Patent · US Expired

Method and apparatus for maintaining and configuring systems

US5825651A · kind A · utility

266Cited by
7References
85Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateSep 3, 1996
Grant dateOct 20, 1998
Priority date
Expiry dateSep 3, 2016

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F2111/20
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

The invention provides the ability to interactively select and configure a product among a set of related products based on availability and compatibility of features and options. It does not impose an order in the selection of products, features or options; only valid selections can be made at any time. To create an electronic representation of the product information to achieve the above goal, the invention provides a framework for defining a systems by defining the components of the system using elements contained in a parts catalog and defining relationships between the components of a system. A configuration system validates a configuration using the system definition, the current state of the configuration and user input.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.