VIRTUAL PRODUCT HIERARCHIES

• US 20150154534A1
• Filed: 12/02/2013
• Published: 06/04/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/02/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Information Resources Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Information Resources Incorporated
• Inventors: Tilwani, Prakash, Potter, Robert E. II, Noojibail, Sheila J.
• Granted Patent: US 9,785,910 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders

Abstract

A base hierarchy of products or the like can be user-modified into a virtual hierarchy that is represented as a collection of changes to the base hierarchy rather than a new hierarchy stored in memory. The collection of changes can be used to enable user interactions such as queries, displays, and writes using the virtual hierarchy as thought it were an actual hierarchy stored in memory, with aspects of the virtual hierarchy dynamically created using a collection of procedures based on the changes and corresponding inverses. The representation of the modified hierarchy can be dynamically displayed to a user or otherwise processed in the same manner as other hierarchies and hierarchical data.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

identifying a base hierarchy that categorizes a number of consumer products into a number of levels of categories;

receiving a plurality of desired changes to the base hierarchy, wherein the desired changes collectively characterize a modified hierarchy categorizing the number of consumer products;

storing the plurality of desired changes logically separately from the base hierarchy; and

dynamically displaying a representation of the modified hierarchy to a user.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein dynamically displaying the representation of the modified hierarchy includes iteratively rendering the plurality of changes with respect to the base hierarchy, without modifying a data file corresponding to the base hierarchy.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein each of the plurality of desired changes is selected from the group consisting of:

adding a node at a specified location, deleting a node at a specified location, and moving a node from an initial location to a destination location.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising displaying a representation of the base hierarchy to the user in a graphical user interface, wherein the plurality of changes are received via a plurality of drag-and-drop instructions in the graphical user interface.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising processing a query with respect to the modified hierarchy.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein processing the query includes:

identifying an inverse for each of the plurality of changes, thereby identifying a plurality of inverses;

using the plurality of inverses, determining a modified query with respect to the base hierarchy; and

processing the modified query with respect to the base hierarchy.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein:

each of the plurality of desired changes is selected from the group consisting of;

adding a node at a specified location, deleting a node at a specified location, and moving a node from an initial location to a destination location;

the inverse of adding a node at a specified location is deleting a node from the specified location;

the inverse of deleting a node at a specified location is adding a node at the specified location; and

the inverse of moving a node from an initial location to a destination location is moving a node from the destination location to the initial location.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein the plurality of changes are received in an order, and further wherein the plurality of inverses is used in a reverse order to determine the modified query.

9. A computer program product comprising computer executable code embodied in a non-transitory computer readable medium that, when executing on one or more computing devices, performs the steps of:

identifying a base hierarchy that categorizes a number of consumer products into a number of levels of categories;

receiving a plurality of desired changes to the base hierarchy, wherein the desired changes collectively characterize a modified hierarchy categorizing the number of consumer products;

storing the plurality of desired changes logically separately from the base hierarchy; and

dynamically displaying a representation of the modified hierarchy to a user.

10. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein dynamically displaying the representation of the modified hierarchy includes iteratively rendering the plurality of changes with respect to the base hierarchy without modifying a data file corresponding to the base hierarchy.

11. The computer program product of claim 9 wherein each of the plurality of desired changes is selected from the group consisting of:

adding a node at a specified location, deleting a node at a specified location, and moving a node from an initial location to a destination location.

12. The computer program product of claim 9 further comprising code that performs the step of displaying a representation of the base hierarchy to the user in a graphical user interface, wherein the plurality of changes are received via a plurality of drag-and-drop instructions in the graphical user interface.

13. The computer program product of claim 9 further comprising code that performs the step of processing a query with respect to the modified hierarchy.

14. The computer program product of claim 13 wherein processing the query includes:

identifying an inverse for each of the plurality of changes, thereby identifying a plurality of inverses;

using the plurality of inverses, determining a modified query with respect to the base hierarchy; and

processing the modified query with respect to the base hierarchy.

15. The computer program product of claim 14 wherein:

each of the plurality of desired changes is selected from the group consisting of;

adding a node at a specified location, deleting a node at a specified location, and moving a node from an initial location to a destination location;

the inverse of adding a node at a specified location is deleting a node from the specified location;

the inverse of deleting a node at a specified location is adding a node at the specified location; and

the inverse of moving a node from an initial location to a destination location is moving a node from the destination location to the initial location.

16. The computer program product of claim 14 wherein the plurality of changes are received in an order, and further wherein the plurality of inverses is used in a reverse order to determine the modified query.

17. A system comprising:

one or more processors; and

memory bearing instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to perform the steps of;

identifying a base product hierarchy describing relationships among consumer products and categories to which the products belong;

receiving a plurality of desired changes to the base hierarchy, wherein the desired changes collectively correspond to a representation of a modified hierarchy;

storing the plurality of desired changes logically separately from the base hierarchy; and

dynamically displaying a representation of the modified hierarchy to a user.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein dynamically displaying the representation of the modified hierarchy includes iteratively rendering the plurality of changes with respect to the base hierarchy, without modifying a data file corresponding to the base hierarchy.

19. The system of claim 17 wherein each of the plurality of desired changes is selected from the group consisting of:

adding a node at a specified location, deleting a node at a specified location, and moving a node from an initial location to a destination location.

20. The system of claim 17 further comprising instructions that cause the processor to display a representation of the base hierarchy to the user in a graphical user interface, wherein the plurality of changes are received via a plurality of drag-and-drop instructions in the graphical user interface.

21-40. -40. (canceled)