This article presents a generalized ontology of
product configuration as a step towards a general ontology
of configuration, which is needed to reuse and share configuration
knowledge. The ontology presented consists of a set of
concepts for representing the knowledge on a configuration
and the restrictions on possible configurations. The ontology
is based on a synthesis of the main approaches to configuration.
Earlier approaches are extended with new concepts arising
from our practical experience on configurable products.
The concepts include components, attributes, resources,
ports, contexts, functions, constraints, and relations
between these. The main contributions of this work are
in the detailed conceptualization of knowledge on product
structures and in extending the resource concept with contexts
for limiting the availability and use of resources. In
addition, constraint sets representing different views
on the product are introduced. The ontology is compared
with the previous work on configuration. It covers all
the principal approaches, that is, connection-based, structure-based,
resource-based, and function-based approaches to configuration.
The dependencies between the concepts arising from different
conceptualizations are briefly analyzed. Several ways in
which the ontology could be extended are pointed out.
Secure Modular Design of Configurable Products
