Scheme for evaluating costs and/or benefits of manufacturing technologies
First Claim
1. A method of evaluating possible configurations of a manufactured product, wherein each configuration is associated with a set of characteristics of the product, said method comprising:
- establishing for each of the characteristics in the set;
an upgrade cost applicable on condition that the characteristic is upgraded in a manner commensurate with other characteristics in the set; and
a redesign cost applicable on condition that the characteristic is not upgraded in a manner commensurate with other characteristics in the set; and
selecting, based on the upgrade costs and the redesign costs, one of the possible configurations by which to alter the manufactured product.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An embodiment of a method of evaluating costs and/or benefits of possible configurations of a manufactured product (e.g., an integrated circuit, an electronic system, etc.) includes establishing an upgrade cost and a redesign cost for each characteristic within a set of characteristics associated with the product configuration. The upgrade cost is the cost to upgrade the characteristic in a manner commensurate with other upgraded characteristics, while the redesign cost is the cost to redesign the product to accommodate the characteristic if it is not upgraded commensurately. A predicted total cost and a predicted benefit for a configuration may also be computed. In addition, the total cost for the corresponding configuration may be subtracted from such a benefit to determine a net benefit for the configuration. The method may be implemented using a computer-based system including upgrade cost data and redesign cost data.
53 Citations
29 Claims
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1. A method of evaluating possible configurations of a manufactured product, wherein each configuration is associated with a set of characteristics of the product, said method comprising:
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establishing for each of the characteristics in the set; an upgrade cost applicable on condition that the characteristic is upgraded in a manner commensurate with other characteristics in the set; and a redesign cost applicable on condition that the characteristic is not upgraded in a manner commensurate with other characteristics in the set; and selecting, based on the upgrade costs and the redesign costs, one of the possible configurations by which to alter the manufactured product. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A computer-based system for evaluating possible configurations of a manufactured product, wherein each configuration is associated with a set of characteristics of the product, said system comprising:
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a processor; and a storage medium operably coupled to the processor, wherein the storage medium includes; upgrade cost data and redesign cost data for each of the characteristics within the set; and program instructions executable by the processor for; computing a total cost for each of the possible configurations using the upgrade cost data and redesign cost data; comparing the total costs of a plurality of the possible configurations; and determining, from the step of comparing, a lowest-cost configuration of the plurality of possible configurations by which to alter the manufactured product. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A computer-usable medium, comprising:
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first instructions executable on a computational device for establishing an upgrade cost for each of a set of characteristics of a product, wherein the upgrade cost is applicable on condition that the characteristic is upgraded in a manner commensurate with other characteristics associated with a possible configuration of the product; second instructions executable on the computational device for establishing a redesign cost for each of the set of characteristics, wherein the redesign cost is applicable on condition that the characteristic is not upgraded in a manner commensurate with other characteristics associated with a possible configuration of the product; third instructions executable on the computational device for computing a total cost for the product using the upgrade costs and redesign costs; and fourth instructions executable on the computational device for determining a net benefit income for the product by subtracting the computed total cost from a benefit income established for the product. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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Specification