Networked customization had gradually become one of t he import manufacturing and marketing patterns in the information age. Product d escription had an important effect on realizing networked customization. From th i...Networked customization had gradually become one of t he import manufacturing and marketing patterns in the information age. Product d escription had an important effect on realizing networked customization. From th is point of view, this paper firstly analyzed four requirements of adaptability, stability, conciseness and definitude that product description methods for netw orked customization must satisfy. According to these requirements, the paper com mented on current methods of product description, pointing out their advantages and disadvantages. As none of current methods could satisfy the four requirement s simultaneously, they were not fully applicable to networked customization. The n a plug-in based product description method was brought forward and discussed in detail. In this method, product description for networked customization w as abstracted as three component parts of basic description, basic feature and c ustomization feature. These parts had different characteristics. Basic descripti on was applicable to all products types. Basic feature was stable as concerning specific product type. Variants of certain product type all possessed identi cal basic features. Customization features were variable. Different combinations of customization features would give birth to different product variants. Apply ing object-oriented method, three standard product description plug-ins could be got by encapsulating these component parts. As "basic feature" and "customiza tion feature" plug-in had similar structures, they could be further abstracted as "feature" plug-in. When describing a type of product, a "basic description" plug-in would be instantiated firstly. Then according to product’s specific ch aracteristics, necessary number of "basic feature" and "customization feature" p lug-ins would be instantiated and appended, such as "color", "material", etc. E ach "basic feature" plug-in related to an instantiated "feature value" plug-in , while each "customization feature" plug-in related to one or multiple instant iated "feature value" plug-ins. Finally, "associate" and "exclude" relation ship should be specified among associated "customization feature" plug-ins. Thr ough appending and combining various plug-ins, this method was capable of descr ibing any type of product while meeting the four requirements simultaneously. Th is paper also gave an example to clarify the application of plug-in based produ ct description method. This example firstly described a kind of customizable TV provided by certain company. Then it showed how to describe an individual co nfiguration of this customizable TV in XML. Furthermore, suppose a consumer want ed to search for relevant information of a TV with game function, this example explained how to utilize XML query language to benefit consumer’s searching for product information. From analysis, we could draw the conclusion that plug -in based product description method was superior to current description method s and fully adapted to networked customization environment.展开更多
文摘Networked customization had gradually become one of t he import manufacturing and marketing patterns in the information age. Product d escription had an important effect on realizing networked customization. From th is point of view, this paper firstly analyzed four requirements of adaptability, stability, conciseness and definitude that product description methods for netw orked customization must satisfy. According to these requirements, the paper com mented on current methods of product description, pointing out their advantages and disadvantages. As none of current methods could satisfy the four requirement s simultaneously, they were not fully applicable to networked customization. The n a plug-in based product description method was brought forward and discussed in detail. In this method, product description for networked customization w as abstracted as three component parts of basic description, basic feature and c ustomization feature. These parts had different characteristics. Basic descripti on was applicable to all products types. Basic feature was stable as concerning specific product type. Variants of certain product type all possessed identi cal basic features. Customization features were variable. Different combinations of customization features would give birth to different product variants. Apply ing object-oriented method, three standard product description plug-ins could be got by encapsulating these component parts. As "basic feature" and "customiza tion feature" plug-in had similar structures, they could be further abstracted as "feature" plug-in. When describing a type of product, a "basic description" plug-in would be instantiated firstly. Then according to product’s specific ch aracteristics, necessary number of "basic feature" and "customization feature" p lug-ins would be instantiated and appended, such as "color", "material", etc. E ach "basic feature" plug-in related to an instantiated "feature value" plug-in , while each "customization feature" plug-in related to one or multiple instant iated "feature value" plug-ins. Finally, "associate" and "exclude" relation ship should be specified among associated "customization feature" plug-ins. Thr ough appending and combining various plug-ins, this method was capable of descr ibing any type of product while meeting the four requirements simultaneously. Th is paper also gave an example to clarify the application of plug-in based produ ct description method. This example firstly described a kind of customizable TV provided by certain company. Then it showed how to describe an individual co nfiguration of this customizable TV in XML. Furthermore, suppose a consumer want ed to search for relevant information of a TV with game function, this example explained how to utilize XML query language to benefit consumer’s searching for product information. From analysis, we could draw the conclusion that plug -in based product description method was superior to current description method s and fully adapted to networked customization environment.