PARAMETRIC PRODUCT CONFIGURATION SYSTEM
A generic, integrated, parametric, automated product configuration system for parametric configuration of products such as offices on a building space plan. The system can produce bills of materials, costings and manufacturing drawings in real-time at the request of a user as the user specifies and configures the product components and parameters values. The system provides for real time three-dimensional visualization and editing of the product as it is configured. It also includes a rule engine for validating the product and automatically incorporating missing necessary components in a configuration in real-time as the user configures a product.
1 . A product configuration system comprising:
a. A sketcher module for generating and displaying a product design from parameterized model configurations in real-time as a user specifies the model configurations and their parameter values; and
b. A dynamic assembly logic module for generating a costing and a bill of materials for the product design at the request of the user as the user specifies the model configurations and their parameter values.
2 . The system of claim 1 wherein the sketcher module and dynamic assembly logic module are implemented in software designed to run on one or more programmable processors.
3 . The system of claim 1 wherein the model configurations include wall panels and doors.
4 . The system of claim 1 wherein the dynamic assembly logic module also automatically generates manufacturing drawings at the request of the user.
5 . The system of claim 1 further comprising a rule engine module for validating the product design in real-time as the user specifies the model configurations and their parameter values.
6 . The system of claim 5 wherein the rule engine module also identifies model configurations missing from the product design and automatically adds them to the product design.
7 . The system of claim 5 wherein the rule engine module evaluates parameter values for validity.
8 . The system of claim 7 wherein the rule engine compares multiple parameters against each other.
9 . The system of claim 1 further comprising a logic converter module for importing a parametric EGAD model.
10 . The system of claim 1 wherein the sketcher can import a reference floor plan produced by an offline CAD program.
11 . The system of claim 1 wherein the costing is computed based on the model configuration parameter values.
12 . The system of claim 2 wherein the sketcher module runs on a client computer system and the dynamic assembly logic module runs on a server computer system in electronic communication with the client computer system via a network.
13 . The system of claim 12 wherein the sketcher module runs in a browser window using only commercial off-the-shelf software.
14 . The system of claim 1 wherein the system generates three-dimensional visualizations of the product design in real-time as the user edits the product design and displays the visualizations to the user.
15 . The system of claim 14 wherein the user can edit the product design by selecting and modifying components in the product design in a three-dimensional visualization.