Patent 7895020 was granted and assigned to General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems on February, 2011 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
One method according to the present invention may include defining a first object. The first object may have a unique object identifier. The method may also include defining a second object. The second object may also have a unique object identifier. After the objects have been identified, the method may include receiving a first value and a second value associated with the first object. The method may also include representing either an agreement and a lack of agreement associated with the first object based on a relationship between the first value and the second value. In an alternative embodiment, both an agreement and a disagreement may be represented based on the first value and the second value. In one embodiment of the invention, the representation of an agreement and/or a disagreement may be performed internally, using, for example, hexadecimal or binary representations of agreement or a lack of agreement. In yet another embodiment of the invention, a first single-perspective model and a second single-perspective model may be compared to form a multi-perspective model. Intentions of the parties within the collaborative community may be maintained throughout the modeling process.