An activity layer for an intelligent automatic product design environment

Abstract

An activity layer is provided for the activity-driven, object-oriented (ADOO) automatic product design shell within a top-down environment for computer-based manufacturing systems. In the activity layer, a functional treatment template at an assembly level is first presented to express a conversion from a functional-compliant view to an activity-compliant view. An activity container produced by the treatment template is then applied to a procedure for the activity organization, which includes index determining, simple circuit circle searching, topological sorting, and subcycle decoupling. These identified and organized activities are transferred into an integrated module with an object-oriented class form. A geometrical representation and feature-based modeling are implemented by using these defined activities for further applications in automatic manufacturing systems. The activity layer in an intelligent automatic product design environment supports the activity-driven modeling through the functional treatment and activity alternatives within an intelligent concurrent environment.