Method and apparatus for conducting computerized commerce

US5802497A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• Digital Equipment Corporation · US

Inventor

• Mark Manasse · San Francisco, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Jul 10, 1995
• Grant date: Sep 1, 1998
• Expiry date: Jul 10, 2015

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G06Q30/0635
• WIPO field: IT methods for management
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

A method of conducting computerized commerce on a number of computer systems connected by a computer network including providing a broker computer system, the broker system having a database of broker scrips, each of the broker scrips representing a form of electronic currency, providing a vendor computer system, the vendor computer system having a database containing products which may be exchanged for the broker scrips, the vendor computer system capable of providing vendor scrips, providing a consumer computer system, the consumer computer system having a user interface wherein a user may initiate transactions in the consumer computer system to obtain one or more of the products contained in the database of the vendor computer system, sending a first request from the user on the consumer computer system to obtain a first broker scrip from the broker computer system, processing the first request in the broker computer system, sending the first broker scrip to the consumer computer system in response to the step of processing, sending a second request from the broker computer system to obtain a first vendor scrip from the vendor broker computer system, processing the second reques…