Fuzzy evaluation of responses to provide degree of satisfaction

• US 7,461,013 B2
• Filed: 09/22/2004
• Issued: 12/02/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/22/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Moeller, Stefan J.
• Primary Examiner(s): ZURITA, JAMES H
• Application Number:
  US10/947,469
• Publication Number:
  US 20060064369A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,532 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26, 705/37
• US Class Current: 705/26.4
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0611 Request for offers or quotes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

The present invention provides a system and method for evaluating offers that are received in response to a request of a user. The system and method of the present invention use fuzzy logic to evaluate the offers. The evaluation provides a degree of satisfaction based on the information provided by the user.

Claims

1. A method for evaluating a bid submitted in response to a bid invitation, comprising:

upon receipt of said bid, retrieving bid invitation information from said bid invitation indicating preferences of a prospective purchaser;

identifying an item offered in said bid to at least one requested item retrieved from said bid invitation to identify a first match;

upon identification of said first match, comparing an attribute of said offered item with at least one possible attribute retrieved from said bid invitation to identify a second match;

upon identification of said second match, obtaining at least one importance quantitative value using a purchaser specified importance of said attribute retrieved from said bid invitation;

comparing an attribute value of said attribute of said offered item to possible attribute values retrieved from said bid invitation to identify two closest values, said two closest values comprising a closest higher possible attribute value and a closest lower possible attribute value;

upon identification of said two closest values, obtaining at least one degree of satisfaction quantitative value using at least one purchaser specified degree of satisfaction of said possible attribute retrieved from said bid invitation;

calculating a quantitative value reflecting a degree of satisfaction of said prospective purchaser with said bid using a fuzzy logic algorithm that considers said importance quantitative value and said degree of satisfaction quantitative value; and

providing said prospective purchaser with an indication of said quantitative value, said indication to be a fuzzy expression.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said fuzzy expression is very bad, bad medium, good, or very good.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said indication of said quantitative value is a ranking said quantitative value with other quantitative values indicating other degrees of satisfaction with other bids.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing contents of said bid and said quantitative value of said bid for use with supplier relationship management applications to evaluate one or more suppliers.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said at least one importance quantitative value is an item importance quantitative value and an attribute importance quantitative value that are retrieved using a purchaser specified importance of said item and a second purchaser specified importance of said attribute.

6. Computer readable medium storing thereon program instructions that, when executed, cause an executing device to:

upon receipt of said bid, retrieve bid invitation information from said bid invitation indicating preferences of a prospective purchaser;

compare an item offered in said bid to at least one requested item retrieved from said bid invitation to identify a first match;

upon identification of said first match, compare an attribute of said offered item with at least one possible attribute retrieved from said bid invitation to identify a second match;

upon identification of said second match, obtain at least one importance quantitative value using a purchaser specified importance of said attribute retrieved from said bid invitation;

compare an attribute value of said attribute of said offered item to possible attribute values retrieved from said bid invitation to identify two closest values, said two closest values comprising a closest higher possible attribute value and a closest lower possible attribute value;

upon identification of said two closest values, obtain at least one degree of satisfaction quantitative value using at least one purchaser specified degree of satisfaction of said possible attribute retrieved from said bid invitation;

calculate a quantitative value reflecting a degree of satisfaction of said prospective purchaser with said bid using a fuzzy logic algorithm that considers said importance quantitative value and said degree of satisfaction quantitative value; and

provide said prospective purchaser with an indication of said quantitative value, said indication to be a fuzzy expression.

7. The computer readable medium of claim 6, wherein said fuzzy expression is very bad, bad medium, good, or very good.

8. The computer readable medium of claim 6, wherein said indication of said quantitative value is a ranking said quantitative value with other quantitative values indicating other degrees of satisfaction with other bids.

9. The computer readable medium of claim 6, further comprising instructions that cause the executing device to store contents of said bid and said quantitative value of said bid for use with supplier relationship management applications to evaluate one or more suppliers.

10. The computer readable medium of claim 6, wherein said at least one importance quantitative value is an item importance quantitative value and an attribute importance quantitative value that are retrieved using a purchaser specified importance of said item and a second purchaser specified importance of said attribute.