Patent ID: 7801916
Filing Date: 2010-09-21
Classification: G06Q,Y10S

Abstract:
1. A system for managing a plurality of bills of material (BOMs) comprising: a client terminal accepting information for a particular BOM, the BOM being one of a plurality of BOMS, each BOM describable as a tree with each node an element, each element in each BOM having an owner of a set of more than one owner, and each BOM having an owner of the set of owners, the particular BOM having a particular owner, the client terminal coupled to a network; a server processing system configured to store the plurality of BOMs, the server processing system coupled to the network such that the client terminal is coupled to the server system via the network; and wherein the system is configured to provide access to at least some of the information of one or more of the plurality of BOMs to one or more users according to control information, control information for providing access to a particular BOM being received from an entity that is the owner of the particular BOM, or from any entity that the owner of the BOM designates, or from both the entity that is the owner and any entity that the owner of the BOM designates, such that the providing of further access to at least some of the information of a particular BOM is controlled by the entity that is the owner of the particular BOM, or by any entity that the owner of the BOM designates, or by both the entity that is the owner and any entity that the owner of the BOM designates, such that BOMs associated with different owners are stored in the same processing system, wherein for each of at least two different owners, at least one of the BOMs of the respective owner includes confidential information of the owner, such that unrestricted access to the confidential information is limited to the owner of the BOM, or to any entity that the owner of the BOM designates, or to both the owner of the BOM and any entity that the owner of the BOM designates; and wherein the different owners need not be related except that they each have information stored in the same processing system.