Method, system and program product that utilize a hierarchical conceptual framework to model an environment containing a collection of items

• US 8,010,571 B2
• Filed: 05/27/2005
• Issued: 08/30/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/25/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Rakuten, Inc. (Rakuten Group, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Business Global LLC (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Knoblock, Terry, Mason, Willis, Carlson, Gregory G., Golobay, Mike
• Primary Examiner(s): ROBINSON, GRETA LEE
• Application Number:
  US11/138,417
• Publication Number:
  US 20050240605A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,286 Days
• Field of Search: 707/100, 707/101, 707/102, 707/104.1, 707/103.R, 707/103.X, 707/103.Y, 707/103.Z, 707/8, 707/201, 707/790, 707/792, 707/795, 707/796, 707/802, 707/803, 707/805, 707/807, 707/829, 707/999.1, 707809-812, 707/956, 707999103-999106
• US Class Current: 707/792
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/956 Hierarchical
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99944 Object-oriented database structure
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

A method, system and program product are disclosed for enabling a user to construct a conceptual hierarchical framework representing a virtual or physical environment. The framework may then be populated with a collection of items. Users may graphically and intuitively view and manipulate various subsets of the environment'"'"'s space as well as items placed within the modeled environment.

Claims

1. One or more computer devices for maintaining a hierarchical conceptual framework corresponding to a physical three-dimensional site, comprising:

a first storage component to store environment information, where the environment information includes information regarding a number of environment levels relating to the physical three-dimensional site and information regarding hierarchical relationships associated with the site levels;

a second storage component to store item information, where the item information includes information regarding a number of items for placement in the site levels and information regarding hierarchical relationships associated with the number of items;

a third storage component to store information regarding a spatial relationship of one or more items from the number of items within the number of site levels;

a processor to determine, responsive to selection of one or more of the number of items for placement within one or more of the number of the site levels, whether each one of a plurality of hierarchical item configurations is valid; and

a fourth storage component to store a modeled physical environment including those of the hierarchical item configurations that are valid.

2. The one or more computer devices of claim 1, where the first storage component, the second storage component, and the third storage component together comprise a relational database.

3. The one or more computer devices of claim 1, where the information regarding hierarchical relationships associated with the number of items further includes item configuration information regarding groupings of the number of items.

4. The one or more computer devices of claim 1, where the site information includes spatial relationship information regarding the site levels and other information regarding the site levels.

5. The one or more computer devices of claim 1, where the item information includes physical information regarding the number of items and non-physical information regarding the number of items.

6. The one or more computer devices of claim 1, further comprising:

a first tool to receive user placement selections for placing items within the site levels, where the first tool determines if a received user placement selection is valid based on the site level information and the item information stored in at least one of the first storage component, the second storage component, or the third storage component.

7. The one or more computer devices of claim 6, further comprising:

a second tool to display graphical depictions of selected site levels and items placed within the selected site levels based on information stored in the first storage component, the second storage component, and the third storage component.

8. The one or more computer devices of claim 7, where the first tool is further configured to receive user manipulations of the graphically depicted site levels and items placed within the selected site levels and to modify the information stored in the first storage component, the second storage component, and the third storage component based on the manipulations.

9. The one or more computer devices of claim 1, where the information regarding the placement of one or more items from the number of items within the number of site levels defines footprints relating to the placement of items or groupings of the number of items within the site levels.

10. A physical or virtual three-dimensional environment modeling system, comprising:

means for receiving and storing information regarding a plurality of environment levels, the information including information regarding relationships among the plurality of environment levels;

means for receiving and storing information regarding a plurality of items to be placed within the plurality of environment levels, the information including information regarding relationships among the plurality of items;

means for receiving and storing configuration selections relating to groupings of one or more items from the plurality of items, where the configuration selections include relationship information regarding relationships among the items in the groupings of the number of items;

means for processing the relationship information and determining whether at least one of the configuration selections is valid; and

means for populating an environment and storing information indicative of virtual placement of items or groupings of items within the plurality of environment levels based on a result of the determining provided by processing means.

11. A method for modeling physical or virtual three-dimensional environments, performed by one or more components of a computer device, comprising:

receiving, by the one or more components, environment information corresponding to a plurality of environment levels, the environment information including information associated with relationships among the plurality of environment levels;

receiving, by the one or more components, item information corresponding to a plurality of items to be placed within the plurality of environment levels, the item information including information associated with relationships among the plurality of items;

receiving, by the one or more components, configuration selections relating to groupings of one or more items from the plurality of items, where the configuration selections correspond to hierarchical relationships among the items in the groupings of the number of items;

determining, by the one or more components, that at least one of the configuration selections is valid;

performing, by the one or more components, environment population related to the at least one valid configuration selection, within particular ones of the plurality of environment levels; and

storing, by the one or more components and based on the environment population, placement information indicative of virtual placement of the selected items or groupings of items within the particular ones of the plurality of environment levels.

12. The method of claim 11, a plurality of the one or more components comprising a relational database.

13. The method of claim 11, the hierarchical relationships among the items in the groupings of the number of items comprising item configuration information for the groupings of the number of items.

14. The method of claim 11, the environment information further corresponding to spatial information for the environment levels and other information for the environment levels, where the spatial information and the other information differ.

15. The method of claim 11, the item information further corresponding to physical information for the plurality of items and other information for the number of items, where the physical information and the other information differ.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving, by a first one of the one or more components, a user placement selection for placing selected ones of the items within selected ones of the environment levels, and

determining, by the first one of the one or more components, a validity of the user placement selection based on the environment level information and the item information.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

displaying, by a second one of the one or more components and based on the validity of the user placement selection, a graphic rendering of the selected environment levels and the selected items placed within the selected environment levels.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

receiving, by the first one of the one or more components, user manipulations of the graphic rendering; and

modifying, based on the user manipulations, at least one of the environment information or the item information.

19. The method of claim 11, the placement information defining layouts relating to the placement of the selected items or groupings of the items within the particular ones of the plurality of environment levels.