Product trading system, product trading method, and computer program and recording medium for performing the method

• US 7,047,220 B2
• Filed: 12/27/2001
• Issued: 05/16/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Komatsu Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Komatsu Ltd.
• Inventors: Shirai, Norio, Ishii, Tadaharu, Taguchi, Akihito
• Primary Examiner(s): CANGIALOSI, SALVATORE A
• Application Number:
  US10/026,824
• Publication Number:
  US 20020087459A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,601 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26, 705/37, 705/400, 705/8, 700/95, 700/107
• US Class Current: 705/37
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

A product trading system has a production information accumulating means for accumulating production information of a product produced by each of mobile production machines under the seller'"'"'s administration, a demand information accepting means for accepting demand information about the product which the seller would like to purchase, a matching processing means for performing a matching processing that derives optimal production information from the production information being accumulated in the production information accumulation means in consideration of freight cost based on the demand information accepted at the demand information accepting means, and a matching processing result presentation means for representing the buyer the processing results from the matching processing means.

Claims

1. A product trading system for achieving a deal between a seller who sells a product and a buyer who purchases the product, comprising:

a plurality of production machines located at different sites, the respective production machines including machine information generating means for monitoring the production machine, generating production information related to a product being produced or to be produced by the production machine and outputting the production information, and including location information generating means for generating location information specifying a location of the production machine and outputting the location information;

an accumulation means for accumulating the production information related to the product being produced or to be produced and the location information from the production machines at respective sites;

a demand information accepting means for accepting demand information with respect to a product that the buyer would like to purchase;

a matching processing means for performing a matching processing that derives optimal production information from the production information accumulated in the accumulation means based on the demand information accepted at the demand information accepting means, the optimal production information being determined based on the location information for the plurality of production machines; and

a matching processing result presentation means for presenting the buyer with the processing results from the matching processing means.

2. A product trading system according to claim 1, wherein

the product information includes items, quality, quantity of production, unit price, shipping time, and production place of the product to be produced, and the demand information includes items, quality, amount of purchase, delivery time, and delivery place of the product with which the buyer would like to purchase, and

the matching processing means comprises:

a production information refining part that considers items, quality, and delivery time of the product included in the demand information as fixed items and refines the production information that suits the fixed items;

a price calculation part for computing a price that contains freight cost;

a rank setting part for setting up the rank of each production information in increasing order of price on the base of prices calculated in the price calculation part; and

a purchase amount decision part for selecting the production information in increasing order of price on the basis of the rank set up in the rank setting part and deciding whether the amount of purchase of the product in the selected information meets the amount of purchase in the demand information.

3. A product trading system according to claim 1, further comprising:

a demand information accumulating means for accumulating demand information being accepted by the demand information accepting means; and

a demand information presentation means for showing the seller the demand information being accumulated in the demand information accumulating means.

4. A product trading system according to claim 1, further comprising:

an evaluation information accepting means for receiving the information about evaluations made by the trading partner, which is provided from the seller and/or the buyer after attaining a deal between the seller and the buyer; and

an evaluation information accumulating means for accumulating evaluation information received by the evaluation information accepting means.

5. A product trading system according to claim 1, further comprising:

a client/server system having a seller terminal, a buyer terminal, and a server connected together on a network, wherein

the production information accumulating means, the demand information accepting means, a matching processing means, and the matching processing result presentation means are placed in the server.

6. A product trading system for achieving a deal between a seller who sells a product and a buyer who purchases the product, comprising:

a mobile production machine to produce the product sold by the seller, the mobile production machine including a machine information output means for generating an output of machine information that includes items of the product produced by the machine, positional information about the machine, and operational information;

a production information accumulating means for accumulating production information about the product based on the machine information outputted from the machine information output means;

a demand information accepting means for accepting demand information about the product which the buyer would like to purchase;

a production information extracting means for extracting the machine information being accumulated in the production information accumulating means based on the demand information being accepted by the demand information accepting means; and

a production information presentation means for showing the buyer a mobile production machine located in a neighborhood of a delivery place included in the demand information based on the positional information output by the machine information output means.

7. A product trading system according to claim 6, further comprising:

a matching processing means for performing a matching processing in consideration of freight cost to induce optimal information from the accumulated production information on the basis of the demand information, wherein

the product information presentation means is constructed so that the results of the matching processing can be displayed.

8. A product trading system according to claim 7, wherein

the demand information includes items, quality, amount of purchase, delivery time, and delivery place of the product with which the buyer would like to purchase, and

the matching processing means comprises:

a production information refining part that considers items, quality, and delivery time of the product included in the demand information as fixed items and refines the production information that suits the fixed items;

a price calculation part for computing a price that contains freight cost;

a rank setting part for setting up the rank of each production information in increasing order of price on the base of prices calculated in the price calculation part; and

a purchase amount decision part for selecting the production information in increasing order of price on the basis of the rank set up in the rank setting part and deciding whether the amount of purchase of the product in the selected information fills the amount of purchase in the demand information.

9. A product trading system according to claim 6, further comprising:

a demand information accumulating means for accumulating demand information being accepted by the demand information accepting means; and

a demand information presentation means for showing the seller the demand information being accumulated in the demand information accumulating means.

10. A product trading system according to claim 6, further comprising:

an evaluation information accepting means for receiving the information about evaluations made by the trading partner, which is provided from the seller and/or the buyer after attaining a deal between the seller and the buyer; and

an evaluation information accumulating means for accumulating evaluation information received by the evaluation information accepting means.

11. A product trading system according to claim 6, further comprising:

a client/server system having a seller terminal, a buyer terminal, and a server connected together on a network, wherein

the production information accumulating means, the demand information accepting means, a matching processing means, and the matching processing result presentation means are placed in the server.

12. A product trading method for achieving a deal between a seller who sells a product and a buyer who purchases the product, comprising:

monitoring a plurality of production machines located at different sites, the monitoring including generating production information related to a product being produced or to be produced by the respective production machines and outputting the production information, and generating location information specifying respective locations of the production machines and outputting the location information;

accumulating the production information related to the product being produced or to be produced from now on by the seller and the location information from the production machines at respective sites;

accepting demand information with respect to a product that the buyer would like to purchase;

performing a matching processing that derives optimal production information from the accumulated production information based on the accepted demand information, the optimal production information being determined based on the location information for the plurality of production machines; and

a matching processing result presentation procedure for presenting the buyer with the processing results from the matching processing procedure.

13. A product trading method according to claim 12, wherein

the product information includes items, quality, quantity of production, unit price, shipping time, and production place of the product to be produced, and the demand information includes items, quality, amount of purchase, delivery time, and delivery place of the product with which the buyer would like to purchase, and

the matching processing procedure comprises:

a production information refining step that considers items, quality, and delivery time of the product included in the demand information as fixed items and refines the production information that suits the fixed items;

a price calculation step for computing a price that contains freight cost;

a rank setting step for setting up the rank of each production information in increasing order of price on the base of prices calculated in the price calculation step; and

a purchase amount decision step for selecting the production information in increasing order of price on the basis of the rank set up in the rank setting step and deciding whether the amount of purchase of the product in the selected information fills the amount of purchase in the demand information.

14. A product trading method according to claim 12, further comprising:

a demand information accumulating procedure for accumulating demand information being accepted by the demand information accepting procedure; and

a demand information presentation procedure for showing the seller the demand information being accumulated in the demand information accumulating procedure.

15. A product trading method according to claim 12, further comprising:

an evaluation information accepting procedure for receiving the information about evaluations made by the trading partner, which is provided from the seller and/or the buyer after attaining a deal between the seller and the buyer; and

an evaluation information accumulating procedure for accumulating evaluation information received by the evaluation information accepting procedure.

16. A computer readable recording medium wherein

a computer program for executing a product trading method according to claim 12 is stored.