Goods database employing electronic title or documentary-type title
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A system for trading goods, comprising:
- a program-controlled computer;
a data base accessible by said computer, said data base being adapted for storing information concerning the goods;
a multi-field record associated with each of the goods, each said record having a field indicating whether the respective goods are represented by an electronic title or by a documentary title;
a plurality of terminals for accessing said data base and for trading the goods; and
said program-controlled computer causing either an authentic documentary title to be created if the data base indicates the goods are to be represented by documentary title, or causes an authentic electronic title to be created with respect to the goods if the data base so indicates, whereby only one type of title exists at any one time with respect to the goods.
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Abstract
A commodity trading system having a centralized computer and data base. Each commodity, such as a bale of cotton, is represented in the data base as a file having all the information unique to such bale, including a title flag. The title flag field of the file indicates whether the title to the cotton bale is carried by way of a card-type warehouse receipt, or electronically. The electronic representation of title eliminates the transferral of documentary type title which is traditionally mailed to various locations to follow the trading transactions.
562 Citations
38 Claims
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1. A system for trading goods, comprising:
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a program-controlled computer; a data base accessible by said computer, said data base being adapted for storing information concerning the goods; a multi-field record associated with each of the goods, each said record having a field indicating whether the respective goods are represented by an electronic title or by a documentary title; a plurality of terminals for accessing said data base and for trading the goods; and said program-controlled computer causing either an authentic documentary title to be created if the data base indicates the goods are to be represented by documentary title, or causes an authentic electronic title to be created with respect to the goods if the data base so indicates, whereby only one type of title exists at any one time with respect to the goods. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A system for trading cotton, comprising:
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a program-controlled computer; a data base having a file accessible by said computer in response to a transaction involving a bale of cotton, said file having a record uniquely identifying each said bale, and a title field storing data indicating whether the cotton bale is represented by an electronic title or by a documentary title; and said computer being programmed to respond to trading transactions for accessing the title field to determine the type of title carried with each bale of cotton and to change the data in the title field and thereby change the type of title in response to the trading transaction. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A method for carrying out a trading transaction of title goods, comprising the steps of:
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storing in a computer data base data associated with the goods, including data indicating a type of title assigned to the goods; accessing the data base in response to a trading transaction of the goods to determine the type of title assigned to the goods; accessing the data base in response to a trading transaction of the goods to determine the type of title assigned thereto; and providing a legal documentary type of title for the goods if the data base data indicates such a type of title, and maintaining a software indication of title if said data base indicates an electronic type of title. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. A method for allowing goods to be traded using a nondocumentary type of title, comprising the steps of:
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maintaining a data base with a plurality of records, each record being associated with respective goods; defining at least one field in each record for identifying a type of title associated with the respective goods; and writing the field with one type of data if the respective goods are to be represented with a nondocumentary type of title, and writing the fields with different data if the respective goods are to be represented with another type of title. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
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35. A method for carrying out transactions of cotton, comprising the steps of:
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providing a centralized computer trading system including a programmed computer and a data base for storing data related to cotton trading transactions; providing a computer terminal for accessing the data base for providing data characterizing a bale of cotton as to an owner and whether a documentary or electronic type of warehouse receipt is desired by the owner; providing a computer terminal at a cotton warehouse for accessing the data base to provide further data characterizing the cotton bale; said computer generating a record of the cotton bale with data characterizing said bale and indicating the type of warehouse receipt assigned to said bale, and if a documentary title is desired by the owner, causing a printer to generate a documentary warehouse receipt; and
if an electronic title is desired, said computer does not generate a documentary title. - View Dependent Claims (36, 37, 38)
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Specification