Patent ID: 8275799
Filing Date: 2012-09-25
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A system for capturing product information, comprising at least one of a programmable computer and a server having a memory, said system further comprising within said memory: a plurality of product trees, each said product tree of the plurality of product trees representing a hierarchical assembly of a plurality of logical component nodes representing a configuration of all roles that actual components perform in configurations of a product, each product tree comprising: a plurality of configuration trees, each said configuration tree of the plurality of configuration trees representing a hierarchical assembly of a plurality of actual components of the product, each said configuration tree associated with one of said plurality of product trees, the association including an implement link between each actual component and the corresponding logical component, each actual component representing an implementation of the corresponding logical component, each configuration tree comprising: at least two of said configuration trees sharing at least one said usage configuration node for sharing content between said plurality of configuration trees and thereby minimizing a number of usage configuration nodes used to capture the product information, said at least two configuration trees associated with a same product tree; and said at least two configuration trees sharing at least one occurrence configuration node, for sharing content between said plurality of usage configuration nodes, to thereby minimize a number of occurrence configuration nodes used to capture the product information, said at least two configuration trees associated with a same product tree.