Appeal 2006-2157
Application 09/752,204
1 The Appellants invented a manner of exchanging commodities by creating
2 private trading relationships within a public trading hub (Specification 1). An
3 understanding of the invention can be derived from a reading of exemplary
4 claim 1, which is reproduced below.
5 1. A computer-implemented method of facilitating the exchange of
6 commodities, said method comprising:
7 utilizing by a buyer entity and a seller entity an automated public
8 business trading hub in the public exchange of one or more
9 commodities, wherein the buyer entity, the seller entity and the public
10 business trading hub are each separate and independently owned; and
11 performing via an automated trusted agent one or more private
12 business functions associated with the public exchange of the one or
13 more commodities between the buyer entity and the seller entity using
14 the public business trading hub, wherein the one or more private
15 business functions include managing in private at least one of:
16 (i) one or more pricing terms associated with the public exchange;
17 (ii) one or more contract terms associated with the public exchange;
18 (iii) one or more business terms associated with supply and demand of
19 commodities associated with the public exchange; and
20 (iv) one or more product schedules associated with the public
21 exchange, and
22 wherein the automated trusted agent is electronically coupled to the
23 public business trading hub and is separate from the buyer entity, the
24 seller entity and the public business trading hub, and wherein details
25 of the one or more private business functions performed by the
26 automated trusted agent remain unknown to other entities accessing
27 the public business trading hub.
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