Interference prevention method and apparatus

A method for preventing interference in a processing machine comprising the steps of. First, a command is issued in response to an operational event. Subsequently, protection information is outputted that corresponds to a protection-target component (20) of the processing machine (2). Then a basic envelope (Eb) of the protection target component (20) is calculated. Thereafter, according to a multi-hierarchical protection parameters (Ph), the base envelope (Eb) segmented into a plurality of sub-protection blocks, and sub-protective blocks that do not match the protection target component (20) are linked, are removed to a multi-hierarchical interference scope to be determined. Then it is determined whether an interference event between the multi hierarchical interference protection area and other components occurs to see if an interference event takes place at the protection target component (20). If this is the case, a control signal for controlling the processing operation of the processing machine (2) is output.