On-line selection of service providers in distributed provision of services on demand

• US 20020019786A1
• Filed: 07/19/2001
• Published: 02/14/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 07/21/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Gonzalez, Manuel, Roche, Alex
• Granted Patent: US 7,225,220 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/28
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders

Abstract

An electronic control apparatus configured for use in routing customer orders, received over the internet, to a service provider such as a print service provider selected from a plurality of competing print service providers, comprises an electronic interface configured to receive and acknowledge customer orders; first processing means configured to compare the requirements of a received order with pre-stored information specific to each of the competing service providers; responsive means configured to establish a list of the service providers determined to be able to fulfill requirements of the received order; and processing means configurable, for a received order, to make the selection from the list and to route the received order to the selected service provider. Advantageously by applying a series of filters an optimum service provider is selected by a gateway device assigning a printing order to a print service provider taking into account geographical criteria, and attempts to minimize the final price, in particular the shipping costs. Whilst minimizing costs to the end customer, the gateway device seeks to ensure that a print service provider having competitive prices still receives work.

Claims

1. An electronic control apparatus configured for use in routing customer orders received over an electronic network to a service provider selectable from a plurality of service providers, said apparatus comprising:

an electronic interface configured to receive and acknowledge said customer orders;

first processing means configured to compare the requirements of a said received customer order with pre-stored information specific to each of said plurality of service providers;

a memory configured to store a list of said service providers determined to be able to fulfil the requirements of a said received order; and

further processing means configurable, for a received order, to make a said selection of at least one service provider from said list, and to route said received order to said selected service provider.

2. An electronic control apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said first processing means is configured to identify and discard service providers which do not support a particular service requested in a said customer order.

3. An electronic control apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said first processing means is configured to identify, via transmissions of a status signal, if a said service provider is currently in operation or unavailable.

4. An electronic control apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein said status signal is transmitted periodically.

5. An electronic control apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said further processing means comprises list sorting means configured to sort said list of service providers according to a cost parameter associated with delivery of a product from a said service provider, to a said customer.

6. An electronic control apparatus as claimed in claim 1, configured to receive price parameter values associated with delivery of a product resulting from a said received customer order to a said customer, said received values being provided by individual ones of said plurality of listed service providers.

7. An electronic control apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein if no service provider selected, then a signal is transmitted to alert an operator of said apparatus that a said order being processed must be routed by manual intervention of the operator.

8. An electronic control apparatus as claimed in claim 1, operating to allocate an order to a fictitious service provider, if said list contains no service providers.

9. An electronic control apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said further processing means is configured to read delivery price information associated with a said order, said information being accessible by said apparatus from a database or other suitable data storage medium.

10. An electronic control apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said further processing means is configured to calculate a percentage of capacity available for each given service provider remaining in said list.

11. An electronic control apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein said further processing means is configured to select a service provider having a greatest percentage spare capacity.

12. An electronic control apparatus as claimed in claim 1, configured to receive a query message for pending jobs from a service provider.

13. An electronic control apparatus as claimed in claim 1, configured to transmit a message to a service provider, said message comprising a list of jobs available for the service provider to complete.

14. An electronic control apparatus as claimed in claim 1, configured to receive a job completion signal from a service provider upon completion of an allocated job.

15. An electronic control apparatus as claimed in claim 1, configured to transmit an order message to a service provider.

16. An electronic control apparatus as claimed in claim 1, configured to receive a quote message from a service provider upon a request for costs associated with a given service to be completed being requested.

17. An electronic control apparatus as claimed in claim 1, configured to stored data comprising a list of service providers, a list of service provider contracts, and data in respect of the capabilities of said service providers.

19. The method as claimed in claim 18, further comprising the step of:

identifying and discarding service providers which do not support a particular service requested in a said customer order.

20. The method as claimed in claim 18, comprising the step of:

identifying via transmissions of a status signal, if a said service provider is currently in operation or unavailable.

21. The method as claimed in claim 18, wherein said step of making selection of at least one said service provider comprises:

selecting a said service provider from a list of service providers, said selection being made on the basis of an overall price for fulfilling an order for print products.

22. The method as claimed in claim 18, further comprising the step of:

creating and sorting a list of print service providers according to a price associated with delivery of products from said print service provider to an address specified in said customer order.

23. The method as claimed in claim 18, wherein said step of making selection of at least one said service provider comprises:

selecting a said service provider on the basis of a lowest printing price quoted.

24. The method as claimed in claim 18, wherein said step of making selection of at least one said service provider comprises:

selecting a said service provider on the basis of proximity of location to a delivery address specified in a said customer order.

25. The method as claimed in claim 18, comprising;

reading delivery price information associated with a said order from a database.

26. The method as claimed in claim 18, further comprising:

storing pre-agreed delivery price data associated with each of a plurality of service providers.

27. The method as claimed in claim 18 further comprising the step of:

calculating a percentage of capacity available for each of a plurality of service providers in said list.

28. The method as claimed in claim 27, comprising selecting a service provider having a greatest percentage spare capacity.

29. The method as claimed in claim 18, comprising:

receiving a query message for pending jobs from a said print service provider.

30. The method as claimed in claim 18, comprising:

storing data comprising a list of service providers, said data comprising;

a plurality of contracts governing a business relationship with a said service provider;

a set of capability data describing capabilities of said service providers.

31. The method as claimed in claim 30, wherein said capability data comprises a list of web site association data.

32. The method as claimed in claim 18, further comprising the step of:

calculating a final price threshold value by;

selecting a service provider with minimum price

adding a pre-determined amount to that minimum price.

18. A method of automatically selecting a service provider from a plurality of service providers operating to complete customer orders received said method comprising the steps of:

comparing the requirements of a received order with pre-stored information specific to each of said service providers and in response to said comparison establishing a list of said service providers able to fulfil the requirements of said received order; and

making selection of at least one said service provider from said list; and

routing said received order to said selected service provider.

33. A method of allocation of online print services, supplied by a plurality of print service provider entities said method comprising the steps of:

storing data describing a plurality of print service provider entities;

automatically selecting at least one print service provider for fulfillment of an order received online; and

sending said order to said print service provider for fulfillment by said selected service provider.

34. The method as claimed in claim 33, wherein said step of selecting a said print service provider comprises;

selecting at least one said print service provider on the basis of parameters selected from the set;

a price of fulfilling said order;

a shipping price for delivery of said order;

a capacity of a said print service provider;

a capability of said print service provider to fulfill said order to a specification of print product contained in said order.