System and method for providing a price quotation for a transportation service providing equipment selection capability
First Claim
1. A method for conducting an online transaction to fulfill a rail-shipment service inquiry including providing a cost estimate in relation to the transport of transporting goods by rail, comprising:
- (a) adapting a Graphical User Interface (GUI) by dynamically modifying a selection range of an input object providing equipment options a user can select for performing a shipment of goods, the adapting including;
i. receiving customer credentials which identify a specific customer profile in a customer profile database;
ii. sending commands over a data communication network to a remote customer client system, the commands directing the remote customer client system to implement a GUI providing a goods input object configured to accept user inputs identifying goods to be shipped;
iii. the GUI being configured to provide a dynamically adaptable railcar type input object identifying a collection of individually selectable freight railcar type options that the user can chose from for performing the shipment of the goods specified by a user at the goods input object, the collection of individually selectable freight railcar types options being dynamically adaptable to the goods to be shipped;
iv. in response to a user input at the goods input object identifying particular goods to be shipped, sending commands over the data communication network to the remote customer client system for directing the GUI to make available for selection at the railcar type input object an adapted collection of freight railcar type options corresponding to freight railcar types suitable to transport the particular goods and omitting freight railcar type options corresponding to freight railcar types that cannot transport the particular goods;
v. in response to a user input identifying a specific freight railcar type selected at the railcar type input object, executing a program element configured for processing the specific freight railcar type selected at the railcar type input object to derive a customer-specific list of actual railcars, the derived customer-specific list of actual railcars including a railcar of the specific railcar type selected at the railcar type input object, the customer-specific list including actual railcars that are owned by a specific customer associated with the specific customer profile;
vi. the GUI being configured to display the derived customer specific list of actual railcars;
(b) computing the cost estimate by using as factors at least the user input at the GUI identifying the goods to be shipped, information in the specific customer profile and the railcar type selected among the adapted collection of freight railcar type options and displaying the computed cost estimate at the GUI.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and system for computing the price for shipping goods. The method includes causing a computer to deliver first information to a user prompting the user to enter at the computer information about a rail transportation service for shipment of goods by one or more railcars. Information about a basic pool of railcars is received and filtered based on one or more filtering criteria to produce a filtered pool of railcars. The computer is then caused to deliver second information to the user prompting the user to select at the computer one or more railcars among the filtered pool of railcars for the shipment of goods. A price for the shipment of the goods is then computed at least in part on the basis of the rail transportation service and the one or more characteristics of the railcars in the filtered pool of railcars selected by the user.
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Citations
34 Claims
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1. A method for conducting an online transaction to fulfill a rail-shipment service inquiry including providing a cost estimate in relation to the transport of transporting goods by rail, comprising:
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(a) adapting a Graphical User Interface (GUI) by dynamically modifying a selection range of an input object providing equipment options a user can select for performing a shipment of goods, the adapting including; i. receiving customer credentials which identify a specific customer profile in a customer profile database; ii. sending commands over a data communication network to a remote customer client system, the commands directing the remote customer client system to implement a GUI providing a goods input object configured to accept user inputs identifying goods to be shipped; iii. the GUI being configured to provide a dynamically adaptable railcar type input object identifying a collection of individually selectable freight railcar type options that the user can chose from for performing the shipment of the goods specified by a user at the goods input object, the collection of individually selectable freight railcar types options being dynamically adaptable to the goods to be shipped; iv. in response to a user input at the goods input object identifying particular goods to be shipped, sending commands over the data communication network to the remote customer client system for directing the GUI to make available for selection at the railcar type input object an adapted collection of freight railcar type options corresponding to freight railcar types suitable to transport the particular goods and omitting freight railcar type options corresponding to freight railcar types that cannot transport the particular goods; v. in response to a user input identifying a specific freight railcar type selected at the railcar type input object, executing a program element configured for processing the specific freight railcar type selected at the railcar type input object to derive a customer-specific list of actual railcars, the derived customer-specific list of actual railcars including a railcar of the specific railcar type selected at the railcar type input object, the customer-specific list including actual railcars that are owned by a specific customer associated with the specific customer profile; vi. the GUI being configured to display the derived customer specific list of actual railcars; (b) computing the cost estimate by using as factors at least the user input at the GUI identifying the goods to be shipped, information in the specific customer profile and the railcar type selected among the adapted collection of freight railcar type options and displaying the computed cost estimate at the GUI. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 28)
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17. A server arrangement for conducting an online transaction to fulfill a rail-shipment service inquiry including providing a cost estimate in relation to the transport of goods by rail, the server arrangement configured for:
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a. adapting a Graphical User Interface (GUI) by dynamically modifying a selection range of an input object providing equipment options a user can select for performing a shipment of goods, the adapting including; i. receiving customer credentials which identify a specific customer profile in a customer profile database; ii. sending commands over a data communication network to a remote customer client system, the commands directing the remote customer client system to implement a GUI providing a goods input object configured to accept user inputs identifying goods to be shipped; iii. the GUI being configured to provide a dynamically adaptable railcar type input object identifying a collection of individually selectable freight railcar type options that the user can chose from for performing the shipment of the goods specified by a user at the goods input object, the collection of individually selectable freight railcar types options being dynamically adaptable to the goods to be shipped; iv. in response to a user input at the goods input object identifying particular goods to be shipped, sending commands over the data communication network to the remote customer client system for directing the GUI to make available for selection at the railcar type input object an adapted collection of freight railcar type options corresponding to freight railcar types suitable to transport the particular goods and omitting freight railcar type options corresponding to freight railcar types that cannot transport the particular goods; v. in response to a user input identifying a specific freight railcar type selected at the railcar type input object, executing a program element configured for processing the specific freight railcar type selected at the railcar type input object to derive a customer-specific list of actual railcars, the derived customer-specific list of actual railcars including a railcar of the specific railcar type selected at the railcar type input object, the customer-specific list including actual railcars that are owned by a specific customer associated with the specific customer profile; vi. the GUI being configured to display the derived customer specific list of actual railcars; b. computing the cost estimate by using as factors at least the user input at the GUI identifying the goods to be shipped, information in the specific customer profile and the railcar type selected among the adapted collection of freight railcar type options and displaying the computed cost estimate at the GUI. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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29. A method for conducting an online transaction to fulfill a rail-shipment service inquiry including providing a cost estimate in relation to the transport of goods by rail, comprising:
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a. adapting a Graphical User Interface (GUI) by dynamically modifying a selection range of an input object providing equipment options a user can select for performing a shipment of goods, the adapting including; i. receiving customer credentials which identify a specific customer profile in a customer profile database, the specific customer profile including information identifying a set of actual railcars that are owned by a specific customer associated with the specific customer profile, wherein the actual railcar in the set of actual railcars is of a specific railcar type; ii. sending commands over a data communication network to a remote customer client system, the commands directing the remote customer client system to implement a GUI providing a goods input object configured to accept user inputs identifying goods to be shipped; iii. the GUI being configured to provide a dynamically adaptable railcar type input object identifying a collection of individually selectable freight railcar type options that the user can chose from for performing the shipment of the goods specified by a user at the goods input object, the collection of individually selectable freight railcar types options being dynamically adaptable to the goods to be shipped; iv. in response to a user input at the goods input object identifying particular goods to be shipped, sending commands over the data communication network to the remote customer client system for directing the GUI to make available for selection at the railcar type input object an adapted collection of freight railcar type options corresponding to freight railcar types suitable to transport the particular goods and omitting freight railcar type options corresponding to freight railcar types that cannot transport the particular goods, the adapted collection of freight railcar type options including a customer-specific list of actual railcars associated with the specific customer profile derived at least in part by executing a program element configured for processing the specific freight railcar type selected at the railcar type input object; b. computing the cost estimate by using as factors at least the user input at the GUI identifying the goods to be shipped, the information identifying the set of actual railcars that are owned by a specific customer associated with the specific customer profile and the railcar type selected among the adapted collection of freight railcar type options and displaying the computed cost estimate at the GUI.
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30. A method for a rail transportation company for conducting an online transaction to fulfill a rail-shipment including providing cost information in connection with the rail-shipment, and fulfilling the rail-shipment, the method comprising:
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a. directing a customer system to implement a Graphical User Interface (GUI) configured to receive as an input a customer login which identifies a specific customer profile in a customer profile database; b. the GUI being further configured to provide a commodity input object configured to accept a user input identifying a commodity to be shipped; c. the GUI being configured to provide a dynamically adaptable railcar type object identifying a collection of individually selectable freight railcar type options that the user can chose from for performing the rail-shipment of the commodity specified by a user at the commodity input object, the collection of individually selectable freight railcar type options being dynamically adaptable to the commodity to be shipped; d. in response to user input at the commodity input object identifying a particular commodity to be shipped, causing the GUI to make available for selection at the railcar type input object an adapted collection of freight railcar type options corresponding to freight railcar types suitable to transport the particular commodity and omitting freight railcar type options corresponding to freight railcar types that cannot transport the particular commodity; e. computing a baseline haul price by using as a factor the user input at the GUI identifying the commodity to be shipped and the railcar type selected among the adapted collection of freight railcar type options and displaying the baseline haul price via the GUI; f. executing a program element to; i. display at the GUI customer-specific information including a customer-specific list of actual railcars that are associated with the specific customer profile, each railcar being of a particular railcar type, the customer-specific list including actual railcars that are owned by the customer associated with the specific customer profile, wherein the customer profile identifies a chargeable service to be performed on a railcar to be used for a rail-shipment for the user; ii. accept user inputs at the GUI conveying customer-selected shipping options, the customer-selected shipping options; 1. identifying a railcar from the customer-specific list to be used for a shipment of the commodity, of a type corresponding to the railcar type selected among the adapted collection of freight railcar type options; 2. identifying the chargeable service to be performed on the railcar to be used for the shipment of the commodity; iii. compute a customized shipment price by using as a factor one or more inputs identifying the customer-selected shipping options including the chargeable service to be performed on the railcar to be used for the shipment of the commodity; g. transporting the commodity by using the railcar identified by the user inputs conveying the customer selected shipping options. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34)
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Specification