JP7479891B2 - DESIGN ASSISTANCE DEVICE, METHOD, AND PROGRAM - Google Patents

Description

Embodiments of the present invention relate to a design support device, method, and program that support, for example, the design work of product manufacturers.

For example, when manufacturing industrial products, a product manufacturer's designers typically use a design system using CAD (Computer Aided Design) or similar to create design drawings for the product and the parts used in the product, and then manually create separate manufacturing instructions based on the created design drawings, which contain detailed specification information and manufacturing instructions required for the manufacture of each part. Then, based on the created design drawings and manufacturing instructions, a procurement staff member selects a processing company for each part and places an order for the manufacture of the parts (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2002-189758 A

However, generally speaking, even if the blueprints and manufacturing instructions are managed by each designer, they may not be managed by the product manufacturer. Even if they are managed by the product manufacturer, the search method is generally the product name or product development number. For this reason, even if it is possible to search for blueprints and manufacturing instructions for similar products created in the past on a product-by-product basis, it is often impossible to find similar blueprints from the past when, for example, the product names are different, or when it comes to the parts that make up the product. This forces designers to create duplicate designs, leading to a decrease in the efficiency of design work.

This invention was made with the above in mind, and in one aspect aims to provide technology that reduces the occurrence of duplicate designs and improves the efficiency of design work.

In a first aspect of a design support apparatus and method according to the present invention, in a design support apparatus capable of transmitting data via a network to a terminal device having a product design function, a plurality of parts constituting a product are recognized from created product design information of the product based on attributes of the parts, catalog information including part design information including the attributes of the recognized plurality of parts is created and stored, and when product design information in progress is acquired from the terminal device, attributes of the parts in progress are recognized from the acquired product design information in progress, and the recognized attributes of the parts in progress are compared with the attributes of the plurality of parts included in the catalog information to extract parts that match the attributes of the parts in progress within a predetermined range, and the part design information including the attributes of the extracted parts is selected from the catalog information and transmitted to the terminal device.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, catalog information of parts is automatically created based on product design information. Then, during the creation of the product design information in the terminal device, the attributes of the part being designed are recognized and compared with the attributes of multiple parts included in the catalog information. If a part whose attributes match within a predetermined range already exists in the catalog information as a result, part design information including the attributes of the part is transmitted to the terminal device. That is, during the design of a product, if a part similar to the part being designed exists in the catalog information, the part design information of the similar part is notified to the designer at that time. Therefore, the designer can reuse the notified part design information of the similar part during the design, which eliminates the need to design the part by himself until the end, thereby making it possible to improve the efficiency of the design work.

In other words, each aspect of the present invention provides technology that reduces the occurrence of duplicate designs and improves the efficiency of design work.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a system including a design support device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of a design support apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the software configuration of the design support apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the procedure and contents of the catalog creation process performed by the design support device shown in FIG. FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the procedure and contents of the design support process performed by the design support apparatus shown in FIG. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a series of operations from the catalog creation process to the catalog update process shown in FIGS. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of catalog information created by the catalog creation process shown in FIG.

The following describes an embodiment of the present invention with reference to the drawings.

[One embodiment]
(Configuration example)
(1) System FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a system including a design support device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
In this example, the system includes a server computer (hereinafter referred to as the server device) SV that operates as a design support device. The server device SV is capable of transmitting data to and from a plurality of terminal devices MA1 to MAn used by each product manufacturer via a network NW.

The network NW comprises, for example, a wide area network with the Internet at its core, and an access network for accessing this wide area network. Examples of the access network that can be used include wired and wireless public networks, wired and wireless LANs (Local Area Networks), and CATV (Cable Television) networks.

(2) Device (2-1) Terminal Devices MA1 to MAn
The terminal devices MA1 to MAn are each configured by a personal computer equipped with an application for 3D CAD (3D Computer Aided Design). The application for 3D CAD may be stored in the cloud or on the Web and downloaded each time it is used.

The terminal devices MA1 to MAn are primarily used by designers at product manufacturers to transmit product design information created by the designers to the server device SV. Product design information includes, for example, 3D CAD data showing assembly diagrams of the product, and specifications and supplementary information for the product and the parts used in the product. Note that the product is usually a finished product, but it may also be an intermediate product. Furthermore, if there is a history of placing an order with a parts manufacturer to process multiple parts that make up the product, the order history information may be included in the design information.

(2-2) Server device SV
2 and 3 are block diagrams respectively showing the hardware and software configurations of a server device (also called a platform) SV.
The server device SV has a control unit 1 having a hardware processor such as a central processing unit (CPU), and a storage unit having a program storage unit 2 and a data storage unit 3, and a communication interface (communication I/F) 4 are connected to this control unit 1 via a bus 5.

The communication I/F 4 transmits data between the terminal devices MA1 to MAn under the control of the control unit 1 using a communication protocol defined by the network NW, and is configured, for example, by an interface for a wired network.

The program storage unit 2 is configured by combining a non-volatile memory such as a HDD (Hard Disk Drive) or SSD (Solid State Drive) that can be written to and read from at any time as a storage medium, and a non-volatile memory such as a ROM (Read Only Memory), and stores middleware such as an OS (Operating System) as well as programs necessary to execute various control processes according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The data storage unit 3 is, for example, a combination of a non-volatile memory such as an HDD or SSD, which can be written to and read from at any time, and a volatile memory such as a RAM (Random Access Memory), as a storage medium, and includes a design information storage unit 31, a part learning model storage unit 32, and a catalog information storage unit 33 as the main storage units required to implement one embodiment of the present invention.

The design information storage unit 31 is used to store product design information acquired from the terminal devices MA1 to MAn. As mentioned above, the product design information includes, for example, 3D CAD data, specifications and supplementary information for the product and parts used in the product, and order history information. The specifications and supplementary information includes, for example, the material, hardness, manufacturing instruction comments (points to note), and geometric tolerances of the parts. The design date and time of the parts and their expiration date may also be included. The order history information includes, for example, the name of the processing company to which the parts were ordered, the order date and time, the quantity, the unit price, and the delivery date.

The part learning model storage unit 32 stores part learning models used to recognize parts based on their shapes from the CAD image data included in the above product design information. The catalog information storage unit 33 is used to store catalog information for parts.

The control unit 1 includes, as processing functions according to one embodiment of the present invention, a design information acquisition processing unit 11, a parts recognition processing unit 12, a catalog information creation processing unit 13, a first catalog search processing unit 14, a second catalog search processing unit 15, and a catalog information update processing unit 16. All of these processing units 11 to 16 are realized by causing the hardware processor of the control unit 1 to execute a program stored in the program storage unit 2.

The design information acquisition processing unit 11 receives product design information sent from the terminal devices MA1 to MAn via the communication I/F 4, and performs processing to link the received product design information with, for example, a product ID and store it in the design information storage unit 31.

The part recognition processing unit 12 performs a process of recognizing multiple parts that make up a product based on their shapes from multiple pieces of product design information stored in the design information storage unit 31. This part recognition process uses the part learning model stored in the part learning model storage unit 32. The part recognition processing unit 12 also performs a process of creating and updating the part learning model. An example of part recognition process using the part learning model will be described later.

The catalog information creation processing unit 13 performs a process of grouping parts with similar shapes for each of the multiple parts recognized using the part learning model, and then creates catalog information for each part by adding labels and tags specified by the designer.Then, it performs a process of storing the created catalog information for each part in the catalog information storage unit 33.

The catalog information includes part design information. The part design information includes 3D image data of the part, the date and time of creation, the size, and the above-mentioned labels and tags. The labels include, for example, the part name. The tags include, for example, the shape name of the part, the processing method, and even hashtags (the name used within the company for the part). Note that each piece of information included in the tag may be included in the product specifications and supplementary information and extracted from the specifications and supplementary information.

When the first catalog search processing unit 14 receives a parts search request from terminal devices MA1 to MAn during the conceptual design stage by the designer, it reads the catalog information of the corresponding parts from the catalog information storage unit 33 based on the search conditions included in the search request and transmits it to the requesting terminal device. Note that search conditions may include, for example, the part name specified by a label, the part shape name or processing method specified by a tag, or even a hashtag (the name of the part used within the company).

The second catalog search processing unit 15 periodically or at any timing acquires intermediate design information of the product being designed from the terminal devices MA1 to MAn while the designer is designing the product, and causes the component recognition processing unit 12 to perform recognition processing of the components being designed contained in the acquired intermediate design information. It then searches for components or component groups with similar shapes by comparing the shape of the recognized components with the shapes of multiple components stored in the catalog information storage unit 33, and performs processing to read out design information of the searched components or component groups from the catalog information storage unit 33 and transmit it to the requesting terminal device MA1 to MAn. An example of a search processing for similar components using shapes will be described later.

When the catalog information update processing unit 16 receives a request to register newly created product design information from the terminal devices MA1 to MAn, it causes the part recognition processing unit 12 to perform recognition processing of multiple parts included in the received product design information. It then creates catalog information for each recognized part and performs processing to add and store it in the catalog information storage unit 33.

The catalog information update processing unit 16 also determines whether or not there is a part group with a similar shape among the part groups already stored in the catalog information storage unit 33, based on the catalog information of the additionally stored part. If a part group with a similar shape is found, the catalog information of the additionally stored part is linked to the part group.

(Example of operation)
Next, an example of the operation of the server device SV configured as above will be described.
4 and 5 are flow charts showing the procedure and contents of the design support operation by the server device SV, and FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an outline of input/output and processing of data related to the design support operation.
In the following description, it is assumed that the part learning model storage unit 32 already stores learned part learning models for a large number of parts used in a product.

(1) Creation of Catalog Information The server SV first creates catalog information for parts. The process and contents of this process are shown in FIG.
A product manufacturer's design staff uploads multiple pieces of product design information created in the past from terminal devices MA1 to MAn to server device SV. Each piece of product design information includes 3D CAD data, specifications and supplementary information corresponding to the 3D CAD data, and order history information.

In response to this, in step S10, the control unit 1 of the server device SV, under the control of the design information acquisition processing unit 11, receives the multiple pieces of product design information sent from the terminal devices MA1 to MAn via the communication I/F 4, associates them with the product IDs, and stores them in the design information storage unit 31.

The control unit 1 of the server device SV then, under the control of the part recognition processing unit 12, selects one product from the design information storage unit 31 and reads its design information in step S11. Then, in step S12, the control unit 1 executes a process of recognizing multiple parts that make up the product from the read design information, using the part learning model stored in the part learning model storage unit 32.

The part recognition process is performed, for example, as follows. That is, first, for each part included in the product design information, 2D image data is created from the 20 vertices of the regular dodecahedron based on the 3D image data. Next, multiple feature vectors are calculated from the 2D image data, and the calculated multiple feature vectors are given to the part learning model as explanatory variables. As a result, the part learning model outputs recognition results of the part shape clustered according to the feature vectors.

When the shape recognition process has been completed for all parts that make up the product, the control unit 1 of the server device SV, under the control of the catalog information creation processing unit 13, then in step S13 reads out the corresponding specifications and supplemental information from the design information storage unit 31 for each part whose shape has been recognized. Then, in step S14, the control unit 1 transmits the 3D image data representing the shapes of the recognized parts and the read out specifications and supplemental information to the terminal devices MA1 to MAn that have requested registration. The 3D image data of the part shapes and the specifications and supplemental information are received and displayed by the terminal devices MA1 to MAn. Note that only the 3D image data representing the shapes of the recognized parts may be transmitted to the terminal devices MA1 to MAn.

In this state, the designer inputs labels and tags to the 3D image data of the part shape and the specifications and supplementary information at terminal devices MA1 to MAn. In response, under the control of the catalog information creation processing unit 13, the control unit 1 of the server device SV confirms receipt of the labels and tags in step S15, and in step S16 adds the received labels and tags to the 3D image data of the part shape and the specifications and supplementary information to create catalog information for each part. The created catalog information for each part is then stored in the catalog information storage unit 33.

Then, the catalog information creation processing unit 13 similarly repeats the part-by-part catalog creation process in steps S11 to S16 for each of the multiple parts that make up each product. Then, when it is confirmed in step S17 that the creation of the part-by-part catalog information for all parts of all products has been completed, it moves on to part grouping processing.

The catalog information creation processing unit 13 then, in step S18, determines the similarity of shapes between parts based on all the part-specific catalog information stored in the catalog information storage unit 33, extracts parts whose shapes are common within a preset threshold range, and groups them. The above-mentioned shape similarity is determined, for example, by the part recognition processing unit 12 comparing the feature vectors of the shapes of each part and comparing the degree of match with the above-mentioned threshold. Finally, in step S19, the catalog information creation processing unit 13 assigns a common part group ID to each part belonging to the same group, sorts the catalog information of each part by this group ID, and re-stores it in the catalog information storage unit 33.

Figure 7 shows an example of catalog information for each part stored in the catalog information storage unit 33. Figure 7 shows an example in which the 3D image data, part name, creation date and time, size, and tag are stored in association with each part. Note that the size may be recorded as the specific dimensions of each part of the 3D image data.

Note that in the above explanation, we have described a case where part grouping processing is performed after part-specific catalog information for each part has been created. However, if the clustering accuracy of the part learning model is high, the part shape recognition results output from the part learning model can be used as parts that have been grouped together with parts that have similar shapes. Therefore, in this case, the grouping processing may be omitted.

(2) Searching for Catalog Information at the Concept Design Stage At the concept design stage of a product, a designer at a product manufacturer can refer to design information for parts used in a product that has been previously designed. In this case, the designer opens a catalog information search screen on his/her own terminal device MA1-MAn, inputs the part name as a search criterion, and presses the search button. Note that the search criterion is not limited to the part name (label), and a part group ID corresponding to the type of part may be input, and if the creation date and time are known, the creation date and time may be input. In response to the pressing of the search button, the search request is transmitted from the terminal device MA1-MAn to the server device SV.

When the design support mode is set, the control unit 1 of the server device SV monitors the reception of a search request in step S20 as shown in FIG. 5. In this state, when a search request is received from the terminal devices MA1 to MAn, the control unit 1 executes a search process for parts catalog information under the control of the first catalog search processing unit 14 as follows.

That is, the first catalog search processing unit 14 first accesses the catalog information storage unit 33 in step S21 and searches for search conditions included in the received search request, such as the part name or part group ID. Then, if the corresponding part-specific catalog information is found, in step S22, the part-specific catalog information corresponding to the part name or multiple parts-specific catalog information belonging to the part group is read from the catalog information storage unit 33. Next, in step S23, the first catalog search processing unit 14 transmits the read part-specific catalog information or multiple parts-specific catalog information belonging to the part group from the communication I/F 4 to the requesting terminal devices MA1 to MAn.

In terminal devices MA1 to MAn, the part-specific catalog information sent from server device SV is displayed on the display. In addition, when the designer specifies a part group ID, the part-specific catalog information belonging to that part group is displayed in a list. Note that when there is too much part-specific catalog information belonging to one part group to display in a list, all part-specific catalog information can be displayed by sorting.

By looking at the displayed part-specific catalog information, designers can check in advance at the conceptual design stage when they begin designing a new product the part design information used in previously designed products. If suitable design information is found among the previously designed part design information, that part design information can be reused. This prevents duplicate designs of the same part.

(3) Automatic Search for Catalog Information in the Design Phase In step S30, the control unit 1 of the server device SV cooperates with the CAD applications of the terminal devices MA1 to MAn to determine whether or not the terminal devices MA1 to MAn are in design operation. If the determination result indicates that the terminal devices MA1 to MAn are in design operation, the second catalog search processing unit 15 controls the server device SV to perform an automatic search for catalog information in the design phase as follows:

That is, first, in step S31, the second catalog search processing unit 15 acquires the design information during design from the terminal devices MA1 to MAn via the communication I/F 4 periodically or whenever the design information changes by a certain amount. Then, in step S32, the second catalog search processing unit 15 causes the parts recognition processing unit 12 to perform a process of recognizing or estimating parts from the acquired design information during design. The parts recognition process is the same as the process described in the catalog information creation process in (1), so a repeated explanation will be omitted.

The second catalog search processing unit 15 then compares the recognized or estimated shape data of the part with the shape data contained in the catalog information of each part stored in the catalog information storage unit 33 in step S33, thereby searching the catalog information storage unit 33 for similar parts whose shapes match those of the recognized part within a predetermined threshold range.

The search process for similar parts is realized, for example, by comparing the feature vector calculated from the 3D image data of the recognized or estimated part with the feature vector of the shape calculated from the 3D image data of each part-specific catalog information, and extracting parts from the catalog information whose difference is within a predetermined threshold range.

When a similar part is found as a result of the search, the second catalog search processing unit 15 proceeds from step S34 to step S35 and reads the part-specific catalog information of the similar part from the catalog information storage unit 33. Then, the read part-specific catalog information is transmitted from the communication I/F 4 to the terminal devices MA1 to MAn.

The search process for similar parts may be performed on a part group basis. In this case, catalog information for all similar parts belonging to the part group is sent from server device SV to terminal devices MA1 to MAn. This allows the designer to check the catalog information for each similar part sent, for example by sorting. Then, if any of the displayed similar parts can be used in the part design currently being designed, the design information for that similar part can be downloaded from server device SV and used to replace the part design information currently being designed.

(4) Updating catalog information with new registration of design information It is assumed that a designer performs an operation to register newly created product design information on his/her own terminal device MA1 to MAn. The control unit 1 of the server device monitors the reception of the newly created product design information by the design information acquisition processing unit 11 in step S40. When the product design information is received in this state and stored in the design information storage unit 31, the control unit 1 of the server device executes a new registration process of the product design information under the control of the catalog information update processing unit 16 as follows.

That is, the catalog information update processing unit 16 reads the newly created product design information from the design information storage unit 31, and causes the parts recognition processing unit 12 to perform a process of recognizing the multiple parts that make up the product from the product design information. The parts recognition process is the same as the process described in the catalog information creation process in (1), so a description thereof will be omitted here.

The catalog information update processing unit 16 then reads out the corresponding specifications and supplemental information from the design information storage unit 31 for each part whose shape has been recognized in step S13. Then, in step S14, it transmits the 3D image data representing the shape of the part and the read out specifications and supplemental information to the terminal device MA1 to MAn that has requested the registration. The 3D image data of the part shape and the specifications and supplemental information are received by and displayed on the terminal device MA1 to MAn.

In this state, assume that the designer inputs a label indicating the part name and a tag indicating the part shape name and processing method to the 3D image of the part shape and the specifications and supplementary information. In response, under the control of the catalog information update processing unit 16, the control unit 1 of the server device SV confirms receipt of the label and tag in step S15, and in step S16 adds the received label and tag to the 3D image of the part shape and the specifications and supplementary information to create new part-specific catalog information. The newly created part-specific catalog information is then additionally stored in the catalog information storage unit 33.

Next, in step S18, the catalog information update processing unit 16 compares the additionally stored part-specific catalog information with all part-specific catalog information stored in the catalog information storage unit 33, and determines whether or not there is part-specific catalog information with a similar part shape. Note that the determination of the similarity of the shapes is performed, for example, by comparing the feature vectors of the shapes of the parts in the part recognition processing unit 12 and comparing the degree of match with the threshold value.

When a part with a similar shape is found among the parts registered in the catalog information storage unit 33, the catalog information update processing unit 16 assigns the part group ID assigned to the catalog information of the similar part to the additionally stored part-specific catalog information in step S19. In other words, the additionally stored part-specific catalog information is added to the part group with the similar shape.

(Action and Effects)
As described above, in one embodiment, a plurality of parts constituting the product is recognized from product design information acquired from terminal devices MA1 to MAn using a part learning model of part shapes, and part-specific catalog information is created for each of the recognized plurality of parts, including 3D image data and specification/supplemental information, and further including a label indicating the part name and a tag indicating the shape name and processing method, and is stored in catalog information storage unit 33. Then, when a search request is sent from terminal devices MA1 to MAn during the conceptual design stage by a designer, part-specific catalog information corresponding to the search conditions of the search request is searched for in catalog information storage unit 33, and is transmitted to terminal device MA1 to MAn that originated the request.

This allows designers to design parts by referencing design information about parts that were previously created, which makes it possible to improve the efficiency of design work compared to designing parts from scratch.

In addition, each part catalog information is grouped according to parts with similar shapes and stored in the catalog information storage unit 33. This allows the design staff to search for part catalog information by group even if they do not know the individual part names, etc.

Furthermore, in one embodiment, while the product design information is being created, the product design information being created is acquired from the terminal devices MA1 to MAn periodically or whenever the contents of the design information change, and the parts being designed are recognized from the acquired product design information. Then, parts similar in shape to the recognized parts are searched for in the catalog information for each part stored in the catalog information storage unit, and the design information of the searched similar parts is sent to the terminal devices MA1 to MAn and presented to the designer.

This allows designers to reuse design information for similar parts presented during the design process, eliminating the need to complete the part design on their own, which makes design work more efficient.

Furthermore, in one embodiment, each time newly created product design information is stored in the design information storage unit 31, the components of the product design information are recognized, part-specific catalog information is created, and the information is additionally stored in the catalog information storage unit 33. Therefore, the catalog information stored in the catalog information storage unit 33 can be automatically updated, and the latest catalog information can always be provided to the designer.

Furthermore, in one embodiment, a part learning model is used as a means for recognizing product components from product design information, which inputs a feature vector representing the part shape and outputs recognition information for the part corresponding to the feature vector. This eliminates the need for extensive image processing to recognize parts, allowing the server device SV to recognize parts with a low processing load and in a short time.

[Other embodiments]
(1) In the above embodiment, the server device SV acquires multiple pieces of product design information created in the past from the terminal devices MA1 to MAn of the product manufacturer, and creates catalog information based on the acquired multiple pieces of product design information. However, if the product manufacturer has a server device that manages product design information, the server device SV may acquire product design information collectively from the server device of the product manufacturer, and create catalog information based on the acquired multiple pieces of product design information. Also, the server device SV may store multiple pieces of product design information created in the past in a storage medium, and read the product design information from the storage medium.

(2) In the above embodiment, a part learning model is used as an example of a means for recognizing component parts of a product from product design information, in which feature values (feature vectors) representing part shapes are input and recognition information for parts corresponding to the feature values is output. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, parts may be recognized by storing image patterns representing basic shapes of multiple parts to be recognized in advance and performing pattern matching processing between 3D or 2D image data of the product design information and the image patterns representing the basic shapes.

(3) In the embodiment described above, the part-specific catalog information is grouped according to parts that have a common shape within a specified range of conditions. However, in addition to that, parts that have a common size, material, processing method, etc. within a specified range of conditions may also be further grouped.

(4) In addition, the configuration of the design support device, the procedure and contents of the design support process, the configuration and creation method of the catalog information, etc. may be modified in various ways without departing from the spirit of this invention.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, the above description is merely an example of the present invention in every respect. It goes without saying that various improvements and modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. In other words, in implementing the present invention, specific configurations according to the embodiments may be appropriately adopted.

In short, this invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment as it is, and in the implementation stage, the components can be modified and embodied without departing from the gist of the invention. Furthermore, various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining multiple components disclosed in the above-mentioned embodiment. For example, some components may be deleted from all the components shown in the embodiment. Furthermore, components from different embodiments may be appropriately combined.

SV: Server device MA1 to MAn: Terminal device of product manufacturer NW: Network 1: Control unit 2: Program storage unit 3: Data storage unit 4: Communication interface (communication I/F)
5 bus 11 design information acquisition processing unit 12 part recognition processing unit 13 catalog information creation processing unit 14 first catalog search processing unit 15 second catalog search processing unit 16 catalog information update processing unit 31 design information storage unit 32 part learning model storage unit 33 catalog information storage unit

Claims (5)

A design support device capable of transmitting data via a network between a terminal device having a product design function,
a catalog information creation unit that recognizes a plurality of parts constituting the product from the created product design information of the product based on attributes of the parts, and creates and stores catalog information including part design information including the attributes of the recognized plurality of parts;
a first acquisition unit that acquires product design information in the process of being created regarding the product from the terminal device;
and a part information presentation unit that recognizes a part under design from the acquired product design information under creation based on attributes of the part, compares the attributes of the recognized part under design with the attributes of the multiple parts included in the catalog information, extracts parts whose attributes match those of the part under design within a predetermined condition range, and selects the part design information including the attributes of the extracted part from the catalog information and transmits it to the terminal device. a second acquisition unit that acquires newly created product design information of the product from the terminal device,
2. The design support device according to claim 1, wherein the catalog information creation unit further performs a process of updating contents of the catalog information based on the newly created product design information each time the newly created product design information is acquired. The design support device according to claim 1 , wherein the catalog information creation unit and the part information presentation unit use features of a shape of the part as the attribute of the part. A design support method executed by an information processing device capable of transmitting data via a network between the information processing device and a terminal device having a product design function, comprising:
a step of recognizing a plurality of parts constituting the product from the created product design information of the product based on attributes of the parts, and creating and storing catalog information including part design information including the attributes of the recognized plurality of parts;
acquiring product design information from the terminal device;
and a step of recognizing attributes of a part under design from the acquired design information of the product under creation, comparing the recognized attributes of the part under design with the attributes of the plurality of parts included in the catalog information, thereby extracting parts that match the attributes of the part under design within a predetermined condition range, and selecting the part design information including the attributes of the extracted part from the catalog information and transmitting it to the terminal device. 2. A program for causing a hardware processor included in the design support device to execute processes executed by said catalog information creation unit, said first acquisition unit, and said part information presentation unit included in the design support device according to claim 1 .