1. A document position-limiting mechanism for use in a paper input tray of an automatic document feeder, said document position-limiting mechanism comprising:
a first paper guide plate disposed on said paper input tray for guiding a document to be fed into said automatic document feeder, wherein said first paper guide plate has an extension arm;
a second paper guide plate located at a first side of said first paper guide plate for guiding said document to be fed into said automatic document feeder, wherein said second paper guide plate is movable in a direction opposite to a moving direction of said first paper guide plate;
a connecting wheel arranged between said first paper guide plate and said second paper guide plate, and respectively engaged with said first paper guide plate and said second paper guide plate, so that said second paper guide plate is movable in said direction opposite to said moving direction of said first paper guide plate; and
a switching module disposed on said paper input tray for switching an operating mode of said document position-limiting mechanism from a manual positioning mode to a graduation positioning mode or from said graduation positioning mode to said manual positioning mode, wherein said witching module comprises:
a driving part comprising a switching button, which is exposed to said paper input tray, wherein said switching module is moved by operating said switching button; and
a positioning part comprising a plurality of recesses and a pivotal structure, wherein said pivotal structure is located at a second end of said positioning part and connected to said paper input tray, wherein as said switching button is moved, said positioning part is swung in response to movement of said driving part, wherein when said extension arm is inserted into one of said plurality of recesses, said document position-limiting mechanism is operated in said graduation positioning mode, wherein when said extension arm is disengaged from said plurality of recesses, said document position-limiting mechanism is operated in said manual positioning mode.
2. The document position-limiting mechanism according to claim 1 wherein said switching module further comprises a linking part, which is arranged between said driving part and said positioning part for connecting said driving part and said positioning part, wherein said driving part, said positioning part and said linking part are integrally formed.
3. The document position-limiting mechanism according to claim 1 wherein said positioning part further comprises a supporting structure, which is located at a first end of said positioning part, wherein said driving part further comprises a post, which is located at a first end of said driving part, wherein when said post is embedded into said supporting structure, said first end of said positioning part is in contact with said first end of said driving part.
4. The document position-limiting mechanism according to claim 3 wherein when said switching button is moved in a first direction, said driving part is correspondingly moved and said post is sustained against said supporting structure, so that said positioning part is swung in a first rotating direction with said pivotal structure serving as a fulcrum and said extension arm is inserted into one of said plurality of recesses, wherein when said switching button is moved in a second direction opposite to said first direction, said driving part is correspondingly moved and said post is separated from said supporting structure, so that said positioning part is swung in a second rotating direction with said pivotal structure serving as said fulcrum and said extension arm is disengaged from said plurality of recesses.
5. The document position-limiting mechanism according to claim 1 wherein said pivotal structure is connected to said paper input tray by a screwing means, so that said pivotal structure is rotatable relative to said paper input tray, wherein said pivotal structure is integrally formed with said positioning part.
6. The document position-limiting mechanism according to claim 1 wherein said extension arm further comprises a protrusion, which is located at an end of said extension arm, wherein when said document position-limiting mechanism is operated in said graduation positioning mode, said protrusion is inserted into one of said recesses.
7. The document position-limiting mechanism according to claim 6 wherein said first paper guide plate further comprises a first paper stopper and a first rack, and said second paper guide plate further comprises a second paper stopper and a second rack, wherein said first paper stopper is exposed to an outer surface of said paper input tray for stopping a first edge of said document, said first rack is connected with said first paper stopper and engaged with said connecting wheel, said second paper stopper is exposed to said outer surface of said paper input tray for stopping a second edge of said document, and said second rack is connected with said second paper stopper and engaged with said connecting wheel.
8. The document position-limiting mechanism according to claim 7 wherein said connecting wheel further comprises:
a wheel body disposed on said inner surface of said paper input tray; and
a plurality of toothed structures disposed on said wheel body and engaged with said first rack and said second rack, so that the wheel body is rotatable relative to said first rack and said second rack.
9. The document position-limiting mechanism according to claim 1 wherein said driving part further comprises a fixing bulge, and said paper input tray further comprises a first positioning notch and a second positioning notch, wherein said fixing bulge is disposed on an inner surface of said paper input tray, said first positioning notch is located at a first side of said inner surface of said paper input tray, and said second positioning notch is located at said first side of said inner surface of said paper input tray and adjacent to said first positioning notch, wherein when said document position-limiting mechanism is operated in said manual positioning mode, said fixing bulge is inserted into said first positioning notch, wherein when said document position-limiting mechanism is operated in said graduation positioning mode, said fixing bulge is inserted into said second positioning notch.
10. The document position-limiting mechanism according to claim 9 wherein said fixing bulge and said switching button are integrally formed with said driving part.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method for insuring a buyer in the purchase of goods or services, comprising:
(a) receiving a quote request from a buyer, said quote request requesting an insurer to consider reimbursing said buyer for economic damage resulting from said buyer buying goods or services from a seller;
(b) assessing risks of insuring the buyer for reimbursement of said economic damage based on information about said seller, said information including information extracted from information about a plurality of sellers in a plurality of markets for goods and services collected and maintained by said insurer independently from said quote request; and
(c) deciding whether to offer said buyer an insurance policy which at least partially reimburses said buyer for said economic damage based on a risk assessment made in step (b),
wherein computer processes are used to execute at least said receiving and assessing steps.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
transmitting said quote request from said buyer to said insurer over a network.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein said quote request includes information which describes at least two of: i) said goods or services, ii) an intended use by said buyer of said goods or services, iii) a market of said buyer with respect to said goods or services, iv) reliability required of said goods or services by said buyer, and v) an importance of said goods or services to said buyer’s business; and
wherein the risk assessment in step (b) is performed based also on said information.
4. The method of claim 3, wherein said information is transmitted by said buyer to said seller in machine-readable form over a network.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein said risk assessment is expressed as a rating which provides an indication of whether insuring said buyer is one of a low risk or a high risk to said insurer.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein if said insurer decides to offer said insurance policy in step (b), said method further comprises:
(d) computing an amount of reimbursement of said buyer based on the risk assessment determined in step (b).
7. The method of claim 1, wherein step (b) includes assessing risk based on one of the following additional forms of information: information about current policies of said insurer, information about organizations which request quotes, and information about using said goods or services of said seller in a business of said buyer.
8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
maintaining a database of information of said seller;
updating said seller database based on a history of said seller in providing said goods or services; and
performing step (b) based on information in said seller database.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein step (b) includes:
computing a SLACK indicator which includes reducing a maximum monthly output of said goods or services of said supper by an amount of goods or services needed by said buyer and an amount of said goods or services said buyer is obtaining or has contracted to obtain from at least one other seller.
10. The method of claim 1, wherein step (b) includes:
locating a dependency of said buyer on other sellers;
making a recommendation to said seller of reducing reliance of said buyer on said other sellers based on said dependency.
11. The method of claim 1, wherein steps (b) and (c) are performed by a computer program.
12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
deciding not to extend an offer to said buyer when said insurer is unable to obtain or assess desired information by a predetermined period of time after said quote request was received.
13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
reimbursing said buyer for economic damage resulting from said buyer buying goods or services from a seller that would not have been sustained had a current supplier been used instead.
14. The method of claim 1, wherein step (b) is performed based on information about said seller stored in one or more databases.
15. A method of obtaining insurance in connection with buying goods or services, comprising:
receiving a price quote from a seller of goods or services;
submitting a request to an insurance company for an insurance policy reimbursing a buyer for economic damage resulting from said buyer buying said goods or services from said seller;
receiving an offer from said insurance company for said insurance policy, said offer including premium information; and
determining whether to accept said offer based on said premium information.
16. The method of claim 15, wherein said seller is a new seller to said buyer with respect to said goods or services.
17. The method of claim 15, wherein said submitting step includes transmitting said request to said insurance company over a network.
18. The method of claim 15, wherein said buyer receives said offer from said insurance company over the internet.
19. The method of claim 15, wherein said determining step includes:
adding said price quote from said seller and price information included in said premium information to derive an effective price for buying said goods or services from said seller;
performing an economic analysis based on said effective price; and
accepting said offer for said insurance policy based on said economic analysis.
20. The method of claim 19, wherein in said adding step adding said price quote and said price information are added on a per-unit cost basis.
21. The method of claim 19, wherein said performing step includes comparing said effective price to a price offered by another seller, and wherein said accepting step includes accepting said offer if said effective price is less than the price offered by said another seller.
22. The method of claim 21, wherein said another seller is a seller previously used by said buyer to buy said goods or services.
23. The method of claim 15, further comprising:
rejecting said offer and choosing to obtain said goods or services from an existing seller.
24. The method of claim 15, further comprising:
communicating a rejection of said offer to said insurance company over a network.
25. The method of claim 15, further comprising:
accepting said offer; and
submitting a request to buy said goods or services to said seller over a network.
26. A method for selecting a seller of a good or service, comprising:
receiving a price quote for said good or service from a seller;
submitting a request for an insurance policy to an insurance company for reimbursing a buyer for economic damage resulting from a purchase of said good or service from said seller, said insurance company maintaining a database of information on said seller;
assessing risk of insuring said buyer with respect to said purchase based at least in part on the information in said database;
offering said insurance policy request upon a favorable risk assessment, said offering step including communicating premium price information for said insurance policy, said premium price information providing an indication of risk to said buyer in purchasing said good or service from said seller.
27. The method of claim 26, further comprising:
comparing a price for said good or service from a previous or existing seller with a price computed by adding said price quote with said premium price information; and
accepting or rejecting said offer of said insurance policy based on said comparing step.
28. The method of claim 26, further comprising:
maintaining, at said insurance company and after acceptance of said insurance policy, a database containing information indicative of an ability of said seller to continue supplying said good or service to said buyer;
conveying information from said database to said buyer; and
determining whether to assist said seller in providing said good or service or discontinue receiving said good or service from said seller based on said conveyed information.
29. The method of claim 26, further comprising:
communicating information relating to said buyer’s needs in machine-readable form over a network to said insurance company.
30. A method of linking buyers with sellers, comprising:
providing an insurance company which offers an insurance policy which reimburses a buyer for economic damage resulting from said buyer buying goods or services from a first seller; and
maintaining, at said insurance company, a database which includes a directory of sellers and ratings which said insurance company has assigned to each of said sellers; and
wherein said insurance company further:
(a) selects a second seller from said directory who has a more favorable rating than said first seller; and
(b) contacting either said second seller or said buyer to initiate a supply contract between said buyer and said second seller.
31. A system for insuring a buyer in buying goods or services, comprising:
an insurance company which provides policies that reimburse buyers for economic damage resulting from the purchase of goods or services from sellers;
a database for storing information on a plurality of sellers and their goods or services;
means for assessing a risk of insuring a buyer in purchasing goods or services from a first one of said plurality of sellers; and
means for deciding whether to offer said buyer an insurance policy based on a risk assessment determined by said risk assessing means.
32. An insurance based method for adding to a market for goods or services the price of risk to the buyer of non-performance by a seller, comprising the steps of:
gathering information about each of one or more sellers in said market, said information being extracted from databases of information about sellers in a plurality of markets;
requesting an insurance policy reimbursing a buyer for economic damage resulting from buying goods or services from one of said one or more sellers;
determining a price for said policy, said determination being based on an assessment of risks and an evaluation of said gathered information,
wherein computer processes are used to execute at least said gathering and determining steps.
33. The insurance based method of claim 32, wherein said determined price is combined by said buyer with a price offered by said one of said one or more sellers for said goods or services to produce an effective cost of buying said goods or services from said offering seller.
34. The insurance based method of claim 32, wherein said gathering and determining steps are performed for an insurance company and said requesting step is performed for said buyer, said insurance company providing said buyer with an alternative seller from said one or more sellers if said buyer does not accept said seller’s offered price.
35. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:
determining whether any information necessary for assessing risks is missing and obtaining the missing information if said quote provides time- to obtain;
evaluating whether an insurance policy issued to said buyer would overly concentrate the risks of said insurer, and deciding not to insure if the policy would overly concentrate the risks; and
calculating probabilities and costs of payout of an insurance policy issued to said buyer, and calculating a premium in response to said quote request, said premium reflecting said probabilities and costs.
36. The method of claim 35, wherein said evaluating step further comprises the step of declining to issue an insurance policy to said buyer for said seller if
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where op=any in-force-policy of the insurer where the seller is providing said goods or services and single-impact-max-limit is a value chosen by the insurer, said value being the maximum financial exposure acceptable to the insurer from a failure of the seller.
37. The method of claim 36, wherein said evaluating step further comprises the step of declining to issue an insurance policy to said buyer for said seller if
For each subproducer sp involved in the supplied item from the proposed
policy
For each component that subproducer sp would supply, call it ci
f = fail(sp, ci)
exp = policy-exposure for the proposed policy
For each other policy already in force, call it op
If subproducer sp produces component ci for this
in-force policy op
Then exp = exp + policy-exposure(op)
End of For each other policy
If exp*f> single-impact-max-limit
Then Do Not Underwrite as it would overconcentrate
End of For each component
End of For each subproducer
where sp(policy-id) is the set of sub-producers: each maker of a component, or transporter of a component, which the seller depends on, and all of those that those sub-producers critically depend on, transitively; Policy-id is the id of the proposed policy, or is the id of an in-force insurance policy that is already underwritten by insurer; component-ids (policy-id, sp) is the set of component types which a subproducer produces which are essential to the supplied item covered by policy-id; fail(sp, ci) is the forecasted probability that a particular subproducer sp fails to deliver timely and functional subcomponent whose component id is ci; and policy-exposure (policy-id) is the financial payout that might be needed if compensation is due to the buyer from the policy specified by policy-id.
38. The method of claim 35, wherein said step of calculating probabilities and costs of payout further comprises the step of quantifying delay in supplying sufficient quantity.
39. The method of claim 35, wherein said step of calculating probabilities and costs of payout further comprises the step of quantifying damage to reputation of the buyer from functional failures of the product or service supplied by the seller.