US6542912B2
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Tool for building documents for commerce in trading partner networks and interface definitions based on the documents
Assignee: Perfect Commerce Holdings LLC
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Filing: 2002-01-10
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Granted: 2003-04-01
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Expires: 2022-01-10
Abstract
Abstract Machine readable documents connect businesses with customers, suppliers and trading partners. The self defining electronic documents, such as XML based documents, can be easily understood amongst the partners. Definitions of these electronics business documents, called business interface definitions, are posted on the Internet, or otherwise communicated to members of the network. The business interface definitions tell potential trading partiers the services the company offers and the documents to use when communicating with such services. Thus, a typical business interface definition allows a customer to place an order by submitting a purchase order or a supplier checks availability by downloading an inventory status report. Also, composition of the input and output documents, coupled with interpretation information in a common business library, programs the transaction in a way which closely parallels the way in which paper based businesses operate.
Inventors
- 👤 Bart Alan Meltzer
- 👤 Terry Allen
- 👤 Matthew Daniel Fuchs
- 👤 Robert John Glushko
- 👤 Murray Maloney
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-07 14:38
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06Q; G06Q99/00; G06Q10/00; G06Q10/06; G06Q20/00; G06Q20/08; G06Q20/10; G06Q20/20; G06Q20/209
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 46
Claim 1
Independent Claim
217 words
Apparatus for establishing participant interfaces for transactions executed on a system including a network interface and a data processing resources which execute a transaction processes of the transactions according to a transaction processing architecture; comprising: programs of instructions executable by the system, stored on a medium accessible by the system, providing tools to build a definition of a participant interface for a participant in a particular transaction, the definition of a participant interface including a definition of an input document for the participant and a definition of an output document for the participant, the definitions of the input and output documents comprising respective machine-readable descriptions of sets of storage units and logical structures for the sets of storage units; and programs of instructions executable by the system, stored on a medium accessible by the system and responsive to the definitions of the input and output documents, to compile data structures corresponding to the sets of storage units and logical structures of the input and output documents compliant with the transaction processing architecture, to compile instructions executable by the system to translate the input document to the corresponding data structures, and to compile instructions executable by the system to translate output of the transaction processes into the sets of storage units and logical structures of the output document.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
217 words
Apparatus for establishing participant interfaces for transactions executed on a system including a network interface and a data processing resources which execute a transaction processes of the transactions according to a transaction processing architecture; comprising: programs of instructions executable by the system, stored on a medium accessible by the system, providing tools to build a definition of a participant interface for a participant in a particular transaction, the definition of a participant interface including a definition of an input document for the participant and a definition of an output document for the participant, the definitions of the input and output documents comprising respective machine-readable descriptions of sets of storage units and logical structures for the sets of storage units; and programs of instructions executable by the system, stored on a medium accessible by the system and responsive to the definitions of the input and output documents, to compile data structures corresponding to the sets of storage units and logical structures of the input and output documents compliant with the transaction processing architecture, to compile instructions executable by the system to translate the input document to the corresponding data structures, and to compile instructions executable by the system to translate output of the transaction processes into the sets of storage units and logical structures of the output document.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
51 words
The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the tools to build a definition of a participant interface include instructions executable by the system to access elements of the definition from a repository, the repository storing a library of logical structures, and interpretation information for logic structures used to build interface descriptions.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
19 words
The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the repository includes interpretation information specifying measurements of products subject of transactions.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
19 words
The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the repository includes interpretation information specifying costs of products subject of transactions.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
19 words
The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the repository includes interpretation information specifying features of products subject of transactions.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
17 words
The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the repository includes interpretation information specifying financial terms of transactions.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
21 words
The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the repository includes interpretation information specifying terms of shipment for products subject of transactions.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
16 words
The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the repository stores definitions of documents comprising logic structures.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
27 words
The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the definition of one of the input and output documents includes a reference to a document type in the repository.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
93 words
The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the tools to build a definition of a participant interface include instructions executable by the system to access a definition of another participant interface for a complementary transaction, the accessed definition including a definition of an input document for the complementary transaction, and a definition of an output document for the complementary transaction; and to establish the definition of the participant interface by including the definition of the output document of the complementary transaction as the definition of the input document of the interface being built.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
46 words
The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the tools to build a definition of a participant interface include instructions executable by the system to include the definition of the input document of the complementary transaction as the definition of the output document of interface being built.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
66 words
The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the tools to build a definition of a participant interface include instructions executable by the system to build a document compliant with a definition of a participant interface document including logical structures for storing an identifier of a particular transaction, and at least one of definitions and references to definitions of input and output documents for the particular transaction.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
72 words
The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the tools to build a definition of a participant interface include instructions executable by the system to build a document compliant with a definition of a participant interface document including logical structures for storing an identifier of the participant interface, and for storing at least one of specifications and references to specifications of a set of one or more transactions supported by the participant interface.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
63 words
The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the a document compliant with a definition of a participant interface document includes a reference to a machine-readable specification of a particular transaction, and the specification of the particular transaction includes a document including logical structures for storing at least one of definitions and references to definitions of input and output documents for the particular transaction.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
13 words
The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the storage units comprise parsed data.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
57 words
The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the parsed data in at least one of the input and output documents comprises: character data encoding text characters in the one of the input and output documents, and markup data identifying sets of storage units according to the logical structure of the one of the input and output documents.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
27 words
The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein at least one of the sets of storage units encodes a plurality of text characters providing a natural language word.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
45 words
The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the specification includes interpretation information for at least one of the sets of storage units identified by the logical structure of at least one of the input and output documents, encoding respective definitions for sets of parsed characters.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
13 words
The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the storage units comprise unparsed data.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
39 words
The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein data structures corresponding to the sets of storage units and logical structures of the input and output documents include programming objects including variables and methods according to the variant transaction processing architecture.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
26 words
The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the variant transaction processing architectures of the transaction process includes comprises a process compliant with an interface description language.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
27 words
The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the definitions of the input and output documents comprise document type definitions compliant with a standard Extensible Markup Language XML.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
190 words
Apparatus for establishing participant interfaces for transactions executed on a system; comprising: memory storing data and programs of instructions; a data processor coupled to the memory which executes the programs of instructions; wherein the programs of instructions include tools to build a definition of a participant interface for a participant in a particular transaction, the definition of a participant interface including a definition of an input document for the participant and a definition of an output document for the participant, the definitions of the input and output documents comprising respective machine-readable descriptions of sets of storage units and logical structures for the sets of storage units; and a compiler, responsive to the definitions of the input and output documents, to compile data structures corresponding to the sets of storage units and logical structures of the input and output documents compliant with the transaction processing architecture, to compile instructions executable by the system to translate the input document to the corresponding data structures, and to compile instructions executable by the system to translate output of the transaction processes into the sets of storage units and logical structures of the output document.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
190 words
Apparatus for establishing participant interfaces for transactions executed on a system; comprising: memory storing data and programs of instructions; a data processor coupled to the memory which executes the programs of instructions; wherein the programs of instructions include tools to build a definition of a participant interface for a participant in a particular transaction, the definition of a participant interface including a definition of an input document for the participant and a definition of an output document for the participant, the definitions of the input and output documents comprising respective machine-readable descriptions of sets of storage units and logical structures for the sets of storage units; and a compiler, responsive to the definitions of the input and output documents, to compile data structures corresponding to the sets of storage units and logical structures of the input and output documents compliant with the transaction processing architecture, to compile instructions executable by the system to translate the input document to the corresponding data structures, and to compile instructions executable by the system to translate output of the transaction processes into the sets of storage units and logical structures of the output document.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
63 words
The apparatus of claim 23 , including a repository stored in memory accessible by the data processor, and wherein the tools to build a definition of a participant interface include instructions executable by the system to access elements of the definition from the repository, the repository storing a library of logical structures, and interpretation information for logic structures used to build interface descriptions.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
19 words
The apparatus of claim 24 , wherein the repository includes interpretation information specifying measurements of products subject of transactions.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
19 words
The apparatus of claim 24 , wherein the repository includes interpretation information specifying costs of products subject of transactions.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
19 words
The apparatus of claim 24 , wherein the repository includes interpretation information specifying features of products subject of transactions.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
17 words
The apparatus of claim 24 , wherein the repository includes interpretation information specifying financial terms of transactions.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
21 words
The apparatus of claim 24 , wherein the repository includes interpretation information specifying terms of shipment for products subject of transactions.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
16 words
The apparatus of claim 24 , wherein the repository stores definitions of documents comprising logic structures.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
27 words
The apparatus of claim 30 , wherein the definition of one of the input and output documents includes a reference to a document type in the repository.
Claim 34
Dependent Claim
93 words
The apparatus of claim 23 , wherein the tools to build a definition of a participant interface include instructions executable by the system to access a definition of another participant interface for a complementary transaction, the accessed definition including a definition of an input document for the complementary transaction, and a definition of an output document for the complementary transaction; and to establish the definition of the participant interface by including the definition of the output document of the complementary transaction as the definition of the input document of the interface being built.
Claim 35
Dependent Claim
46 words
The apparatus of claim 32 , wherein the tools to build a definition of a participant interface include instructions executable by the system to include the definition of the input document of the complementary transaction as the definition of the output document of interface being built.
Claim 36
Dependent Claim
66 words
The apparatus of claim 23 , wherein the tools to build a definition of a participant interface include instructions executable by the system to build a document compliant with a definition of a participant interface document including logical structures for storing an identifier of a particular transaction, and at least one of definitions and references to definitions of input and output documents for the particular transaction.
Claim 37
Dependent Claim
72 words
The apparatus of claim 23 , wherein the tools to build a definition of a participant interface include instructions executable by the system to build a document compliant with a definition of a participant interface document including logical structures for storing an identifier of the participant interface, and for storing at least one of specifications and references to specifications of a set of one or more transactions supported by the participant interface.
Claim 38
Dependent Claim
63 words
The apparatus of claim 35 , wherein the a document compliant with a definition of a participant interface document includes a reference to a machine-readable specification of a particular transaction, and the specification of the particular transaction includes a document including logical structures for storing at least one of definitions and references to definitions of input and output documents for the particular transaction.
Claim 39
Dependent Claim
13 words
The apparatus of claim 23 , wherein the storage units comprise parsed data.
Claim 40
Dependent Claim
57 words
The apparatus of claim 37 , wherein the parsed data in at least one of the input and output documents comprises: character data encoding text characters in the one of the input and output documents, and markup data identifying sets of storage units according to the logical structure of the one of the input and output documents.
Claim 41
Dependent Claim
27 words
The apparatus of claim 38 , wherein at least one of the sets of storage units encodes a plurality of text characters providing a natural language word.
Claim 42
Dependent Claim
45 words
The apparatus of claim 37 , wherein the specification includes interpretation information for at least one of the sets of storage units identified by the logical structure of at least one of the input and output documents, encoding respective definitions for sets of parsed characters.
Claim 43
Dependent Claim
13 words
The apparatus of claim 37 , wherein the storage units comprise unparsed data.
Claim 44
Dependent Claim
39 words
The apparatus of claim 23 , wherein data structures corresponding to the sets of storage units and logical structures of the input and output documents include programming objects including variables and methods according to the variant transaction processing architecture.
Claim 45
Dependent Claim
25 words
The apparatus of claim 23 , wherein the variant transaction processing architectures of the transaction process comprises a process compliant with an interface description language.
Claim 46
Dependent Claim
27 words
The apparatus of claim 23 , wherein the definitions of the input and output documents comprise document type definitions compliant with a standard Extensible Markup Language XML.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 2006-03-31 | 2006-09-30 | 2007-04-01 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2010-03-31 | 2010-09-30 | 2011-04-01 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2014-03-31 | 2014-09-30 | 2015-04-01 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |