Rule processing method, apparatus, and computer-readable medium to provide improved selection advice

• US 20050108183A1
• Filed: 09/28/2004
• Published: 05/19/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mineral Lassen LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Verde Sabor Assets LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Mair, Douglas M., Huelsman, David L., Love, Sharon E.
• Granted Patent: US 7,552,102 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 706/47
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

A computer-implemented method, apparatus therefore, and/or computer-readable medium to provide selection advice during rule processing to help a user choose desired specifications of a product, service or other rule-based system characterized by a ZDD rule model having one or more Include and/or Exclude rules. One aspect includes displaying on a monitor or other I/O device multiple attributes having multiple enumerations that identify possible feature, specifications, or conditions of a product; selecting multiple alternative enumerations of the attributes; determining a selection advice for each enumeration selected; combining the selection advice for each enumerations in order to produce a result; communicating the result to an end user; and then using the result to choose a product having desired compliant specifications or conditions. The product may include a service offering. Another aspect include, based on user selections, removing nonessential information inherent in a relevant rule set and propagating (determining in advance) selection advice regarding other enumerations based on values of related rule components.

Claims

1. In a rule processing system, a computer-implemented method of providing selection advice to help guide a user in selecting desired specifications of a product or service characterized by a ZDD rule model having one or more Include or Exclude rules, said method comprising:

displaying multiple attributes and multiple enumerations thereof that identify available specifications of said product or service,

selecting via a user interface multiple alternative enumerations of said attributes according to possibly desired specifications among said available,

determining a selection advice for the enumerations selected in said selecting step,

combining the selection advice for the enumerations determined in said determining step to produce a combined result,

communicating to a user the combined result generated in the combining step, and

using the result to choose a desired product or service having a compliant specifications among said possibly desired specifications.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining step comprises:

for each attribute having multiple enumerations selected, forming a ZDD tree having nodes respectively associated with selected enumerations; and

intersecting the tree thus formed with a MakeSelectionTermForGroup ZDD tree used by said rule processing system to determine selection advice.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said displaying includes displaying attributes and enumerations on a computer monitor accessible to a user, and said selecting includes a user inputting multiple alternative choices of specifications via a computer I/O device.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said inputting occurs using a keyboard and pointing device that comprises the I/O device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said combining step includes OR'"'"'ing selection advice for each enumeration determined in the determining step.

6. In a rule processing method utilizing a ZDD rule model to define compliant features characterized by attributes and enumerations of a product or service, a computer-implemented method of providing selection advice to help guide a user choose among compliant features characterized by multiple rule components of the ZDD rule model wherein said multiple rule components are related to a central one of said multiple rule components, said method comprising:

identifying said central one of said rule components having a pending value of an enumeration not yet selected by a user,

determining selection advice for the rule model based on possible selections of enumerations of other attributes related to said central rule component,

displaying results of said selection advice based on said possible selections of said enumerations, and

using the results to choose among enumerations that render specifications of said product or service compliant.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein said determining step includes combining an attribute relations ZDD representative of the central rule component with an attribute relations ZDD of the ZDD rule model.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein said central rule component has a mutually exclusive Exclude relationship with one other rule component, and said determining step includes assigning a negative selection value to other rule components related to said central rule component when a negative selection is denoted for said one other rule component.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the central rule component for which a selection is pending relates to other rule components through an Exclude relationship and said determining step includes propagating a negative selection value to a rule component under examination when other components related to the central one of said rule components also have a negative value asserted.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein said determining step includes searching through Exclude rules to remove non-essential information by removing covers detected therein whereby to reduce the complexity of the Exclude rules.

11. The method of claim 6, wherein said determining step includes searching through Exclude rules to detect and remove cyclic covers whereby to reduce the complexity of the Exclude rules.

12. An apparatus that provides selection advice to help guide a user choose a product or service having desired specifications, said product or service being characterized by a ZDD rule model having at least one of an Include rule and an Exclude rule, said apparatus comprising:

a user interface to communicate to a user multiple attributes having multiple enumerations that identify possible specifications of said product or service;

an I/O device to enable the user to choose multiple alternative enumerations of said attributes in according to attributes and enumerations communicated by said user interface; and

a processor to determine alternative selection advice for each enumeration selected by the user, to combine multiple ones of said selection advice determined for each enumeration thereby to produce a result indicative of selections compliant with enumerations selected by the user, to communicate the result to the user, and to enable the user to choose a product or service having desired compliant specifications.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein said processor, for each attribute having multiple enumerations selected, generates a ZDD tree having nodes respectively associated with selected enumerations and intersects the ZDD tree thus generated with a MakeSelectionTermForGroup ZDD tree used to determine selection advice.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein said user interface comprises a computer monitor and at least one of a keyboard and pointing device.

15. For use in a computer-implemented rule processing system that uses a ZDD rule model having multiple ZDD rule components to define compliant specifications of a product or service, a computing device programmed to provide selection advice to guide a user to choose compliant specifications, said rule components being related to a common one of said multiple rule components, said device comprising:

an I/O interface to receive inputs from and to communicate results to said user in response to user selections; and

a processor having program instructions to effect acquisition of inputs from said user, to identify a common one of said rule components of the ZDD rule model having a pending selection of an enumeration, to determine selection advice based on alternative selections of enumerations of other attributes related to said common rule component, and to provide said results to said user via said I/O interface thereby to enable the user to choose a product or service having compliant specifications according to the alternative choices of enumerations.

16. The device of claim 15, wherein said processor additionally includes program instructions to combine an attribute relations ZDD for the common rule component with an attribute relations ZDD for the ZDD rule model.

17. The device of claim 15, wherein said common one of said rule components has a mutually exclusive Exclude relationship with at least one other rule component, and said processor includes program instructions to assign a negative selection value to other rule components related to said common rule component when a negative selection is denoted for said one other rule component.

18. The device of claim 15, wherein said common one of said rule components for which a selection is pending relates to other rule components by an Exclude relationship and said processor includes program instructions to propagate a negative selection value to a rule component under examination when other components related to the common one of said rule components also have a negative value asserted.

19. The device of claim 15, wherein said processor includes program instructions to effect searching through Exclude rules to remove non-essential information by removing covers detected therein whereby to reduce the complexity of the Exclude rules.

20. The device of claim 15, wherein said processor includes program instructions to effect searching through Exclude rules to detect and remove cyclic covers whereby to reduce the complexity of the Exclude rules and to reduce processing time.

21. A computer-readable medium compring program instructions to implement rule processing in a computer to provide selection advice that guides a user in selecting features of a product or service characterized by a ZDD rule model having one or more rule components;

to display multiple attributes having multiple enumerations that identify possible features of said product or service, to enable the user simultaneously to select multiple alternative enumerations of said attributes, to determine selection advice separately for each enumeration selected by the user, to combine by OR'"'"'ing the selection advice of each enumeration determined thereby to produce a result, and to communicate the result to a user whereby to enable the user to choose a product or service having compliant features.

22. The computer-readable medium of claim 21, further including program instructions to generate, for each attribute having multiple enumerations selected, a ZDD tree having nodes respectively associated with enumerations selected by the user and to intersect the tree thus generated with a MakeSelectionTermForGroup ZDD tree used by the ZDD rule model to determine selection advice.

23. A computer-readable medium for use in a computer-implemented rule processing system utilizing a ZDD rule model to define compliant features including attributes and enumerations of a product or service, said medium including program instructions operative to provide selection advice to help guide a user to select a desired set of compliant features characterized by multiple rule components of said ZDD rule model related to a common central one of said multiple rule components but not necessarily related to each other, to identify a common one of said rule components having a pending selection of an enumeration, to determine selection advice for the rule model based on possible selections of enumerations of other attributes related to said common central one of said rule components, and to communicate to said user selection advice based on said possible selections of said enumerations whereby enable a user to choose among enumerations that render features of said product or service compliant.

24. The computer-readable medium of claim 23 further including program instructions to effect combining an attribute relations ZDD of the common central one of said rule components with an attribute relations ZDD of the ZDD rule model.

25. The computer-readable medium of claim 23, wherein said common one of said rule components has a mutually exclusive Exclude relationship with one other rule component, and said computer-readable medium includes program instructions to assign a negative selection value to other rule components related to said common central one of said rule components when a negative selection value is denoted for said one other rule component.

26. The computer-readable medium of claim 23, wherein said common one of said rule components for which a selection is pending relates to other rule components by an Exclude relationship, said computer-readable medium further including program instructions to propagate a negative selection value to a rule component under examination when other components related to the common one of said rule components have negative advice asserted.

27. The computer-readable medium of claim 23 further including program instructions to effect searching through Exclude rules to remove nonessential information by removing covers detected therein whereby to reduce the complexity of the Exclude rules.

28. The computer-readable medium of claim 23 further including program instructions to effect searching through Exclude rules to detect and remove cyclic covers whereby to reduce the complexity of the Exclude rules.

29. For use in a computer-implemented rule processing system that employs a ZDD rule model having multiple ZDD rule components to define compliant conditions of a rule-based system, a computing device programmed to provide selection advice that guides a user in selecting compliant ones of said conditions, said rule components being related to a common one of said multiple rule components, said device comprising:

an I/O interface to receive inputs from and to communicatea result to a user in response to user selections; and

a processor having programs instructions to effect acquisition of inputs from the user, to identify a common rule component of the ZDD rule model having a pending selection of a condition, to determine selection advice for alternative selections of conditions of other attributes related to said common rule component, and to provide the result to a user via said I/O interface thereby to enable the user to choose compliant conditions of the rule-based system according to multiple alternative choices of conditions.