System and method for configuring products over a communications network
First Claim
1. An Internet-based method for a supplier of specialty components to provide promotional information about specialty components offered for sale by the supplier including technical support information to a potential customer for making formulations wherein each of the formulations may be used to make at least a portion of a product and each of the formulations includes at least one of the specialty components offered for sale by the supplier in addition to at least one other constituent component in each of the formulations, said method comprising the following acts:
- providing an output over the Internet to the potential customer indicating a plurality of performance characteristics which may be specified by the potential customer for a proposed formulation;
accepting an input over the Internet from the potential customer including a set of customer specified performance characteristics for a proposed formulation;
providing an output over the Internet to the potential customer identifying a plurality of formulations substantially corresponding to said set of customer specified characteristics, each of said formulations including at least one of the specialty components offered for sale by the supplier and at least one other constituent component;
accepting an input over the Internet from the potential customer selecting at least one of said plurality of formulations as a trial formulation; and
providing further output over the Internet to the potential customer comprising technical support information relating to the at least one of said plurality of formulations selected as a trial formulation including information relating to the at least one specialty component offered and identification of all other constituent components in each selected trial formulation, said technical support information including a set of supplier provided characteristics supplemental to said set of customer specified characteristics for each of said trial formulations.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The invention relates to a method for the automated selection of formulations and/or formulation components by specifying product characteristics. In particular, the system and method serve customers within market segments that use selected components as raw materials for manufacture of specialty products and that require an understanding of how the selected components effect performance. For example, such products as electronic circuits, coatings, adhesives, sealants, inks, polishes, cleaners, and detergents fall within the profile of such products.
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Citations
57 Claims
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1. An Internet-based method for a supplier of specialty components to provide promotional information about specialty components offered for sale by the supplier including technical support information to a potential customer for making formulations wherein each of the formulations may be used to make at least a portion of a product and each of the formulations includes at least one of the specialty components offered for sale by the supplier in addition to at least one other constituent component in each of the formulations, said method comprising the following acts:
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providing an output over the Internet to the potential customer indicating a plurality of performance characteristics which may be specified by the potential customer for a proposed formulation;
accepting an input over the Internet from the potential customer including a set of customer specified performance characteristics for a proposed formulation;
providing an output over the Internet to the potential customer identifying a plurality of formulations substantially corresponding to said set of customer specified characteristics, each of said formulations including at least one of the specialty components offered for sale by the supplier and at least one other constituent component;
accepting an input over the Internet from the potential customer selecting at least one of said plurality of formulations as a trial formulation; and
providing further output over the Internet to the potential customer comprising technical support information relating to the at least one of said plurality of formulations selected as a trial formulation including information relating to the at least one specialty component offered and identification of all other constituent components in each selected trial formulation, said technical support information including a set of supplier provided characteristics supplemental to said set of customer specified characteristics for each of said trial formulations. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A network-based method for a supplier of specialty components to provide promotional information about a plurality of specialty components by supplying technical support to potential customers for making formulations from a plurality of constituents wherein each of said formulations includes at least one of the plurality of specialty components offered for sale by the supplier, the method comprising the following acts:
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providing access by potential customers over the network to promotional information including technical support information about each of the plurality of specialty components;
providing access by potential customers over the network to an offer to sell each of the plurality of specialty components;
accepting an input from a potential customer over the network indicative of the characteristics of a formulation;
providing an output to a potential customer over the network identifying a plurality of formulations in response to the input wherein each of said formulations includes at least one of the plurality of specialty components being promoted and offered for sale by the supplier;
accepting another input from the potential customer over the network selecting at least one of the plurality of formulations as a trial formulation;
providing further output to the potential customer over the network identifying the other constituents to be used in combination with the at least one of the specialty components in the selected trial formulation and the performance characteristics of the selected trial formulation, said performance characteristics being substantially consistent with and supplemental to the characteristics input by the customer. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38)
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39. A network-based method for a customer to develop and make a product including at least a portion of the product which incorporates a formulation comprising at least one specialty component offered for sale by a supplier of specialty components, said method comprising the following acts:
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transmitting from the customer to the supplier over the network a plurality of performance characteristics that a formulation should possess to be incorporated in the product being developed by the customer;
receiving by the customer from the supplier over the network the identification of a plurality of formulations corresponding to the plurality of performance characteristics, each of said formulations including at least one specialty component offered for sale by the supplier;
transmitting from the customer over the network a selection of at least one of the plurality of formulations as a trial formulation;
information relating to the at least one of the plurality of formulations selected as a trial formulation including information related to the at least one specialty component incorporated in the trial formulation and the identification of all other constituents used therein in addition to a set of supplier provided characteristics supplement to the performance characteristics provided by the customer. - View Dependent Claims (40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57)
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Specification