System and method for contract authority
DCFirst Claim
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1. An apparatus for communicating information about a negotiation, comprising:
- a multivariate negotiations system including storage space and negotiations software, such negotiations software executing in a processor and including 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, and placing them into user supplied context for use by a user, the automated negotiations engine being responsive to a destination terminal for a first user communicating with the multivariate negotiations system, the destination terminal including software for sending and receiving terms along a communications path which flows through the multivariate negotiations system, the automated negotiations engine also being responsive to an initiating terminal for a second user communicating with the multivariate negotiations system, the initiating terminal including software for sending and receiving terms along a communications path which flows through the multivariate negotiations system, 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 storage space the terms each terminal proposes, and recognizing the terminal to which proposed terms are being sent as the indicated terminal, and 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; and
a contract authority for assigning a unique identifier to such a negotiation at the initiation of negotiations.
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Abstract
A contract authority for use by an automated system of record and an automated negotiations engine for iterative, multivariate negotiations which stores each set of terms proposed at each iteration to form the basis of the system of record. The contract authority of the invention assigns a unique identifier to each negotiated transaction and enables the participants to use that number to track all activities against the transaction for analysis and reporting purposes.
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Citations
88 Claims
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1. An apparatus for communicating information about a negotiation, comprising:
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a multivariate negotiations system including storage space and negotiations software, such negotiations software executing in a processor and including 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, and placing them into user supplied context for use by a user, the automated negotiations engine being responsive to a destination terminal for a first user communicating with the multivariate negotiations system, the destination terminal including software for sending and receiving terms along a communications path which flows through the multivariate negotiations system, the automated negotiations engine also being responsive to an initiating terminal for a second user communicating with the multivariate negotiations system, the initiating terminal including software for sending and receiving terms along a communications path which flows through the multivariate negotiations system, 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 storage space the terms each terminal proposes, and recognizing the terminal to which proposed terms are being sent as the indicated terminal, and 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; and
a contract authority for assigning a unique identifier to such a negotiation at the initiation of negotiations. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A method for communicating information about a negotiation, comprising the steps of:
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operating a multivariate negotiations system including storage space and negotiations software, such negotiations software including 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, and placing them into user supplied context for use by a user, the automated negotiations engine being responsive to a destination terminal for a first user communicating with the multivariate negotiations system, the destination terminal including software for sending and receiving terms along a communications path which flows through the multivariate negotiations system, the automated negotiations engine also being responsive to an initiating terminal for a second user communicating with the multivariate negotiations system, the initiating terminal including software for sending and receiving terms along a communications path which flows through the multivariate negotiations system, 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 storage space the terms each terminal proposes, and recognizing the terminal to which proposed terms are being sent as the indicated terminal, and 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; and
assigning a unique identifier to such a negotiation at the initiation of negotiations, through the use of a contract authority. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8)
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9. An apparatus for communicating dynamic information during a negotiation, comprising:
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a multivariate negotiations system including storage space and negotiations software, such negotiations software executing in a processor and including 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, and placing them into user supplied context for use by a user, the automated negotiations engine being responsive to a destination terminal for a first user communicating with the multivariate negotiations system, the destination terminal including software for sending and receiving terms along a communications path which flows through the multivariate negotiations system, the automated negotiations engine also being responsive to an initiating terminal for a second user communicating with the multivariate negotiations system, the initiating terminal including software for sending and receiving terms along a communications path which flows through the multivariate negotiations system, 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 storage space the terms each terminal proposes, and recognizing the terminal to which proposed terms are being sent as the indicated terminal, and 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; and
a contract authority for assigning a unique identifier to a negotiation at the initiation of such a negotiation;
a dynamic contract manager for transforming rules for governing negotiations into an active template associated with the unique identifier, the active template containing terms for use during such a negotiation. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. The method for communicating dynamic information during a negotiation, comprising the steps of:
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operating a multivariate negotiations system including storage space and negotiations software, such negotiations software including 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, and placing them into user supplied context for use by a user, the automated negotiations engine being responsive to a destination terminal for a first user communicating with the multivariate negotiations system, the destination terminal including software for sending and receiving terms along a communications path which flows through the multivariate negotiations system, the automated negotiations engine also being responsive to an initiating terminal for a second user communicating with the multivariate negotiations system, the initiating terminal including software for sending and receiving terms along a communications path which flows through the multivariate negotiations system, 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 storage space the terms each terminal proposes, and recognizing the terminal to which proposed terms are being sent as the indicated terminal, and 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; and
assigning a unique identifier to a negotiation at the initiation of such a negotiation through the use of a contract authority;
transforming rules for governing negotiations into an active template associated with the unique identifier through the use of a dynamic contract manager, the dynamic contract manager also inserting terms for use during such a negotiation into the active template. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. An apparatus for communicating information about automatically processing at least one negotiation between first and second users who are communicating over a network to each other negotiation terms that include a plurality of variables, comprising:
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a contract authority for assigning a unique identifier to such a negotiation; and
negotiations software executing in a processor and configured for processing such a negotiation by;
responding to and recognizing the first and second users as negotiators, designating one of the users as a deciding entity;
receiving a negotiation term from one of the users;
analyzing the negotiation term to understand its purpose;
formatting the negotiation term according to the understood purpose;
placing the formatted negotiation term into a context supplied by at least one of the users;
indicating a detected change in a negotiation term to at least one of the users;
sending the negotiation term to one of the users;
storing the negotiation term; and
repeating the above processing until a signal is received from the deciding entity to stop negotiations. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32)
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33. A method for communicating information about automatically processing at least one negotiation between first and second users who are communicating over a network to each other negotiation terms that include a plurality of variables, comprising the steps of:
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assigning a unique identifier, through a contact authority, to such a negotiation;
responding to and recognizing the first and second users as negotiators;
designating one of the users as a deciding entity;
receiving a negotiation term from one of the users;
analyzing the negotiation term to understand its purpose;
formatting the negotiation term according to the understood purpose;
placing the formatted term into a context supplied by at least one of the users;
indicating a detected change in a negotiation term to at least one of the users;
sending the negotiation term to one of the users;
storing the negotiation term; and
repeating the above steps until a signal is received from the deciding entity to stop negotiations. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36)
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37. The apparatus for communicating dynamic information during the automatic processing of at least one negotiation between first and second users who are communicating over a network to each other negotiation terms that include a plurality of variables, comprising:
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a contract authority for assigning a unique identifier to a negotiation at the initiation of such a negotiation;
a dynamic contract manager for transforming rules for governing negotiations into an active template associated with the unique identifier, the active template containing terms for use during such a negotiation; and
negotiations software executing in a processor and configured to process such a negotiation by;
responding to and recognizing the first and second users as negotiators, designating one of the users as a deciding entity;
receiving a negotiation term from one of the users;
analyzing the negotiation term to understand its purpose;
formatting the negotiation term according to the understood purpose;
placing the formatted negotiation term into a context supplied by at least one of the users;
indicating a detected change in a negotiation term to at least one of the users;
sending the negotiation term to one of the users;
storing the negotiation term; and
repeating the above processing until a signal is received from the deciding entity to stop negotiations. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46)
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47. A method for communicating dynamic information during the automatic processing of at least one negotiation between first and second users who are communicating over a network to each other negotiation terms that include a plurality of variables, comprising the steps of:
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assigning a unique identifier to a negotiation at the initiation of such a negotiation through the use of a contract authority;
transforming rules for governing negotiations into an active template associated with the unique identifier through the use of a dynamic contract manager, the dynamic contract manager also inserting terms for use during such a negotiation into the active template;
responding to and recognizing the first and second users as negotiators, designating one of the users as a deciding entity;
receiving a negotiation term from one of the users;
analyzing the negotiation term to understand its purpose;
formatting the negotiation term according to the understood purpose;
placing the formatted negotiation term into a context supplied by at least one of the users;
indicating a detected change in a negotiation term to at least one of the users;
sending the negotiation term to one of the users;
storing the negotiation term; and
repeating the above processing until a signal is received from the deciding entity to stop negotiations. - View Dependent Claims (48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56)
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57. An apparatus for providing user supplied context for the automatic processing of at least one negotiation between first and second users who are communicating over a network to each other negotiation terms that include a plurality of variables, comprising:
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negotiations software executing in a processor and configured to process such a negotiation by;
responding to and recognizing the first and second users as negotiators, designating one of the users as a deciding entity;
receiving a negotiation term over the network from one of the users;
analyzing the negotiation term to understand its purpose;
formatting the negotiation term according to the understood purpose;
selecting certain of the negotiation term s to be processed according to internationally accepted methods, and placing them into a context supplied by at least one of the users;
indicating a detected change in a negotiation term to at least one of the users;
sending the negotiation term over the network to one of the users;
storing the negotiation term; and
repeating the above processing until a signal is received from the deciding entity to stop negotiations. - View Dependent Claims (58, 59, 60, 61, 62)
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63. A method for providing user supplied context for the automatic processing of at least one negotiation between first and second users who are communicating to each other negotiation terms that include a plurality of variables, comprising the steps of:
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establishing a communications path over a network, responding to and recognizing the first and second users as negotiators, designating one of the users as a deciding entity;
receiving a negotiation term over the network from one of the users;
analyzing the negotiation term to understand its purpose;
formatting the negotiation term according to the understood purpose;
selecting certain of the negotiation terms to be processed according to internationally accepted methods, and placing the formatted terms into a context supplied by at least one of the users;
indicating a detected change in a negotiation term to at least one of the users;
sending the negotiation term over the network to one of the users;
storing the negotiation term; and
repeating the above processing until a signal is received from the deciding entity to stop negotiations. - View Dependent Claims (64, 65, 66, 67, 68)
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69. An apparatus for providing user supplied context for the automatic processing of at least one negotiation between first and second users who are communicating over a network to each other negotiation terms that include a plurality of variables, comprising:
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sponsored community software for executing in a processor defining community participation rules;
negotiations software executing in a processor and configured to process such a negotiation by;
responding to and recognizing the first and second users as negotiators, designating one of the users as a deciding entity;
receiving a negotiation term over the network from one of the users;
analyzing the negotiation term to understand its purpose;
formatting the negotiation term according to the understood purpose;
selecting certain of the formatted negotiation terms to be processed according to community participation rules;
placing the formatted term into a context supplied by at least one of the users;
indicating a detected change in a negotiation term to at least one of the users;
sending the negotiation term over the network to one of the users;
storing the negotiation term; and
repeating the above processing until a signal is received from the deciding entity to stop negotiations. - View Dependent Claims (70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77)
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78. A method for providing user supplied context for the automatic processing of at least one negotiation between first and second users who are communicating to each other negotiation terms that include a plurality of variables, comprising the steps of:
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establishing a communications path over a network;
defining community participation rules by activating sponsored community software;
responding to and recognizing the first and second users as negotiators, designating one of the users as a deciding entity;
receiving a negotiation term over the network from one of the users;
analyzing the negotiation term to understand its purpose;
formatting the negotiation term according to the understood purpose;
selecting certain of the formatted terms to be processed according to community participation rule;
placing the formatted negotiation term into a context supplied by at least one of the users;
indicating a detected change in a negotiation term to at least one of the users;
sending the negotiation term over the network to one of the users;
storing the negotiation term; and
repeating the above processing until a signal is received from the deciding entity to stop negotiations. - View Dependent Claims (79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88)
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Specification