The Boeing Company

Thomas Scott Strevey

Allan M Hansen

Scott A Schieferdecker

Bradley K Jackson

Lawrence W Rogers

David W Patterson

Kelly John Kegley

Brian K Thompson

Carl A Bouffiou

A system comprises a configurator for providing a configuration definition that specifies existing engineering designs and manufacturing capability of aircraft structures that have already been designed and manufactured; and a processor for accessing the configuration definition from the configurator and filtering the configuration definition according to customer specifications for a new aircraft. The filtering selects existing designs and identifies existing manufacturing capability to fabricate structures for the new aircraft.

Aircraft design systems and methods

A computer based method of collecting, structuring, and displaying product configuration information, and using the product configuration information to produce a computer program that validates product option selections and configures a product, is disclosed. The computer based method is used to create a Knowledge Map that contains product information objects. A product information object can be one of: a product option object, representing a customer option; a product module object, representing a collection of product parts, plans, tools, functional tests, inspections, or software; a grouping object, grouping product options or modules; or a relational object representing a relation between product objects. An input device is used to select a plurality of product information objects and position the objects in a display area. Upon selection of the objects, an operator is prompted to input specific information pertaining to the selected object. Constraints limit the selections that an operator can make, the appearance of the objects, and the configurations that can be produced from selected objects. Information pertaining to selected objects and their configuration is stored in a database. Changes can be made directly to the information stored in the database, and these changes are reflected in a corresponding display of the product information. After producing a Knowledge Map, the information is retrieved from a database to produce a set of rules that is input to a rule-based program for validating a set of product option selections and configuring a final product defined by resulting modules. The information can also be retrieved to produce object-based information to be used in the creation of an object-based program for validating a set of product options and configuring a product.

Computer-based method of structuring product configuration information

Growing community of inventors

Everett, WA, United States of America

Thomas Scott Strevey