Design for invention: annotation of functional geometry interaction for representing novel working principles

Mark Atherton, Pingfei Jiang, David Harrison, Alessio Malizia

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)
63 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

In some mechanical engineering devices the novelty or inventive step of a patented design relies heavily upon how geometric features contribute to device functions. Communicating the functional interactions between geometric features in existing patented designs may increase a designer’s awareness of the prior art and thereby avoid conflict with their emerging design. This paper shows how functional representations of geometry interactions can be developed from patent claims to produce novel semantic graphical and text annotations of patent drawings. The approach provides a quick and accurate means for the designer to understand the patent that is well suited to the designer’s natural way of understanding the device. Through several example application cases we show the application of a detailed representation of functional geometry interactions that captures the working principle of familiar mechanical engineering devices described in patents. A computer tool that is being developed to assist the designer to understand prior art is also described.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)245-262
Number of pages8
JournalResearch in Engineering Design
Volume29
Issue number2
Early online date9 Sept 2017
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Apr 2018

Keywords

  • Function analysis diagram
  • Functional interactions
  • Functional representation
  • Geometric features
  • Prior art
  • Semantics
  • Working principle

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