A structure mapping–based representation of knowledge transfer in conceptual design process

Abstract

By the knowledge transferring in different areas, analogical design has been considered as a powerful approach to promote the generation of novel ideas in product conceptual design. An efficient representation scheme for design knowledge is vital to implement analogical transferring. In this article, inspired from the structure mapping mechanism of analogical reasoning, a structure mapping–based representation was proposed to support designers to search and use design analogies. This representation can provide designers with insights into the structural information of knowledge situations, and consequently designers are able to implement the corresponding design analogy search at the level of the structural similarity, rather than the functional or superficial similarity. Based on this new representation scheme, a structure mapping–based analogical design framework was developed. In this framework, patents are used as the source of analogical knowledge, and the relational structure–based representation for the patent knowledge is created using the advanced natural language processing tools/algorithms. Next, the search of design analogies is implemented by means of the vector space model, and a new structure mapping–based concept generation model can finally guide the designers to use design analogies. An industrial case and a compared experiment were carried out to verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed framework.