Architecture and method for product catalog web service

• US 20040006571A1
• Filed: 07/05/2002
• Published: 01/08/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 07/05/2002
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Pradhan, Rajesh S., Anagol-Subbarao, Anjali
• Application Number:
  US10/190,154
• Publication Number:
  US 20040006571A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/104.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

An apparatus and method for a web service that produces a product catalog. In one embodiment according to the invention, a product catalog web service request is received from a client via a computer network. After the service request is received, client-specific data is extracted from a central product catalog database in response to the request. A custom product catalog is generated using the extracted data, and the custom product catalog is sent to the client via the computer network.

Claims

1. A method for producing a web service comprising:

providing at least one server computer in communication with a computer network;

receiving a product catalog web service request from a client sent to the server computer via the computer network;

extracting data from a central product catalog database in response to the request;

generating a custom product catalog in response to the request using the extracted data;

sending the custom product catalog to the client via the server computer and the computer network in response to the request.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the service request comprises receiving the service request using SOAP.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein receiving the service request using SOAP comprises receiving the service request using XML over SOAP.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the service request includes a client identifier.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein extracting data from the central product catalog database comprises extracting data associated with the client identifier.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein generating a custom product catalog comprises generating product catalog associated with the client identifier.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein generating a custom product catalog further comprises generating a text based product catalog.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein generating a custom product catalog further comprises generating an XML formatted product catalog.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein generating a custom product catalog further comprises invoking an XSLT engine to generate the XML formatted product catalog.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the computer network is an open network.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the open network is the internet.

12. A method for producing a web service comprising:

providing at least one client computer in communication with a computer network;

receiving a product catalog request from the client via the computer network;

identifying the client;

extracting data from a central product catalog database to fill a client-specific product catalog;

generating a client-specific product catalog; and

sending the client-specific product catalog to the client computer via the computer network in response to the request.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising identifying a client-specific catalog format.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein identifying a client-specific catalog format further comprises invoking a client-specific Java server page.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising logging the product catalog request.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein extracting data from a central product catalog database further comprises extracting product families available to the client-specific product catalog.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein extracting data from a central product catalog database further comprises extracting product models available to the client-specific product catalog.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein extracting data from a central product catalog database further comprises extracting product options available to the client-specific product catalog.

19. The method of claim 12, wherein extracting data from a central product catalog database further comprises extracting product incompatibilities for products available to the client-specific product catalog.

20. The method of claim 12, wherein generating a formatted client-specific product catalog comprises generating an XML formatted client-specific product catalog.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein generating an XML formatted client-specific product catalog includes invoking an XSLT engine.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein generating an XML-formatted client specific product catalog includes invoking a client-specific Java Server Page.

23. An apparatus for producing a product catalog web service comprising;

at least one server computer in communication with a computer network;

an interface module in communication with the server computer, the interface module comprising software for receiving a service request for a product catalog from a client, passing the service request to at least one other component of the apparatus, and passing a product catalog to the client in response to the product catalog service request;

an implementation module in communication with the interface module, the implementation module comprising software for assimilating data provided by at least one other component of the apparatus into a product catalog in response to the service request; and

a fulfillment module in communication with the implementation module, the fulfillment module comprising software for extracting client-specific data from a central product catalog database in response to the service request and providing the extracted data to the implementation module.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the interface module, implementation module and fulfillment module are hosted on the server computer.

25. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the interface module comprises a SOAP engine.

26. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the implementation and fulfillment module software comprises object oriented programming.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the implementation and fulfillment modules software comprise Enterprise Java Beans.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the implementation module software comprises Java Session Beans.

29. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the fulfillment module software comprises Java Entity Beans.

30. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the computer network is the internet.