US Patent 7548650 Geometric search engine

One implementation provides a method to provide information associated with a previously designed component having a geometry that is similar to a geometry of a source component. In this implementation, the method includes obtaining a first set of coefficients for a non-invertible representation of the geometry of the source component, and comparing the first set of coefficients to a second set of coefficients for a non-invertible representation of the geometry of the previously designed component. If the first set of coefficients matches the second set of coefficients according to a threshold of similarity, the method further includes providing a search result associated with the previously designed component.