This paper proposes a collaborative design model based on operation semantics in a distributed computer-aided design (CAD) environment. The goal is to reduce time consumption in data format conversion and the requirement of network bandwidth so as to improve the cooperative ability and the synchronization efficiency. Firstly, real-time collaborative design is reviewed and three kinds of real-time collaborative design models are discussed. Secondly, the concept of operation semantics is defined and the framework of an operation semantics model is presented. The operation semantics carries the original design data and actual operation process to express design intent and operation activity in conventional CAD systems. Finally, according to the operation semantics model, a CAD operation primitive is defined which can be retrieved from and mapped to the local CAD system operation commands; a distributed CAD collaborative architecture based on the model is presented, and an example is given to verify the model.
