Purchasing system on internet and method thereof

Abstract

The present invention relates to a technology for purchasing an item to purchase automatically and jointly by using the internet, in particular to a purchasing system and a method thereof on the internet which is capable of economizing human and material resources and lowering the unit cost of an item by performing all processes from a notice of tender to an ordering automatically on the internet and purchasing an item required for many companies and establishments jointly.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An automatic purchasing method on the internet, comprising:
 determining whether companies applying for a new registration satisfy a certain condition set in advance by screening the companies automatically;   registering the companies as cooperation companies when the companies satisfy the certain condition set in advance; and   selecting a selected cooperation company by screening the registered cooperation companies.   
     
     
         2 . The automatic purchasing method on the internet according to  claim 1 , wherein the company applying for the new registration inputs information on a purchase site. 
     
     
         3 . The automatic purchasing method on the internet according to  claim 2 , wherein the inputted information comprises information related to a “business registration number”, an “establishment date”, a “certification quality standard”, a “business type”, a “representative name”, a “capital”, a main product, or a present employee state. 
     
     
         4 . The automatic purchasing method on the internet according to  claim 1 , wherein the selecting of a selected cooperation company comprises:
 transmitting a quotation request to the cooperation companies through the internet;   receiving the quotation requests responses from the cooperation companies; and   determining whether the quotation requests responses satisfy certain conditions by performing an automatic screening.   
     
     
         5 . The automatic purchasing method on the internet according to  claim 1 , further comprising an ordering process comprising:
 determining whether the selected cooperation company satisfies a certain condition by performing a certification test about a desired item; and   ordering the desired item from the selected cooperation company which passed the certification test.   
     
     
         6 . The automatic purchasing method on the internet according to  claim 1 , wherein the selected cooperation company is primarily selected by quotation price offered by the cooperation companies. 
     
     
         7 . The automatic purchasing method on the internet according to  claim 1 , wherein the automatic purchasing method on the internet separately operates an external database for providing information to the cooperation companies, and an internal database for managing the information about the cooperation companies. 
     
     
         8 . An automatic purchasing system on the internet, comprising:
 a program for controlling the system's operations from a notice of tender to placing an order through a web server;   an internal database for providing information related to a purchase in accordance with the operation of the program; and   an external database for servicing information to cooperation companies in accordance with the operation of the program.   
     
     
         9 . The automatic purchasing system on the internet according to  claim 8 , wherein the internal database stores confidential information. 
     
     
         10 . The automatic purchasing system on the internet according to  claim 8 , wherein the internal database performs operations related to purchases by passing through a database server. 
     
     
         11 . The automatic purchasing system on the internet according to  claim 8 , wherein the external database provides information to the cooperation companies by passing through the database server. 
     
     
         12 . The automatic purchasing system on the internet according to  claim 8 , wherein the information related to the purchase comprises at least one of a purchase principal, a purchase procedure, a purchase item, a purchase inquiry, a company introduction, a cooperation company registration and a quotation transmission. 
     
     
         13 . A joint purchasing system on the internet, comprising:
 a plurality of region terminals for inputting order information about a purchase item required for a plurality of companies in a prescribed region;   a plurality of region servers for combining and storing the order information from the plurality of region terminals about the purchase item and transmitting the combined order information through a communication network; and   a main server for performing a notice of tender for a joint purchasable item when the combined order information about the purchase item is transmitted from the region servers through the communication network.   
     
     
         14 . The joint purchasing system on the internet according to  claim 13 , wherein the joint purchasing system further comprises a parts information database for providing the information related to the purchasable items stored in advance to the cooperation companies through the main server. 
     
     
         15 . The joint purchasing system on the internet according to  claim 13 , wherein the main server performs the notice of tender privately when the item is not purchasable jointly. 
     
     
         16 . A joint purchasing method on the internet, comprising:
 inputting a plurality of orders for an item to purchase;   transmitting the inputted orders to a main server; and   performing a notice of tender for the item, wherein the plurality of orders are jointly tendered in the notice of tender to a plurality of cooperation companies through the internet.   
     
     
         17 . The joint purchasing method on the internet according to  claim 16 , wherein the performing of the notice of tender further comprises performing a notice of tender privately when the item is not purchasable jointly. 
     
     
         18 . The joint purchasing method on the internet according to  claim 16 , wherein the orders are separately inputted from each company. 
     
     
         19 . The joint purchasing method on the internet according to  claim 16 , wherein prior to the transmitting of the inputted orders to the main server, the inputted orders are stored on a corresponding region server. 
     
     
         20 . A method of matching vendors to buyers through a network, comprising:
 identifying whether vendors satisfy minimum attributes;   registering the vendors that satisfy minimum attributes;   identifying a buyer's vendor selection criteria;   notifying vendors of the vendor selection criteria;   accepting bids from vendors; and   selecting a selected vendor from the vendors that satisfy minimum attributes according to one or more of the vendor selection criteria.   
     
     
         21 . The method of matching vendors to buyers through a network according to  claim 20 , wherein the selection criteria comprises geographic region, business type or price. 
     
     
         22 . The method of matching vendors to buyers through a network according to  claim 20 , further comprising notifying the selected vendor of having been selected. 
     
     
         23 . The method of matching vendors to buyers through a network according to  claim 22 , wherein the notification is through one of e-mail, file transfer protocol, integration technology, DCOM, XML, CORBA, HTTP, wireless devices or instant messaging. 
     
     
         24 . The method of matching vendors to buyers through a network according to  claim 20 , wherein the buyer provides the vendor selection criteria and a database stores registered vendors that satisfy minimum attributes. 
     
     
         25 . The method of matching vendors to buyers through a network according to  claim 24 , wherein the buyer is prompted to input selection criteria through one or more capture forms. 
     
     
         26 . A network based sales generation system, comprising:
 a spatial location engine to determine criteria of a buyer and attributes of a plurality of vendors;   a registering unit to register vendors which satisfy set minimum attributes;   a database containing information regarding the registered vendors;   an analyzing unit to collect selection criteria from the buyer; and   an engine to select a qualified vendor for the buyer based on the database information and selection criteria.   
     
     
         27 . The network based sales generation system as claimed in  claim 26 , wherein the registering unit comprises a dynamically generated application form to be completed by a vendor and compared to the set minimum attributes and stored in the database if the vendor meets or exceeds the minimum attributes. 
     
     
         28 . The network based sales generation system as claimed in  claim 26 , further comprising:
 a vendor notification unit to notify registered vendors of selection criteria entered by the buyer; and   a bid accepting unit to receive bids from the registered vendors, wherein the bids are stored in the database, wherein one of the bids and the selection criteria are capable of being jointly tendered by a plurality of cooperating parties.   
     
     
         29 . The network based sales generation system as claimed in  claim 26 , wherein the analyzing unit comprises a dynamically generated application form to be completed by the buyer and submitted to the engine, wherein the spatial location engine and the database use the data from the completed dynamically generated application form to select at least one qualified vendor. 
     
     
         30 . A network based selection system, comprising:
 a first logic unit to determine whether individual vendors meet a first set of minimum attributes; and   a second logic unit to determine a set of at least one vendor based on a second set of input criteria being applied to the individual vendors which meet the first set of minimum attributes.   
     
     
         31 . The network based selection system as claimed in  claim 30 , wherein each of the logic units includes a prescribed application program interface that allows rules and formulas contained inside an algorithm to be distributed across a wide area network, and wherein the interface defines a type of data and a format of data that must be transferred to a distributed application over the wide area network. 
     
     
         32 . The network based selection system as claimed in  claim 31 , wherein the interface is adapted to conform to existing logic products or specific logic that serve as general purpose algorithms. 
     
     
         33 . The network based selection system as claimed in  claim 31 , wherein the interface allows the system to integrate with other protocols. 
     
     
         34 . A method for selecting a first party for a second party for engaging in a transaction, comprising:
 means for entering a request identifying at least one criterion for a transaction by the second party through a network;   means for qualifying the first party to a set of minimum attributes;   means for identifying a qualified first party to engage in the transaction based on at least one criterion;   means for providing an identification of the first and second parties to engage in the transaction.