Method of configuring a product
First Claim
1. A method of configuring a product comprising a number of components, the method comprising:
- providing, for each component, information relating to a group of alternatives for the component, defining rules relating to compatibilities between alternatives from different components, representing the rules in a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG), and iteratively configuring the product by repeatedly;
choosing a component, selecting an alternative from this component'"'"'s group of alternatives, checking the DAG whether the alternative selected is compatible with other chosen alternatives from other components.
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Abstract
A complex product is composed of several parts, where each part may depend on the other. As a consequence of these inter-dependencies, the selection of one part might exclude other parts from being included in the finished product. A consistent configuration is a selection of parts where all inter-dependencies are satisfied. A computer program for computer-assisted configuration helps an end-user to make choices that will lead to a consistent product. The preferred embodiment of the present invention, Virtual Tabulation, is a method for keeping track of inter-depencies among a large number of parts, to allow for the construction of an efficient and exact configuration program. Such a program allows interactive configuration over networks (e.g., the Internet). Another aspect of the invention, called Smart Search, allows a set of inter-dependencies among parts to be computed from a product database.
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Citations
42 Claims
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1. A method of configuring a product comprising a number of components, the method comprising:
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providing, for each component, information relating to a group of alternatives for the component, defining rules relating to compatibilities between alternatives from different components, representing the rules in a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG), and iteratively configuring the product by repeatedly;
choosing a component, selecting an alternative from this component'"'"'s group of alternatives, checking the DAG whether the alternative selected is compatible with other chosen alternatives from other components. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
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Specification