Software interface management systems and methods

1. An interface control module comprising:

a link generation module that generates a first link of an interface between a provider module and a consumer module,

an interface contract module that generates an interface contract for the interface, wherein the provider module provides parameters to the consumer module via the interface according to the interface contract, and

wherein:

the interface contract includes the first link; and

the interface contract defines the interface based on a bill of materials (BOM);

an interface assembly module that assembles modules including the provider module and the consumer module to generate a product, wherein the provider module and the consumer module are assembled to have the interface according to the interface contract; and

an interface viewing module that displays logical and physical views of the product on a display at least one of before and after assembly of the product.

2. The interface control module of claim 1 , wherein the interface contract comprises a provider identification (ID), a consumer ID, an interface definition object ID, a link ID and a data object ID.

3. The interface control module of claim 1 , wherein the interface contract defines, for a plurality of products, a plurality of relationships between feature elements of the provider module and the consumer module.

4. The interface control module of claim 3 , wherein the feature elements comprise at least one of a component and an interface definition object.

5. The interface control module of claim 1 , wherein the interface contract is between content level items of different hierarchal levels of the BOM.

6. The interface control module of claim 5 , wherein:

the content level items comprise a control system, group flavors, ring flavors, and features;

each of the group flavors has a selected set of the ring flavors;

each of the ring flavors has a selected set of the features; and

the features include components and interfaces.

7. The interface control module of claim 1 , wherein:

the provider module is on a different hierarchal level of the BOM than the consumer module;

the provider module includes an interface definition object and data objects;

the interface definition object generates the data objects; and

the data objects include the parameters.

8. The interface control module of claim 1 , further comprising a product level interface module that identifies a plurality of interfaces associated with each hierarchal level of the BOM, wherein:

each of the plurality of interfaces has definitions corresponding to each of a plurality of ring flavors;

each of the definitions defines links of one of the plurality of interfaces; and

the interface between the provider module and the consumer module has at least one definition from each of the plurality of ring flavors.

9. The interface control module of claim 1 , wherein the interface viewing module, when displaying the logical and physical views of the product, displays links between modules of the product including the first link between the provider module and the consumer module.

10. The interface control module of claim 1 , wherein the interface contract module, based on the interface contract, creates a second interface contract based on the first interface contract.

11. A product-line managing module comprising the interface control module of claim 10 and further comprising:

the display; and

product-line memory that stores the interface contract.

12. The interface control module of claim 1 , wherein:

the provider module is an interface definition object, the consumer module is a first component; and

the link generation module generates a second link between a data object and the interface definition object.

13. The interface control module of claim 12 , wherein the link generation module generates a third link between a second component and the interface definition object.

14. The interface control module of claim 13 , wherein the interface contract module defines the first link, the second link and the third link.

15. The interface control module of claim 1 , further comprising an interface status module that determines a readiness level of the interface based on a workflow state,

wherein the assembly module assembles the product based on the readiness level.

16. The interface control module of claim 1 , further comprising an interface search and analysis module that searches a product-line memory for the product and analyzes the product based on interfaces associated with the product including the interface between the provider module and the consumer module,

wherein the interface search and analysis module provides a plurality of inputs to the product and analyzes outputs of the product, and wherein the outputs are generated based on the plurality of inputs.

17. The interface control module of claim 1 , wherein interface assembly module assembles the provider module and the consumer module based on a second version of the provider module and not a first version of the provider module and based on the first link,

wherein a release date of the first version is before a release date of the second version.

18. The interface control module of claim 17 , wherein:

the first version is linked to a first data object and not to a second data object; and

the second version is linked to the second data object and not to the first data object.

19. The interface control module of claim 18 , wherein the interface assembly module assembles the provider module and the consumer module based on a third version of the provider module,

wherein:

the release date of the second version is before a release date of the third version;

the third version is linked to the second data object;

the second version of the provider module is assembled based on a first version of the second data object; and

the third version of the provider module is assembled based on a second version of the second data object.

20. The interface control module of claim 1 , wherein the interface viewing module displays links between modules of each of a plurality of control modules and displays links between the plurality of control modules on the display.