Patent Document ID: 5574889
Application ID: 08186894
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. An apparatus including a digital computer for evaluating a design including a plurality of items, the apparatus comprising: a data bus; a processing unit connected to said data bus; a computer memory connected to said data bus; a display unit.; an interface control unit connected to said display unit and connected to said data bus; input means connected to said interface control unit for inputting information derived from said design; a database stored in said computer memory unit, wherein said database contains, for each of said plurality of items, a plurality of design elements, each design element having a plurality of variables correlating to a plurality of evaluation terms, respectively, wherein said processing unit identifies from said inputted information a design element for each of said plurality of items, said processing unit selects, for each of the plurality of said items, one of said plurality of design elements contained in said database which is substantially the same as said identified design element, to determine one variable out of said plurality of variables allocated to said selected design element, said processing unit calculates, for each of said plurality of evaluation terms, a sum of all of said determined variables correlating to each evaluation term, said processing unit selects at least one evaluation term out of said plurality of evaluation terms in response to an order of said calculated sums for said plurality of evaluation terms, and said display unit controlled by said interface control unit displays said selected evaluation term.