Systems and methods for trading and originating financial products using a computer network

• US 20050108125A1
• Filed: 11/18/2003
• Published: 05/19/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 11/18/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The DEBT Exchange Incorporated
• Original Assignee: The DEBT Exchange Incorporated
• Inventors: Jakubowski, William J., Hounsell, Bruce K., Greenland, J. Kingsley II, Goodwin, Thomas R.
• Granted Patent: US 7,584,139 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/35
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

The invention relates to systems and methods for trading products and services over a computer network, such as the Internet. In one embodiment, the invention provides a method for trading financial products over a computer network. The system ranks buyers based on the likelihood that they will bid on the products being offered. The system can track the users by certain user information, as well as block a certain user'"'"'s access to the system based on the user'"'"'s information.

Claims

1. A computerized system for trading products between at least one buyer and at least one seller, comprising:

detailed product information;

buyer activity information for each buyer, comprising;

information of a frequency with which said buyer has accessed said computerized system, information of a frequency with which buyer has viewed said product, and information of whether said buyer has viewed detailed information about said product; and

historical information for each of said buyers, comprising;

the number of other products that said buyer has bid on previously, the number of winning bids from said buyer for other products; and

a ranking determined for each buyer relating to the likelihood that said buyer will bid on said product, said ranking determined based on said buyer activity information and said buyer historical information.

2. The computerized system for trading products according to claim 1, further comprising at least one document relating to said product, said document being different from said detailed product information.

3. The computerized system for trading products according to claim 2, wherein said buyer activity information for each of said buyers further comprises whether said buyer has accessed said document.

4. The computerized system for trading products according to claim 2, wherein said buyer activity information for each of said buyers further comprises whether said buyer has downloaded said document.

5. The computerized system for trading products according to claim 2, wherein said buyer activity information for each of said buyers further comprises whether said buyer has purchased said document.

6. The computerized system for trading products according to claim 1, wherein said historical information further comprises the buyer'"'"'s bid for every product that the buyer has bid on, the winning bid for each of the products that the buyer has bid on, and the proximity between the buyer'"'"'s bid and the winning bid for each product in which the buyer'"'"'s bid was a losing bid.

7. The computerized system for trading products according to claim 1, wherein said historical information for each of said buyers further comprises the rank of said buyer'"'"'s losing bid in relation to the winning bid and all other losing bids from other buyers for each product offering in which the buyer'"'"'s bid was not the winning bid.

8. The computerized system for trading products according to claim 1, wherein said buyer activity information for each of said buyers further comprises the amount of time each of said buyers spent viewing said product on said computerized system.

9. The computerized system for trading products according to claim 1, wherein said ranking comprises placing each of said buyers into a predetermined category based on their likelihood of bidding.

10. The computerized system for trading products according to claim 1, wherein said ranking comprises a unique ranking of the likelihood of each of said buyers entering a bid for said product.

11. The computerized system for trading products according to claim 1, wherein said ranking comprises a score calculated based on buyer activity information and buyer historical information for each of said buyers.

12. The computerized system for trading products according to claim 1, further comprising:

qualitative information about the likelihood of a buyer bidding on said product.

13. The computerized system for trading products according to claim 1, further comprising acquisition preference information for each buyer, wherein said ranking is determined based on said buyer activity information, said buyer historical information, and said buyer acquisition preferences.

14. The computerized system for trading products according to claim 1, wherein ranking is recalculated whenever the buyer activity information is updated based on additional buyer activity.

15. A computerized system for trading products between at least one buyer and at least one seller, comprising:

user information for at least one buyer;

a bid likelihood indicator for the buyer based on the buyer'"'"'s likelihood of entering a bid on a product;

a range of prices that said buyer would be willing to bid for said product; and

a market assessment for each of said products determined based on the number of buyers whose likelihood of bidding on said product exceeds a predetermined threshold.

16. The computerized system for trading products according to claim 15, wherein said bid likelihood indicator is determined based on the buyer'"'"'s activity in the system relating to said product.

17. The computerized system for trading products according to claim 15, wherein said bid likelihood indicator is determined based on the buyer'"'"'s bidding history relating to other products offered on the system.

18. The computerized system for trading products according to claim 15, wherein said bid likelihood indicator is determined based on the buyer'"'"'s activity in the system relating to said product and buyer'"'"'s bidding history relating to other products.