Method and system for selecting optimal commodities based upon business profile and preferences

• US 7,006,980 B1
• Filed: 07/06/2000
• Issued: 02/28/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 02/04/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Globys Inc
• Original Assignee: CallVision Inc. (Globys Inc)
• Inventors: Snyder, Scott Andrew
• Primary Examiner(s): Jeanty, Romain
• Application Number:
  US09/611,958
• Time in Patent Office: 2,063 Days
• Field of Search: 705/36, 705/37, 705/10, 706/47, 706/925
• US Class Current: 705/7.37
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06375 Prediction of business process outcome or impact based on a proposed change
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0621 Item configuration or customization
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 706/925 Business

Abstract

A system and method for assisting a customer in choosing among commodities based on a business profile of the customer that includes asking the customer for a definition of its business; searching a decision rules database and applying decision rules to the business definition; creating a set of business requirement questions based upon the applied decision rules database; answering the set of business requirement questions by the customer; implementing a business rule filter to the answers of the set of business requirement questions; recommending to the customer commodity types based upon the business rule implementation; and optimizing the recommended commodity types to find the best value commodity, which can be a product or service.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for assisting a customer in choosing among commodities comprising the steps of:

asking the customer for a definition of its business;

searching a decision rules database and applying decision rules to the business definition;

creating a set of business requirement questions based upon the applied decision rules database;

receiving answers to the set of business requirement questions by the customer;

modifying the set of business requirement questions based on the answer received for each question;

implementing a business rule filter to the answers of the set of business requirement questions; and

recommending to the customer commodity types based upon the business rule implementation, wherein recommending further comprises;

allowing the customer to de-select at least one of the recommended commodity types;

allowing the customer to request non-recommended commodity types; and

entering the at least one of the recommended commodity types and the requested non-recommended commodity types into an optimizer device for determining optimum commodity selections for each of the recommended and requested non-recommended commodity types for use by the customer.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

selecting, by the customer, at least one of the recommended commodity types.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, further comprising the steps of:

identifying at least one first parameter associated with the at least one selected commodity type;

associating at least one value to the at least one first parameter;

calculating an estimated cost of the at least one selected commodity type based on features of the commodity that are desired by the customer;

obtaining from the customer a preference weighting on at least one second parameter;

calculating an effective cost by adjusting the estimated cost based on the preference weighting and the at least one value assigned to the parameters; and

presenting a subset of commodities to the customer including the at least one selected commodity, wherein the commodity is selected based on at least a lowest effective cost.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein business requirement questions are generated through fuzzy logic interactively by the business rules and customer answers to the business requirement questions.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the set of business requirement questions

includes questions regarding number of employees, expected employee growth rate, whether and how many computers are needed, what type of computer processing is needed, how many telephones and what type of telephone services are needed, if the business has an existing network and what type of network, if the customer has an existing Internet connection and what type of connection, the customer'"'"'s existing building plans, and what type of network security exists and is needed for the future.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising the step of determining whether to optimize the recommended commodity types or create requirements for the customer to use in solicitation of bids through a Request for Proposal process for the commodity type.

7. A system for assisting a customer in choosing between commodity types, comprising:

an optimizer device that is connected to a network, wherein the optimizer device includes

at least one database that includes information about at least one commodity type, at least one utility function, and at least one business profile for the customer, and

a processing component enabled to perform tasks including;

receiving answers to a set of business requirement questions,

modifying the set of business requirement questions based on the answers, and

recommending to the customer a list of commodity types including at least one commodity type based on the business profile for the customer and the utility function for the commodity type, the recommending to the customer further comprising;

allowing the customer to de-select at least one of the recommended commodity types;

allowing the customer to request non-recommended commodity types; and

entering the at least one of the recommended commodity types and the requested non-recommended commodity types into an optimizer device for determining optimum commodity selections for each of the recommended and requested non-recommended commodity types for use by the customer; and

a customer device for connecting to the optimizer device via the network and sending business requirement information to the optimizer device.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the optimizer device includes a web server component for hosting a web site and the customer uses the customer device to visit the web site.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the utility function is associated with a parameter of the commodity type and is evaluated to obtain the at least one value, wherein the value represents a cost or benefit of the parameter to the customer.

10. The system of claim 7 wherein in selecting the best commodity for the customer the system considers multiple quantities of a product, including volume discounts.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the business profile of the customer includes information regarding location of the business, number of employees, expected employee growth rate, whether and how many computers are needed, what type of computer processing is needed, how many telephones and what type of telephone services are needed, if the business has an existing network and what type of network, if the customer has an existing Internet connection and what type of connection, the customer'"'"'s existing building plans, and what type of network security exists and is needed for the future.

12. A computer system for assisting a customer in choosing among commodities comprising:

means for asking the customer for a definition of its business;

means for searching a decision rules database and applying decision rules to the business definition;

means for creating a set of business requirement questions based on a decision tree that is configured to change in response to the applied decision rules;

means for receiving answers to the set of business requirement questions by the customer;

means for modifying the set of business requirement questions based on the answer received to each question;

means for implementing a business rule filter to the answers of the set of business requirement questions; and

means for recommending to the customer commodity types based upon the business rule implementation, wherein the means for recommending further comprising;

a means for allowing the customer to de-select at least one of the recommended commodity types;

a means for allowing the customer to request non-recommended commodity types; and

a means for entering the at least one of the recommended commodity types and the requested non-recommended commodity types into an optimizer device for determining optimum commodity selections for each of the recommended and requested non-recommended commodity types for use by the customer.

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

means for selecting, by the customer, at least one of the recommended commodity types; and

means for presenting the customer with a subset of commodities including the at least one optimum commodity.

14. The computer system of claim 13, further comprising:

means for identifying at least one first parameter associated with the at least one selected commodity type;

means for associating at least one value to the at least one first parameter;

means for calculating an estimated cost of the at least one selected commodity based on features of the commodity type that are desired by the customer;

means for obtaining from the customer a preference weighting on at least one second parameter;

means for calculating an effective cost by adjusting the estimated cost based on the preference weighting and the at least one value assigned to the parameters; and

means for presenting a subset of commodities to the customer including at least one selected commodity type, wherein the commodity type is selected based on at least a lowest effective cost.

15. The computer system of claim 12, wherein the set of business requirement questions includes questions regarding number of employees, expected employee growth rate, whether and how many computers are needed, what type of computer processing is needed, how many telephones and what type of telephone services are needed, if the business has an existing network and what type of network, if the customer has an existing Internet connection and what type of connection, the customer'"'"'s existing building plans, and what type of network security exists and is needed for the future.

16. The computer system of claim 12, wherein the means for asking the customer for business definition, means for analyzing the set of business requirements information, and means for recommending to the customer commodity types is implemented on a web server interacting with the customer through a website.

17. A computer readable medium having computer executable instructions for performing actions for assisting a customer in choosing from available commodities, the actions comprising:

determining a customer'"'"'s definition of its business;

creating a set of business requirement questions;

receiving responses to the set of business requirement questions;

dynamically modifying the questions based on received responses by employing an inference engine;

implementing a business rule filter based on the responses of the set of business requirement questions to determine an optimum commodity selection; and

recommending the customer with a subset of commodities including the at least one optimum commodity, wherein recommending further comprises;

allowing the customer to de-select at least one of the recommended commodity types;

allowing the customer to request non-recommended commodity types; and

entering the at least one of the recommended commodity types and the requested non-recommended commodity types into an optimizer device for determining optimum commodity selections for each of the recommended and requested non-recommended commodity types for use by the customer.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein the presented optimum commodity selection is determined based on lowest effective cost.

19. Computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein the business profile of the customer includes information regarding location of the business, number of employees, expected employee growth rate, whether and how many computers are needed, what type of computer processing is needed, how many telephones and what type of telephone services are needed, if the business has an existing network and what type of network, if the customer has an existing Internet connection and what type of connection, the customer'"'"'s existing building plans, and what type of network security exists and is needed for the future.

20. A computer-implemented method for assisting a customer ill choosing among commodities, the computer-implemented method comprising the steps of:

retrieving a set of decision rules from a decision rules database;

dynamically modifying the decision rules through an interactive process based on received responses;

implementing a business rule filter to available commodities based on the modified decision rules; and

recommending to the customer a subset of commodities including the at least one optimum commodity, wherein the commodity is selected based on the business rule implementation, recommending to the customer further comprises the steps of;

allowing the customer to de-select at least one of the recommended commodity types;

allowing the customer to request non-recommended commodity types; and

entering the at least one of the recommended commodity types and the requested non-recommended commodity types into an optimizer device for determining optimum commodity selections for each of the recommended and requested non-recommended commodity types for use by the customer.

21. The computer-implemented method of claim 20, wherein the decision rules are initially determined by application of utility functions and optimization equations stored in an optimization database to a business profile.

22. The computer-implemented method of claim 20, wherein the dynamic modification of the decision rules employs fuzzy logic based on received responses.

23. The computer-implemented method of claim 20, wherein the business rule implementation further includes estimated cost and bundling discounts.