Patent ID: 7756750

Claim:
A computer implemented method for providing online procurement between a buyer and suppliers over a network, comprising: receiving, by a procurement processor configured to provide online procurement between the buyer and suppliers, user-initiated catalog shopping requests from a first procurement system and a second procurement system over the network, wherein each catalog shopping request includes inter-related sub-requests and the first procurement system is configured to accept information in a first format type and the second procurement system is configured to accept information in a second format type; determining, by the procurement processor, for each sub-request, one or more intelligent agents for searching supplier Web site catalogs; determining, by the intelligent agents of the procurement processor, one or more sub-agents for searching the supplier Web site catalogs; searching non-invasively, by the intelligent agents and the one or more sub-agents of the procurement processor, the supplier Web site catalogs for supplier product information responsive to the catalog shopping requests; retrieving, in real-time, by the intelligent agents and the one or more sub-agents of the procurement processor, product information from the supplier Web site catalogs without requiring the supplier Web sites hosting the Web site catalogs to include specific software designed to support the search and retrieval, wherein the product information is multi-formatted; translating, in real-time, by the procurement processor, the multi-formatted product information; parsing, in real time, by the procurement processor, the translated product information into aggregated structured product information; modifying, in real-time, by the procurement processor, the aggregated structured product information based on one or more rules defined by the procurement systems; organizing, in real-time, by the procurement processor, a selected portion of the modified product information into a form integratable with the procurement systems; and providing the modified product information to the procurement systems to enable each procurement system to submit a respective requisition request for selected products offered by one or more of the suppliers.