Patent Publication Number: US-2005131775-A1

Title: Interconnect structure and method for manufacturing the same

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      1. Field of the Invention  
      The invention relates to a system and a method for founding establishment, and more particularly to a system and a method for speeding up founding establishment through Internet.  
      2. Description of the Prior Art  
      It is introduced that concept of electronic hubs (eHubs) in Business-to-Business (B2B) E-commerce. The eHubs is defined as neutral Internet-based intermediaries that focus on specific industry verticals or specific business processes, host electronic marketplaces, and used various market making mechanisms to mediate any-to-any transactions among businesses.  
      To understand B2B hubs, it is useful to understand how businesses buy, and what they buy. At the broadest level, business purchases can be classified into manufacturing inputs and operating inputs. Manufacturing inputs are raw materials and components that go directly into the manufactured product or manufacturing process. Manufacturing inputs tend to be vertical in nature, because the finished products that they go into are industry-specific. Operating inputs, on the other hand, are indirect materials and services that do not go into finished products. Operating inputs, sometimes call MRO (Maintenance, Repair, and Operating) inputs, include industrial supplies, capital equipment, services, and travel-related services. Unlike manufacturing inputs, operating inputs tend to horizontal nature (with the exception of capital equipment and some industrial supplies).  
      The other important distinction in business purchasing lies in how business buy products and services. Businesses can either engage in systematic sourcing or in spot sourcing. Systematic sourcing involves buying through pre-negotiated contracts with qualified suppliers. These contracts are often long-term in nature, so systematic sourcing tends to be relationship-oriented. Spot sourcing is transaction-oriented, and rarely involves a long-term or ongoing relationship between buyers and sellers.  
      Furthermore, there is one other dimension that is important in describing a B2B hub: its bias. B2B hubs can be either neutral or biased. Nutral hubs do not favor buyers over sellers or vice versa. Biased hubs, in contrast, favor either buyers or sellers. Neutral hubs by definition, they need to be careful in taking equal investments from large buyers as well as from large suppliers, because they can be perceived as biased. The benefit that neutral hubs have is that they are true “market-makers”, because they bring both buyers and sellers together.  
      There is another category of hubs that are one-sided and biased by design. There biased hubs either work for sellers or buyers, and help them to negotiate better terms or streamline the buying/selling process. Biased hubs (like neutral hubs) can occur both as aggregations in systematic markets and as matchers in spot markets. When they favor sellers, biased hubs act as forward aggregators or most likely to succeed and add value in markets that are fragmented on both the buyer and seller sides.  
      Despite flourishing development of e-business, eHubs just passively provide connection services rather that meet requirements for those undefined buyers and sellers. For example, the business services provided by ehubs nowadays are rarely helpful to establishment founders. Depicted in  FIG. 1 , a company or factory consists of some fundamental resources, such as capital  110 , factory building or land  120 , technology groups  130 , management group and human resource  140 , and rules and regulations  150  in addition to administration idea or business plan  160  coordinated therein. In general, each cooperation among these fundamental resources is successfully implemented according to a series of advanced research, communication, negotiation, and making contrasts. Such model of the establishment-founded process is called a vertical model, whereby a company or factory can&#39;t be begun construction without some specific resources in advance, such as capital. There are doubtful effects on the reduction of search consumption for establishment foundation through B2B e-commerce. On the contrary, no in-time modification of suitable negotiation provided by the B2B e-commerce may result in the addition of cycle time, downcast establishment value and lower successful probability of establishment.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      It is an object of the present invention to provide a system and a method for assisting foundation of a company or a factory. A business electronic hub system can provide various kinds of fundamental resources related to the company or the factory.  
      It is another object of the present invention to provide a system and a method for speeding up the foundation of the company or the factory. The business electronic hub system provides the certification and match services to the resource providers that would like to attend the foundation of a company or a factory, and thereby reduces cycle time of the foundation for the company or the factory.  
      In the present invention, A system for speeding up an establishment&#39;s foundation through Internet comprises a data storage device having databases built therein and an electronic hub connected to the data storage device through computer program. The electronic hub is cooperated with the data storage device, whereby is capable to communicate, examine the resource provider, save the resource provider, and match the resource provider and whereby speeds up the establishment&#39;s foundation. A method for speeding up founding establishment through Internet comprises communicating, examining the resource provider, saving the resource provider, and matching the resource provider. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
      A better understanding of the invention may be derived by reading the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawing wherein:  
       FIG. 1  is a schematic illustration of the fundamental factors for a company or a factory;  
       FIG. 2  is a schematic diagram illustrating system architecture in accordance with the present invention;  
       FIG. 2A  illustrates an example of a record in the business model database of one embodiment in accordance with the present invention;  
       FIG. 3  is a block diagram illustrating a flow chart in accordance with the present invention; and  
       FIGS. 3A through 3C  are block diagrams illustrating the steps in  FIG. 3 . 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
      While this invention has been described with reference to illustrative embodiments, this description is not intended to be construed in a limiting sense. Various modifications and combinations of the illustrative embodiments, as well as other embodiments of the invention, will be apparent to persons skilled in the art upon reference to the description. It is therefore intended that the appended claims encompass any such modifications or embodiments.  
      The system architecture of the present invention is illustrated with reference to  FIG. 2 . As shown in  FIG. 2 , the system of the present invention mainly comprises multitude of computers and input devices of the resource provider  20  and a business eHub system  10 . Each computer and input device of the resource provider  20  is connected with the business e-Hub system  10  via an Internet connection using a public switched phone network, such as those provided by a local or regional telephone operating company. Such a connection may also be provided by dedicated data lines, cellular, personal communication systems, microwave, or satellite networks. On the other hand, a conventional personal computer or communication terminal may be used as the computer and input device of the resource provider  20 . Furthermore, a conventional personal computer or computer workstation with sufficient memory and processing capability may be used as the business eHub system  10 . In one embodiment, an eHub  25  operates as a web server. The business eHub system  10  must be capable of high volume transaction processing, performing a significant number of mathematical calculations in processing communications and database searches.  
      To be specific, the resources mentioned in the computer and input device of the resource provider  20  can be any necessary resources of the foundation of a company or a factory, such as capital, rental or renter of factory building or land, technology group, management group, rules and regulation, and administrative idea and business plan.  
      On the other hand, in the embodiment, the eHub  25  is the web server that comprises one or more conventional microprocessors (not shown) and conventional storage devices, such as one or more hard disk and therein multitude of software is installed. Furthermore, the business eHub system  10  comprises a data storage device  30  connected with the eHub  25  through computer program  26 . Of course, the eHub  25  may include the data storage device  30 . The data storage device  30  can be hard disk magnetic or optical storage units, as well as CD-ROM drivers or flash memory, and used in the processing of transactions in the present invention. In the embodiment, the data storage device  30  comprises resource database  31 , certified resource database  32 , business model database  33  and business plan database  34 . To be specific, any database related to foundation of the company or factory may be also included in the data storage device  30 . The multitude of databases in the data storage device  30  are illustrated with reference to the following paragraphs.  
      Furthermore, there are many records related to the resource providers or business models in each database. For example, there are many successful business models saved in the business model database  33 . The business eHub system  10  can collect and analyze successful existed enterprises, and more actively, classify them various business models in the business model database  33 . Thus, a matching function of the business eHub system may be implemented in accordance with the business models in the business model database  33 .  
      Referring to  FIG. 2A  is an example of business model saved in the business model database  33 . A record for a business model consists many items and corresponding status  18 , such as class  11 , scope  12 , capital  13 , office area  14 , technology  15 , employer  16 , rules and regulation  17 , and so on. According to analysis of the business eHub system  10 , a suitable combination may be collected in a record shown as  FIG. 2A .  
      Referring to  FIG. 3  is an examination flow chart of the present invention. In the embodiment, the business eHub system  10  is defined as a neutral Inter-based intermediary and has ability of to communicate with exterior environment such as Internet. The business eHub system  10  not only provides passive connection to the web-sites of other related resources, but also actively builds certifications and examinations for the connected web-sites of the related resources. The purpose of building the certifications and examinations is for both reducing the cycle time of the foundation of the company or factory and raising successful probability of establishment foundation.  
      First, each resource provider, including capital provider, capital collector, rental or renter of factory building or land, technology group, management group, or provider of the administrative ideal and business plan, needs to connect to the eHub of the business eHub system for resource registration (step  41 ) and is classified according to its characteristics, such as scope or market value. The business eHub system may proceed a series of the written and substantial examinations for the registered resource provider. The items of examinations, for example, the capital provider&#39;s financial records with bank, the owner authority of the factory buildings or land, the members&#39; education and background of the technology group, and so on, are for conforming the resource provider&#39;s reliabilities. The reliable resource provider can be certified and thereafter has priority rights on multitude of services provided by the business eHub system (step  42 ). Furthermore, the information of those certified resource providers can be recorded in the certified resource database of the business eHub system (step  43 ).  
      Furthermore, the business eHub system provides a match service for the certified resource providers (step  44 ). In accordance with the resource providers&#39; information in the certified resource database, the business eHub system can reduce the match period for the resource providers. Different from those conventional eHubs in the electronic business, the business eHub system of the present invention regards the foundation of the company or the factory as a product and simultaneously plays the role of the brokerage, matching and screening on the foundation of the company or the factory during the electronic business. On the other hand, the business eHub system may help the certified resource providers make contrasts if they cooperate in accordance with the match provided by the business eHub system. Of course, for eternal administration, the business eHub system may charge some commission from the successful matching resource providers or share the technology stocks of the successful newborn company or factory.  
       FIG. 3A  illustrates the flow chart of the resource registration in the step  41  of  FIG. 3 . First, the resource provider logs in the web-site of the business eHub system (step  51 ). Next, the resource provider needs to select the suitable class (step  52 ), such as bank class, and the suitable scope (step  53 ), such as a small scope within  100  employers, according to the resource characteristics. On the other hand, the resource provider also needs to prepare the resource illustration by itself (step  54 ). Any resource provider can know about other resources recorded in the resource database in accordance with their resource illustrations. Thereafter, the business eHub system may assign the resource provider an identification number (step  55 ). Furthermore, the resource provider having its own identification number can be recorded and saved in the resource database (step  56 ).  
       FIG. 3B  is a flow chart illustrating the step  42  in  FIG. 3 . The business eHub system may periodically check the resource providers recorded in the resource database (step  61 ), wherein those resource providers only have identification number and aren&#39;t yet passed the examination of the business eHub system. When the resource provider provides any political certifications or documents (step  62 ) and examined by the business eHub system, it can be viewed as a certified resource (step  64 ) and its information can be saved in the certified resource database (step  65 ). Otherwise, the business eHub system may make documents requirements for the resource providers (step  63 ) to further conform the resource providers.  
      The step  44  of  FIG. 3  is shown in  FIG. 3C . The business eHub system may collect and analyze the certified resource providers in the certified resource database and further implement possible matches and business plans (step  71 ) for the certified resource providers. On the other hand, those possible business plans are defined their priorities according to similarities to the business models in the business model database. Furthermore, those possible business plans may be saved in the plan database (step  72 ). The business eHub system may send the messages to the resource providers related to the possible business plans and further display the possible business plans in the web-site of the eHub(step  73 ). The related resource providers can decide by themselves whether they take part in the business plans or not.  
      The business eHub system of the embodiment, with both passively connection with web-sites of the resource providers and actively stepping in negotiation, can provide a parallel process for searching cooperation partners. In such parallel process, the resource providers can simultaneously adjust their own plans for improvement and success according to the matches and business plans provided by the business eHub system. Furthermore, the resource providers belonging to any types or scopes also can be a start for the foundation of the company or factory and parallel search cooperation partners. For example, through the matches and business plans, the owners of the technology group can adjust the technology direction for reducing consumption of the coming cooperation schedule according to suitable capital, office area, and the business plans.  
      It is one object of the business eHub system of the present invention to have simultaneously functions of brokerage, matcher and screening. The purpose of the present invention is for driving the foundation of the company or factory, so that a company or factory can be viewed as merchandise of the present invention. The business eHub system executing examination, negotiation and match processes, is similar to stepping in the manufacture process of the merchandise, which can help raising the value of the establishment foundation, success probability and reducing the consumption of the cycle time.  
      In the present invention, a system for speeding up an establishment&#39;s foundation through Internet comprises a data storage device having at least a resource database, a certified database, a business model database, and a plan database and an electronic hub connected to the data storage device through computer program. The electronic hub is cooperated with the data storage device, whereby is capable to register, save a resource provider, examine the items of the resource provider, save a record of the resource provider, and match the resource provider in the certified resource database and whereby speeds up said establishment&#39;s foundation. A method for reducing cycle time of founding establishment with electronic commerce comprises registering in the electronic hub system, saving a resource provider examining the items of the resource provider, saving a record of the resource provider, and matching the resource provider in the certified resource database according to the record of the resource provider.