AUTOMATED ACQUISITION AND CONFIGURATION OF GOODS AND SERVICES VIA A NETWORK
First Claim
1. A computer configured to perform a method, the method comprising:
- communicating with a referral server to identify configurables available to the computer based on the computer'"'"'s geographic location and at least one other factor, wherein the computer communicates a geographic location identifier of the computer'"'"'s location and an identifier of at least one other factor;
communicating with the referral server to receive a list of provider servers selected by the referral server for referring to the computer, where the provider servers are included in the list because of their ability to auto-configure configurables in the computer'"'"'s geographic location according to the at least one other factor; and
communicating with a provider server selected from the list to purchase a selected configurable and to auto-configure the computer'"'"'s computing environment to operate the selected configurable.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A computer performs a method of communicating with a referral server to identify configurables available to the computer based on the computer'"'"'s location and at least one other factor. The computer receives a list of provider servers selected by the referral server for referring to the computer because the provider servers on the list auto-configure configurables in the computer'"'"'s location and according to the at least one other factor. The method communicates with a provider server selected from the list to purchase a selected configurable and to auto-configure the computer'"'"'s computing environment to operate the selected configurable. The method communicates with the referral server to provide a metric about the provider server'"'"'s performance during purchase and auto-configure.
80 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A computer configured to perform a method, the method comprising:
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communicating with a referral server to identify configurables available to the computer based on the computer'"'"'s geographic location and at least one other factor, wherein the computer communicates a geographic location identifier of the computer'"'"'s location and an identifier of at least one other factor; communicating with the referral server to receive a list of provider servers selected by the referral server for referring to the computer, where the provider servers are included in the list because of their ability to auto-configure configurables in the computer'"'"'s geographic location according to the at least one other factor; and communicating with a provider server selected from the list to purchase a selected configurable and to auto-configure the computer'"'"'s computing environment to operate the selected configurable. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A computer system comprising:
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computer memory and a central processing unit; and the computer memory having software comprising; software for communicating with a referral server to identify configurables available to the computer system based on a geographic location of the computer system and at least one other factor, wherein the computer system communicates to the referral server at least a geographic identifier of the geographic location and an identifier of the at least one other factor; software for communicating with the referral server to receive a list of provider servers selected by the referral server for referring to the computer system where provider servers are included in the list because of their ability to auto-configure configurables for the geographic location and for the at least one other factor; software for communicating with a provider server selected from the list to purchase a selected configurable and to auto-configure the computer system'"'"'s computing environment to operate the selected configurable; and software for communicating with the referral server to provide initial and on-going audit information about the provider server'"'"'s performance. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17)
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18. A computer readable medium having thereon, computer-executable instructions comprising:
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instructions for communicating with a referral server to identify services available to a computer based on a geographic location identifier of the computer; instructions for communicating with the referral server to receive a list of provider servers selected by the referral server for referring to the computer because the provider servers on the list auto-configure services for computers within a geography determined by the geographic location identifier; instructions for communicating with a provider server selected from the list to purchase a selected service and to auto-configure the computer'"'"'s computing environment to operate the selected service; and instructions for communicating with the referral server to provide initial and on-going audit information about the selected service. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
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Specification