Shipping Quote Normalization for User-Preferred Comparison
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Solution Overview
Problem
Customers face inefficiencies in aggregating and comparing shipping price quotes from different companies due to varying formats and software incompatibilities, requiring manual analysis and significant time investment.
Innovation Solution
A system and method for electronically analyzing and normalizing shipping parameters based on user preference data, using a computing device to receive requests, convert shipping costs to preferred formats, and generate user interfaces for outputting normalized quotes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If customers manually aggregate and compare shipping price quotes from various companies, then they can obtain shipping cost information, but it requires considerable time and manual effort
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary system (shipping management platform) that acts as a mediator between customers and multiple shipping companies. This platform automatically collects, normalizes, and presents shipping quotes in a unified format, eliminating the need for customers to manually aggregate and compare quotes from different sources while maintaining complete information
2Adaptability or versatility
If each shipping company uses its own software to provide price quotes in its particular format, then shipping companies can maintain their proprietary systems, but customers face software incompatibility and format variation issues
Solution Approach 1:
The platform serves as an intermediary layer between shipping companies' proprietary software systems and customer interfaces. It receives quotes in various formats from different shipping companies, normalizes them into a standard format, and presents them uniformly to customers, thereby maintaining shipping companies' software independence while ensuring customer ease of operation
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the format parameter of shipping quotes by converting various company-specific formats into a standardized universal format. This parameter transformation enables consistent display and comparison of quotes without requiring changes to the underlying shipping company software systems
3Productivity
If customers manually analyze various price quotes in different formats, then they can make shipping decisions, but it requires significant manual effort and expertise
Solution Approach 1:
The platform acts as an intelligent intermediary that automatically analyzes and compares shipping quotes from multiple companies. It handles the complex task of evaluating different rate structures, surcharges, and service levels, presenting customers with pre-analyzed recommendations that improve productivity while simplifying the operation
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables self-service by automatically performing the analysis and comparison work that would otherwise require manual customer effort. The platform independently processes quotes, applies normalization rules, and generates comparisons without requiring customer intervention in the complex analysis process
Data Source
AI summary
One example of the present disclosure can include a system that can receive a first data set over a network from a first computing device, the first data set indicating user preference data and a first request for a shipping cost. The system can also receive a second data set over the network from the second computing device, the second data set indicating a first shipping cost generated by a shipping entity associated with the second computing device in response to the second request. Based on receiving the second data set, the system can determine a second shipping cost based on the user preference data and the first shipping cost. The system can then transmit the second shipping cost over the network to the first computing device, for example as part of a graphical user interface for display on the first computing device.