JP7413445B2 - Device, method, and program for managing multiple drawing data representing a set of parts - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a method for managing a plurality of drawing data representing a set of parts.

Just as there are approximately 30,000 parts in a single automobile, a wide variety of parts are required in the manufacturing industry. Manufacturers generally do not process all of these diverse parts in-house, but instead rely on outside processors to manufacture them.

When consigning manufacturing, manufacturers provide component drawings representing the consigned parts to processing companies in electronic media or paper media printed from the electronic media for purposes such as estimates and ordering, but mainly in PDF format. The electronic medium is managed as data.

As mentioned above, the purchasing staff in charge of tasks such as estimates and ordering at a manufacturer manages drawing data as image data in PDF format. It is difficult to decide which processor to outsource manufacturing to. In many cases, the number of parts required for a certain product is tens, hundreds, or even thousands of parts, so it is not easy to select the appropriate subcontractor for each part.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus, a method, and a program therefor for managing a plurality of drawing data representing a set of parts. The objective is to support the outsourcing of manufacturing of parts represented by each drawing data included in the data.

Although drawing data in PDF format has been described as an example, similar problems generally exist with drawing data including raster data, and examples of data formats include JPG format and TIFF format. Here, "raster data" is data that includes a plurality of pixels. Drawing data in JPG format or TIFF format generally includes only raster data, but drawing data in PDF format may include vector data or text data in addition to raster data. Further, drawing data in PDF format often does not include layers, but may include multiple layers.

In addition, purchasing staff may manage drawing data as CAD (Computer Aided Design) data, typically in the DXF format. A similar problem may exist. Here, "CAD data" refers to drawing data that can be edited with CAD software, and includes vector data. "Vector data" is data that includes a plurality of points and one or more line segments or arcs connecting at least two of the plurality of points.

In the above explanation, the purpose of the present invention is to support contracted manufacturing by manufacturers, but as described later, it is also possible to apply the present invention for the purpose of supporting contracted manufacturing by processors. be.

In order to achieve such an object, a first aspect of the present invention is a method for managing a plurality of drawing data representing a set of parts, the target drawing data included in the plurality of drawing data being is related to the first existing drawing data that has already been stored; and if the result of the judgment is positive, the first drawing data linked to the first existing drawing data; performance information is stored, the method includes a step of acquiring the first performance information, and a step of transmitting first performance display information for displaying the first performance information to the terminal.

A second aspect of the present invention is the method according to the first aspect, in which, when the result of the determination is negative, a 2, when second track record information linked to existing drawing data of No. 2 is stored, a step of acquiring the second track record information; and a second track record display for displaying the second track record information. and transmitting the information to the terminal.

Further, a third aspect of the present invention is the method of the second aspect, in which the attribute is the material of the part, surface treatment, processing method, special processing, or a combination of two or more of these.

Further, a fourth aspect of the present invention is the method according to any one of the first to third aspects, wherein the determination is based on whether or not the target drawing data matches the first existing drawing data. Including judgment.

Further, a fifth aspect of the present invention is the method according to the fourth aspect, in which the determination is performed using feature amounts extracted by vectorizing the target drawing data and the existing drawing data, respectively.

Further, a sixth aspect of the present invention is the method according to any one of the first to third aspects, wherein the determination is based on whether or not the target drawing data is similar to the first existing drawing data. Including judgment.

A seventh aspect of the present invention is the method according to the fourth or sixth aspect, wherein the determination is that the first existing drawing data has the same attribute as the part represented by the target drawing data. Includes determination of whether or not to represent a part.

Further, an eighth aspect of the present invention is the method according to the fourth or sixth aspect, wherein the determination is made when the first track record information linked to the first existing drawing data is input. It further includes a determination as to whether or not the specified conditions are met.

Further, a ninth aspect of the present invention is the method according to the sixth aspect, in which, when the result of the determination is positive, the first existing drawing data similar to the target drawing data is acquired. The first performance display information includes the first existing drawing data.

Furthermore, a tenth aspect of the present invention is the method according to any one of the first to ninth aspects, wherein the first performance information includes the ordering party or the ordering source.

Furthermore, an eleventh aspect of the present invention is the method according to any one of the first to ninth aspects, wherein the first performance information includes an amount or a unit price.

Further, a twelfth aspect of the present invention is the method according to the first aspect, in which the performance display screen displayed based on the first performance display information includes a plurality of drawings displayed based on the plurality of drawing data. a selection area for selecting one; a target drawing area for displaying the target drawing selected from the plurality of drawings and represented by the target drawing data; and 1 related to the target drawing. or an existing drawing display area for displaying one or more existing drawings represented by a plurality of existing drawing data.

A thirteenth aspect of the present invention is the method according to the twelfth aspect, in which the existing drawing display area includes a first existing drawing represented by the first existing drawing data and the first track record. Contains at least some information.

Further, a fourteenth aspect of the present invention is a program for causing a computer to execute a method for managing a plurality of drawing data representing a set of parts, the method comprising: a step of determining whether or not the included target drawing data is related to the first existing drawing data that has already been stored; a step of acquiring the first performance information; and a step of transmitting first performance display information for displaying the first performance information to the terminal; including.

A fifteenth aspect of the present invention is a device for managing a plurality of drawing data representing a set of parts, wherein target drawing data included in the plurality of drawing data are determines whether or not it is related to existing drawing data, and if the result of the determination is positive, when first track record information linked to the first existing drawing data is stored, The first performance information is acquired, and first performance display information for displaying the first performance information is transmitted to the terminal.

According to one aspect of the present invention, with respect to at least some target drawing data included in a plurality of drawing data representing a set of parts, it is determined whether or not there is related existing drawing data, and if there is, the existing drawing data is By transmitting performance display information for displaying performance information that has been linked and stored, viewers of the performance information, such as manufacturers, processors, intermediaries, etc., can smoothly recommend manufacturing outsourcing for each part. becomes possible.

1 is a diagram showing a device for managing a plurality of drawing data according to a first embodiment of the present invention; FIG. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the flow of a method for managing a plurality of drawing data according to the first embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure showing an example of order record information concerning a 1st embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing another example of order record information according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

(First embodiment)
FIG. 1 shows an apparatus for managing a plurality of drawing data according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The device 100 communicates with a manufacturer terminal 110 used by a manufacturer via an IP network such as the Internet, and is capable of managing a plurality of drawing data. Furthermore, the device 100 similarly communicates with a processor terminal 120 used by a processor, and can also provide drawing management services to the processor. In this embodiment, an example of a drawing management service for manufacturers will be described.

The device 100 includes a communication unit 101 such as a communication interface, a processing unit 102 such as a processor or CPU, and a storage unit 103 including a storage device or storage medium such as a memory or a hard disk, and stores programs for performing each process. It can be configured by running Device 100 may include one or more devices, computers or servers. Further, the program may include one or more programs, and may be recorded on a computer-readable storage medium to form a non-transitory program product. The program can be stored in a storage device or a storage medium such as a database 104 that can be accessed from the storage unit 103 or the device 100 via an IP network, and can be executed by the processing unit 102. Data described below as being stored in storage unit 103 may be stored in database 104, and vice versa.

The device 100 first acquires a plurality of drawing data representing a set of parts associated with a manufacturer using the manufacturer terminal 110 (S201). For example, the plurality of drawing data are stored in the storage unit 103 by being uploaded and registered by the manufacturer's purchasing staff from a web page provided by the device 100, and are acquired by reading the drawing data. . A drawing displayed using drawing data includes line segments and symbols representing parts, and further includes characters representing the parts. The characters include at least one of a serial number, a drawing number, and a part name, and may also include at least one of a material and a surface treatment. These line segments, symbols, and characters are simply pixel values in raster format drawing data, and can be recognized by a viewer when viewing the drawing represented by the drawing data.

Next, the apparatus 100 determines, for each of the plurality of drawing data, whether or not there is drawing data related to already stored existing drawing data (S202). Here, the related drawing data includes at least one of drawing data that matches the existing drawing data that has already been stored and drawing data that is similar to the existing drawing data that has already been stored. Here, it is not necessarily necessary to perform the determination on all of the drawing data included in the plurality of drawing data, and it is conceivable that the determination is not performed on some of the drawing data.

Regarding the presence or absence of a match, for example, a feature amount is extracted from the target drawing data to be determined, and the difference between the feature amount and the feature amount of any existing drawing data that has already been stored is determined by a first predetermined value. It is conceivable to determine that they match if they are within the range. More specifically, the device 100 may vectorize the target drawing data and existing drawing data as necessary, and extract feature amounts from the vectorized drawing data. An example of the feature amount is the frequency distribution or angular distribution of a plurality of line segments included in vectorized drawing data. As an example, the coordinates are determined with the horizontal direction of the drawing being 0°, and are -22.5° or more and less than 22.5°, 22.5° or more and less than 67.5°, 67.5° or more and less than 112.5°, and It is conceivable to use the power of a line segment having an angle of 112.5° or more and less than 167.5°. More preferably, it is possible to use an angular distribution in which each line segment is weighted by its length. In this specification, "vectorization" refers to converting data into data including a plurality of points and one or more line segments or arcs connecting at least two of the plurality of points.

Regarding the presence or absence of similarity, the difference between the feature amount of the target drawing data and the feature amount of any existing drawing data is included within the first predetermined range using the same algorithm used to determine the presence or absence of a match. However, it may be determined that they are similar if they are included in a second predetermined range that is wider than the first predetermined range. Alternatively, an algorithm different from the algorithm used to determine whether there is a match may be used.

If the determination result is positive for the target drawing data, that is, if the data is related to existing drawing data (corresponding to "first existing drawing data"), the device 100 displays the data using the existing drawing data. When there is ordering record information (corresponding to "first track record information") for the parts to be purchased, the ordering record information is acquired (S203). The order performance information includes the supplier, and may further include at least one of the amount or unit price, the number of lots, and the order date. In particular, if the target drawing data is similar to existing drawing data, it is preferable to also acquire the drawing data.

On the other hand, if there is no existing drawing data related to the target drawing data, the device 100 determines the attribute of the part represented by the target drawing data (S204), and represents a part with the same attribute as the determined attribute. Order performance information (corresponding to "second performance information") linked to existing drawing data (corresponding to "second existing drawing data") may be acquired (S205).

The attributes determined here include, for example, the material of the part, surface treatment, processing method, or a combination of two or more of these. The material can be determined based on characters extracted by performing character recognition on drawing data. Surface treatment can be determined based on characters or symbols extracted by subjecting drawing data to character recognition or symbol recognition. Similar to surface treatment, the processing method can also be determined based on characters or symbols extracted by subjecting drawing data to character recognition or symbol recognition.

For example, drawings include a section with a cell structure called a title block, in which serial numbers, drawing numbers, part names, materials, surface treatments, etc. are often written. Therefore, it is possible to determine the material based on the characters extracted from the drawing data. If the cell structure of the title block is registered for each user who uses the drawing management service provided by the device 100, the material can be determined based on the characters written in the cell representing the material. The surface treatment and processing method can also be determined based on the characters extracted from the data for displaying the title block, which is included in the drawing data, if it is described in the title block.

In some cases, the processing method can be determined based on the characters representing the dimensions of the part, rather than the characters written in the title column. For example, if there is a description of "t3", this indicates the thickness of the part, and indicates that the part is manufactured by sheet metal processing, which is one of the typical processing methods such as sheet metal processing, lathe processing, and milling. can be determined.

Then, the device 100 transmits order performance display information (corresponding to "performance display information") for displaying the acquired order performance information to the manufacturer terminal 110 (S206). The order history display information may be transmitted as a file in HTML format, for example, and may be information for displaying the order history information on the display screen of the manufacturer terminal 110 on a web browser. Alternatively, an application (hereinafter also referred to as "app") installed on the manufacturer terminal 110 may be operated, and the order history display information may be information for displaying the order history information on the application.

FIG. 3 shows an example of order record information according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The order record display screen 300 can display 24 drawings representing 24 parts (only some are displayed in FIG. 3), and it is determined whether there is existing drawing data related to the drawing data representing each drawing. If there is existing drawing data that matches, and the order history information is also stored in association with the existing drawing data, a label of "Order history exists" will be displayed, and if there is no matching existing drawing data, displays the label ``New drawing.'' The order history display information may include label information for displaying labels corresponding to each drawing. Further, the order record display information may be transmitted simultaneously for all of the plurality of drawing data representing one set of parts, or may be transmitted in multiple parts. Further, the order record display information may include matching or similar existing drawing data.

For new drawings, a determination is made as to whether there is similar existing drawing data, and if there is similar existing drawing data, a "similar" label is displayed together with the similar drawings displayed by the existing drawing data, If not, the label "No Similar" is displayed. If there is no matching existing drawing data or similar existing drawing data, a determination is made as to whether there is existing drawing data with the same attributes. In the example in Figure 3, the material is iron, the surface treatment is blackened, and the processing method is A set of attributes such as sheet metal processing is determined, and the top three suppliers are displayed as past order performance information for parts with the same attributes.

FIG. 4 shows another example of order record information according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The order history display screen 400 includes a selection area 401 for selecting one of a plurality of drawings displayed based on the plurality of drawing data acquired by the device 100, and a selection area 401 for selecting one of the plurality of drawings displayed based on the plurality of drawing data acquired by the apparatus 100, and a selection area 401 for selecting a target drawing selected from among the plurality of drawings. It has a target drawing display area 402 for displaying, and an existing drawing display area 403 for displaying one or more existing drawings related to the target drawing. When one of the drawings displayed in the selection area 401 is selected, it is displayed larger in the target drawing display area 402, allowing the details of the drawing to be confirmed. The existing drawing display area 403 further displays at least a part of the order history information linked to the existing drawing data for displaying the existing drawing for any existing drawing related to the target drawing. Good too. In the example of FIG. 4, the amount is displayed for the topmost existing drawing as order history information. In FIG. 4, labels such as "similar" are not displayed, but this may be done in the same manner as in FIG. 3.

In this way, the presence or absence of related existing drawing data is determined for at least some target drawing data included in a plurality of drawing data representing a set of parts, and if there is, it is stored in association with the existing drawing data. By transmitting the order history display information for displaying the order history information, the viewer of the order history information, such as the manufacturer's purchasing staff, can visually identify strong candidates for manufacturing subcontractors for each part. It can be easily understood.

If the order history information includes the amount or unit price, the viewer can easily grasp the appropriate level for price negotiations with the outsourcing company.

If there is no related existing drawing data, if necessary, based on the attributes determined from each drawing data, order history information stored for parts with the same attributes can be displayed to select potential manufacturing subcontractors. can be understood more broadly.

In the above explanation, an example was given in which feature values extracted from each drawing data are used to determine whether there is existing drawing data related to a certain drawing data. For reference, characters extracted from the data for displaying a title block included in the drawing data may be additionally or alternatively used. More generally, attributes determined based on characters or symbols extracted by subjecting drawing data to character recognition or symbol recognition may be additionally or alternatively used. Furthermore, conditions may be received from the processor terminal 110, and the fact that order performance information such as the ordering party and price match the conditions may be additionally used in the above determination. The degree of matching or similarity obtained from multiple analyzes is added to determine the drawing data with the highest score as matching drawing data, or the score is compared with one or more thresholds to determine whether the drawing data is matching or similar. It is conceivable to judge it as drawing data. Furthermore, the degree of matching or similarity may be calculated using a prediction model generated by machine learning.

In addition, although it has been explained that the processing method is determined based on characters or symbols extracted by character recognition or symbol recognition for drawing data, it is determined whether or not a predetermined special processing is required. The result of this determination may be used to determine the presence or absence of related existing drawing data, or may be used to identify parts with the same attribute. As an example, machining a cam mechanism is highly difficult, and there are not necessarily many manufacturers who can process it. Therefore, if it is known that the part represented by the drawing data requires machining of the cam mechanism, candidates for manufacturing subcontractors can be effectively narrowed down. Furthermore, in bending, it is difficult to bend a part to a height that is four times the thickness or less, and it is also difficult to finish a part made of aluminum without damaging it. Many such special processes exist in the manufacturing industry, and the apparatus 100 may perform a predetermined process detection process on the drawing data. Examples of the predetermined processing include processing of the cam mechanism described above, bending with a height-to-thickness ratio of less than or equal to a predetermined value, processing of aluminum without scratches, and processing of gears.

In the above description, when there is no first existing drawing data related to the target drawing data, the second track record linked to the second existing drawing data representing a part with the same attributes as the part represented by the target drawing data. information has been acquired, but if there is first existing drawing data, the second track record information may be acquired in addition to the first track record information, and the second track record information may be acquired in addition to the first track record information. It is also conceivable to acquire only the performance information of item 2.

Further, "start" and "end" shown in FIG. 2 are merely examples, and do not mean that the method according to the present embodiment always starts at S201 and ends at S206.

(Second embodiment)
In the first embodiment, an example of supporting outsourced manufacturing by a manufacturer was described, but in this embodiment, an example of supporting outsourcing of manufacturing by a processor will be described.

The method according to this embodiment is similar to the method according to the first embodiment, but the performance information acquired by the device 100 is not order performance information but order performance information, and the device transmits it to the processor terminal 120. The difference is that the information to be displayed is order record display information rather than order record display information.

When a processing company presents an estimated amount in response to a request for quotation, if it can grasp the order amount or unit price of parts ordered in the past from the manufacturer that requested the estimate, the newly presented estimated amount will be at an appropriate level. You can confirm this in advance. Although it is useful to determine drawing data representing parts ordered in the past from different manufacturers as related drawing data, it is also useful to determine related drawing data from drawing data representing parts ordered in the past from the same manufacturer. It is preferable that This also applies to the determination of drawing data representing parts with the same attribute.

In order to identify the manufacturer, when storing a plurality of drawing data representing a set of parts sent from the processor terminal 120, the device 100 identifies the manufacturer to which the set of parts is outsourced. Preferably, a manufacturer identifier is also stored. Any method may be used to associate the manufacturer identifier with the plurality of drawing data; for example, a processor using the processor terminal 120 may input the manufacturer identifier on a web page provided by the device 100.

In addition to cases in which a processor is directly commissioned by a manufacturer, there are also cases in which a trading company that receives a contract from a manufacturer outsources to a secondary processor. In this case, the intervening company, such as a trading company, manages the drawing data it provides to the processor in addition to the drawing data received from the manufacturer on the drawing management service provided by the device 100. If the above-mentioned manufacturer identifier is more generally used as a contractor identifier, the former may be associated with an identifier that identifies the manufacturer, and the latter may be associated with an identifier that identifies itself as an intermediary contractor.

In addition, in the above-mentioned embodiment, unless there is a description of "only" such as "based only on XX", "according only to XX", "in the case of only XX", the present specification does not refer to Note that it is envisaged that additional information may also be considered. Also, as an example, note that the statement ``if a, do b'' does not necessarily mean ``if a, do b'' or ``do b immediately after a'', unless explicitly stated. I want to be Moreover, the description "each a constituting A" does not necessarily mean that A is composed of a plurality of constituent elements, but includes that the constituent element is singular.

Also, just to be sure, even if there is an aspect in which a method, program, terminal, device, server, or system (hereinafter referred to as a "method, etc.") performs a different operation from that described in this specification, each of the present invention Aspects are directed to operations that are the same as any of the operations described in this specification, and the existence of operations that are different from those described in this specification does not make the method, etc. It should be added that this is not outside the scope of the present invention.

100 Apparatus 101 Communication Department 102 Processing Department 103 Storage Department 104 Database 110 Manufacturer Terminal 120 Processor Terminal 300 Order Record Display Screen

Claims (8)

A computer operating method for managing multiple drawing data representing a set of parts, the method comprising:
determining whether target drawing data included in the plurality of drawing data is related to existing drawing data that has already been stored;
If the result of the determination is positive and track record information linked to the existing drawing data is stored, acquiring the track record information;
transmitting performance display information to a terminal for displaying the performance information,
The determination is whether the existing drawing data represents a part that has the same attributes as the part represented by the target drawing data, and has attributes that are material, surface treatment, processing method, or a combination of two or more of these. Includes a determination of whether or not. The method according to claim 1,
The attributes are extracted by subjecting the target drawing data to character recognition or symbol recognition. The method according to claim 1 or 2 ,
The determination is performed by further using feature amounts extracted by vectorizing the target drawing data and the existing drawing data. 4. The method according to claim 3 ,
The feature amount is a frequency distribution or an angular distribution of a plurality of line segments included in the vectorized drawing data. The method according to claim 1 or 2 ,
The performance display information includes the existing drawing data, and the amount or unit price and attributes of the parts represented by the existing drawing data. The method according to claim 1 or 2 ,
The performance information is order performance information,
The determination includes determining whether the existing drawing data represents a part ordered in the past from the same manufacturer as the part represented by the target drawing data. A program for causing a computer to execute a method for managing a plurality of drawing data representing a set of parts, the method comprising:
determining whether target drawing data included in the plurality of drawing data is related to existing drawing data that has already been stored;
If the result of the determination is positive and track record information linked to the existing drawing data is stored, acquiring the track record information;
transmitting performance display information to a terminal for displaying the performance information,
The determination is whether the existing drawing data represents a part that has the same attributes as the part represented by the target drawing data, and has attributes that are material, surface treatment, processing method, or a combination of two or more of these. Includes a determination of whether or not. A device for managing multiple drawing data representing a set of parts,
Determining whether or not the target drawing data included in the plurality of drawing data is related to already stored existing drawing data;
When the result of the determination is positive and the track record information linked to the existing drawing data is stored, the track record information is acquired and track record display information for displaying the track record information is provided. Send to the terminal,
The determination is whether the existing drawing data represents a part that has the same attributes as the part represented by the target drawing data, and has attributes that are material, surface treatment, processing method, or a combination of two or more of these. Includes a determination of whether or not.