Collaborative product lifecycle management

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10430432-B2
Application number	US-201514738667-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 12, 2015
Priority date	Jun 12, 2014
Publication date	Oct 1, 2019
Grant date	Oct 1, 2019

Abstract

An apparatus, method, and program product are disclosed for collaborative product lifecycle management. One apparatus includes a data processing module that receives product lifecycle management (“PLM”) data from multiple client applications in a collaborative environment. The PLM data may be in a client specific format. The apparatus includes a subscription module that receives one or more subscription requests from each client application. Moreover, the apparatus includes a conversion module that converts the PLM data from the client specific format to a generic format. The apparatus includes a storage module that stores the generic format of the PLM data. The conversion module may convert subscription data from the generic format to the client specific format. The subscription data may correspond to the PLM data stored in the generic format. The subscription module may provide the subscription data to the multiple client applications based on the one or more subscription requests.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computing apparatus comprising:
a data processing component that receives product lifecycle management (“PLM”) data from a plurality of client applications in a collaborative environment, wherein the PLM data is in a client specific format;
a subscription component that receives one or more subscription requests for automatic ongoing PLM data updates from each client application of the plurality of client applications wherein the one or more subscription requests are requests to subscribe to a selected portion of the PLM data that is useful to the respective client application;
a conversion component that converts the PLM data from the client specific format to a generic format; and
a storage component that stores the PLM data in the generic format,
wherein the conversion component converts subscription data from the generic format to the client specific format, wherein the subscription data corresponds to the selected portion of the PLM data stored in the generic format that is useful to the respective client application, and the subscription component provides the subscription data to the plurality of client applications based on the one or more subscription requests, and
wherein the data processing component, the subscription component, the conversion component, and the storage component are integrated into one or more non-application executable layers of the computing apparatus and each component thereof comprises one or more of hardware and executable code that is stored on one or more computer readable storage media.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the conversion component comprises a mapping component that includes conversion algorithms to convert the PLM data from the client specific format to the generic format.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the storage component comprises a database.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 , comprising an estimation component that calculates an estimate using data from a plurality of related fields in the database.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the estimation component uses flagged items from the plurality of related fields to calculate the estimate.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , comprising a selection component that selects items to mark as the flagged items.

7. A method comprising:
receiving product lifecycle management (“PLM”) data from a plurality of client applications in a collaborative environment, wherein the PLM data is in a client specific format;
receiving one or more subscription requests for automatic ongoing PLM data updates from each client application of the plurality of client applications wherein the one or more subscription requests are requests to subscribe to a selected portion of the PLM data that is useful to the respective client application;
converting the PLM data from the client specific format to a generic format;
storing the PLM data in the generic format;
converting subscription data from the generic format to the client specific format, wherein the subscription data corresponds to the selected portion of the PLM data stored in the generic format that is useful to the respective client application;
providing the subscription data to the plurality of client applications based on the one or more subscription requests; and
wherein the operations of receiving PLM data, receiving one or more subscription requests, converting the PLM data, storing the PLM data, converting subscription data, and providing the subscription data are integrated into one or more executable layers of a computing apparatus dedicated to product lifecycle management.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the PLM data comprises one or more of engineering data, computer-aided design (“CAD”) data, and supply-chain management data.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein converting the PLM data from the client specific format to the generic format comprises using conversion algorithms.

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein storing the generic format of the PLM data comprises storing the generic format of the PLM data in a database.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the database operates with referential integrity.

12. The method of claim 10 , comprising calculating an estimate using data from a plurality of related fields in the database.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein calculating the estimate using the data from the plurality of related fields in the database comprises using flagged items from the plurality of related fields to calculate the estimate.

14. The method of claim 13 , comprising manually selecting items to mark as the flagged items.

15. The method of claim 13 , comprising selecting items to mark as the flagged items using a predetermined algorithm.

16. The method of claim 7 , wherein converting subscription data from the generic format to the client specific format comprises using conversion algorithms.

17. The method of claim 7 , wherein providing the subscription data to the plurality of client applications based on the one or more subscription requests comprises providing immediate updates to the plurality of client applications before the PLM data is stored.

18. A non-transitory computer program product for product lifecycle management (“PLM”) collaboration, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a processor to cause the processor to:
receive PLM data from a plurality of client applications in a collaborative environment, wherein the PLM data is in a client specific format;
receive one or more subscription requests for automatic ongoing PLM data updates from each client application of the plurality of client applications wherein the one or more subscription requests are requests to subscribe to a selected portion of the PLM data that is useful to the respective client application;
convert the PLM data from the client specific format to a generic format;
store the PLM data in the generic format;
convert subscription data from the generic format to the client specific format, wherein the subscription data corresponds to the selected portion of the PLM data stored in the generic format that is useful to the respective client application;
provide the subscription data to the plurality of client applications based on the one or more subscription requests; and
wherein the compute program product is integrated into a computing apparatus dedicated to product lifecycle management.

19. The computer program product of claim 18 , wherein the PLM data comprises one or more of engineering data, computer-aided design (“CAD”) data, and supply-chain management data.

20. The computer program product of claim 18 , wherein the program instructions executable by the processor further cause the processor to use conversion algorithms to convert the PLM data from the client specific format to the generic format.

Assignees

• Univ Brigham Young

Inventors

• Bowman Kelly Eric
• Coburn Joshua
• Hepworth Ammon
• Jensen Charles Gregory
• Johnson Jordan

Classifications

• H04L67/1095

  Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes · CPC title

• H04L67/125

  involving control of end-device applications over a network · CPC title

• G06Q10/087

  Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders · CPC title

• H04L67/10

  in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network (software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46) · CPC title

• G06Q10/10

  Office automation; Time management · CPC title