Patent ID: 6055519
Filing Date: 2000-04-25
Classification: G06Q

Abstract:
A computer implemented system for negotiation and tracking of sale of goods, comprising:a computer system having a processor and memory, the computer system executing a software application that provides a negotiation engine;the negotiation engine operating to store data representing a current state of a negotiation between a seller and a buyer;the negotiation engine storing the data within a framework for representing aspects of the negotiation between the seller and a buyer, the framework including:a request object, a promise object and an acceptance object that can store a current description of a contract;wherein the request object represents a request from a buyer that initiates negotiation, the promise object represents a promise to sell from seller in response to the request, and the acceptance object represents the buyer's acceptance of the promise;wherein the current state of negotiations is determined by means of state transitions between the request object, promise object, and acceptance object, said state transitions having at least three tiers;a set of one or more delivery deals determined by the contract, each delivery deal including a delivery request object, a delivery promise object, and a delivery acceptance object that can store associated item deals and time periods for delivery of item deals; andthe item deals, each item deal including an item request object, an item promise object and an item acceptance object that can store individual sales-order line-items;such that the negotiation engine allows a user to monitor the current state of the negotiation over a range of prices, a range of dates, ranges of quantities of a set of goods, and a range of configurations of the goods in the set.