Automated transaction processing system and approach
First Claim
1. An automated pricing system for communications with buyers and sellers who provide respective sets of business rules for transactions to be conducted by the automated pricing system, the automated pricing system comprising:
- a computer and communications node adapted to receive and use the business rules to derive a specific term for a transaction to be implemented by the buyer and seller, the transaction having a price that is set as a function of the specific term.
3 Assignments
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Accused Products
Abstract
Transaction management for contract and contract-related approaches is facilitated. According to an example embodiment of the present invention, a transaction management computer is programmed to automatically set contract terms for a transaction based on business rules previously established between parties to a transaction. In one implementation, the transaction management node automatically derives a contract term including a pricing-related term for a transaction between a buyer and seller using contract information therefor. In one instance, previously-agreed-upon price approaches, such as fixed pricing, seller-controlled pricing, quantity-related tiered pricing and pricing management schemes are stored and used by the transaction management node to automatically derive the prices. With these approaches, pricing disputes that can occur after a transaction has been processed are reduced and/or eliminated.
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Citations
64 Claims
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1. An automated pricing system for communications with buyers and sellers who provide respective sets of business rules for transactions to be conducted by the automated pricing system, the automated pricing system comprising:
a computer and communications node adapted to receive and use the business rules to derive a specific term for a transaction to be implemented by the buyer and seller, the transaction having a price that is set as a function of the specific term. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. An automated transaction system comprising:
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a buyer terminal configured and arranged to interface with a buyer, display seller offerings and receive and transmit buyer contract information from the buyer;
a seller terminal configured and arranged to interface with a seller, display at least some of the seller offerings and receive and transmit seller contract information from the seller; and
a centrally-accessible computer and communications node including a collaborative contracts manager that is adapted to communicate with the buyer terminal and the seller terminal and to provide a common source of data for users of the buyer terminal and users of the seller terminal, the data including characteristics and pricing of the seller offerings, and further adapted to automatically derive rules by which purchases of the seller offerings are made in response to contract information including transaction pricing information from at least one of the buyer and the seller. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39)
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40. A centrally-accessible computer and communications node configured and arranged to:
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receive respective sets of business rules for transactions between transacting parties;
communicate with a plurality of buyer terminals and seller terminals and to provide a common source of data for users of the terminals, the data including seller offerings;
control access to the data and for configuring the type and arrangement of the data to be communicated with the at least one buyer terminal in response to the identification of a buyer receiving the communications; and
for a transaction to be implemented by a buyer for the seller offerings, use the business rules for the buyer and sellers to automatically derive a price term for the transaction. - View Dependent Claims (41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57)
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58. An automated pricing system for use by a buyer and a seller who provide respective sets of business rules, the automated pricing system comprising:
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means for providing business rules for pricing a transaction to be implemented by the buyer and seller; and
means for receiving the business rules from the buyer and the seller and using the business rules to derive a specific term for the transaction, the transaction having a price that is set as a function of the specific term.
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59. A method for automated pricing of transactions between a buyer and seller who provide business rules, the method comprising:
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providing business rules for pricing a transaction to be implemented by the buyer and seller; and
receiving and using the business rules to derive a specific term for the transaction, the transaction having a price that is set as a function of the specific term.
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60. A method for transaction management in a system including a centrally accessible computer and communications node, the method comprising:
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receiving respective sets of business rules from buyers and sellers;
interfacing with the centrally-accessible computer and communications node via a seller terminal and displaying at least one seller offering at the seller terminal;
interfacing with the centrally-accessible computer and communications node via a buyer terminal and displaying at least one seller offering at the buyer terminal;
communicating data from the centrally-accessible computer and communications node to the buyer terminal and the seller terminal, and characterizing and modifying one of the sets of business rules by which purchases of the at least one seller offering is made at the centrally-accessible computer and communications node; and
using the characterized and modified business rules, deriving a specific term for a transaction to be implemented by a particular buyer and at least one particular seller, the transaction having a price that is set as a function of the specific term. - View Dependent Claims (61, 62, 63, 64)
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Specification