Patent ID: 7904328

Claim:
An automated shopping system in which a user places an order for at least one provider, a degree of matching between each order-provider pairing is computed, and a score reported to at least the user and optionally to the at least one provider, the automated shopping system comprising: at least one processor to receive and process information including at least one of (a) user information from at least one user including (i) information that specifies provider criteria including identification of provider information to be verified and (ii) order information that specifies order criteria for that particular order, (b) provider information from at least one provider, and (c) third party information; at least one data storage device that communicates with the at least one processor, that includes at least one database, and that receives and stores the information in the at least one database; a knowledge base stored in a data storage device and containing information on which to base requests for information by the system; a virtual provider created within the at least one processor by pairing provider information of a particular provider with order information of a particular order to create an informational pair and stored within the at least one database; an iterative scoring system within the at least one processor that compares the provider information of a particular provider and the order information of a particular order within each respective informational pair, determines a score reflecting a degree of matching for each respective informational pair, communicates with the at least one processor and saves the score for each respective informational pair in the at least one database, the iterative scoring system including a scoring correction system within the at least one processor, that determines whether a score is based on complete information or whether additional information and determination of a revised score is required, the scoring correction system including: (d) inspecting the order and provider information to determine (1) completeness of the order and provider information and (2) presence of provider information identified in the order as requiring verification, and, if no further information is required by the system, indicating that the score is complete or, if further information is determined appropriate for said (1) or (2), proceeding to (e) and (f) as follows: (e) communicating with the knowledge base to obtain requests for additional information from outside the system including (3) requesting information determined to be incomplete from at least one of the user and the provider and (4) requesting verification of provider information from a third party, and (f) updating the score in the iterative scoring system to obtain a revised score based on the additional information received and saving the revised score for each respective informational pair in the at least one database.