Context dependent recognition and parametrization of shape features

Feature technology is now becoming popular in most advanced CAD systems. However, feature recognition processes are still necessary both to derive design feature-based description from traditional geometric representations for re-design purposes and to create feature-based description for driving downstream applications. One of the main limitations in existing automatic feature recognition systems is the inability of identifying simple features when feature faces and edges have been split or destroyed as a consequence of the interaction with other features. In this paper, a method for identifying such situations by means of geometric reasoning is presented. The proposed system is able to recognize not only generic features but also specific instances of application features with their defining parameter relations and values.