Design support apparatus, design support method, and program

Abstract

To present effective knowledge which may be referred to during preparation of deliverables, to a designer, thereby supporting short-term and high-quality product design.SOLUTION: A design support apparatus is configured to: extract design processes indicating stages for preparing deliverables information by grouping pieces of deliverables information having a predetermined similarity or higher; associating the design processes with reference information having the above similarity or higher and a predetermined reference rate or higher, indicating a rate of reference during preparation of deliverables information, as effective knowledge to be referred to during preparation of the deliverables; generate design process information by arranging the design processes chronologically; estimate design processes of a designer for the deliverables on the basis of the design process information and operation history of the deliverables information; and display, on a terminal device used by the designer, screen information for receiving an instruction to display the effective knowledge associated with the estimated design processes.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a design support device, a design support method, and a program. [Background technology]

[0002] In the stage of creating deliverables related to product design (such as calculation sheets and drawings), designers often refer to reference materials (knowledge) as they create the deliverables. Such materials are stored, for example, on the designer's own computer or a file server, and the designer searches for and references the desired materials from these devices.

[0003] However, searching for valid knowledge related to a deliverable takes a considerable amount of time and effort, and even if valid knowledge exists, it may not be possible to ultimately access it. Such challenges exist when searching for valid knowledge during the design process.

[0004] Patent Document 1 discloses a method for accumulating past business procedures and used know-how and searching for and utilizing them in relation to a device that utilizes effective knowledge. Specifically, Patent Document 1 states that "the emergency response work support device 1 according to the present invention includes a business flow accumulation unit 11 that stores business units in which emergency response procedures are documented, a business know-how accumulation unit 12 that stores business know-how in which past emergency response cases are documented, a conceptual vector generation unit 22 that generates conceptual vectors for the business units and the business know-how, a log accumulation unit 14 that stores a reference history of the business know-how, a business know-how extraction unit 23 that extracts first business know-how related to the first business unit based on the conceptual vector and the reference history, and a business unit search unit 25 that searches for a second business unit related to business know-how selected by a user from the first business know-how." [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0005] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2012-190275 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] The technology in Patent Document 1 accumulates past business flows and the know-how used in those operations, converts them into concept vectors, extracts related knowledge from the concept vectors and reference history, and extracts business flows related to the business flow selected by the user. However, the technology in Patent Document 1 extracts business flows related to the business flow selected by the user, and does not take into consideration presenting the user with effective knowledge to refer to when creating design deliverables. Therefore, it is considered difficult for the technology in Patent Document 1 to solve the above-mentioned problems.

[0007] The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned problems, and aims to help reduce the time required for product design and improve quality by presenting users with useful knowledge that can be referenced when creating a deliverable. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] The present application includes multiple means for solving at least part of the above-described problems, examples of which are as follows: A design support device according to one aspect of the present invention for solving the above-described problems includes: a design process creation unit that extracts design processes indicating creation stages of deliverable information by grouping deliverable information having a predetermined similarity or higher, and that associates reference information having the same similarity or higher and a predetermined reference rate or higher, which indicates a ratio of references made when the deliverable information was created, with the design processes as effective knowledge that can be referenced when the deliverable information was created, and creates design process information in which the design processes are arranged in chronological order; a design process estimation unit that estimates a design process for the deliverable information by a designer based on the design process information and an operation history of the deliverable information; and an output information generation unit that displays screen information for receiving a display instruction for the effective knowledge associated with the estimated design process on a terminal device used by the designer. [Effects of the Invention]

[0009] According to the present invention, by presenting effective knowledge that can be referenced when creating a product to a designer at the time of design, it is possible to support shortening the time required for product design and improving the quality.

[0010] Problems, configurations, and effects other than those described above will become clear from the following description of the embodiments. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0011] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a schematic configuration of a design support system. [Figure 2] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of operation history information. [Figure 3] FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing an example of processing related to Phase 1. [Figure 4] FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing an example of processing relating to Phase 2. [Figure 5] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of an input screen for receiving a classification instruction. [Figure 6]FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing details of the process in step S203. [Figure 7] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of an input screen. [Figure 8] FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing details of the process in step S205. [Figure 9] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of an input screen. [Figure 10] FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing an example of the process of step S207. [Figure 11] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen of design process information. [Figure 12] FIG. 10 is a flow diagram showing an example of processing relating to Phase 3. [Figure 13] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of screen information for receiving an instruction to display valid knowledge. [Figure 14] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a hardware configuration of a design support apparatus. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0012] The following embodiments are examples for explaining the present invention, and some omissions and simplifications have been made as appropriate for clarity of explanation. The present invention can be implemented in various other forms. Furthermore, unless otherwise specified, each component may be singular or plural.

[0013] Furthermore, in order to facilitate understanding of the invention, the position, size, shape, range, etc. of each component shown in the drawings may not represent the actual position, size, shape, range, etc. Therefore, the present invention is not necessarily limited to the position, size, shape, range, etc. disclosed in the drawings.

[0014] Furthermore, various types of information may be described using expressions such as "table," "list," and "queue," but the various types of information may be expressed using data structures other than these. For example, various types of information such as "XX table," "XX list," and "XX queue" may be expressed as "XX information." When describing identification information, expressions such as "identification information," "identifier," "name," "ID," and "number" are used, but these are interchangeable.

[0015] In addition, when there are multiple components having the same or similar functions, they may be described by using the same reference numeral with different subscripts, or when there is no need to distinguish between these multiple components, the subscripts may be omitted.

[0016] In addition, in the embodiments, there may be cases where processing performed by executing a program is described. Here, a computer executes the program using a processor (e.g., a CPU or a GPU), and performs processing defined by the program while using storage resources (e.g., memory) and interface devices (e.g., communication ports). Therefore, the processor may be the entity that executes the program and performs the processing.

[0017] Similarly, the entity that executes the program and performs the processing may be a controller, device, system, computer, or node having a processor. The entity that executes the program and performs the processing may be any computing unit, and may include a dedicated circuit that performs specific processing. Here, the dedicated circuit is, for example, an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), or a CPLD (Complex Programmable Logic Device).

[0018] A program may be installed on a computer from a program source. The program source may be, for example, a program distribution server or a computer-readable storage medium. When the program source is a program distribution server, the program distribution server may include a processor and a storage resource for storing the program to be distributed, and the processor of the program distribution server may distribute the program to be distributed to other computers. In addition, in an embodiment, two or more programs may be realized as one program, or one program may be realized as two or more programs.

[0019] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0020] <Outline of Design Support System 1000> 1 is a diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a design support system 1000 including a design support device 100 according to this embodiment. As shown in the figure, the design support system 1000 includes the design support device 100 and a terminal device 200, and these devices are connected to each other so as to be able to communicate with each other via a network N. The network N is, for example, a communication network such as the Internet, a LAN (Local Area Network), or a WAN (Wide Area Network).

[0021] The design support system 1000 is a system that creates design process information that associates, for each design process, effective knowledge that is presumed to have been referred to by a designer when designing a product, and displays appropriate effective knowledge corresponding to the design process of the design on the terminal device 200 used by the designer when the designer designs.

[0022] Specifically, the design support device 100 acquires an operation history by a designer (corresponding to the operator shown in FIG. 1; hereinafter, sometimes referred to as "operator") from the terminal device 200 and stores it in a database.

[0023] Furthermore, based on instructions from a design manager (hereinafter sometimes referred to as a "user of the design support device") who manages the entire design of a product, the design support device 100 uses operation history information stored in the database to identify (classify) whether the information (e.g., document information) operated by each operator is design deliverable information (e.g., calculation sheets, drawings, etc.) or information that is presumed to have been referred to as reference material during design (hereinafter sometimes referred to as "reference information").

[0024] The design support device 100 also associates each piece of deliverable information with reference information that is estimated to have been referenced when the deliverable information was created. The design support device 100 also groups the deliverable information based on the similarity between the pieces of deliverable information and extracts each group as an individual design process. The design support device 100 also associates the reference information with each design process as effective knowledge based on the similarity between the pieces of reference information associated with deliverable information belonging to the same design process information and the number of references. The design support device 100 also creates design process information in which the design processes associated with effective knowledge are arranged in chronological order.

[0025] Furthermore, the design support device 100 estimates the design process being performed by the operator based on the operation history information, and displays display information for receiving a display instruction for valid knowledge associated with the estimated design process on the terminal device 200 of the corresponding operator. Furthermore, based on a display instruction from the operator, the design support device 100 extracts the corresponding valid knowledge from a predetermined database and displays it on the terminal device 200 used by the operator.

[0026] Such a design support device can help reduce the time required for product design and improve quality by presenting useful knowledge that can be referenced when creating a product to the designer at the time of design.

[0027] <Terminal Device 200> The terminal device 200 is used by an operator during design, and is, for example, a computer such as a personal computer. Note that the terminal device 200 may also be, for example, a tablet terminal or a smartphone.

[0028] The terminal device 200 transmits an operation history of the operator on the operation target to the design support device 100. Specifically, the terminal device 200 transmits to the design support device 100 identification information of the operator (for example, the name or ID of the operator), a document name that identifies document information on the operation target by the operator, the date and time when the document information was opened, the date and time when the document information was closed, and the date and time when the document information was updated (saved).

[0029] For example, when an operator opens document information, the terminal device 200 associates the operator's name, the document name, and the date and time when the document information was opened with each other, and transmits these to the design support device 100. Furthermore, when the operator edits and saves the document information or closes the document information, the terminal device 200 associates the update date and time or the close date and time of the document information with the operator's name and the document name, and transmits these to the design support device 100.

[0030] <Design support equipment 100> The design support device 100 is a device that supports design by displaying knowledge that is effective at the time of design on a terminal device 200 used by an operator. As shown in FIG. 1 , the design support device 100 has a processing unit 110, a storage unit 120, an input receiving unit 130, an output information generating unit 140, and a communication unit 150.

[0031] The processing unit 110 is a functional unit that performs various processes executed by the design support device 100. Specifically, the processing unit 110 has, as individual functional units that perform each process, an operation history collection unit 111, an information type identification unit 112, a similarity calculation unit 113, a design process creation unit 114, a design process estimation unit 115, and an effective knowledge search unit 116.

[0032] The operation history collection unit 111 is a functional unit that collects the operation history of the document information by the operator. Specifically, the operation history collection unit 111 acquires information such as the date and time when the document information was opened and the date and time when the document information was updated from the terminal device 200 via the communication unit 150.

[0033] The information type identification unit 112 is a functional unit that identifies the type of document information to be operated by an operator. Specifically, the information type identification unit 112 identifies (classifies) whether the document information to be operated is deliverable information or reference information.

[0034] The similarity calculation unit 113 is a functional unit that calculates the similarity of document information. Specifically, the similarity calculation unit 113 converts the document information to be operated into a numerical vector based on the tf-idf (Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency) method, and calculates the similarity between pieces of deliverable information or between pieces of reference information based on the cosine similarity using the obtained numerical vector.

[0035] The design process creation unit 114 is a functional unit that creates design process information. Specifically, the design process creation unit 114 extracts the design process to which each piece of deliverable information belongs, associates reference information for each design process as valid knowledge, and creates design process information in which these are arranged in chronological order.

[0036] The design process estimation unit 115 is a functional unit that estimates the design process of an operator. Specifically, the design process estimation unit 115 estimates the design process during design based on the update date and time of the deliverable information of each operator recorded in the operation history information 123.

[0037] The effective knowledge search unit 116 is a functional unit that searches for effective knowledge associated with a design process and displays it on the terminal device 200. Specifically, the effective knowledge search unit 116 identifies effective knowledge associated with the estimated current design process and next design process, and effective knowledge similar to deliverable information belonging to the current design process. Furthermore, the effective knowledge search unit 116 searches the database for document information corresponding to effective knowledge for which a display instruction from the operator has been received, and displays the document information on the terminal device 200 via the output information generation unit 140.

[0038] Next, we will explain the storage unit 120. The storage unit 120 is a functional unit for storing various information. Specifically, the storage unit 120 has a design information database 121 and an operation history database 122.

[0039] The design information database 121 is a database that stores various information related to design. Specifically, the design information database 121 stores various types of past design information (for example, specifications, standard information, product information, strength calculation sheets, NV calculation sheets, etc.), know-how information, etc.

[0040] The operation history database 122 is a database for storing the operation history of the operator.

[0041] 2 is a diagram showing an example of operation history information 123 stored in operation history database 122. As shown in the figure, operation history information 123 has records in which an operator, a document name, an open date and time, a close date and time, and an update date and time are associated with each other.

[0042] The operator is information for identifying the operator of the terminal device 200, such as the name or ID of the operator. The document name is information for identifying the information to be operated by the operator, such as the name of the document information. The open date and time, closed date and time, and updated date and time indicate the date and time when the document information was opened, closed, and updated (saved) by the operator, respectively.

[0043] Next, the input receiving unit 130 will be described. The input receiving unit 130 is a functional unit that receives input of instructions and information from a user of the design support device 100 via an input device included in the design support device 100. Specifically, the input receiving unit 130 receives input of instructions and information related to the creation of design process information from the user of the design support device 100.

[0044] The output information generating unit 140 is a functional unit that generates output information to be output to the design support device 100 and the terminal device 200. Specifically, the output information generating unit 140 generates various types of screen information (for example, screen information of an input screen or screen information showing a calculation result) and outputs it to the display device of each device.

[0045] The communication unit 150 is a functional unit that communicates information with an external device (for example, the terminal device 200 or another predetermined device). Specifically, the communication unit 150 acquires an operation history from the terminal device 200 via the network N. The communication unit 150 also transmits predetermined input screens and screen information related to valid knowledge to the terminal device 200.

[0046] <Processing Description> Next, a description will be given of the design support process executed by the design support device 100. The design support process has phases 1 to 3. In phase 1, the operation history of the operator is accumulated in the database of the design support device 100. In phase 2, the accumulated past operation history information 123 is used to create design process information in which effective knowledge is associated with the design process. In phase 3, effective knowledge corresponding to the design process being designed by the operator is displayed on the terminal device 200 of the operator.

[0047] <<Phase 1>> 3 is a flow diagram showing an example of the process (step S100: collecting and storing operation history) related to Phase 1. The process of Phase 1 is executed continuously, for example, while the design support device 100 is running.

[0048] Specifically, in step S101, the operation history collection unit 111 acquires (collects) the operation history of each operator from each terminal device 200. Specifically, the operation history collection unit 111 acquires, as operation history, from the terminal device 200, the date and time when the document information was opened, the date and time when the document information was saved, and the date and time when the document information was closed, in a form associated with the operator's identification information and the name of the document to be operated.

[0049] Next, the operation history collection unit 111 stores the operation history acquired in step S101 in the operation history database 122 (step S102).

[0050] After executing the process of step S102, the operation history collection unit 111 returns the process to step S101 and continuously executes the processes of steps S101 and S102. Specifically, for example, when the terminal device 200 that has accepted an operation by an operator transmits an operation history to the design support device 100, the operation history collection unit 111 performs the processes of steps S101 and S102 in this order at the time of receiving the operation history.

[0051] By continuously executing such a process of Phase 1, the operation history database 122 accumulates the operation history of the operator acquired from each terminal device 200.

[0052] <<Phase 2>> 4 is a flow diagram showing an example of processing (step S200: creating design process information) related to Phase 2. The processing of Phase 2 starts, for example, when the input receiving unit 130 receives an execution instruction from the user of the design support device 100.

[0053] When the process starts, the information type identification unit 112 extracts all operation history information 123 stored in the operation history database 122 (step S201). Note that the information type identification unit 112 may narrow down the operation history information 123 from the operation history database 122 to, for example, the most recent few months' worth of information and extract it from the operation history database 122.

[0054] Next, the output information generation unit 140 generates screen information of an input screen for receiving instructions to classify the deliverable information and the reference information using the extracted operation history information 123, and displays the screen information on a display device (display) included in the design support device 100 (step S202).

[0055] 5 is a diagram showing an example of an input screen for receiving a classification instruction. As shown in the figure, an input screen (first input screen) 300 displays a classification condition input field 301, a display field 302 for operation history information 123 extracted from operation history database 122, a display field (type) 303 for displaying the classification results, and a confirmation reception button 304.

[0056] The classification condition input field 301 is an input field for inputting conditions used when classifying deliverable information and reference information, and in this embodiment, the interval number of days (ε1) until document information is saved is input therein. The interval number of days ε1 is information indicating the interval from the date and time when the document information to be operated is opened to the date and time when it is updated, and is used for determining whether to classify the type of document information to be operated (deliverable information or reference information).

[0057] For example, if the interval between when the operator opens the document information and when it is updated is long (e.g., two or three days or more), it is estimated that the document information is likely to be reference information that was referenced when the deliverable information was created. On the other hand, if the interval between when the operator opens the document information and when it is updated is short (e.g., within a few hours or one or two days), the data is frequently saved, so the document information is likely to be deliverable information. Therefore, the input field for the interval number of days ε1 is input with the interval number of days that serves as the standard for classifying such deliverable information and reference information.

[0058] Furthermore, the displayed operation history information 123 is associated with a type display field 303 in addition to the items of the operation history information 123 shown in Fig. 2. The type displays the classification result (deliverable information or reference information) of the document information corresponding to each record. Note that Fig. 5 shows an example in which the classification result is displayed, but the result is displayed after execution of step S203, which will be described later.

[0059] Here, when the user of the design support device 100 inputs a desired value (for example, any number of days from 1 to 30 days) into the interval days ε1 on the input screen 300, the input receiving unit 130 acquires this, and the information type identification unit 112 executes a process of classifying the type of document information, and the classification result is displayed (step S203). Specifically, the information type identification unit 112 executes the classification process shown in FIG.

[0060] 6 is a flow diagram showing details of the process (classification process) of step S203. As shown in the figure, the information type identification unit 112 acquires document information corresponding to each document name identified using the operation history information 123 from the design information database 121 (step S2031), and determines whether each document is updatable information (step S2032).

[0061] Specifically, the information type identification unit 112 determines whether document information is updatable based on the file type (format, etc.). For example, editable information created using word processing software, spreadsheet software, etc. is determined to be updatable. On the other hand, information that cannot normally be edited or saved by an operator, such as PDF (Portable Document Format) or information on the Web, is determined to be not updatable (not updatable).

[0062] If it is determined that the information type identification unit 112 is editable (Yes in step S2032), the information type identification unit 112 proceeds to step S2033. On the other hand, if it is determined that the information is not editable (editing is not permitted) (No in step S2032), the information type identification unit 112 proceeds to step S2035. In step S2035, the information type identification unit 112 identifies that the document information being determined is reference information.

[0063] Next, in step S2033, the information type identification unit 112 determines whether the interval between the time when the document information was opened and the time when it was updated is equal to or less than the value of ε1. If it is determined that the interval is equal to or less than the value of ε1 (Yes in step S2033), the information type identification unit 112 identifies the document information to be determined as deliverable information (step S2034). On the other hand, if it is determined that the interval is greater than ε1, the information type identification unit 112 identifies the document information to be determined as reference information (step S2035).

[0064] The information type identification unit 112 executes the processes of steps S2032 to S2035 on all of the document information acquired in step S2031, thereby classifying the type of each piece of document information.

[0065] Furthermore, the information type identification unit 112 displays the classification result on the input screen shown in Fig. 5. Specifically, the information type identification unit 112 causes the output information generation unit 140 to display the classification result in the display field (type) 303 associated with the record of the corresponding document information in the operation history information 123.

[0066] The user of the design support device 100 checks the classification results of each piece of document information, and if he / she does not want to re-classify by re-inputting the interval days, presses the confirmation acceptance button 304. When the confirmation acceptance button 304 is pressed, the input acceptance unit 130 shifts the process to step S204.

[0067] In step S204 (FIG. 4), the output information generation unit 140 generates screen information of an input screen for receiving an instruction to associate reference information with each piece of deliverable information, using the operation history information 123 and the classification result in step S203. In addition, the output information generation unit 140 displays the generated screen information on a display device included in the design support device 100.

[0068] 7 is a diagram showing an example of an input screen for receiving an instruction to associate reference information. As shown in the figure, an input screen (second input screen) 400 displays an association condition input field 401, a display field 402 displaying the deliverable information classified in step S203, the identification information of the operator of each deliverable information, and the reference information that the operator is presumed to have referred to when creating the deliverable information, and a confirmation acceptance button 403.

[0069] The association condition input field 401 is an input field in which conditions for identifying reference information that is estimated to have been referenced when each deliverable information was created are input, and in this embodiment, the number of days in the reference period (ε2) is input. The number of days in the reference period ε2 is information that indicates the period (number of days) prior to the update date and time of the deliverable information, and is used to determine the estimated reference information that the operator referenced when the deliverable information was created.

[0070] It is highly likely that the reference information was referenced by the operator immediately before updating the document information (deliverable information) (for example, one or two days before the update date and time). Therefore, the number of days in the reference period ε2 is input as the number of days (for example, one or two days) that are prior to the update date and time of the deliverable information and that are estimated to have been referenced when the deliverable information was created, based on the update date and time of the deliverable information.

[0071] Although FIG. 7 shows an example in which reference information associated with deliverable information is displayed, the reference information is displayed after execution of step S205, which will be described later.

[0072] Here, when the user of the design support device 100 inputs a desired value (for example, an arbitrary number of days such as 1 day or 2 days) into the number of days ε2 on the input screen, the input accepting unit 130 acquires this, and the information type identifying unit 112 executes a process of associating reference information with each piece of deliverable information, and the reference information associated with each piece of deliverable information is displayed (step S205). Specifically, the information type identifying unit 112 executes the reference information associating process shown in FIG. 8.

[0073] 8 is a flow diagram showing details of the process (reference information association process) of step S205 (FIG. 4). As shown in the figure, the information type identification unit 112 acquires the deliverable information classified in step S203 (step S2051), and for each deliverable information, identifies reference information that has been opened by the same operator within a predetermined period (the value of the number of days ε2) before the update date and time of the deliverable information (step S2052).

[0074] Furthermore, the information type identification unit 112 associates the identified reference information with the corresponding deliverable information and displays it on the input screen shown in Fig. 7 (step S2053). Specifically, the information type identification unit 112 causes the output information generation unit 140 to display the reference information associated with each deliverable information in a reference information display field corresponding to each record of the deliverable information. Note that there may be cases where multiple pieces of reference information are associated with one deliverable information.

[0075] The user of the design support device 100 checks the deliverable information and the reference information associated with each deliverable information, and if the user does not want to re-enter the number of days of the reference period and re-establish the association, presses the confirmation acceptance button 403. When the confirmation acceptance button 403 is pressed, the input acceptance unit 130 transitions the process to step S206.

[0076] In step S206 (FIG. 4), the output information generation unit 140 generates an input screen for receiving an instruction to extract a design process, using the deliverable information and the reference information associated with the deliverable information, and displays the input screen on the display device provided in the design support device 100.

[0077] 9 is a diagram showing an example of an input screen for receiving an instruction to extract a design process. As shown in the figure, an input screen (third input screen) 500 displays an input field 501 for similarity, an input field 502 for reference rate, a display field 503 for design processes and effective knowledge, and an instruction reception button 504 for receiving an instruction to generate design process information in which the extracted design processes are arranged in chronological order.

[0078] The similarity is the similarity between product information or reference information, and product information with a similarity equal to or greater than the input value (0.8 in the illustrated example) is grouped together, and reference information with a similarity equal to or greater than the input value is associated with the corresponding design process.

[0079] As will be described later, the reference information is associated with each design process based on the similarity and the reference rate.

[0080] Here, when the user of the design support device 100 inputs desired values ​​for the similarity and reference rate on the input screen, the input receiving unit 130 acquires this, and the similarity calculation unit 113 groups similar product information together, and executes processing to extract design processes and effective knowledge (step S207). Specifically, the design process creation unit 114 executes the design process extraction processing shown in FIG.

[0081] 10 is a flow diagram showing an example of the process (design process / effective knowledge extraction process) of step S207 (FIG. 4). As shown in the figure, the design process creation unit 114 acquires each piece of deliverable information classified in step S203 from the design information database 121 and extracts its contents (for example, the contents of text information) (step S2071).

[0082] Next, the similarity calculation unit 113 calculates the similarity between the contents of the deliverable information (step S2072). Specifically, the similarity calculation unit 113 identifies one piece of deliverable information to be used as a reference, and calculates the similarity between the reference deliverable information and other deliverable information. The reference deliverable information may be selected, for example, according to the proficiency of the operator, and rules regarding who should use the deliverable information created as the reference may be stored in advance in the storage unit 120. Here, it is assumed that "Strength Calculation Sheet 1," the deliverable information created by operator AA, is selected as the reference deliverable information.

[0083] The similarity calculation unit 113 also converts the text content of each piece of deliverable information into a numerical vector based on the tf-idf method, and calculates the similarity between the reference deliverable information and other deliverable information based on the cosine similarity using the obtained numerical vector. Note that the closer the cosine similarity value is to 0 (zero), the lower the similarity between the pieces of deliverable information, and the closer the cosine similarity value is to 1, the higher the similarity between the pieces of deliverable information.

[0084] Next, the design process creation unit 114 groups together the deliverable information having a similarity equal to or greater than the similarity input in the similarity input field 501 and extracts it as one design process (step S2073). Here, as shown in Fig. 9, deliverable information having a similarity of 0.8 or greater with the reference deliverable information is grouped together as a highly similar task. This allows highly similar tasks to be extracted as one design process.

[0085] Other deliverable information having a similarity to the reference deliverable information of less than 0.8 is grouped in a similar manner. Specifically, the design process creation unit 114 identifies new reference deliverable information from among the other ungrouped deliverable information. Furthermore, the similarity calculation unit 113 and the design process creation unit 114 group deliverable information having a similarity to the new reference deliverable information of 0.8 or more in a similar manner to the above. By repeating this process, the design process creation unit 114 groups the deliverable information and extracts each group as an individual design process.

[0086] FIG. 9 shows a case where strength calculation sheet 1, the design process to which calculation sheet 1 and strength calculation 1 belong, and the design process to which NV calculation sheet 1 and vibration calculation sheet 1 belong are extracted.

[0087] Next, the design process creation unit 114 associates each design process with reference information. Specifically, the design process creation unit 114 performs the following processing for each design process.

[0088] The design process creation unit 114 acquires the reference information associated with the product information belonging to the design process from the design information database 121, and extracts the contents (for example, the contents of the text information) (step S2074).

[0089] Next, the similarity calculation unit 113 calculates the similarity between the reference information (step S2075). Specifically, the similarity calculation unit 113 identifies one piece of reference information to be used as a reference from the acquired reference information, and calculates the similarity between the reference information and the other reference information. Note that the reference information to be used as a reference may be selected using the operation history information 123, for example, as reference information that is presumed to have been referenced by the operator when creating the reference deliverable information (for example, reference information that the operator had open during the period identified by ε2 before the update date and time of the reference deliverable information). Note that in this example, it is assumed that specification 1 is selected as the reference information.

[0090] Furthermore, the similarity calculation unit 113 calculates the similarity between the reference information and other reference information belonging to the same design process based on the tf-idf and cosine similarity, similar to the similarity between the deliverable information.

[0091] Next, the design process creation unit 114 identifies reference information having a similarity equal to or greater than the similarity input in the similarity input field 501 (step S2076). Here, as shown in Fig. 9, it is assumed that specification 1, customer requirement 1, and standard information 1 are identified as reference information having a similarity of 0.8 or greater with the reference information of the standard. These pieces of reference information are considered to be reference information that is likely to be referred to by multiple different operators when creating deliverable information belonging to the same design process.

[0092] Next, the design process creation unit 114 uses the operation history information 123 to calculate the reference rate of each piece of reference information identified in step S2076 (step S2077). The reference rate refers to the percentage of time that the operator referenced the reference information when creating the associated deliverable information. For example, if the update date and time of a certain deliverable information is recorded 10 times in the operation history information 123, and the date and time that the reference information associated with the deliverable information was opened is recorded 8 times during the period identified by ε2 before the update date and time of the deliverable information, the reference rate of the reference information for the deliverable information is 80%. In this way, the design process creation unit 114 calculates the reference rate of each piece of reference information identified in step S2076.

[0093] Next, the design process creation unit 114 extracts reference information whose reference rate is equal to or greater than the value input in the reference rate input field 502 (step S2078). The design process creation unit 114 also associates the extracted reference information with the design process as effective knowledge (step S2079). Through this processing, as shown in Fig. 9, the specification 1, customer requirement 1, and standard information 1 that satisfy the conditions of similarity and reference rate for the design process to which the strength calculation document 1 etc. belongs are associated as effective knowledge.

[0094] The effective knowledge may be extracted based on at least either the similarity between the reference information or the reference rate, but it is preferable to extract the effective knowledge by taking both the similarity and the reference rate into consideration.

[0095] By performing this process for each design process, reference information with a high degree of similarity and high reference rate is associated with each design process as effective knowledge. This allows reference information that is effective and likely to be referenced when creating deliverable information belonging to a design process to be associated with the design process as effective knowledge.

[0096] The user of the design support device 100 checks the displayed design process and available knowledge, and if the similarity and reference rate are not to be changed, presses an instruction acceptance button to instruct creation of design process information. When the instruction acceptance button is pressed, the input acceptance unit 130 shifts the process to step S208.

[0097] In step S208 (FIG. 4), the design process creation unit 114 creates design process information in which each design process associated with valid knowledge is arranged in chronological order. Specifically, the design process creation unit 114 arranges each design process in chronological order based on the update date and time of the deliverable information belonging to each design process. As an example, the design process creation unit 114 refers to the creator of the deliverable information belonging to each design process using the operation history information 123, and if deliverable information created by a common operator is included in all the design processes, the design process creation unit 114 arranges each design process in chronological order based on the update date and time of the deliverable information by that operator.

[0098] Alternatively, if each design process includes an operator who created reference deliverable information, the design process creation unit 114 arranges the design processes in chronological order based on the update date and time of the deliverable information created by that operator. Note that the standards and rules for chronologically arranging the design processes are not limited to these, and it is sufficient that the design processes be arranged in chronological order according to a predetermined standard or rule.

[0099] When the design process information is created, the output information generating unit 140 generates screen information for displaying the design process information, and displays it on the display device of the design support device 100.

[0100] 11 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen for design process information. As shown in the figure, a display screen 600 displays design process information 601 associated with valid knowledge and arranged in chronological order based on a predetermined criterion, and an instruction acceptance button 602.

[0101] After checking the design process information 601, the user of the design support device 100 presses the instruction acceptance button 602. When the instruction acceptance button 602 is pressed, the input acceptance unit 130 shifts the process to step S209.

[0102] In step S209 (FIG. 4), the design process creation unit 114 stores the created design process information in a predetermined database (design information database 121 or another database not shown) in the storage unit 120, and ends the processing of phase 2 (step S200).

[0103] By this processing in Phase 2, the design process corresponding to the creation stage (procedure) of each deliverable information is extracted, and the available knowledge is associated and arranged in chronological order.

[0104] <Phase 3> 12 is a flow diagram showing an example of the process (step S300: displaying effective knowledge at design time) related to Phase 3. The process of Phase 3 is started by the design support device 100, for example, when it detects that the terminal device 200 used by the operator has been started.

[0105] In step S301, the design process estimation unit 115 acquires from the storage unit 120 all information generated or created in the processes of steps S100 and S200.

[0106] Next, the design process estimation unit 115 estimates the design process in which the operator is creating the product information (step S302). Specifically, the design process estimation unit 115 refers to the operation history information 123 and identifies the product information in which the latest update date and time operated by the operator is recorded.

[0107] Furthermore, the design process estimation unit 115 estimates a design process to which product information similar to the identified product information belongs as the design process in which the operator creates the product information.

[0108] Specifically, the design process estimation unit 115 calculates the similarity between the identified deliverable information and deliverable information belonging to each design process of the design process information via the similarity calculation unit 113, and identifies the design process to which the deliverable information belongs when the similarity is equal to or greater than a predetermined value (for example, the value received in the similarity input field 501 in FIG. 9). Furthermore, the design process estimation unit 115 estimates the identified design process as the design process in which the operator creates the deliverable information.

[0109] Next, the valid knowledge search unit 116 searches for valid knowledge corresponding to the operator's design process (step S303). Specifically, the valid knowledge search unit 116 uses the design process information to identify valid knowledge associated with the estimated design process. In addition, the valid knowledge search unit 116 also identifies valid knowledge associated with the design process next to the estimated design process, taking into account the possibility that the operator's current design process has already ended and the operator has moved on to the next design process.

[0110] Furthermore, the effective knowledge search unit 116 also identifies effective knowledge similar to the deliverable information belonging to the estimated design process, taking into consideration the possibility that other effective knowledge may exist in the design information database 121. Specifically, the effective knowledge search unit 116 calculates the similarity between the deliverable information belonging to the estimated design process and other document information in the design information database 121 via the similarity calculation unit 113, and identifies document information whose similarity is equal to or greater than a predetermined value (for example, the value received in the similarity input field 501 in FIG. 9) as effective knowledge similar to the effective knowledge.

[0111] Next, the output information generating unit 140 generates screen information for receiving an instruction to display the identified effective knowledge, and displays it on the terminal device 200 (step S304).

[0112] 13 is a diagram showing an example of screen information for receiving an instruction to display valid knowledge. As shown in the figure, screen information 700 selectively displays valid knowledge belonging to the current design process, valid knowledge belonging to the next design process, and valid knowledge (document information) in the design information database 121 that is similar to the valid knowledge belonging to the current design process.

[0113] If the operator wants to display valid knowledge corresponding to the current design process from the displayed screen information, he or she selects (e.g., double-clicks) the relevant valid knowledge. At this time, the input receiving unit 130 outputs the selected valid knowledge to the valid knowledge search unit 116.

[0114] The effective knowledge search unit 116 searches the design information database 121 for document information corresponding to the selected effective knowledge, and displays it on the terminal device 200 of the corresponding operator via the output information generation unit 140 (step S305).

[0115] The design support process including phases 1 to 3 has been described above.

[0116] This design support device can help reduce the time required for product design and improve its quality by presenting useful knowledge that can be referenced when creating a deliverable to the designer at the time of design. In particular, the design support device extracts design processes from deliverable information of highly similar tasks based on the operation history information of each operator, and extracts useful knowledge from the similarities and reference rates between reference information associated with the deliverable information.

[0117] This allows the design support device to associate reference information that is effective and likely to be referenced when creating deliverable information belonging to a design process with the design process as effective knowledge, and to present effective knowledge for reference during design to the user. As a result, the user can save the effort and time of searching for the necessary knowledge by himself, thereby realizing shorter product design times and higher quality.

[0118] In the above embodiment, an example has been described in which the design support device 100 receives input of instructions and information from a user of the device via an input device included in the device, and displays the generated screen information on a display device included in the design support device 100, but the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment. The design support device 100 may also receive input of instructions and information from a computer (such as a personal computer used by a design manager) that is communicably connected via the communication unit 150, and display the screen information on the computer.

[0119] Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, the storage unit 120 of the design support device 100 has the design information database 121 and the operation history database 122, but the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment, and these databases may be stored in an external device (for example, a cloud server) that is connected to the design support device 100 so as to be able to communicate with each other via the network N. In this case, the design support device 100 acquires design information and operation history information from the external device as appropriate in accordance with the execution of processing.

[0120] <Hardware Configuration of Design Support Device 100> 14 is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of design support device 100. As shown in the figure, design support device 100 has an input device 810, a display device 820, a processing device 830, a main memory device 840, an auxiliary memory device 850, a communication device 860, and a bus 870 that electrically interconnects these devices.

[0121] The input device 810 is, for example, a touch panel, a keyboard, a mouse, etc. The display device 820 is a display device such as a liquid crystal display or an organic display.

[0122] The processing device 830 is, for example, a processor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) or a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit). The main storage device 840 is a memory device (memory resource) such as a RAM (Random Access Memory) or a ROM (Read Only Memory). The design support device 100 has at least one processor and one or more memory resources.

[0123] The auxiliary storage device 850 is a non-volatile storage device capable of storing digital information, such as a so-called hard disk drive, a solid state drive (SSD), or a flash memory.

[0124] The communication device 860 is a wired communication device that performs wired communication via a network cable, or a wireless communication device that performs wireless communication via an antenna.

[0125] An example of the hardware configuration of the design support device 100 has been described above.

[0126] The processing unit 110 of the design support device 100 is realized by a program that causes the processing device 830 to perform processing. This program is stored in the main storage device 840 or the auxiliary storage device 850, and is loaded onto the main storage device 840 and executed by the processing device 830 when the program is executed.

[0127] The storage unit 120 is realized by a main storage device 840, an auxiliary storage device 850, or a combination thereof. The communication unit 150 is realized by a communication device 860.

[0128] Furthermore, the above-described configurations, functions, processing units, and processing means of the design support device 100 may be partially or entirely implemented in hardware, for example, by designing them as integrated circuits. The above-described configurations and functions may also be implemented in software, with a processor interpreting and executing programs that implement the respective functions. Information such as programs, tables, and files that implement the respective functions may be stored in storage devices such as memory, hard disks, and SSDs, or in recording media such as IC cards, SD cards, and DVDs.

[0129] Furthermore, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments and modifications, and includes various modifications within the scope of the same technical concept. For example, the above-described embodiments have been described in detail to clearly explain the present invention, and the present invention is not necessarily limited to those including all of the described configurations. Furthermore, it is possible to replace part of the configuration of one embodiment with the configuration of another embodiment, or to add the configuration of another embodiment to the configuration of one embodiment. Furthermore, it is possible to add, delete, or replace part of the configuration of each embodiment with other configurations.

[0130] In addition, in the above explanation, the control lines and information lines are those that are considered necessary for the explanation, and do not necessarily show all the control lines and information lines in the product. In reality, it can be considered that almost all components are interconnected. [Explanation of symbols]

[0131] 1000... Design support system, 100... Design support device, 110... Processing unit, 111... Operation history collection unit, 112... Information type identification unit, 113... Similarity calculation unit, 114... Design process creation unit, 115... Design process estimation unit, 116... Effective knowledge search unit, 120... Storage unit, 121... Design information database, 122... Operation history database, 130... Input acceptance unit, 140... Output information generation unit, 150... Communication unit, 200... Terminal device, 810... Input device, 820... Display device, 830... Processing device, 840... Main memory device, 850... Auxiliary memory device, 860... Communication device, 870... Bus, N... Network

Claims

1. a design process creation unit that extracts design processes indicating the stages of creation of the deliverable information by grouping together deliverable information having a predetermined similarity or higher, associates reference information having a similarity or higher and a predetermined reference rate or higher indicating the rate of reference when the deliverable information was created with the design process as effective knowledge that can be referenced when the deliverable information was created, and creates design process information in which the design processes are arranged in chronological order; a design process estimation unit that estimates a design process of the product information by a designer based on the design process information and an operation history of the product information; an output information generating unit that displays screen information for receiving a display instruction for the effective knowledge associated with the estimated design process on a terminal device used by the designer. A design support device characterized by:

2. 2. The design support device according to claim 1, a valid knowledge search unit that, upon receiving an instruction from the designer to display the valid knowledge, searches a database for information corresponding to the valid knowledge; The output information generating unit displays the retrieved valid knowledge on the terminal device. A design support device characterized by:

3. 3. The design support device according to claim 2, The effective knowledge search unit using the design process information to identify the valid knowledge associated with the estimated design process and a next design process of the estimated design process; The output information generation unit Displaying screen information for accepting a display instruction for the identified effective knowledge on the terminal device. A design support device characterized by:

4. 4. The design support device according to claim 3, The effective knowledge search unit Searching a predetermined database for valid knowledge similar to the valid knowledge associated with the estimated design process; The output information generation unit screen information for receiving a display instruction for valid knowledge similar to the valid knowledge is generated and displayed on the terminal device; A design support device characterized by:

5. 2. The design support device according to claim 1, an operation history collection unit that collects operation history of the designer on the operation target information; and an information type specifying unit that classifies the operation target information as either the deliverable information or the reference information based on whether the operation target information is updatable or not and the period from when the operation target information is opened until when it is updated. A design support device characterized by:

6. 6. The design support device according to claim 5, The operation history includes identification information of the designer, identification information of the operation target information, the date and time when the operation target information was opened, the date and time when the operation target information was updated, and the date and time when the operation target information was closed. A design support device characterized by:

7. 6. The design support device according to claim 5, The information type identification unit Using the operation history, the reference information that was opened within a predetermined period before the update date and time of the deliverable information is associated with the deliverable information. A design support device characterized by:

8. 2. The design support device according to claim 1, The information processing device further includes a similarity calculation unit that converts the deliverable information into a numerical vector based on tf-idf (Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency) and calculates the similarity between the deliverable information by cosine similarity using the obtained numerical vector. A design support device characterized by:

9. 6. The design support device according to claim 5, The output information generation unit Generate screen information for receiving an input of the number of days between opening and updating the operation target information, which is a period condition for classifying the operation target information as the deliverable information or the reference information. A design support device characterized by:

10. 8. The design support device according to claim 7, The output information generation unit generating screen information for receiving input of a period condition for identifying the reference information to be associated with the deliverable information, the period condition being a predetermined number of days before the update date and time of the deliverable information; A design support device characterized by:

11. 2. The design support device according to claim 1, The output information generation unit Generate screen information for receiving input of the similarity and the reference rate. A design support device characterized by:

12. A design support method performed by a design support device, The design support device a design process creation step of grouping together deliverable information having a predetermined similarity or higher, extracting design processes indicating the stages of creation of the deliverable information, associating reference information having a similarity or higher and a predetermined reference rate or higher, which indicates the rate of reference when the deliverable information was created, with the design process as effective knowledge that can be referenced when the deliverable information was created, and creating design process information in which the design processes are arranged in chronological order; a design process estimation step of estimating a design process of the product information by a designer based on the design process information and an operation history of the product information; a display step of displaying, on a terminal device used by the designer, screen information for receiving a display instruction for the effective knowledge associated with the estimated design process. A design support method comprising:

13. A program that causes a computer to function as a design support device, The computer a design process creation unit that extracts design processes indicating the stages of creation of the deliverable information by grouping together deliverable information having a predetermined similarity or higher, associates reference information having a similarity or higher and a predetermined reference rate or higher indicating the rate of reference when the deliverable information was created with the design process as effective knowledge that can be referenced when the deliverable information was created, and creates design process information in which the design processes are arranged in chronological order; a design process estimation unit that estimates a design process of the product information by a designer based on the design process information and an operation history of the product information; and causing the device to function as an output information generating unit that displays, on a terminal device used by the designer, screen information for receiving an instruction to display the effective knowledge associated with the estimated design process. A program characterized by:

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