Multiprice commerce service

• US 20040193501A1
• Filed: 03/26/2003
• Published: 09/30/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: DOCOMO Communications Laboratories USA, Inc.
• Original Assignee: DOCOMO Communications Laboratories USA, Inc.
• Inventors: Allen, Lee
• Application Number:
  US10/397,087
• Publication Number:
  US 20040193501A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/26.2
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0605 Supply or demand aggregation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions

Abstract

The Multiprice Commerce Service includes a method of procuring transactions between a vendor and customers of a Hyper Operator. The Hyper Operator constructs a real-time varying sellers'"'"' function which is a representation of the willingness of the vendor to sell a product as a function of price. The customers detect a sell offer for the product and each transmits a maximum price that she is willing to pay. The Hyper Operator aggregates the buy offers, constructs a real-time varying buyers'"'"' function which continuously compares the buyers'"'"' function to the sellers'"'"' function and when a comparison yields a profit level that at least meets a predetermined target level specified by the vendor, consummates a sale of the product between a qualifying customer and the vendor, all sales of the product to different buyers being conducted by the Hyper Operator in a single aggregate transaction.

Claims

1. A method of procuring transactions between at least one vendor and customers of a Hyper Operator that provides service to communication devices possessed by the customers, the method comprising:

the Hyper Operator constructing a sellers'"'"' function which varies in real time and is a representation of the willingness of the vendor to sell a product offered by the vendor as a function of price;

the customers detecting, on the device, a sell offer for the product, each customer then entering only a maximum price for the product into the device and transmitting the maximum price to the Hyper Operator prior to consummation of any sale to that customer to thereby signify a buy offer to the Hyper Operator;

the Hyper Operator receiving and subsequently aggregating the buy offers, constructing a buyers'"'"' function which varies in real time, continuously comparing the buyers'"'"' function to the sellers'"'"' function, and, when a comparison yields a profit level that at least meets a predetermined target level specified by the vendor, consummating a sale of the product between a qualifying customer and the vendor, all sales of the product to different customers being conducted by the Hyper Operator in a single aggregate transaction; and

the Hyper Operator notifying the qualifying customer and vendor of the sale, notification of the customer being personalized through use of customer-specific and real-time contextual information.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the Hyper Operator constructing the sellers'"'"' function as a representation of the willingness of different vendors to sell the product as a function of price and, when the comparison yields a profit level that at least meets a predetermined target level specified by a particular vendor, consummating a sale of the product between a qualifying customer and the particular vendor.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising limiting sales to customers who are only buyers of consumer products.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising submitting customer information to the vendor only after consummation of the sale.

5. A method of procuring transactions between at least one vendor and customers of a Hyper Operator that provides service to communication devices possessed by the customers, the method comprising:

the Hyper Operator constructing a sellers'"'"' function which varies in real time and is a representation of the willingness of the vendor to sell a product offered by the vendor as a function of price;

the customers detecting, on the device, a sell offer for the product, each customer then entering only a maximum price for the product into the device prior to consummation of any sale to that customer; and

the Hyper Operator receiving a buy offer from each customer and subsequently aggregating the buy offers, constructing a buyers'"'"' function which varies in real time, continuously comparing the buyers'"'"' function to the sellers'"'"' function, and, when a comparison of a particular maximum price by a particular customer yields a profit level that at least meets a predetermined target level specified by the vendor, consummating a sale of the product between the particular customer and the vendor at the particular maximum price, the sales being consummated starting with a highest maximum price bid by the customers and continuing until one of some criterion set by the vendor is reached and no customers remain with whom to consummate a sale, all sales of the product to different buyers being conducted in a single aggregate transaction.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising each customer separately signifying the buy offer to the Hyper Operator after entering the maximum price for the product into the device.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising the vendor setting the criterion as a maximum amount of product to be sold.

8. The method of claim 5, further comprising the Hyper Operator notifying the particular customer and vendor of the sale, notification of the customer being personalized through use of customer-specific and real-time contextual information.

9. The method of claim 5, further comprising limiting sales to customers who are only buyers of consumer products.

10. The method of claim 5, further comprising submitting customer information to the vendor only after consummation of the sale.

11. The method of claim 5, further comprising the Hyper Operator constructing the sellers'"'"' function as a representation of the willingness of different vendors to sell the product as a function of price and, when the comparison of the particular maximum price by the particular customer yields the profit level that at least meets the predetermined target level specified by a particular vendor, consummating the sale of the product between the particular customer and the particular vendor at the particular maximum price, the sales being consummated starting with the highest maximum price bid by the customers and continuing until some criterion set by the particular vendor is reached, all sales of the product to different buyers being conducted in a single aggregate transaction simultaneously.

12. The method of claim 5, further comprising selling to the customers at at least two different prices.

13. A method of providing transactions between at least one vendor and customers of a Hyper Operator that provides service to communication devices possessed by the customers, the method comprising:

customers purchasing a product of the vendor through the Hyper Operator at prices agreeable to each individual customer;

the vendor maximizing profits from sales to the customers by selling the product to customers who are willing to pay the most first and selling the product to customers who are willing to pay increasingly smaller amounts successively until some criterion set by the vendor is reached; and

the Hyper Operator conducting all sales of the product to different buyers in a single aggregate transaction and notifying purchasing customers and the vendor of the sale with notification of the purchasing customers being personalized through use of customer-specific and real-time contextual information.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising selling to the customers at a maximum acceptable price for each customer.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising selling to the customers at at least two different prices.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising the vendor setting the criterion as one of a maximum amount of product to be sold and a minimum profit for each product.

17. The method of claim 13, further comprising the vendor compensating the Hyper Operator with a contract fee, a per-offer fee, and a per-purchase-transaction fee.

18. The method of claim 13, further comprising a plurality of vendors supplying the product, each vendor maximizing profits from sales to the customers by selling the product to customers who are willing to pay the most first and selling the product to customers who are willing to pay increasingly smaller amounts successively until a criterion set by the vendor is reached.

19. The method of claim 13, further comprising the customers establishing with the Hyper Operator a particular product desired and the Hyper Operator indicating when the sellers have that particular product for sale.

20. The method of claim 13, further comprising each customer entering only a maximum price for the product into the device prior to consummation of any sale to that customer.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising each customer separately signifying the buy offer to the Hyper Operator after entering the maximum price.

22. The method of claim 13, further comprising limiting sales to customers who are only buyers of consumer products.

23. The method of claim 13, further comprising submitting customer information to the vendor only after consummation of the sale.

24. A method of procuring transactions between vendors and customers of a Hyper Operator that provides service to communication devices possessed by the customers, the method comprising:

the Hyper Operator constructing a sellers'"'"' function which varies in real time and is a representation of the willingness of each vendor to sell a product offered by the vendors as a function of price;

the customers detecting, on the device, a sell, offer for the product, each customer then entering only a maximum price for the product into the device prior to consummation of any sale to that customer; and

the Hyper Operator receiving a buy offer from each customer and subsequently aggregating the buy offers, constructing a buyers'"'"' function which varies in real time, continuously comparing the buyers'"'"' function to the sellers'"'"' function, and, when a comparison of a particular maximum price by a particular customer yields a profit level that at least meets a predetermined target level specified by a particular vendor, consummating a sale of the product between the particular customer and the particular vendor at the particular maximum price, the sales being consummated starting with a highest maximum price bid by the customers and continuing until one of criteria set by the vendors are reached and no customers remain with whom to consummate a sale, all sales of the product to different customers being conducted in a single aggregate transaction.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising each customer separately signifying the buy offer to the Hyper Operator after entering the maximum price for the product into the device.

26. The method of claim 24, further comprising the vendors setting the criterion as a maximum amount of product to be sold.

27. The method of claim 24, further comprising the Hyper Operator notifying the particular customer and vendor of the sale, notification of the customer being personalized through use of customer-specific and real-time contextual information.

28. The method of claim 24, further comprising limiting sales to customers who are only buyers of consumer products.

29. The method of claim 24, further comprising submitting customer information of customers who purchase the product from the particular vendor to the particular vendor only after consummation of the sales.

30. The method of claim 24, further comprising selling to the customers at at least two different prices.

31. A communication network that establishes transactions between at least one vendor and customers of a Hyper Operator, the Hyper Operator providing service to communication devices possessed by the customers, the network comprising:

a first computation mechanism to compute a sellers'"'"' function which varies in real time, is constructed by the Hyper Operator, and is a representation of the willingness of the vendor to sell a product offered by the vendor as a function of price;

a second computation mechanism to compute a buyer'"'"'s function which varies in real time and is constructed by the Hyper Operator, the buyer'"'"'s function containing an aggregation of maximum prices that each of the customers is willing to pay for the product and have been transmitted to the Hyper Operator, the maximum price being the only information entered by each customer prior to consummation of any sale to that customer;

a comparison mechanism that continuously compares the buyers'"'"' function to the sellers'"'"' function;

a transaction mechanism that, when a comparison yields a profit level that at least meets a predetermined target level specified by the vendor, consummates a sale of the product between a qualifying customer and the vendor; and

a notification mechanism that notifies the qualifying customer and vendor of the sale as well as personalizes the notification to the qualifying customer through use of customer-specific and real-time contextual information, wherein all sales of the product to different customers are conducted by the Hyper Operator in a single aggregate transaction.

32. A computer readable storage medium storing computer readable program code for providing transactions between at least one vendor and customers of a Hyper Operator that supplies service to communication devices possessed by the customers, the computer readable program code comprising a computer code that implements:

construction of a sellers'"'"' function which varies in real time and is a representation of the willingness of the vendor to sell a product offered by the vendor as a function of price;

detection and aggregation of an offer for the product entered by each customer into the device, each offer containing only a maximum price willing to be paid by the customer;

construction of a buyers'"'"' function which varies in real time from the aggregation of maximum prices;

continuous comparison of the buyers'"'"' function to the sellers'"'"' function, and, when a comparison of a particular maximum price by a particular customer yields a profit level that at least meets a predetermined target level specified by the vendor, consummation of a sale of the product between the particular customer and the vendor at the particular maximum price; and

notification of the particular customer and vendor of the sale and personalization of the notification to the particular customer through use of customer-specific and real-time contextual information, wherein all sales of the product to different buyers are conducted in a single aggregate transaction.

33. The computer readable program code of claim 32, further comprising computer code that consummates sales starting with a highest maximum price bid by the customers and continuing until one of some criterion set by the vendor is reached and no customers remain with whom to consummate a sale.

34. The computer readable program code of claim 33, further comprising computer code that sets the criterion as one of a maximum amount of product to be sold and a minimum profit for each product.

35. The computer readable program code of claim 32, further comprising computer code that transfers a debit to the vendor and a credit to the Hyper Operator for one of a per-offer fee for each offer and a per-purchase-transaction fee for each sale.

36. The computer readable program code of claim 32, further comprising computer code that maximizes profits for the vendor from sales to the customers by consummating sales of the product to customers who are willing to pay the most first and consummating sales of the product to customers who are willing to pay increasingly smaller amounts successively until a criterion set by the vendor is reached.

37. The computer readable program code of claim 32, further comprising computer code that constructs the sellers'"'"' function as a representation of the willingness of each vendor of a plurality of vendors offering the product as a function of price.

38. The computer readable program code of claim 37, further comprising computer code that maximizes profits for each vendor from sales to the customers by consummating sales of the product to customers who are willing to pay the most first and consummating sales of the product to customers who are willing to pay increasingly smaller amounts successively until a criterion set by each vendor is reached.

39. The computer readable program code of claim 32, further comprising computer code that enables each customer to separately signify the offer after entering the maximum price for the product into the device but before aggregation of the offer.

40. The computer readable program code of claim 32, further comprising computer code that limits sales to customers who are only buyers of consumer products.

41. The computer readable program code of claim 32, further comprising computer code that submits customer information of the particular customer to the vendor only after consummation of the sale.

42. An electronic unit housing a Hyper Operator that procures transactions between vendors and customers of the Hyper Operator which provides services for a communication device possessed by the customers, the electronic unit comprising:

a transmitter/receiver through which the electronic unit communicates with external sources including vendors and the customers, the transmitter/receiver configured to transmit a sell offer for a product offered by at least one of the vendors to the customers and to receive a buy offer from each of the customers requesting the product, each buy offer containing a maximum price for the product willing to be paid by the customer who has entered that maximum price as a buy offer;

a processor that is configured to construct a sellers'"'"' function which varies in real time and is a representation of the willingness of the at least one of the vendors to sell the product as a function of price, aggregate the buy offers and construct a buyers'"'"' function which varies in real time, continuously compare the buyers'"'"' function to the sellers'"'"' function, and, when a comparison yields a profit level that at least meets a predetermined target level specified by the at least one of the vendors, consummates a sale of the product between a qualifying customer and the at least one of the vendors, in which all sales of the product to different customers are conducted in a single aggregate transaction;

a memory that is configured to amass a customer database of customer-specific and real-time contextual information of the customers, the transmitter/receiver configured to transmit notification to the qualifying customer and the at least one of the vendors of the sale in which the notification to the customer is personalized by the processor through the customer-specific and real-time contextual information; and

an interface through which internal elements of the electronic unit communicate.

43. The electronic unit of claim 42, wherein the processor is configured to construct the sellers'"'"' function as a representation of the willingness of different vendors to sell the product as a function of price and, when the comparison yields a profit level that at least meets a predetermined target level specified by a particular vendor, consummates a sale of the product between the qualifying customer and the particular vendor.

44. The electronic unit of claim 42, wherein the processor is configured to submit customer information to the vendor only after consummation of the sale.

45. The electronic unit of claim 43, wherein the processor is configured to consummate the sales starting with a highest maximum price bid by the customers and continue until one of:

some criterion set by the vendor is reached and no customers remain with whom to consummate a sale, the processor is further configured to conduct all sales of the product to different buyers in a single aggregate transaction.

46. The electronic unit of claim 43, wherein the criterion is a maximum amount of the product to be sold.

47. The electronic unit of claim 43, wherein the criterion is a minimum price of the product to be sold.

48. The electronic unit of claim 42, wherein the processor is configured to limit sales to customers who are only buyers of consumer products.