Method and system extracting attribute information corresponding to components included in a computer aided design system drawing such as a process and instrumentation diagram

Information may be provided relating to each component in a computer aided design (CAD) drawing indicating certain attributes of each of the components. Standard CAD blocks are provided which include attributes attached to the blocks which directly correspond to possible components to be used in the CAD drawing. Information relating to each component added in the CAD drawing is entered into an attribute block of a database file corresponding to the type of component added in the CAD drawing. When the drawing is completed, database output files are generated and the attribute data may be provided to a user via an output device such as a printer printing a hard copy or a display device displaying the information.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to a system and method of extracting and 
providing attribute information corresponding to components such as 
equipment, instruments and process lines included in a computer aided 
design system drawing. 
Computer aided design (CAD) systems such as AutoCAD.RTM. and 
Intergraph.RTM. have been used in creating drawings such as a Process & 
Instrumentation Diagram (P&ID) used in, for example, a process involved in 
a plant operation. However, if a drawing such as a P&ID is designed by one 
company and provided to a second company for operation in the second 
company's plant, some computer aided design systems such as AutoCAD.RTM. 
do not provide a design of the system including a listing of attributes 
corresponding to each individual piece of equipment, instrument or process 
line in the system. Therefore, if such a system is designed by a first 
company and provided to a second company for operation in their plant, for 
example, the second company cannot easily obtain detailed information 
about each individual piece of equipment from a view of the AutoCAD.RTM. 
design system drawing. Therefore, a need has arisen to provide information 
via attributes and known database software relative to a computer aided 
design drawing for each individual piece of equipment, instrument or 
process line in the computer aided design drawing. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to a system and a method of extracting 
information relating to each component such as each piece of equipment, 
instrument or process line in a computer aided design drawing which may be 
provided as a report in a format such as a printed hard copy, data stored 
on a disk or some type of memory device or displayed on a display device. 
This enables a company, for example, to purchase each individual piece of 
the entire system on the computer aided design drawing merely by obtaining 
the individual extracted information for each individual piece of 
equipment or instrument in the entire system. Additionally, the hard copy 
or displayed reports which may be provided by the system and method of the 
present invention allow for a company having a system providing a 
particular plant process to specifically show an outside party (e.g., an 
OSHA regulator) how the particular process works by operating the CAD 
software in conjunction with the database software relating to the 
individual components in the drawing such as pieces of equipment, 
instruments or process lines to show exactly what is contributing to the 
plant process. 
Specifically, the method and system according to the present invention 
initially creates several standard database files (e.g., in a dBase.RTM. 
3+ format). The database directory include files corresponding to 
components including equipment and instruments such as vessels, pumps, 
temperature elements, pressure indicators, blowers, exchangers, agitators, 
nozzles, valves, actuators, process lines and/or any other items which are 
typically included in the creation of a computer aided design drawing such 
as a P&ID. A standard format of attribute tags or information items is 
used in each database including items pertinent to the particular 
equipment, instrument or process line being identified in that database. 
Standard computer aided design blocks (e.g., AutoCAD.RTM. blocks) are 
previously set up according to an embodiment of the present invention 
which have attached attributes which directly correspond to each attribute 
tag or item in each particular database. 
Each of the database files is initially created without any information 
being stored therein. Information relating to each piece of equipment, 
instrument or process line is then entered graphically in the AutoCAD.RTM. 
system. As discussed above, standard AutoCAD.RTM. blocks are provided by 
the method of the present invention which include attributes attached to 
the blocks which directly correspond to each item in each particular 
equipment, instrument or process line database. When a piece of equipment, 
instrument or process line is placed on the computer aided design drawing, 
information relating to that piece of equipment, instrument or process 
line is entered into an attribute block, and is extracted or linked to a 
database file corresponding to the type of equipment, instrument or 
process line. Each piece of equipment, instrument or process line is 
provided in a separate record of the particular database file. 
When the computer aided design drawing is completed, database output files 
are generated using the attribute extraction method according to the 
present invention. The graphical attribute information is appended into 
the corresponding equipment database file and, upon completion of the 
program, the output files directly reflect what is in the AutoCAD.RTM. 
graphics file. At this point, each database file may be translated in a 
standard database file (e.g., Lotus.RTM. file) which was previously set up 
by the method. These translated files may then be printed so that hard 
copies may be provided as reports relating to each of the pieces of 
equipment, instruments or process lines included within the computer aided 
design drawing. Alternatively, the reports may be provided in a format 
other than a hard copy such as on a display device. 
The method and system according to the present invention allows a user to 
produce professional quality ISA STANDARD P&ID drawings quickly with very 
little knowledge of the standards and accepted instrument, control and 
engineering symbols. The attaching of attribute blocks to components in 
the CAD drawing according to the present invention via a menu allows a 
user to easily add process data, design data, purchasing data, maintenance 
data, environmental data, and OSHA data, for example, to all mechanical 
equipment, control and metering instruments, electrical equipment, piping 
and valves, safety and monitoring equipment, and insulated systems, for 
example. The method and system according to the present invention also 
allows a partial or total extraction of all desired data attached in the 
specific format with a limited user knowledge of a dBase.RTM., Lotus.RTM. 
or similar spreadsheet software. The present invention also allows the 
review of CAD drawings such as P&ID's with respect to process, design, 
operating, maintenance, environmental, hazardous or OSHA considerations at 
any necessary time with minimal preparation time and a complete 
elimination of paper and file searches. The present invention additionally 
takes the "grunt work" out of producing P&ID's and adds a state of the art 
computer technology for the attachment, filing, storing and retrieval of 
vital data corresponding to particular components of the P&ID produced 
using a CAD system such as AutoCAD.RTM..

DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
FIG. 1 illustrates a general flow chart describing an embodiment of the 
present invention. The database extraction method and system according to 
an embodiment of the present invention illustrated in FIG. 1 involves 
graphic input using standard AutoCAD.RTM. software 10 along with the use 
of dBase.RTM. 3+ software 12 and standard Lotus.RTM. software 14. While 
certain versions of these software packages have been mentioned in this 
application, it is noted that any other versions of these software 
programs may be used in practicing the present invention. 
Symbols, attributes and databases are developed in step 16 which correspond 
to each of a possible type of component to be included in the AutoCAD.RTM. 
P&ID drawing. The AutoCAD.RTM. drawing file is determined in step 18 
according to the standard AutoCAD.RTM. software 10. In step 20 the 
AutoCAD.RTM. drawing file is linked to the standard Lotus.RTM. software 
14. The dBase III.RTM. software 12 is used in step 22 to extract 
AutoCAD.RTM. attributes which directly correspond to each particular item 
or component in the AutoCAD.RTM. drawing. The standard Lotus.RTM. software 
14 is combined with the dBase.RTM. III standard software 12 to provide 
developed database reports 24 indicating the extracted information 
relating to each component of the AutoCAD.RTM. drawing for review by a 
user. It is noted that step 20 may alternatively be inserted between steps 
22 and 24 without any direct connection between the Lotus.RTM. software 
and the AutoCAD.RTM. drawing file. 
FIG. 2 illustrates a more detailed drawing of a system in which the method 
according to an embodiment of the present invention may be implemented. A 
processor 50 initially creates several standard databases in a standard 
dBase.RTM. format (e.g., a dBase.RTM. 3+ format). Processor 50 creates 
database files 52 which may include equipment and instruments such as 
vessels, pumps, temperature elements, pressure indicators, blowers, 
exchangers, agitators, nozzles, valves, actuators, process lines and/or 
any other major items which may typically be used in the creation of a 
computer aided design (CAD) drawing such as a Process & Instrumentation 
Drawing (P&ID). 
For purposes of a specific embodiment of the present invention, a possible 
vessel database will be described in more detail in reference to the 
present invention in the following description. However, any other 
database information may be included in the vessel database files. 
Additionally, the present invention may easily be adapted for any other 
types of components to be included in a CAD system drawing by including 
particular attributes applicable to the components used by a particular 
user. Additionally, the attributes for a particular component may be 
changed based on a particular user's needs. 
The processor 50 initially stores data in a memory 54 in standard Computer 
Aided Design blocks which have attributes attached thereto which directly 
correspond to each component which may be included in a CAD drawing to be 
implemented using CAD software 56. The CAD blocks included in memory 54 
are initially entered through processor 50 using, for example, an input 
device 58 such as a keyboard or a mouse. Additionally, the CAD blocks 
included in memory 50 may be edited using user input device 58. For 
example, additional CAD blocks may be added or certain attributes of 
blocks already included in memory 54 may be edited. In any case, processor 
50 generates database files 52 which are originally empty. When a 
component is placed on the CAD drawing being designed using CAD software 
56, information (e.g., symbols and attributes) relating to that component 
is entered into memory 54. For example, when a vessel is placed on the 
drawing, information relating to that vessel is entered into a vessel 
attribute block included in memory 54. The information relating to the 
vessel could include, for example, a vessel number, volume, dimension 
and/or any other information relating to the vessel and included in the 
vessel database. Example attributes which may be used for a vessel 
component in the CAD blocks of memory 54 or the vessel database file 
included in database files 52 include but is not limited to the following: 
VESSEL NUMBER: 
DESCRIPTION #1: 
DESCRIPTION #2: 
DIAMETER.times.HEIGHT.times.LENGTH: 
TANK DRAWING REFERENCE #: 
DESIGN RATING: 
DESIGN CODE: 
NOMINAL VOLUME: 
TYPE OF HEADS: 
CONTAINED MATERIAL: 
HORIZONTAL OR VERTICAL: 
FLANGE