Identification of Topological Entities and Naming Mapping for Parametric CAD Model Exchanges

As collaborative design and configuration design gain increasing importance in product development, it becomes essential to exchange parametric CAD models among participants. Parametric CAD models can be represented and exchanged in the form of a macro file or a part file that contains the modeling history of a product. The modeling history of a parametric CAD model contains feature specifications and each feature has selection information that records the name of the referenced topological entities. Translating this selection information requires solving the problems of how to identify the referenced topological entities of a feature (persistent naming problem) and how to convert the selection information into the format of the receiving CAD system (naming mapping problem). The present paper introduces the problem of exchanging parametric CAD models and proposes a solution to naming mapping.