Patent ID: 7765240

Claim:
A method comprising: displaying on a computer screen at least a first object, the first object representing a real world article in a model, the first object's geometry being defined by the first object's parameters, the parameters representing physical properties of the first object, the parameters representing the physical properties comprising length and height; receiving, via a user interface, a user input indicating that a second object representing another real world article is to be modeled to the model comprising the first object so that the second object is associated with the first object; receiving, via the user interface, a user input defining at least a definition point for the second object, the definition point being associated with the first object and defining a physical property for the second object through logical correspondence with the first object; determining at least one logical property for the first object that is in correspondence with the definition point of the second object by executing an algorithm in a computer, the determined at least one logical property being one of plural determinable logical properties of the first object, the determined logical property i) being based on the geometry of the first object, ii) corresponding to the definition point of the second object, iii) being free of any parameter representing the physical properties of the first object, iii) not independently defining the geometry of the first object, iv) and remaining foundable by the computer from another geometry according to a rule of correspondence after a change in the geometry of the first object; selecting at least one logical property from amongst the determined logical properties of the first object, the selected at least one logical property corresponding to the definition point; creating, by using the selected at least one logical property, at least one logical definition to the second object, the at least one logical definition defining how the second object depends on the selected at least one logical property of the first object; forming a dependency by between the created logical definition to the second object and the definition point; storing the dependency as a parameter of the second object; and using the dependency to model the second object.