Remote access to CAD databases using an information sharing system

This paper describes the access to a database of prosthetic parts using an information sharing system (ISS). The prosthetic parts modeled are made of ceramic materials. The prosthetic parts modeled are a formal head, a cup, and a cup and head device. The information about the prosthetic parts is based on a feature based model and is stored in a relational database which is a part of a CAD system. The model for the information sharing system is object-oriented. The relational database is accessed remotely from the object-oriented model of the ISS using a gateway to the CAD system. This implementation illustrates two key concepts: the ISS approach to distributed, heterogeneous database integration and the ISS methodology for building gateways. It also shows some of the problems and solutions in databases that do not support SQL type queries.