CADSYN: A case-based design process model

In solving a new design problem, the case-based reasoning paradigm provides a process model where previous experience in the form of multiple, individual design situations can be used in a new design context. Design synthesis presents challenges to current methodologies of CBR in the application of the various approaches to case memory organization, indexing, selection and transformation. The focus of this paper is on the transformation process. Multiple types of design knowledge are essential to derive a new design solution. A hybrid case-based design process model, CADSYN, is proposed to integrate specific design situations and generalized domain knowledge, where specific cases are represented as attribute-value pairs and domain knowledge is represented by generalized design concepts and constraints. Case transformation is treated as a constraint satisfaction problem, where a specific design case provides a starting point for a new design problem and constraints are used to revise the case for consistency with the new context.