U.S. patents available from 1976 to present.
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System and method for allocating manufactured products to sellers

Patent 7085729 Issued on August 1, 2006. Estimated Expiration Date: Icon_subject February 15, 2020. Estimated Expiration Date is calculated based on simple USPTO term provisions. It does not account for terminal disclaimers, term adjustments, failure to pay maintenance fees, or other factors which might affect the term of a patent.

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Inventors

Application

No. 09504247 filed on 02/15/2000

US Classes:

705/10, Market analysis, demand forecasting or surveying705/28, Inventory management707/5, Query augmenting and refining (e.g., inexact access)705/8, Allocating resources or scheduling for an administrative function700/106, Material requirement707/3, Query processing (i.e., searching)705/26, Electronic shopping (e.g., remote ordering)707/102, Generating database or data structure (e.g., via user interface)705/27, Presentation of image or description of sales item (e.g., electronic catalog browsing)235/383, Mechanized store705/38, Credit (risk) processing or loan processing (e.g., mortgage)705/1, AUTOMATED ELECTRICAL FINANCIAL OR BUSINESS PRACTICE OR MANAGEMENT ARRANGEMENT405/10, Movable relative to mobile support706/52, Reasoning under uncertainty (e.g., fuzzy logic)709/200, MISCELLANEOUS705/80, ELECTRONIC NEGOTIATION705/7, Operations research707/2, Access augmentation or optimizing707/203, Version management700/100, Job scheduling700/99, Resource allocation709/231, Computer-to-computer data streaming705/37Trading, matching, or bidding

Examiners

Primary: Poinvil, Frantzy

Attorney, Agent or Firm

Foreign Patent References

  • 0 025 405 EP 05/01/1980
  • 231552 EP 08/01/1987
  • 0 425 405 EP 05/01/1991
  • 425405 EP 05/01/1991
  • 463616 EP 01/01/1992
  • 466089 EP 01/01/1992
  • 466090 EP 01/01/1992
  • 615198 EP 09/01/1994
  • EPA 615198 EP 09/01/1994
  • 2293902 GB 10/01/1996
  • WO 00/17795 WO 03/01/2000

International Class

G06F 153/00

Abstract

A software system is provided for managing available to promise (ATP) and making promises to fulfill customer requests. The software system includes a plurality of generic product models (600) each representing a generic product. Each generic product model (600) specifies one component of a plurality of possible components. A plurality of specific product models (602) each represent a specific product and each specify all components of the specific product. Each component specified by each specific product model (602) is specified by one of the generic product models (600) such that each specific product model (602) is related to a subset of the generic product models (600). A customer request matching a specific product then can be fulfilled by available-to-promise of the specific product or by available-to-promise of all related generic products. In addition, an organization in a seller hierarchy can retain product and designate first-come-first-served product. The organization also can define an ATP horizon to specify when forecasted product is actually available. Further, the organization can use an automatic allocation policy to allocate to members, and some forecast entries can be designated zero-ATP entries.

Other References

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