AIRCRAFT PRODUCTION MARKETPLACE

• US 20200134705A1
• Filed: 09/17/2019
• Published: 04/30/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2018
• Status: Active Application

• Current Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Original Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Inventors: Fahey, Patrick C., Gilley, Sheldon D., Bowe, Mark A.
• Application Number:
  US16/573,526
• Publication Number:
  US 20200134705A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/252 between a Database Management System and a front-end application
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/629 to features or functions of an application
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/84 output devices, e.g. displays or monitors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0603 Catalogue ordering
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0621 Item configuration or customization
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0635 Processing of requisition or of purchase orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0643 Graphical representation of items or shoppers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2463/103 applying security measure for protecting copyright
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/101 Access control lists [ACL]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/102 Entity profiles

Abstract

Methods and systems for building a configuration for a new aircraft. A link to a customer information database is established in response to receiving a launch input for a production marketplace entered by a user via a graphical user interface. The user is associated with a customer. The customer information database includes identification information associated with the user. A determination is made as to whether the user is authorized to access the production marketplace using the identification information user. Guidance information is generated for presentation via the graphical user interface to guide the user through a build process for building the configuration in response to the user being authorized to access the production marketplace, the guidance information being customized for the customer. Feature selections are received by the user via the graphical user interface. The configuration is built for the new aircraft based on the feature selections.

Claims

1. A method for building a configuration for a new aircraft, the method comprising:

establishing a link to a customer information database in response to receiving a launch input for a production marketplace entered by a user via a graphical user interface,

wherein the user is associated with a customer; and

wherein the customer information database includes identification information associated with the user; and

determining whether the user is authorized to access the production marketplace using the identification information associated with the user;

generating guidance information for presentation via the graphical user interface to guide the user through a build process for building the configuration for the new aircraft in response to the user being authorized to access the production marketplace, wherein the guidance information is customized for the customer; and

receiving a plurality of feature selections by the user via the graphical user interface; and

building the configuration for the new aircraft based on the plurality of feature selections.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying customer information for the customer using information retrieved from at least the customer information database, wherein the customer information includes at least one of a customer type or an owner status for the customer.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein generating the guidance information comprises:

generating a plurality of questions customized for the customer based on the customer information identified for the customer.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein generating the guidance information further comprises:

building a base configuration for the new aircraft based on responses to the plurality of questions provided by the user via the graphical user interface, wherein the base configuration comprises a partially completed configuration that provides a starting point for building the configuration for the new aircraft.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein generating the guidance information comprises:

tailoring a plurality of business scenarios for presentation to the user via the graphical user interface based on the customer information.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein generating the guidance information comprises:

building a base configuration for the new aircraft based on a selection of at least one business scenario of the plurality of business scenarios by the user via the graphical user interface, wherein the base configuration comprises a partially completed configuration that provides a starting point for building the configuration for the new aircraft.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the guidance information comprises:

generating the guidance information using information obtained from the customer information database and at least one of an engineering database, an aircraft tracking configuration database, a weight data system, a contract database, or a project management database.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the guidance information comprises:

identifying a previous configuration used for an existing aircraft, wherein the previous configuration is used as a starting point for building the configuration for the new aircraft.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the existing aircraft is one of a fleet of aircraft owned by the customer.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein building the configuration for the new aircraft comprises:

analyzing a main feature included in the plurality of feature selections using information from an engineering database to determine whether a secondary feature relates to the main feature;

determining whether a choice for an attribute of the secondary feature is associated with the secondary feature; and

automatically adding the secondary feature along with the main feature to the configuration for the new aircraft in response to a determination that no choice is associated with the secondary feature.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein building the configuration for the new aircraft comprises:

presenting the choice for the attribute of the secondary feature via the graphical user interface in response to a determination that the choice is associated with the secondary feature.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein building the configuration for the new aircraft comprises:

identifying a selected attribute for the secondary feature based on user input received via the graphical user interface; and

adding the secondary feature having the selected attribute along with the main feature to the configuration for the new aircraft.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating, at any point during the build process, a summary of the configuration being built in response to receiving a request for the summary via the graphical user interface.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the summary includes pricing information for the configuration.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a report that provides a lifecycle status for the new aircraft.

16. A method for building a configuration for a new aircraft, the method comprising:

receiving a launch input for a production marketplace entered by a user via a graphical user interface;

establishing a link to a customer information database in response to receiving the launch input, wherein the user is associated with a customer and wherein the customer information database includes identification information associated with the user;

determining whether the user is authorized to access the production marketplace based on the identification information associated with the user;

identifying customer information for the customer using information retrieved from at least the customer information database, wherein the customer information includes at least one of a customer type or an owner status for the customer;

generating guidance information for presentation via the graphical user interface, if the user is authorized, based on the customer information to thereby guide the user through a build process for building the configuration for the new aircraft, wherein the guidance information is customized for the customer;

receiving a plurality of feature selections by the user via the graphical user interface; and

building the configuration for the new aircraft based on the plurality of feature selections.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein generating the guidance information comprises:

building a base configuration for the new aircraft based on user input received in response to the guidance information presented to the user via the graphical user interface, wherein the base configuration comprises a partially completed configuration that provides a starting point for building the configuration for the new aircraft.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein building the configuration comprises:

updating the based configuration based on the plurality of feature selections to build the configuration for the new aircraft.

19. A virtual system for building a configuration for a new aircraft, the virtual system comprising:

a graphical user interface for display on a display system; and

a production marketplace presented to a user via the graphical user interface, wherein the production marketplace comprises;

an access manager that establishes a link to a customer information database in response to receiving a launch input for the production marketplace entered by a user via the graphical user interface, wherein the user is associated with a customer and wherein the customer information database includes identification information associated with the user; and

determines whether the user is authorized to access the production marketplace using the identification information associated with the user; and

a configurator that generates guidance information for presentation via the graphical user interface to guide the user through a build process for building the configuration for the new aircraft, wherein the guidance information is customized for the customer;

receives a plurality of feature selections by the user via the graphical user interface; and

builds the configuration for the new aircraft based on the plurality of feature selections.

20. The virtual system of claim 19, wherein the access manager identifies customer information for the customer using information retrieved from at least the customer information database, wherein the customer information includes at least one of a customer type or an owner status for the customer.

21. The virtual system of claim 20, wherein the configurator generates a plurality of questions customized for the customer based on the customer information identified for the customer and builds a base configuration for the new aircraft based on responses to the plurality of questions provided by the user via the graphical user interface, wherein the base configuration comprises a partially completed configuration that provides a starting point for building the configuration for the new aircraft.

22. The virtual system of claim 20, wherein the configurator tailors a plurality of business scenarios for presentation to the user via the graphical user interface based on the customer information builds a base configuration for the new aircraft based on a selection of at least one business scenario of the plurality of business scenarios by the user via the graphical user interface, wherein the base configuration comprises a partially completed configuration that provides a starting point for building the configuration for the new aircraft.

23. The virtual system of claim 19, wherein the configurator generates the guidance information using information obtained from the customer information database and at least one of an engineering database, an aircraft tracking configuration database, a weight data system, a contract database, or a project management database.

24. The virtual system of claim 19, wherein the configurator identifies a previous configuration used for an existing aircraft and uses the previous configuration as a starting point for building the configuration for the new aircraft.