System and method for representing data and providing electronic non-repudiation in a negotiations system

• US 6,336,105 B1
• Filed: 11/16/1998
• Issued: 01/01/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 11/16/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Sky Technologies LLC (f/k/a Whitelight Technology, LLC)
• Original Assignee: TradeAccess, Inc.
• Inventors: Conklin, Jeffrey, Foucher, Daniel, Foucher, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Hafiz, Tariq R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): MEINECKE DIAZ, SUSANNA M
• Application Number:
  US09/192,979
• Time in Patent Office: 1,142 Days
• Field of Search: 705/80, 705/1, 705/26, 705/27, 705/39, 705/37
• US Class Current: 705/80
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/188 Electronic negotiation

Abstract

An electronic non-repudiation multivariate negotiations engine for iterative bargaining which: enables a sponsor to create and administer a community between participants such as buyers and sellers having similar interests; allows a buyer/participant to search and evaluate seller information, propose and negotiate orders and counteroffers that include all desired terms, request sample quantities, and track activity; allows a seller/participant to use remote authoring templates to create a complete Website for immediate integration and activation in the community, to evaluate proposed buyer orders and counteroffers, and to negotiate multiple variables such as prices, terms, conditions etc., iteratively with a buyer. The system provides secure databases, search engines, and other tools for use by the sponsor, which enable the sponsor to define the terms of community participation, establish standards, help promote the visibility of participating companies, monitor activity, collect fees, and promote successes. The system maintains internal databases that contain the permanent history of all transactions in each community, so that sponsors, buyers and sellers may retrieve appropriate records to document each stage of interaction and negotiation. Documents are created by the system during the negotiation process.

Claims

1. An apparatus for providing electronic non-repudiation in a negotiations system, comprising:

a network having a secure communication path;

a multivariate negotiations system including control software for providing a controlled access to a secure storage space, negotiations software, such negotiations software including archiving software, and an automated negotiations engine for analyzing terms, the analysis of terms comprising understanding the purpose of the terms, formatting the terms according to the purpose, processing the terms using the archiving software, and placing them into user supplied context for use by a user, the multivariate negotiations system being connected to the network and responsive to terminals communicating along a secure communications path over the network;

a destination terminal for a first user connected to the network, the destination terminal including software for encrypting and sending terms and decrypting and receiving terms along a secure communications path over the network which flows through the multivariate negotiations engine system;

an initiating terminal for a second user connected to the network, the initiating terminal including software for encrypting and sending terms and decrypting and receiving terms along a secure communications path over the network which flows through the multivariate negotiations engine system, during iterative processing the archiving software capturing each set of decrypted proposed terms sent by a terminal and permanently storing each decrypted set of proposed terms as a record in the secure storage space, the automated negotiations engine recognizing the users at the destination terminal and the initiating terminal as negotiators and recognizing one of the users as a deciding entity, such automated negotiations engine further recognizing any changes in the terms and storing in the storage space the terms each terminal proposes, and recognizing the terminal to which proposed terms are being sent as the indicated terminal, sending terms to the indicated terminal, the automated negotiations engine indicating any changes in the terms until a set of terms is acted upon in a final manner by the deciding entity.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the control software further comprises software for validating the identity of a participant.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the control software further comprises firewall security.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the software for encrypting and sending and decrypting and receiving terms further comprises secure socket software.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the software for encrypting and sending and decrypting and receiving terms further comprises public key encryption software.

6. A method for providing electronic non-repudiation in a negotiations system, comprising the steps of:

establishing a secure communications path over a network;

connecting a multivariate negotiations system having control software for providing controlled access to a secure storage space, negotiations software, such negotiations software including archiving software and an automated negotiations engine for analyzing terms, the analysis of terms comprising understanding the purpose of the terms, formatting the terms according to the purpose, processing the terms using the archiving software, and placing them into user supplied context for use by a user, the multivariate negotiations system being responsive to terminals communicating along a communications path over the network;

connecting a destination terminal for a first user to the network, the destination terminal including software for encrypting and sending terms and decrypting and receiving terms along a secure communications path over the network which flows through the multivariate negotiations engine system;

connecting an initiating terminal for a second user to the network, the initiating terminal including software for encrypting and sending terms and decrypting and receiving terms along a secure communications path over the network which flows through the mulitivariate negotiations, during iterative negotiations processing the archiving software capturing each set of decrypted proposed terms sent by a terminal and permanently storing each decrypted set of proposed terms as a record in the secure storage space, the automated negotiations engine recognizing the users at the destination terminal and the initiating terminal as negotiators and recognizing one of the users as a deciding entity, such automated negotiations engine further recognizing any changes in the terms and storing in the storage space the terms each terminal proposes, and recognizing the terminal to which proposed terms are being sent as the indicated terminal, sending terms to the indicated terminal, the automated negotiations engine indicating any changes in the terms until a set of terms is acted upon in a final manner by the deciding entity.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the step of providing controlled access to a secure storage space further comprises the step of validating the identity of a participant.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein the step of providing controlled access to a secure storage space further comprises the step of using firewall security.

9. The method of claim 6 wherein the step of encrypting and sending and decrypting and receiving terms further comprises the step of using secure socket software.

10. The method of claim 6 wherein the step of encrypting and sending and decrypting and receiving further comprises the step of using public key encryption software.

11. An apparatus for representing negotiated terms in a negotiations system, comprising:

a communications path;

a multivariate negotiations system including storage space for a database, negotiations software, such negotiations software including database software for representing negotiations status during the operation of the multivariate negotiations system, and an automated negotiations engine for analyzing terms, the analysis of terms comprising understanding the purpose of the terms, formatting the terms according to the purpose, processing the terms using the database software, and placing them into user supplied context for use by a user, the multivariate negotiations system being connected to the communications path and responsive to terminals communicating along the communications path;

a destination terminal for a first user connected to the communications path, the destination terminal including software for sending and receiving terms along the communications path;

an initiating terminal for a second user connected to the communications path, the initiating terminal including software for sending and receiving terms along the communications path, during iterative processing the automated negotiations engine recognizing the users at the destination terminal and the initiating terminal as negotiators and recognizing one of the users as a deciding entity, such automated negotiations engine further recognizing any changes in the terms and storing in the database in the storage space the terms each terminal proposes, and recognizing the terminal to which proposed terms are being sent as the indicated terminal, sending terms to the indicated terminal, the automated negotiations engine indicating any changes in the terms until a set of terms is acted upon in a final manner by the deciding entity, the database software communicating directly and automatically with the automated negotiations engine to store and retrieve entries in the database.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the database software stores entries in the database representing participants in the negotiations.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the database software organizes the database to reflect interrelationships amongst entries in the database.

14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the database software extracts requests and data from terms submitted by a terminal to the automated negotiations engine and stores the requests and data in the appropriate storage locations.

15. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the database software is responsive to requests to extract and format data for analysis and reports.

16. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the database software is capable of storing data in a plurality of multimedia formats.

17. A method for representing negotiated terms in a negotiations system, comprising the steps of:

establishing a communications path;

connecting a multivariate negotiations system to the communications path, the multivariate negotiations system including storage space for a database, negotiations software, such negotiations software including database software for representing negotiations status during the operation of the multivariate negotiations system, and an automated negotiations engine for analyzing terms, the analysis of terms comprising understanding the purpose of the terms, formatting the terms according to the purpose, processing the terms using the database software, and placing them into user supplied context for use by a user, the multivariate negotiations system being responsive to terminals communicating along the communications path;

connecting a destination terminal for a first user to the communications path, the destination terminal including software for sending and receiving terms along the communications path;

connecting an initiating terminal for a second user to the communications path, the initiating terminal including software for sending and receiving terms along the communications path, during iterative processing the automated negotiations engine recognizing the users at the destination terminal and the initiating terminal as negotiators and recognizing one of the users as a deciding entity, such automated negotiations engine further recognizing any changes in the terms and storing in the database in the storage space the terms each terminal proposes, and recognizing the terminal to which proposed terms are being sent as the indicated terminal, sending terms to the indicated terminal, the automated negotiations engine indicating any changes in the terms until a set of terms is acted upon in a final manner by the deciding entity, the database software communicating directly and automatically with the automated negotiations engine to store and retrieve entries in the database.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the step of storing entries in the database further comprises the step of storing entries representing participants in the negotiations.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the step of storing entries in the database further comprises the step of organizing the database to reflect interrelationships amongst entries in the database.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the step of storing entries in the database further comprises the step of extracting requests and data from terms submitted by a terminal to the automated negotiations engine and storing the requests and data in the appropriate storage locations.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein the step of storing entries in the database further comprises the step of responding to requests to extract and format data for analysis and reports.

22. The method of claim 17, wherein the step of storing entries in the database further comprises the step of storing data in a plurality of multimedia formats.