Information translation communication protocol

• US 7,047,211 B1
• Filed: 06/27/2000
• Issued: 05/16/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 07/07/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: ePlus Incorporated
• Original Assignee: ePlus Capital, Inc. (ePlus Incorporated)
• Inventors: Van Etten, William R., Prator, Corey
• Primary Examiner(s): Coggins, Wynn
• Assistant Examiner(s): HAQ, NAEEM U
• Application Number:
  US09/604,472
• Time in Patent Office: 2,149 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26, 705/27, 705/80, 713/168
• US Class Current: 705/26.8
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0623 Item investigation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0625 Directed, with specific intent or strategy
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0635 Processing of requisition or of purchase orders
• 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: G06Q 50/188 Electronic negotiation

Abstract

An inventive procurement system includes a requisition system for special item purchases that are not found when searching a catalog database. Using the requisition system the buyer is provided with the desired item while the information associated with the requisition is selectively added to a rule-based knowledge base as well as to an item database. In a preferred embodiment a common language generator has been used to normalize free form data using pre-determined rules to place the data into a class/attribute/value relationship. By having the item requisition follow the same relationship, the pre-determined rules may be updated and the free-form data associated with the item properly coded for inclusion into an item database.

Claims

1. A procurement system for a buyer to purchase a desired item, said system comprising:

a first electronic catalog database stored on a computer-readable storage medium and accessible to said buyer lacking said desired item;

a second electronic catalog database stored on a computer-readable storage medium, wherein each unique catalog item stored within said second catalog is identified with respect to class relationships, attribute relationships, and value relationships;

a master catalog database, being a third electronic catalog database stored on a computer-readable storage medium, said master catalog database is not accessible to said buyer; and

a computer-executable program, said program using said relationships to search for the desired item within;

said second catalog database when the desired item is not located within said first catalog database, and

said master electronic catalog database when the desired item is not located within said first catalog database and said second catalog database.

2. A procurement system as recited in claim 1, wherein each unique catalog item stored within said first catalog database is identified with respect to said class, attribute, and value relationships.

3. A procurement system as recited in claim 1, including:

a special requisition identifying the desired item prepared by said buyer using said class, attribute, and value relationships,

said special requisition being used by said item selection procedure to search for the desired item in said master database.

4. A procurement system as recited in claim 1, wherein a parametric search engine performs said item selection procedure.

5. A procurement system as recited in claim 1, wherein said class relationships are hierarchical among classes.

6. A procurement system as recited in claim 5, wherein the lowest class in the hierarchy is a leaf class and said attribute relationships is a leaf class to an attribute.

7. A procurement system as recited in claim 6, wherein said attributes comprise static, differentiating, and dynamic.

8. A procurement system as recited in claim 6, wherein said value relationships is an attribute to a value of the attribute.

9. A procurement system as recited in claim 3, wherein said special requisition is forwarded to a supplier who provides the desired item, one of said databases being updated with said desired item according to said class, attribute, and value relationships.