A MODEL INTEGRATION FRAMEWORK FOR COOPERATIVE DESIGN

In a CAD system, a design object is represented by various models from different viewpoints. Maintaining relationships among models is part of the expected tasks for intelligent CAD systems. This paper deals with the integration of models of the design object. First, we examinine the nature of a model and two methods to integrate models are compared, viz. integration of background theories of the models and integration on the description level of the models. Second, we propose a framework named metamodel mechanism as a former approach, which uses knowledge about relationships among background theories. Third, we discuss knowledge representation for the metamodel mechanism. The metamodel represents relationships among models by means of symbolic representation of qualitative physics. Last, an example illustrates the integration of a geometric model and a kinematic model by the metamodel mechanism.