Service contracts and commodities market for trading service contracts
First Claim
1. In a commodity exchange system, a method for trading service-based commodities contracts for at least one service, the method comprising:
- standardizing, for each of the at least one service, a contract type comprising a service duration, a service quality, a service delivery date, a service maturity date and a service delivery location to provide at least one service contract type; and
receiving quotes for each of the at least one service contract type.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
Market liquidity for service-based commodities is established by fixing contract maturity dates and directing spot market trades to these fixed dates. Service contracts have the following characteristics: a specific duration during which the service is to be provided, a specific service quality, a specific service delivery date, a specific service maturity date and a specific delivery location. The contract maturity dates are consistent with forward contract delivery dates, preferably, monthly or quarterly. Unlike a traditional goods-based futures contract, each forward contract, after delivery, does not stop trading but continues to trade on spot markets until maturity. Market information for each type of service contract is provided to users of an exchange system, preferably implemented within a publicly available network, such as the Internet or World Wide Web. Based on this market information, users may submit quote proposals (e.g., bid or offers) or quote acceptances.
78 Citations
14 Claims
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1. In a commodity exchange system, a method for trading service-based commodities contracts for at least one service, the method comprising:
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standardizing, for each of the at least one service, a contract type comprising a service duration, a service quality, a service delivery date, a service maturity date and a service delivery location to provide at least one service contract type; and
receiving quotes for each of the at least one service contract type. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. An apparatus for use in a commodity exchange system, the apparatus comprising:
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means for providing market information for at least one service-based commodity, wherein each of the at least one service-based commodity is standardized to provide at least one service contract type, each of the at least one service contract type comprising a service duration, a service quality, a service delivery date, a service maturity date and a service delivery location; and
means for receiving quotes responsive to the market information. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a data structure specifying a service contract type corresponding to a service comprising:
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a service duration field indicating duration of the service contract type;
a service quality field indicating a quality level for the service contract type;
a service delivery date field indicating a delivery date for the service contract type;
a service maturity date field indicating a maturity date for the service contract type; and
a service delivery location field indicating a service delivery location for the service contract type. - View Dependent Claims (14)
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Specification