US Patent 7917891 Engineering system with automatic generation of entity templates

A method, computer program and a system for automatically generating entity templates when copying at least one software element are provided. In the method, upon receiving a request to copy a selected element, such as a group of elements in a graphics program, a common entity template is automatically created for the element if it is not currently linked to an entity template or is only linked to a non-modifiable template, such that when modifications are made to the entity template, the modifications are also made to the originally selected element and all copies thereof, simultaneously.