Product configuration using configuration patterns

• US 7,188,335 B1
• Filed: 03/15/2002
• Issued: 03/06/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Versata Development Group, Inc. (ESW Capital, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Trilogy Development Group Incorporated (ESW Capital, LLC)
• Inventors: Darr, Timothy P., Sharma, Nirad P., Beaumont, Raymond L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Khatri; Anil
• Application Number:
  US10/099,404
• Time in Patent Office: 1,817 Days
• Field of Search: 717/104, 717/105, 717120-123, 717/101, 717107-109, 707/203
• US Class Current: 717/121
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/10 Requirements analysis; Specification techniques

Abstract

In a particular embodiment, configuration patterns are used to provide solutions to configuration problems that repetitively occur. Use of configuration patterns in connection with a configuration model has many benefits. A configuration patterns is a parameterized or otherwise easily extensible solution to that problem, such that the solution is reusable by modifying the parameters of the pattern or extending the pattern in pre-defined ways. Configuration patterns are inherently data-driven and provide improved maintenance for data and logic as well as reduced programming effort. Configuration patterns can be reused within and across different product families and can be specialized from other patterns. Thus, the use of configuration patterns facilitates reduced maintenance cost and reduced programming effort for product configuration data and logic systems.

Claims

1. A computer program product comprising:

a configuration model embodied in the computer program product for use with a product configuration software system to process input data and provide output data that allows the product configuration software system to generate a representation of a configurable product in accordance with the output data, wherein the configuration model comprises;

configuration patterns, wherein each configuration pattern comprises a reusable, data processing solution that allows the product configuration software system to solve one or more recurring problems in generating the representation of the configurable product, and the data processing solution comprises;

predetermined configuration logic for processing the input data to facilitate generation of the representation of the configurable product by the product configuration software system, wherein the configuration logic includes code that is executable by the product configuration software system.

2. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein the configuration patterns are organized for application into a hierarchy with descendent configuration patterns inheriting features of ancestor configuration patterns.

3. The computer program product of claim 1 further comprising a product model, wherein the product model includes data that controls functionality of the configuration patterns.

4. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein the configuration patterns each comprise a solution to a configuration problem that repetitively occurs for some product or family of products.

5. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein a portion of the configuration patterns provide industry specific configuration solutions to recurring configuration problems.

6. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein the product is an optical telecommunications equipment and the tasks include configuring components of the optical telecommunications equipment.

7. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein the product is wireless telecommunications equipment and the tasks include configuring components of the wireless telecommunications equipment.

8. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein each configuration pattern includes at least one respective attribute and behavior of each configuration pattern is respectively customized by values of the attributes.

9. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein each configuration pattern can be reused within and across different products.

10. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein at least one of the configuration patterns can be can be specialized from one or more other configuration patterns.

11. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein at least one configuration pattern can add component instances to a the representation of the configurable product or establish relationships among existing component instances the representation of the configurable product.

12. A product configuration system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory, coupled the processor, the memory having code having a configuration engine encoded therein and executable by the processor to generate a representation of a configurable product, the memory further having a product model encoded therein, wherein the product model is accessible by the configuration engine, the product model including;

a configuration model embodied in the computer program product for use with a product configuration software system to process input data and provide output data that allows the configuration engine to generate the representation of a configurable product in accordance with the output data,

wherein the configuration model comprises;

configuration patterns, wherein each configuration pattern comprises a reusable, data processing solution that allows the configuration engine to solve one or more recurring problems in generating the representation of the configurable product, and the data processing solution comprises;

predetermined configuration logic for processing the input data to facilitate generation of the representation of the configurable product by the configuration engine, wherein the configuration logic includes code that is executable by the processor.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the configuration engine is configured to receive the input data from users and to utilize the configuration model to generate the representation of the configurable product.

14. The system of claim 12 wherein the configuration patterns are organized for application into a hierarchy with descendent configuration patterns inheriting features of ancestor configuration patterns.

15. The system of claim 12 wherein a portion of the configuration patterns provide industry specific configuration solutions to recurring configuration problems.

16. The system of claim 12 further comprising a product model, wherein the product model includes data that controls functionality of the configuration patterns.

17. The system of claim 12 wherein the configuration patterns each comprise a solution to a configuration problem that repetitively occurs for some product or family of products.

18. The system of claim 12 wherein the product is an optical telecommunications equipment and the tasks include configuring components of the optical telecommunications equipment.

19. The system of claim 12 wherein each configuration pattern includes at least one respective attribute and behavior of each configuration pattern is respectively customized by values of the attributes.

20. The system of claim 12 wherein each configuration pattern can be reused within and across different products.

21. The system of claim 12 wherein at least one of the configuration patterns can be can be specialized from one or more other configuration patterns.

22. The system of claim 12 wherein at least one configuration pattern can add component instances to the representation of the configurable product or establish relationships among existing component instances in the representation of the configurable product.

23. The system of claim 12, wherein at least two of the configuration patterns are based on a common telecommunication core module.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the core module is selected from the group consisting of racking, slotting, networking and material selection modules.

25. A software distribution method, the method comprising:

distributing a software system to a first enterprise;

distributing the software system to a second enterprise;

the software system including;

a processor; and

a memory, coupled the processor, the memory having code having a configuration engine encoded therein and executable by the processor to generate a representation of a configurable product, the memory further having a product model encoded therein,

wherein the product model is accessible by the configuration engine, the product model including;

a configuration model embodied in the computer program product for use with a product configuration software system to process input data and provide output data that allows the configuration engine to generate the representation of a configurable product in accordance with the output data, wherein the configuration model comprises;

configuration patterns, wherein each configuration pattern comprises a reusable, data processing solution that allows the configuration engine to solve one or more recurring problems in generating the representation of the configurable product, and the data processing solution comprises;

predetermined configuration logic for processing the input data to facilitate generation of the representation of the configurable product by the configuration engine, wherein the configuration logic includes code that is executable by the processor.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the input data comprises product data, and further comprising adding the product data to the product model to control behavior of the configuration patterns.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising using the configuration engine in connection with the product model to build the representation of a configurable product.

28. The method of claim 25, wherein the plurality of configuration patterns are reusable to create a plurality of different product models corresponding to a plurality of different products.

29. The method of claim 25, further comprising modifying the configuration model.

30. The method of claim 25, wherein the configuration model is implemented using an object-oriented data structure with extensible class hierarchy and a set of libraries.

31. The method of claim 25, wherein the configuration patterns include a coded logic portion.

32. An article of manufacture comprising:

a configuration engine routine stored in a tangible medium and executable by a processor to generate a representation of a configurable product in accordance;

with

a configuration model stored in the tangible medium, the configuration model accessible by the configuration engine to process input data and provide output data that allows the product configuration software system to generate the representation of the configurable product in accordance with the output data, the configuration model including;

configuration patterns, wherein each configuration pattern comprises a reusable, data processing solution that allows the product configuration software system to solve one or more recurring problems in generating the representation of the configurable product, and the data processing solution comprises;

predetermined configuration logic for processing the input data to facilitate generation of the representation of the configurable product by the product configuration software system, wherein the configuration logic includes code that is executable by the product configuration software system.

33. A configuration system comprising:

a computer readable storage medium a model stored in the computer readable storage medium and for use with the digital computing device, the model configured to define a configuration model having information about telecommunication industry components and logic available for configuring a product in a telecommunications industry system, the model including configuration patterns; and

a configuration engine having access to the model during operation of the digital computing device, the configuration engine configured to select a plurality of the telecommunication industry components of the configuration model and include the telecommunication industry components in the telecommunication industry system in response to configuration requests;

wherein each configuration pattern comprises a reusable, data processing solution that allows the configuration engine to solve one or more recurring problems for including the telecommunication industry components in the telecommunication industry system, and the data processing solution comprises predetermined configuration logic for processing the configuration requests data to facilitate inclusion of the telecommunication industry components in the telecommunication industry system by the configuration engine.

34. The configuration system of claim 33, wherein the configuration patterns can further leverage other reusable patterns through at least one of (i) the mechanisms of composition of other patterns and (ii) inheritance-based incremental extension of another reusable pattern in an object-oriented manner.

35. A configuration apparatus comprising:

a computer readable storage medium a model stored in the computer readable storage medium and for use with a digital computing device, the model configured to define a configuration model having information about telecommunication industry components and logic available for generating a representation of a configurable product, the model including configuration patterns; and

a configuration engine having access to the model during operation of the digital computing device, the configuration engine configured to use the model to generate the representation of the configurable product;

wherein each configuration pattern comprises a reusable, data processing solution that allows the configuration engine to solve one or more recurring problems for generating the representation of the configurable product, and the data processing solution comprises predetermined configuration logic for processing the configuration requests data to facilitate generating the representation of the configurable product by the configuration engine.

36. The configuration apparatus of claim 35 wherein the configuration model includes a product class hierarchy and hierarchy of the configuration patterns, wherein the hierarchy of configuration patterns directly descends from a member of the product class hierarchy.

37. The configuration apparatus of claim 36, wherein the configuration patterns include reusable software programming logic and modifiable parameters.

38. The configuration apparatus of claim 36 wherein the class hierarchy includes a pattern hierarchy that is comprised of elements representing individual patterns that may be extended by other elements representing individual patterns.

39. A method of configuring a product using at least one configuration pattern of a product model that includes components and logic used to configure a configurable product and structural relationships between instances of the components in the product model, the method comprising:

creating a product configuration using the product model comprising;

receiving attributes to respectively control behavior of each configuration pattern, wherein each configuration pattern includes reusable configuration logic for implementing repeatable configuration functions;

creating one or more instances of components in the model that are candidates for configuration in response to configuration requests;

for each of the component instances, determining whether to apply any configuration pattern during configuration of the component instance; and

evaluating the logic of any configuration patterns to be applied to a configuration assistance in accordance with the attributes received to control the configuration patterns; and

generating a representation of the configurable product;

wherein each configuration pattern comprises a reusable, data processing solution that allows solutions to recurring instances of creating of one or more instances of components in the model, and the data processing solution comprises the configuration logic wherein the configuration logic facilitates the creating one or more instances of components in the model that are candidates for configuration in response to configuration requests.

40. A method of modeling a configuration for a system, the method comprising:

generating a model including components and logic used to configure the system and structural relationships between instances of the components in the model, the industry model including at least one configuration pattern including reusable configuration patterns for implementing a configuration function;

creating a plurality of component instances of the system that are instances of one or more components of the model in response to configuration requests;

evaluating the configuration requests and model to generate a configuration of the system; and

generating the configuration of the system;

wherein each configuration pattern comprises a reusable, data processing solution that allows solutions to recurring instances of creating a plurality of component instances of the system, and the data processing solution comprises the logic used to configure the system and structural relationships between instances of the components in the model.

41. A method of modeling a configuration for a system, the method comprising:

generating a model including components and logic used to configure the system and structural relationships between instances of the components in the industry model, the model including at least one configuration pattern including reusable configuration logic for implementing a configuration function;

creating a plurality of component instances of the system that are instances of one or more components of the model in response to configuration requests; and

generating a product configuration by using the model to identify one or more of the plurality of component instances that can satisfy constraints of the plurality of components;

wherein each configuration pattern comprises a reusable, data processing solution that allows solutions to recurring instances of creating a plurality of component instances of the system, and the data processing solution comprises the logic used to configure the system and structural relationships between instances of the components in the model.

42. A computer system, the computer system comprising:

a processor; and

a display, coupled to the processor, to display a user interface for obtaining data useful for controlling behavior of configuration patterns of a configuration model, the user interface comprising;

a display of information to prompt a user to supply data for use by a configuration system in controlling the behavior of configuration patterns in a configuration model;

wherein the configuration model is for use with a configuration engine to process the data supplied by the user and provide output data that allows the configuration system to generate a representation of a configurable product in accordance with the output data;

wherein each configuration pattern comprises a reusable, data processing solution that allows the configuration system to solve one or more recurring problems in generating the representation of the configurable product; and

wherein the data processing solution comprises predetermined configuration logic for processing the data supplied by the user to facilitate generation of the representation of the configurable product by the configuration system.

43. A method of receiving data for use in conjunction with configuration patterns of a product model for use by a configuration engine to configure a product, the method comprising:

displaying information to prompt a user to supply data that includes attribute values of the configuration patterns that control the behavior of the configuration patterns;

receiving the data that is supplied; and

generating a representation of a configurable product using the data;

wherein the configuration model is for use with a configuration engine to process the data supplied by the user and provide output data that allows the configuration engine to generate a representation of a configurable product in accordance with the output data;

wherein each configuration pattern comprises a reusable, data processing solution that allows the configuration engine to solve one or more recurring problems in generating the representation of the configurable product; and

wherein the data processing solution comprises predetermined configuration logic for processing the data supplied by the user to facilitate generation of the representation of the configurable product by the configuration engine.