초록 ▼

A taxonomy of characteristics for products and services is linked via indexing keys to a companion dictionary of terms and to electronic files containing characteristics data on offered products and services. The taxonomy is structured into domains of form, fit, function, and administrative data and

A taxonomy of characteristics for products and services is linked via indexing keys to a companion dictionary of terms and to electronic files containing characteristics data on offered products and services. The taxonomy is structured into domains of form, fit, function, and administrative data and permits identification of products and services that can be independent of prior knowledge of the type of product or service or the source of the product or service. In operation, a system user selects required characteristics from the taxonomy and sets values of the fundamental units of measure or identification for each selected characteristic. The system uses the associated indexing keys to locate and display a plurality of available products and services that satisfy those requirements.

대표청구항 ▼

1. A computer-implemented method for conducting electronic commerce between buyers and sellers of at least one of a plurality of products and services, information of said products and services being stored in at least one electronic file accessible through a network, said computer method comprising

1. A computer-implemented method for conducting electronic commerce between buyers and sellers of at least one of a plurality of products and services, information of said products and services being stored in at least one electronic file accessible through a network, said computer method comprising:defining a taxonomy model by: (a) forming a logical tree for each of four domains of said taxonomy model, said trees being formed from a plurality of terms within said domains, each of said terms being indicative of a characteristic of a product or service, (b) storing a plurality of source pointers in electronic form, each of said plurality of source pointers linking a respective one of a plurality of source files, each of said plurality of source files containing information about at least one of a product or service and a seller/manufacturer of a product or service, and (c) developing an index key code containing a plurality of index keys each linking one of said plurality of terms to at least one of said plurality of source pointers, specifying a prescriptive term indicative of a characteristic of a product or service of interest to said buyer, said prescriptive term being included within at least one of said domains; performing a computer word search to compare said prescriptive term to said taxonomy model in accordance with steps which include: (1) locating said prescriptive term within the logical trees to determine an index key associated with said prescriptive term, (2) determining at least one source pointer within said plurality of source pointers which corresponds to said index key, and (3) locating a source file which links to said at least one source pointer determined in step (2), and outputting information from the source file which links to said at least one source pointer as information which matches the product or service of interest.