Bentley Systems, Inc.

John Gooding

Keith A Bentley

Samuel W Wilson

Earlin Lutz

James Bartlett

Raymond B Bentley

Barry J Bentley

Sam Wilson

Conventional file-based engineering design data for an engineering model are represented by a plurality of components. The plurality of components are kept in stores, which reside on servers. Each store contains the components that correspond to the elements of one design file. The stores also maintain a history of changes made to the components. A plurality of client computers are bidirectionally connected to the servers. Each client computer may obtain the current version of the components and may send locally edited versions of the components back to the servers to replace the current versions in the stores. At the client computer, the user interacts with the components using conventional file-based software. Before the locally edited versions of the components are committed to the servers to replace the current versions, a synchronization and merging process occurs whereby the latest version of the components are downloaded to the client computer and are compared to the locally edited version of the components to detect resolvable (compatible) and unresolvable (incompatible) conflicts. The commit process is performed only if no unresolvable conflicts exist between the two versions of the components. To facilitate translation between file-based data and components, a schema is written to 'wrap' each of the engineering file formats. Each schema is a set of classes that capture all of the information in the file-based data.

System, method and computer program product for collaborative engineering using component and file oriented tools

Conventional file-based engineering design data for an engineering model are represented by a plurality of components. Each component has a unique identifier, a set of fields, each field having a data type and a data value, and a program which interprets and modifies the fields. The plurality of components are stored in a repository of a server. The repository also stores a history of any changes made to the components. A plurality of client computers are bidirectionally connected to the server. Each client computer may obtain the current version of the components and may send locally edited versions of the components back to the server to replace the current versions in the repository. At the client computer, the user interacts with the components using conventional file-based software. Before locally edited versions of the components are committed to the server to replace the current versions, a synchronization and merging process occurs whereby the latest version of the components are downloaded to the client computer and are compared to the locally edited version of the components to detect resolvable (compatible) and unresolvable (incompatible) conflicts therebetween. The commit process is performed only if no unresolvable conflicts exist between the two versions of the components. To facilitate translation between file-based data and components, a schema is written to &ldquo;wrap&rdquo; each of the engineering file formats. Each schema is a set of classes that capture all of the information in the file-based data.

System for collaborative engineering using component and file-oriented tools

A computer system for modeling is disclosed, where the computer system has a storage device, first and second platforms, a portable persistent model, and first and second platform-dependent computerized modeling systems (CMS). Each platform is interfaced to the storage device and provides system-dependent services. The first platform has a first type of operating system and a first type of computer hardware including a first memory, and the second platform has a second type of operating system and a second type of computer hardware including a second memory. The model resides in the storage device in a platform-independent format and includes persistent component objects. The first CMS resides in the first platform memory and the second platform-dependent CMS resides in the second platform memory. Each CMS provides CMS services including retrieving the model from the storage device, manipulating the model, changing the model by adding and removing persistent objects, and persistently saving the model to the storage device. Each CMS includes a static kernel and a dynamic framework. The kernel executes on the platform and interfaces to the operating system and the computer hardware, and provides services necessary to load and execute CMS services and to interface to the platform services. The framework executes on the platform and interfaces to the kernel, provides a platform-independent visual interface between the CMS and a CMS user, and employs the services of the kernel.

Object-oriented computerized modeling system

Computer system for portable persistent modeling

Growing community of inventors

Spring City, PA, United States of America

John Gooding