The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 01, 2001
Filed:
Oct. 16, 1998
Bart Alan Meltzer, Aptos, CA (US);
Andrew Everett Davidson, Boulder Creek, CA (US);
Matthew Daniel Fuchs, Los Gatos, CA (US);
Robert John Glushko, San Francisco, CA (US);
Kenneth Persson, Santa Cruz, CA (US);
Kelly Lane Schwarzhoff, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Commerce One, Inc., Cupertino, CA (US);
Abstract
Participant servers in a network of customers, suppliers and other trading partners exchange machine readable documents. The participants in the network use self defining electronic documents, such as XML based documents, which can be easily understood amongst the partners. Definitions of the electronic 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 partners 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. Participants are programmed by the composition of the input and output documents, coupled with interpretation information in a common business library, to handle the transaction in a way which closely parallels the way in which paper based businesses operate.