A METHOD OF CONFIGURING A PRODUCT USING A DIRECTED ACYCLIC GRAPH

摘要

A complex product is composed of several parts, where each part may depend o n the other. As a consequence of these inter-dependencies, the selection of on e part might exclude other parts from being included in the finished product. A consistent configuration is a selection of parts where all inter-dependencie s are satisfied. A computer program for computer-assisted configuration helps an end-user to make choices that will lead to a consistent product. The preferr ed embodiment of the present invention, Virtual Tabulation, is a method for keeping track of inter-depencies a large number of parts, to allow for the construction of an efficient and exact configuration program. Such a program allows interactive configuration over networks (e.g., the Internet). Another aspect of the invention, called Smart Search, allows a set of inter- dependencies among parts to be computed from a product database.