Data processing: financial – business practice – management – or co – Automated electrical financial or business practice or... – Electronic shopping
Reexamination Certificate
1999-02-02
2001-08-28
Lintz, Paul R. (Department: 2764)
Data processing: financial, business practice, management, or co
Automated electrical financial or business practice or...
Electronic shopping
C705S022000, C705S027200, C700S231000, C700S232000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06282518
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to industrial product ordering processes, and more specifically, to a process for making industrial products available by the manufacturer of the industrial products for ordering through the Internet by a customer for the industrial products.
There have long existed processes for ordering products, be they consumer products, industrial products or for that matter any other type of products. In their earliest, as well as simplest, form, such processes for ordering products essentially have included the following steps or some variant thereof. Namely, the product supplier has made its products physically available at its facility, and the customer has gone to the product supplier's facility for purposes of viewing the products that the product supplier has available followed therafter by a placement by the customer with the product supplier of an order for the product(s) that the customer desires. Over the passage of time, many variations to the aforedescribed process for ordering products have been proposed for adoption or have simply been adopted.
One such variation, by way of exemplification and not limitation, to the aforedescribed process is that wherein the product supplier either as a substitute for making its products physically available at its facility or as a supplement thereto prepares a catalogue of its products for distribution to prospective customers for the product supplier's products. The availability to prospective customers of such a catalogue of the product supplier's products enables the prospective customer to place an order with the product supplier based on what is contained in the catalogue. As such, the existence of the catalogue obviates the necessity for the prospective customer to have to go to the product supplier's facility to view the products, which have been made physically available by the product supplier at its facility, before the prospective customer can place an order for the product(s) that the customer desires.
Another such variation, by way of exemplification and not limitation, to the aforedescribed process is that wherein the prospective customer, either after having actually viewed the product supplier's products at the product supplier's facility or after having viewed the product supplier's products in the product supplier's catalogue, places an order with the product supplier for the product(s) that the prospective customer desires through the use of any one of a variety of different means that are suitable for use for such a purpose. For instance, the prospective customer may avail itself of the use of the mails for such a purpose, or may avail itself of the use of the telephone for such a purpose, or may avail itself of the use of some form of electrical/electronic means other than the telephone for such a purpose, etc.
Yet another such variation, by way of exemplification and not limitation, to the aforedescribed process is that wherein the prospective customer places its initial order with the product supplier for the product(s) that the prospective customer desires. Thereafter, when the prospective customer desires to place a subsequent order for the same product(s) with the product supplier, the prospective customer does so either by simply notifying the product supplier of this fact and referring the product supplier to the prospective customer's initial order for the same product(s) or does so by granting in advance to the product supplier authorization whereby upon the occurrence of some readily identifiable event, such as the occurrence of a calendar event or the occurrence of some weather-related event, i.e., “degree days”, the product supplier is authorized to automatically on behalf of the prospective customer initiate for the prospective customer an order for the product(s) that the prospective customer desires.
The impetus for many of the variations to the aforedescribed process, which heretofore have been proposed for adoption or which have actually been adopted, has been occasioned, by and large, by advances in technology that have occurred in one form or another. For instance, the significant increase in the use of catalogues by the product supplier as a means of bringing the product supplier's products directly to a prospective customer therefor has been occasioned by the fact that the costs associated with the preparation of such catalogues by the product supplier as well as the costs associated with the distribution thereof by the product supplier to prospective customers for the products contained in such catalogues has proven to be cost-effective to the product supplier based on the number of orders placed with the product supplier for products contained in such catalogues by prospective customers therefor. In large part the reason for this has been the technological advances that have reduced the cost of preparing such catalogues as well as the cost thereafter of distributing such catalogues to those prospective customers who are most likely to place an order with the product supplier for products that are contained in the catalogues.
Similarly, the surge in the amount of use of the telephone or the use of some of electrical/electronic means other than the telephone by the prospective customer for placing an order directly with the product supplier for the product(s) that the prospective customer desires has resulted in large part from the fact that the prospective customer derives several benefits by doing so. Namely, normally by doing so the prospective customer finds that the time required by the product supplier to fill the order placed therewith by the prospective customer is shortened considerably. As such, the prospective customer receives the product(s) desired thereby from the product supplier much sooner and thus the prospective customer is able to make use of the product(s) more quickly. Secondly, since in most instances there is no intermediate entity through whose hands the order for the product(s) that the prospective customer desires must pass, the cost to the prospective customer of the product(s) ordered by the prospective customer from the product supplier is normally less.
With the advent now of changes being made essentially on a continuous basis in the techniques that can be utilized for purposes of effecting therewith electrical/electronic communications, including but not limited to inter-computer networks, e.g., the Internet, or to intra-computer networks, e.g., local area networks (LANS), between virtually any parties that are located practically any place in the world, a number of further variations, which are reflective of the continuous changes now being made in electrical/electronic communications techniques, are now being proposed for adoption insofar as the aforedescribed process is concerned or are simply actually being adopted insofar as the afordescribed process is concerned. By way of exemplification and not limitation in this regard, reference is had herein, for instance, to U.S. Pat. No. 4,992,940 entitled “System And Method For Automated Selection Of Equipment For Purchase Through Input Of User Desired Specifications”, which issued on Feb. 12, 1991. In accordance with the teachings of U.S. Pat. No. 4,992,940, there is provided an automated system that assists a user in locating and purchasing goods or services sold by a plurality of vendors. The system includes a programmed computer, which is linked to a database. The database contains information about a large number of different products and/or services, arranged in various categories. For each product or service, the database contains information on price, vendor, specifications and/or availability. In operating the system, the user first indicates the general type of product or service desired. The system responds by displaying a template giving specifications for the type of product or service selected. The user then fills in one or more blank spaces in the template, to tell the system the minimum desired specific
Farrell Peter J.
Madara Eugene E.
ABB Automation Group Ltd.
Lintz Paul R.
Rickin Michael M.
Tesfamariam Mussie
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