Patent ID: 6035305
Filing Date: 2000-03-07
Classification: G06Q,Y10S

Abstract:
A method of structuring product information used in a determination of a product configuration, using a computer system comprising a processor, memory, an input device, and a computer display device having a display area for displaying graphical symbols, the method comprising:(a) displaying a palette within said display area, said palette comprising a representation of a plurality of graphical product objects and at least one graphical logical relationship object, said at least one logical relationship object representing a disjunctive relationship between product options, said plurality of graphical product objects including:(i) at least one graphical option object, wherein said graphical option object represents a product option and includes at least one attribute identifying said product option; and(ii) at least one graphical module object, wherein said graphical module object represents a product module and includes at least one attribute identifying said product module;(b) receiving a plurality of selection inputs from said computer input device, including a first selection input representing a first graphical product object, a second selection input representing a second graphical product object, and a third selection input representing one of said graphical logical relationship objects;(c) receiving a plurality of coordinate inputs from said computer input device, each coordinate input corresponding to one of said selection inputs and representing a position in said display area of said computer display device;(d) graphically representing said first graphical product object, said second graphical product object, and said graphical logical relationship object, each graphical product object being represented at a position corresponding to one of said coordinate inputs;(e) receiving an input selection of an identifier corresponding to said first graphical product object, said identifier corresponding to a first entry in a database;(f) receiving an input selection of an identifier corresponding to said second graphical product object, said identifier corresponding to a second entry in said database;(g) creating a link between said second graphical product object and said graphical logical relationship object; and(h) storing information pertaining to said first graphical product object, said second graphical product object, and said graphical logical relationship object in said database.