System and method for providing a price quotation for a transportation service providing route selection capability

• US 20030163333A1
• Filed: 02/01/2002
• Published: 08/28/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 02/01/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canadian National Railway Company
• Original Assignee: Canadian National Railway Company
• Inventors: Ernesaks, Anita, Podgurny, Leonard John
• Granted Patent: US 7,421,397 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/083 Shipping
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08345 Pricing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination

Abstract

A method and system for computing the price of a railway transportation service for the shipping goods is provided. A computer delivers first information to a user prompting the user to enter information about a rail transportation service including an origin and a destination for the shipment of goods. In response to the origin and the destination information, the computer is caused to deliver a series of routes between the origin of the shipment of goods and the destination of the shipment of goods. The user is prompted to select at least one route from the series of routes. A price for the rail transportation service for shipment of goods is then computed at least in part on the basis of the at least one route selected by the user and is provided to the user as a quote for the rail transportation service.

Claims

1. ) A computer readable storage medium storing a program element for execution by a CPU, said program element comprising:

a) a first program element component for causing a computer to deliver first information to a user, the first information prompting the user to enter at the computer information about a rail transportation service for shipment of goods, said information about the rail transportation service including;

i) information specifying an origin of the shipment of goods;

ii) information specifying a destination of the shipment of goods;

b) a second program element component responsive to the information specifying an origin of the shipment of goods and the information specifying a destination of the shipment of goods for;

i) causing the computer to deliver second information to the user, the second information including a series of routes between the origin of the shipment of goods and the destination of the shipment of goods;

ii) prompting the user to select at least one route from the series of routes;

c) a third program element component for computing a price for rail transportation service for shipment of goods at least in part on the basis of the at least one route selected by the user.

2. ) A method for computing the price of a railway transportation service for the shipping goods, comprising:

a) causing a computer to deliver first information to a user, the first information prompting the user to enter at the computer information about a rail transportation service for shipment of goods, said information about the rail transportation service including;

i) information specifying an origin of the shipment of goods;

ii) information specifying a destination of the shipment of goods;

b) in response to the information specifying an origin of the shipment of goods and the information specifying a destination of the shipment of goods;

i) causing the computer to deliver second information to the user, the second information including a series of routes between the origin of the shipment of goods and the destination of the shipment of goods;

ii) prompting the user to select at least one route from the series of routes;

c) computing a price for the rail transportation service for shipment of goods at least in part on the basis of the at least one route selected by the user.

3. ) A method for requesting a quote for a price for shipping goods by rail, comprising:

a) displaying first information at a client system prompting a user to enter at the client system information about a rail transportation service for shipment of goods;

b) prompting the user to enter at the client system information about the rail transportation service including;

i) an origin of the shipment of goods;

ii) a destination of the shipment of goods;

c) sending to a server system the information about the rail transportation service including the origin of the shipment of goods and the destination of the shipment of goods;

d) receiving at the client system from the server system information about routes between the origin of the shipment of goods and the destination of the shipment of goods, the information about the routes including a series routes between the origin of the shipment of goods and the destination of the shipment of goods;

e) displaying to the user at the client system the information about the routes between the origin of the shipment of goods and the destination of the shipment of goods;

f) prompting the user to select at least one route from the series of routes;

g) sending to the server system information about the at least one route;

h) receiving at the client system from the server system information about the price for the shipment of the goods and displaying to the user at the client system the information about the price for the rail transportation service for the shipment of the goods.

4. ) A server system for computing a quote for a price of a railway transportation service for shipping goods, said server system storing a program element for execution by a CPU, said program element comprising:

a) a first program element component for causing a client system connected to the server via the Internet to display first information to a user, the first information prompting the user to enter at the client system information for transmission to said server system about a rail route for shipment of goods including;

i) information specifying an origin of the shipment of goods;

ii) information specifying a destination of the shipment of goods;

b) a second program element component for deriving a series of routes between the origin of the shipment of goods and the destination of the shipment of goods;

c) a third program element component for causing the client system to display second information to the user, the second information prompting the user to select at least one route from the series of routes;

d) a fourth program element component for computing a price for the railway transportation service for shipping goods at least in part on the basis of the at least one route;

e) a fifth program element component for causing the client system to display to the user the price for the railway transportation service for shipping of the goods.

5. ) A client-server system for computing a quote for a price of shipping goods by rail, comprising:

a) a client system;

b) a server system, said client system and said server system operative to exchange messages over a data network;

c) a first program element component executed on said server system for sending messages to said client system for causing said client system to display first information to a user, the first information prompting the user to enter at said client system information about a rail route for shipment of goods including;

i) information specifying an origin of the shipment of goods;

ii) information specifying a destination of the shipment of goods;

d) said client system being operative to send messages to said server to communicate to said server the information about the rail route;

e) a second program element component executed on said server for deriving a series of routes between the origin of the shipment of goods and the destination of the shipment of goods;

f) a third program element component executed on said server for sending messages to said client system for causing said client system to display to the user second information, the second information prompting the user to select at least one route from the series of routes;

g) said client system being operative to send messages to said server to communicate to said server the information about the selected at least one route;

h) a fourth program element component for computing a price of shipping goods by rail at least in part on the basis of the at least one route;

i) a fifth program element component executed on said server for sending messages to said client system for causing the client system to display to the user the price of shipping goods by rail computed by said fourth program element.