E-business bid process
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsJames P. Fedor, Richard D. Forsburg, Jr., Robert A. Keene, Daniel M. McGuire
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Items for sale are listed on a first spreadsheet. A digital picture of an item taken by a video camera and imported to the first spreadsheet. Bids for the items are solicited from potential buyers by sending out the first spreadsheet using e mail. Buyers indicate bid amounts and quantities and return the spreadsheets. Returned spreadsheets are combined into a second spreadsheet. An optimization algorithm is executed to determine winning bids. Award sheets for each bidder are generated and sent to the bidders. A trend analysis determines which items meet a criteria for further investment.
Claims16
A bid process, comprising the steps of:
- listing a plurality of surplus items for sale on a first spreadsheet;
- taking at least one digital picture of at least one of said plurality of surplus items;
- importing said at least one digital picture into said first spreadsheet;
- sending said first spreadsheet to bidders via e-mail;
- receiving a plurality of returned first spreadsheets including bid amounts from said bidders via e-mail;
- combining said bid amounts from said plurality of returned first spreadsheets into a second spreadsheet;
- and
- determining winning bids by activating a spreadsheet algorithm in said second spreadsheet.
A bid process, comprising the steps of:
- listing a plurality of surplus items for sale on a first spreadsheet;
- taking at least one video stream of pictures of at least one of said plurality of surplus items;
- importing said at least one video stream of pictures into said first spreadsheet;
- sending said first spreadsheet to bidders via e-mail;
- receiving a plurality of returned first spreadsheets including bid amounts from amounts from said bidders via e-mail;
- combining said bid amounts from said plurality of returned first spreadsheets into a second spreadsheet;
- and
- determining wining bids by activating a spreadsheet algorithm in said second spreadsheet.
A bid process, comprising the steps of:
- listing a plurality of surplus items for sale on a first spreadsheet;
- taking at least one digital picture of at least one of said plurality of surplus items;
- importing said at least one digital picture into said first spreadsheet;
- sending said first spreadsheet to bidders via e-mail;
- receiving a plurality of returned first spreadsheets including bid amounts from said bidders via e-mail;
- combining said bid amounts from said plurality of returned first spreadsheets into a second spreadsheet;
- combining bid amounts from a previous plurality of returned spreadsheets received in response to a previous listing of a plurality of surplus items for sale, into said second spreadsheet;
- and
- determining which of said plurality of surplus items and said previous listing of a plurality of surplus items meet a criteria for further investment.
A system for processing bids, comprising:
- means for listing a plurality of surplus items for sale on a first spreadsheet;
- means for taking at least one digital picture of at least one of said plurality of surplus items;
- means for importing said at least one digital picture into said first spreadsheet;
- means for sending said first spreadsheet to bidders via e-mail;
- means for receiving a plurality of returned first spreadsheets including bid amounts from said bidders via e-mail;
- means for combining said bid amounts from said plurality of first returned spreadsheets into a second spreadsheet;
- and
- means for determining winning bids by activating a spreadsheet algorithm in said second spreadsheet.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.