Privacy-Preserving CAD Part Search With Hashed Geometry
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Solution Overview
Problem
The challenge in contract manufacturing is to enable the search and comparison of part designs while preserving their privacy, as they are often considered sensitive, classified, or proprietary.
Innovation Solution
A system is implemented that converts part designs into cryptographic hashes, spatial hashes, and anonymized feature vectors, allowing searches to be performed on these secondary electronic files without accessing the original designs, thereby maintaining privacy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If part design files are stored and searched in their original form, then search accuracy and comparison capability are improved, but privacy protection and security are worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a de-identified copy of the part design file by extracting only the CAD geometry and converting it to a standardized format. This copy is then hashed and stored in the historical database, allowing searches without storing or accessing the original design files, thus maintaining search accuracy while eliminating privacy risks
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts only the essential geometric information (CAD geometry) from the part design file, separating it from other potentially sensitive data. This extracted geometry is then processed into a hash and feature vector for storage and comparison, enabling search functionality without retaining the complete original design
2Object-affected harmful factors
If part design files are converted to hashes and feature vectors, then privacy protection is improved, but search complexity and processing requirements are worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary processing of part design files by extracting CAD geometry, converting to standardized format, generating hashes, and creating feature vectors before storage. This pre-processing transforms complex design files into simplified search-ready formats, reducing the complexity of subsequent search operations while maintaining privacy
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the part design file into distinct components: CAD geometry extraction, hash generation, and feature vector creation. This segmentation allows each component to be processed and stored separately, simplifying the search system by breaking down the complex design file into manageable, privacy-preserving elements
3Productivity
If a multi-staged search is performed using cryptographic hash, spatial hash, and anonymized feature vector, then search efficiency and privacy are improved, but processing time and computational resources are worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the search process into three independent stages: cryptographic hash matching, spatial hash matching, and anonymized feature vector comparison. Each stage can be processed in parallel and uses different computational methods, allowing the system to balance search efficiency with processing time by executing stages concurrently rather than sequentially
Data Source
AI summary
Systems/techniques that facilitate de-identified search of part designs are provided. In various embodiments, a system can access a part design file provided by a client device, wherein the part design file can comprise a computer-aided design (CAD) geometry of a part. In various aspects, the system can search an historical database for a same or similar instance of the part, via performance of a multi-staged search. In various instances, the multi-staged search can be based on a cryptographic hash of the part design file, on a spatial hash of the CAD geometry, and on an anonymized feature vector extracted from the CAD geometry. In various cases, the system can return, to the client device and in response to the multi-staged search, an electronic notification indicating whether the same or similar instance of the part was identified.