Pricing personal computer use based on customer demand

• US 20040111382A1
• Filed: 12/10/2002
• Published: 06/10/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/10/2002
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Stelios Haji-Ioannou
• Original Assignee: Stelios Haji-Ioannou
• Inventors: Haji-Ioannou, Stelios
• Application Number:
  US10/316,208
• Publication Number:
  US 20040111382A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/400
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions

Abstract

A computer network with a central processor and computer terminals, particularly located in a facility or Internet Café, wherein a user purchases units of computer terminal use time to obtain an access code which the user then inputs to operate one of the computer terminals. The processor stores information about the number of time units credited to an access code. The duration of a unit of time is adjusted at the time the computer terminal is used depending upon then current usage of the computer terminals in the network based on at least one of the following factors: proportion of total number of computer terminals in the network then in use, time of day, day of week, history of the foregoing criteria and prediction of future performance under those criteria. The user purchases units of time and access credits for the purchased units of time at a computer terminal in the network.

Claims

1. A method of vending use time on a plurality of computer terminals in a common network, depending upon at least one factor related to user demand for use of computer terminals in the network, the method comprising:

for a plurality of computer terminals connected in a network to a central processor programmed with an algorithm, detecting the number of computer terminals in the network then operating and comparing the number of computer terminals then operating with the entire plurality of the computer terminals available for operation and connected with the processor in the network;

offering to users a use of a computer terminal in the network for a unit of time at a price per unit of time;

adjusting at least one of the duration of the unit of time for the price or the price for a unit of time of fixed duration, at the time the computer terminal is used, according to the at least one factor in the algorithm in the central processor including the comparison of the number of terminals in use with the entire plurality of terminals;

enabling a user to purchase, in advance of use of the computer terminal, credit for a number of the units of time of use of a computer terminal in the network by the user paying a fee based upon the number of the units of time to be purchased;

upon a user purchasing at least one unit of time, providing a user access code to the user, and the central processor crediting the number of units purchased to that user access code;

storing the credit for the number of units of time to the access code;

upon a user accessing a computer terminals in the network by the user inputting to the computer terminal the access code stored in the processor, the processor and the computer terminals making available to the user credit for the number of units of time paid for the access code;

measuring the time of use of the computer terminal accessed by a user under an access code and deducting successive units of time from the credit of the time units for that access code stored in the central processor as each unit of time is at least partially used at the computer terminal, and

continuing to store information concerning unused credit for units of time under an access code until the unit of time credited to the access code is used.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the price for a unit of time is fixed and the duration of the unit of time is adjusted.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the factors entered in the algorithm in the processor for determining the duration of a unit of time at any particular time include at least some of:

the proportion of the entire plurality of computer terminals in the network then in use by users, the day of the week, the clock time of day and the quantity of access code numbers activated over a period of time, historical information about any of the foregoing, and prediction of future use.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising connecting the plurality of computer terminals to the central processor to produce a network of the computer terminals and the processor so that the central processor receives use information from all of the plurality of terminals.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein a user purchases units of time at a vending apparatus away from the computer terminals in the network, the method including supplying the user with the access code from the vending device, and the user operating the computer terminal by inputting the access code.

6. An apparatus for vending use time on a plurality of computer terminals in a common network, depending upon at least one factor related to user demand for usage of computer terminals in the network, the apparatus comprising:

a central processor programmed with an algorithm which determines the duration of a unit of time available to a user for use of a computer terminal in the network at the time the computer terminal is used based upon at least one factor including the proportion of all of the computer terminals in the network which are then in use and the algorithm being used by the processor to adjust the duration of the unit of time based upon the at least one factor;

the central processor also receiving and storing information about credit for the number of units of time that is to be credited to each of a plurality of access codes;

a plurality of computer terminals each individually operable by a user and connected with the central processor to define the network, wherein the central processor is operable to activate each computer terminal for operation;

each computer terminal being activateable by a user entering one of the access codes stored in the central processor for which at least one of the units of time is credited to the access code in the central processor.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the central processor stores the then current duration of a unit of time and the price per unit, and the central processor generates information concerning the total price to be paid by a user for purchasing a particular number of units of time and upon payment of that price, the central processor causes issuance of an access code to the user of the number of units.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, further comprising a payment device connected to the central processor for receiving payment from a user for credit for units of time to be credited to a user access code supplied by the central processor.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the central processor receives information about and the algorithm uses the information about at least one factor to enable the central processor to set a duration for a unit of time, the factors including at least some of:

the proportion of the entire plurality of computer terminals in the network then in use by users, the day of the week, the clock time of day and the quantity of access code numbers activated over a period of time, historical information about any of the foregoing, and prediction of future use.