Patent ID: 9678990
Date: 2017-06-13
CPC Classifications: G06F

Claim:
1. A computerized method for counting symbols that represent parts in drawings, the method comprising: providing a drawing in electronic form, the drawing having a plurality of symbols, wherein the same symbol may represent a plurality of different types of parts, and wherein at least some of the symbols have a separate distinguishing identifier associated therewith, with the same symbol representing a particular type of part based on its associated identifier, and with symbols having the selected identifier representing a different type of part than symbols not having the selected identifier; identifying, by a computer processor, an initial symbol in the drawing to search; searching, by the computer processor, the drawing for the initial symbol and displaying the search results on a display screen; selecting, by the computer processor, the initial symbol from the displayed search results; selecting, by the computer processor, a first identifier that is associated with the initial symbol; defining, by the computer processor, a search area about the initial symbol; performing, by the computer processor, a separate secondary search of the search results for symbols that include the first identifier within the defined search area; selecting, by the computer processor, a different identifier that is associated with the selected symbol; performing, by the computer processor, an additional secondary search of the initial search results for symbols that have the different identifier within the defined search area; repeating the step of performing the additional secondary search, until a desired number of different types of parts to be counted has been reached; displaying each number of symbols from the secondary search and from each additional secondary search as search results, in order to provide a count of symbols for each of the desired number of different types of parts, including highlighting, in the display of search results, the symbols that include the selected identifier; and after displaying the symbols from each search, removing, by the computer processor, the highlighted symbols from each such search results.