Collaborative product conceptualization tool using web technology

摘要

A product concept can be considered to be anapproximate description of the working principles, overall formand technology of the product and can be expressed as a roughsketch or a 3D model, with accompanying notes to support thevisual representation. Generation of concept ideas and selection ofthe best concept are two activities involved in any productconceptualization stage of the design process. Whereas generationof concepts is both a creative as well as an exploratory activity, theselection process requires general agreement or a methodologyamong the participating members. This paper presents an approachto develop and implement an architecture to supportgeographically dispersed designers, to effectively develop andselect the product concept, through a collaborative effort. A toolbased on the World Wide Web (WWW), which allows designers torepresent their concepts and also aids them to search existing ideason similar products is developed. The issue of selection of the bestconcept is tackled by adopting the 'gallery method', through amodule, which computes ratings for individual drawings for a pre-discussed set of criteria.