Location based services revenue sharing and cost offsetting

• US 20040117195A1
• Filed: 11/07/2002
• Published: 06/17/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 11/07/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PayPal, Inc. (PayPal Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Bodin, William Kress
• Granted Patent: US 7,447,642 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/20 Administration of product repair or maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0212 Chance discounts or incentives
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0239 Online discounts or incentives
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0266 based on the position of the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions

Abstract

An opportunity server tracks in vehicle information system wireless web transactions using session identifiers, aggregates transaction records into session data, and uses session data assign cost of network and system usage to a winning bidding party in an online offering system so as to offset costs to the user for usage of the system. Credits are posted to share revenue and offset costs of OEM equipment and network access metered fees, thereby reducing the cost of said transactions by a user and promoting unfettered use of in vehicle information systems for a variety of services, purposes, and transactions.

Claims

1. A method comprising the steps of:

associating a session identifier value with a location based services access device at the beginning of a transaction session;

creating records of usage for each transaction made by said access device during said session to yield a session record set;

upon completion of said session, storing said session record set;

determining a cost for resource usage during said session; and

offsetting said cost by assigning a compensation value to a provider server and crediting a user in an amount related to said cost.

2. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said step of determining a cost by assigning a compensation value comprises determining a cost based upon data amount transferred between one or more provider servers.

3. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said step of determining a cost by assigning a compensation value comprises determining a cost based upon time of network usage during said session.

4. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said step of off setting said cost and crediting a user further comprises crediting an account associated with an original equipment manufacturer in an amount related to said compensatory payment.

5. The method as set forth in claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

brokering a business transaction with multiple providers on behalf of said customer during said session;

selecting a winning provider for said business transaction; and

allocating said resource usage cost to said winning provider.

6. The method as set forth in claim 5 further comprising the step of crediting an account associated with an original equipment manufacturer in an amount related to said allocated resource usage cost.

11. The computer readable medium as set forth in claim 1 further comprising software for performing the steps of:

brokering a business transaction with multiple providers on behalf of said customer during said session;

selecting a winning provider for said business transaction; and

allocating said resource usage cost to said winning provider.

12. The computer readable medium as set forth in claim 11 further comprising software for crediting an account associated with an original equipment manufacturer in an amount related to said allocated resource usage cost.

7. A computer readable medium encoded with software for performing the steps of:

associating a session identifier value with a location based services access device at the beginning of a transaction session;

creating records of usage for each transaction made by said access device during said session to yield a session record set;

upon completion of said session, storing said session record set;

determining a cost for resource usage during said session; and

offsetting said cost by assigning a compensation value to a provider server and crediting a user in an amount related to said cost.

8. The computer readable medium as set forth in claim 7 wherein said software for determining a cost by assigning a compensation value comprises software for determining a cost based upon data amount transferred between one or more provider servers.

9. The computer readable medium as set forth in claim 7 wherein said software for determining a cost by assigning a compensation value comprises software for determining a cost based upon time of network usage during said session.

10. The computer readable medium as set forth in claim 7 wherein said software for offsetting said cost and crediting a user further comprises software for crediting an account associated with an original equipment manufacturer in an amount related to said compensatory payment.

13. A system comprising:

an opportunity server configured to track a session of a location based service to an in vehicle information system by assigning a session identifier at the beginning of a session, by creating a session record for each wireless web transaction conducted by said in vehicle information system during the session, and by storing a session record set associated with said session identifier;

a session record set evaluator for analyzing said session record set configured to determine the a cost value of system resource usage during said session; and

a revenue and cost sharer configured to post costs and credits to electronic accounts.

14. The system as set forth in claim 13 wherein said session record set evaluator is adapted to determine a cost value based at least in part on communications bandwidth used during said session.

15. The system as set forth in claim 13 wherein said session record set evaluator is adapted to determine a cost value based at least in part on amount of data transferred between said in vehicle information system and at least one said provider server.

16. The system as set forth in claim 13 wherein said session record set evaluator is adapted to determine a cost value based at least in part on session duration.

17. The system as set forth in claim 13 wherein said opportunity server is configured to broker a business transaction among one or more bidding provider servers and to select a winning provider servers, and wherein said revenue and cost sharer is configured to allocate network access costs to a winning provider party in a brokered transaction.

18. The system as set forth in claim 13 wherein said revenue and cost sharer is configured to allocate a portion of a revenue amount to an original equipment manufacturer.