Composing and cataloging item configuration data6871198Abstract An improvement for composing and cataloging item configuration data is disclosed. One embodiment of the invention includes identifying a base item, identifying a part number for the base item, breaking the part number into sections, each section corresponding to an attribute of the base item, and determining which of the part number sections relate to configurable attributes of the base item. The embodiment further includes listing a plurality of selectable part number section values for the configurable attributes, listing descriptive information for each of the selectable part number section values, linking the descriptive information to the corresponding selectable part number section value, generating a part number formula to define the configurable sections and associate configurable sections to the corresponding list of values, and generating a description formula to define a configurable description and associate descriptive information with corresponding configurable selectable part number values. The embodiment further includes adding the base item part number, values list, descriptive information list, part number formula and description formula to an electronic catalog. Claims What is claimed is: Description BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
TABLE 1
Mfr Name Mfr Part No. Description Point Ink
Color Price
Bic SGSF-FINE BLK Ballpoint Pen Soft-Feel w/clip Fine Point
Black 0.55
Bic SGSF-FINE BLU Ballpoint Pen Soft-Feel w/clip Fine Point
Blue 0.60
Bic SGSF-FINE GRN Ballpoint Pen Soft-Feel w/clip Fine Point
Green 0.55
Bic SGSF-FINE RED Ballpoint Pen Soft-Feel w/clip Fine Point
Red 0.55
Bic SGSF-MEDM BLK Ballpoint Pen Soft-Feel w/clip Medium Point
Black 0.55
Bic SGSF-MEDM BLU Ballpoint Pen Soft-Feel w/clip Medium Point
Blue 0.60
Bic SGSF-MEDM GRN Ballpoint Pen Soft-Feel w/clip Medium Point
Green 0.55
Bic SGSF-MEDM RED Ballpoint Pen Soft-Feel w/clip Medium Point
Red 0.55
Bic SGSF-BOLD BLK Ballpoint Pen Soft-Feel w/clip Bold Point
Black 0.78
Bic SGSF-BOLD BLU Ballpoint Pen Soft-Feel w/clip Bold Point
Blue 0.83
Bic SGSF-BOLD GRN Ballpoint Pen Soft-Feel w/clip Bold Point
Green 0.78
Bic SGSF-BOLD RED Ballpoint Pen Soft-Feel w/clip Bold Point
Red 0.78
Many other products are also available in a variety of different configurations. Consider an example of clothing. A particular men's shirt might be available in a range of collar sizes, sleeve lengths, colors and fabrics. When all possible combinations of the four different parameters are listed in a catalog, the number of items can make it difficult to find any other items . Typical US men's shirt sizes offer nine collar sizes, from 14 to 18 with half sizes, and six sleeve lengths, from 30-35. If five colors and three fabrics are available, then the one style of shirt may include 810 items. Similar examples may be found with power supplies and voltage controllers or with modular furniture sets, for example. So that all the variations can be offered in a single concise listing, the pen or the shirt or the power supply can be listed just once as a single configurable item. The variations in color, size, capacity, voltage, housings etc. can be displayed if the user wants to investigate those possibilities. This allows the listings of items responsive to a search to be made much more concise, such as the one shown in FIG. 3. An alternative concise listing for the pen of Table 1, is provided below in Table 2. In Table 2, the different point finenesses and ink colors are shown as options on a single item. The part number detail has been reduced to just the generic or common portion of the part number. The portion in Table 1 that describes the options is not shown, however, it can be if desired.
TABLE 2
Mfr Name Mfr Part No. Description Point Options Ink Color Options
Prices
Bic SGSF- Ballpoint Pen Fine Point, Medium Black, Green,
Blue, 0.55, 0.60,
Soft-Feel w/clip Point, Bold Point Red
0.78, 0.83
In one embodiment, the decision as to how many different items to show at this first highest level tier is based on part numbers. The example pen of Tables 1 and 2 lends itself very well to being organized around the manufacturer's own part number. However, the manufacturer's or supplier's part numbers need not serve as a guide. A fine point pen can be regarded as a different item than a medium point pen or it can be regarded as a variation on the same pen. Similarly, a shirt with the same design but a different fabric may be regarded as a different shirt just as a short sleeve version of a shirt may be regarded as a different shirt from a long sleeve shirt. It is entirely possible that different manufacturers associate products and part numbers differently. While one manufacturer may treat fine point and medium point pens as the same item, another may treat them as different items. In the described embodiment, manufacturer part numbers are used as a guide, regardless of any inconsistencies among manufacturers. As an alternative, supplier part numbers or any other part number source can be used. In another embodiment, an organized structure can be created just for the catalog so that competing items from different manufacturers are treated the same way, notwithstanding the manufacturer's part numbers. This external structure can be imposed to replace any manufacturer or supplier part number scheme with a separate catalog or reference number. As can be seen from the pen example above, the part number can be parsed fairly easily and a meaning to each component of the part number can be attached. The part number of one pen was SGSF-RED-FINE. The part number has three sections. The first SGSF identifies the structure of the pen and can be associated with descriptive attributes such as pen, ballpoint, soft-feel, with clip. The second section identifies the ink color of the pen as red and the third section identifies the ballpoint as being fine. To catalog this item, the cataloger can rather easily create a matrix such as the one shown in Table 3. Using this table, a part number can be built up for any of the 12 different possible alternative configurations that can be offered based on the SGSF base item. Table 3 shows the designator for each part number section, the order in which it appears in the part number, the structure of the part number section and all possible alternative values. The structure is shown as the number of alphabetic characters and the connecting symbol in this case a hyphen or a space. Some part numbers have no connectors and use numbers, letters and other symbols usually in some consistent pattern.
TABLE 3
Base Section Color Section Point Section
4 alpha, hyphen 3 alpha, space 4 alpha
SGSF BLK FINE
BLU MEDM
GRN BOLD
RED
From Table 3, the cataloger can identify a base item, the Bic SGSF pen. The base item can be configured with ink color and point selections. The base item can be set as having no color or fineness or a particular attribute value can be selected as the base value. For example, the base item can be defined as the SGSF-BLK MEDM pen. The last two attributes, color and point are configurable for the base item, i.e. they can be changed, while the first attribute corresponding to the first section of the part number, SGSF, is not configurable and can not be changed. Table 3 also provides a part number formula in the second row from which all the configurations can be derived. In this case, a part number formula can be defined as SGSF-Ink Color_CODE Point Fineness_CODE. The structure and format for the Ink Color_CODE is provided above as three alphabetic characters. Using this formula and the values provided in the table, a part number can be generated. Ink Color_CODE, as can be seen above, can have values of BLK, BLU, GRN, and RED, while Point Fineness_CODE can have values of FINE, MEDM, and BOLD. The part number can then be used for ordering, inventory, and fulfillment purposes. Using the formula and values, the part number matrix in Table 3 can be rendered in a text form, such as XML, as shown below. As described above, pens are found in the catalog based on a search for the attributes of the pen that is desired, such as "bic pen." In order to allow all of the characteristics of the pens to be searched, the description values for each of the variations can be made searchable. In the structure of the catalog described herein, this means that descriptive terms for each variation are added to data records that are accessible to the search engine, for example through a search index. In particular, the pen of Table 1 will have at least three sets of descriptive terms, one set for each part number section. Items can be viewed as having two tiers of attributes. The first tier of descriptive terms can be called global attributes. These are qualities that are shared by every item in the catalog, such as manufacturer, supplier, price, quantity per package, delivery time, availability, etc. The global attributes can typically be associated with the base section of the part number. The pen will also have attributes that are unique to pens or unique to pens and a few other types of items that are like pens, such as ink color and fineness. The local attributes will often depend, in part, upon the other sections of the part number, the sections corresponding to the configurable aspects of the item. These descriptive terms can be rendered in an options matrix as shown in Table 4. Table 4 provides the codes for each part number section with the corresponding description and price adjustment for each option. It also indicates whether the descriptions will be made available to the search index. Typically, this determines whether the descriptions will be compiled into the catalog's search index when the catalog is being compiled. In one embodiment all the part number matrices are maintained as XML documents. When the XML is loaded into the catalog, the loader looks for flags to indicate which items are to be added to the search index and which items are not.
TABLE 4
Color Section Description Description
Part No. (ink color) Searchable Price Adjustment
BLK black yes 0
BLU blue yes 0
GRN green yes 0.05
RED red yes 0
Point Section Description Description
Part No. (point) Searchable Price Adjustment
FINE fine point yes 0
MEDM medium point yes 0
BOLD bold point yes 0.23
In addition to the part number formula described above, a description formula can be defined from Table 4 as pen, ballpoint, soft-feel, with clip, Ink Color_DESC, Point Fineness_DESC. The last two descriptive terms are taken from the table depending upon which selections have been made. Table 4 shows that Ink Color_DESC can have values of black, blue, green, and red. Point Fineness_DESC can have values of fine point, medium point, and bold point. These values can be linked to the Ink Color_CODE and Point Fineness_CODE as shown in Table 4 using, for example a mark-up language. As result, the description formula can provide a description of any configured item based on the base item, SGSF or SGSF-BLK-MEDM. The matrix need not be limited to single word descriptions or even to single descriptions. Different sets of descriptions can be defined and selected based on a user identification. For example, a highly technical user may desire a more detailed set of descriptions than another user. Using two sets of descriptions, and checking the user preferences or authorization, the appropriate set of descriptions can be selected for display to the user. Another example of multiple descriptions sets is to accommodate different languages. While the same pens may be sold under the same part numbers in different countries, purchasers may prefer descriptions in different languages. Accordingly, a second set of color descriptions can be added to the matrix, for example, negro, azul, verde, rojo. By indicating a language preference, the user can be provided with descriptions in the appropriate language to the extent that the descriptions are available. This allows for multilingual catalogs with very little repetition in subject matter. It also allows the catalog to easily be modified in all languages at the same time Table 4 also has a price column for each configurable option. These options are expressed in terms of amounts that are to be added to the base item price. However, they can be expressed in any other way that allows the differences in price between different configurations to be determined. Percent increases and multipliers can be used as price factors for example. The price column provides enough information to define a price formula. The price formula can be+Ink Color_PRICE+Point Fineness_PRICE. So for example, the green fine point pen costs 5 cents more than the base item, the black medium point pen. The green, bold point pen costs 28 cents more. The price factors can also be expressed as text and linked to the appropriate configurable options using a mark-up language as discussed above. In the example above, the mathematical operators are plus signs. Subtraction can be accomplished by price codes preceded by a minus sign. The formula may also include other mathematical functions such as subtraction, multiplication and division. While the mathematical operators (plus signs) are defined by the price formula in the example above, they can instead be a part of the price values in the matrix. In that case, the formula is used to refer to the appropriate values and determine the ordering while the mathematical function to be applied comes from the matrix. The price formula and matrix approach can be used for a wide variety of different price adjustments. Any attribute value with a price impact can be linked to a price adjustment. These attributes can include precision grades, tolerances, warranty levels, shipping alternatives, rush delivery options, installation alternatives, and more. One common factor that influences product pricing is the purchased quantity. Many vendors offer volume discounts. Such discounts can also be accommodated using the matrix approach described above. Cable may have one price if purchased by the meter and another price if purchased by the tens of meters or the kilometer. Pens, as discussed above may be sold independently, in boxes of 12 or in cases of 24 boxes. This can be expressed in a matrix as well or be made part of the matrix shown in Table 4. The shipping or package units may be a part of the part number or it may be a separate descriptive element. In either event, the quantity or shipping unit choices can be added to the matrix and the price formula. It can then be configured in the same way as the ink color as shown, for example, in FIG. 4. An example of a matrix for packing units is shown in Table 5. The price formula can be rewritten as+Ink Color PRICE+Point Fineness PRICE+Package Units PRICE. Similar changes can be made to the part number and description formulas.
TABLE 5
Package Units. Description Price Adjustment
EA each 0
BX box of 12 10
CS case of 24 boxes (288) 100
RC box of 12 (recycled) -40
Volume discounts do not require unique packaging such as boxes and cases or 50 m reels and 500 m reels. In terms of the matrix and the pricing formula, a box of 24 and a quantity of 24 can be treated in the same way. The buyer can be informed whether 12 individual units or a box will be shipped using the description. In addition, the matrix and formulas are not limited to any type of actual part number. Additional descriptors can be attached to the part number using the same principles discussed above. For the pens example, the manufacturer's part number may include the package units. After configuration, the part number can look like SGSF-RED BOLD BX. It is also possible that the package unit is not a part of the manufacturer's part number at all. In either event, the part number formula can be structured to configure a unique product identifier that is understandable to the supplier. The part number formula can also render an expression such as Box SGSF-RED BOLD. Alternatively, the part number may be SGSF-MEDM. The ink color, which must also be specified can be treated in the same way as a part number section but not added to the part number. The green, medium point pen can be ordered using the part number and color as SGSF-MEDM, green, case. In this case, the ink color codes and ink color descriptive information can be the same. Similarly, shirts often use a part number to identify a style and perhaps a color but not the size. For these items, the size must be specified in order to uniquely identify the product but the size is not a part of the part number, it is an additional element. These additional elements, whether they relate to size, color, power ratings or any other aspect of the item can be treated in the same way as described above using the type of matrix shown. The matrix will still be able to construct an item number that uniquely identifies an item including any constraints or selections that are not part of the part number using the same principles applied above. A shirt may be identified, for example, using a part number formula, such as A721-RED XL. In the embodiments described above in which the search engine searches the descriptive terms of each item to find a match, the description values from the table for these local attributes can be provided to the search engine. If this is done, then the search for "bic pen red" will find and display, the SGSF pen. On the other hand, a search for "bic pen purple" or "bic pen extrafine", will not find the SGSF pen. Each matrix within the part number in the example above, for example, the ink color matrix and the point fineness matrix, relates to a particular attribute of the pen. The search engine access for each matrix and therefore each attribute can be specified independently for each matrix using, for example, metadata statements linked to the descriptive terms. V As can be seen from FIG. 3, not all of the information regarding the SGSF pen, or probably any of the other pens is displayed. The displayed information is also not enough to allow the product to be ordered because the color and point need to be specified. While it is possible for the user's selection to be inferred based on a customer profile or previous behavior, the present invention allows the user to see the options and make a choice. Upon selecting the "View Cart" button 312 or the SGSF pen item, more details of the SGSF pen can be displayed. This is shown in FIG. 4, an example of a web browser display 402 according to one embodiment of the invention. FIG. 4 provides the user with a summary of information about the selected product, in this case, the SGSF pen. An item type legend 404 informs the user that the item is configurable. A description section 406 provides the category, description, Manufacturer part number, price, units of measure and saleable quantity for the selected item. A frame 408 for an illustration of the item, such as a photo is also provided, when one is available in the catalog. Using this display, the user can configure the selected item and automatically build the part number. The display 402 provides two drop-down menus or pick lists 410, 412 for configuring the point size and color of the pen, respectively. The windows are placed next to the corresponding header 414, 416 for the respective configurable item. They are identified with instructions in the windows to "select a point" and "select a color." A selection cost window 418 provides any additional costs associated with any selection after the selection has been made. In this example, the user selects a color by typing the name of the desired color in the window 412 with the words "select a color". Alternatively, the arrow next to the window can be selected to produce a pick list 420 as shown in FIG. 5. In FIG. 5, the display is unchanged except that the ink color can be configured. The color choices in the pick list are the same as those in Tables 1 and 2. The pick list can be generated from a table or matrix in the electronic catalog or from a list of choices defined in a mark-up language and tied to the Ink Color attribute From the displayed pick list, the user can select the desired color. This color is plugged into the part number formula, description formula and pricing formula. The point can be selected in the same way as the ink color. After making the selections, the browser display can indicate both choices as shown in FIG. 6. FIG. 6 also shows that, with both choices made, the manufacturer part number and selection cost can also be assembled, computed and displayed using, for example, the formulas described above. The part number for the configured item is shown as SGSF-GRN FINE. The description for the configured item is shown as Pen, Ballpoint, Soft-Feel, with clip, Green, Fine Point. The selection cost is shown as 0.05. In the illustrated embodiment, the selection cost window is used to show the additional cost of a particular selected configurable attribute, in this case 5 cents for green ink. Alternatively, it can be used to show the actual price or discounted price for the item. In either case, a matrix, table or text file can be used. The price formula mentioned above can be used to calculate the eventual price. Having configured the item, the user can then select the "Add to Cart" button to purchase the configured item. FIGS. 4, 5, and 6 show a particular way to configure the item using a graphical user interface that is presently in common use. Other existing or future types of displays and selection interface tools, whether graphical or not, can also be adapted to accomplish the same functions as the interface described. The selection of a particular interface will depend on the application of the present invention and the desires of the developer. The illustrated example allows the user to know which choices are available, enter a choice and see the results. The following XML document shows an implementation of the principles of the invention to render the SGSF pen of Table 1 as a configurable catalog item in XML. The same principles can be applied to render any other items regardless of the number of configurable features. The text below can be rendered into the browser display screens using Java applets or any one of a variety of other tools.
<CATALOG xml:lang="en-US">
<DATA>
<ITEM>
<OWNER>
<NAME>Ballpoint Pen Soft-Feel w/clip</NAME>
<KEY>Pens</KEY>
</OWNER>
<KEYVALUE>
<KEY>Description</KEY>
<VALUE>This is a configurable item.</VALUE>
</KEYVALUE>
<KEYVALUE>
<KEY>Mfr Part Num</KEY>
<VALUE>SGSF-BLK MED</VALUE>
</KEYVALUE>
<KEYVALUE>
<KEY>Long Description</KEY>
<VALUE>pen, ballpoint, soft-feel, with clip</VALUE>
</KEYVALUE>
<KEYVALUE>
<KEY>Price</KEY>
<VALUE>0.55</VALUE>
</KEYVALUE>
<KEYVALUE>
<KEY>Mfr Name</KEY>
<VALUE>Bic Corp.</VALUE>
</KEYVALUE>
<KEYVALUE>
<KEY>Sup Part Num</KEY>
<VALUE>NIGS32</VALUE>
</KEYVALUE>
<KEYVALUE>
<KEY>Sup Name</KEY>
<VALUE>Office Supply House</VALUE>
</KEYVALUE>
<KEYVALUE>
<KEY>UOM</KEY>
<VALUE>EA</VALUE>
</KEYVALUE>
<KEYVALUE>
<KEY>Saleable Quantity</KEY>
<VALUE>Each</VALUE>
</KEYVALUE>
</ITEM>
<MATRIX MATRIXID="14054a3dc1">
<MATRIXATTRIBUTE key="pens">
<KEYVALUE>
<KEY>SEARCHABLE</KEY>
<VALUE>true</VALUE>
</KEYVALUE>
<KEYVALUE>
<KEY>CODE</KEY>
<VALUE>pens</VALUE>
</KEYVALUE>
<KEYVALUE>
<KEY>DESCRIPTION</KEY>
<VALUE>ballpoint pens</VALUE>
</KEYVALUE>
</MATRIXATTRIBUTE>
<MATRIXATTRIBUTE key="Ink Color">
<KEYVALUE>
<KEY>SEARCHABLE</KEY>
<VALUE>true</VALUE>
</KEYVALUE>
<KEYVALUE>
<KEY>CODE</KEY>
<VALUE>BLK</VALUE>
<VALUE>GRN</VALUE>
<VALUE>BLU</VALUE>
<VALUE>RED</VALUE>
</KEYVALUE>
<KEYVALUE>
<KEY>DESCRIPTION</KEY>
<VALUE>Black</VALUE>
<VALUE>Green</VALUE>
<VALUE>Blue</VALUE>
<VALUE>Red</VALUE>
</KEYVALUE>
<KEYVALUE>
<KEY>PRICE</KEY>
<VALUE>0</VALUE>
<VALUE>0</VALUE>
<VALUE>0.05</VALUE>
<VALUE>0</VALUE>
</KEYVALUE>
</MATRIXATTRIBUTE>
<MATRIXATTRIBUTE key="Point Fineness">
<KEYVALUE>
<KEY>SEARCHABLE</KEY>
<VALUE>true</VALUE>
</KEYVALUE>
<KEYVALUE>
<KEY>CODE</KEY>
<VALUE>FINE</VALUE>
<VALUE>MEDM</VALUE>
<VALUE>BOLD</VALUE>
</KEYVALUE>
<KEYVALUE>
<KEY>DESCRIPTION</KEY>
<VALUE><Fine Point></VALUE>
<VALUE><Medium Point></VALUE>
<VALUE>Bold Point</VALUE>
</KEYVALUE>
<KEYVALUE>
<KEY>PRICE</KEY>
<VALUE>0</VALUE>
<VALUE>0</VALUE>
<VALUE>0.23</VALUE>
</KEYVALUE>
<KEYVALUE>
<KEY>Price Formula</KEY>
<VALUE>Ink Color_PRICE_+Point
Fineness_PRICE_</VALUE>
</KEYVALUE>
<KEYVALUE>
<KEY>Part Number Formula</KEY>
<VALUE>pens_CODE_-Ink Color_CODE_Point
Fineness_CODE_-</VALUE>
</KEYVALUE>
<KEYVALUE>
<KEY>Description Formula</KEY>
<VALUE>pens_DESC_,Ink Color_DESC_, Point
Fineness_DESC_,</VALUE>
</KEYVALUE>
</MATRIX>
</DATA>
</CATALOG>
While the SGSF pen has only two possible configurable features, ink color and point fineness, the same principles can be applied to more complex configurable products as well. The XML document above can be loaded into a catalog in order to preserve the matrix structure of the configurable options. The matrix can be represented in a variety of different ways. In one embodiment, the matrix structure is represented by the XML document and rendered in the catalog as indexed tables. An example of suitable tables is provided, for example, by Tables 4 and 5, above. Alternatively, the XML document above can be loaded into a catalog that is unable to preserve the matrix structure of the configurable options. To do this, the one pen with its configurable options can first be expanded into the twelve different possibilities as shown in Table 1. The different possible configurations can all be rendered in a new XML document as separate items and then loaded into the catalog. Even though, the catalog does not support the matrix format of the configurable part, the matrix format still provides a tremendous advantage in administration, management, and updating the item. VI Table 6 shows a base item number or part number for a particular high intensity discharge industrial lighting fixture. The characteristic defined by each section of the part number is provided and the number of different alternatives for each characteristic. In some cases, the alternative is to either have the feature or not, e.g. special finish or standard finish. In other cases, there are many different options from which to choose. Lamp Wattage can range, for example from 50 to 400 Watts for the fixture. With all of the choices provided, the lighting fixture can be configured in approximately 368 million ways. The matrix required to fully describe the lighting fixture and all its configurations is significantly smaller than what would be required to separately describe all 368 million different item configurations.
TABLE 6
Base Item No. Description No. of Options
V Base Section 1
S Lamp Type 3
0 Starter Circuit 4
15 Lamp Wattage 8
H Ballast Circuit 2
12 Voltage/Frequency 8
0 Ballast Housing Style 6
TGL Optical Assembly 26
P2 Mounting Style 16
T Finish 2
E1 Packaging 6
F Fusing 2
N NEMA Lamp Wattage Decal 2
C CSA Certification 2
The present invention can be adapted to accommodate excluded combinations. Suppose, for example that the SGSF pen was available in medium and fine point with green ink but not in a bold point with green ink. Instead of adding complex conditional logic or some other type of coding, this constraint on green ink can be accommodated by rendering the SGSF pen as two different catalog items. The first item is the SGSF pen in black, red or blue ink, available with three different point finenesses. The second pen is the SGSF green pen, available in only two point finenesses, medium and fine. In the example industrial lighting fixture above, there are some excluded combinations. This reduces the total number of possibilities to approximately 46 million. The three lamp types are high pressure sodium (HPS), metal halide (MH) and mercury vapor (MV) and the eight available lamp wattages are 50, 70, 100, 150, 175, 200, 250, and 400. The six ballast housings come in three types each available with or without stainless steel inserts. The ballast housings, however, are constrained in the amount of heat and power they can support as shown in Table 7.
TABLE 7
Ballast Housing
Code Style Description Available Lamps
0 Standard HPS up to 150 W
MH, MV up to 250 W
R Refractor Globe HPS up to 150 W
MH, MV up to 250 W
L Large HPS 200 W-400 W
MH, MV 400 W only
S Standard w/SS Inserts HPS up to 150 W
MH, MV up to 250 W
I Refractor Globe w/SS Inserts HPS up to 150 W
MH, MV up to 250 W
M Large w/SS Inserts HPS 200 W-400 W
MH, MV 400 W only
As with the pen, the constraints in the housings shown in Table 7 can be accommodated by dividing the lighting fixture into two different items. One item can be configured with the 0, R, S and I ballast housings and with HPS lamp types up to 250W and MH and MV lamp types up to 250W. The other item has only the L and M ballast housings and it can be configured with an HPS type lamp in 200W, 250W and 400W or with an MH or MV lamp at 400W. Rendering the single item as two different items with only certain of the options available allows a very simple matrix to be used for all variations of the product. It avoids complex branch instructions or conditional logic which might otherwise be used. At the same time, the item is still greatly simplified over listing all of the configurations separately. The writing pen and lighting fixture example illustrate how the principles of the present invention can be applied to a wide range of products and services that offer a great variety of configurable or selectable options. VII FIG. 7 shows a more concise process flow for adding items to an electronic catalog using the part number matrix discussed above. Initially the item that is to be added to the catalog is selected and all of the corresponding information, such as manufacturer part number, price, size, supplier, description, illustration, and any other information is collected and identified 702. The number that is to be used in the item number matrix, such as manufacturer part number, supplier catalog number, or a new unique catalog number is identified. The number is then parsed into sections 704. Each section of the number is then associated with the corresponding item attributes 706. For example, the section of the part number that defines the ink color is associated with the ink color attribute. This can be done in the context of defining a list of possible section values 708. This list contains all the possible values that the particular section of the part number can have depending on the configuration of the product that is selected, as shown in Table 4 and the XML example above. The corresponding descriptions are then associated with the item number section values 710, as can also be seen in Table 4. Then the descriptions can be associated with the attributes 712. The associations can be done using key values as illustrated in the XML document example above. The precise order of these operations is not important to the invention. At this point, the information will be collected and the related values will be associated. Table 4 is an example of a format for the information. Once the information is collected and related, the item can be added to the catalog. The item will be added as a configurable item. This can be indicated to the catalog by a flag such as the description key shown in the XML document above. The item need not be truly configurable, in that it has interchangeable parts etc. The invention can be applied to any group of items that have enough common characteristics that they can be readily accessed and displayed as a single configurable item. Pens of different colors may share no common components even if the design is the same. Shirts in different sizes normally share no common components except labeling and perhaps buttons. On the other hand, a set of power supplies may share many common components in their various configurations. The item can be added to the catalog by first adding the base section of the item number to the catalog with the corresponding descriptive information that is common to all configurations of the item, i.e. the base description 714. The corresponding item number section values can then be added to the catalog 716. These are accompanied by the descriptions for each item number section. These can be added only with respect to the corresponding attributes for the item as they exist in the catalog 718. For example, the various colors, black, blue, green and red are added to the ink color attribute for the SGSF item pen. The descriptions can be added in at least two different ways. In one embodiment, the descriptions for the particular configuration are only available in association with the particular configuration. This can be done when the configurable attribute is not likely to be the subject of a search. If, for example, a pen were available with different cap colors the descriptions of the cap colors might be excluded from the search engine. In this embodiment, a search for "bic pen red" would find the SGSF pen discussed above because the red ink color is available to the search engine. If silver is an available cap color, a search for "bic pen silver" would not find the SGSF pen because the cap color descriptions are not available to the search engine. In another embodiment, all the descriptive information for all of the different configurations is added to a long description attribute, or some other appropriate attribute for the base item 720. The long description and normally all of the descriptions for each of the attributes are loaded into a search engine in the catalog. After the catalog is loaded, this will allow even the simple search to find the SGSF pen because "red" is a part of the description. In a third embodiment, the descriptive information for all of the configurations is added to both a configuration-specific description and to the base item description. In the XML document above, there is a matrix for each configurable attribute. Each matrix has a searchable key that can be set to true or false. When the key is set to true, the descriptions in that matrix are loaded into a search index to be available to the search engine, when the key is set to false, the descriptions are not loaded and not available. This provides the greatest amount of flexibility. To finish the catalog, any price definitions or other details are associated with the corresponding item number section values 722. The use of the catalog, whether to purchase an item, conduct research, or manage the catalog is shown as a flow chart in FIG. 8. To begin, an item is selected 802. This can be done with a search, a direct query, working through taxonomical lists or in any other way. The base item number section for the selected item is then identified 804. If the process is being performed by a user, the user need not be aware of the base item number or of any of its sections, however, the number is generally needed to link the configurations to a single item and for any type of purchasing or management operations. The description of the configurable item is then identified 806 and can be reviewed. The descriptive information for each of the possible configurations is then presented and selected 808 as shown, for example, in FIG. 5. At this point, the configuration of the item has been selected. If there is more than one aspect of the item that can be configured, for example, ink color and point fineness, then all of the selections are made. Once the configuration is selected, the values for the corresponding item number sections for the selected configuration can be identified 810. The descriptive information can be assembled into an item description for the selected configuration. This is done using the base description and the selected descriptive information 812. It can also be done using a description formula and inserting the appropriate description values from the part number matrix into the formula. Similarly, the item number for the selected configuration can be assembled from the base item number and the corresponding values for the item number sections 814. A part number formula can be used by inserting the appropriate part number values from the part number matrix into the formula. If the catalog item offers additional options that are not properly a part of the item number, such as size or voltage mentioned above, then these further options can be handled the same way as the other configurable attributes. The choices of possible option values can be shown and then selected by the user 816. Each option will typically have a code, such as S, M, or L, associated with it. The appropriate code can then be selected and associated with the assembled item number 818. VIII The catalog of the present invention is particularly well suited to transport data to other catalogs that operate on independent, incompatible platforms. The matrix structure of the catalog items, as mentioned above, is particularly useful for catalog administration, correction, and updating. When one of the options changes, the item can be updated with a very simple change. For example, if a purple pen were added to the ink color choices for the example SGSF pen mentioned above, the administrator can simple add purple with its code to the ink color list. Three more versions of the pen are then made a part of the catalog, a purple fine, purple medium and purple bold point pen. If green were discontinued, the administrator can simple delete the green option from the available ink colors and all green variations are removed from the catalog. The convenience of this, as compared to administering all the different configurations independently, can be understood more fully by reference to the industrial lighting fixture of Tables 6 and 7. Changing a voltage supply, a ballast item or a housing may affect thousands or millions of different configurations of the lamp. It is much easier to manage the change by changing the one configurable option. Many catalogs, however, do not support configurable items. The present invention allows these catalogs to be administered using a part number matrix nevertheless. In one embodiment, the configurable items are structured as XML documents, such as the one provided above. This document can be expanded to generate each of the different configurations of the item. In other words, the single configurable item can be converted into multiple items, one for each configuration. Returning to the pen example, the matrix of pens with four colors and three points becomes twelve pens: SGSF-BLK FINE, SGSF-BLK MEDM, SGSF-BLK BOLD, SGSF-BLU FINE, SGSF-BLU MEDM, SGSF-BLU BOLD, SGSF-GRN FINE, SGSF-GRN MEDM, SGSF-GRN BOLD, SGSF-RED FINE, SGSF-RED MEDM, SGSF-RED BOLD, as shown in Table 1. Each of the twelve pen items will contain duplicate information for all of the common information, such as the description tied to the SGSF section of the part number. The part number, description, and price formulas can all be used to generate the twelve items. The result of the expansion process is a list containing many more items but in which each item is separately listed in a format that can be used on a wider variety of different computing and communications platforms. XML, for example, can be converted to an appropriate proprietary data format and used in many enterprise, inventory and purchasing systems, such as those offered by Oracle Corp., Ariba Inc., and SAP AG. Many such systems include translators or converters to take XML data into the proprietary platform as well as to convert proprietary format data into XML. Once the items are converted from XML, or another easily converted format, into the proprietary format, they can be loaded by the proprietary platform into the system's own catalog or inventory system. The workings of the various different platforms and their respective catalogs vary from one system to the next. The catalog can therefore easily be expanded and loaded into the proprietary platform's system. Changes can be handled almost as easily. After the catalog with the configurable items has been modified, the modified portions, or the entire catalog, can again be expanded into single items. The single items can be loaded into the proprietary system. The modified items can be written over the older unmodified items using tools within the proprietary platform. Deleted items can be handled by reloading the entire catalog. Other actions can be supported depending upon the various tools made available on the proprietary platform. Using this approach, the catalog can be maintained in one place in one way and published to a great many different systems. IX It should be noted that, while the steps described herein may be performed under the control of a programmed processor, such as the processor 202, in alternative embodiments, the steps may be fully or partially implemented by any programmable or hard coded logic, such as Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), TTL logic, or Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), for example. Additionally, the method of the present invention may be performed by any combination of programmed general purpose computer components or custom hardware components. Therefore, nothing disclosed herein should be construed as limiting the present invention to a particular embodiment wherein the recited steps are performed by a specific combination of hardware components. In the present description, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without some of these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form. The specific detail may be supplied by one of average skill in the art as appropriate for any particular implementation. The present invention includes various steps, which may be performed by hardware components or may be embodied in machine-executable instructions, such as software or firmware instructions. The machine-executable instructions may be used to cause a general-purpose or special-purpose processor programmed with the instructions to perform the steps. Alternatively, the steps may be performed by a combination of hardware and software. The present invention may be provided as a computer program product that may include a machine-readable medium having stored instructions thereon, which may be used to program a computer (or other machine) to perform a process according to the present invention. The machine-readable medium may include, but is not limited to, floppy diskettes, optical disks, CD-ROMs, and magneto-optical disks, ROMs, RAMs, EPROMs, EEPROMs, magnet or optical cards, flash memory, or any other type of medium suitable for storing electronic instructions. Moreover, the present invention may also be downloaded as a computer program product, wherein the program may be transferred from a remote computer to a requesting computer by way of data signals embodied in a carrier wave or other machine-readable propagation medium via a communication link (e.g., a modem or network connection). Importantly, while embodiments of the present invention are described with reference to externally supplied attributes of office supplies, the method and apparatus described herein are equally applicable to externally supplied attributes for any other types of electronic catalogs and of any other types of items including documents, and data files. In addition, while the invention has been described in terms of an electronic catalog, other types of ordered information stored in an electronic form can benefit from the present invention. Although this disclosure describes illustrative embodiments of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the precise embodiments described. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense. Various adaptations, modifications and alterations may be practiced within the scope of the invention defined by the appended claims.
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