Patent US5210686A successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
US5210686A
Expired / Lapsed
US
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Multilevel bill of material processing
Assignee: International Business Machines Corp
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Filing: 1990-10-19
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Granted: 1993-05-11
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Expires: 2010-10-19
Abstract
Abstract A method and system for processing a multilevel bill of material contained in a relational database that does not require a pre-established limit on the number of levels that can be processed and minimizes user lock out from the same data. A control table keeps track of each component retrieved at a given level of the bill of material, tagging each table entry with a component item identifier, bill of material level, and component sequence number, which identifies the order in which components are processed at each level. A counter is used to keep track of the next level in the bill of material to be processed and a stack data structure is used to indicate the sequence number of the next component to be processed at a given level. The contents of the counter and top of the stack are used to index into the control table to select for processing the entry in the table that has a bill of material level and sequence number matching the contents of the counter and top of stack, respectively.
Inventors
- 👤 John M. Jernigan
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-29 12:13
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06Q; G06Q10/00; G06Q10/08; G06Q10/087; G06Q10/0875
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 14
Claim 1
Independent Claim
299 words
A method for processing a hierarchical bill of material component data file stored in a relational database on a data processing system having a processor, a memory and an external storage device, said hierarchical bill of material component data file having a plurality of levels defining components of a product structure assembly in increasing detail in proceeding from the highest level to the lowest level in said product structure assembly, said method comprising: adding an item identifier for said product structure assembly to an explosion control table to initiate processing of said hierarchical bill of material component data file; incrementing a current level counter in said memory to indicate the level in said hierarchical bill of material component data file to be processed next; retrieving each component at the level indicated by the current level counter and inserting said each component in an explosion control table; sequentially processing each component retrieved at the level indicated by the current level counter to determine if said each component contains a lower level component in said hierarchical bill of material component data file; for each lower level component found, repeating said steps of incrementing the current level counter, retrieving each component at the level indicated, and sequentially processing each component retrieved until each component at the lowest level along a branch in said hierarchical bill of material component data file has been processed; removing each component at the current level from said explosion control table after the lowest level along the branch has been processed and decrementing said current level counter to indicate the level in said hierarchical bill of material component data file to be processed next; and terminating processing of said hierarchical bill of material component data file when said current level counter has been decremented to a negative value.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
299 words
A method for processing a hierarchical bill of material component data file stored in a relational database on a data processing system having a processor, a memory and an external storage device, said hierarchical bill of material component data file having a plurality of levels defining components of a product structure assembly in increasing detail in proceeding from the highest level to the lowest level in said product structure assembly, said method comprising: adding an item identifier for said product structure assembly to an explosion control table to initiate processing of said hierarchical bill of material component data file; incrementing a current level counter in said memory to indicate the level in said hierarchical bill of material component data file to be processed next; retrieving each component at the level indicated by the current level counter and inserting said each component in an explosion control table; sequentially processing each component retrieved at the level indicated by the current level counter to determine if said each component contains a lower level component in said hierarchical bill of material component data file; for each lower level component found, repeating said steps of incrementing the current level counter, retrieving each component at the level indicated, and sequentially processing each component retrieved until each component at the lowest level along a branch in said hierarchical bill of material component data file has been processed; removing each component at the current level from said explosion control table after the lowest level along the branch has been processed and decrementing said current level counter to indicate the level in said hierarchical bill of material component data file to be processed next; and terminating processing of said hierarchical bill of material component data file when said current level counter has been decremented to a negative value.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
50 words
The method of claim 1 wherein the step of inserting said each component in the explosion control table includes adding an item number identifier, an associated bill of material level identifier and an associated component sequence number identifier for said each component to a row of said explosion control table.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
56 words
The method of claim 2 wherein the step of sequentially processing each component includes using the component item number identifier of said each component as a search key in the bill of material component data file to locate the lower level component, if any, for said each component in said bill of material component data file.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
93 words
The method of claim 2 further including the step of maintaining a current component sequence stack in said memory to track the component being processed at the level of the bill of material component data file indicated by the current level counter, a value on the top of the stack identifying the component sequence identifier of the component being processed at the level indicated by the current level counter, the values stored below the top of the stack identifying successively a last component processed at each higher level in said bill of material.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
124 words
The method of claim 4 wherein the step of maintaining said current component sequence stack includes: pushing a new value onto the top of said current component sequence stack to initiate processing of the next level below the level of said bill of material component data file indicated by the current level counter; incrementing the value on the top of said current component sequence stack in order to advance to the next component to be processed at the level of said bill of material component data file indicated by the current level counter; and popping the value on the top of said current component sequence stack after completion of processing of all components at the level indicated by the current level counter is detected.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
139 words
The method of claim 5 wherein the step of detecting completion of processing at each level in said hierarchical bill of material component data file includes: searching the explosion control table using the bill of material level field as a search key to identify each component having the bill of material level that is the same as the level indicator by the current level counter; for each component identified as having the bill of material level equal to the level indicated by the current level counter, examining said each component identified to determine if its component sequence number is the same as the value on the top of the current component sequence stack; and if no match is found after examining said each component identified, deleting the row in the explosion control table corresponding to said each component identified.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
19 words
The method of claim 1 wherein said explosion control table is a temporary data table stored in said memory.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
23 words
The method of claim 1 wherein said explosion control table is a database file stored in the relational database on the storage device.
Claim 10
Independent Claim
321 words
A method for processing a hierarchical bill of material component data file generated by a relational computer database said hierarchical bill of material component data file containing a plurality of levels defining components of a product structure assembly in increasing detail in proceeding from a higher to a lower level in said product structure assembly and in which the level being processed constitutes the only row in the bill of material component data file that is inaccessible to other users, said method comprising: adding an item identifier for the product structure assembly to an explosion control table to initiate processing of said hierarchical bill of material component data file; retrieving each immediate component of the product structure assembly that is at a first level in the bill of material component data file and adding said each immediate component to the explosion control table; incrementing a counter to determine a next lower level in said hierarchical bill of material data file to process after each component at the first level is retrieved and added to the explosion control table; retrieving each component at said next lower level in said hierarchical bill of material data file and adding said each component at said next lower level to the explosion control table; repeating said steps of incrementing a counter to determine a next lower level and retrieving and adding each component at said next lower level until the lowest level along a branch of said hierarchical bill of material component data file has been processed; removing each component at said lowest level along the branch of said hierarchical bill of material component data and decrementing the counter in order to return to a next higher level and continue processing along a next branch of said hierarchical bill of material component data file; terminating the processing of the hierarchical bill of material component data file when the counter has been decremented to a negative value.
Claim 11
Independent Claim
321 words
A method for processing a hierarchical bill of material component data file generated by a relational computer database said hierarchical bill of material component data file containing a plurality of levels defining components of a product structure assembly in increasing detail in proceeding from a higher to a lower level in said product structure assembly and in which the level being processed constitutes the only row in the bill of material component data file that is inaccessible to other users, said method comprising: adding an item identifier for the product structure assembly to an explosion control table to initiate processing of said hierarchical bill of material component data file; retrieving each immediate component of the product structure assembly that is at a first level in the bill of material component data file and adding said each immediate component to the explosion control table; incrementing a counter to determine a next lower level in said hierarchical bill of material data file to process after each component at the first level is retrieved and added to the explosion control table; retrieving each component at said next lower level in said hierarchical bill of material data file and adding said each component at said next lower level to the explosion control table; repeating said steps of incrementing a counter to determine a next lower level and retrieving and adding each component at said next lower level until the lowest level along a branch of said hierarchical bill of material component data file has been processed; removing each component at said lowest level along the branch of said hierarchical bill of material component data and decrementing the counter in order to return to a next higher level and continue processing along a next branch of said hierarchical bill of material component data file; terminating the processing of the hierarchical bill of material component data file when the counter has been decremented to a negative value.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
49 words
The method of claim 9 wherein each component added to said explosion control table contains an item number, a level number and a sequence number, the sequence number being incremented as each component is added to identify an order in which each component at the same level is processed.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
78 words
The method of claim 10 further including: pushing a numerical value of one on the top of a stack data structure to determine the ordering scheme for explosion of each component at said next lower level; comparing the contents of the counter and the numerical value on top of the stack with the level number and sequence number for each component added to the explosion control table to determine the component to process at said next lower level.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
64 words
The method of claim 11 further including incrementing the numerical value on the top of the stack after each component at the next lower level in the hierarchical bill of material data file is retrieved and added to the explosion control table and popping the numerical value on the top of the stack after each component at the next lower level has been processed.
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 1996-05-10 | 1996-11-09 | 1997-05-11 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2000-05-10 | 2000-11-09 | 2001-05-11 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2004-05-10 | 2004-11-09 | 2005-05-11 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |