Method, apparatus and system for providing product advisory information for a web-based sales application

• US 7,590,570 B2
• Filed: 03/15/2002
• Issued: 09/15/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/12/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Schlumberger Technology Corporation (Schlumberger NV)
• Original Assignee: Schlumberger Technology Corporation (Schlumberger NV)
• Inventors: White, James H., Oney, Bruce Alan, Harrison, Allen Ray, Challappa, Murli
• Primary Examiner(s): Pond; Robert M.
• Application Number:
  US10/099,825
• Publication Number:
  US 20020165802A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,741 Days
• Field of Search: 705 26- 27
• US Class Current: 705/26.61
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0623 Item investigation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0631 Item recommendations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces

Abstract

An apparatus, system, and method are provided for receiving requirements information from a user via a web browser. The request and the requirements information are received by a web server and forwarded to a correlation engine. The correlation engine is operatively connected to, among other things, a catalog database listing various products that are available to the user, a pricing database that contains price information for a plurality of the products, an advisor database that contains feature information about the products, and a client relationship manager that retains information about the user. The correlation engine correlates the data from the various database through appropriate function modules in order to determine which product best suits the user'"'"'s requirements based on price, availability, and feature set. The user is presented with a coherent set of choices and is thus enabled to select one or more items from those choices to consummate a sale for the products.

Claims

1. An apparatus that provides quantitative and qualitative recommended oilfield products or services to a user as a result of a request having user requirements inputted by a user, said apparatus comprising:

a computer processor;

a server engine executing on the computer processor, said server engine constructed and arranged to accept the request having one or more user requirements from the user and send a response having a plurality of recommended oilfield products or services responsive to the one or more user requirements thereto;

a storage device configured to store;

a pricing database, said pricing database constructed and arranged to store pricing information and to retrieve pricing information;

an advisor database, said advisor database constructed and arranged to store advisor information and to retrieve advisor information;

a catalog database, said catalog database constructed and arranged to store product information and to retrieve product information; and

a correlation engine database operatively connected to a correlation engine, said correlation engine database constructed and arranged to store a result of said correlation engine and requests from said user;

a content relationship manager executing on the computer processor, said content relationship manager constructed and arranged to store and to retrieve client relationship data;

the correlation engine executing on the computer processor and configured to;

retrieve pricing information regarding the plurality of oilfield products or services from said pricing database through a pricing function module, the oilfield product or service comprising a plurality of parameters;

retrieve advisory information regarding the oilfield products or services from said advisor database through an advisor function module;

retrieve catalog information regarding the oilfield products or services from said catalog database through a catalog module;

generate, using the computer processor, a plurality of weighting factors associated with the plurality of parameters;

calculate, using the computer processor, a recommendation value for the plurality of oilfield products or services based on a function of the plurality of weighting factors, the recommendation value reflecting an extent the oilfield product or service satisfies the one or more user requirements; and

generate, using the computer processor, a ranked list comprising the plurality of oilfield products or services, a position of the oilfield product or service in the ranked list is determined based on the recommendation value, to form said response;

said pricing function module operatively connected to said pricing database and said correlation engine;

said advisor function module operatively connected to said advisor database and said correlation engine; and

said catalog module operatively connected to said catalog database and said correlation engine.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the plurality of parameters comprises at least one selected from a group consisting of a borehole size, a borehole depth, and a borehole pressure.

3. An apparatus that provides quantitative and qualitative recommended oilfield products or services to a user as a result of a request having user requirements inputted by a user, said apparatus comprising:

a computer processor;

a server engine executing on the computer processor, said server engine constructed and arranged to accept the request having one or more user requirements from the user and send a response having a plurality of recommended oilfield products or services responsive to the one or more user requirements thereto;

a storage device configured to store;

a pricing database, said pricing database constructed and arranged to store pricing information and to retrieve pricing information;

an advisor database, said advisor database constructed and arranged to store advisor information and to retrieve advisor information;

a catalog database, said catalog database constructed and arranged to store product information and to retrieve product information; and

a correlation engine database operatively connected to a correlation engine, said correlation engine database constructed and arranged to store a result of said correlation engine and requests from said user;

a content relationship manager executing on the computer processor, said content relationship manager constructed and arranged to store and to retrieve client relationship data;

the correlation engine executing on the computer processor and configured to;

retrieve pricing information regarding an oilfield product or service from said pricing database through a pricing function module, the oilfield product or service comprising a plurality of parameters;

retrieve advisory information regarding the oilfield product or service from said advisor database through an advisor function module;

retrieve catalog information regarding the oilfield product or service from said catalog database through a catalog module;

generate, using the computer processor, a plurality of weighting factors associated with the plurality of parameters;

calculate, using the computer processor, a recommendation value for the oilfield product or service based on a function of the plurality of weighting factors, the recommendation value reflecting an extent the oilfield product or service satisfies the one or more user requirements; and

generate, using the computer processor, a ranked list comprising the plurality of oilfield product or service, a position of the oilfield product or service in the ranked list is determined based on the recommendation value, to form said response;

said pricing function module operatively connected to said pricing database and said correlation engine;

said advisor function module operatively connected to said advisor database and said correlation engine; and

said catalog module operatively connected to said catalog database and said correlation engine.

4. The computer system of claim 3 further comprising:

a database, the database operative with the correlation engine, the pricing function module, the advisor function module, and the catalog.

5. The computer system of claim 4, wherein the database is operative with an egate interface.

6. The computer system as in claim 3 further comprising a pricing database operative with the pricing function module.

7. The computer system as in claim 3 further comprising an advisor database operative with the advisor function module.

8. The computer system as in claim 3 further comprising a catalog database operative with the catalog.

9. The computer system as in claim 3 further comprising a pricing database operative with the pricing function module.

10. The computer system of claim 3 further comprising a client relationship manager.

11. The computer system of claim 10, wherein the client relationship manager has a customer relationship management module operative with the correlation engine.

12. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the client relationship manager is operative with client relationship data.

13. The computer system of claim 3 wherein the plurality of parameters comprises at least one selected from a group consisting of a borehole size, a borehole depth, and a borehole pressure.

14. A method of providing to a user a ranking of oilfield elements from an online catalog according to a user-specified criteria comprising:

receiving at a server engine, which is executing on a processor of a computer system, a request from the user regarding a plurality of oilfield elements in the online catalog, the request including one or more user requirements;

retrieving information about each of the oilfield elements, wherein each of the oilfield elements comprises a plurality of parameters;

determining if each oilfield element is simple;

if an oilfield element is not simple, then obtaining advisory input about the not-simple oilfield element from an advisory module;

determining if the pricing of each oilfield element is simple;

if the pricing of an oilfield element is not simple, then obtaining pricing input about the not-simple pricing from a pricing module;

generating by a correlation engine of the computer system, a plurality of weighting factors associated with the plurality of parameters and calculating a recommendation value for each oilfield element based on a function of the plurality of weighting factors, wherein the recommendation value reflects an extent the oilfield element satisfies the user requirements; and

presenting by the computer system, the user with a list of elements comprising the plurality of oilfield elements, wherein the list is ranked using the recommendation values of the two or more oilfield elements.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the plurality of parameters comprises at least one selected from a group consisting of a borehole size, a borehole depth, and a borehole pressure.

16. A method of providing, to a user, a ranking of oilfield elements from an online catalog according to a criteria specified by the user comprising:

receiving at a server engine a request from the user regarding a plurality of oilfield elements in the online catalog, the request including one or more user requirements;

retrieving information about each of the elements, wherein each of the oilfield elements comprises a plurality of parameters;

determining if each oilfield element is simple;

if an oilfield element is not simple;

obtaining advisory input about the not-simple oilfield element from an advisory module;

determining if the pricing of each oilfield element is simple;

if the pricing of an oilfield element is not simple;

obtaining pricing input about the not-simple pricing from a pricing module;

prompting the user to input additional preference information based upon the advisory input and the pricing input;

generating a plurality of weighting factors associated with the plurality of parameters and calculating a recommendation value for each oilfield element based on a function of the plurality of weighting factors, wherein the recommendation value reflects an extent the oilfield element satisfies the user requirements; and

using the computer system, presenting the user with a list of elements comprising the plurality of oilfield elements, wherein the list is ranked using the recommendation values of the two or more oilfield elements.

17. An apparatus that provides quantitative and qualitative recommended oilfield products or services to a user as the result of a request having user requirements inputted by the user, said apparatus comprising:

a computer processor;

a server engine executing on the computer processor, said server engine constructed and arranged to accept the request having one or more user requirements from the user and send a response having a plurality of recommended oilfield products or services responsive to the user requirements thereto;

a storage device configured to store;

a pricing database, said pricing database constructed and arranged to store pricing information and to retrieve pricing information;

an advisor database, said advisor database constructed and arranged to store advisor information and to retrieve advisor information;

a catalog database, said catalog database constructed and arranged to store product information and to retrieve product information; and

a correlation engine database operatively connected to a correlation engine, said correlation engine database constructed and arranged to store a result of said correlation engine and requests from the user;

a content relationship manager executing on the computer processor, said content relationship manager constructed and arranged to store and to retrieve client relationship data;

the correlation engine executing on the computer processor and configured to;

retrieve pricing information regarding the plurality of oilfield products or services from said pricing database through a pricing function module, the oilfield product or service comprising a plurality of parameters;

retrieve advisory information regarding the oilfield product or service from said advisor database through an advisor function module;

retrieve catalog information regarding the oilfield product or service from said catalog database through a catalog module;

generate, using the computer processor, a plurality of weighting factors associated with the plurality of parameters;

calculate, using the computer processor, a recommendation value for the oilfield product or service based on a function of the plurality of weighting factors, the recommendation value reflecting an extent the oilfield product or service satisfies the one or more user requirements; and

generate, using the computer processor, a ranked list comprising the plurality of oilfield products or services, a position of the oilfield product or service in the ranked list is determined based on the recommendation value, to form said response;

said pricing function module operatively connected to said pricing database and said correlation engine;

said advisor function module operatively connected to said advisor database and said correlation engine; and

said catalog module operatively connected to said catalog database and said correlation engine.

18. An apparatus as in claim 17 wherein the oilfield service is a wireline service.

19. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the plurality of parameters comprises at least one selected from a group consisting of a borehole size, a borehole depth, and a borehole pressure.