Method for electronically initiating and managing agricultural production contracts
First Claim
1. A method of facilitating the contracting of agricultural commodities using the Internet comprising the steps of:
- providing a Web server connected to the Internet;
providing a centralized database system for the storage and retrieval of data;
storing data in the database system relating to types and amounts of agricultural commodities desired by one or more agricultural commodity buyers;
in response to a command input into the system, displaying a listing of desired commodities including information related to the types, amounts or deliveries of the commodities;
receiving input data from a supplier of an agricultural commodity relating to a specific type and amount of a commodity which the supplier is willing to supply to the buyer at harvest or at other times; and
generating a contract for the sale of the specific type and amount of the commodity by the supplier to the buyer.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method of facilitating the contracting of agricultural products using the Internet is used for providing buyers and sellers with real time information relating to the type and amount of agricultural products available for contract. The invention includes a relational database for the storage and retrieval of information. One or more end use buyers can store information in the database relating to a desired type and quantity of agricultural products. Agricultural producers, such as farmers, can view listings of agricultural products desired and the system can facilitate the contracting between the buyers and producers for the agricultural products. The system can display in real time the quantity and types of agricultural products under contract and available for contract. The system can manage delivery preferences, quality data and determine contract pricing based on these criteria.
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Citations
28 Claims
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1. A method of facilitating the contracting of agricultural commodities using the Internet comprising the steps of:
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providing a Web server connected to the Internet;
providing a centralized database system for the storage and retrieval of data;
storing data in the database system relating to types and amounts of agricultural commodities desired by one or more agricultural commodity buyers;
in response to a command input into the system, displaying a listing of desired commodities including information related to the types, amounts or deliveries of the commodities;
receiving input data from a supplier of an agricultural commodity relating to a specific type and amount of a commodity which the supplier is willing to supply to the buyer at harvest or at other times; and
generating a contract for the sale of the specific type and amount of the commodity by the supplier to the buyer. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method of facilitating and tracking the contracting of agricultural crops using a wide area distributed network comprising the steps of:
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providing a centralized database system for the storage and retrieval of data;
storing data related to the number of acres or bushels of agricultural crops desired by one or more agricultural commodity buyers;
storing data related to the number of acres or bushels of the agricultural crops committed for the production of the crops by one or more growers;
displaying a listing of the desired crops including information related to the number of acres or bushels desired and the number of acres or bushels already committed;
receiving input data from a grower relating to a specific amount of the crop which the grower is willing to commit to the desired agricultural crop; and
updating the data in the database to reflect the additional acres committed by the grower as indicated in the input data so that the listing of the desired crops can be displayed in real time showing the allocation of acres or bushels committed to the desired crop. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A method of maintaining the integrity of data in a database system in which data is entered into the database system by a user using an Internet Web browser comprising the steps of:
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providing a control script which uses a limited amount of state data stored by the Internet browser during the execution of a task, the state data stored by the browser identifying a subset of master state data stored in the database system;
entering the state data stored by the browser into the database system to update the subset of the master state data upon the completion of the task; and
preventing the state data stored by the browser to be entered into database system and updating the subset of the master data when the task is aborted by the user.
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25. An apparatus for contracting for agricultural commodities over a wide area distributed network comprising:
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an application/web server;
a database server;
a communications link between the application/web server and the database server and the wide area distributed network;
one or more remote user terminals;
software on computer storage medium which facilitates;
storing data in the database system relating to types and amounts of agricultural commodities desired by one or more agricultural commodity buyers;
in response to a command input into the system, displaying a listing of desired commodities including information related to the types, amounts or deliveries of the commodities;
receiving input data from a supplier of an agricultural commodity relating to a specific type and amount of a commodity which the supplier is willing to supply to the buyer at harvest or at other times; and
generating a contract for the sale of the specific type and amount of the commodity by the supplier to the buyer.
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26. A system for contracting for agricultural commodities over a wide area distributed network comprising:
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a central computer system in operative communication with a wide area distributed network;
a plurality of widely distributed seller computers in operative communication with the wide area distributed network;
a plurality of widely distributed buyer computers in operative communication with the wide area distributed network;
a database stored on said central computer system containing data related specific type and amount of a commodity which the seller is willing to supply to the buyer at harvest or at other times, and types and amounts of agricultural commodities desired by one or more agricultural commodity buyers;
so that, in response to a command input into the system, buyers and sellers can form contracts related to the types, amounts or deliveries of the commodities. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28)
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Specification