Dynamic Product Configuration Interface for Complex Option Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current product configuration systems for complex products, such as vehicles, overwhelm customers with numerous options and fail to adequately address interdependencies between features, requiring inflexible coding for updates, which is costly and error-prone.
Innovation Solution
A dynamic authoring environment allows modelers to design product configuration models with user-interactable interfaces, defining options, states, transition rules, and buttons, enabling flexible and customizable product configuration without programming expertise.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If all options are presented on a single webpage, then the customer can see all options at once, but the customer becomes overwhelmed and distracted
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the comprehensive product configuration interface into multiple organized sections or tabs, grouping related options together (e.g., exterior options, interior options, safety features). This segmentation allows customers to access all options while preventing information overload by presenting them in manageable chunks rather than a single overwhelming list.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces hierarchical navigation structures and collapsible/expandable sections that add dimensional layers to the interface. Customers can drill down into specific option categories as needed, transforming a flat single-page layout into a multi-level interactive structure that organizes information both comprehensively and selectively.
2Loss of information
If all options are presented on a single webpage, then the customer can see all options at once, but interdependencies between options are not adequately addressed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements real-time feedback mechanisms that automatically detect option selections and trigger appropriate responses. When a customer selects an option, the system provides immediate feedback by updating available options, showing compatibility information, or disabling incompatible options. This dynamic feedback loop ensures interdependencies are actively managed rather than passively displayed.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transforms the static option list into a dynamic interface where option availability and visibility change based on customer selections. The system dynamically adjusts which options are presented, which are disabled, and which become available only after certain prerequisites are met, making interdependencies active and adaptive rather than fixed and overwhelming.
3Adaptability or versatility
If coding is used to define configuration pages, then flexibility can be improved, but coding requirements increase complexity and cost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a self-service configuration system where the interface automatically adapts to customer selections without requiring manual coding interventions. The system self-adjusts option availability, updates configurations, and manages interdependencies through automated rules and algorithms, eliminating the need for developers to write custom code for each configuration scenario.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses parameter-driven configuration where the system behavior is controlled by changing data parameters rather than coding. Configuration rules, option availabilities, and interface behaviors are managed through parameter files or metadata that can be modified without touching the core system code, allowing flexibility through data rather than programming complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
An authoring environment is provided by which a modeler can design a product configuration model from which a user interface is generated, the latter of which is user-interactable (or customer-interactable) for product configuration. A plurality of options offered for a particular product are definable, and states, which can correspond to respective user interface screens, for example, are definable, which refer to defined options. The modeler can use the authoring environment to associate groups of one or more previously defined options with respective ones of the defined states, for example, for population of the screens to which the states correspond with the associated group of options. The authoring environment provides for the modeler to be able to define transition rules between the defined states/screens. A modeler engine converts the model designed using the authoring environment into a product configuration usable by customers.