Supplier integration with services business language

• US 8,180,796 B1
• Filed: 03/29/2005
• Issued: 05/15/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Deem, Incorporated (Jack Taylor Family Voting Trust U A D 4 14 99)
• Original Assignee: Rearden Commerce Inc
• Inventors: Mah, Anson, Alag, Satnam, Garvey, Patrick
• Primary Examiner(s): Shaawat, Mussa A
• Application Number:
  US11/093,610
• Time in Patent Office: 2,604 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/790
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]

Abstract

The present invention describes a method comprising of a services business language (SBL) providing a common interface for communication with one or more multiple providers in one or more vertical segments. In one embodiment, the vertical segments comprise one or more of package shipping, courier services, flights, hotels, rental cars, and dry cleaners. In another embodiment, the SBL documents of the SBL are defined by Universal Business Language (UBL). In one embodiment, the SBL document includes multiple namespaces that are used in documents as element types and attribute types.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method comprising:

using, via a computing device, a services business language (SBL), to provide a common interface for communication with one or more multiple providers in one or more vertical segments, wherein SBL documents of the SBL are defined by Universal Business Language (UBL), wherein the vertical segments include at least one of hotels and dry cleaners;

including in an SBL document a plurality of core type namespaces wherein each namespace comprises at least one of a schema that defines its core components and core documents, wherein the core documents and core components defined in each core type namespace are de-contextualized to be horizontal, wherein the core components in each core type namespace are categorized into a plurality of sizes and are aggregated together to form the core documents, the core components in the core type namespace defining components including both recurrence and reminder;

selectively extending the core components according to a vertical schema indicative of a specific industry;

selectively extending the core documents according to the vertical schema indicative of the specific industry;

using a meta-schema library, written using XML, to express core and vertical schemas in XSD code generation; and

transforming meta-schema into an SBL core library XSD or SBL core library HTML documentation;

wherein the core documents omit definitions for payload elements, and a definition of the payload elements is dependent on the vertical schemas.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the vertical segments are one or more members selected from the group consisting of package shipping, courier services, flights, and rental cars.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein an SBL document includes multiple namespaces that are used in documents as element types and attribute types.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the SBL document comprises a core component type namespace and a core component common aggregate type.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the core component type namespace comprises schema defining at least one selected from the group consisting of a valueType, measuretype, texttype.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the core component common aggregate namespace comprises schema defining at least one of a partytype and addresstype.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein the namespaces comprise of one or more schema definitions, wherein one schema definition includes contents of another schema definition.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein documents and components defined in the core type namespace are verticalized for the travel industry.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the core components of the core type namespace, defines components that are one or more members selected from the group consisting of service, quote, scheduling, billing information, and price.

10. The method of claim 4, wherein core SBL definitions of a Service component are one or more members selected from the group consisting of name, scheduling, location, recurrence, requester, provider, and billing information.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein core document types are one or more members selected from the group consisting of purchase service, reserve service, modify service, cancel service, get service quote, get service details, check service status, get service availability, get provider details, and search for service provider.

12. A machine readable non-transitory medium having stored thereon a set of instructions, which when executed on a computing device, cause the computing device to perform a method comprising:

using services business language (SBL) to provide a common interface for communication with one or more multiple providers in one or more vertical segments, wherein SBL documents of the SBL are defined by Universal Business Language (UBL), wherein the vertical segments include at least one of hotels and dry cleaners;

including in an SBL document a plurality of core type namespaces wherein each namespace comprises at least one of a schema that defines its core components and core documents, wherein the core documents and core components defined in each core type namespace are de-contextualized to be horizontal, wherein the core components in each core type namespace are categorized into a plurality of sizes and are aggregated together to form the core documents, the core components in the core type namespace defining components including both recurrence and reminder;

selectively extending the core components according to a vertical schema indicative of a specific industry;

selectively extending the core documents according to the vertical schema indicative of the specific industry;

using a meta-schema library, written using XML, to express core and vertical schemas in XSD code generation; and

transforming meta-schema into an SBL core library XSD or SBL core library HTML documentation;

wherein the core documents omit definitions for payload elements, and a definition of the payload elements is dependent on the vertical schemas.

13. The machine readable medium of claim 12, wherein core documents omit definitions for payload elements, and the definition of payload elements is dependent on vertical schemas.

14. A computer system comprising:

at least one server for;

using services business language (SBL) means to provide a common interface for communication with one or more multiple providers in one or more vertical segments, wherein SBL documents of the SBL are defined by Universal Business Language (UBL), wherein the vertical segments include at least one of hotels and dry cleaners;

including in an SBL document a plurality of core type namespaces wherein each namespace comprises at least one of a schema that defines its core components and core documents, wherein the core documents and core components defined in each core type namespace are de-contextualized to be horizontal, wherein the core components in each core type namespace are categorized into a plurality of sizes and are aggregated together to form the core documents, the core components in the core type namespace defining components including both recurrence and reminder;

selectively extending the core components according to a vertical schema indicative of a specific industry;

selectively extending the core documents according to the vertical schema indicative of the specific industry;

using a meta-schema library, written using XML, to express core and vertical schemas in XSD code generation; and

transforming meta-schema into an SBL core library XSD or SBL core library HTML documentation;

wherein the core documents omit definitions for payload elements, and a definition of the payload elements is dependent on the vertical schemas.

15. The computer system of claim 14, wherein core documents and components are verticalized for the travel industry.