Hewlett-packard Development Company, L.P.

Alex Roche

Manuel Gonzalez

A method is provided for operating an on-line retailing operation for retailing of at least one print product to a customer. The print product is supplied by a print merchant operation that displays plural image items for remote viewing by a customer. The print merchant operation transacts a first type of order with the customer for supply of at least one print product, and transacts a second type order with the print merchant for fulfillment of the first type order.

Method and print merchant computer for matching print orders to print service providers

An electronic control apparatus configured for use in routing customer orders, received over the internet, to a service provider such as a print service provider selected from a plurality of competing print service providers, comprises an electronic interface configured to receive and acknowledge customer orders; first processing means configured to compare the requirements of a received order with pre-stored information specific to each of the competing service providers; responsive means configured to establish a list of the service providers determined to be able to fulfill requirements of the received order; and processing means configurable, for a received order, to make the selection from the list and to route the received order to the selected service provider. Advantageously by applying a series of filters an optimum service provider is selected by a gateway device assigning a printing order to a print service provider taking into account geographical criteria, and attempts to minimize the final price, in particular the shipping costs. While minimizing costs to the end customer, the gateway device seeks to ensure that a print service provider having competitive prices still receives work.

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Barcelona, Spain

Alex Roche