Distributed commerce system
View Patent ↗A networked system for managing commercial interactions is providing. In some embodiments, the system includes: a bundle-passing interface between a plurality of networked users including distribution logic including a distribution control input responsive to machine-readable information in the bundles; and a statistics collection engine including a control input responsive to machine-readable information in the bundles.
1. A networked computer implemented method for managing commercial interactions, comprising:
transmitting data bundles by a computer system having a bundle-passing interface from different ones of a first plurality of different networked users to different ones of a second plurality of different networked users, the bundles comprising meta data and the bundle-passing interface comprising distribution logic to electronically transmit the bundles;
monitoring by the computer system using a statistics collection engine the transmission from the first plurality of different networked users to the second plurality of different networked users; monitoring by the computer system at least one response from the second plurality of different networked users;
determining by the computer system usage statistics whenever the bundles are created, modified, or downloaded;
converting by the computer system using a statistics processing engine the traffic statistics into billing amounts;
converting by the computer system first traffic to different destinations to different billing amounts; and converting second traffic to billing amounts for events requested by programmed bundle processing logic.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the bundles comprising the meta data include a plurality of business language definitions, the business language definitions comprising at least one keyword having at least one value, and the bundle-passing interface comprising distribution logic to electronically transmit the bundles responsive to the meta data in the bundles, and wherein said computer system collecting usage statistics whenever the bundles are created, modified, or downloaded, based on the at least one keyword and the at least one value of the business language definition descriptors.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the statistics collection engine derives statistics about the presentation of offer bundles and acceptance rates for these offer bundles.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the statistics collection engine derives statistics about the types of bundles transferred and information profiles for users involved in the transfers.
5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising a statistics transfer engine implemented by the computer system, transferring the statistics to buy-side users.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the bundles transmitted include a data element reference and meta data describing the data element, and wherein each data element remains resident on a node of a data owner in a network.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the statistics collection engine derives statistics about transfers between pairs of users that are authorized to communicate with each other, but where communication of predetermined information between the pairs is not permitted.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the statistics collection engine derives at least one of real-time statistics and historical statistics.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the business language definitions comprise at least one of ticker, sector, region, country, author, firm, and bundle type.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the statistics comprise at least one of activity statistics that provide information about numbers of transactions that take place in the system, publication statistics that provide information about amounts of use of the system, and coverage gap statistics that provide information comparing service levels between firms.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the bundles transmitted include a data element reference and meta data describing the data element, wherein each data element remains resident on a node of a data owner in a network, and wherein the statistics collection engine derives statistics about transfers between pairs of users that are authorized to communicate with each other, but where communication of predetermined information between the pairs is not permitted.
12. The method of claim 1 , wherein each bundle comprises a data element, a data element reference and meta data describing the data element, wherein each data element remains resident on a node associated with a data owner in the network; wherein there is a plurality of versions of at least one of the bundles and wherein each of the plurality of versions is identified by a bundle version identifying signal; and wherein the interface comprises distribution logic to issue periodically bundle version identifying signals to the different nodes of the network indicating changes to the data elements and distribute copies of the data elements in the bundles from the network node of their respective data owners to the network nodes of accessors, following selection of the data elements by the accessors using the meta data and the data element reference distributed through the network.
13. A computer-implemented networked commercial interaction management method, the method comprising:
distributing information bundles from a first plurality of networked users to a second plurality of networked users, wherein each bundle comprises a bundle header and bundle contents that include at least one of documents and reference to documents, and wherein the bundle header comprises:
bundle target descriptors that specify which of the second plurality of networked users have authorization to access the bundle; and
business language descriptors that specify descriptive metadata of the bundle using keywords that are standardized through an agreement, wherein the business language descriptors have associated values;
updating the values associated with the business language descriptors in response to the distribution of the information bundles; and
deriving traffic statistics regarding the distribution of the information bundles and acceptance rates for each of the bundles based on the business language descriptors and the values associated with the business language descriptors.
14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising converting the traffic statistics into billing amounts.
15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the step of converting converts traffic to different destinations to different billing amounts.
16. The method of claim 14 , wherein the step of converting converts traffic to billing amounts for events requested by programmed bundle processing logic between the different users.
17. The method of claim 14 , wherein the step of converting converts traffic to billing amounts for operations that are executed by programmed bundle processing logic.
18. The method of claim 13 , wherein the step of deriving derives statistics about the types of bundles transferred and information profiles for users involved in the transfers.
19. The method of claim 13 , further comprising transferring the statistics to buy-side users.
20. The method of claim 13 , wherein the step of deriving operates substantially continuously in near-real time.
21. The method of claim 13 , wherein the keywords comprise at least one of Sector, Ticker, Region, Country, Author, Firm, and Bundle Type.
22. The method of claim 13 , wherein the step of distributing further comprises using at least one event table that provides a sequence of activities with priorities, dependencies, execution methods, and requirements for actions on objects managed by an aggregation server.
23. The method of claim 22 , wherein the at least one event table is defined based on at least one of bundle type, destination address, author, user role, and user definable properties.
24. The method of claim 13 , wherein the step of deriving traffic statistics further comprises deriving at least one of real-time statistics and historical statistics.