Freight transportation marketplace

• US 7,249,087 B2
• Filed: 02/12/2001
• Issued: 07/24/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 02/12/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: BNSF Logistics, LLC (Berkshire Hathaway Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Freightwise Corporation (Berkshire Hathaway Incorporated)
• Inventors: Whitmore, Rick, Sharp, Jesse, Bischler, Paul, McCormick, Michael, Schuessler, Randy, Derajtys, Joseph
• Primary Examiner(s): Poinvil; Frantzy
• Application Number:
  US09/781,604
• Publication Number:
  US 20020111892A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,353 Days
• Field of Search: 705 10- 42
• US Class Current: 705/37
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

This invention relates to a marketplace and management system related thereto. In particular, it relates to a marketplace for freight transportation and the systems necessary to support such a marketplace. It is a comprehensive system that acts as an intermediary between buyers and sellers of freight transportation and provides the related support services. The marketplace generally operates over a network using a user interface with various levels of integration. The marketplace facilitates sales of freight transportation services, including multi-leg and multi-modal freight transportation services through several systems including, catalog rates and auctions. The related services provided by the marketplace allow buyers and sellers to enroll in the marketplace, maintain their accounts, and track their operations within the marketplace. Sellers can also manage the rates they charge for providing freight transportation. The marketplace also creates a binding agreement between buyers and sellers called a tender agreement that may be modified even after it has been consummated. Additionally, the marketplace ensures and guarantees payment to the sellers and may perform collection and invoicing functions.

Claims

1. A freight transportation marketplace system accessible to users over a network, comprising:

an account management system that assigns roles from a group of roles including a buyer role and a seller role to the users and wherein the account management system defines buyer accounts and seller accounts for at least some of the users;

a buy/sell system for the creation of a tender agreement between at least two users;

an order fulfillment system, wherein the order fulfillment system enables fulfillment of the tender agreement and includes an exception management system; and

an action defining system that defines possible user actions, possible user information and consequences of the possible user actions;

a user interface that permits communication over the network among the marketplace and the users; and

wherein the seller'"'"'s account includes a seller'"'"'s rules tariff, the tender agreement is for a shipment and was consummated by a first party and a second party and the exception management system comprises the means for, the marketplace;

allowing the first party to make a request for a change;

determining if the shipment has been loaded;

determining if the first party has the role of buyer;

determining if the change is compatible with the seller'"'"'s rules tariffs;

if the shipment has been loaded and the first party does not have the role of buyer, or if the shipment has been loaded and the first party does have the role of buyer and the change is not compatible with the seller'"'"'s rules tariff, or if the shipment has not been loaded, determining whether the second party accepts the change;

if the second party accepts the change, amending the tender agreement to reflect the change;

if the second party does not accept the change, determining whether the first party is willing to amend the request for a change;

if the first party is not willing to amend the request for a change determining whether the first party wishes to revoke the tender agreement;

if the first party wishes to revoke the tender agreement, revoking the tender agreement;

if the first party is willing to amend the request for a change, allowing the first party to amend the request for a change, thus creating an amended request for a change, and to make the amended request for a change;

if the shipment has been loaded, the first party is the buyer, and the change request is compatible with the seller'"'"'s rules tariff, allowing the seller to make a good faith attempt to accommodate the change request.

2. A freight transportation marketplace system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the exception management system allows the tender agreement to be modified after it has been consummated.

3. A freight transportation marketplace system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the order fulfillment system further comprises an accessorial fee update system.

4. A freight transportation marketplace system as claimed in claim 3, wherein the order fulfillment system further comprises means for accessorial events and wherein the marketplace determines whether the accessorial events are legitimate.

5. A freight transportation marketplace system as claimed in claim 4, wherein the accessorial fee update system comprises means for the seller to provide a final accessorial notification to the marketplace of an accessorial fee.

6. A freight transportation marketplace system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the buyer can approve or not approve the accessorial fee after the seller provides the final accessorial notification to the marketplace.

7. A freight transportation marketplace system as claimed in claim 6, wherein if the buyer does not approve the accessorial fee, thereby creating a dilemma, the buyer and seller may use the exception management system to resolve the dilemma.

8. A freight transportation marketplace system accessible to users over a network, comprising:

an account management system that assigns roles to the users;

a buy/sell system for the creation of a tender agreement between at least two users;

an order fulfillment system, wherein the order fulfillment system enables fulfillment of the tender agreement;

an action defining system that defines possible user actions, possible user information and consequences of the possible user actions, comprises roles and events,

wherein roles are assigned to users;

wherein the possible user actions and the consequences of the possible user actions are defined by the roles and events;

wherein the possible user information is defined by the roles and events;

wherein any of the roles combined with any one of the events comprises a role/event combination;

wherein the possible user actions and the consequences of the possible user actions are defined by the role/event combination; and

the possible user information is defined by the role/event combination;

a user interface that permits communication over the network among the marketplace and the users; and

wherein, in the action defining system;

the roles include

at least one privilege, wherein the at least one privilege defines the possible user actions; and

at least one scope, wherein the at least one scope defines the possible user information; and

the events include

at least one type; and

at least one status wherein the at least one status defines a state of the type at a point in time and

wherein the type and status restrict the possible user actions defined by the at least one privilege and the possible user information defined by the scope and together with the privilege and scope define the consequences of the possible user actions.

9. A freight transportation marketplace system as claimed in claim 8, wherein, in the action defining system, each of the at least one status does not define every at least one type.

10. A freight transportation marketplace system as claimed in claim 8, wherein, in the action defining system the roles comprise a buyer and a seller.

11. A freight transportation marketplace system as claimed in claim 10, wherein, in the action defining system, the roles are defined by the account management system.

12. A freight transportation marketplace system as claimed in claim 10, wherein, in the action defining system, the buyer is assigned

a privilege, wherein the privilege includes purchasing freight transportation services;

and

a scope, wherein the scope includes information relating to purchasing freight transportation services.

13. A freight transportation marketplace system as claimed in claim 10, wherein, in the action defining system, the seller is assigned

a privilege, wherein the privilege includes selling freight transportation services;

and

a scope, wherein the scope includes information relating to selling freight transportation services.

14. A freight transportation marketplace system as claimed in claim 13, wherein, in the action defining system, the possible user actions, and the possible user information are further defined by an event and wherein the event together with the role defines the consequences of the possible user actions.

15. A freight transportation marketplace system as claimed in claim 14, wherein, in the action defining system, the event comprises:

a type; and

a status wherein the status defines the state of the type at a point in time.

16. A freight transportation marketplace system as claimed in claim 15, wherein, in the action defining system, the type includes one from a group consisting of the following:

order, catalog rate, auction or tender agreement.

17. A freight transportation marketplace system as claimed in claim 16, wherein, in the action defining system, the status includes one from a group consisting of the following:

entered, auction, pending, accepted, en route, delivered, history, rejected or retracted.

18. A freight transportation marketplace system accessible to users over a network, comprising:

an account management system that assigns roles to the users, wherein the roles include buyers, sellers and account administrators and defines buyer and seller accounts and buyer and seller operations, wherein the account management system comprises;

an account maintenance system that includes a user level which includes at least one user and defines user operations, a user group level which includes at least one user group and defines the buyer and seller accounts, wherein the at least one user group includes at least one user and defines the accounts and the roles, and a payor group level which includes at least one payor group and defines a membership status and the user groups,

a rate management system for the seller accounts which includes a catalog rate management system, a fuel surcharge management system, and an accessorial fee management system,

a track and trace system that archives track and trace events wherein the track and trace events archive the operations, and

a reporting system that lists the operations archived by the track and trace system,

a buy/sell system for the creation of a tender agreement between at least a buyer and a seller, comprising;

a catalog sales system which facilitates private and public sales,

an auction sales system which may includes seller'"'"'s auctions and buyer'"'"'s auctions,

multi-leg freight transportation services, including multi-modal freight transportation services, seller-created multi-leg freight transportation services and marketplace-created freight transportation services, wherein the multi-leg freight transportation services are sold through the catalog sales system and the auction sales system,

a matching system that, in response to a capacity query or a demand query, produces all matches from the catalog sales system and the auction sales system,

a system for creating a purchase event, wherein the purchase event is created in response to the selection of any match by a user,

a pricing system that creates a price for the selected match, and

a tender agreement creation system which begins in response to the creation of a purchase event, allows at least two of the at least two users to review, negotiate, approve and cancel the tender agreement, consummates the tender agreement upon acceptance by the at least two users and includes the price;

an order fulfillment system for the tender agreement which includes an exception management system which allows the at least two users to modify the tender agreement, a payment system which includes automated payment and distribution; and

an action defining system, comprising means for determining

at least one role, wherein at least one role is assigned to each of the users, comprising

at least one privilege, wherein the at least one privilege defines possible user actions, and

at least one scope, wherein the at least one scope defines possible user information, and

at least one event, comprising;

at least one type, and

at least one status, wherein the at least one status defines a state of the type at a point in time, and wherein the type and status restrict the possible user actions defined by the at least one privilege and the possible user information defined by the scope and together with the privilege and the scope, define consequences of the possible user actions.

19. An order fulfillment system accessible over a network by buyers and sellers which enables fulfillment of a tender agreement, comprising:

a exception management system enabling the tender agreement to be canceled;

a payment system; and

a seller'"'"'s account which includes a seller'"'"'s rules tariff and wherein the tender agreement is for a shipment and was consummated by a first party and a second party and the exception management system comprises the means for;

allowing the first party to make a request for a change;

determining if the shipment has been loaded;

determining if the first party has the role of buyer;

determining if the change is compatible with the seller'"'"'s rules tariffs;

if the shipment has been loaded and the first party does not have the role of buyer, or if the shipment has been loaded and the first party does have the role of buyer and the change is not compatible with the seller'"'"'s rules tariff, or if the shipment has not been loaded, determining whether the second party accepts the change;

if the second party accepts the change, amending the tender agreement to reflect the change;

if the second party does not accept the change, determining whether the first party is willing to amend the request for a change;

if the first party is not willing to amend the request for a change determining whether the first party wishes to revoke the tender agreement;

if the first party wishes to revoke the tender agreement, revoking the tender agreement;

if the first party is willing to amend the request for a change, allowing the first party to amend the request for a change and make a request for the amended request for a change;

if the shipment has been loaded, the first party is the buyer, and the change request is compatible with the seller'"'"'s rules tariff allowing the seller to make a good faith attempt to accommodate the change request.

20. An order fulfillment system as claimed in claim 19, wherein the payment system includes automated collection and disbursement system.

21. An order fulfillment system as claimed in claim 20, wherein automated collection and disbursement system is initiated in response to track and trace events.

22. An order fulfillment system as claimed in claim 19, further comprising a collection system.

23. An order fulfillment system as claimed in claim 22, further comprising a invoicing system.

24. An order fulfillment system as claimed in claim 22, further comprising an accessorial fee update system.

25. An order fulfillment system as claimed in claim 24, wherein the accessorial fee update system comprises the seller providing a final accessorial notification to the marketplace of an accessorial fee.

26. An order fulfillment system as claimed in claim 24, wherein the buyer can approve or not approve the accessorial fee after the seller provides the final accessorial notification to the marketplace.

27. An order fulfillment system as claimed in claim 24, wherein if the buyer does not approve the accessorial fee, thereby creating a dilemma, the buyer and seller may use the exception management system to resolve the dilemma.

28. An action defining system for use with a freight transportation marketplace system that comprises means for:

determining possible user actions;

determining possible user information;

determining consequences for possible user actions;

determining roles assigned to users and events;

wherein the possible user actions and the consequences of the possible user actions are defined by a role/event combination including one of the roles and one of the events; and

wherein the possible user information is defined by a role/event combination including one of the roles and one of the events; and

wherein the roles include;

at least one privilege, wherein the at least one privilege defines the possible user actions; and

at least one scope, wherein the at least one scope defines the possible user information; and

wherein the events include

at least one type; and

at least one status wherein the at least one status defines the state of the type at a point in time; and

wherein the type and status restrict the possible user actions defined by the at least one privilege and the possible user information defined by the scope and together with the privilege and scope define the consequences of the possible user actions.

29. An action defining system as claimed in claim 28 wherein each of the at least one status does not define every at least one type.

30. An action defining system as claimed in claim 28 wherein the roles comprise a buyer and a seller.

31. An action defining system as claimed in claim 30, wherein the roles are defined by an account management system.

32. An action defining system as claimed in claim 30, wherein the buyer is assigned

a privilege, wherein the privilege is purchasing freight transportation services;

and

a scope, wherein the scope is information relating to purchasing freight transportation services.

33. An action defining system as claimed in claim 32, wherein the possible user actions, and the possible user information are further defined by an event and wherein the event together with the role defines the consequences of the possible user actions.

34. An action defining system as claimed in claim 33, wherein the event comprises

a type;

and

a status wherein the status defines the state of the type at a point in time.

35. An action defining system as claimed in claim 34, wherein the type includes one from a group consisting of the following:

order, catalog rate, auction or tender agreement.

36. An action defining system as claimed in claim 35, wherein the status includes one from a group consisting of the following:

entered, auction, pending, accepted, en route, delivered, history, rejected or retracted.

37. An action defining system as claimed in claim 30, wherein the seller is assigned

a privilege, wherein the privilege is selling freight transportation services;

and

a scope, wherein the scope information relating to selling freight transportation services.