Patent ID: 7225220
Filing Date: 2007-05-29
Classification: G06Q

Abstract:
1. An electronic control apparatus configured for use in routing customer orders received over an electronic network to a service provider selectable from a plurality of service providers, said apparatus comprising: an electronic interface configured to receive and acknowledge said customer orders; first processing means configured to compare the requirements of a said received customer order with pre-stored information specific to each of said plurality of service providers; a memory configured to store a list of said service providers determined to be able to fulfill the requirements of a said received order; and further processing means configurable, for a received order, to make a said selection of at least one service provider from said list, and to route said received order to said selected service provider, wherein the further processing means is configurable to make the said selection comprising: discarding from the list the said service providers in the list having a said indicated price above that of the final threshold price; and comparing printing-capacity utilization values of the said service providers remaining in the list by calculating an unutilized percentage of a contracted capacity of each of said service providers remaining in the list to determine which of the said service providers remaining in the list has a highest capacity.