Implicit Vertex Relationships for Accurate Floor Plan Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing floor plan drawing techniques suffer from errors in feature alignment between levels due to user imprecision and scaling issues, leading to inaccuracies and time-consuming manual modifications that can propagate and exacerbate design errors.
Innovation Solution
A system that represents a structure as interrelated partitions, where manipulating one partition automatically propagates changes to related partitions, maintaining relationships such as collinearity and proportional distances, using vertices specified relative to an origin or other vertices, and applying affine transformations to ensure accurate representation and alignment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If manual copying and tracing of features between levels is used, then design accuracy can be maintained through careful manual work, but time consumption increases and errors propagate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements automated copying of feature definitions between levels using vertex relationships. When a feature is defined at one level, the system automatically copies and adapts it to other levels based on stored vertex relationships, eliminating manual copying while maintaining accuracy through systematic transformation rules.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary action by pre-establishing vertex relationships and transformation rules during the initial floor plan creation. These relationships are stored and automatically applied when creating subsequent levels, preventing errors before they occur rather than requiring manual correction later.
2Stability of the object's composition
If features are copied and traced between levels, then consistency can be maintained, but design errors are propagated and exaggerated
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback mechanisms where the system continuously monitors and detects alignment errors between levels. When inconsistencies are detected in copied features, the system provides feedback to automatically correct the alignment using the stored vertex relationships, preventing error propagation while maintaining consistency.
Solution Approach 2:
The system replaces the mechanical manual tracing process with computational geometry transformations. Vertex relationships define mathematical transformations that automatically adjust features when copied between levels, eliminating the imprecision of manual operations while maintaining systematic consistency.
3Manufacturing precision
If manual tracing from prior levels is used, then accurate representation can be achieved, but modification complexity increases when changes are needed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the floor plan into discrete features defined by vertices, with each feature having explicit relationships to other features. This segmentation allows individual features to be modified independently while automatically updating related features through the vertex relationships, reducing modification complexity while maintaining accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements dynamic vertex relationships that automatically adapt when modifications occur. When a feature is modified, the system dynamically updates all related features based on the vertex relationships, making the system flexible and easy to modify while maintaining accurate representations across all levels.
4Measurement precision
If features are represented with absolute positioning, then precision is maintained, but adaptability to scaling and transformation decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses parameter changes by defining vertex positions relative to each other rather than to a fixed origin. The vertex relationships store transformation parameters that automatically adjust when scaling or transforming the floor plan, maintaining precision while enabling adaptability to different scales and transformations.
Data Source
AI summary
The disclosed embodiments relate to a representation of a structure/space as a collection of interrelated partitions whereby manipulation of the partitions causes an automated propagation of the manipulation through the other interrelated partitions as a function of the relationships therebetween. Each partition is defined by one or more vertices, the location(s) of which is/are specified either relative to an origin or relative to, i.e. as a function of, or dependent upon, the location of another vertex within the partition (intra-partition) or within another partition (inter-partition). Where the location of a vertex is moved, the change is propagated implicitly to all other vertices whose location is related, i.e. specified as a function of the modified vertex.