Patent ID: 7822632

Claim:
A method for enabling product configuration research by a respondent at a computer system over a network, said method comprising the steps of: a) displaying the features of a product which is not being offered for sale; b) selecting one of said displayed features; c) displaying possible subfeatures for said selected feature; d) selecting one of said displayed subfeatures for said selected feature, in which each said subfeature associated with the feature has a price value; e) determining a total price based on the price value of said selected subfeature and other selected subfeatures of the product; f) displaying said total price value; g) repeating steps (b), (c), (d), (e) and (f) for different selected displayed features until the selected subfeatures for each of the features provide a total price value acceptable to the respondent; h) determining the elapse time until the selected subfeatures for each of the features provide a total price value acceptable to the respondent; and i) sending configuration information to another computer system over the network representing at least said selected subfeatures for the features of the product, total price value, and the elapse time.