Apparatus for and method of managing the availability of items
First Claim
1. A method of exchanging information of electronic components among different vendors each having a vendor controlled data base through a communication network, said method comprising the steps of:
- storing a universal set of categories of the electronic components at each of a plurality of vendor sites;
storing at each vendor site a local inventory of electronic components of at least one category of the universal set of categories in the vendor controlled data base and data identifying other vendor sites permitted to access the vendor controlled data base of the vendor site;
selecting, at each vendor site, at least one category of the inventory of electronic components independently controlled data base of other of the selected from the universal set of categories as available to other vendorsautomatically interconnecting vendor site data bases identified as permitted to access each other'"'"'s vendor controlled data base at scheduled times to exchange information on electronic components of the at least one selected category available to other vendors through the communication network;
transmitting information regarding the electronic components of the selected at least one category available to other vendors directly from the vendor controlled data base of each automatically interconnected vendor site to each other automatically interconnected vendor site through the communication network;
receiving information regarding electronic components of the selected at least one category available to other vendors at each automatically interconnected vendor site directly from each of the other automatically interconnected vendor controlled data bases in searchable offsite data bases assigned to the other automatically interconnected vendor sites through the communication network.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Apparatus and method for managing the availability of items using a computer system. The system permits various computers to access databases located at offsite computers to retrieve/transmit preselected information pertaining to the availability of items from/to each accessed database. Categories of items are selected by a user prior to communicating with offsite computers so that only the categories of interest are selected and only data pertaining to those categories is downloaded to the requesting computer or uploaded from a called computer. Once data has been retrieved by the requesting computer, the user can use various parameters to select and display the received information in the selected categories. In addition, the requesting computer can automatically retrieve information from offsite computers at a predetermined time each day of the week.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. A method of exchanging information of electronic components among different vendors each having a vendor controlled data base through a communication network, said method comprising the steps of:
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storing a universal set of categories of the electronic components at each of a plurality of vendor sites; storing at each vendor site a local inventory of electronic components of at least one category of the universal set of categories in the vendor controlled data base and data identifying other vendor sites permitted to access the vendor controlled data base of the vendor site; selecting, at each vendor site, at least one category of the inventory of electronic components independently controlled data base of other of the selected from the universal set of categories as available to other vendors automatically interconnecting vendor site data bases identified as permitted to access each other'"'"'s vendor controlled data base at scheduled times to exchange information on electronic components of the at least one selected category available to other vendors through the communication network; transmitting information regarding the electronic components of the selected at least one category available to other vendors directly from the vendor controlled data base of each automatically interconnected vendor site to each other automatically interconnected vendor site through the communication network; receiving information regarding electronic components of the selected at least one category available to other vendors at each automatically interconnected vendor site directly from each of the other automatically interconnected vendor controlled data bases in searchable offsite data bases assigned to the other automatically interconnected vendor sites through the communication network. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 17)
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10. An apparatus for exchanging information on electronic components among different vendors each having a vendor controlled data base at a site of the vendor via a communication network, comprising:
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means for storing a universal set of categories at each of a plurality of vendor sites; means for storing at each of the plurality of vendor sites a local inventory of electronic components of at least one category of the universal set of categories in the vendor controlled data base of the vendor and data identifying other vendors with permission to access to the vendor site; means at each vendor site for selecting at least one category of the inventory of electronic components in the vendor controlled data base from the universal set of categories as available to other vendors; means for automatically interconnecting vendor site data bases having permission to access each other'"'"'s vendor controlled data base at scheduled times to exchange information on electronic components of the at least one selected category available to other vendors through the communication network; means for transmitting information regarding the electronic components of the selected at least one category available to other vendors directly from each automatically interconnected vendor site to the other automatically interconnected vendor sites through the communication network; and means at each automatically interconnected vendor site for receiving information regarding electronic components available to other vendors directly from the vendor controlled data bases of the other automatically interconnected vendor sites in searchable offsite data bases assigned to the other automatically interconnected vendors through the communication network. - View Dependent Claims (18)
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11. A method of exchanging information on electronic components among vendors each having vendor controlled data base at a vendor site, said method comprising the steps of:
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storing a universal set of categories at each vendor site; storing at each vendor site a local inventory of electronic components of at least one category of the universal set of categories in the vendor controlled data base of the vendor site and data identifying other vendor sites given permission to access to the vendor site; selecting at each vendor site at least one category of the inventory of electronic components in the local inventory of the vendor controlled data base of the vendor site as available to other vendors; and automatically interconnecting first and second vendor sites identified as having permission to access each other'"'"'s vendor controlled data bases at prescheduled times for exchanging information between the first and second vendor sites regarding the electronic components of the at least one category available to other vendors in the local inventory of the vendor controlled data bases at the first and second vendor sites through a communication network; transmitting information directly from the first vendor site to the second vendor site regarding the electronic components of the selected at least one category at the first vendor site available to other vendors through the communication network; receiving information at the first vendor site regarding the electronic components of the selected at least one category available to other vendors from the second vendor site directly from the local inventory of the vendor controlled data base of the second vendor site in a searchable offsite data base of the first vendor site through the communication network; transmitting information directly from the second vendor site to the first vendor site regarding the electronic components of the selected at least one category available to other vendors from the second vendor site through the communication network; and receiving information at the second vendor site regarding the electronic components of the selected at least one category available to other vendors from the first vendor site directly from the vendor controlled inventory data base of the first vendor site in a searchable offsite data base assigned to the first vendor site through the communication network. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. Apparatus for exchanging information on electronic components among a plurality of vendors each having a vendor controlled data base at a vendor site, comprising:
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means for storing a universal set of categories at each of the plurality of vendor sites; means for storing at each vendor site a local inventory of electronic components of at least one category of the universal set of categories in the vendor controlled data base and data identifying other vendor sites given to access to the vendor site; means at each vendor site for selecting at least one category of the inventory of electronic components in the local inventory of the vendor site as available to other vendors; means for automatically interconnecting first and second vendor site data bases identified as having permission to access each other'"'"'s vendor controlled data base at prescheduled times for exchanging information between the first and second vendor sites regarding the electronic components of the at least one category available to other vendors in the local inventory of the vendor controlled data bases at the first and second vendor sites through a communication network; means at each of the automatically interconnected first and second vendor sites for transmitting directly to the other of the first and second vendor sites information regarding the electronic components of the selected at least one category available to other vendors through the communication network; means at each of the automatically interconnected first and second vendor sites for receiving information directly from the independently controlled data base of the other of the automatically interconnected first and second vendor sites in a searchable offsite data base assigned to the other of the first and second vendor sites through the communication network.
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Specification