System and method for marketing cotton
AssigneeShofner Engineering Associates, Inc.
InventorsChristopher K. Shofner, Frederick M. Shofmer
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Computer-implemented systems and methods for building a database of bales of cotton available for sale, and for electronic commerce of bales of cotton. A fiber quality measurement instrument located in a cotton gin provides fiber quality data substantially concurrently with the making up of cotton into individual bales. The fiber quality measurement instrument is connected through a communications network, such as the internet, for uploading fiber quality data to a database storage device. For electronic commerce, a search engine is connected via the communications network to interrogate the database to select bales having fiber qualities within specified ranges for a candidate buyer.
Claims32
A computer-implemented system for building a database of data describing individual bales of cotton available for sale, comprising:
- a database storage device connected to a communications network for storing a database of bale identifications and associated fiber quality data;
- and
- a fiber quality measurement instrument located in a cotton gin for providing fiber quality data on bale classing samples cut from individual bales at a bale press substantially concurrently with the making up of cotton into individual bales, and connected to said communications network for uploading to said database storage device.
A computer-implemented system for electronic commerce of bales of cotton, comprising:
- a database storage device connected to a communications network for storing a database of data describing individual bales of cotton, in particular, bale identifications and associated fiber quality data;
- a fiber quality measurement instrument located in a cotton gin for providing fiber quality data on bale classing samples cut from individual bales at a bale press substantially concurrently with the making up of cotton into individual bales, and connected to said communications network for uploading to said database storage device;
- and
- a search engine connected via said communications network to interrogate the database to select bales having fiber qualities within specified ranges for a candidate buyer.
A computer-implemented method for building a database of bales of cotton available for sale, comprising the steps of:
- employing a fiber quality measurement instrument located in a cotton gin to provide fiber quality data on bale classing samples cut from individual bales at a bale press substantially concurrently with the making up of cotton into individual bales;
- and
- transmitting the fiber quality data via a communications network to a database storage device that stores a database of bale identifications and associated fiber quality data.
A computer-implemented method for electronic commerce of bales of cotton, comprising the steps of:
- employing a fiber quality measurement instrument located in a cotton gin to provide fiber quality data on bale classing samples cut from individual bales at a bale press substantially concurrently with the making up of cotton into individual bales;
- transmitting the fiber quality data via a communications network to a database storage device that stores a database of bale identifications and associated fiber quality data;
- and
- employing a search engine connected via the communications network to interrogate the database to select bales having fiber qualities within specified ranges for a candidate buyer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.