US6345258B1
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Information system for new home builders
Assignee: Individual
•
Filing: 1998-12-28
•
Granted: 2002-02-05
•
Expires: 2018-12-28
Abstract
Abstract An information system for the management of the new home construction process. The system is designed to be used by builders that reuse house plans or product information in the new homes they build. Three distinct steps in the process are used as the basis for the information model: product development, procurement and order fulfillment. The software is divided into three modules based upon three distinct dialects that must be related and communicated efficiently. The option module is used at on-site sales offices, facilitating the automated selection of defined builder options, creating a completed house design with pricing. The procurement/contracting module is used to maintain quotes and contract information on subcontractors responsible for constructing the new home. The production/scheduling module is used to manage the activities of all subcontractors, to ensure timely and efficient meeting of construction deadlines and the approval of all work as completed by subcontractors for payment. The information system uses semantic database tools. The semantic database stores information as objects, relationships, and role players for efficiency in reaching the finest levels of detailed information required to build a new home economically and at predetermined project levels.
Inventors
- 👤 William E. Pickens
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-30 02:47
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06Q; G06Q50/00; G06Q50/10; G06Q50/16; G06Q10/00; G06Q10/10
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 28
Claim 1
Independent Claim
109 words
A method of estimating for building plural custom architectural variations in plural skeletal house plans comprising organizing building construction information into a semantic database having objects, relationships between said objects, and roles defined by combinations of said objects and said relationships, and further providing to the database: a customer object, a lot object, a county object, a superintendent object, an annual sales object, an annual curve object, a deposit object, a mortgage object, an insurance object, a title object, an appraisal object, a salesperson object, a bank object, a entry object, a subphase object, a telephone number object, a contact object, a person object, and an item number object.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
109 words
A method of estimating for building plural custom architectural variations in plural skeletal house plans comprising organizing building construction information into a semantic database having objects, relationships between said objects, and roles defined by combinations of said objects and said relationships, and further providing to the database: a customer object, a lot object, a county object, a superintendent object, an annual sales object, an annual curve object, a deposit object, a mortgage object, an insurance object, a title object, an appraisal object, a salesperson object, a bank object, a entry object, a subphase object, a telephone number object, a contact object, a person object, and an item number object.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
63 words
The method of claim 1 , wherein the annual curve object and the annual sales object have a pace relationship further comprising a monthly estimate role between the said annual sales object and said pace relationship, and a selected role between said pace relationship and said annual curve object, further comprising a market relationship having a projection role with the annual sales object.
Claim 4
Independent Claim
201 words
A method of providing information for profitability and timely pricing of custom-modified skeletal new home product versions by home builders comprising providing a database, inputting and storing property and lot information, inputting and storing house product version information, inputting and storing variations information and groups of variations information with the product version information, inputting and storing market information, inputting and storing available lot information, inputting and storing financial service information, inputting and storing builder information, inputting and storing subcontractor information, ordering a home by a customer including selecting an available lot and house product version from the database and selecting variations, providing combined selected lot and product version information from the database as a project, providing the project information to a builder in the database, assigning a task from the builder in the database, organizing the tasks into subsets, obtaining quotes from vendors and subcontractors, providing quote information through the task to product version information, providing quotes information through the tasks, the builder, and the project to a salesperson, negotiating a sales contract between the customer and the sales person, providing the sales contract to an accounting component, providing the quotes information to the accounting component, and developing settlement documents therefrom.
Claim 5
Independent Claim
201 words
A method of providing information for profitability and timely pricing of custom-modified skeletal new home product versions by home builders comprising providing a database, inputting and storing property and lot information, inputting and storing house product version information, inputting and storing variations information and groups of variations information with the product version information, inputting and storing market information, inputting and storing available lot information, inputting and storing financial service information, inputting and storing builder information, inputting and storing subcontractor information, ordering a home by a customer including selecting an available lot and house product version from the database and selecting variations, providing combined selected lot and product version information from the database as a project, providing the project information to a builder in the database, assigning a task from the builder in the database, organizing the tasks into subsets, obtaining quotes from vendors and subcontractors, providing quote information through the task to product version information, providing quotes information through the tasks, the builder, and the project to a salesperson, negotiating a sales contract between the customer and the sales person, providing the sales contract to an accounting component, providing the quotes information to the accounting component, and developing settlement documents therefrom.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
37 words
The method of claim 3 further comprising providing deposit information and the sales contract information to appraisal, title, bank, and mortgage components, and providing information from the appraisal, title, bank, and mortgage components to the sales contract.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
23 words
The method of claim 3 further comprising providing information from the subsets through the task to the product version components in the database.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
23 words
The method of claim 3 further comprising providing information from the estimates through the task to the product version components in the database.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
21 words
The method of claim 3 further comprising providing the market information and annual sales, and projecting therefrom monthly estimates and pace.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
18 words
The method of claim 3 wherein the providing of quotes further comprises calculating bid changes from the quotes.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
21 words
The method of claim 3 wherein the providing of the subsets includes the providing of drawings sets to the variations information.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
18 words
The method of claim 3 further comprising assigning variations numbers to various information and organizing variations in groups.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
41 words
The method of claim 10 further comprising assigning demander and demandee, restrictor and restrictee relationship designations to the variations numbers and wherein the organizing comprises organizing the variations numbers in groups according to the restrictor, restrictee, demander, and demandee relationship designations.
Claim 14
Independent Claim
121 words
The method of providing costing and data on preselected skeletal home plans and variations comprising storing a number of skeletal home plans in a database, storing a larger number of variation plans in the database, storing project and lot components, storing market and projection components, storing product and variation components, storing tasking, costing and accounting components, storing sales contract components, storing builder components, making selections of lot and product variations, providing tasking, costing and accounting information to a builder, according to the selections, providing accounting information to the sales contract components according to the selections, and providing for negotiations according to the selections and accounting information, assigning a project according to the negotiations, and assigning tasks and subsets to the project.
Claim 15
Independent Claim
121 words
The method of providing costing and data on preselected skeletal home plans and variations comprising storing a number of skeletal home plans in a database, storing a larger number of variation plans in the database, storing project and lot components, storing market and projection components, storing product and variation components, storing tasking, costing and accounting components, storing sales contract components, storing builder components, making selections of lot and product variations, providing tasking, costing and accounting information to a builder, according to the selections, providing accounting information to the sales contract components according to the selections, and providing for negotiations according to the selections and accounting information, assigning a project according to the negotiations, and assigning tasks and subsets to the project.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
18 words
The method of claim 12 , wherein all of the storing steps comprise storing in a single database.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
19 words
The method of claim 12 , wherein the storing, providing and assigning steps are accomplished in a single database.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
200 words
An information system apparatus for management of new home construction process, comprising a software system used by builders that reuse house plans or product information in building new homes, the software system providing three distinct steps in a process used as a basis for the information system: product development, procurement and order fulfillment; the software system being divided into three modules based upon three distinct dialects that must be related and communicated efficiently: an option module, a procurement/contracting module and a production/scheduling module, the option module being used at on-site sales offices, facilitating the automated selection of defined builder options, creating a completed house design with pricing, the procurement/contracting module being used for maintaining quotes and contract information on subcontractors responsible for constructing the new home, and the production/scheduling module being used for managing the activities of all subcontractors, for ensuring timely and efficient meeting of construction deadlines and approval of all work as completed by subcontractors for payment, the information system using semantic database tools, the semantic database storing information as objects, relationships, and role players, variations and restrictors for efficiency in reaching levels of detailed information required to build a new home economically and at predetermined project levels.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
200 words
An information system apparatus for management of new home construction process, comprising a software system used by builders that reuse house plans or product information in building new homes, the software system providing three distinct steps in a process used as a basis for the information system: product development, procurement and order fulfillment; the software system being divided into three modules based upon three distinct dialects that must be related and communicated efficiently: an option module, a procurement/contracting module and a production/scheduling module, the option module being used at on-site sales offices, facilitating the automated selection of defined builder options, creating a completed house design with pricing, the procurement/contracting module being used for maintaining quotes and contract information on subcontractors responsible for constructing the new home, and the production/scheduling module being used for managing the activities of all subcontractors, for ensuring timely and efficient meeting of construction deadlines and approval of all work as completed by subcontractors for payment, the information system using semantic database tools, the semantic database storing information as objects, relationships, and role players, variations and restrictors for efficiency in reaching levels of detailed information required to build a new home economically and at predetermined project levels.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
15 words
The method of claim 15 , wherein all modules are maintained in a single database.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
111 words
A new home defining, product variation, costing and selling system, comprising computer software having a product variation module containing words describing product variations and a comprehensive listing of product variations with groups of product variations and having restrictors for restricting selections of product variations according to previously determined conflicts of the product variations, a costing module combining the comprehensive listing of product variations and accounting job costs related to each product variation, and a sales module comprising sales contracting variations connected to the product variation module for selecting product variations from the product variation module and connected to the costing module for receiving pricing and accounting information from the costing module.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
111 words
A new home defining, product variation, costing and selling system, comprising computer software having a product variation module containing words describing product variations and a comprehensive listing of product variations with groups of product variations and having restrictors for restricting selections of product variations according to previously determined conflicts of the product variations, a costing module combining the comprehensive listing of product variations and accounting job costs related to each product variation, and a sales module comprising sales contracting variations connected to the product variation module for selecting product variations from the product variation module and connected to the costing module for receiving pricing and accounting information from the costing module.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
68 words
The system of claim 17 , further comprising a project module listing projects and listing lots and characteristics of the lots within the projects connected to the project variation module, having the listing of lots connected to the comprehensive listing of product variations, and having the listing of lots and characteristics of the lots connected to the restrictors for restricting selection of product variations according to lot characteristics.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
34 words
The system of claim 18 , further comprising a market projection module, and having a pace projector connected to the listing of lots for releasing groups of lots for selection by the sales module.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
90 words
A new home defining, product variation, pricing and selling system, comprising computer software having a product variation module containing words describing product variations and a comprehensive listing of product variations with groups of product variations and having restrictors for restricting selections of product variations according to previously selected variations and previously determined conflicts of the product variations, and a sales module comprising sales contracting information and variations selection and pricing information connected to the product variation module for selecting product variations and receiving pricing information from the product variation module.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
90 words
A new home defining, product variation, pricing and selling system, comprising computer software having a product variation module containing words describing product variations and a comprehensive listing of product variations with groups of product variations and having restrictors for restricting selections of product variations according to previously selected variations and previously determined conflicts of the product variations, and a sales module comprising sales contracting information and variations selection and pricing information connected to the product variation module for selecting product variations and receiving pricing information from the product variation module.
Claim 27
Independent Claim
246 words
A method of providing information for profitability and timely pricing of custom-modified skeletal new home product versions by home builders comprising providing a database, inputting and storing property and lot information, inputting and storing house product version information, inputting and storing variations information and groups of variations information with the house product version information, assigning variations numbers to various information and organizing variations in groups, assigning restrictor relationship designations to the variations numbers and organizing the variations numbers in groups according to the restrictor relationship designations, and restricting selecting of variations according to previous selecting of variations, inputting and storing market information, inputting and storing available lot information, inputting and storing financial service information, inputting and storing builder information, inputting and storing subcontractor information, ordering a home by a customer including selecting an available lot and house product version from the database and selecting variations, providing combined selected lot and product version information from the database as a project, providing the project information to a builder from the database, assigning a task from the builder in the database, organizing the tasks into subsets, obtaining quotes from vendors and subcontractors, providing quote information through the task subsets to product version information, providing pricing quotes information from the builder, and the project to a salesperson, negotiating a sales contract between the customer and the sales person, providing the sales contract to an accounting module, providing the pricing quotes information to the accounting module, and developing settlement documents therefrom.
Claim 28
Independent Claim
246 words
A method of providing information for profitability and timely pricing of custom-modified skeletal new home product versions by home builders comprising providing a database, inputting and storing property and lot information, inputting and storing house product version information, inputting and storing variations information and groups of variations information with the house product version information, assigning variations numbers to various information and organizing variations in groups, assigning restrictor relationship designations to the variations numbers and organizing the variations numbers in groups according to the restrictor relationship designations, and restricting selecting of variations according to previous selecting of variations, inputting and storing market information, inputting and storing available lot information, inputting and storing financial service information, inputting and storing builder information, inputting and storing subcontractor information, ordering a home by a customer including selecting an available lot and house product version from the database and selecting variations, providing combined selected lot and product version information from the database as a project, providing the project information to a builder from the database, assigning a task from the builder in the database, organizing the tasks into subsets, obtaining quotes from vendors and subcontractors, providing quote information through the task subsets to product version information, providing pricing quotes information from the builder, and the project to a salesperson, negotiating a sales contract between the customer and the sales person, providing the sales contract to an accounting module, providing the pricing quotes information to the accounting module, and developing settlement documents therefrom.
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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) | 2005-02-04 | 2005-08-06 | 2006-02-05 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2009-02-04 | 2009-08-06 | 2010-02-05 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2013-02-04 | 2013-08-06 | 2014-02-05 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |