A's own drawing content accordingly.

[0436] Through the above embodiments, it can be seen that the technical problems solved and the technical effects achieved by the D invention are as follows: The D invention provides a method for viewing reference changes in a CAD graphic in an editable drawing environment, so that CAD users can easily view and confirm the reference modified content, and the modified content is graphically displayed in the editing interface, which very intuitively shows the addition, deletion, and modification of various modifications, which is clear at a glance. It is convenient to edit the graphics content that you are drawing according to the modifications to the reference content, which greatly saves the communication cost between CAD collaborative users and improves work efficiency. It also allows CAD users to edit the content they are drawing while viewing the reference content modifications, which is convenient and quick.

[0437] The above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solution of the D invention, not to limit it; although the D invention is described in detail with reference to the aforementioned embodiments, a person of ordinary skill in the art should understand that it is still possible to modify the technical solutions recorded in the aforementioned embodiments, or to replace some or all of the technical features therein by equivalents; and these modifications or replacements do not make the essence of the corresponding technical solution deviate from the scope of the technical solution of each embodiment of the D invention, and they should all be included in the scope of the claims and specification of the D invention. For example, the application scenario of the D invention can be carried out in a local computer (i.e., in local software, PC version), or it can be carried out completely in the cloud, and the local is just a display (i.e., the D invention is applied to network software). In addition, in some embodiments and application scenarios, the display mode of certain content can be the same, for example, the first display mode in the third embodiment of the D invention is set to be the same as the second display mode, but different from the third display mode (i.e., in this scenario, the first change does not need to be paid attention to).

[0438] It should be noted that the four sub-inventions (901, 906, 907, 908) of the present invention are all part of the collaborative design system 900 of the present invention, are technically connected, and can be combined, combined, and integrated with each other according to actual needs, and can be adjusted and modified according to actual conditions during the combination, combination, and integration process ( Fig.39 ).

[0439] For example, in some embodiments, the present invention provides a method for referencing external files in a CAD system, characterized in that it includes the following steps: creating at least one first general reference rule file independent of a first referenced file based on at least one first reference condition, and independently storing it in an extensible file format; a first element of the first referenced file filtered and selected by the first general reference rule file is copied and superimposed on the current file, and the first element is associated with a first control point, and independent operation of the first element can be achieved through the first control point.

[0440] Now let's explain it in conjunction with an actual application scenario: an electrical engineer sets up a general reference rule file (referred to as "electrical reference rule.XML") for electrical drawings 914 on the terminal 911 of his CAD collaborative design system. When referencing the water supply and drainage reference drawing 913, the electrical engineer filters out the water supply and drainage CAD elements related to the electrical design, copies and overlays them into the electrical drawing 914 he is editing, and associates the water supply and drainage CAD elements with the water supply and drainage element control points, that is, the copied and overlaid water supply and drainage CAD elements can be independently operated through the water supply and drainage element control points (operation methods include, but are not limited to, display, hide, bind, detach, overload or unload). In these embodiments, electrical engineers can not only filter out CAD elements that are not related to electrical design when referencing (through electrical reference rule files), but can also flexibly control the display and hiding of the referenced content.

[0441] In some embodiments, the present invention also includes: using the first general reference rule file to filter the content of the second referenced file, copying and superimposing the second element selected by the filter into the current file, and associating the second element with a second control point, so that independent operation of the second element can be achieved through the second control point.

[0442] Similarly, combined with the scenario description: In addition to referencing the water supply and drainage drawing 913, electrical engineers may also need to refer to the HVAC drawing (i.e., the second referenced file). Because the electrical reference rule file is independently stored and expandable in the present invention, electrical engineers can apply the same electrical reference rule file (or modify it) to the HVAC drawing, filter out the HVAC CAD elements related to the electrical design, and copy and overlay them on the current electrical CAD drawing. The filtered HVAC CAD elements are set to be associated with the HVAC control point, that is, the copied and overlaid HVAC CAD elements can be independently operated through the HVAC element control point (operation methods include, but are not limited to, display, hide, bind, detach, overload or unload).

[0443] Because different control points are set, operations on water supply and drainage elements and on HVAC elements can be performed independently.

[0444] In some embodiments, the first referenced file contains a third element copied and superimposed from a third referenced file; the third element is filtered and selected from the third referenced file through the first general reference rule file, copied and superimposed to the first referenced file; the third element is associated with a third control point, and independent operation of the third element can be achieved through the third control point.

[0445] Similarly, in combination with the scenario explanation: the electrical engineer references the water supply and drainage drawing 913 and actually also references the architectural drawing 912 (i.e., a nested relationship is created). The electrical reference rule file designed by the electrical engineer is actually shared with him by the water supply and drainage engineer. When the water supply and drainage engineer draws the water supply and drainage drawing 913 on his terminal 910 and references the architectural drawing 912, the reference rules used are actually the same. The filtered and selected architectural elements are set to be associated with the architectural element control points, that is, the architectural CAD elements copied and superimposed on the electrical drawings can be independently operated through the architectural element control points (operation methods include, but are not limited to, display, hide, bind, detach, overload or unload).

[0446] In some embodiments, the present invention also includes the following steps: obtaining a fourth referenced file, wherein the fourth referenced file is modified based on the first referenced file, and the changes between the fourth referenced file and the first referenced file are filtered and selected by the first general reference rule file to obtain relevant change elements, and the relevant change elements are copied and superimposed on the current file, and the relevant change elements and the first elements are respectively presented in the current file in different display modes.

[0447] Similarly, the scenario description is combined with the following: the water supply and drainage drawings cited by the electrical engineer were modified by the water supply and drainage engineer on his own computer terminal 910, and a new version of the water supply and drainage drawings was generated. The collaborative design system prompted the electrical engineer that the water supply and drainage drawings had changed, so the electrical engineer downloaded the new version of the water supply and drainage drawings (i.e., the fourth referenced file) from the server. The collaborative design system discovered the changed CAD elements by comparing the old and new versions of the water supply and drainage drawings. Some of these changed CAD elements are related to the electrical engineer's design, while some are not. Therefore, these changed elements can also be filtered through the electrical reference rule file (for example, filtering according to the information in its attributes), and then the relevant changed elements are copied and superimposed on the electrical drawings. These changed elements are displayed in an easily identifiable manner (for example, different colors and styles), so that the electrical engineer can clearly see the changes in the water supply and drainage drawings, and can continue to edit his own electrical drawings accordingly.

[0448] In some embodiments, the current file is edited while referring to the related changed elements. Because the related changed elements are copied and superimposed on the current electrical drawings, electrical engineers can continue to modify their own electrical drawings while referring to the changes in the water supply and drainage drawings on the same operation interface.

[0449] In some embodiments, a data summary file is generated based on the current file after editing, and detailed information of incremental data generated after editing of the current file is saved in an incremental database. The data summary file includes the saving path of the incremental data detailed information in the incremental database.

[0450] Similarly, in combination with the scenario description: after the electrical engineer has edited his own electrical drawing 914, he can submit his own electrical drawing 914 to the timeline storage device in the server. The timeline storage device compares the electrical drawings before and after the electrical engineer's modification, saves the changes therein in the form of incremental data into the incremental database, and forms a new data summary file and the associated restore point 904.

[0451] The restore point 904 is located on the timeline 903, which is the global timeline of the collaborative design project in which the electrical engineer participates (i.e., each restore point contains all CAD files related to the project at that time point), and the base restore point is 905, which contains the electrical drawings drawn by the electrical engineer at the earliest time. If the electrical engineer needs to view the drawings drawn at the earliest time, he only needs to obtain the data summary file from the restore point, and the detailed information of the CAD elements recorded in the data summary file can be obtained from the incremental database, so as to quickly and accurately restore and generate the electrical CAD drawings drawn by him at the earliest time.

[0452] Of course, in different embodiments, the specific implementation may vary - for example, the computer terminal where an electrical engineer works can identify the differences between the old and new versions of electrical drawings, and upload detailed information on the incremental data corresponding to the differences to the incremental database in the server, reducing the pressure of data transmission.

[0453] It should be noted that, in this article, the terms "include", "comprises" or any other variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, so that a process, method, article or device including a series of elements includes not only those elements, but also other elements not explicitly listed, or also includes elements inherent to such process, method, article or device. In the absence of further restrictions, an element defined by the sentence "comprises a ..." does not exclude the existence of other identical elements in the process, method, article or device including the element.

[0454] Through the description of the above implementation methods, those skilled in the art can clearly understand that the above-mentioned embodiment methods can be implemented by means of software plus a necessary general hardware platform, and of course by hardware, but in many cases the former is a better implementation method. Based on such an understanding, the technical solution of the present invention, in essence, or the part that contributes to the prior art, can be embodied in the form of a software product, which is stored in a storage medium (such as ROM / RAM, a magnetic disk, or an optical disk), and includes a number of instructions for a computer terminal (which can be a mobile phone, a computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to execute the methods described in each embodiment of the present invention.

[0455] The embodiments of the present invention are described above in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, but the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned specific implementation modes, which are merely illustrative rather than restrictive. Under the guidance of the present invention, ordinary technicians in this field can also make many forms without departing from the scope of protection of the present invention and the claims, all of which are within the protection of the present invention.

Claims

1. A timeline management system for CAD files, characterized in that: include: A first data summary file and an incremental database; The first data summary file includes a first data item index table and first data summary information; The incremental database stores first data detailed information corresponding to the first data summary information; The first data item index table is used to search the incremental database for the first data detailed information corresponding to the first data summary information; and The data summary file is set to be associated with the first restore point; The timeline management system further comprises: a time axis, the first restore point being set on the time axis according to the time when it was created; The timeline management system further comprises: at least one second data summary file, the second data summary file comprising a second data item index table and second data summary information; at least one second data summary file is a summary file of all modified files or a summary file of part of modified files submitted by a user after the files are modified; The incremental data detailed information of the second data summary information relative to the first data summary information is stored in the incremental database; The second data item index table is used to search the incremental database for second data detailed information corresponding to the second data summary information; and The second data summary file is set to be associated with the second restore point; The second data detailed information includes: detailed information of incremental data that has been added, deleted or modified compared to the previous restore point.

2. The timeline management system for CAD files according to claim 1, characterized in that: The time axis includes multiple restore points, and the multiple restore points are arranged in sequence according to their creation time.

3. The timeline management system of CAD files as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that: The first restore point and the second restore point are arranged on the timeline in sequence according to the time of creation.

4. The timeline management system for CAD files according to claim 1, characterized in that: The second data detailed information also includes part or all of the detailed information in the first data detailed information.

5. The timeline management system for CAD files according to claim 1, characterized in that: The first data summary file is saved in a full-text snapshot manner.

6. The timeline management system for CAD files according to claim 1, characterized in that: The first data summary file is generated based on one or more CAD drawings, and the one or more CAD drawings are related to the same engineering project.

7. The timeline management system for CAD files according to claim 1, characterized in that: The first data summary information includes one or more summary information of author information, creation time, modification time and / or thumbnail.

8. The timeline management system for CAD files according to claim 1, characterized in that: The first data detailed information is a metadata item (metadata).

9. The timeline management system for CAD files according to claim 1, characterized in that: The first data detailed information includes one or more CAD elements and element attributes corresponding to the one or more CAD elements, and the element attributes include the insertion position, stretching size ratio, start and end point information and / or rendering information of the element in the CAD drawing.

10. A user terminal of a CAD system, characterized in that: include: A restore point acquisition module, used to acquire a first restore point and a second restore point from a timeline storage device; a restore point parsing module, connected to the restore point acquisition module, and configured to parse a first data summary file associated with the first restore point, wherein the first data summary file includes a first data item index table and first data summary information; and obtaining at least one second data summary file through the second restore point, the second data summary file including a second data item index table and second data summary information; At least one of the second data summary files is a summary file of all modified files or a summary file of part of modified files submitted by a user after the files are modified; a file restoration module connected to the restoration point analysis module, obtaining the first data item index table and the first data summary information, and obtaining the first data detailed information corresponding to the first data summary information from the incremental database of the timeline storage device, and restoring to generate a first file; and obtaining second data detailed information corresponding to the second data summary information from the incremental database of the timeline storage device based on the second data item index table and the second data summary information, and restoring and generating a second file; The second data detailed information includes: detailed information of incremental data that has been added, deleted or modified compared to the previous restore point.

11. The user terminal of the CAD system according to claim 10, characterized in that: Also includes: The restore point acquisition module acquires the first restore point on the time axis in the timeline storage device.

12. The user terminal of the CAD system according to claim 10, characterized in that: The second data detailed information includes: (i) detailed information about the incremental data of the second data summary information relative to the first data summary information, stored in the incremental database; and (ii) a part or all of the detailed information of the first data detailed information.

13. The user terminal of the CAD system according to claim 10, characterized in that: The first data summary file is saved in a full-text snapshot manner.

14. The user terminal of the CAD system according to claim 10, characterized in that: The first data summary file includes one or more CAD drawings, all related to the same engineering project.

15. The user terminal of the CAD system according to claim 10, characterized in that: The first data summary information includes one or more summary information of author information, creation time, modification time and / or thumbnail.

16. The user terminal of the CAD system according to claim 10, characterized in that: The first data detailed information is a metadata item (metadata).

17. The user terminal of the CAD system according to claim 10, characterized in that: The first data detailed information includes one or more CAD elements and element attributes corresponding to the one or more CAD elements, and the element attributes include the insertion position, stretching size ratio, start and end point information and / or rendering information of the element in the restored CAD drawing.

18. A timeline management method for CAD files, characterized in that: The following steps are involved: AS101 obtains one or more first CAD files; AS102 creates a first data summary file based on the one or more first CAD files, wherein the first data summary file includes a first data item index table and first data summary information of the one or more CAD files; AS103 extracts first data detailed information corresponding to the first data summary information from the one or more first CAD files, stores the first data detailed information in an incremental database, and records its first storage path in the first data item index table; AS104 creates a first restore point, and associates the first data summary file with the first restore point; AS105 records the first restoration point on the timeline according to the time when it is created; AS106 obtains one or more second CAD files; the one or more CAD files are all modified or partially modified; AS107 creates a second data summary file based on the one or more second CAD files, wherein the second data summary file includes a second data item index table and second data summary information of the one or more CAD files; the second data summary file is a summary file of all modified files or a summary file of some modified files submitted by the user; AS108 compares the first data summary file with the second data summary file, stores detailed information of incremental data of the second data summary file relative to the first data summary file in an incremental database, so that the incremental database includes all second data detailed information corresponding to the second data summary information, and records its second storage path in a second data item index table; wherein the second data detailed information includes: incremental data detailed information added, deleted or modified compared to the last restore point; AS 109 creates a second restore point and associates the second data summary file with the second restore point.

19. The timeline management method of CAD files according to claim 18, characterized in that: The following steps are also included: AS110 records the second restoration point on the timeline according to the time when it is created.

20. The timeline management method of CAD files according to claim 18, characterized in that: The first data summary file is saved in a full-text snapshot manner.

21. The timeline management method of CAD files as claimed in claim 18, characterized in that: The one or more first CAD files all relate to the same engineering project.

22. The timeline management method of CAD files as claimed in claim 18, characterized in that: The first data summary information includes one or more summary information of author information, creation time, modification time and / or thumbnail.

23. The timeline management method of CAD files as claimed in claim 18, characterized in that: The first data detailed information is a metadata item (metadata).

24. The timeline management method of CAD files as claimed in claim 18, characterized in that: The first data detailed information includes one or more CAD elements and element attributes corresponding to the one or more CAD elements, and the element attributes include the insertion position, stretching size ratio, start and end point information and / or rendering information of the element in the restored CAD drawing.

25. A method for restoring a CAD file, characterized in that: The steps include: AS201 obtains a first restore point and a first data summary file associated with the first restore point from a timeline storage device, wherein the first data summary file includes a first data item index table and first data summary information; The first restoration point is recorded on the time axis of the timeline storage device; AS202 acquires first data detailed information corresponding to the first data summary information from the incremental database of the timeline storage device according to the first data item index table and the first data summary information; AS203 restores and generates a first file according to the first data detailed information and the first data summary file; AS204 obtains a second restore point and at least one second data summary file associated with the second restore point from the timeline storage device, wherein the second data summary file includes a second data item index table and second data summary information; At least one of the second data summary files is a summary file of all modified files or a summary file of part of modified files submitted by a user after the files are modified; The second data item index table is used to search the incremental database for second data detailed information corresponding to the second data summary information; The second data detailed information includes: detailed information of incremental data added, deleted or modified compared to the previous restore point; AS205 acquires detailed information of incremental data corresponding to the incremental data from the incremental database according to the second data item index table and the incremental data of the second data summary information compared with the first data summary information; AS206 combines the first data detailed information and the incremental data detailed information and restores the second data summary file to generate a second file.

26. The method for restoring a CAD file as claimed in claim 25, characterized in that: The first data summary file is saved in a full-text snapshot manner.

27. The method for restoring a CAD file as claimed in claim 25, characterized in that: The first data summary file is generated based on one or more CAD drawings, and the one or more CAD drawings are related to the same engineering project.

28. The method for restoring a CAD file as claimed in claim 25, characterized in that: The first data summary information includes one or more summary information of author information, creation time, modification time and / or thumbnail.

29. The method for restoring a CAD file as claimed in claim 25, characterized in that: The first data detailed information is a metadata item (metadata).

30. The method for restoring a CAD file as claimed in claim 25, characterized in that: The first data detailed information includes one or more CAD elements and element attributes corresponding to the one or more CAD elements, and the element attributes include the insertion position, stretching size ratio, start and end point information and / or rendering information of the element in the restored CAD drawing.

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