System and method for bundling resources

• US 20040158480A1
• Filed: 10/03/2003
• Published: 08/12/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 10/03/2002
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Convergys Corporation
• Original Assignee: Convergys Corporation
• Inventors: Stokes, Jonathan T., Eason, Lance, Lubars, Mitchell D.
• Application Number:
  US10/679,192
• Publication Number:
  US 20040158480A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0875 Itemisation or classification of parts, supplies or services, e.g. bill of materials
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce

Abstract

One embodiment of the present invention includes a system of bundling products comprising a set of computer instructions stored on a computer readable medium and executable by a computer processor, the set of computer instructions comprising instructions executable to, receive a set of resources; compare the set of resources to one or more applicable bundle patterns; and generate one or more bundled packages based on the comparison. In one embodiment of the present invention, the set of resources can be a raw package that represents the cross product of solutions designed to meet a user'"'"'s defined needs. Another embodiment of the present invention can include receiving a set of resources, comparing the set of resources to one or more applicable bundle patterns, and generating one or more bundled packages based on the comparison.

Claims

1. A system of bundling resources comprising a set of computer instructions stored on a computer readable medium and executable by a computer processor, the set of computer instructions comprising instructions executable to:

receive a set of resources;

compare the set of resources to one or more applicable bundle patterns; and

generate one or more bundled packages based on the comparison.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the set of computer instructions further comprise instructions executable to:

generate a raw package containing the set of resources based on the cross product of two or more solutions.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein each solution addresses a particular set of user needs.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the set of computer instructions further comprise instructions executable to:

associate each resource from the set of resources with one or more patterns.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the one or more patterns comprise at least one bundle pattern.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the one or more patterns comprise at least one transform.

7. The system of claim 4, wherein the one or more patterns comprise at least one nontransform pattern.

8. The system of claim 3, wherein the set of computer instructions further comprise instructions executable to:

determine a set of potentially applicable bundle patterns associated with the set of resources.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the set of computer instructions further comprise instructions executable to:

determine the one or more applicable bundle patterns from the set of potentially applicable bundle patterns.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the set of computer instructions further comprise instructions executable to:

determine the one or more applicable bundle patterns from the set of potentially applicable bundle patterns by filtering the set of potentially applicable bundle patterns based on a set of anchors.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the set of computer instructions further comprise instructions executable to:

determine the one or more applicable bundle patterns from the set of potentially applicable bundle patterns by filtering the set of potentially applicable bundle patterns based on a set rules.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the set of computer instructions further comprise instructions that are executable to:

partition the one or more applicable bundle patterns into conflict sets.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the set of computer instructions further comprise instructions executable to:

perform a comparison between an applicable bundle pattern in a first conflict partition to generate a first set of bindings and a first set of available resources;

perform a comparison between an applicable bundle pattern in a second conflict partition to generate a second set of bindings and a second set of available resources; and

generate a third set of bindings and a third set of available resources based on the union of the first set of bindings and the second set of bindings and the intersection of the first set of available resources and the second set of available resources.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the set of computer instructions further comprise instructions executable to:

generate a first set of bundled packages based on a first conflict set;

generate a second set of bundled packages based on a second conflict set; and

generate a third set of bundled packages by combining at least one bundled package from the first set of bundled packages and at least one bundled package from the second set of bundle packages.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein each bundle pattern from the one or more applicable bundle patterns further comprises:

one or more components; and

one or more cardinalities.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the set of computer instructions further comprise computer instructions executable to associate at least one component from at least one of the one or more applicable bundle patterns with a rule.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the set of computer instructions further comprise computer instructions executable to associate at least one component from at least one of the one or more applicable bundle patterns with pricing data.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the set of computer instructions further comprise computer instructions executable to associated at least one bundle pattern from the one or more applicable bundle patterns with a rule.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the set of computer instructions further comprise computer instructions executable to associated at least one bundle pattern from the one or more applicable bundle patterns with pricing and discount data.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the set of computer instructions further comprise computer instructions executable to associated at least one bundle pattern from the one or more applicable bundle patterns with an anchor.

21. The system of claim 1, wherein the set of computer instructions further comprise instructions executable to apply a nontransform pattern to at least one of the one or more of the bundled packages.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the nontransform pattern is a promotion pattern.

23. The system of claim 1, wherein the set of computer instructions further comprise instructions executable to apply a nontransform pattern to one or more of the set of resources.

24. The system of claim 22, wherein the nontransform pattern is a promotion pattern.

25. The system of claim 1, wherein the set of computer instructions further comprise instructions executable to rate the one or more bundled packages.

26. The system of claim 1, wherein the set of computer instructions further comprise instructions executable to apply a transform to the set of resources to replace at least one resource from the set of resources with another resource.

27. The system of claim 1, wherein set of computer instructions further comprise instructions executable to apply a transform to the one or more bundled packages.

28. The system of claim 1, wherein comparing the set of resources to one or more applicable bundle patterns further comprises fully matching the one or more applicable bundle patterns.

29. The system of claim 1, wherein comparing the set of resources to one or more applicable bundle patterns further comprises partially matching the one or more applicable bundle patterns.

33. The method claim 1, further comprising:

associate each resource from the set of resources with one or more patterns.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the one or more patterns comprise at least one bundle pattern.

35. The method of claim 33, wherein the one or more patterns comprise at least one transform.

36. The method of claim 33, wherein the one or more patterns comprise at least one nontransform pattern.

30. A method of bundling resources comprising:

receiving a set of resources;

compare the set of resources to one or more applicable bundle patterns; and

generate one or more bundled packages based on the comparison.

31. The method of claim 30, further comprising:

generating a raw package containing the set of resources based on the cross product of two or more solutions.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein each solution addresses a particular user need.

37. The method of claim 32, further comprising:

determining a set of potentially applicable bundle patterns associated with the set of resources.

38. The method of claim 37, further comprising:

determining the one or more applicable bundle patterns from the set of potentially applicable bundle patterns.

39. The method of claim 37, further comprising:

determining the one or more applicable bundle patterns from the set of potentially applicable bundle patterns by filtering the set of potentially applicable bundle patterns based on a set of anchors.

40. The method of claim 37, further comprising:

determining the one or more applicable bundle patterns from the set of potentially applicable bundle patterns by filtering the set of potentially applicable bundle patterns based on a set rules.

41. The method of claim 30, further comprising:

partitioning the one or more applicable bundle patterns into conflict sets.

42. The method of claim 41, further comprising:

performing a comparison between an applicable bundle pattern in a first conflict partition to generate a first set of bindings and a first set of available resources;

performing a comparison between an applicable bundle pattern in a second conflict partition to generate a second set of bindings and a second set of available resources; and

generating a third set of bindings and a third set of available resources based on the union of the first set of bindings and the second set of bindings and the intersection of the first set of available resources and the second set of available resources.

43. The method of claim 41, further comprising:

generating a first set of bundled packages based on a first conflict set;

generating a second set of bundled packages based on a second conflict set; and

generating a third set of bundled packages by combining at least one bundled package from the first set of bundled packages and at least one bundled package from the second set of bundle packages.

44. The method of claim 30, wherein each bundle pattern from the one or more applicable bundle patterns further comprises:

one or more components; and

one or more cardinalities.

45. The method of claim 44, further comprising:

associating at least one component from at least one of the one or more applicable bundle patterns with a rule.

46. The method of claim 44, further comprising:

associating at least one component from at least one of the one or more applicable bundle patterns with pricing data.

47. The method of claim 44, further comprising:

associating at least one bundle pattern from the one or more applicable bundle patterns with a rule.

48. The method of claim 44, further comprising:

associating at least one bundle pattern from the one or more applicable bundle patterns with pricing and discount data.

49. The method of claim 44, further comprising:

associating at least one bundle pattern from the one or more applicable bundle patterns with an anchor.

50. The method of claim 30, further comprising:

applying a nontransform pattern to at least one of the one or more bundle packages.

51. The method of claim 50, wherein the nontransform pattern is a promotion pattern.

52. The method of claim 30, further comprising:

applying a nontransform pattern to one or more of the set of resources.

53. The method of claim 52, wherein the nontransform pattern is a promotion pattern.

54. The method of claim 30, further comprising:

rating the one or more bundled packages.

55. The method of claim 30, further comprising:

applying a transform to the set of resources to replace at least one resource from the set of resources with another resource.

56. The method of claim 30, further comprising:

applying a transform to the one or more bundled packages.

57. The method of claim 30, wherein comparing the set of resources to one or more applicable bundle patterns further comprises fully matching the one or more applicable bundle patterns.

58. The method of claim 30, wherein comparing the set of resources to one or more applicable bundle patterns further comprises partially matching the one or more applicable bundle patterns.

59. A system of bundling products comprising a set of computer instructions stored on a computer readable medium and executable by a computer processor, the set of computer instructions comprising instructions executable to:

maintain a set of patterns;

maintain a set of resources;

associate each resource from the set of resources with one or more patterns from the set of patterns;

generate a raw package containing at least one resource from the set of resources;

determine a set of potentially applicable patterns based on associations between each of the at least one resources in the raw package and the set of patterns;

filter the set of potentially applicable patterns based on rules and anchors associated with each potentially applicable pattern to determine a set of applicable patterns, wherein the set of applicable patterns further comprises a set of applicable bundle patterns; and

compare the set of applicable bundle patterns to the raw package to generate a set of bundled packages.

60. The system of claim 59, wherein the set of computer instructions further comprise instructions executable to generate a raw package based on a cross product of two or more solutions.

61. The system of claim 60, wherein each solution from the two or more solutions addresses a particular customer need.

62. The system of claim 59, wherein the computer instructions further comprise instructions executable to:

partition the set of applicable patterns into the set of applicable bundle patterns and a set of applicable nontransform patterns.

63. The system of claim 62, wherein the computer instructions further comprise instructions executable to:

partition the set of applicable bundle patterns into a set of conflict partitions.

64. The system of claim 63, wherein the set of computer instructions are further executable to:

perform a comparison between an applicable bundle pattern in a first conflict partition to generate a first set of bindings and a first set available resources;

perform a comparison between an applicable bundle pattern in a second conflict partition to generate a second set of bindings and a second set of available resources; and

generate a third set of bindings and a third set of available resources based on the union of the first set of bindings and the second set of bindings and the intersection of the first set of available resources and the second set of available resources.

65. The system of claim 63, wherein the set of computer instructions further comprise instructions executable to:

generate a first set of bundled packages based on a first conflict set;

generate a second set of bundled packages based on a second conflict set; and

generate a third set of bundled packages by combining at least one bundled package from the first set of bundled packages and at least one bundled package from the second set of bundle packages.

66. The system of claim 62, wherein the set of computer instructions further comprise instructions executable to apply the set of nontransform patterns to the set of bundled packages and the raw package.

67. The system of claim 59, wherein the set of computer instructions further comprise instructions executable to replace at least one resource in the raw package with another resource based on a transform.