Patent ID: 8244604

Claim:
A method comprising: performing using a computer system: receiving a user preference for features of a product; and identifying an inventory item corresponding to the user preference, wherein the inventory item corresponds to a product configuration and the product configuration is defined using a product configuration representation, each entry of said feature map corresponds to a one of a plurality of features of a product, and identifying the inventory item comprises: accessing the ‘product configuration representation’, wherein (i) the product configuration representation includes values corresponding to feature options of products in a product line that includes the inventory item, wherein a plurality of the features include multiple feature options so that the product configuration representation includes multiple values for each of the plurality of features that include multiple feature options, and (ii) the values in the product configuration representation represent the inventory item by indicating availability of the feature options in the product associated with the product configuration representation; and mapping the user preference for features of the inventory item using a feature map, wherein (i) the feature map maps feature options of products in the product line to feature options in the product configuration representation, (ii) a user-preference list includes values corresponding to the feature options in the product line and the user preference list represents the received user preference, wherein a plurality of the features include multiple feature options, (iii) the values in the user-preference list map to feature options in the product configuration representation in accordance with the feature map, and (iv) the values in the user-preference list indicate a preference for the features of one or more of the products in the product line.