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System and method for providing a price quotation for a transportation service providing equipment selection capability

  • US 9,141,922 B2
  • Filed: 02/28/2014
  • Issued: 09/22/2015
  • Est. Priority Date: 02/01/2002
  • Status: Expired due to Fees
First Claim
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1. A method for a rail transportation company to obtain particulars from a customer about a shipment of goods and to perform the shipment of goods, said method comprising:

  • a. performing a freight railcar type and a freight railcar ownership selection operation, the freight railcar type and the freight railcar ownership selection operation including an exchange of data between a server arrangement and a remote customer computer system over a data network, the exchange of data involving an equipment database storing information about freight railcars, the information distinguishing between a set of freight railcars owned by the customer and freight railcars owned by one or more entities other than the customer, the freight railcar type and the freight railcar ownership selection operation allowing the customer at the customer computer system to direct the rail transportation company via a Graphical User Interface (GUI) to use for the shipment a freight railcar of a type selected by the customer and owned by an entity selected by the customer, the freight railcar type and ownership selection operation including configuring the GUI on the customer computer system by dynamically modifying an input object of the GUI providing equipment options the customer can select, the configuring of the GUI including;

    i. displaying on the GUI, at least two freight railcar type options that the customer can choose from, the at least two freight railcar type options including a first option which identifies a first type of freight railcar to be used for the shipment, and a second option which identifies a second type of freight railcar to be used for the shipment which is different from the first type of freight railcar;

    ii. searching the set of freight railcars owned by the customer in the equipment database for a freight railcar of the type selected by the customer;

    iii. when the search determines that the set of freight railcars owned by the customer includes a freight railcar of the type selected by the customer, configuring the GUI to present the customer with at least two freight railcar ownership options that the customer can choose from, one of the freight railcar ownership options identifying the customer as owner of the freight railcar to be used for the shipment, another of the freight railcar ownership options identifying an entity other than the customer as owner of the freight railcar to be used for the shipment;

    iv. when the search determines that the set of freight railcars owned by the customer does not include a freight railcar of the type selected by the customer, configuring the GUI to present the customer with one or more freight railcar ownership options identifying one or more entities other than the customer as owner of the freight railcar to be used for the shipment;

    b. performing the shipment by using a freight railcar of the type selected by the customer among the freight railcar type options and owned by the entity selected by the customer among the one or more freight railcar ownership options.

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