# Research on Design Method of Product Functional Hybridization for Integrated Innovation
## 2 Related Research
### Product Gene  
In biology, gene recombination is used for biological hybridization to produce new varieties. Genes are the basic genetic units controlling biological traits and store the whole information of processes such as race, blood type, conception, growth, and apoptosis of life. With the cross-integration of various disciplines, product genes were inspired by the ideas of biological genes or genetic engineering. Product genes are heritable knowledge about a product's function and means of achieving that function, and determine the basic traits of the product. Inspired by biological hybridization, product genes are used in this paper to assist in product functional hybridization design.  
Many scholars have studied product genes from different perspectives. [PERSON] et al. [41] defined product genes as the characteristic information of relevant principal solutions from the perspective of product functional representations, which are used to index principal solutions. [PERSON] et al. [42; 43] defined virtual genes as some genetic and/or evolutionary information in the virtual chromosome that affects a product's performance. Moreover, a genetic engineering-based innovation design approach was proposed to innovate products. [PERSON] et al. [44] considered the product gene as the basic unit of information that determines a product's characteristics. A method of product gene representation and acquisition was proposed based on product case clusters to solve the problem of difficult acquisition of design knowledge. [PERSON] et al. [45] considered product genes as the critical form of product information that determines the nature of the product and influences the conceptual design process. An intelligent product-gene-acquisition method based on K-means clustering and the mutual information-based feature selection algorithm was proposed to obtain product genes. [PERSON] et al. [46] considered product genes as the basic information units in the process of the transplantation, expansion, reproduction, and proliferation of products in time and space, and an information model for product genes was established. In view of the principal solution, [PERSON] et al. [47] considered product genes as functional knowledge that can be inherited. Meanwhile, a conceptual design framework based on product genetic inheritance and recombination was established, which was helpful for achieving principal innovation in the conceptual product-design stage. [PERSON] et al. [48] proposed an approach for product gene expression based on physical units. A variant design model based on product genes and physical expression was formed that could improve the innovation level of the product. [PERSON] et al. [49] defined product genes as an information collection of verbs and attributes in the process of functional expression. In addition, they presented a conceptual design method based on product genes that could make the key product information explicit.  
The above studies focused on the representation, acquisition, and application of product genes in terms of conceptual design. In these studies, the purpose of acquiring or representing product genes was to find the principal solution that could achieve the function, while this paper focused more on using product genes to realize the fusion of existing product resources. Therefore, a new model of product genes for product functional hybridization is proposed in this paper.