Patent ID: 6950801
Filing Date: 2005-09-27
Classification: G06Q

Abstract:
1. A method of coordinating services among a paying organization, customers of the paying organization, and a plurality of service providers, comprising: providing a computer database of service providers, the computer database including location and pricing information relating to each service provider, pricing criteria of the organization, and any supplemental inducements offered by certain of the individual service providers; receiving from individual service providers on an ongoing basis data regarding availability of supplemental inducements for a particular service provider, and updating the computer database with current supplemental inducement data; obtaining service need information concerning a customer of the paying organization, including location of the service need; generating by means of a computer system a preliminary list of service providers selected from the computer database matching the customer's service need and location and satisfying the pricing criteria of the organization; generating by means of a computer system a final list of service providers as a subset of the preliminary list, comprising a plurality of service providers having the most favorable supplemental inducements that are applicable; ranking by means of a computer system the final list of service providers employing criteria compassing time interval since last service performed by each service provider; and presenting, in order of ranking, at least one of the ranked service providers to the customer for choice to perform the service.