Deriving Product Information

• US 20080306966A1
• Filed: 03/07/2008
• Published: 12/11/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/05/2000
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Cambridgesoft Corporation (Perkinelmer Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Cambridgesoft Corporation (Perkinelmer Incorporated)
• Inventors: SCHREIMAN, Irwin C., CULOT, Louis J.
• Application Number:
  US12/044,328
• Publication Number:
  US 20080306966A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/10
• CPC Class Codes: G16C 20/90 Programming languages; Computing architectures; Database systems; Data warehousing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching

Abstract

A method and a system determine that product information acquired from an electronic catalog includes a product identifier and chemical structure information that is associated with the product identifier. A substance identifier and a quality identifier for a chemical product are derived from product information for a chemical product, and a product identifier for the chemical product is derived from the substance identifier and the quality identifier.

Claims

1. A computer program product, residing on a computer-readable medium, for use in managing product information, the computer program product comprising instructions for causing a computer to:

download product information from a computer-readable electronic catalog;

determine that the product information includes a product identifier and chemical structure information that is associated with the product identifier;

derive computer-readable product descriptor information from the product information, the product descriptor information comprising;

a first information portion identifying a chemical substance corresponding to the chemical structure information; and

a second information portion identifying a quality description of the product identified by the product identifier; and

save the product descriptor information in a form permitting retrieval and presentation of information that communicates at least one product having substantially the same chemical substance and quality description as a desired product based on at least the first information portion and second information portion of the product descriptor information of the desired product.

2. The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising instructions for causing the computer to:

save the product identifier and the chemical structure information in a form permitting retrieval and presentation, with the product identifier linked to the chemical structure information.

3. The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising instructions for causing the computer to:

determine that the product information includes a product identifier and physical property information that is associated with the product identifier; and

save the product identifier and the physical property information in a form permitting retrieval and presentation, with the product identifier linked to the physical property information.

4. The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising instructions for causing the computer to:

determine, from the product information, a quality category; and

save the product identifier and the quality category in a form permitting retrieval and presentation, with the product identifier linked to the quality category.

5. The computer program product of claim 4, wherein the determination of the quality category comprises interpreting the quality description.

6. The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising instructions for causing the computer to:

determine, from the product information, whether the product information has a purity that matches a desired purity criteria.

7. The computer program product of claim 6, wherein the determination of whether the product information has a purity that matches a desired purity criteria comprises interpreting the quality description.

8. The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising instructions for causing the computer to:

determine, from the product information, whether the product information identifies a product of a specified grade of products.

9. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the determination of whether the product information identifies a product of a specified grade of products comprises interpreting the quality description.

10. The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising instructions for causing the computer to:

derive, from the product information, a quality value in a predetermined format.

11. The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising instructions for causing the computer to:

arrange sections of the product identifier according to an order of importance to a consumer of a product.

12. The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising instructions for causing the computer to:

provide the product descriptor information with a third information portion that indicates a source of a product identified by the product information.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, further comprising instructions for causing the computer to:

provide the product descriptor information with a fourth information portion that indicates a package style of a product identified by the product information.

14. A computer program product, residing on a computer-readable medium, for use in managing product information, the computer program product comprising instructions for causing a computer to:

download product information for a chemical product, the product information being readable by a computer;

derive, from the product information, a substance identifier for the chemical product;

derive, from the product information, a quality identifier for the chemical product;

derive a product descriptor string from the substance identifier and the quality identifier, the product descriptor string being readable by a computer, the product descriptor string comprising;

a first string section identifying a chemical substance corresponding to the substance identifier; and

a second string section having quality description information corresponding to the quality identifier;

save the product descriptor string in a form permitting retrieval and presentation of information that communicates at least one product having substantially the same chemical substance and quality description as a desired product based on at least the first string section and second string section of the product descriptor string of the desired product.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, further comprising instructions for causing the computer to:

derive, from the product information, a product identifier and chemical structure information for the chemical product; and

save the product identifier and the chemical structure information in a form permitting retrieval and presentation, with the product identifier linked to the chemical structure information.

16. The computer program product of claim 14, further comprising instructions for causing the computer to:

determine, from the product information, a product identifier and physical property information for the chemical product; and

save the product identifier and the physical property information in a form permitting retrieval and presentation, with the product identifier linked to the physical property information.

17. The computer program product of claim 14, further comprising instructions for causing the computer to:

determine, from the product information, a product identifier and a quality category; and

save the product identifier and the quality category in a form permitting retrieval and presentation, with the product identifier linked to the quality category.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the determination of the quality category comprises interpreting the second string section.

19. The computer program product of claim 14, further comprising instructions for causing the computer to:

determine, from the product information, whether the chemical product has a purity that matches a desired purity criteria.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the determination of whether the chemical product has a purity that matches a desired purity criteria comprises interpreting the second string section.

21. The computer program product of claim 14, further comprising instructions for causing the computer to:

determine, from the product information, whether the chemical product is of a specified grade of products.

22. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the determination of whether the chemical product is of a specified grade of products comprises interpreting the second string section.

23. The computer program product of claim 14, further comprising instructions for causing the computer to:

derive, from the product information, a quality value in a predetermined format.

24. The computer program product of claim 14, further comprising instructions for causing the computer to:

arrange sections of the product descriptor string according to an order of importance to a consumer of a product.

25. The computer program product of claim 14, further comprising instructions for causing the computer to:

provide the product descriptor information with a third string section that indicates a source of the chemical product.

26. The computer program product of claim 25, further comprising instructions for causing the computer to:

provide the product descriptor information with a fourth string section that indicates a package style of the chemical product.