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Demand aggregation and distribution system

  • US 7,376,617 B2
  • Filed: 11/07/2002
  • Issued: 05/20/2008
  • Est. Priority Date: 11/12/1999
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
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1. A method for aggregating and satisfying demand for items, the method comprising the steps performed by a data processing system, of:

  • electronically aggregating information reflecting demand for a set of items based on input requests from a plurality of users for the set of items, wherein aggregating comprises aggregating the information independent of a commitment to purchase the set of items by each user;

    accessing a memory for information on a plurality of suppliers and their offerings to identify suppliers having offerings capable of satisfying the demand;

    generating one or more package responses, each package response reflecting offerings of at least one of the identified suppliers;

    notifying each of the plurality of users of each package response using stored information identifying a location to address any package responses to each of the user, wherein each of the users can determine whether to commit to purchasing a package response.

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