Patent ID: 8055550

Claim:
A method for processing an order based on inputs from an ordering user, comprising: creating, by a processor, an ordered-items object comprising one or more units of one or more items ordered by the user; creating, by the processor, one or more alternative-mechanism objects, each alternative-mechanism object comprising an alternative mechanism to process a portion of the order, the portion comprising a part of the one or more units of one or more items; creating, by the processor, a default-mechanism object comprising a mechanism to process a remainder portion of the order, the remainder portion comprising any part of the one or more units of one or more items not included in any portion corresponding to the one or more alternative-mechanism objects; establishing, by the processor, one or more relationships between the ordered-items object and the one or more alternative mechanism objects, wherein each relationship relates the ordered-items object and one of the one or more alternative-mechanism objects, and wherein each relationship indicates that the corresponding portion is processed by the alternative mechanism of the corresponding alternative-mechanism object; establishing, by the processor, a default relationship between the ordered-items object and the default-mechanism object when the remainder portion of the order exists, wherein the default relationship indicates that the remainder portion is processed by the mechanism of the default-mechanism object; and electronically processing, by the processor, the order, by identifying, for each of the one or more relationships, the corresponding portion to be processed by the alternative mechanism of the corresponding alternative-mechanism object, and by identifying, for the default relationship, the remainder portion to be processed by the mechanism of the default-mechanism object.