×

Method and system for e-commerce freight management

  • US 7,698,204 B2
  • Filed: 12/28/2000
  • Issued: 04/13/2010
  • Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2000
  • Status: Expired due to Fees
First Claim
Patent Images

1. A computerized freight management method for arranging for shipment of a load from a shipper by a carrier, based on shipping data and carrier data supplied by the shipper and the carrier and for arranging for the buying or selling of a product, wherein the product comprises either a good or service, based on buyer data and seller data supplied by the buyer and the seller, the method comprising:

  • inputting into the central processing system a request for bids—

    from and—

    by the shipper for shipping the load and by a buyer for purchasing a product;

    transmitting an invitation electronically to bid for shipping the load and for purchasing a product by the central processing system to a plurality of carriers and product sellers,wherein carriers and product sellers can review the individual invitations just on their individual bulletin boards or use all or part of the bulletin board, master bulletin board and grand master bulletin board included in the transportation and marketplace tool concept to address, compare individual and alternatives, coordinate, and analyze a myriad of critical interrelated aspects of the freight management and product environments to determine the best business decisions prior to submitting a bid,wherein the individual bulletin boards being combined into master bulletin boards and into the grand master bulletin board addresses all transportation and product subsets including individual and multiple loads, combined loads, multiple deliveries, tours, interlining, warehousing and products,wherein these bulletin boards can be public or private;

    receiving bids electronically at the central processing system by at least some of the carriers for shipping the load and by the sellers for selling a product;

    transmitting to the shipper electronically a bid report with bids received from at least some of the carriers and some of the product sellers receiving the invitation to bid generated by the central processing system;

    without the shipper and product buyer initiating communication with the computer system,wherein shippers and product buyers can review the individual bid reports just on their individual bulletin boards or use all or part of the bulletin board, master bulletin board and grand master bulletin board included in the transportation and marketplace tool concept to address, compare individual and alternatives, coordinate, and analyze a myriad of critical interrelated aspects of the freight management and product environments to determine the best business decisions prior to selecting a bid,wherein the individual bulletin boards being combined into master bulletin boards and into the grand master bulletin board addresses all transportation, product and service subsets including individual and multiple loads, combined loads, multiple deliveries, tours, interlining, warehousing and products,wherein these bulletin boards can be public or private;

    receiving electronically at the central processing system by the shipper and by the buyer a bid selection of at least one of the bids; and

    storing all entries both public and private to the grand master bulletin board, along with the appropriate master bulletin boards and the appropriate bulletin boards electronically by the computer system.

View all claims
  • 0 Assignments
Timeline View
Assignment View
    ×
    ×