Abstract: A method and apparatus for a control bus for connection of electronic devices. An embodiment of a method includes coupling a transmitting device to a receiving device, including connecting a control bus between the transmitting device and the receiving device, with the control bus being a bi-directional, single-line bus. The method further includes obtaining control of the control bus for either the transmitting device or the receiving device, with the device obtaining control becoming an initiator and the other device becoming a follower. One or more control signals are converted to one or more data packets, with each of the one or more control signals representing one of multiple different types of control signals. The generated data packets are transmitted from the initiator to the follower via the control bus.

Abstract: A method of optimizing multi-enterprise supply chain agreements using an electronic scenario based option contract includes creating at a buyer computer a plurality of scenarios of forecasted demand for one or more products and communicating from the buyer computer to a seller computer an offer to enter into an option contract for the supply of the one or more products, the option contract including an option corresponding to each of the plurality of scenarios of forecasted demand. The method further includes executing the option contract, receiving at the buyer computer an indication of current buyer demand for at least one scenario associated with the one or more products, and exercising at least a portion of the option in the option contract based at least in part on the indicated buyer demand.