Maintaining synchronization of information published to multiple subscribers

• US 20030110085A1
• Filed: 04/30/2001
• Published: 06/12/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Murren, Brian T., Hathaway, Barry
• Granted Patent: US 7,519,546 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/26
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0623 Item investigation

Abstract

Information describing one or more items is published to multiple subscribers. A subsequent change to the information requested by one of the multiple subscribers (such as a change in the status of an item corresponding to the information) is communicated to each of subscribers to which the information was previously published.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

an information tracking component to store, for each of a plurality of items, information describing the item;

a supply component configured to receive data describing one or more items, convert the received data into a format used by the information tracking component, and store the converted data as information in the information tracking component;

a publishing component to select, for each of a plurality of subscribers, a different set of information from the information tracking component, and to communicate the selected set of information to the subscriber; and

a subscriber request component to receive requests from the plurality of subscribers and modify the information stored in the information tracking component in accordance with the requests.

2. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the information tracking component is to store information regarding a plurality of assets.

3. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the information tracking component is to store information regarding a plurality of services.

4. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the information tracking component includes an information tracking database and a publishing database, wherein the information tracking database stores data describing the plurality of items, and wherein the publishing database stores data identifying which of the plurality of subscribers each of the plurality of items has been published to.

5. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the publishing component is further to perform the selection for each subscriber based at least in part on criteria supplied by the subscriber.

6. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the publishing component is further to perform the selection for each subscriber based at least in part on the information in the information tracking component describing each of the plurality of items.

7. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the publishing component is further to identify one or more of the plurality of subscribers affected by the modification to the information stored in the information tracking component, and to communicate, to the one or more of the plurality of subscribers affected by the modification, the information as modified.

8. A system as recited in claim 7, wherein the one or more of the plurality of subscribers affected by the modification to the information stored in the information tracking component comprise the ones of the plurality of subscribers to which the information was previously communicated.

9. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein each item is an asset available for purchase, wherein the subscriber request component receives a request to reserve a particular asset, and wherein the publishing component is further to communicate to selected ones of the plurality of subscribers a notification that the asset is reserved and not available for sale.

10. A system as recited in claim 9, wherein the selected ones of the plurality of subscribers comprise only subscribers that received, as part of the set of information, information describing the particular asset.

11. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the publishing component is further configured to communicate the selected set of information to the subscriber for local storage at the subscriber.

12. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the publishing component is further configured to communicate to one of the subscribers to delete information previously communicated to the one subscriber.

13. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the publishing component is further configured to automatically communicate, to one of the subscribers, information in addition to the set of information previously communicated to the one subscriber.

14. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the publishing component is further configured to communicate, to the plurality of subscribers, modifications to the set of information communicated to each subscriber.

15. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the modifications include additional information describing additional items.

16. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the modifications include deletions of information from the set of information.

17. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the modifications include updates to the information in the set of information.

18. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein each item has an associated time indicating when it is available, and wherein the publishing component is further configured to communicate, as part of the set of information, only information corresponding to items for which the associated times indicate are currently available.

19. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the subscriber request component is further configured to modify the information stored in the information tracking component in response to a request from a particular subscriber only if an appropriate fee is paid by the particular subscriber.

20. A method comprising:

maintaining a database of information regarding a plurality of items;

publishing selected item information from the database to each of a plurality of different subscribers, wherein the item information selected for publishing to a particular subscriber is dependent on criteria submitted by the particular subscriber and the information describing each item;

receiving, from one of the plurality of subscribers, a request to update the information regarding one of the plurality of items corresponding to item information published to the subscriber; and

communicating, to each other subscriber that the item information was published to, a notification of the update to the item information.

21. A method as recited in claim 20, wherein the update comprises a change to indicate the item has been sold.

22. A method as recited in claim 20, wherein the update comprises a change to indicate the item has been reserved by one of the plurality of subscribers.

23. A method as recited in claim 20, farther comprising maintaining a publishing database indicating which of the plurality of subscribers the item information has been published to.

24. One or more computer-readable media comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed, direct a processor to perform acts including:

storing, for each of a plurality of items, information describing the item in an information tracking database;

storing, in a publishing database, data identifying which item information has been communicated to each subscriber of a plurality of subscribers;

receiving a request from one of the plurality of subscribers regarding one of the plurality of items;

updating information in the publishing database in accordance with the request;

accessing the publishing database to identify which of the plurality of subscribers the item information has previously been communicated to; and

initiating another communication to each of the identified subscribers notifying the identified subscribers of the update to the information.

25. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 24, wherein the information in the publishing database includes a status of the item, and wherein the request indicates a change to the status of the item.

26. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 24, wherein each item is an asset available for sale via one or more of the plurality of subscribers.

27. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 24, wherein each item is an asset available for sale, wherein the request comprises a request to reserve a particular asset, and wherein each of the other communications comprises a notification to one of the identified subscribers that the asset is not available for sale except to the subscriber from which the reserve request is received.

28. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 24, wherein the computer-executable instructions further direct the processor to perform acts including receiving a fee in exchange for updating the information describing the item in the database in accordance with the request.

29. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 24, wherein the computer-executable instructions further direct the processor to perform acts including:

receiving additional information describing a plurality of additional items;

storing, in the information tracking database, the additional information;

identifying one or more of the plurality of subscribers to communicate selected parts of the additional information to; and

communicating the selected parts of the additional information to the identified one or more subscribers.

30. A method comprising:

maintaining an asset tracking database that includes information describing a plurality of different assets available for sale;

communicating different groups of the information to different ones of a plurality of subscribers to allow the individual subscribers to offer the items about which it receives information for sale;

receiving an indication from one of the subscribers to purchase the item; and

communicating a change in status of the asset to each of the plurality of subscribers that had previously received the asset information.

31. A method as recited in claim 30, wherein the change in status of the asset comprises setting the status to a sold status.

32. A method as recited in claim 30, wherein the change in status of the asset comprises setting the status to a sale pending status.

33. One or more computer-readable media comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed, direct a processor to perform acts including:

communicating information to a plurality of subscribers, the information describing an item available for sale;

receiving a request, from one of the plurality of subscribers, to reserve the item;

changing a status of the item to a reserved status; and

communicating the change in the status of the item to each of the plurality of subscribers to indicate the item is not currently available for sale.

34. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 33, wherein the computer-executable instructions further direct the processor to perform acts including:

subsequently receiving a request to cancel the reserved status; and

communicating another change in the status of the item to each of the plurality of subscribers to indicate the item is again available for sale.

35. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 33, wherein the computer-executable instructions further direct the processor to perform acts including:

subsequently receiving a request to cancel the reserved status; and

communicating another change in the status of the item to each of the plurality of subscribers to indicate the item has been sold.

36. A method comprising:

maintaining information describing an item, wherein the information includes a plurality of fields each describing an aspect of the item;

allowing a subscriber to identify which information is to be communicated to the subscriber for local storage at the subscriber, wherein the identification is based on a set of criteria that identifies particular criteria for one or more of the plurality of fields of the information;

communicating, to the subscriber, the identified information;

subsequently receiving a request from another subscriber to alter a status of the identified information; and

communicating, to the subscriber, the updated status of the identified information.

37. A method as recited in claim 36, wherein the updated status comprises a sold or sale pending status.