Automated transaction processing system and approach

An automated transaction system comprising:

• a buyer terminal configured and arranged to interface with a buyer, display seller offerings and receive and transmit buyer contract information from the buyer;
• a seller terminal configured and arranged to interface with a seller, display at least some of the seller offerings and receive and transmit seller contract information from the seller;
• and
• a centrally-accessible computer and communications node including a collaborative contracts manager that is adapted to communicate with the buyer terminal and the seller terminal and to provide a common source of data for users of the buyer terminal and users of the seller terminal, the data including characteristics and pricing of the seller offerings, and further adapted to automatically derive rules by which purchases of the seller offerings are made in response to contract information including transaction pricing information from at least one of the buyer and the seller.

A centrally-accessible computer and communications node configured and arranged to:

• receive respective sets of business rules for transactions between transacting parties;
• communicate with a plurality of buyer terminals and seller terminals and to provide a common source of data for users of the terminals, the data including seller offerings;
• control access to the data and for configuring the type and arrangement of the data to be communicated with the at least one buyer terminal in response to the identification of a buyer receiving the communications;
• and
• for a transaction to be implemented by a buyer for the seller offerings, use the business rules for the buyer and sellers to automatically derive a price term for the transaction.

A method for transaction management in a system including a centrally accessible computer and communications node, the method comprising:

• receiving respective sets of business rules from buyers and sellers;
• interfacing with the centrally-accessible computer and communications node via a seller terminal and displaying at least one seller offering at the seller terminal;
• interfacing with the centrally-accessible computer and communications node via a buyer terminal and displaying at least one seller offering at the buyer terminal;
• communicating data from the centrally-accessible computer and communications node to the buyer terminal and the seller terminal, and characterizing and modifying one of the sets of business rules by which purchases of the at least one seller offering is made at the centrally-accessible computer and communications node;
• and
• using the characterized and modified business rules, deriving a specific term for a transaction to be implemented by a particular buyer and at least one particular seller, the transaction having a price that is set as a function of the specific term.