An object-oriented integrated knowledge approach to Internet-based product collaborative conceptual design

One of the problems in building collaborative and intelligent design systems is the difficulty in integrating Computer Supported Collaborative Work (CSCW) with knowledge to generate results to the satisfaction of designers who often have high demands on aesthetics. In order to assist designers in the early stages of a product development this paper develops an intelligent methodology for integrating user knowledge and design knowledge. Taken the mobile phone form design as an example, a prototype intelligent conceptual design system is implemented, which consists essentially of the knowledge agents, each of which is a knowledge system with the capabilities of problem reasoning and learning. With this system, product designer and user can carry out simultaneously and intelligently in an Internet-based computer-aided product concurrent design system.