Abstract
Considering latent functions on conceptual design stage has become increasingly important from the perspective of product safety and sustainable design. This paper discussed reasoning processes considering latent function on conceptual design stage. First, the function dividing process is explained from a linguistic viewpoint and two function operation types for the function dividing process, which are decomposition-based dividing and causal-connection-based dividing, are introduced. Then, reasoning process considering latent function is formulated on each function operation types. Finally, the function reasoning system was developed and a case study is done by using the system, The case study showed the possibility that the proposed model can help designers to consider latent function on function dividing process.
