CAD system capable of calculating costs during CAD operation

Claim 1

A computer aided design system for use in designing an item comprising one or more parts, each of the parts being assembled within the computer aided design system by the drawing of a plurality of figure elements, said system comprising: input means for inputting figure information signals related to the figure elements of each part, and for inputting selections of selectable parameters associated with at least one of the parts; cost calculating means for calculating, on the basis of the figure information signals and the selected parameters, manufacturing costs necessary for manufacturing each of said parts; and a display unit coupled to said cost calculating means for displaying said manufacturing costs in the form of a table, wherein the input means receives instructions from a design engineer such that the design engineer can design the item on the computer aided design system by analyzing the costs associated with alternative parts and alternative figure elements for each part to minimize a total manufacturing cost of the item, and wherein said manufacturing costs include figure element-related processing costs for each of said plurality of figure elements and an additional quantity-related processing cost, different from the figure element-related processing costs, which is correlated with a quantity of figure elements in the item.

Claim 7

A method of designing an item comprising one or more parts by using a display unit in accordance with a computer aided design program, each of said parts comprising, during the design process, a plurality of figure elements, said method comprising the steps of: producing figure information signals associated with said plurality of figure elements for each part; calculating, on the basis of said figure information signals and selected ones of selectable parameters, manufacturing costs necessary for manufacturing each of said parts, wherein said manufacturing costs include figure element-related processing costs for each of said plurality of figure elements and an additional quantity-related processing cost, different from the figure element-related processing costs, which is correlated with a quantity of figure elements in the item; displaying said manufacturing costs in the form of a table on said display unit; and interactively designing the item on the computer aided design system in response to operator input and cost analysis associated with alternative parts and alternative figure elements for each part to minimize a total manufacturing cost of the item.

Claim 8

A method of designing an item comprising one or more parts by using a display unit in accordance with a computer aided design program, each of said parts comprising, during the design process, a plurality of figure elements, said method comprising the steps of: producing figure information signals associated with said plurality of figure elements for each part; calculating, on the basis of said figure information signals and selected ones of selectable parameters, manufacturing costs necessary for manufacturing each of said parts, wherein said manufacturing costs include figure element-related processing costs for each of said plurality of figure elements and an additional quantity-related processing cost, different from the figure element-related processing costs, which is correlated with a quantity of figure elements in the item; displaying said manufacturing costs in the form of a table on said display unit; and interactively designing the item on the computer aided design system in response to operator input and cost analysis associated with alternative parts and alternative figure elements for each part to minimize a total manufacturing cost of the item.

Claim 9

A method of designing a part by using a display unit in accordance with a computer aided design program, said part comprising a plurality of elements which are drawn as figure elements, said method comprising the steps of: producing a figure information signal associated with said figure elements; calculating, on the basis of said figure information signal, manufacturing costs necessary for manufacturing said part by counting the number of the figure elements from said figure information signal, and calculating a quantity-related processing cost of processing said part on the basis of a correlation between said quantity-related processing cost and the number of the figure elements counted; and displaying said manufacturing costs in the form of a table on said display unit.

Claim 10

A method of designing a part by using a display unit in accordance with a computer aided design program, said part comprising a plurality of elements which are drawn as figure elements, said method comprising the steps of: producing a figure information signal associated with said figure elements; calculating, on the basis of said figure information signal, manufacturing costs necessary for manufacturing said part by counting the number of the figure elements from said figure information signal, and calculating a quantity-related processing cost of processing said part on the basis of a correlation between said quantity-related processing cost and the number of the figure elements counted; and displaying said manufacturing costs in the form of a table on said display unit.

Claim 14

A method of designing an item comprising one or more parts on a computer aided design system comprising a display device, an input device, a storage device, and a CPU, the method comprising the steps of: drawing, on the display device, under control of the CPU, a figure representative of a part of the item, in response to operator input via the input device, said figure including a plurality of figure elements; producing a figure information signal corresponding to the drawn part; storing the figure information signal in the storage device; identifying predetermined parameters associated with the part; displaying options on the display device related to selectable parameters associated with the part; selecting certain selectable parameters from the selectable parameters displayed on the display device in response to operator input via the input device; calculating costs associated with the predetermined parameters and the selected parameters in the CPU, wherein the calculated costs include figure element-related processing costs for each of said plurality of figure elements and an additional quantity-related processing cost, different from the figure element-related processing costs, which is correlated with a quantity of figure elements in the item; and displaying the calculated costs on the display device.

Claim 15

A method of designing an item comprising one or more parts on a computer aided design system comprising a display device, an input device, a storage device, and a CPU, the method comprising the steps of: drawing, on the display device, under control of the CPU, a figure representative of a part of the item, in response to operator input via the input device, said figure including a plurality of figure elements; producing a figure information signal corresponding to the drawn part; storing the figure information signal in the storage device; identifying predetermined parameters associated with the part; displaying options on the display device related to selectable parameters associated with the part; selecting certain selectable parameters from the selectable parameters displayed on the display device in response to operator input via the input device; calculating costs associated with the predetermined parameters and the selected parameters in the CPU, wherein the calculated costs include figure element-related processing costs for each of said plurality of figure elements and an additional quantity-related processing cost, different from the figure element-related processing costs, which is correlated with a quantity of figure elements in the item; and displaying the calculated costs on the display device.