| 摘要 |
An agent system of electronic commerce implemented over a wide area computer network includes a host computer system arranged in communicative association with a plurality of client terminals; an electronic catalog containing transaction areas listing available transactions between consumers and suppliers, stored in the host computer system; a client terminal interface implemented, in software for facilitating selection for display on selected ones of the client terminals by consumers and suppliers, via the client terminals, of portions of the electronic catalog; a tender manager implemented in software, for facilitating entering by consumers, via the client terminals, of consumer transaction data including the identification by the consumers of a similar set of goods or services sought to be purchased thereby, into a current consumer tenders database stored in the host computer system, wherein, after a first predetermined time has elapsed during which the set is accumulated, the tender manager is operative to prevent addition to the set of additional goods or services by consumers, and to store the set as a tender for bidding by applicant suppliers seeking to provide the set of goods or services; a bid manager implemented in software, associated with the tender manager, for facilitating entering by applicant suppliers, via the client terminals, of bid transaction data for supplying to the consumers the goods or services in the tender, at terms deemed most competitive in accordance with predetermined rules implemented in the bid manager, wherein the bid manager is operative to permit bidding by applicant suppliers during a second, predetermined time period, after which the bid manager is operative, in accordance with the rules, to determine a winning supplier; and a messenger implemented in software, for informing the winning supplier and the consumers as to to the outcome of the tender, thereby to facilitate supply of the set of goods or services to the consumers by the winning supplier, wherein the tender manager and the bid manager are preprogrammed so as to prevent overlap of the first and second time periods.
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