System for ensuring device compatibility

• US 4,870,591 A
• Filed: 08/24/1987
• Issued: 09/26/1989
• Est. Priority Date: 08/24/1987
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Cicciarelli, Raymond J., Millis, David B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Ruggiero, Joseph
• Application Number:
  US07/089,200
• Time in Patent Office: 764 Days
• Field of Search: 364/468, 364/512, 364/513, 364/191-193, 364/200, 364/900
• US Class Current: 700/107
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/904 Browsing; Visualisation therefor for navigating the web G06F16/954; browsing optimisation for the web G06F16/957
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2113/16 Cables, cable trees or wire harnesses
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/00 Computer-aided design [CAD]
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 706/904 Manufacturing or machine, e.g. agricultural machinery, machine tool

Abstract

A system for automatically selecting part numbers and for loading data, which guarantees compatibility of a plurality of devices. A database maintainable by a user is provided to store part numbers and descriptions thereof. A mechanism is provided for selecting an item from the database based on a description and data in the database. Another mechanism is provided for selecting another item from the database as a function of its description, of the first item and of data relating the respective descriptions of both items to one another. Another mechanism is provided for successively selecting items from the database as a function of descriptions, of previously selected items and of data relating descriptions of at least some of the items to descriptions of other items.

Claims

1. A system for producing a bill of materials for a multipart cable assembly comprising:

a cable assembly description filed having individual wire descriptions for the wires included in the cable assembly, each such wire description including desired wire end locations, a desired terminal style identifier and desired terminal characteristics for each end of the wire and a desired connector style identifier and desired connector characteristics for any connector desired to be located at either end of the wire;

a part number data base having individual terminal/connector descriptions for each of a plurality of different usable terminal and connector styles, each terminal/connector description including a style identifier, a unique part number and a generic part name indicator;

means for accessing the cable assembly description file and the part number data base and processing the data for each set of wire ends having a common location for producing each wire end location a mini bill of material file including for each unique part number at such location a listing of the part number, an item count for the part number and a generic part name;

and means for accessing the cable assembly description file, the part number database and the mini bill of materials files for producing an overall bill of materials for the cable assembly which includes for each unique part number in the cable assembly a listing of the part number, an overall item count for the part number and a generic part name.

2. A system in accordance with claim 1 wherein:

each wire description in the cable assembly description file further includes a desired wire type identifier and desired wire characteristics including wire length;

the part number database further includes individual wire descriptions for each of a plurality of different usable wire types, each such wire description including a wire type identifier, a unique part number and a brief description of the wire;

and the overall bill of materials for the cable assembly includes for each unique wire part number in the cable assembly a listing of the part number, the total length needed for that wire type and a brief description of the wire.