Patent Application
20080033843
Modern product design is often geared towards providing attractive products for commercial applications such as lighting fixtures or luminaires. The design of a luminaire must allow for certain functional requirements such as safety, light output, ease of installation and affordability without sacrificing the attractive elements of a luminaire. Consequently there are many variables for both designers and manufacturers to consider to properly provide lighting fixtures in an industrial setting. Conventionally light manufacturers provide a variety of parts which must be coordinated to realize a specific design. Some of the drawbacks to this method are the inability to visualize a final design and a decreased ability to assure all require parts are ordered and sent to a job site. This problem may be exacerbated because of traditional sales channels and industry usage.
Besides the supply chain problems noted above, complex series of parts may also require a set of complex specifications, and those specifications need to be delivered to many different entities. For example if a customer wanted to order custom furniture from an office furniture company, they may simply choose to order a desk of a specific size with matching cabinetry. In actuality, the desk of a specific size and the matching cabinetry may be comprised of many different components (i.e. legs, drawers, etc . . . ) such that it would be difficult for a customer to determine all the parts needed to order the desk and cabinetry without following detailed instruction. In another example, lighting fixtures may be specified by a designer and those fixtures may include many different parts and subassemblies. Once specified by a designer, they may be purchased by a separate party (a customer) for delivery to a building contractor where they are eventually inspected by a government agent to ensure compliance with their original specifications. All of these steps occurring over an extended period of time. Other examples of these types of complex ordering procedures can be found in other industries including, but not limited to office furniture, fire safety systems and large scale manufacturing systems.
Electronic commerce or e-commerce includes the transfer of orders, sales communications, credit information, electronic “funds”, and digital products throughout a supply chain. In some industries such as construction and custom manufacturing, there is a long lead time between when a part (or series of parts) is specified and the time the purchase order for the parts is placed. There may also be a long time between when the purchase order is placed and when the parts are supplied or installed. Oftentimes the part or product ordered consists of a series of differing parts and the configuration may not be easily apparent to a customer. The series of parts may also need alterations during any time delay due to newly realized design considerations, new government regulations or from improved manufacturing processes.
If view of the foregoing there is a need for a system and method that allows for visually creating a product design or specifying unique parts and services and then ordering and tracking the product design through the manufacturing process while keeping the various parties informed about the exact nature and specification of the design.
Disclosed herein is a computer implemented commerce system comprising at least one user interfaces for providing an image of a product design; said user interface presenting at least one menu of conforming elements; said user interface displaying at least one configuration code that relates to the product design; a processor unit communicably coupled to the user interface and to a memory module for storage of processor instructions; and one or more databases communicably coupled to the processor, wherein the processor controls the user interface for providing the menu of conforming elements such that the user iteratively selects one or more conforming elements to effectuate the product design and the processor controls the user interface to present the configuration code and the image of the product design.
Table 1 shows source code for a portion of one embodiment of one facet of the current invention.
Specific examples of components and arrangements are described below to simplify the present disclosure. These are, of course, merely examples and are not intended to be limiting. In addition, the present disclosure may repeat reference numerals and/or letters in the various examples. This repetition is for the purpose of simplicity and clarity and does not in itself dictate a relationship between the various embodiments and/or configurations discussed.
Those skilled in the art will recognize that it is common within the art to describe devices and/or processes in the fashion set forth herein, and thereafter use standard engineering practices to integrate such described devices and/or processes into data processing systems. That is, at least a portion of the devices and/or processes described herein can be integrated into a data processing system via a reasonable amount of experimentation. Those having skill in the art will recognize that a typical data processing system generally includes one or more of a system unit housing, a video display device, a memory such as volatile and non-volatile memory, processors such as microprocessors and digital signal processors, computational entities such as operating systems, drivers, graphical user interfaces, and applications programs and one or more interaction devices, such as a touch pad or screen. A typical data processing system may be implemented utilizing many suitable commercially available components, such as those typically found in data computing/communication and/or network computing/communication systems.
One having skill in the art will also appreciate that computer-based user interfaces or displays are typically constructed of objects that provide certain functions such as the display of information or for gathering user information. Information may be displayed on a single user interface or in multiple user interfaces depending on the requirements of the computer program. Objects may be highly specialized or may be comprised of one or more specific function controls such that software developers developing object oriented programs may use several controls to effectuate a user interface or display. Also generating information to present to a user includes generating a display for a video terminal, printed information or information for electronic transmission.
The construction and method of operation of the invention, however, together with additional objectives and advantages thereof will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings. Examples of products appropriate for the current disclosure include but are not limited to industrial lighting systems, lighting fixtures and furniture. For purposes of illustration the design and specification of a lighting system or a furniture system will be used in this disclosure, although the use of the disclosed system and method is not limited to the lighting or furniture systems presented herein.
The process begins with a user getting project information 102 which may be a name or other descriptor. If the project is a continuation of a previous project 104, the user can fetch the product record 106 from a data storage unit. In either event the user is presented with the project 108, which may be blank for a new project. The system presents to the user a list of conforming elements 110 for the user to select. The conforming elements are appropriate items of features a user may want to select given the current project status. For example, in a new project the user may be presented with a wide variety of conforming elements because there are no limitations on the design. Whereas an existing project that specifies incandescent lamps would have conforming elements that only worked with incandescent lamps. Once the user selects an element 112, the system displays to the user 114 a visual image of the current product design [configuration] along with other descriptor information such as a product identification number. If the user is not finished 116 with the current product design, the user can reiteratively add to, modify or delete a feature or part. With each iteration the user is presented with a new list of conforming elements 110 based on the current state of the product design and presents a visual image of the current state of the design.
Once a designer is finished they may save the project 118. Whether the project is saved or not, the system presents to the user ordering information for the project which includes information on the specific configuration. This information also includes descriptor information 124 describing the product and a configuration code 126 that uniquely defines the particular design. The system allows for identifying unique customers and creating configuration codes unique to that customer, thus allowing for customer management through the life of the design. Also the descriptor information may be used for submittals for a contractor to submit to the architect for review and approval. Submittals often include such items as drawings, mechanical specifications, electrical data, warranties and other information. In the figure the distribute function 128 accesses corresponding databases and electronic communications means to provide the functions 136-150. The distribute function 128 accesses the databases based on the necessary parts or services for the product configuration. Storage of the product design in a database allows for retrievel of the design by interested users later in the design life cycle.
In the foregoing a BOM may be comprised of stock keeping units (SKU) which are identifiers used by merchants to permit the systematic tracking of products and services offered to customers. Usage of the SKU system is rooted in the drill down method, pertaining to data management. SKUs are usually assigned and serialized at the merchant level. Each SKU is attached to an item, variant, product line, bundle, service, fee, or attachment. SKUs are not always associated with actual physical items, but are more appropriately billable entities. Extended warranties, delivery fees, and installation fees are not physical, but have SKUs because they are billable.
References in the specification to “one embodiment”, “an embodiment”, “an example embodiment”, etc., indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure or characteristic, but every embodiment may not necessarily include the particular feature, structure or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one of ordinary skill in the art to effect such feature, structure or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described. Parts of the description are presented using terminology commonly employed by those of ordinary skill in the art to convey the substance of their work to others of ordinary skill in the art.
In
In the current embodiment the process control 214 would allow the designer to select a particular style of luminaire. The process control 210 would then access the appropriate database to further present to the designer different parts or features (conforming elements) that would be used with the style selected. For example, if the designer selected an incandescent light, the process control would access one of the databases 212 and present to the designer via the server 210, the Internet 208 and the communications device 202 differing elements that would make up a complete incandescent light fixture or system. For example the designer may want to select differing wattage fixtures or battery emergency lighting systems. The elements selected by the designer would be configured as a single entity derived from many parts, such that the designer would not need to be concerned about which specific parts to select to create a particular light design.
Once a designer selects an initial feature, the process control 212 will only allow them to select additional elements which conform to the initial feature. For example, if a designer chooses incandescent lamps, then a fluorescent lamp fixture could not also be selected. Once the product design is created using the configuration portion of the current design, the important details about the product design can be distributed to, or accessed by, other interested parties such as contractors, sales representatives, and manufactures.
Returning to
One benefit of the current disclosure is the ability to let the designer try different combinations of parts and features and see how they operate and look together. Also one having skill in the art would realize that this embodiment could be implemented using standard programming tools for Internet and non-Internet applications as software for accessing databases and displaying information on the Internet are commonly used. Presently tools such as the Java programming language, SQL for accessing databases, visual languages such as VB and active server pages are widely known and this embodiment could be constructed using those tools. Table 1 shows one representative example of HTML source code that is used to generate one aspect of one embodiment of the current invention.
In view of the foregoing, one aspect of the current disclosure is the ability to allow users to alter a configuration based on later realized requirements. For example, in the lighting system described above, after the designer creates a product design, the contractor can access the configuration and get more information or make alterations. Additionally, the sales channel has access to the information and can facilitate pricing, purchasing and manufacturing if necessary. Company management may also substitute alternative parts if desired.
This embodiment takes the product design created by a user, and together with information from the database, generates a bill of material, pricing, specifications, shipping weight, installation instructions, ordering information, submittals and conceptual images. This embodiment will also track users by specification and correlate ordering and specification information to different users. Likewise commission information can be determined allowing management to manage the sales channels and effectuate business goals. Commissions may be generated as a percent of sale or by interaction with a user to enter or adjust the amount. By storing designer information, customer information, contractor information along with a particular lighting system design, a history of the progression of the design is enabled as well as key management information for a company operating the system. For example, company management can track a design for a system from a particular designer to a particular installation.
The above illustration provides many different embodiments or embodiments for implementing different features. Specific embodiments of components and processes are described to help clarify the invention. These are, of course, merely embodiments and are not intended to limit the invention from that described in the claims.
Although the invention is illustrated and described herein as embodied in one or more specific examples, it is nevertheless not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims. Accordingly, it is appropriate that the appended claims be construed broadly and in a manner consistent with the scope of the invention, as set forth in the following claims.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Patent Application 60/835,664 “Configurator for product specification” filed on Aug. 4, 2006 which is incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60835664 | Aug 2006 | US |
