Method and apparatus for building an electronic product

1 . A method of customising a build of an electronic software-based product comprising the step of:

representing in a software programme a plurality of embedded software elements;

the method characterised by the steps of:

generating one or more software images that represents a plurality of the embedded software elements; and

building an electronic software-based product based on the generated images.

2 . A method of customising a build of a software-based electronic product according to claim 1 wherein the step of representing the plurality of embedded software elements comprises representing additionally at least one of from the group comprising:

(i) a hardware element; and

(ii) a packaging element; and

(iii) an accessory.

3 . A method of customising a build of a software-based electronic product according to claim 1 wherein the step of generating one or more software images comprises configuring an image representation such that the product can be generated by an end user or device distributor.

4 . A method of customising a build of a software-based electronic product according to claim 1 wherein the step of generating an image is performed in a post manufacturing process step in a distribution/retail context using a plurality of selectable software representation blocks.

5 . A method of customising a build of a software-based electronic product according to claim 1 , wherein the step of representing a plurality of embedded elements is performed in a remote location relative to the step of generating a programme image.

6 . A method of customising a build of a software-based electronic product according to claim 1 wherein the software-based electronic product is a mobile phone.

7 . A method of customising a build of a software-based electronic product according to claim 1 wherein the step of simulating an operation of the software-based electronic product, thereby facilitating an iterative approach to validating inter-operability between a plurality of embedded software elements.

8 . A method of customising a build of a software-based electronic product according to claim 1 wherein in the step of issuing a unique part number to each software image generated, said part number is included in a customised bill of material (BOM) for the software-based electronic product.

9 . A method of customising a build of a software-based electronic product according to claim 1 , wherein the step of creating a definition file, the definition file being used in the generation of the one or more software images.

10 . A method of customising a build of a software-based electronic product according to claim 1 , wherein one or more of the embedded software elements comprise one or more of the following:

(i) an Operating System;

(ii) an application;

(iii) a setting; and

(iv) a resource.

11 . A method of customising a build of a software-based electronic product according to claim 10 , wherein the embedded software elements are individual and distinct elements encapsulated into software building blocks.

12 . A method of customising a build of a software-based electronic product according to claim 10 wherein the step of representing comprises representing software elements in such a manner that an anticipated behaviour of at least one embedded software element when provided in a final product is mimicked in software.

13 . A method of customising a build of a software-based electronic product according to claim 10 , wherein the embedded software elements comprise one or more of the following:

(i) Operator specific Bitmaps,

(ii) One or more splash screens;

(iii) One or more ring tones;

(iv) One or more Logos;

(iv) Operator specific applications;

(v) Locale variant information, such as a set of languages or a specified default language;

(vi) One or more specific applications,

(vii) One or more colour schemes;

(viii) One or more Sound;

(ix) One or more animations;

(x) One or more fonts;

(xi) A default regional setting;

(xii) A connection setting;

(xiii) One or more graphics; and

(xiv) One or more indicators, such as Key-lock, GPRS signal.

14 . A software-based electronic product build system comprising:

a configurator module arranged to represent in software a plurality of selectable embedded software elements; and

an image generator operably coupled to the configurator module;

herein the software-based product build system is characterised in that the image generator generates one or more software images representing at least one embedded software element; and the software-based electronic product build system is configured to build a software-based electronic product based on a plurality of embedded software elements using the generated software image(s).

15 . A software-based electronic product build system according to claim 14 wherein the configurator module is arranged to represent in software at least one embedded software element and additionally at least one:

(i) Hardware element; and/or

(ii) Packaging element; and/or

(iii) Accessory.

16 . A software-based electronic product build system according to claim 14 wherein the software-based electronic product build system is accessible by a customer or consumer for the customer or consumer to generate a build of the software-based electronic product based on a selection from a plurality of embedded software elements.

17 . A software-based electronic product build system according to claim 14 wherein the configurator module comprises a graphical user interface (GUI).

18 . A software-based electronic product build system according to claim 14 wherein a version-controlled file storage function operably coupled to the configurator module and image generator and comprising embedded software and hardware building blocks, core building blocks variant builds, locale variant files and/or binary data files.

19 . A software-based electronic product build system according to claim 16 wherein the Configurator outputs a definition file with extended information to serve as an input for the Image Generator.

20 . A software-based electronic product build system according to claim 18 wherein the Image Generator is an application that takes information from the definition file, and/or from the Version Controlled File Storage to generate Core and Variant builds of the product.