As a long term inventor trainer and supervisor of an inventor using businesses I naturally have a significant request and improvement list.
One thing has been keeping us busy and more and more I think this subject is always current with increased I-logic usage.
How do I protect my intelligent parts? (like master parts, etc.)
We can write anything in a master-part like costs, design decisions and design rules… these parts are getting more sensitive the more we are placing them. For example foreign abuse or even file stealing.
This Situation makes us not using I-Logic as much as possible, because we currently don't know how to protect our "super parametric parts" for the future.
Hence my request suggestion for the future:
- Files are not backward compatible, which is an advantage here.
- Autodesk introduces an online patent system on the Autodesk Server.
- I sign my “super component” at Autodesk online as "my patent" and give my serial number (or Numbers…) with it.
- The patent server by Autodesk encodes this component with my serial number and sets a "flag".
- The new version of inventor (for example 2014) detects during loading this "flag" and checks if it’s necessary to check the serial number with the registered serial number.
- If the Number is registered with this part, it opens normally. If the Number is not listed, the Part opens for example without I-Logic rules or at a higher level of security it is loaded as a simple body part.
That would be an improvement in my opinion!
The customers can load this part with the last saved values of the parameters and the way to his parameters is hidden and safe! Or when the whole body construction is secured, the part open like a “dead” step file.
We can push the I-logic up to the top without being afraid that our knowledge is stolen at some point!