ELECTRONIC PROPOSAL PREPARATION SYSTEM

• US 20100030665A1
• Filed: 10/11/2009
• Published: 02/04/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/05/1992
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Jerome D. Johnson
• Original Assignee: Jerome D. Johnson
• Inventors: JOHNSON, Jerome D.
• Granted Patent: US 8,121,904 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/27
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0631 Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0875 Itemisation or classification of parts, supplies or services, e.g. bill of materials
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/209 Specified transaction journal output feature, e.g. printed receipt or voice output
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0611 Request for offers or quotes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0621 Item configuration or customization
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0625 Directed, with specific intent or strategy
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0627 using item specifications
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0631 Item recommendations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

An electronic system for creating customized product proposals stores a plurality of pictures and text segments to be used as building blocks in creating the proposal. The pictures may include various products, environments in which the products may be used, and available product options. The text segments may include textual descriptions of the product, environments in which the product may be used, and its performance specifications. The system queries a user to determine a customer'"'"'s needs and interests. Based upon the answers to the queries, tae system selects the appropriate picture and text building blocks to fill in proposal templates. The system can print the completed proposal templates to provide the user with a customized, printed proposal that describes features and benefits of a product, in a particular environment, that are of interest to the customer who is to receive the proposal.

Claims

1. A computer system for facilitating sales of a product to a user, the computer system comprising:

a user interface;

a selection device operatively connected to the user interface;

an active database operatively connected to the selection device;

a report database operatively connected to the selection device;

a static database operatively connected to the selection device; and

a report generator operatively connected to the active database, the report database, the selection device, and the static database.

2. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the user interface is configured to query the user regarding interests of the user.

3. The computer system of claim 2, wherein the query includes at least one of the following query portions:

a first query portion regarding selecting the product, a second query portion regarding an intended use for the product, a third query portion regarding a request for technical information, and a fourth query portion regarding selecting a product option by the user.

4. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the selection device is configured to create a proposal for the user by using information regarding interests of the user obtained via the user interface.

5. The computer system of claim 4, wherein the proposal includes at least one product picture, at least one environment picture, and at least one text portion based upon information regarding interests of the user obtained via the user interface.

6. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the active database is configured to store information regarding interests of the user obtained via the user interface.

7. The computer system of claim 6, wherein the information stored in the active database includes information received from the user in response to at least one of the following query portions:

a first query portion regarding selecting the product, a second query portion regarding an intended use for the product, a third query portion regarding a request for technical information, and a fourth query regarding a selection of a product option by the user.

8. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the report database stores a plurality of page layouts.

9. The computer system of claim 8, wherein at least one of the page layouts is configured to display a product picture of a product selected by the user, an environment picture of an environment selected by the user, and a text portion, wherein the text portion is associated with at least one of the product and the environment.

10. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the static database stores a plurality of product pictures, a plurality of environment pictures, and a plurality of text portions, wherein each text portion is associated with at least one of a product and a environment.

11. The computer system of claim 10, wherein the static database further stores a plurality of product technical detail specifications, a plurality of price specifications, and a plurality of life cycle specifications.

12. The computer system of claim 1, further comprising:

a difference database operatively connected to the static database.

13. The computer system of claim 12, wherein difference database stores update information configured for transmittal to the static database.

14. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the report generator is configured to:

read a page layout from the report database,

read a product picture, an environment picture, and a text portion selected by the selector from the static database based upon information from the active database, and

generate a report by inserting the product picture, the environment picture, and the text portion into the page layout.

15. The computer system of claim 14, wherein the report generator is further configured to:

insert salesperson information into the report, and

transmit the report.

16. A computer system for facilitating sales of a product to a user, the computer system comprising:

a user interface configured to query the user regarding interests of the user, wherein the query comprises the following query portions;

a first query portion regarding selecting the product, a second query portion regarding an intended use for the product, a third query portion regarding a request for technical information, and a fourth query portion regarding selecting a product option by the user;

a selection device operatively connected to the user interface, wherein the selection device is configured to create a proposal for the user by using information regarding interests of the user obtained via the user interface, wherein the proposal includes at least one product picture, at least one environment picture, and at least one text portion based upon information regarding interests of the user obtained via the user interface;

an active database operatively connected to the selection device, wherein the active database is configured to store information regarding interests of the user obtained via the user interface, and wherein the information stored in the active database includes information received from the user in response to at least one of the following query portions;

a first query portion regarding selecting the product, a second query portion regarding an intended use for the product, a third query portion regarding a request for technical information, and a fourth query regarding a selection of a product option by the user;

a difference database operatively connected to the static database, wherein difference database stores update information configured for transmittal to the static database;

a report database operatively connected to the selection device, wherein the report database stores a plurality of page layouts, wherein at least one of the page layouts is configured to display a product picture of a product selected by the user, an environment picture of an environment selected by the user, and a text portion, and wherein the text portion is associated with at least one of the product and the environment;

a static database operatively connected to the selection device, wherein the static database stores a plurality of product pictures, a plurality of environment pictures, and a plurality of text portions, wherein each text portion is associated with at least one of a product and a environment, and wherein the static database further stores a plurality of product technical detail specifications, a plurality of price specifications, and a plurality of life cycle specifications; and

a report generator operatively connected to the active database, the report database, the selection device, and the static database, wherein the report generator is configured to;

(i) read a page layout from the report database, (ii) read a product picture, an environment picture, and a text portion selected by the selector from the static database based upon information from the active database, (iii) generate a report by inserting the product picture, the environment picture, the text portion, and salesperson information into the page layout, and (iv) transmit the report.