Fuzzy evaluation of responses to provide degree of satisfaction

• US 8,249,938 B2
• Filed: 12/02/2008
• Issued: 08/21/2012
• 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:
  US12/325,858
• Publication Number:
  US 20090150220A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,358 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26, 705/27
• US Class Current: 705/26
• 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 received by a computerized system, comprising:

upon receipt of said bid, retrieving bid invitation information indicating preferences of a prospective purchaser from said bid invitation by at least one computer processor, wherein said information includes fuzzy variables;

determining a first degree of satisfaction of said prospective purchaser with said bid based on said information by the at least one computer processor, using a defuzzified value of an importance of an item provided by said prospective purchaser, a second defuzzified value of a second importance of an attribute of said item provided by said prospective purchaser, and a defuzzified value for a second degree of satisfaction of an attribute value of said attribute provided by said prospective purchaser; and

providing said prospective purchaser with an indication of said first degree of satisfaction by the at least one computer processor.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining uses a center of gravity approach.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the defuzzified value for a second degree of satisfaction of an attribute value of said attribute provided by said prospective purchaser includes a comparison of the attribute value in the bid to the two closest attribute values provided by said prospective purchaser.

4. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing thereon program instructions that, when executed, cause an executing device to:

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

determining a first degree of satisfaction of said prospective purchaser with said bid based on said information, using a defuzzified value of an importance of an item provided by said prospective purchaser, a second defuzzified value of a second importance of an attribute of said item provided by said prospective purchaser, and a defuzzified value for a second degree of satisfaction of an attribute value of said attribute provided by said prospective purchaser; and

providing said prospective purchaser with an indication of said first degree of satisfaction.

5. The computer readable medium of claim 4, wherein the determining uses a center of gravity approach.

6. The computer readable medium of claim 4, wherein the defuzzified value for a second degree of satisfaction of an attribute value of said attribute provided by said prospective purchaser includes a comparison of the attribute value in the bid to the two closest attribute values provided by said prospective purchaser.