Real-time priced (RTP) cellular service marketplace

• US 10,007,938 B2
• Filed: 03/12/2014
• Issued: 06/26/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/13/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Aeris Communications Inc.
• Original Assignee: Aeris Communications Inc.
• Inventors: Johnson, Drew S., Chen, Yixiang, Kim, Dae Seong
• Primary Examiner(s): Rudy, Andrew Joseph
• Application Number:
  US14/207,209
• Publication Number:
  US 20140279129A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,567 Days
• Field of Search: 705 261, 4554141, 455450, 455453, 455466, 455512, 455517, 709206, 709219-226, 370330, 370341, 370352, 370436, 370437, 370468
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]

Abstract

A computer-implemented method and system for buying and selling cellular service in a market allowing real-time pricing is disclosed. The computer-implemented method and system comprise storing at least one offer to sell a specified quantity of cellular service (which may be voice minutes, messages, data or other available service parameters) initiated by a seller, and processing one or more requests to purchase cellular service initiated by one or more buyers. The processing of the requests to purchase cellular service further comprises implementing a method for matching one or more requests to purchase cellular service with any stored offers; wherein when a match occurs the buyer is able to purchase the desired quantity of cellular service. The computer-implemented method and system includes deducting the purchased quantity of cellular service from a service profile of the seller and adding the purchased quantity of cellular service to a service profile of the buyer.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for buying and selling cellular service, comprising:

receiving at least one capacity offer by home location register (HLR) of a cellular service provider for a quantity of cellular service initiated by at least one seller, wherein the at least one seller is a first buyer who has purchased an excess quantity of cellular service including the quantity of cellular service from the cellular service provider,

storing the at least one capacity offer;

processing one or more capacity discovery requests initiated by one or more buyers of cellular service, wherein the one or more buyers are subsequent buyers of the cellular service;

matching at least one of the one or more capacity discovery requests with at least one of the stored at least one capacity offer, wherein one of the one or more buyers purchases the quantity of cellular service; and

deducting the quantity of cellular service purchased by the one of the one or more buyers from a service profile of the at least one seller, and adding the quantity of cellular service to a service profile of the one of the one or more buyers by HLR of the cellular service provider.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing an effective quantity and duration of validity of the quantity of cellular service purchased by the one of the one or more buyers with service profile identifiers of the at least one seller and the one of the one or more buyers,

deducting the quantity of cellular service from the service profile of the at least one seller, and adding the quantity of cellular service to the service profile of the one of the one or more buyers at an effective time of service for the quantity of cellular service; and

removing the added quantity of cellular service from the service profile of the one of the one or more buyers at the end of the period during which the added cellular service is valid.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

deducting the quantity of cellular service purchased from the one of the one or more buyers from the capacity offer that is matched,

storing the capacity offer as a changed capacity offer from which the quantity of cellular service is deducted for further matching, and

taking the stored capacity offer off of the market once all quantities of cellular service in the capacity offer have been matched with at least one of the one or more capacity discovery requests.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

deducting the quantity of cellular service purchased by the one of the one or more buyers from the capacity offer that is matched,

storing the capacity offer as a changed capacity offer from which the quantity of cellular service is deducted for further matching, and

taking the stored capacity offer off of the market once a period during which the offered capacity is valid has expired.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

canceling the at least one capacity offer for cellular service as requested by the at least one seller,

replacing content of the at least one capacity offer with content of a new offer from the request,

storing the new capacity offer for further matching, and

taking the stored new capacity offer off of the market once the stored new capacity offer has been matched with at least one of the one or more capacity discovery requests.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the content of the at least one capacity offer comprises any of price, quantity of service, duration of service, location of service and quality of service.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

canceling the at least one capacity offer for cellular service as requested by the at least one seller,

replacing content of the at least one capacity offer with content of a new offer from the request,

storing the new capacity offer for further matching, and

taking the stored new capacity offer off of the market once the period during which the offered capacity is valid has expired.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein the content of the at least one capacity offer comprises any of price, quantity of service, duration of service, location of service and quality of service.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the one or more buyers is a first network service provider and the at least one seller is a second network service provider.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the one or more buyers is a first enterprise and the at least one seller is a second enterprise.

11. A computer-implemented system for buying and selling cellular service, comprising:

a processor, and

a memory in communication with the processor, wherein the memory contains program instructions which when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the following operations comprising;

receiving at least one capacity offer by home location register (HLR) of a cellular service provider for a quantity of cellular service initiated by at least one seller, wherein the at least one seller is a first buyer who has purchased an excess quantity of cellular service including the quantity of cellular service from the cellular service provider,

storing the at least one capacity offer;

processing one or more capacity discovery requests initiated by one or more buyers of cellular service, wherein the one or more buyers are subsequent buyers of the cellular service;

matching at least one of the one or more capacity discovery requests with at least one of the stored at least one capacity offer, wherein one of the one or more buyers purchases the quantity of cellular service; and

deducting the quantity of cellular service purchased by the one of the one or more buyers from a service profile of the at least one seller, and adding the quantity of cellular service to a service profile of the one of the one or more buyers by HLR of the cellular service provider.

12. The computer-implemented system of claim 11, further comprising program instructions for:

storing an effective quantity and duration of validity of the cellular service purchased by the one of the one or more buyers with service profile identifiers of the at least one seller and the one of the one or more buyers,

deducting the quantity of cellular service from the service profile of the at least one seller, and adding the quantity of cellular service to the service profile of the one of the one or more buyers at an effective time of service for the quantity of cellular service; and

removing the added quantity of cellular service from the service profile of the one of the one or more buyers at the end of the period during which the added cellular service is valid.

13. The computer-implemented system of claim 11, further comprising program instructions for:

deducting the quantity of cellular service purchased from the one of the one or more buyers from the matched capacity offer,

storing the capacity offer as a changed capacity offer from which the quantity of cellular service is deducted for further matching, and

taking the stored capacity offer off of the market once all quantities of cellular service in the capacity offer have been matched with at least one of the one or more capacity discovery requests.

14. The computer-implemented system of claim 11, further comprising program instructions for:

deducting the quantity of cellular service purchased by the one of the one or more buyers from the matched capacity offer,

storing the capacity offer as a changed capacity offer from which the quantity of cellular service is deducted for further matching, and

taking the stored capacity offer off of the market once a period during which the offered capacity is valid has expired.

15. The computer-implemented system of claim 11, further comprising program instructions for:

canceling the at least one capacity offer for cellular service as requested by the at least one seller,

replacing content of the at least one capacity offer with content of a new offer from the request,

storing the new capacity offer for further matching, and

taking the stored new capacity offer off of the market once the stored new capacity offer has been matched with at least one of the one or more capacity discovery requests.

16. The computer-implemented system of claim 15,

wherein the content of the at least one capacity offer comprises any of price, quantity of service, duration of service, location of service and quality of service.

17. The computer-implemented system of claim 11, further comprising program instructions for:

canceling the at least one capacity offer for cellular service as requested by the at least one seller,

replacing content of the at least one capacity offer with content of a new offer from the request,

storing the new capacity offer for further matching, and

taking the stored new capacity offer off of the market once the period during which the offered capacity is valid has expired.

18. The computer-implemented system of claim 17, wherein the content of the at least one capacity offer comprises any of price, quantity of service, duration of service, location of service and quality of service.

19. The computer-implemented system of claim 11, wherein the one or more buyers is a first network service provider and the at least one seller is a second network service provider.

20. The computer-implemented system of claim 11, wherein the one or more buyers is a first enterprise and the at least one seller is a second enterprise.

21. A computer program product stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium for buying and selling cellular service, comprising computer readable programming for causing a computer to control an execution of an application for buying and selling cellular services comprising:

receiving at least one capacity offer by home location register (HLR) of a cellular service provider for a quantity of cellular service initiated by at least one seller, wherein the at least one seller is a first buyer who has purchased an excess quantity of cellular service including the quantity of cellular service from a cellular service provider,

storing the at least one capacity offer;

processing one or more capacity discovery requests initiated by one or more buyers of cellular service, wherein the one or more buyers are subsequent buyers of the cellular service;

matching at least one of the one or more capacity discovery requests with at least one of the stored at least one capacity offer, wherein one of the one or more buyer purchases the quantity of cellular service; and

deducting the quantity of cellular service purchased by the one of the one or more buyers from a service profile of the at least one seller, and adding the quantity of cellular service to a service profile of the one of the one or more buyers by HLR of the cellular service provider.

22. The computer program product of claim 21, further comprising instructions for:

storing an effective quantity and duration of validity of the quantity of cellular service purchased by the one of the one or more buyers with service profile identifiers of the at least one seller and the one of the one or more buyers,

deducting the quantity of cellular service from the service profile of the at least one seller, and adding the quantity of cellular service to the service profile of the one of the one or more buyers at an effective time of service for the quantity of cellular service; and

removing the added quantity of cellular service from the service profile of the one of the one or more buyers at the end of a period during which the added cellular service is valid.

23. The computer program product of claim 21, further comprising instructions for:

deducting the quantity of cellular service purchased from the one of the one or more buyers from the capacity offer that is matched,

storing the capacity offer as a changed capacity offer from which the quantity of cellular service is deducted for further matching, and

taking the stored capacity offer off of the market once all quantities of cellular service in the capacity offer have been matched with at least one of the one or more capacity discovery requests.

24. The computer program product of claim 21, further comprising instructions for:

deducting the quantity of cellular service purchased by the one of the one or more buyers from the capacity offer that is matched,

storing the capacity offer as a changed capacity offer from which the quantity of cellular service is deducted for further matching, and

taking the stored capacity offer off of the market once a period during which the offered capacity is valid has expired.

25. The computer program product of claim 21, further comprising instructions for:

canceling the at least one capacity offer for cellular service as requested by the at least one seller,

replacing content of the at least one capacity offer with content of a new offer from the request,

storing the new capacity offer for further matching, and

taking the stored new capacity offer off of the market once the stored new capacity offer has been matched with at least one of the one or more capacity discovery requests.

26. The computer program product of claim 25, wherein the content of the at least one capacity offer comprises any of price, quantity of service,

duration of service, location of service and quality of service.

27. The computer program product of claim 21, further comprising instructions for:

canceling the at least one capacity offer for cellular service as requested by the at least one seller,

replacing content of the at least one capacity offer with content of a new offer from the request,

storing the new capacity offer for further matching, and

taking the stored new capacity offer off of the market once the period during which the offered capacity is valid has expired.

28. The computer program product of claim 27, wherein the content of the at least one capacity offer comprises any of price, quantity of service,

duration of service, location of service and quality of service.

29. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the one or more buyers is a first network service provider and the at least one seller is a second network service provider.

30. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the one or more buyers is a first enterprise and the at least one seller is a second enterprise.