Real-time pricing of shipping vendors
AssigneeLynch Marks LLC
InventorsPeter Marks, Duane P. O'Brien
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Systems and methods for real-time pricing of shipping vendors are provided. Various shipping vendors may be queried concerning shipping specifications. Some embodiments provide for a query to be transmitted to a shipping vendor through an interface associated with the particular shipping vendor. In response to the query, real-time pricing information associated with the shipping specifications is received and displayed to a user. Upon the user designating a shipping vendor, customized shipping labels for each shipping vendor may be generated.
Claims20
A method for real-time pricing of shipping vendors, the method comprising:
- maintaining vendor information in memory concerning a plurality of shipping vendors, the vendor information concerning querying each shipping vendor;
- querying each of the plurality of shipping vendors with one or more shipping specifications, each query being specific to the shipping vendor;
- receiving real-time pricing information associated with the one or more shipping specifications from one or more of the plurality of shipping vendors, the real-time pricing information including a price generated by the one or more of the plurality of shipping vendors in response to the query;
- executing instructions stored in memory, wherein execution of the instructions by a processor generates a menu display of the received real-time pricing information from the one or more of the plurality of shipping vendors;
- receiving a designation concerning a chosen shipping vendor, the shipping vendor chosen from the menu display;
- and
- generating a shipping label specific to the chosen shipping vendor based on at least the one or more shipping specifications.
A system for real-time pricing of shipping vendors, the system comprising:
- a vendor database in memory and configured to store information concerning a plurality of shipping vendors, the information concerning querying each shipping vendor;
- a communications interface configured to query each of the plurality of shipping vendors for real-time pricing information based on one or more shipping specifications, each query being specific to the shipping vendor, and to receive real-time pricing information associated with the one or more shipping specifications from one or more of the plurality of shipping vendors, the real-time pricing information including a price generated by the one or more of the plurality of shipping vendors in response to the query;
- a display generator stored in memory and executable by a processor to generate a menu display of the real-time pricing information received from the one or more of the plurality of shipping vendors;
- and
- a label generator configured to generate a shipping label based on the one or more shipping specifications, the shipping label being associated with a chosen shipping vendor, the chosen shipping vendor being chosen from the menu display.
A computer-readable storage medium having embodied thereon at least one program, the at least one program being executable by a processor in a computing device to perform a method for real-time pricing of shipping vendors, the method comprising:
- maintaining vendor information concerning a plurality of shipping vendors, the vendor information concerning querying each shipping vendor;
- querying each of the plurality of shipping vendors with one or more shipping specifications, each query being specific to the shipping vendor;
- receiving real-time pricing information associated with the one or more shipping specifications from one or more of the plurality of shipping vendors, the real-time pricing information including a price generated by the one or more of the plurality of shipping vendors in response to the query;
- generating a menu display of the received real-time pricing information from the one or more of the plurality of shipping vendors;
- receiving a designation concerning a chosen shipping vendor, the shipping vendor chosen from the menu display;
- and
- generating a shipping label specific to the chosen shipping vendor based on at least the one or more shipping specifications.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.