Relationship-based commerical transaction system and method

• US 20020065787A1
• Filed: 08/24/2001
• Published: 05/30/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 08/24/2000
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Corban Technologies, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Corban Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Gray, Robert G., Evers, E. Mark, Mangano, Vincent
• Application Number:
  US09/939,443
• Publication Number:
  US 20020065787A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/80
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/188 Electronic negotiation

Abstract

A computer-and-network based system and method for conducting efficient, third-party-free, direct commercial transactions between qualified purchasers and vendors. Pre-established and pre-agreed-upon relational transactional protocols, which can be selectively revised as necessary by participants, substitute for conventional third-party intermediary activities, such as credit approval and authorization activities.

Claims

1. A non-third-party, purchaser/vendor exclusive commercial transaction method, wherein traditional third-party participation is absent and fully replaced by specific patterns of commercial relationships which have been pre-developed and pre-qualified between purchaser/vendor users of the method, and which method is designed for practice in conjunction with a computer-based, broad-area, information-exchange network, said method comprising

establishing a participating group of vendors of products and/or services, qualifying vendors in the group, and connecting this group to such a network,

establishing a participating group of purchasers of such products and/or services and qualifying these purchasers,

creating for each purchaser, and based upon the above-recited qualifying activities, a personal package of pre-agreed upon, developed and qualified commercial relationships in the forms of data specially associating that purchaser with selected ones of such vendors, and

furnishing each purchaser with a personal network-access key which contains information fully allowing that purchaser, through connection with the network, to utilize the mentioned package of relationships associated with that purchaser and the selected vendors.

2. The method of claim 1 which is specifically designed for use in association with the field of commercial trucking activities.

3. The method of claims 1 or 2 which further comprises enabling participating vendors to revise their respective qualifications for participation.

4. The method of claims 1 or 2 which further comprises enabling participating purchasers to revise their respective qualifications for participation.

5. Establishing an open-ended group of network participants, including plural vendors and plural purchasers of various products and/or services,

pre-qualifying such participants for use of the network by creating, with respect to each purchaser and to a selected plurality of associated vendors with whom the purchaser may wish to engage in commercial transactions, a set of specific, agreed-upon commercialize-relationship protocols, which set may differ from a like set created for other purchasers and associated vendors,

connecting the vendors to the network,

enabling such a connection for the purchasers, and

furnishing each purchaser with a purchaser-specific, network-access, portable appliance key which allows that purchaser selectively to connect and disconnect from the network, and which contains a network-communicable database which allows utilization by a connected purchaser of the specific set of protocols defined for and associated with that purchaser and with the selected associated vendors,

wherein a connection made by a purchaser to the network using the appliance key enables a direct commercial, transactional link between the purchaser and each vendor associated with the protocol set created for that purchaser, each of which links allows for a direct purchaser/vendor commercial transaction over the network without there occurring any associated, participating, branching outside of the link to include any third-party transaction activity.

6. The method of claim 5, which is specifically designed for use in association with the field of commercial trucking activities.

7. A non-third-party, purchaser/vendor specific, commercial transaction system, wherein third-party participation is absent, and fully replaced by specific patterns of commercial relationships which have been pre-developed and pre-qualified between users of the system, and which system is designed for practice in conjunction with a computer-based, broad-area, information-exchange network, said system comprising

a computer-accessible database relating to participating vendors of products and/or services appropriately connected to such a network,

a computer-accessible database relating to participating purchasers of such products and/or services and appropriately connectable to such a network, and

a key access tool providable to purchasers and connectable to such a network for identifying a particular purchaser to the network, and for accessing, within the network, pre-agreed upon, commercial-transaction protocols established for each purchaser and selected vendors,

connection by a purchaser through the associated key access tool to the network enabling a direct commercial, transactional link between that purchaser and each vendor associated with the specific purchaser through the pre-agreed-upon protocols, whereby a direct purchaser/vendor commercial transaction over the network takes place without there occurring any associated, participating, branching outside to include any third-party transaction activity.

8. A computer and network-based commercial transaction method employed between participating vendors and purchasers of various goods and/or services, wherein there has been established, between such vendors and purchasers, specific patterns of pre-agreed upon commercial transactional relationships, and the participating purchasers are engaged in work spans of time characterized by plural, successive requests for such goods and/or services, said method comprising

furnishing a vendor-/purchaser-accessible communication network poised to implement such relationship patterns,

enabling commercial transactional connections over the network between participating vendors and purchasers, and

as an outcome of said enabling, and over a defined span of time, promoting the realization of plural successive transactions between a participating vendor and a participating purchaser, which transactions take place, one after another, without the expenditure of time during that span to conduct per-transaction, lateral transaction approvals and/or authorizations.