200 results about "Business-to-business" patented technology

The present invention provides an internet based or locally hosted business to business full service secure commercial electronic marketplace which facilitates transactions between suppliers and buyers. The system transforms the suppliers' content into generic content and enables the suppliers to review, correct and update the supplier content. The system distributes the content back to the supplier and to selected buyers in a generic and usable format across multiple forums. The system further provides multiple levels of sourcing for the suppliers and buyers including a private on-contract sourcing level, a, private off-contract sourcing level, a private index off-contract sourcing level, a private supplier or seller sourcing level, a public buyer sourcing level, and content distribution for buy side sourcing levels, supply side sourcing levels, multi-buyer exchanges and multi-supplier exchanges.

A computer implemented method is provided for conducting business-to-business electronic commerce over the Internet. The method includes the step of providing a website that enables electronic communication with users, and including on the website an electronic shopping basket which is selectively actuatable into various states. An additional step includes enabling two or more remote users to simultaneously access the shopping basket. Each of the users is assigned one or more hierarchically distinct abilities to affect the state of the shopping basket, so that the users are permitted to simultaneously view the status of the shopping basket and sequentially affect the state of the shopping basket. This enables various actions in the purchasing process to be accomplished by various individuals. These abilities to affect the state of the basket may also include providing the users with various selected levels of access to the basket, i.e., to prevent unauthorized purchases. Notification of any change of the state of the shopping basket is automatically sent to all of the users by affecting a display of the shopping basket on the website.

The underlying invention generally relates to the field of mobile computing, wireless communication, and interactive multimedia applications in mobile communication networks with high-speed access. Particularly, it refers to a customized multimedia information channel system presenting advertisement information (124a) and, if desired, other multimedia streams on a mobile communication and computing device (100) equipped with a Liquid Crystal Display (102) designed to meet modern business-to-business (B2B) requirements. In this connection, interactive operation is guaranteed by a digital wireless data and control link (108) between said mobile computing device (100) and a product (122) to be advertised. In contrast to conventional solutions, said mobile computing device (100) comprises a User Control Board (101) with an Application Programming Interface (105c) providing an intercommunication between a software routine (105b), said User Control Board (101), the display (102) of said device (100), and an additional hard-disk drive (111) for storing content data (124a) to be rendered on the display (102) of said device (100). Thereby, said User Control Board (101) is capable of communicating with a specific file server (118) over a bi-directional air interface (108) and a Wireless Local Area Network (120) by transmitting user requests (123) and receiving content information (124a), receiving control information (124b) from a remote control device (116), and transmitting status information (124c) to the remote control device (116). Furthermore, said device (100) is capable of receiving identification information (126) about the product (122) from a tag device (114) attached to said product (122).

The present invention provides a method, system, and computer program product for applying transformations to extensible documents, enabling reductions in the processing time required to transform arbitrarily-structured documents having particular well-defined elements. Signatures for structured document types are defined, along with one or more transformations to be performed upon documents of that type. The transformations are specified using syntax elements referred to as maps. A map specifies an operation code for the transformation to be performed, and describes the input and output of the associated transformation. A special map processing engine locates an appropriate transformation object to a particular input document at run-time, and applies the transformation operation according to the map definition. This technique is preferably used for a set of predetermined core transformations, with other transformations being processed using stylesheet engines of the prior art. The input documents may be encoded in the Extensible Markup Language (XML), or in other structured notations. The techniques of the present invention are particularly well suited to use in high-volume and throughput-sensitive environments such as that encountered by business-to-business transaction servers.

An apparatus, method, and method for doing business allows two business partners to communicate with each other in an architected manner. A first company monitors for changes to its internal data structure that indicate that communication with a second company may be required. A trigger mechanism monitors the data structure for changes, and invokes a software application when the data structure is changed in a defined manner. The software application extracts the new or changed data from the data structure, formats the data into an XML document, and sends the XML document to the second company via a secure communication mechanism, such as a virtual private network (VPN). The second computer system receives the information from the first computer system, parses the information, and processes the information. The second computer system then generates an appropriate response to the first computer system. In this manner, the first and second computer systems can communicate in an architected manner using XML documents, thereby allowing automation of processes between the two companies.

A system, method, and apparatus for facilitating information interexchange between a telecommunications network serving a wireless communications device and an information service provider. A Business-to-Business (B2B) engine polls a telecommunications node associated with the telecommunications network serving the wireless communications device for real-time information. The telecommunications node responds by transmitting the requested real-time information to the B2B engine, which, in turn, provides the received real-time information to the information service provider. The information service provider, in turn, provides a service, tailored according to the real-time information received, to a subscriber associated with the wireless communications device.

A method of maintaining informational integrity of a business to business (B2B) message in a distributed e-business environment is described. A sent message is stored a selected portion of which is flagged. A corresponding response message is then compared to the stored sent message. Based upon the comparing, when the response message matches the stored sent message, if a portion of the response message corresponding to the flagged portion is determined to be substantially missing, then the missing portion of the response message is replaced.

Methods, systems, and arrangements facilitate information interexchange between a telecommunications network and an information service provider (InfSP). For example, a business-to-business (B2B) engine includes one or more logic modules for interfacing with the telecommunications network and with the InfSP. The B2B engine facilitates the reporting of, e.g., realtime information from the telecommunications network to the InfSP. This realtime information may include subscriber unit location and may be acquired and/or reported based on a mapping data structure in, e.g., the B2B engine. The data structure maps a service class to one or more parameters that dictate or provide guidance with respect to which parameters are relevant, as well as their respective values, and a mechanism for achieving the stipulated parameters. The mechanism may include specific network nodes/entities as well as frequency of acquisition to thereby enable location-tailored content data and/or services to be provided to a subscriber.

An Internet-enabled automatic rental vehicle transaction system, the system comprising a web service connector in communication with a rental vehicle software program, the web service connector being configured to (1) receive, via a network, a document from a computer system of an authorized purchaser of rental vehicle services on behalf of another, the document comprising a web service rental vehicle reservation request, (2) process the received document in accordance with a web service specification document to create one or more data objects having a format supported by the rental vehicle software program, and (3) communicate the one or more data objects to the rental vehicle software program, and wherein the rental vehicle software program is configured to automatically process the one or more data objects for fulfillment of the reservation request.

A loyalty program system and method includes of membership card that is distributed to customers. The membership card is associated with multiple merchants whose accounts are centrally managed but segregated from one another. In this manner a customer only needs to carry a single card while participating in promotions that are controlled and managed by separate merchants. A merchant can reward customers based on the nature of the transactions with the merchants, for example based on value, frequency and so forth. In addition, it is possible to add merchants to the loyalty program even if they already have their own pre-existing customer membership base that carries pre-existing membership cards. In that case, the automated loyalty program is configured to recognize and honor the pre-existing cards by establishing in the system account files for the added merchants, and configuring the system to recognize and honor identification information provided in the pre-existing membership cards. It is also possible to use the system to track multi-balance gift certificates. It is also possible to use the system in a business-to-business barter system, in which multiple merchants are associated with one card provided to a first merchant. The first merchant can redeem the card any of one or more other merchants with which an exchange has been made, either directly or by way of a barter broker.

A business to business mobile teleconferencing system. The system includes a mobile robot that can be remotely operated from a remote station. Both the robot and the remote station may have a camera, a screen, a microphone and a speaker to conduct a teleconference between a user at the remote station and personnel located in viewing proximity of the robot.

A Business-to-Business (B2B) engine, apparatus and method for facilitating information interexchange between a telecommunications network and an information service provider. The B2B engine includes an interface module for interfacing with the telecommunications network and with the information service provider. The interface module allows the B2B engine to receive realtime information from the telecommunications network and provide the realtime information to the information service provider. The B2B engine includes a processor that controls the operation of the B2B engine and at least one application module interconnected to the processor that enhances the monitoring and realtime information retrieval of mobile terminals within the telecommunications network. The B2B engine also facilitates the reporting of the realtime information within the telecommunications network to the information service provider, thereby enabling content data and/or services to be provided to the mobile terminal.

The invention discloses a personalized recommendation method. The method comprises the following steps of: acquiring basic data; processing and classifying the basic data, and analyzing the interest and preference of a purchaser on the basis of historic operation behavior records of the purchaser; filtering and collecting seller information and product information according to a preset rule; correspondingly acquiring a set of products to be recommended according to the interest and preference data information of the purchaser, the seller information and the product information on the basis of a preset matching algorithm; de-duplicating, sorting, weighting and standardizing all products to be recommended, and thus obtaining N optimally-matched products which serve as a recommendation result; and displaying the final recommendation result to the purchaser. By adoption of the personalized recommendation method, the product information which is in accordance with the interest and preference of a user can be accurately recommended to the user in the conventional electronic-commerce business-to-business (B2B) website.

A web-based interface is provided for visually modeling a business-to-business or application integration process by selecting and associating predetermined process-representing visual elements. A customized, enterprise-specific executable software application (“dynamic runtime engine”) is automatedly produced by software running remotely. The dynamic runtime engine is created to include a generic application template, predefined “stock” codesets selected as a function of the modeled process, and a data profile codeset that includes input provided by the user for customizing the stock components for a specific integration process of a specific enterprise. The application template and selected codesets may subsequently be downloaded to provide an executable dynamic runtime engine software application that is customized to perform a specific integration process for a specific enterprise. Thus, the dynamic runtime engine software application is created automatedly outside of an enterprise's computing network, but is customized for a specific enterprise before it arrives within the enterprise's computing network or other destination network.

A method, apparatus, and system for providing a reliable message adapter generation tool are described. As a method, a first partner schema for the business message and a second partner schema for the business message are first loaded and displayed. A first partner schema link is selected as a current first partner schema link and a second partner schema link is selected as a current second partner schema link. If it is determined that the current first partner schema link correlates to the current second partner schema then the current first partner schema link and the current second partner schema link are link. If there is no correlation, then next links are recursively selected.

A system and method are disclosed for billers and payers to manage accounts receivable for business-to-business payments using a third-party intermediary. The system enables billers to be paid faster and payers to delay payment, while also minimizing the risk of default to the intermediary. The advantages of the present system and method stem from direct authorization by the payer to the intermediary, a nonrepudiable commitment by the payer, and dual recourse for the third-party intermediary, without the need for explicit payment contracts between billers and payers.

Advanced prospecting features for generating targeted business-to-business sales leads and mailing lists allow users to save time and money by having the ability to preview all leads prior to purchasing, by suppressing previously licensed lists against new lists, by analyzing a list prior to purchasing it, searching on both primary and secondary standard industry classification (SIC) codes, and by having the ability to dedupe duplicate records in a list.

A business-to-business application service provider includes an Internet website and webserver with EDA-on-demand solutions for system-on-a-chip designers. Such website allows electronic designs in hardware description language to be uploaded into a front-end EDA design environment. A behavioral model simulation tool hosted privately on the webserver tests and validates the design. Such tool executes only in the secure environment of the business-to-business application service provider. The validated solution is then downloaded back over the Internet for a pay-per-use fee to the customer, and in a form ready to be placed and routed by a back-end EDA tool. Such validated design solutions are also downloadable to others in exchange for other designs, or available in technology libraries. The intellectual property created can be re-used, sold, shared, exchanged, and otherwise distributed efficiently and easily from a central for-profit clearinghouse.

A method and system for reserving future purchases of goods or services. A server network device provides to a client network device via a computer network, a list of available goods or services including plural electronic options with associated option fees for the goods or services. The plural electronic options include electronic option terms established by one or more suppliers who can supply the goods or services. An option fee is associated with a reservation price to purchase desired goods or services at a desired future. Electronic option terms for a selected good or service for a desired supplier who can supply the selected good or service are provided. A purchase of an electronic option for an option fee for a desired good or service for a desired supplier is accepted on the server network device. The purchase of the electronic option is accepted according to electronic option terms established by the desired supplier. A type of electronic option used with Method 26 is governed by the option terms established by an individual supplier. The option terms may vary greatly among the individual suppliers and no two suppliers may use the same option terms. Use of variable option terms may provide significant flexibility for use of the electronic options by suppliers. The method and system may also allow a purchaser to risk a small amount of money to use an electronic option to reserve a price to purchase desired goods or services at a desired future time. The methods and systems described herein may be used to provide electronic options for business-to-business (“b2b”), business-to-consumer (“b2c”), consumer-to-consumer, (“c2c”) or other types of transactions.

The temporary medical orders and results transactions repository that intercepts Business-to-Business (B2B) electronic communications from Point “A” (source and/or creator) to Point “B” (electronic communication recipient, address, name and/or destination) to allows handling of outpatient medical-orders where Point “B” doesn't have to be defined at Point “A” (while the medical-order is being created); allowing creation of electronic orders at Point “A” without knowledge of where or who is Point “B” and delegating the designation of Point “B” to another party, other than the original medical-order creator. In this way, the choice of products and/or service providers is defined without medical order-creator intervention and/or influence; all WITHOUT the need of Unique IDs (UID, GUID or the like).

The repository intercepts orders to be temporarily saved in the repository, either by business-rule, lack of destination information, or orders sent to the repository as destination,.

Order-fulfillers “claim” (route to themselves, etc.) unclaimed orders, limited to their line-of-work, using patient and/or order-creator properties or parameters to identify and select the correct order based on search engine, common database modalities and master patient/person index technologies available freely, as open source, or a combination, and once orders have been delivered to the destination, orders are purged after a set of conditions, due dates or fulfillment indicators are reached.

An Internet enabled, business-to-business computerized transaction system is disclosed in its preferred embodiment for use in providing rental car services for high volume users and comprises an Internet web portal through which the high volume user may access an integrated business computer network for the rental vehicle service provider. The rental vehicle services provider computer network is configured to interconnect a geographically diverse plurality of branch offices, cataloguing their available rental vehicles and schedules for same as well as handling all transactional data relating to its business. The Internet web portal provides ubiquitous connectivity and portability for a multi-level business organization who regularly places high volumes of rental purchases with its business partner. Utilizing the method and apparatus of the present invention large volumes of rental transactions may be placed, monitored, altered during performance, and closed out with financial accounting and payment being made virtually without human intervention.

This invention relates to the electronic commerce area and more particularly the b2b2c (business to business to consumer) segment. A system and method is provided which offers to online retailers (brick & mortar and pureplay) as well as manufacturers, a physical point of sales to promote & sell their products and services. This system and method will allow for a variety of business transactions: information collection and processing, product returns, sales of goods, sales of electronic information and other internet related services.