Method for trading data in a network
First Claim
1. A method for trading data in a network, said method comprising the steps of:
- provision of data by a providing network user, the data being accessible via the network;
crediting a first number of points to the providing network user, said first number of points being dependent at least in part upon the provided data;
assigning a point value to the data, said point value corresponding to said first number of points;
access of the data by an accessing network user; and
adjusting said point value.
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Abstract
If it is intended that data in a network, e.g. the Internet, are not available freely and free of charge for a user accessing the data, then the access to data will be granted only if a monetary payment specified depending on the data is executed prior to, during, or after the data access. Contrary to that, the invention enables accessing the data of other users of a network in that the accessing user provides own data in the network as a consideration. When a user provides data in the network, the data and the user are assigned a number of points. In order to be able to access data of other users, the accessing user has to redeem the number of points assigned to him/her which corresponds to the number of points assigned to the desired data. For taking into consideration the different benefit of data in the network, the user who has accessed the data has to rate the data in that he/she assigns a number of points in a predetermined value range. From this number of points predetermined by the accessing user and the number of points which have previously been assigned to the data, an adjusted number of points for the data is determined. Upon another access to the data, a number of points is to be redeemed which corresponds to the adjusted number of points for the data. In this way, it is possible to trade data in a network without the necessity of executing monetary payments. In addition, the invention enables the trading of data in a manner which is comparable with the trading of stocks.
6 Citations
17 Claims
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1. A method for trading data in a network, said method comprising the steps of:
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provision of data by a providing network user, the data being accessible via the network;
crediting a first number of points to the providing network user, said first number of points being dependent at least in part upon the provided data;
assigning a point value to the data, said point value corresponding to said first number of points;
access of the data by an accessing network user; and
adjusting said point value. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. An apparatus for trading data, comprising:
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a central computer system;
at least one data-providing computer system, each of said at least one data-providing computer system having associated data, said associated data having a point value;
a network interconnecting said central computer system and said at least one user computer system, said data being accessible via said network;
central computer system software selectively granting access to said data dependent at least in part upon said point value.
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Specification