Patent ID: 7349757

Claim:
A numerical control (NC) hole-machining programming device which generates an NC program for hole machining from three-dimensional CAD data which describe the completed form of a target object, the device comprising: a tool information storing unit for storing tool information, including types and sizes of tools used, for hole machining; a form recognizing unit for recognizing each of a plurality of hole-machining forms by detecting cylindrical shapes and conical shapes as local geometries from the three-dimensional CAD data; a pattern information storing unit for storing pattern recognition information preliminarily describing hole-machining-form patterns corresponding to each hole-machining form and corresponding machining methods, the hole-machining-form patterns being represented by an identifier corresponding to cylindrical shapes detected and conical shapes detected as local geometries of a target object; a machining method determining unit for determining the machining method depending on one of the hole-machining-form patterns and indicating the local geometries detected as represented by the rows of the identifiers, and the corresponding machining methods a tool determining unit for selecting a tool in accordance with the machining methods determined by the machining method determining unit with reference to the tool information; a tool path determining unit which determines a tool path for each tool selected by the tool determining unit; and an NC program generating unit which generates an NC program based on the tool paths determined by the tool path determining unit.