INTERACTIVE PRODUCT CONFIGURATOR WITH PERSISTENT COMPONENT ASSOCIATION

• US 20100037162A1
• Filed: 10/27/2008
• Published: 02/11/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/08/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Plotkin, Martin P., Bagley, Claire M., Chen, Gao
• Granted Patent: US 8,694,893 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/764
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]

Abstract

A constraint based product configurator determines a structure that is adapted to be associated with one or more components and determines if an arbitrary association is possible for the structure. If an arbitrary association is possible, the configurator associates a component with the structure and generates a component association choice for the association. The component association choice is an identity of the structure and the corresponding first component.

Claims

1. A method of operating a constraint based product configurator, the method comprising:

determining a structure that is adapted to be associated with one or more components;

determining if an arbitrary association is possible for the structure;

if an arbitrary association is possible, associating a first component with the structure; and

generating a component association choice for the association, wherein the component association choice is an identity of the structure and the corresponding first component.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a first and second user choice;

receiving a request to remove the second user choice;

removing the component association choice before removing the second user choice; and

reasserting the component association choice if the structure can continue to have an arbitrary association.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the configurator comprises a constraint network having a plurality of nodes.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the associating is based on an inference.

5. The method claim 1, further comprising a user interface that displays the association of the first component with the structure.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the structure is a second component.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein a product to be configured is a computer rack, and the structure is a slot and the first component is a card.

8. A computer readable media having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to function as a constraint based product configurator by comprising:

determining a structure that is adapted to be associated with one or more components;

determining if an arbitrary association is possible for the structure;

if an arbitrary association is possible, associating a first component with the structure; and

generating a component association choice for the association, wherein the component association choice is an identity of the structure and the corresponding first component.

9. The computer readable media of claim 8, further comprising:

receiving a first and second user choice;

receiving a request to remove the second user choice;

removing the component association choice before removing the second user choice; and

reasserting the component association choice if the structure can continue to have an arbitrary association.

10. The computer readable media of claim 8, wherein the configurator comprises a constraint network having a plurality of nodes.

11. A constraint based product configurator comprising:

means for determining a structure that is adapted to be associated with one or more components;

means for determining if an arbitrary association is possible for the structure;

if an arbitrary association is possible, means for associating a first component with the structure; and

means for generating a component association choice for the association, wherein the component association choice is an identity of the structure and the corresponding first component.

12. The configurator of claim 11, further comprising:

means for receiving a first and second user choice;

means for receiving a request to remove the second user choice;

means for removing the component association choice before removing the second user choice; and

means for reasserting the component association choice if the structure can continue to have an arbitrary association.

13. A method comprising:

receiving a user decision for a constraint based configurator having a constraint network;

propagating the decision through the constraint network;

determining one or more structures that need new components;

for each of the structures, determining if an arbitrary association with a component is possible;

if an arbitrary association is possible, generating a first component and associating the first component with a first structure; and

inserting the association into a choice list.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the association comprises the first component and the associated first structure.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising storing the association in a storage device.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising generating a user interface that displays the association.