CONTEST
Competed
Problem
If you are new, see patent and prior art basics and tips for Patexia's prior art contests, and refer to the submission notes below. The best qualifying submission is guaranteed to receive the prize.
We request previously undiscovered prior art including patents and non-patent literature (for example academic papers, technical descriptions, etc.) before June 19, 1996 in English or a foreign language that can help invalidate the claims of US patent 8,266,015 - “Inventory sales system and method.” This patent describes a computer-based sales inventory system for products with configurations of customizable options.
In particular, this invention discloses interactively modifying product configurations. A configuration is a set of customizable options that a particular product can have, and only products in certain configurations are available in a seller’s inventory. The disclosed system is primarily concerned with providing the user product inventory information in response to selected customization options. This system helps the user determine whether they have an appropriately configured product in their inventory, or if instead such a product need be ordered from the supplier or manufacturer.
A car dealer, for example, could use this system to interactively choose car options (color, transmission, leather interior) and receive information about which options and which option configurations are available in the dealer’s inventory.
Clear documentation of a similar example before June 19, 1996 will qualify to win the full prize amount. When submitting to the system, you will be asked the following questions to clarify the specific features we are looking for in this study. For each question the system will prompt you to refer to specific locations in each reference to support your answers.
Questions
To be eligible for full prize amount, users should answer “yes” to all 3 questions.
- Does the reference disclose a computer inventory system before June 19, 1996?
- Does the inventory system manage products with configurable/customizable options?
- Does the system inform the user of available customization options based on products available in inventory?
Questions
| # | Question | Value |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Does the reference disclose a computer inventory system before June 19, 1996? | 0 |
| 2 | Does the inventory system manage products with configurable/customizable options? | 0 |
| 3 | Does the system inform the user of available customization options based on products available in inventory? | 0 |
Additional Notes
Additional Notes
- Submission deadline is March 1, 2013, three weeks after the start date of February 8, 2013.
- All work must be prepared by a single researcher.
- The first researcher to satisfactorily respond to all 3 questions will receive the prize.
- Maximum of one entry per person allowed.
- If you were referred, the referral prize ($500) will be paid to the referring user from the total prize pool of $1000.
- Entries must be in English.
- Please make sure to answer all the questions and explain how we can find that in the reference.
- In case you are submitting foreign references, please provide a translation of key sections.
- If your reference has already been submitted by another researcher before you or is among the known references, it will not be considered for the contest.
- Please use “Ask a Question” to post general questions or feedback about the contest to the community.
- For specific questions, you can contact us directly by email at contests@patexia.com.
- All submissions are subject to Patexia's contest legal terms. Failure to follow these rules may lead to disqualification from the contest
Known References
The following references are known prior art related to 8,266,015. Please do not resubmit them.
- US 8160929 Park et al. 3/2012
- US 5878401 Joseph 2/1999
- US 4992940 Dworkin 1/1991
- US 4591983 Bennett et al. 4/1986
