System and method for aggregation, enhancing, analysis or presentation of data for vehicles or other commodities

• US 10,515,382 B2
• Filed: 11/16/2018
• Issued: 12/24/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/09/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TrueCar, Inc.
• Original Assignee: TrueCar, Inc.
• Inventors: Taira, Thomas, Painter, Scott, Taylor, Chris, Taylor, Robert, Swinson, Michael D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Palavecino, Kathleen
• Application Number:
  US16/193,618
• Publication Number:
  US 20190139065A1
• Time in Patent Office: 403 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/067 Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0205 Location or geographical consideration
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0206 Price or cost determination based on market factors
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0278 Product appraisal
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0282 Rating or review of business operators or products
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0605 Supply or demand aggregation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0609 Buyer or seller confidence or verification
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0611 Request for offers or quotes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0621 Item configuration or customization
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0623 Item investigation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0627 using item specifications
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0629 for generating comparisons
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0643 Graphical representation of items or shoppers
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting

Abstract

Embodiments of systems and methods for the aggregation, analysis, display and monetization of pricing data for commodities in general, and which may be particularly useful applied to vehicles are disclosed. Specifically, in certain embodiments, historical transaction data associated with a particular vehicle configuration may be obtained and processed to determine pricing data associated with the vehicle configuration. The historical transaction data or determined pricing data may then be presented in an intuitive manner.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a vehicle data system coupled to one or more computer devices over a network, comprising;

a processor; and

a non-transitory computer readable medium, comprising instructions executable to;

obtain historical sales data, wherein the historical sales data comprises data on vehicle sales received from a set of data sources coupled to the vehicle data system over the network;

determine a plurality of sets of the historical sales data, where each of the plurality of sets of historical sales data is associated with a vehicle configuration;

determine pricing data corresponding to the vehicle configuration by applying one or more models to the set of historical sales data associated with the vehicle configuration, wherein the pricing data includes a set of resulting sale price based data and one or more quantifiable prices determined based on the set of historical sales data associated with the vehicle configuration;

receive a specified vehicle configuration; and

generate an interface based on the pricing data associated with the specified vehicle configuration, wherein the generation of the interface is initiated substantially simultaneously to the reception of the specified vehicle configuration and the interface is configured to present the pricing data, and wherein the quantifiable prices are presented relative to the set of resulting sale price based data.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more models include a dealer cost model for a manufacturer associated with the vehicle configuration.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the dealer cost model is determined for the manufacturer based on invoice data corresponding to the manufacturer and the dealer cost model defines holdback as a function of one or more pieces of invoice data.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the one or more models include a price ratio model associated with the vehicle configuration.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the price ratio model is of the form f(x)=Σ

_i=0ⁿΣ

_k=0^m(β

_iX_iX_bk) where X_i signifies global variables, X_bk signifies bin-level variables for a specific bin b of historical sales data, and β

_i'"'"'s are coefficients.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more quantifiable prices are price points or price ranges.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the one or more quantifiable prices include one or more reference pricing data points, wherein the reference pricing data points are presented relative to the set of resulting sale price based data.

8. A method, comprising:

at a vehicle data system coupled to one or more computer devices over a network;

obtaining historical sales data, wherein the historical sales data comprises data on vehicle sales received from a set of data sources coupled to the vehicle data system over the network;

determining a plurality of sets of the historical sales data, where each of the plurality of sets of historical sales data is associated with a vehicle configuration;

determining pricing data corresponding to the vehicle configuration by applying one or more models to the set of historical sales data associated with the vehicle configuration, wherein the pricing data includes a set of resulting sale price based data and one or more quantifiable prices determined based on the set of historical sales data associated with the vehicle configuration;

receiving a specified vehicle configuration; and

generating an interface based on the pricing data associated with the specified vehicle configuration, wherein the generation of the interface is initiated substantially simultaneously to the reception of the specified vehicle configuration and the interface is configured to present the pricing data, and wherein the quantifiable prices are presented relative to the set of resulting sale price based data.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the one or more models include a dealer cost model for a manufacturer associated with the vehicle configuration.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the dealer cost model is determined for the manufacturer based on invoice data corresponding to the manufacturer and the dealer cost model defines holdback as a function of one or more pieces of invoice data.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the one or more models include a price ratio model associated with the vehicle configuration.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the price ratio model is of the form f(x)=Σ

_i=0ⁿΣ

_k=0^m(β

_iX_iX_bk) where X_i signifies global variables, X_bk signifies bin-level variables for a specific bin b of historical sales data, and β

_i'"'"'s are coefficients.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the one or more quantifiable prices are price points or price ranges.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the one or more quantifiable prices include one or more reference pricing data points, wherein the reference pricing data points are presented relative to the set of resulting sale price based data.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium, comprising instructions for:

obtaining historical sales data at a vehicle data system coupled to one or more computer devices over a network, wherein the historical sales data comprises data on vehicle sales received from a set of data sources coupled to the vehicle data system over the network;

determining a plurality of sets of the historical sales data, where each of the plurality of sets of historical sales data is associated with a vehicle configuration;

determining pricing data corresponding to the vehicle configuration by applying one or more models to the set of historical sales data associated with the vehicle configuration, wherein the pricing data includes a set of resulting sale price based data and one or more quantifiable prices determined based on the set of historical sales data associated with the vehicle configuration;

receiving a specified vehicle configuration; and

generating an interface based on the pricing data associated with the specified vehicle configuration, wherein the generation of the interface is initiated substantially simultaneously to the reception of the specified vehicle configuration and the interface is configured to present the pricing data, and wherein the quantifiable prices are presented relative to the set of resulting sale price based data.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the one or more models include a dealer cost model for a manufacturer associated with the vehicle configuration.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the dealer cost model is determined for the manufacturer based on invoice data corresponding to the manufacturer and the dealer cost model defines holdback as a function of one or more pieces of invoice data.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein the one or more models include a price ratio model associated with the vehicle configuration.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein the price ratio model is of the form f(x)=Σ

_i=0ⁿΣ

_k=0^m(β

_iX_iX_bk) where X_i signifies global variables, X_bk signifies bin-level variables for a specific bin b of historical sales data, and β

_i'"'"'s are coefficients.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the one or more quantifiable prices are price points or price ranges.

21. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 20, wherein the one or more quantifiable prices include one or more reference pricing data points, wherein the reference pricing data points are presented relative to the set of resulting sale price based data.