| 摘要 |
<p>Methods are provided for determining, in a trader device (2) of an electronic trading system (1), whether a match exists between a client requirement, provided by a client device (5) of the system, and a supplier offer stored in said trader device (2). The supplier offer comprises feature data (P), indicative of a set of features of an offered product, including at least one updatable feature data element (PD). The updatable feature data element (PD) is indicative of a variable feature of the offered product and includes address data indicative of a location from which a current specification of the variable feature can be obtained by the trader device (2) in response to an update request from the trader device (2). The method comprises: a) receiving from the client device (5) a client requirement comprising constraint data (CST), indicative of a set of required product features, and at least one updatable feature data element (PD), indicative of a variable required product feature, which includes address data indicative of a location from which a current specification of the variable feature can be obtained by the trader device (2) in response to an update request from the trader device; b) comparing the constraint data (CST) and the feature data (P); c) repeatedly issuing update requests to obtain current specifications for said updatable feature data elements (PD) of the supplier offer and the client requirement and determining whether a negotiation success condition, dependent on said current specifications, is satisfied, until said negotiation success condition or a negotiation termination condition is satisfied; and d) determining that a match exists between the client requirement and the supplier offer if said feature data (P) corresponds to said constraint data (CST) and said negotiation success condition is satisfied. Methods embodying the invention provide for structured negotiations as part of the match-making process. <IMAGE></p> |
