Abstract: Similarity reasoning can be used to enrich the design information contained by
function-tree and enhance the possibility of obtaining innovative design solutions. The way that
visualization is used to aid the similarity reasoning is discussed in this paper. First, the rules of
mapping function-tree to appropriate visual model are confirmed. Second, the human-machine
interactive aid corresponding with the process of similarity reasoning is provided to obtain real
time feedback. Lastly, an application example testifies the availability of similarity reasoning
method and the improvement of reasoning results caused by introducing visualization into
similarity reasoning.

Key words: computer application, conceptual design, function-tree, similarity reasoning;
visualization