초록 ▼

Apparatus and method for managing the availability of items using a computer system. The system permits various computers to access databases located at offsite computers to retrieve/transmit preselected information pertaining to the availability of items from/to each accessed database. Categories o

Apparatus and method for managing the availability of items using a computer system. The system permits various computers to access databases located at offsite computers to retrieve/transmit preselected information pertaining to the availability of items from/to each accessed database. Categories of items are selected by a user prior to communicating with offsite computers so that only the categories of interest are selected and only data pertaining to those categories is downloaded to the requesting computer or uploaded from a called computer. Once data has been retrieved by the requesting computer, the user can use various parameters to select and display the received information in the selected categories. In addition, the requesting computer can automatically retrieve information from offsite computers at a predetermined time each day of the week.

대표청구항 ▼

[ What is claimed is:] [1.] A method of exchanging information of electronic components among different vendors each having a vendor controlled data base through a communication network, said method comprising the steps of:storing a universal set of categories of the electronic components at each of

[ What is claimed is:] [1.] A method of exchanging information of electronic components among different vendors each having a vendor controlled data base through a communication network, said method comprising the steps of:storing a universal set of categories of the electronic components at each of a plurality of vendor sites;storing at each vendor site a local inventory of electronic components of at least one category of the universal set of categories in the vendor controlled data base and data identifying other vendor sites permitted to access the vendor controlled data base of the vendor site;selecting, at each vendor site, at least one category of the inventory of electronic components independently controlled data base of other of the selected from the universal set of categories as available to other vendorsautomatically interconnecting vendor site data bases identified as permitted to access each other's vendor controlled data base at scheduled times to exchange information on electronic components of the at least one selected category available to other vendors through the communication network;transmitting information regarding the electronic components of the selected at least one category available to other vendors directly from the vendor controlled data base of each automatically interconnected vendor site to each other automatically interconnected vendor site through the communication network;receiving information regarding electronic components of the selected at least one category available to other vendors at each automatically interconnected vendor site directly from each of the other automatically interconnected vendor controlled data bases in searchable offsite data bases assigned to the other automatically interconnected vendor sites through the communication network.