System and method for user creation and direction of a rich-content life-cycle

• US 20050193029A1
• Filed: 02/23/2005
• Published: 09/01/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 02/27/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ePlus Incorporated, ePlus Systems, Inc. (ePlus Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: ePlus Incorporated
• Inventors: Rom, Raul, Klucyzk, Krzysztof, Johnson, Jerry J.
• Granted Patent: US 7,526,494 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

A system and method are disclosed for creating, controlling and enhancing a life-cycle of at least one stage for a rich-content repository, such as a catalog of products and services. The item data is received from a source and is processed in accordance with a User-defined life-cycle, finally being published/syndicated as rich-content. At User direction, the rich-content life-cycle can include one or more stages such as item data receipt from a supplier, transformation under control of User-defined functions, and publication/syndication of the transformed, i.e., rich-content data. Maintenance of rich-content repositories is likewise provided using a User-defined life-cycle having User-defined functions.

Claims

1. A method for creating and managing under a User direction a rich-content repository of a plurality of items each having at least one field, comprising the steps of:

a. defining a life-cycle as an ordered sequence of at least one stage for the rich-content repository;

b. managing the at least one stage of the defined rich-content life-cycle; and

c. providing a graphical user interface for the User to perform steps a. and b.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

d. linking the rich-content repository with at least one standard classification system.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein step d. further comprises the steps of:

d.1. including in each item of said plurality of items at least one User-defined field for mapping said item to the at least one standard classification system;

d.2. importing at least one external data into the at least one User-defined field;

d.3. mapping said at least one field User-defined field to at least one data field of the at least one standard classification system; and

d.4. reporting said imported at least one external item when it does not meet at least one pre-defined mandatory requirement.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

e. formatting each item of said plurality of items according to at least one requirement of an external system.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein step a. comprises the steps of:

a.1 providing a common language for defining a pre-determined standard schema;

a.2 defining the standard schema with the provided common language;

a.3 structuring a standard database according to the defined standard schema;

a.4 importing a content file having at least one of an incoming raw content file including an item file structure having at least one incoming item, and an incoming schema file defining the incoming raw content file;

a.5 determining at least one difference between the incoming content file and the defined standard database as a delta analysis;

a.6 value-added mapping of the imported raw content file according to the defined standard schema and the determined delta analysis; and

a.7 performing at least one of the steps of publishing and syndicating the mapped content as a rich-content repository.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein step b. further comprises the step of:

b.1 providing at least one User-defined function for managing the at least one stage of the defined rich-content life-cycle, said at least one User-defined function selected from the group consisting of smart field definition, hierarchical relationship definition, global change definition, pricing adaptation, collaborated hot list construction, marketplace selection, contract compliance monitoring, global level pattern matching rule definition, dynamic hot list update, exception reporting, composite data field selection, and mandatory class attribute highlighting.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein:

said at least one life-cycle stage comprises at least one stage selected from the group consisting of data aggregation, data transformation, catalog administration and publishing, catalog maintenance, catalog browsing, and data syndication; and

step b. further comprises the steps of

b.1 arranging the at least one stage in a pre-determined order as a life-cycle, and

b.2 modifying an existing life-cycle according to a new pre-determined order as a new life-cycle by performing the substeps of

b.2.1 rearranging at least one stage of the existing life-cycle,

b.2.2 dropping at least one stage of the existing life-cycle, and

b.2.3 adding at least one stage to the existing life-cycle.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein:

the data aggregation stage comprises performing the steps of importing, standardizing, and validating incoming data and at least one schema file in at least one data format from at least one data source;

the data transformation stage comprises performing the steps of using and extending at least one referencing schema for enabling classification of at least one rich-content data item;

the catalog administration and publishing stage comprises performing the steps of defining and maintaining at least one critical administrative information that includes a profile of at least one of a User and a User group, the authorization rules for at least one of a User and a User role, the specification of at least one security access rule, the definition of at least one markup price, the specification of at least one product view, the specification of at least one business rule such as a workflow approval routing rule;

the catalog maintenance stage comprises the steps of defining and managing of at least one rich-content item in at least one already published rich-content repository by performing at least one step selection from the group consisting of modifying at least one existing item, and deleting of at least one existing item, and adding of at least one new item;

the catalog browsing stage comprises the steps of browsing and navigating at least one existing rich-content repository and viewing at least one product item contained therein, and then performing one of selecting at least one item to purchase and requesting at least one quote for each non-available item;

the data syndication stage comprises the steps of exporting at least one rich-content data item in at least one pre-determined format.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein step b. further comprises the step of:

b.1 providing at least one User-defined function for managing the at least one stage of the defined rich-content life-cycle, said at least one function selected from the group consisting of smart field definition, hierarchical relationship definition, global change definition, pricing adaptation, collaborated hot list construction, marketplace selection, contract compliance monitoring, global level pattern matching rule definition, dynamic hot list update, exception reporting, composite data field selection, and mandatory class attribute highlighting.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein step c. further comprises the steps of:

c.1 providing a web browser for viewing the rich-content repository and management of the life-cycle;

c.2 navigating, while viewing with the provided browser, a referencing schema of a rich-content repository to a class, said referencing schema comprising a class hierarchy including at least the class navigated to;

c.3 viewing with the provided Web browser at least one item of the rich-content repository corresponding to the class navigated to; and

c.4 with the provided Web browser and the at least one User-defined function, managing the life-cycle of the at least one item of the rich-content repository corresponding to the class navigated to.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising the step of:

e. creating a second rich-content repository from a first rich-content repository by performing the substeps of;

e.1.1 selecting at least one item and a corresponding schema from the rich-content repository;

e.1.2 extracting the selected at least one item and the corresponding schema using, in part, the at least one User-defined function; and

e.1.2 creating the second rich-content repository from the extracted at least one item and corresponding schema using, in part, the at least one User-defined function.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein:

step a.2 further comprises the step of

a.2.1. defining the standard schema as a tree-structured schema of a plurality of schema classes each having at least one item having at least one attribute;

and further comprising the steps of;

e. copying said at least one item of a first schema class of said plurality to said at least one item of a second schema class of said plurality;

f. reflecting changes in an item in every schema class having the item;

g. defining, modifying, and deleting a default attribute value for an attribute and a global pattern for an attribute;

h. defining, modifying and deleting information for at least one of a User, a User group, a product view, a shopper group, a quantity-based discount, a promotional price, and a price markup;

i. providing at least one User-defined function for management of the rich-content life-cycle; and

j. managing and administering the at least one stage of the defined rich-content life-cycle of the rich-content repository with the provided at least one User-defined function.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the defining step a.2.1 further comprises the step of:

a.2.1.1 including a manufacturer specification in an item definition, said definition comprising at least one logo and an indicator that the at least one logo is to be displayed whenever the manufacturer is displayed.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein step a.7 further comprises the steps of:

a.7.1 selecting a schema and at least one item to be exported for a specific customer;

a.7.2 defining a structure for the exported at least one item;

a.7.3 providing at least one User-defined syndication function; and

a.7.4 syndicating the selected schema and at least one item in the defined structure with the provided at least one User-defined function.

18. A system for providing access to at least one of a published and syndicated rich-content repository created using the method of claim 9, comprising:

a host system;

at least one database within said host system that stores the at least one of the published rich-content repository and the syndicated rich-content repository;

a computer processor within said host system configured to access the at least one of the published rich-content repository and the syndicated rich-content repository stored on the at least one database; and

a User input/output interface providing the at least one User-defined function and communicatively connected to said host system, said computer processor and said rich-content repository whereby a User interactively directs the processor to perform the at least one User-defined function to create and manage the at least one of the published rich-content repository and the syndicated rich-content repository according to a pre-defined life-cycle having at least one stage.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein said User input/output interface is provided by at least one of a wired device and a wireless device having an interactive user interface.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein said device is communicatively connected via at least one of a wired network and a wireless network.

15. A system for User-directed creation and management of a rich-content repository, comprising:

a host system;

at least one database within said host system for storing the rich-content repository, said repository having a plurality of item information defined by a standard schema wherein the standard schema is defined by a common language;

a computer processor within said host system configured to manage a life-cycle of the rich-content repository and having at least one User-defined function to manage the life-cycle of the rich-content repository; and

a User input/output interface providing the at least one User-defined function and communicatively connectable to said host system, said computer processor and said rich-content repository whereby a User interactively directs the processor to perform the at least one User-defined function to create and manage the rich-content repository.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein said at least one User-defined function is selected from the group consisting of smart field definition, hierarchical relationship definition, global change definition, pricing adaptation, collaborated hot list construction, marketplace selection, contract compliance monitoring, global level pattern matching rule definition, dynamic hot list update, exception reporting, composite data field selection, and mandatory class attribute highlighting.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein:

said life-cycle comprises at least one stage selected from the group consisting of data aggregation, data transformation, catalog administration and publishing, catalog maintenance, catalog browsing, and data syndication; and

the User input/output interface and the computer processor are further configured for a User to interactively;

i. arrange said at least one stage in a pre-determined order as a life-cycle, and

ii. modify an existing life-cycle according to a new pre-determined order as a new life-cycle.