System and method for configuring products over a communications network

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for the automated selection of formulations and/or formulation components by specifying product characteristics. In particular, the system and method serve customers within market segments that use selected components as raw materials for manufacture of specialty products and that require an understanding of how the selected components effect performance. For example, such products as electronic circuits, coatings, adhesives, sealants, inks, polishes, cleaners, and detergents fall within the profile of such products.

1 . An Internet-based method for a supplier of specialty components to provide promotional information about specialty components offered for sale by the supplier including technical support information to a potential customer for making formulations wherein each of the formulations may be used to make at least a portion of a product and each of the formulations includes at least one of the specialty components offered for sale by the supplier in addition to at least one other constituent component in each of the formulations, said method comprising the following acts: 
 providing an output over the Internet to the potential customer indicating a plurality of performance characteristics which may be specified by the potential customer for a proposed formulation;    accepting an input over the Internet from the potential customer including a set of customer specified performance characteristics for a proposed formulation;    providing an output over the Internet to the potential customer identifying a plurality of formulations substantially corresponding to said set of customer specified characteristics, each of said formulations including at least one of the specialty components offered for sale by the supplier and at least one other constituent component;    accepting an input over the Internet from the potential customer selecting at least one of said plurality of formulations as a trial formulation; and    providing further output over the Internet to the potential customer comprising technical support information relating to the at least one of said plurality of formulations selected as a trial formulation including information relating to the at least one specialty component offered and identification of all other constituent components in each selected trial formulation, said technical support information including a set of supplier provided characteristics supplemental to said set of customer specified characteristics for each of said trial formulations.    
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein said plurality of formulations comprise chemical formulations, said at least one specialty component in each of said chemical formulations comprises a specialty chemical and said set of supplier provided characteristics are performance characteristics for said chemical formulations.  
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein said plurality of formulations comprise electronic circuits, said at least one specialty component in each of said electronic circuits comprises an integrated circuit, and said supplier provided characteristics are operating values for said electronic circuits.  
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the identifying of said plurality of formulations includes the identification of at least one of said formulations as more highly recommended than another of said formulations.  
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4  wherein the identification of at least one of said formulations as more highly recommended includes the ranking of said plurality of formulations in order of most recommended to least recommended.  
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4  wherein the identifying of said plurality of formulations includes cautionary information about at least one of the other of said formulations.  
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1  wherein said set of performance characteristics to be specified by the customer includes at least one optionally specified characteristic.  
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising the act of providing an output to the potential customer over the Internet including the cost of the at least one specialty component in the at least one trial formulation.  
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8  further comprising the act of providing an output to the potential customer over the Internet including the cost of each of the said other constituent components in the at least one trial formulation.  
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9  further comprising the act of accepting an order from the potential customer over the Internet for the at least one specialty component.  
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising the act of providing an output to the potential customer over the Internet listing alternate components as suggested substitutes for at least one of said other constituent s in at least one trial formulation.  
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11  further comprising the act of accepting an input from the customer over the Internet substituting at least one of said alternate components in at least one of trial formulation.  
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising the acts of: 
 accepting an input from the potential customer over the Internet requesting storage of said at least one trial formulation for future reference by the potential customer; and    storing said at least one trial formulation for the potential customer.    
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13  further comprising the acts of: 
 accepting an input from the potential customer over the Internet including notes about said at least one trial formulation in storage; and    storing said notes for said customer in association with said at least one trial formulation.    
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1  wherein said technical support information further comprises recommended testing procedures.  
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1  wherein said technical support information further comprises a description of the physical properties of said at least one trial formulation.  
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising the acts of: 
 accepting a request from the potential customer over the Internet for modeling said at least one trial formulation; and    providing an output to the customer over the Internet modeling said at least one trial formulation.    
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the further output comprises a first generated output comprises the identification of the other constituent components to be combined with the at least one specialty component and a second generated output including the supplier provided characteristics supplemental to said customer specified characteristics.  
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18  further comprising the act accepting another input from the customer after the first generated output and before the second generated output.  
     
     
         20 . A network-based method for a supplier of specialty components to provide promotional information about a plurality of specialty components by supplying technical support to potential customers for making formulations from a plurality of constituents wherein each of said formulations includes at least one of the plurality of specialty components offered for sale by the supplier, the method comprising the following acts: 
 providing access by potential customers over the network to promotional information including technical support information about each of the plurality of specialty components;    providing access by potential customers over the network to an offer to sell each of the plurality of specialty components;    accepting an input from a potential customer over the network indicative of the characteristics of a formulation;    providing an output to a potential customer over the network identifying a plurality of formulations in response to the input wherein each of said formulations includes at least one of the plurality of specialty components being promoted and offered for sale by the supplier;    accepting another input from the potential customer over the network selecting at least one of the plurality of formulations as a trial formulation;    providing further output to the potential customer over the network identifying the other constituents to be used in combination with the at least one of the specialty components in the selected trial formulation and the performance characteristics of the selected trial formulation, said performance characteristics being substantially consistent with and supplemental to the characteristics input by the customer.    
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 20  wherein the further output comprises a first generated output comprising the identification of said other constituents and a second generated output comprising said performance characteristics.  
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 21  further comprising the act of accepting a further input from the customer over the network after the first generated output and prior to the second generated output.  
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 20  wherein said plurality of formulations comprise chemical formulations, said at least one specialty component in each of said chemical formulations comprises a specialty chemical and said set of supplier provided characteristics are performance characteristics for said chemical formulations.  
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 20  wherein said plurality of formulations comprise electronic circuits, said at least one specialty component in each of said electronic circuits comprises an integrated circuit and said supplier provided characteristics are operating values for said electronics.  
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 20  wherein the identifying of said plurality of formulations includes the identification of at least one of said formulations as more highly recommended than another of said formulations.  
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 25  wherein the identification of a least one of said formulations as more highly recommended includes the ranking of said formulations in order of most recommended to least recommended.  
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 25  wherein the identifying of said plurality of formulations includes cautionary information about at least one of the other of said formulations.  
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 20  wherein said set of performance characteristics to be specified by the customer includes at least one optionally specified characteristics.  
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 20  further comprising the act of providing an output to the potential customer over the network including the cost of the at least one specialty component in the at least one trial formulation.  
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 29  further comprising the act of providing the potential customer over the network including the cost of each of the other constituent components in the at least one trial formulation.  
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 30  further comprising the act of accepting an order from the potential customer over the network for the at least one specialty component.  
     
     
         32 . The method of claim of  claim 20  further comprising the act of providing an output to the potential customer over the network listing alternate components as suggested substitutes for at least one of said other constituents in the at least one trial formulation.  
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 32  further comprising the act of accepting an input from the customer over the network substituting at least one of said alternate components in the at least one trial formulation.  
     
     
         34 . The method of  claim 20  further comprising the acts of: 
 accepting an input from the potential customer over the network requesting storage of said at least one trial formulation for future reference by the potential customer; and    storing said at least one trial formulation for the potential customer.    
     
     
         35 . The method of  claim 34  further comprising the acts of: 
 accepting an input from the potential customer over the network including notes about the at least one trial formulation in storage; and    storing said notes for said customer in association with said at least one trial formulation.    
     
     
         36 . The method of  claim 20  wherein said technical support information further comprises recommended testing procedures.  
     
     
         37 . The method of  claim 20  wherein said technical support information further comprises a description of the physical properties of said at least one trial formulation.  
     
     
         38 . The method of  claim 20  further comprising the acts of: 
 accepting an input form the potential customer over the network requesting modeling said at least one trial formulation;    providing an output to the potential customer over the network modeling said at least one trial formulation.    
     
     
         39 . A network-based method for a customer to develop and make a product including at least a portion of the product which incorporates a formulation comprising at least one specialty component offered for sale by a supplier of specialty components, said method comprising the following acts: 
 transmitting from the customer to the supplier over the network a plurality of performance characteristics that a formulation should possess to be incorporated in the product being developed by the customer;    receiving by the customer from the supplier over the network the identification of a plurality of formulations corresponding to the plurality of performance characteristics, each of said formulations including at least one specialty component offered for sale by the supplier;    transmitting from the customer over the network a selection of at least one of the plurality of formulations as a trial formulation;    information relating to the at least one of the plurality of formulations selected as a trial formulation including information related to the at least one specialty component incorporated in the trial formulation and the identification of all other constituents used therein in addition to a set of supplier provided characteristics supplement to the performance characteristics provided by the customer.    
     
     
         40 . The method of  claim 39  further comprising the acts of: 
 receiving by the customer from the supplier over the network an offer to sell the at least one specialty component incorporated in the trial formulation; and    transmitting from the customer to the supplier over the network an order for the at least one specialty component incorporated in the trial formulation.    
     
     
         41 . The method of  claim 40  further comprising the act of making the product incorporating the trial formulation.  
     
     
         42 . The method of  claim 39  wherein the plurality of formulations comprise chemical formulations, the at least one specialty component in each of the chemical formulations comprises a specialty chemical and the set of supplier provided characteristics are performance characteristics for the chemical formulations.  
     
     
         43 . The method of  claim 39  wherein said plurality of formulations comprise electronic circuits, the at least one specialty component in each of said electronic circuits comprises an integrated circuit and the set of supplier provided characteristics are operating values for the electronic circuits.  
     
     
         44 . The method of  claim 43  wherein the identification of the plurality of formulations includes the identification of at least one of the formulations as more highly recommended than another of the formulations.  
     
     
         45 . The method of  claim 44  wherein the identifying of the at least one of the formulations as more highly recommended includes the ranking of the plurality of formulations in order of most recommend to least recommended.  
     
     
         46 . The method of  claim 39  wherein the identification of the plurality of formulations includes cautionary information about at least one of the formulations.  
     
     
         47 . The method of  claim 40  wherein the performance characteristics provided by the customer includes at least one optionally provided characteristic.  
     
     
         48 . The method of  claim 39  further comprising the act of receiving by the customer from the supplier over the network the cost of the at least one specialty component in the at least one trial formulation.  
     
     
         49 . The method of  claim 48  further comprising the act of receiving by the customer from the supplier over the network the cost of each of the other constituent components in the at least one trial formulation.  
     
     
         50 . The method of  claim 49  further comprising the act of transmitting from the customer to the supplier over the network an order for samples of the at least one specialty component and the other constituent components in the at least one trial formulation.  
     
     
         51 . The method  claim 39  further comprising the acts of: 
 receiving by the customer from the supplier over the network a list of alternate components as suggested substitutes for at least one of the other constituents in each of the trial formulations; and    transmitting from the customer to the supplier over the network a request to substitute at least one of alternate components.    
     
     
         52 . The method of  claim 39  further comprising the act of transmitting from the customer to the supplier over the network a request to store the at least one trial formulation for future reference.  
     
     
         53 . The method of  claim 39  further comprising the act of transmitting from the customer to the supplier over the network a request to store notes associated with at least one trial formulation.  
     
     
         54 . The method of  claim 39  wherein the technical support information further comprises recommended testing procedures.  
     
     
         55 . The method of  claim 39  wherein the technical support information further comprises a description of the physical properties of the at least one trial formulation.  
     
     
         56 . The method of  claim 39  further comprising the acts of: 
 transmitting form the customer to the supplier over the network a request for modeling the at least one trial formulation; and    receiving by the customer from the supplier over the network modeling of the at least one trial formulation.    
     
     
         57 . The method of  claim 39  further comprising the act of transmitting a request from the customer to the supplier over the network for the supplier provided characteristics after receiving the at least one trial formulation including the other constituent components.