System and method for product configuration using numerical clauses and inference procedures

A method for configuring a product, the method comprising:

• specifying a product definition, the product definition having one or more sets of elements, each set of elements associated with at least one of an include, exclude or required choice rule;
• representing each rule as a numerical clause, wherein each numerical clause includes (i) a set of literals associated with features of the product and (ii) number indicating a number of eliminable literals that evaluate to a predetermined state for the numerical clause to be satisfied;
• receiving user choices;
• resolving the user choices and product definition using an inference procedure comprising:
• determining one or more consequences of the choice using numerical unit resolution comprising:
• asserting a literal corresponding to the configuration choice;
• eliminating a literal that is a complement of the corresponding literal from every numerical clause containing the complement of the corresponding literal;
• and
• recursively asserting any literals in numerical clauses whose number of eliminable literals is zero;
• determining a configuration state of the product from a result of the inference procedure;
• and
• configuring the product in accordance with the determined configuration state.

An article of manufacture comprising:

• a computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein for configuring a product from multiple elements and a product definition of relationships between the elements, the computer usable medium comprising:
• computer readable program code configured to cause a computer to model the product configuration as conjunctions of numerical clauses, wherein each numerical clause includes (i) a set of literals associated with features of the product and (ii) number indicating a number of eliminable literals that evaluate to a predetermined state for the numerical clause to be satisfied;
• computer readable program code configured to cause a computer to receive a user feature choice;
• computer readable program code configured to cause a computer to generate a literal associated with the received user choice.
• computer readable program code configured to cause a computer to generate a state of the product configuration model using a numerical unit resolution between numerical clauses having a literal that is a complement of the literal associated with a received user choice;
• computer readable program code configured to cause a computer to assert a value for an element to the configuration model;
• and
• computer readable program code configured to cause a computer to determine a configuration state associated with the asserted value.

A configuration system for configuring a product using a configuration model having a conjunction of numerical clauses representing configuration constraints, wherein each numerical clause includes (i) a set of literals associated with features of the product and (ii) a number indicating a number of eliminable literals that evaluate to a predetermined state for the numerical clause to be satisfied, the configuration system comprising:

• means for receiving a configuration choice;
• and
• means for determining one or more consequences of the choice using numerical unit resolution comprising:
• means for asserting a literal corresponding to the configuration choice;
• means for eliminating a literal that is a complement of the corresponding literal from every numerical clause containing the complement of the corresponding literal;
• means for recursively asserting any literals in numerical clauses whose number of eliminable literals is zero;
• means for generating a configuration of the product in accordance with the configuration choice and the determined one or more consequences of the configuration choice.

An article of manufacture comprising:

• a computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein for configuring a product using a configuration model having a conjunction of numerical clauses representing configuration constraints, wherein each numerical clause includes (i) a set of literals associated with features of the product and (ii) a number indicating a number of eliminable literals that evaluate to a predetermined state for the numerical clause to be satisfied, the computer usable medium comprising:
• computer readable program code configured to cause a computer to receive a configuration choice;
• computer readable program code configured to cause the computer to determine one or more consequences of the choice using numerical unit resolution, wherein the code to determine one or more consequences of the choice using numerical unit resolution comprises code configured to cause the computer to:
• assert a literal corresponding to the configuration choice;
• eliminate a literal that is a complement of the corresponding literal from every numerical clause containing the complement of the corresponding literal;
• and
• recursively assert any literals in numerical clauses whose number of eliminable literals is zero;
• computer readable program code configured to cause the computer to generate a configuration of the product in accordance with the configuration choice and the determined one or more consequences of the configuration choice.

A computer system comprising:

• a processor;
• a memory coupled to the processor, the memory having information encoded therein to:
• specify a product definition, the product definition having one or more sets of elements, each set of elements associated with at least one of an include, exclude or required choice rule;
• represent each rule as a numerical clause, wherein each numerical clause includes (i) a set of literals associated with features of the product and (ii) number indicating a number of eliminable literals that evaluate to a predetermined state for the numerical clause to be satisfied;
• and
• cause the computer system to:
• receive user choices;
• resolve the user choices and product definition using an inference procedure comprising:
• determining one or more consequences of the choice using numerical unit resolution comprising:
• asserting a literal corresponding to the configuration choice;
• eliminating a literal that is a complement of the corresponding literal from every numerical clause containing the complement of the corresponding literal;
• and
• recursively asserting any literals in numerical clauses whose number of eliminable literals is zero;
• determine a configuration state of the product from a result of the inference procedure;
• and
• configure the product in accordance with the determined configuration state.

A computer system comprising:

• a processor;
• a memory coupled to the processor, the memory having computer readable program code embodied therein for configuring a product using a configuration model having a conjunction of numerical clauses representing configuration constraints, wherein each numerical clause includes (i) a set of literals associated with features of the product and (ii) a number indicating a number of eliminable literals that evaluate to a predetermined state for the clause to be satisfied, the computer usable medium comprising:
• computer readable program code configured to cause a computer to receive a configuration choice;
• computer readable program code configured to cause the computer to determine one or more consequences of the choice using numerical unit resolution, wherein the code to determine one or more consequences of the choice using numerical unit resolution comprises code configured to cause the computer to:
• assert a literal corresponding to the configuration choice;
• eliminate a literal that is a complement of the corresponding literal from every numerical clause containing the complement of the corresponding literal;
• and
• recursively assert any literals in numerical clauses whose number of eliminable literals is zero;
• computer readable program code configured to cause the computer to generate a configuration of the product in accordance with the configuration choice and the determined one or more consequences of the configuration choice.