Method to generate a customizable product configurator

• US 7,580,871 B2
• Filed: 08/31/2001
• Issued: 08/25/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle America, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Siebel Systems Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Lim, Peter, Rassi, Elie, Brunner, Stephan, Kibilov, George, Tchikowani, Eugene, Yao, Xiangyang
• Primary Examiner(s): Pond; Robert M.
• Application Number:
  US09/945,441
• Publication Number:
  US 20090089174A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,916 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26, 705/27
• US Class Current: 705/26.5
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0621 Item configuration or customization

Abstract

A method of customizing a product comprising. According to one embodiment, a set of one or more customizable product classes are available from which a create a customizable product. Upon receiving a request to create a customizable product instance, component products are provided to be associated with the customizable product if proper.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method comprising:

receiving a template comprising identifiers and operators, wherein

the identifiers identify one or more component products from a set of component products, and

the identified component products comprise a first component product; and

customizing, using a processor, a class rule based on the identifiers and on relationships associated with the operators, wherein

the customized class rule indicates at least one configuration restriction for at least one customizable product.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, comprising:

receiving, during a runtime session, a request to designate a customizable product;

receiving, during the runtime session, a request to associate the first component product with the customizable product; and

determining whether to associate the first component product with the customizable product based on the customized class rule.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 2, comprising:

determining not to associate the first component product with the customizable product if the customized class rule limits association of the first component product with the customizable product.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 2, comprising:

determining to associate the first component product with the customizable product if the customized class rule allows association of the first component product with the customizable product;

associating the first component product with the customizable product;

determining to associate a second component product with the customizable product upon the associating the first component product if the customized class rule requires association of the first component product with the second component product; and

associating the second component product with the customizable product.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 2, wherein two or more component products from the set of component products are associated with the customizable product.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 2, comprising:

generating, in response to the request to associate, a recommendation message based on the customized class rule.

7. The computer implemented method of claim 6, comprising:

transmitting the recommendation message to a user, wherein the request to associate is received from the user.

8. The computer implemented method of claim 1, comprising:

providing a user interface for each component product in the set of component products, wherein the user interface comprises a theme user interface, a control user interface, and a group user interface.

9. The computer implemented method of claim 1, comprising:

converting the customized class rule from a natural language format into a low-level computer language.

10. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the customized class rule comprises an expression relating to an attribute of a component product.

11. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the customized class rule defines at least one relationship among the customizable product classes.

12. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the identifiers comprise a user-specified text identifier, and the operators comprise a text operator that applies to the user-specified text identifier.

13. The computer implemented method of claim 12, wherein the text operator comprises at least one of:

a requirement operator, a conditional operator, a conjunction operator, and an exclusion operator.

14. The computer implemented method of claim 12, wherein the text operator comprises at least one of:

an addition operator, a subtraction operator, a multiplication operator, and an absolute value operator.

15. The computer implemented method of claim 12, wherein the user-specified text identifier refers to an account status and the text operator comprises an equivalence operator.

16. The computer implemented method of claim 12, wherein the user-specified text identifier refers to at least one of:

a product class, a cardinal number, a customer evaluation, a transaction upgrade, a customer attribute, or a geographic location.

17. The computer implemented method of claim 1, comprising:

receiving a list of values from a configuration expert for use in a batch rule; and

generating the template using the list of values by filling in blanks from a blank template with the values in the received list of values.

18. A machine-readable medium that provides instructions recorded on a computer-readable storage medium and executable by a set of one or more processors to cause the set of one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

receiving a template comprising identifiers and operators, wherein

the identifiers identify one or more component products from a set of component products, and

the identified component products comprise a first component product, and

customizing a class rule based on the identifiers and on relationships associated with the operators, wherein

the customized class rule indicates at least one configuration restriction for at least one customizable product.

19. The machine-readable medium of claim 18, the operations comprising:

receiving, during a runtime session, a request to designate a customizable product;

receiving, during the runtime session, a request to associate the first component product with the customizable product; and

determining whether to associate the first component product with the customizable product based on the customized class rule.

20. The machine-readable medium of claim 19, the operations comprising:

determining not to associate the first component product with the customizable product if the customized class rule limits association of the first component product with the customizable product.

21. The machine-readable medium of claim 19, the operations comprising:

determining to associate the first component product with the customizable product if the customized class rule allows association of the first component product with the customizable product;

associating the first component product with the customizable product;

determining to associate a second component product to the customizable product upon the associating the first component product if the customized class rule requires associating the first component product with the second component product; and

associating the second component product with the customizable product.

22. The machine-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the providing the set of component products comprises providing a user interface for each component product in the set of component products.

23. The machine-readable medium of claim 22, wherein the user interface comprises a theme user interface, a control user interface, and a group user interface.

24. The machine-readable medium of claim 19, wherein two or more component products from the set of component products are associated with the customizable product.

25. The machine-readable medium of claim 19, the operations comprising:

generating, in response to the request to associate, a recommendation message based on the customized class rule, wherein the request to associate is received from a user; and

transmitting the recommendation message to the user.

26. The machine-readable medium of claim 18, the operations comprising:

converting the customized class rule from a natural language format into a low level computer language.

27. The machine-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the customized class rule comprises an expression relating to an attribute of a component product.

28. The machine-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the customized class rule defines at least one relationship among the customizable product classes.

29. The machine-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the identifiers comprise a user-specified text identifier, and the operators comprise a text operator that applies to the user-specified text identifier.

30. A computer implemented method comprising:

receiving a template comprising identifiers and operators, wherein

the identifiers identify component products from a set of component products, and

customizing, using a processor, a set of class rules based on the identifiers and on relationships associated with the operators, wherein the set of customized class rules define at least one relationship among two or more of the identified component products;

designating a customizable product; and

associating a first component product with the customizable product based on a customized class rule, among the set of customized class rules, that applies to the customizable product.

31. The computer implemented method of claim 30, comprising selecting a second component product to add to the customizable product, wherein the selecting is based on the first component product and at least one of the customized class rules.

32. The computer implemented method of claim 30, comprising selecting two or more component products associated with the customizable product.

33. The computer implemented method of claim 30, comprising associating a second component product with the customizable product upon the selecting based on at least one of the customized class rules.

34. The computer implemented method of claim 30, comprising:

converting the customized class rules from a natural language format into a low-level computer language.

35. The computer implemented method of claim 30, wherein the identifiers comprise a user-specified text identifier, and the operators comprise a text operator that applies to the user-specified text identifier.

36. A machine-readable medium that provides instructions recorded on a computer-readable storage medium and executable by a set of one or more processors to cause the set of one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

receiving a template comprising identifiers and operators, wherein

the identifiers identify component products from a set of component products, and

customizing a set of class rules based on the identifiers and on relationships associated with the operators, wherein the set of customized class rules define at least one relationship among two or more of the identified component products;

designating a customizable product; and

associating a first component product with the customizable product based on a customized class rule, among the set of customized class rules, that applies to the customizable product.

37. The machine-readable medium of claim 36, wherein the operations comprise selecting from a set of alternative component products to add to the customizable product, wherein the selecting is based upon the first component product.

38. The machine-readable medium of claim 36, wherein the customizable product rules comprise pricing information and allow for discount pricing, and the operations comprise selecting two or more component products associated with the customizable product.

39. The machine-readable medium of claim 36, wherein the operations comprise associating a second component product with the customizable product upon the selecting based on at least one of the customized class rules.

40. The machine-readable medium of claim 39, wherein the customizable product rule comprises component product information to guide a consumer in a selection of the customizable product, and the component product is displayed in a user interface.

41. The machine-readable medium of claim 36, wherein the identifiers comprise a user-specified text identifier, and the operators comprise a text operator that applies to the user-specified text identifier.

42. An apparatus comprising:

a memory to store a set of one or more customizable product classes; and

a processor, coupled to the memory and configured to identify a set of component products,

receive a template comprising identifiers and operators, wherein

the identifiers identify one or more component products from a set of component products, and

the identified component products comprise a first component product, and

customize a class rule based on the identifiers and on relationships associated with the operators, wherein

the customized class rule indicates at least one configuration restriction for at least one customizable product.

43. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein the processor is configured to:

receive, during a runtime session, a request to designate a customizable product;

receive, during the runtime session, a request to associate the first component product with the customizable product; and

determine whether to associate the first component product with the customizable product based on the customized class rule.

44. The apparatus of claim 43, wherein the processor is configured to determine not to associate the first component product with the customizable product if the customized class rule limits association of the first component product with the customizable product.

45. The apparatus of claim 43, wherein the processor is configured to:

determine to associate the first component product with the customizable product if the customized class rule allows association of the first component product with the customizable product; and

associate the first component product with the customizable product.

46. The apparatus of claim 43, wherein two or more component products from the set of component products are associated with the customizable product.

47. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein the identifiers comprise a user-specified text identifier, and the operators comprise a text operator that applies to the user-specified text identifier.