WO2001037538A2 - Automated system and method for selection and procurement of products and services - Google Patents

Abstract

An automated system (100) and method for the selection and procurement of products and services by at least one customer (10) from one or more of a plurality of merchants (20) over a general purpose computer network, such as the Internet. The method comprises the steps of: transmitting information about a plurality of products/services offered for sale by each of a plurality of merchants to a database (70); and organizing the transmitted information for each of the plurality of products/services into a hierarchical categorization in the database (70) based upon a predefined set of categories such that all of the transmitted information for each of the plurality of products/services offered for sale by each of the plurality of merchants (20) is organized in the databased (70) in a similar manner. Because of such hierarchical categorization of the database (70), a customer (10) can perform one search for a desired product/service from the tansmitted information for the plurality of merchants (20) and compare the tansmitted information from each of the plurality of merchants (20).

Description

AUTOMATED SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SELECTION AND PROCUREMENT OF PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to an automated system and method for the

selection and procurement of products and services.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Information technology now allows prospective customers to review

information about available products and/or services and procure them from

suppliers on a real-time, cost-effective and more competitive basis than

traditional paper and telephone-based acquisition processes. The sale and

purchase of products and services via automated processes utilizing information

technologies is sometimes referred to as "electronic commerce." "

Over recent years, many merchants seeking to take advantage of the

potential efficiencies of electronic commerce now sell their products and/or

services over the Internet in an effort to capitalize on the increased prospective

buyer access that the Internet provides. Many such merchants provide a listing

or catalog of their available products and services and additional information

about such products and/or services such as price, model number, color, etc. on

a World Wide Web site for easy access for prospective customers. Prospective

customers can use this information to make informed decisions about whether

to purchase the products and/or services being offered via the web site. Notwithstanding this rush to the Internet by the business community,

commercial use of the Internet has not met the anticipated potential for a

number of reasons. Some of these reasons include the perceived lack of

security and the lack of user-friendly transaction methods, many of which are

not as efficient as desired.

Because of security concerns, prior electronic procurement systems have

been limited to a prospective customer accessing a single merchant web site at

a time to ensure the integrity of a secure purchase session. The necessity of

completing independent purchase transactions with a plurality of merchants,

particularly where items desired by a prospective customer are subject to

comparative selection, presents a significant barrier to the prospective

customer's ability to conveniently and efficiently select and purchase products

and/or services online.

Another problem encountered with electronic procurement systems has

been the inability to develop a system which enables all users of the system,

customers and merchants and others, to access and use the procurement

system without the need to purchase additional hardware and/or software for

compatibility requirements with the procurement system. Many prospective

users of such procurement systems have already made substantial investments

in their computer systems. Different prospective users' computer systems

frequently use different operating systems and different data formats and, thus, prospective users of an electronic procurement system may experience

compatibility problems which hamper their use of such procurement systems.

Additionally, prior electronic procurement systems have been deficient

because, when using such prior systems, once a customer has placed an

electronic order, there is no means for the customer to confirm receipt of the

order by the merchant. Moreover, the customer typically has no means to track

the status of the order and obtain information regarding when products ordered

will be shipped.

Yet another deficiency inherent in prior electronic product/service

procurement systems is the inability of the parties to a transaction to negotiate

the terms and conditions of a particular transaction on a real-time basis online.

The prior systems required the customer to either agree to standard

predetermined terms and conditions of a merchant for purchase of the

merchant's products/services or refrain from making the desired purchase.

Accordingly, there exists a need for an automated system and process for

the selection and procurement of products and services which is user-friendly,

efficient and which provides for secure transaction processing. Additionally, the

need exists for such system to allow customers to perform comparison shopping

among products or services being offered by multiple different merchants for

procurement of a desired product or service from among those compared which

best fulfills the customer's needs. Furthermore, there is a need for such a

system to be designed such that there is no requirement that a user of such system make a significant investment in additional hardware or software in order

to use such procurement system. Moreover, there is a need for an automated

procurement system to allow parties to a particular transaction to negotiate the

terms and conditions for such a transaction on a real-time basis online. There is

also a need for an automated procurement system which allows a customer to

track the status of an order once the order is placed with a particular merchant

on a real-time basis.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is, accordingly, an object of the present invention to provide an

automated system and method for the selection and procurement of products

and services which is easy to use, which enables customers to procure needed

products and services in an efficient and cost-effective manner and which

provides for secure transaction processing.

It is an additional object of the present invention to provide an automated

system and method for the selection and procurement of products and services

which allows a customer to perform comparison shopping among products or

services being offered by multiple different merchants before purchasing a

desired product or service from among those compared which best fulfills the

customer's needs.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an automated

system and method for the selection and procurement of products and services

which does not require that a user of such system and method purchase additional hardware or software in order to make use of such system and

method.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an automated

system and method for the selection and procurement of products and services

which enables parties to a particular transaction to negotiate the terms and

conditions for such transaction online on a real-time basis.

It is an additional object of the present invention to provide an automated

system and method for the selection and procurement of products and services

which allows a customer to track the status of an order once the order is placed

with a particular merchant on a real-time basis.

Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the

description which follows or may be learned by practice of the invention.

To achieve the foregoing objects, and in accordance with the purposes of

the invention as embodied and broadly described herein, there is provided an

automated method or the selection and procurement of products and services

by at least one of a plurality of customers from one or more of a plurality of

merchants over a general purpose computer network, comprising the steps of:

a. transmitting information about a plurality of products/services offered for sale

by each one of the plurality of merchants via a merchant server to a database

stored in a database server over said general purpose computer network;

b. organizing the transmitted information for the plurality of products/services

for each of the plurality of merchants into a hierarchical categorization in the database, the hierarchical categorization being based upon a predefined set of

categories such that the transmitted information for the plurality of

products/services is organized in the database in a similar manner for each of the

plurality of merchants; c. serving from the host server a web page having a

predetermined URL identifying a location of the host server in response to a first

access request transmitted by the one of the plurality of customers to the host

server via a browser of a. customer server for the one of the plurality of

customers over the general purpose computer network; d. transmitting a second

access request and authorization information from the browser of the customer

server of the one of the plurality of customers to the host server over the

general purpose computer network, the authorization information identifying a

transaction and access approval level for the one of the plurality of customers;

e. verifying the authorization information and the transaction and access

approval level and transmitting a verification notification from the host server to

the browser of the customer server of the one of the plurality of customers via

the general purpose computer network; f . transmitting at least one search

request from the browser of the customer server of the one of the plurality of

customers to the database server, the at least one search request corresponding

to one of the predefined set of categories for retrieving information from the

database about a desired product/service from the transmitted information for

each of the plurality of merchants; g. serving at least one of a plurality of web

pages from the database server to the browser of the customer server of the one of the plurality of customers via the general purpose computer network in

response to the at least one search request, the web pages corresponding to

retrieved information from the database about the desired product/service for

each of the plurality of merchants; h. comparing the retrieved information about

the desired product/service for each of the plurality of merchants and selecting

one or more of a plurality of products/services from the retrieved information

about the desired product/service; i. transmitting a purchase order request from

the browser of the customer server of the one of the plurality of customers to

the host server via the general purpose computer network if the one of the

plurality of customers decides to purchase the one or more selected

product/service; j. transmitting a notification of the purchase order request from

the host server to the server of the each of the plurality of merchants for each

of the one or more selected product/service; and k. transmitting an acceptance

of the purchase order request from the server for each of the plurality of

merchants for each of the one or more selected product/service to the browser

of the customer server of the one of the plurality of customers via the general

purpose computer network.

The automated system for the selection. and procurement of products and

services by at least one of a plurality of customers from one or more of a

plurality of merchants over a general purpose computer network comprises:

a. host server means, connected to the general purpose computer network, for

transmitting information to and receiving information from the at least one customer and the plurality of merchants; b. merchant server means for each of

the plurality of merchants, the merchant server means being connected to the

host server means via the general purpose computer network, for transmitting

information to and receiving information from the host server means;

c. customer server means for the one customer, connected to the host server

means via the general purpose computer network, for transmitting information

and a plurality of search requests to and receiving information from the host

server means; and d. database server means, connected to the host server

means, for transmitting information to and receiving information from the host

server means, the database server means including product/service database

storage means for receiving and storing product/service information transmitted

by each of the plurality of merchants relating to a plurality of products/services

offered for sale by each of the plurality of merchants; and database search

engine means for servicing the plurality of search requests transmitted by the

one customer via the customer server means over the general purpose computer

network to the host server means and to the database server means, the

plurality of search requests relating to a desired product/service, and for

retrieving the desired product/service information in response to the search

requests, wherein the retrieved desired product/service information is from the

transmitted product/service information of each of the plurality of merchants. The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a

part of this specification, illustrate one embodiment of the invention and,

together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an automated system for the

selection and procurement of products in accordance with a preferred

embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 2A-2E are flow charts illustrating the steps in a method a customer

using the automated system will take to access the system and perform

searches for desired products/services;

FIGS. 3-41 are sample screen displays illustrating example searches in

accordance with the process steps illustrated in FIGS. 2B-2E;

FIG. 42 is a flow chart illustrating the steps for processing a customer's

Purchase Order request in accordance with the system and method of the

present invention; and

FIG. 43 is a flow chart illustrating the steps for performing a solicited

electronic quote process in accordance with the system and method of the

present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Reference will now be made in detail to the present preferred embodiment

of the invention, an example of which is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which like reference characters refer to corresponding elements.

FIG. 1 illustrates an automated system for the selection and procurement

of products and services by one of a plurality of customers from one or more of

a plurality of merchants over a general purpose computer network in accordance

with the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1 , the system 100 makes use of a

client/server system architecture to conduct transfer protocol connections

between client and host server computer systems. System 100 is designed for

use by a plurality of classes of potential users including a plurality of potential

and actual customers 1 0, a plurality of merchants 20, a plurality of

manufacturers 30, and a plurality of distributors 40. The general purpose

computer network may be the Internet 5 or another suitable general purpose

computer network.

In order for the system 1 00 to support many hundreds of prospective

users while maintaining a balance on the load on the system 100, system 1 00

includes a scalable system architecture 55 comprised of a plurality of clustered

multi-server groups and multi-path network layer systems, such as distributed

IBM Netfinity 7000 multi-process (network and database) servers. The IBM

Netfinity 7000 servers are designed to support approximately 20,000 hits (or

unencrypted page queries) per hour and 2000 secure socket layer (SSL)

encrypted hits per hour. The system 100 networking infrastructure uses Wide

Area Network (WAN) Access switches, such as the cell/packet switches offered

by 3Com and CoreBuilder or other similar switches that have the capability to support voice, data and video transmission in encrypted and unencrypted

formats.

The plurality of potential users may each gain access to the system 1 00

via a computer having a connection to the Internet 5 through an Internet access

provider and by using a traditional Internet browser application such as

Netscape 's Navigator™ or Microsoft's Internet Explorer™ that supports the

hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP). In order to gain access to system 100, a

user merely inputs the Universal Resource Locator (URL) address for the system

1 00 web site through the Internet 5 to a host server of system 100. The

system 1 00 makes use of various security features 50 such as Virtual Private

Networks (VPNs) among the user base, various firewalls to prevent unauthorized

access and Internet-based security protocols such as secure socket layers (SSL).

The security features 50 require that a user clear various levels of logins and

passwords prior to gaining access to the system 100.

System 1 00 further includes a virtual mall 60 with a storefront for each of

a plurality of merchants 20. The automated method used in the present

invention begins with the transmission of information about a plurality of

products and/or services offered for sale by each one of the plurality of

merchants 20 via a merchant server to a database server over the Internet 5.

The database server includes a product/service catalog database 70 for storing

product/service catalog information transmitted by each of the plurality of

merchants 20 concerning various products and/or services being offered for sale by each of the merchants 20. Each merchant 20 may upload its own

product/service catalog to the database server. For example, a particular

merchant 20 would typically provide a listing of all products/services it offers; a

manufacturer, supplier or brand name for each of the products or services; a

model or reference number for each product/service used by merchant 20; a

listing of colors/styles available and other attributes or characteristics for each

particular product, a size(s) of packages(s) available for each particular product;

a generic category or department for each particular product; at least one price

for each product/service offered; a number of each such product/service in

current inventory; a listing of technical information about each product/service; a

picture of each product; and other similar information. Each merchant 20 can

also input multiple different prices for each product or service. For example, a

merchant 20 may want to offer a product for sale to different classes of

customers 1 0 and use different prices for each different class of customers 1 0.

Or, a merchant 20 may want to offer discounted prices at certain periods of

time or discounted prices based upon the volume of products purchased by a

customer 10. The catalog database 70 will accept multiple prices for a

particular product. The product/service catalog database 70 is one unitary

database which includes all products/services being offered by the plurality of

merchants 20 which are authorized to use system 100 and which have

storefronts on the virtual mall 60. In this manner, each individual merchant 20

need not maintain its own product/service database on its own client server system, thereby freeing up much needed memory and bandwidth on the

merchant's server for other applications. Once the product/service catalog

database 70 is initially populated, each individual merchant 20 need only send

periodic updates to the system 1 00 database server. Each individual merchant

20 may be relieved from the time and resources it would otherwise utilize to

maintain its own product/service catalog database.

The system 1 00 product/service catalog database 70 can be maintained

and powered by use of the IBM Net. Commerce Pro application, or similar

database engine which can support at least 1 50 separate merchant 20

storefronts. The system 100 product/service catalog database 70 is compatible

with the UNIX, IBM OS/390, IBM OS/400 and Windows NT mainframe operating

systems.

Once each merchant 20 transmits its own product/service catalog (a

merchant 20 subcatalog) information to the system 100 database server, the

system 100 administrator configures the merchant 20 subcatalog for input into

the unitary product/service catalog database 70. The transmitted information

for the plurality of products/services for each of the plurality of merchants 20 is

organized in a hierarchical categorization in the catalog database 70 based upon

a predefined set of categories such that the transmitted information for the

plurality of products/services is organized in the catalog database 70 in a similar

manner for each of the plurality of merchants 20. To do this, the catalog

database 70 makes use of a fixed taxonomy structure. Each storefront will have the same hierarchical configuration or categorization. The highest level of

categorization within each storefront will be a plurality of generic Groups of

products/services such as, for example, automotive products/services,

information technology products/services, electronics products/services, etc.

The Groups are then divided into a plurality of Categories or Departments. For

example, for the information technology Group, the Categories or Departments

could be organized in a way similar to those shown in FIG. 1 8, including

Accessories & Supplies, Education, Memory, Network & Communication, Printed

Information, Applications Software, Storage Devices/Enclosures, Chassis,

Enhancement Products, Motherboards, Power Equipment, Printers & Plotters,

Communications Software, Telephony, Computers/Terminals, Input Devices,

Multifunctional Devices, Premise Wiring & Rack Systems, Services &

Agreements, Systems Software and Video Adapters & Displays Categories or

Departments.

Each Category or Department is then further subdivided into

Subcategories. For example, as shown in FIGS. 1 8-24, the Accessories &

Supplies Category or Department includes as Subcategories: Cables &

Connectors, Camera Accessories, Carrying Cases, Cases & Covers, CPU

Mounting Kits & Accessories, Desk Accessories, Label Supplies, Floppy Disks,

Optical Disks, Removable Disks, Tape Cartridges, Monitor Accessories,

Notebook Accessories, Other Accessories & Equipment, Paper Supplies, Printer

Accessories, Printer Supplies, Scanner Accessories and Switches & Boxes. Then, each Subcategory is further divided into a plurality of different Products or

Services. For example, as shown in FIG. 1 8, there are 2223 different cables

and connector Products in the catalog database 70. Each Product then may

have a plurality of different attributes by which it may be described. For

example, a specific cable Product may have the attributes of length, color, type

of material (e.g., nylon, plastic, rubber, etc.). The next hierarchical level of

organization below the Product level in the catalog database 70 is the Item level.

For example, for a particular cable Product, the manufacturer of such cable

Product may have multiple different Items for such Product based upon different

attributes of the Product, e.g., color, length, etc. Because of this fixed

taxonomy structure for the catalog database 70, a customer 1 0 may perform

searches across the entire mall 60 for all products/services offered by all

merchants 20 within the mall 60. The fact that each merchant 20 inputs

products/service catalog information down to the attribute level of detail is what

enables customers 1 0 to have powerful searching capabilities across database

70.

Following the population and structural configuration of the catalog

database 70, as shown in FIG. 2A, a typical customer 10 that wishes to use

system 100 will first, in step 21 0, access a web site portal for system 1 00 by

inputting the web site URL into the customer's Internet browser. The host

server of system 100, in response, will serve a web home page of system 100.

The home page of system 100 will have hyperlinks to various applications and utilities available for use by users of system 1 00, including a hyperlink to the

virtual mall 60. In step 220, upon accessing the home page of the system 1 00

web site, the customer 1 0 must first gain approval for entry to the virtual mall

60. The system 1 00 will first determine whether or not the customer is a first-

time user of system 100. If the query in step 220 is answered affirmatively,

then, in step 230, the customer 1 0 must register with the system 1 00

administrator to verify the customer 1 0's authorization level for use of system

1 00. System 1 00 then verifies the customer 1 0's authorization information and

the transaction and access approval level and transmits a verification notification

from the host server to the browser of the customer server via the Internet 5.

For example, if the customer 1 0 is also a merchant 20, the merchant 20 will

only be authorized to shop and view product/service prices at that merchant

20's storefront or at storefronts of other merchants 20 which authorize the

merchant 20's access. If the customer 10's only status is as a customer 10,

the customer 1 0 will obtain a registration to shop at any and all storefronts on

the mall 60 and will have the ability to view all price data available for the

customer 10's specific customer class. If the customer 10 falls within a special

customer class for which merchants 20 have special pricing, the customer 1 0

must establish that he/she falls within the special customer class before he/she

will be granted approval to view the special pricing terms. For example, if

merchants 20 offer special pricing for government customers 10, then the

customer 10 will need to access the mall 60 via a .gov or .mil address and/or through use of x509 certificates to verify that the customer 1 0 is a government

customer 1 0. If a particular customer 10 does not register with the system 1 00

administrator, then, in step 240, the customer 1 0 may only access each

merchant 20's retail pricing information and will not obtain authorization to

access the more specialized pricing information. Registration and authorization

levels may be further defined as necessary. For example, certain customers 1 0

may have limited purchasing authority based on a limit on a dollar value of

purchases they are authorized to make.

Once customer 10 is registered for use of the system 100, such customer

1 0 need not register again upon a subsequent access to the system 100 mall

60. In step 250, once the customer 10 is verified to have authority to access

system 100 by the system 100 administrator, the system 100 administrator

assigns a unique login id for such customer 10 to use to gain access to system

100 upon subsequent visits to the system 100 mall 60. Thereafter, if the query

in step 220 is answered in the negative (meaning that the customer 10 is not a

first-time user), then, in step 260, the customer 10 may access the mall 60

from any computer and need not access the mall 60 from a .gov or .mil address,

for example. The customer 10 simply inputs the unique login id and is granted

access to mall 60.

Once the customer 1 0 is authorized to access mall 60, in step 270, the

customer 10 may then perform searches for a desired product or service. To do

this, customer 10 transmits at least one search request relating to at least one desired product/service from the browser of the customer server to the host

server which then routes it to the database server. The search request

corresponds to one of the predefined categories used to arrange the hierarchical

structure of the database 70. Database 70 includes database search engine

means which services such search requests of customers 10 and retrieves

product/service information stored in the database 70 relating to the desired

product/service from among the transmitted product/service information from

each of the plurality of merchants 20 in response to such search requests. The

customer 1 0 may enter a storefront of a particular merchant 20 or may search

across the storefronts of all of the merchants 20 included in the mall 60. In

step 280, and as further illustrated in FIG. 3 which shows the screen display for

the home page of mall 60, customer 1 0 may perform product/service searches

by inputting a search query which defines a desired product/service by Category

or Department, or by Manufacturer or supplier name (e.g., IBM, Compaq). For

example, as shown in FIG. 2B, if customer 1 0 wanted to perform a search by

manufacturer name in step 280, such customer 1 0 would click on the

"Manufacturer" button (shown in FIG. 3). In response to the search request, the

database search engine means will search the transmitted product/service

information stored in database 70 for each of the plurality of merchants 20,

retrieve such product/service information as meets the search request

parameters, transmit the retrieved product/service information via the database

server to the host server of system 100 wherein the host server transmits the information to the customer 10's server via the Internet 5. The customer 1 0's

server then serves at least one web page corresponding to the retrieved

product/service information about the desired product/service. For example, in

response to customer 10's search request in step 280, a web page such as the

screen display shown in FIG. 4 would be served. In step 281 , customer 10

would then search for the specific manufacturer of the desired product/service

by clicking on the button with the first letter of the manufacturer's name. For

example, if customer 10 wanted to purchase a computer workstation

manufactured by Compaq, customer 10 would click on the "C" button shown in

FIG. 4. The catalog database 70 search engine would perform a search across

all storefronts on the mall 60 and all transmitted product/service information

stored in the database 70 for the plurality of products/services offered by each

of the plurality of merchants 20 for all listings with a manufacturer/supplier

name beginning with the letter "C." Customer 10 would then be served a series

of web pages, such as those shown in FIGS. 5 to 9, showing all

products/services manufactured/supplied by manufacturers/suppliers with names

beginning with a "C" that are available for purchase in the mall 60 regardless of

the merchant 20 offering such products/services. In step 282, the customer 10

would then click on the button for the product desired, "COMPAQ

WORKSTATIONS". Web pages such as those shown in FIGS. 10 to 16 are

served to customer 10 setting forth all products across all of the merchant 20

storefronts and through all transmitted product/service information stored in the database 70 for the plurality of products/services offered by the plurality of

merchants 20 that are either COMPAQ WORKSTATIONS or are designed for use

with COMPAQ WORKSTATIONS, such as mouses, adaptors, floor stands, etc.

The products are listed from the product/service with the lowest price to the

product/service with the highest price. Each product/service listing includes a

merchant's part number, whether or not quantity-based discounts on the price

are offered, a more specific description of the product/service, the

manufacturer's part number for each product, and the weight of each product.

Customer 10 will then compare the retrieved product/service information

from the search request and select one of the products/services. As shown in

step 282, the customer 1 0 may click on the "Buy" button for a particular

product/service if customer 10 wishes to purchase such product/service and it

will be put into a "shopping cart" similar to that shown in FIG. 1 7. The

shopping cart saves each product the customer 10 wishes to purchase until

such time as customer 1 0 is ready to "checkout" before exiting the mall 60. In

this manner, the customer 1 0 may make multiple purchases from multiple

merchants 20 in a single checkout.

In step 283, customer 10 could alternatively perform a search by Product

category instead of by Manufacturer, as shown in FIG 2C. Customer 10 will

click on the "DEPARTMENTS" button, shown in FIG. 3. Web pages similar to

those shown in FIGS. 1 8-24 would be served to the customer 10's browser.

After customer 1 0 selects a particular Product category, in step 284, web pages having detailed product informational listings similar to those in FIGS. 1 1 -1 6

would be served to the customer 1 0's browser, at which point, in step 285,

customer 1 0 could again select a specific product desired for purchase by

clicking on a specific product listing and the selected product will be saved to

the shopping cart.

In step 286, as shown in FIG. 2D, if customer 1 0 instead wanted to

perform a more powerful search request which utilizes multiple filters at once

instead of using a single search parameter at a time and performing multiple

search requests as detailed above, customer 10 could click on the "POWER

SEARCH" button. A web page such as that shown in FIG. 25 would be served

to the customer 1 0's browser. From the POWER SEARCH web page, in step

287, customer 1 0 could then input and transmit a search request having more

than one search parameter from any of a combination of search parameters

including manufacturer, product description, part number, specific attribute

name or value, price, and/or department search parameters. Web pages

including a detailed product listing for each of a plurality of products meeting the

search parameters would then be served to customer 10's browser. An

example of a "POWER SEARCH" search request is shown in FIGS. 26-32.

There, the POWER SEARCH requested ail COMPAQ WORKSTATION products in

all categories and subcategories. At step 288, if customer 10 wishes to have

more detailed information about a particular product on the listing, in step 289,

customer 10 may click on the "P" (Product Info) button beside that product. The database search engine retrieves the more detailed information and the

customer 10's browser will serve web pages similar to those in FIG 10. These

web pages provide customer 1 0 with more detailed specifications for the

particular product, in this case, information such as operating system supported,

minimum system Random Access Memory (RAM) required and other equipment

required for use of the particular product. Additionally, system 100 can provide

hyperlinks from each particular product back to the particular product

manufacturer's web site for more detailed information.

If customer 10 did not seek the more detailed product information about

the particular product at step 288 then, in step 290, customer 1 0 may seek

information on the current inventory status for the particular product. In order

to do so, in step 291 , customer 10 clicks on the "I" button beside the particular

product, and the database search engine searches for current inventory

information for the particular product from each of the plurality of distributors

using system 100. Web pages similar to those shown in FIGS. 36 and 37 listing

such inventory information will be served to customer 10's browser.

In step 292, if customer 10 desires to find a plurality of products which

are comparable to the particular product on the product listing then, in step 293,

customer 1 0 could instead click on the "Q" button next to the particular product

listed in the product listing and obtain information about different products

comparable to the particular product in the same category hierarchy that are

priced within 25% of the price of the particular product. Illustrative web pages are shown in FIGS. 33-35. At any point following any of steps 289, 291 , 292

or 293, customer 1 0 may click on the "Buy" button in step 295 after selecting a

product he/she wishes to purchase and the selected product will be saved to the

shopping cart until customer 1 0 is ready to checkout of mall 60.

In step 296, customer 10 can alternatively perform a search for desired

services instead of products by clicking on the "SERVICES" button. For

example, if customer 10 needed services in the information technology area, a

web page such as that in FIG. 38 is served to customer 1 0's browser. Then, in

step 297, customer 10 may select from a plurality of different labor categories

for services such as software developers, network engineers, training

specialists, etc. The labor categories web page of FIG. 38 also shows the

applicable hourly billing rate for each of the plurality of labor categories. From

this web page, in step 298, customer 10 may download the service provider

merchant 20's standard service contract from the system 100 server to

customer 10's server, input the required information into the contract form in

step 299, and then, in step 300, submit the completed form contract to the

service provider merchant 20 via an email attachment transmitted over the

Internet 5 to the service provider merchant 20's server.

After customer 10 has compared the retrieved information about the

desired product/service from among the plurality of products/services offered for

sale by each of the plurality of merchants 20 and has selected one or more of

such products/services for potential purchase (the selected one or more products/services being saved in the SHOPPING CART), in step 400, customer

10 transmits a purchase order request from the browser of customer 10's server

to the host server of the system 1 00 via the Internet 5 if customer 1 0 decides

to purchase one or more of the selected products/services saved in the

SHOPPING CART. To do this, customer 10 performs a checkout. Customer 1 0

clicks on the "CHECKOUT" button from any web page to link to a CHECKOUT

web page. For example, there is a "CHECKOUT" button at the SHOPPING

CART web page as shown in FIG. 1 7. There is also a CHECKOUT button at the

home page of the system 100 web site, as shown in FIG. 3. There are

CHECKOUT buttons at various additional locations as shown in FIGS. 4, 5, 1 0,

1 8, 25, 26, 33, 36 and 38. Web pages for an HTML Purchase Order form

similar to the ones shown in FIGS. 39-41 are then served to customer 10's

browser. Then, the customer 10 must input the required information on the

Purchase Order form including the shipping address for each product ordered

(system 1 00 has the capability to enable shipping to multiple locations), the

billing address, the desired method for shipment (e.g., ground, overnight, two-

day), and the method of payment (e.g., credit card, cash, financing).

If a customer 1 0 wishes to use a credit card for the purchase in step 400,

system 100 supports MOSET-based IMPAC credit card transactions, merchant-

originated secure electronic transactions (SET) protocol via use of an IBM

payment server, or SET wallet transactions where the customer 10 has a pre-

approved SET wallet. Additionally, system 100 supports the IntraGovernmental Transfer System (IGOTS) which makes use of the U.S. Treasury's Plastic Card

Network (PCN) agreement and the U.S. General Services Administration's (GSA)

SmartPay contract to process intragovernmental credit cards for any

intragovernmental transactions. These transaction protocols require that a

customer 1 0 have a secure Internet browser which supports encryption by

means of the secure socket layer (SSL) security protocol such as Microsoft's

Internet Explorer™ or Netscape's Navigator™. System 1 00 also makes use of a

common trusted third-party electronic commerce certification authority (CA),

such as VeriSign or Entrust. A CA is used for authentication of the identity of

parties to a transaction, validation of a transaction and to repudiate a party's

authority to transact. The customer 10 will need to apply to the CA for a

certificate. The customer 10's certificate will contain a public encryption key

for the customer 1 0's use and a private encryption key of the CA. When

customer 10 transmits the Purchase Order request form in step 400, the

transmission also includes the customer 10's certificate. System 100's host

server will route the transmitted encrypted Purchase Order request form and the

customer 1 0's certificate to the server for the appropriate merchant 20 with an

encrypted transaction message which includes customer 10's payment. The

merchant 20 transmits the customer 10's encrypted transaction message to the

issuing CA and the CA decrypts the customer 10's message with payment

information. The customer 10's transaction message is then reformatted by

the CA according to traditional credit-card message formats and the CA transmits the customer 1 0's transaction message to a financial institution that

issued the customer 1 0's credit card via the financial institution's credit card

network. The financial institution then determines whether or not to approve

the customer 1 0's transaction and transmits an approval or denial code to the

merchant 20's server.

If customer 10 instead wishes to apply for financing to fund the purchase

in step 400, customer 1 0 will submit a credit application request to the system

1 00 host server. System 1 00's host server will serve a credit application form

to the customer 10's browser. Customer 10 must then input the required

information into the credit application form and may then submit it via an email

attachment transmitted over the Internet 5 to the host server for system 100.

The host server for system 100 routes the completed credit application to one or

more of a plurality of financing sources, e.g., banks, if customer 10's credit

application is approved, customer 10's Purchase Order request may then be

processed.

Once customer 10's Purchase Order request is submitted for processing,

as illustrated in FIG. 42, in step 410, the host server of system 1 00 may

transmit an inventory status request to one or more of the plurality of

distributors 40 in order to verify the availability of each product/service ordered

by customer 10. If a product/service is verified as available then, in step 420,

the Purchase Order request submitted by customer 1 0 is parsed by system 100

into separate purchase order requests for each merchant 20 for each product/service ordered. System 1 00 then transmits a notification of the

Purchase Order request to each of the merchants 20 for each of the selected

one or more products or services ordered by customer 10. In step 430, system

1 00 also saves the data included in each Purchase Order request in a Purchase

Order database 71 (shown in FIG. 1 ) for use in tracking the status of each

Purchase Order request. For this purpose, system 1 00 assigns a unique

Purchase Order request tracking number or id to each Purchase Order request.

If a specific merchant 20 accepts a transmitted Purchase Order request, then, in

step 440, the merchant 20 may transmit information to customer 10 via email

confirming the acceptance of the Purchase Order request and an anticipated

shipment/delivery date or may simply ship the ordered product to customer 1 0

as an alternative means for acceptance of the Purchase Order request. In step

450, the customer 10 receives the shipment from the merchant 20. Then, in

step 460, the customer 10 notifies system 100 of the receipt of the shipment

so that the Purchase Order status information saved in the Purchase Order

database 71 may be updated. In step 470, the merchant 20 may transmit an

invoice for payment to customer 10 via email over the Internet 5 to the

customer 1 0's server if customer 10 did not previously provide payment via

credit card when the Purchase Order request was initially transmitted. In

response to the transmitted invoice, customer 1 0 may transmit payment to

merchant 20. Since status information concerning the Purchase Order request is

transmitted to the Purchase Order database 71 at various stages in this process, customer 1 0 may 1 ) transmit an email query to the host server of system 1 00 at

any time during this process (see FIG. 3) and receive a return email

communication from the host server of system 100 which communicates

information concerning the current status of the Purchase Order request or

2) check on the status of the Purchase Order request via accessing a specific

web reporting page on system 100 accessible via hypertext transfer protocol

(http) request. The Purchase Order database 71 may also be linked to servers of

various shippers, such as the United Parcel Service, Federal Express and the

United States Postal Service via the Internet 5. Since each of these shippers

has its own shipment tracking number system, the shippers' tracking numbers

for shipments can be correlated to the system 100 unique Purchase Order id for

more complete tracking of the status of any particular Purchase Order request.

If a product/service ordered by customer 10 is unavailable at the time

customer 10 transmits the Purchase Order request, the host server of system

100 will transmit an email message to customer 1 0's server via the Internet 5

notifying customer 1 0 that the product/service is unavailable and that customer

10's Purchase Order request will be placed on backorder status. Once the

backordered product/service becomes available, the host server of system 1 00

transmits an email notification of the product's availability and a query to

customer 10's server via the Internet 5 asking whether or not customer 1 0 still

wishes to purchase the backordered product/service. If the customer 1 0 is dissatisfied with a product once it is received,

customer 1 0 may submit a return form via email to the host server of system

1 00 seeking to return the product to the merchant from which the product was

purchased. An HTML format return form for this purpose can be downloaded to

the customer 1 0's server from the system 100 home page (see FIG. 3).

System 100 has additional features beyond the selection and procurement

processes described above. For example, because each registered customer 10

has a unique login id, system 100 may generate Monthly Purchasing Information

Reports in HTML format for each registered customer 1 0. These Monthly

Purchasing Information Reports can include information such as a summary of all

products/services ordered for each registered customer 10, a listing of each

merchant 20 from which customer 10 ordered each product/service with the

dollar value of each of such orders, a listing of each product/service on

backorder status, a listing of each destination to which each ordered

product/service was delivered, a total dollar value budgeted for each

product/service on backorder status and other similar types of information.

Additional electronic reporting data which system 100 may provide to interested

users of system 100 includes various web site metrics such as the number of

hits for (or accesses of) each storefront for each merchant 20 in the mall 60, the

areas browsed within the mall 60 by each customer 10, the retrieved

information for each customer 1 0, a number of purchase order requests

transmitted by each customer 10, and other similar information. This electronic reporting data can provide a unique customer 1 0 reference number for each

customer 1 0 shopping in the mall 60, a logon timestamp for each shopping

session for each customer 10, the IP address of each customer 10 server, a

server host name for each customer 10 server, a query string showing the

queries executed by each customer 10 in a shopping session, a referrer URL if a

customer 1 0 accessing the mall 60 has accessed the mall 60 via a hyperlink

from another website, a log of all errors a customer 10 experienced when

processing a HTTP search request, a number of times each product category

was accessed by a particular customer 10 or by a plurality of customers 1 0, and

other similar types of web site metrics. Merchants 20 may make use of such

web site metrics to redirect their marketing and promotional activities towards

specific customers 10 or towards particular products.

As shown in FIG. 1 , System 100 also includes a web-based Interactive

Past Performance Reporting (IPPR) application and database 75 wherein the

users of system 100 may rate their trading partners' performance in the

execution of particular tasks (i.e., customers 10 may rate the performance of

merchants 20 and vice versa). System 100 allows this information to be

submitted online by a user via a standard HTML format text editor. Each

authorized user of system 100 may access the IPPR application 75 by inputting

a password. The IPPR database 75 includes a series of standardized

performance report forms in HTML format and, once a user is granted access to

the IPPR database 75, the user may download a particular form specific to the performance function being rated. The user then inputs the requested

information into the form and submits it to the IPPR database 75 via email

transmission over the Internet 5 to the host server of system 1 00 which then

routes the submitted form to the IPPR database 75 for storage therein. In this

manner, if the same user later accesses the IPPR database 75 and seeks

information about a particular trading partner and the user's past experiences

with such trading partner, the user may retrieve that information. Additionally,

other users of system 1 00 may grant the user authority to access the other

users' submitted forms stored in the IPPR database 75 regarding such trading

partner. The user may also submit updates and modifications to past submitted

forms to the IPPR database 75 if the performance of the rated trading partner

changes over time.

As shown in FIG. 1 , an additional feature of system 100 is that it includes

a Solicited Electronic Quotations (SEQ) application and database 80 whereby a

customer 10 may solicit quotations for the supply of a desired product/service

electronically over the system 100 seeking responses from each of a plurality of

interested merchants 20 that desires to respond to the electronic solicitation.

This SEQ feature is accomplished through use of a typical Electronic Posting

System (EPS) for posting and downloading HTML documents from an Internet

web site.

The process for submission and processing of such SEQs is illustrated in

FIG. 43. As shown, in step 510, a customer 10 receives access authorization for the SEQ database 80 by inputting a unique password. Once the customer

10 receives access authorization, in step 520, customer 1 0 uploads to the SEQ

database 80 a SEQ document which includes specific format requirements for

responses to the SEQ, the customer 1 0's Point-of-Contact (POC) information so

that an interested merchant 20 may submit a response to the SEQ to the

appropriate person, and the customer 10's Statement of Work (SOW) or other

document detailing the customer 10's desired product/service needs. Customer

10 may also input information for use by system 1 00 to create an "Autoforward

by Rule" email rule to forward a copy of an email to predefined email addresses

specified by customer 10 for each merchant 20 to whom customer 10 wishes to

submit its SEQs from among the plurality of merchants 20. In step 530, the

email message from customer 10 may then be autoforwarded to customer 1 0's

designated recipient merchants 20 to inform such merchants 20 that customer

10's SEQ has been uploaded to the SEQ database 80. In step 540, system 100

may generate a listing and transmit it via email to customer 10 showing all

merchants 20 to whom customer 10's email SEQ notification was transmitted.

In step 550, an interested merchant 20 may access the SEQ database 80, read

online and/or download the customer 10's SEQ document to the interested

merchant 20's server for further analysis and/or response. In step 560, the

interested merchant 20 may prepare and submit a responsive quotation directly

to the customer 10's posted POC via email/fax/mail as the customer 10

instructed in the submitted SEQ. In step 570, the customer 10 may make a selection of a single responsive quotation from analysis of all responsive

quotations received for each interested merchant 20 and/or conduct further

negotiations with particular interested merchants 20. In order to assist a

customer 1 0 in making a selection of a single responsive quotation from among

multiple responsive quotations submitted by the plurality of interested merchants

20, customer 10 may access the IPPR database 75 and obtain information

concerning performance ratings for particular interested merchants 20. In step

580, the customer 10 selects a single responsive quotation of a single interested

merchant 20 from among all of the responsive quotations submitted by the

plurality of interested merchants 20 and may then post a contract award

announcement to the SEQ database 80. The contract award announcement

may then be auto-forwarded by email to the customer 1 0's designated recipient

merchants 20.

As an added functional feature, a customer 10's auto-forward rule may

filter from among the plurality of designated merchants 20 to whom to forward

email communications by further specifying that such email communications be

sent only to those designated merchants 20 that fall within some pre-established

parameters, such as price, SIC code, geographic region or other similar

parameter. System 100 may then perform an evaluation by searching across all

storefronts in the mall 60 for all designated merchants 20 that meet the

parameters (i.e., qualified merchants 20). The system 1 00 could then transmit a

listing to the customer 10's server showing qualified merchants 20 with pricing from the lowest priced to the highest priced, or with IPPR rankings from the best

to the worst, or other similar listings depending upon the parameters specified

by the customer 1 0. In this manner, customer 10 may narrow the universe of

merchants 20 responding to an SEQ thereby narrowing the number of interested

merchants 20 with whom customer 10 may engage in further negotiations for a

particular transaction.

As shown in FIG. 1 , system 1 00 may also be configured in a manner such

that the catalog database 70 and virtual mall 60 interface and interconnect to an

accounting application 86, such as the one offered by Deltek, or other similar

accounting application. In this manner, system 100 may be used by a merchant

20 or a customer 1 0 to perform all of such merchant 20's or customer 1 0's

back-office accounting necessary to support merchant 20's or customer 10's

business operations. Data relating to sales made by such merchant 20 via its

storefront on the system 100 mall 60 may be transmitted directly to the

accounting application 86. Accounting application 86 may then be used by

merchant 20 to generate invoices, track receipts and payables and for other

traditional accounting functions. In a similar manner, customer 10 may

outsource its accounting functions to system 100 and accounting application

86. Merchant 20 and customer 10 may then realize cost savings due to this

outsourcing of their accounting functions.

System 100 also includes interfaces to other applications needed by the

users. For example, system 100 includes an extensible markup language (XML) application or an electronic data interchange (EDI) application 87. Such

applications may be desired for use by the users of system 1 00 in order to

convert Purchase Order data which is transmitted in HTML format into another

format such as EDI which may be in use in-house in a user's own computers.

Once the HTML-formatted Purchase Order data is converted to the format which

is compatible to the user's in-house data format, it may be transmitted directly

into the user's in-house computer system for further use. Users may realize

cost savings from such an application because it can save time and resources

which may otherwise be required to re-key data from an HTML-formatted

Purchase Order into the data format required for use by the user's in-house

computer system.

System 1 00 further includes a video teleconferencing application 88 for

use by the users of system 100 for engaging in interactive real-time

communication, and an online help facility 89 with a Frequently Asked

Questions (FAQ) section to assist users with answers to questions concerning

the use of system 100 and describing the features of system 100, an email link

to an administrator for system 100 whereby users may submit email queries for

response by the system 100 administrator if the user's queries are not answered

in the FAQ section, for example. System 100 also includes a white-boarding

application 90 whereby users of system 100 may collaborate online with other

users in an interactive fashion. The white-boarding application 90 may include

an online teleconferencing system such as the system marketed by Videogate, or another similar system. The system also includes an electronic white board

wherein the parties participating in the online teleconference may make use of

the white board to illustrate matters being discussed in such teleconference.

System 1 00 further includes system management and maintenance facilities 95.

The facilities 95 include network and application monitoring systems and

support staff. The functions of facilities 95 include, for example, virus

detection, eradication, removal and/or quarantine -to filter all input to and output

from system 100 to prevent viruses from infecting system 100. System 1 00

also includes an off-site archival storage facility which replicates data stored in

databases and other features of system 100 in the event disaster recovery is

necessary. System 100 may also include other similar maintenance and support

facilities.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and

variations can be made in the system and method of the present invention

without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. Thus, it is intended

that the present invention cover the modifications and variations of this

invention provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their

equivalents.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1 . An automated method for the selection and procurement of

products and services by at least one of a plurality of customers from one or

more of a plurality of merchants over a general purpose computer network,

comprising the steps of:

a. transmitting information about a plurality of products/services

offered for sale by each one of the plurality of merchants via a merchant server

to a database stored in a database server over said general purpose computer

network;

b. organizing the transmitted information for said plurality of

products/services for each of said plurality of merchants into a hierarchical

categorization in the database, said hierarchical categorization being based upon

a predefined set of categories such that the transmitted information for said

plurality of products/services is organized in the database in a similar manner for

each of the plurality of merchants;

c. serving from the host server a web page having a predetermined

URL identifying a location of said host server in response to a first access

request transmitted by said one of said plurality of customers to the host server

via a browser of a customer server for said one of saidrality of customers over

the general purpose computer network;

d. transmitting a second access request and authorization information

from the browser of said customer server of said one of said plurality of customers to said host server over said general purpose computer network, said

authorization information identifying a transaction and access approval level for

said one of said plurality of customers;

e. verifying said authorization information and said transaction and

access approval level and transmitting a verification notification from said host

server to said browser of said customer server of said one of said plurality of

customers via said general purpose computer network;

f . transmitting at least one search request from the browser of said

customer server of said one of said plurality of customers to said database

server, said at least one search request corresponding to one of said predefined

set of categories for retrieving information from said database about a desired

product/service from the transmitted information for each of the plurality of

merchants;

g. serving at least one of a plurality of web pages from said database

server to said browser of said customer server of said one of said plurality of

customers via said general purpose computer network in response to said at

least one search request, said web pages corresponding to retrieved information

from said database about said desired product/service for each of the plurality of

merchants;

h. comparing the retrieved information about the desired

product/service for each of the plurality of merchants and selecting one or more of a plurality of products/services from the retrieved information about the

desired product/service;

i. transmitting a purchase order request from said browser of said

customer server of said one of said plurality of customers to said host server via

the general purpose computer network if said one of said plurality of customers

decides to purchase said one or more selected product/service;

j. transmitting a notification of said purchase order request from said

host server to the server of the each of said plurality of merchants for each of

said one or more selected product/service; and

k. transmitting an acceptance of said purchase order request from

said server for each of said plurality of merchants for each of said one or more

selected product/service to said browser of said customer server of said one of

said plurality of customers via said general purpose computer network.

2. The automated method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the

predefined set of categories of said hierarchical categorization includes:

a. a manufacturer/supplier category, said manufacturer/supplier

category for inputting data for identifying a manufacturer/supplier for each one

of the plurality of products/services;

b. a department category, said department category for inputting data

for identifying a generic field for each one of said plurality of products/services; c. a model number category, said model number category for inputting

data for identifying a unique model number for each one of said plurality of

products/services; and

d. an attribute category, said attribute category for inputting data for

identifying at least one feature for each one of said plurality of

products/services.

3. The automated method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising

the step of shipping the one or more selected product/service to said one of said

plurality of customers following the step of transmitting the acceptance of the

purchase order request.

4. The automated method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising

the steps of:

a. transmitting a counter-offer to said purchase order request from

said server for one of said plurality of merchants for the one or more selected

product/service to said browser of said customer server for said one of said

plurality of customers via said general purpose computer network in response to

said notification of said purchase order request; and

b. transmitting an acceptance of said counteroffer from said browser

of said customer server of said one of said plurality of customers to said server

for the one of said plurality of merchants for the one or more selected

product/service via said general purpose computer network.

5. An automated system for the selection and procurement of

products and services by at least one of a plurality of customers from one or

more of a plurality of merchants over a general purpose computer network,

comprising:

a. host server means, connected to said general purpose computer

network, for transmitting information to and receiving information from said at

least one customer and said plurality of merchants;

b. merchant server means for each of said plurality of merchants, said

merchant server means being connected to said host server means via said

general purpose computer network, for transmitting information to and receiving

information from said host server means;

c. customer server means for said one customer, connected to said

host server means via said general purpose computer network, for transmitting

information and a plurality of search requests to and receiving information from

said host server means; and

d. database server means, connected to said host server means, for

transmitting information to and receiving information from said host server

means, said database server means including

product/service database storage means for receiving and storing

product/service information transmitted by each of said plurality of merchants

relating to a plurality of products/services offered for sale by each of said

plurality of merchants; and database search engine means for servicing said plurality of search

requests transmitted by said one customer via said customer server means over

said general purpose computer network to said host server means and to said

database server means, said plurality of search requests relating to a desired

product/service information, and for retrieving said desired product/service

information in response to said search requests, wherein said retrieved desired

product/service information is from said transmitted product/service information

of each of said plurality of merchants.

6. The automated system as claimed in claim 5 wherein the

transmitted product/service information of each of said plurality of merchants is

stored in said product/service database storage means in a hierarchical

categorization of a plurality of categories, said plurality of categories including:

a. a manufacturer/supplier category including information for

identifying a manufacturer/supplier for each one of said products/services;

b. a department category including information for identifying a

generic field for each one of said products/services;

c. a model number category including information for identifying a

unique model for each one of said plurality of said products/services; and

d. an attribute category including information for identifying at least

one feature for each one of said plurality of said products/services.

7. The automated system as claimed in claim 5 further comprising

solicited electronic quotation database means, connected to said host server means, for receiving and storing information from said one customer relating to

solicitations of quotations from said plurality of merchants.

8. The automated system as claimed in claim 5 further comprising:

purchase order request means, connected to said host server means and

to said customer server means via said general purpose computer network, for

receiving information transmitted by said one customer relating to one or more

selected product/service from said retrieved desired product/service information

for purchase by said one customer and for generating a purchase order request

in response to the receipt of said selected product/service and for transmitting

said purchase order request to one of said plurality of merchants offering said

selected product/service for sale; and

purchase order response means, connected to said merchant server

means for said one merchant and to said host server means via said general

purpose computer network, for receiving said transmitted purchase order

request and for generating an acceptance of said purchase order request in

response to said purchase order request.