Integrated product modeling based on Web services in distributed environment

To flexibly integrate various systems at different stages and improve the openness and reusability of information in remote collaborative product development, a framework of integrated product modeling based on Web services is presented. The integrated model consists of a master model and application models that combine static and dynamic information supporting whole product lifecycle. The master model contains the core and shared information. The application model relating to specific manufacture domain is built up by extracting the master model and complementing domain information. The flexible integration of heterogeneous systems is ensured by the use of Web services. The openness and expansibility are preserved by combining STEP and XML for information representation and exchange. The high reusability of product information is achieved by using a service-oriented multi-granularity schema. The information consistency among the master model and application models is maintained through a coordinated-protocol for rapidly acquiring alteration and reacting to it.