Patent ID: 8458607

Claim:
A method of handling defaults in a product configuration, the method comprising: presenting a product configuration to a user via a user interface; receiving selection from the user of a configuration option via the user interface; determining, using a configuration engine implemented using instructions stored on one or more non-transitory computer-readable media and executable by one or more processors, at least one set of conflicting choices relating to a conflict resulting from the user selection of the configuration option and one or more constraints of the product configuration, wherein the set of conflicting choices includes choices directly contributing to the conflict such that dropping any choice will resolve the conflict; determining, using the configuration engine, a strength level associated with each default selection in the set of conflicting choices, wherein the strength level of each default selection is based on an authority associated with a source of the default selection; determining, using the configuration engine, a default selection to drop based on its strength level; and dropping, using the configuration engine, the determined default selection, wherein determining at least one set of conflicting choices comprises determining a plurality of sets of conflicting choices, and wherein dropping a default selection in the set of conflicting choices further comprises: ordering the plurality of sets of conflicting choices in a descending order according to the minimal strength level of all default selections in each set of conflicting choices; and dropping the determined default selections of the plurality of sets of conflicting choices in the descending order.