Systems and methods to facilitate rental transactions

• US 20070027708A1
• Filed: 07/28/2006
• Published: 02/01/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 08/01/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Rentalmetro, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Rentalmetro, Inc.
• Inventors: Brown, Daniel, Taylor, Kevin
• Application Number:
  US11/495,198
• Publication Number:
  US 20070027708A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/80
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0645 Rental transactions; Leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/188 Electronic negotiation

Abstract

Systems and methods for facilitating rental of a good comprising storing a good identifier associated with the good in a product database, displaying product information associated with the good based on a geographical location of the good, receiving a rental request from the renter, and sending a contact information associated with the renter to a listing party at least in part based on the rental request. The rental request may be anonymous. An inquiry may be received from the renter and anonymized and sent to the listing party. An anonymous negotiation between a listing party and the renter may be conducted and the rental price and/or the rental term may be determined based on the anonymous negotiation.

Claims

1. A software product for facilitating rental of a good, the software product comprising:

software operational when executed by a processor to direct the processor to store a good identifier associated with the good in a product database, display product information associated with the good based on a geographical location of the good, receive a rental request from the renter, and send contact information associated with the renter to a listing party based at least in part on the rental request; and

a storage medium configured to store the software.

2. The software product of claim 1 wherein the software is further operational when executed by the processor to anonymize the rental request and display an anonymized rental request to the listing party.

3. The software product of claim 1 wherein the software is further operational when executed by the processor to deliver an inquiry associated with the good from the renter to the listing party.

4. The software product of claim 3 wherein delivery of the inquiry comprises:

receiving the inquiry from the renter;

anonymizing the inquiry; and

sending an anonymized inquiry to the listing party.

5. The software product of claim 1 wherein the software is operational when further executed by the processor to facilitate an anonymous negotiation between the listing party and the renter.

6. The software product of claim 5 wherein a rental price is determined based on the anonymous negotiation.

7. The software product of claim 5 wherein a rental term is determined based on the anonymous negotiation.

8. The software product of claim 1 where in the software is further operational when executed by the processor to:

receive a quality rating associated with the good from the renter;

store the quality rating within a rating database; and

display the quality rating to another renter.

9. The software product of claim 1 wherein the good comprises an article or a service.

10. A method for facilitating rental of a good, the method comprising:

storing a good identifier associated with the good in a product database;

displaying product information associated with the good based on a geographical location of the good;

receiving a rental request from the renter; and

sending contact information associated with the renter to a listing party based at least in part on the rental request.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising anonymizing the rental request and displaying an anonymized rental request to the listing party.

12. The method of claim 10 further comprising delivering an inquiry associated with the good from the renter to the listing party.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein delivering the inquiry comprises:

receiving the inquiry from the renter;

anonymizing the inquiry; and

sending an anonymized inquiry to the listing party.

14. The method of claim 10 further comprising facilitating an anonymous negotiation between a listing party and the renter.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein a rental price is determined based on the anonymous negotiation.

16. The method of claim 14 wherein a rental term is determined based on the anonymous negotiation.

17. The method of claim 10 further comprising:

receiving a quality rating associated with the good from the renter;

storing the quality rating within a rating database; and

displaying the quality rating to another renter.

18. The method of claim 10 wherein the good comprises an article or a service.

19. A system for facilitating rental of a good on a communications network, the system comprising:

a communications interface configured to communicate over the communications network;

a storage device; and

a processor coupled to the communications network and the storage device, the processor configured to store a good identifier associated with the good in a product database, display product information associated with the good based on a geographical location of the good, receive a rental request from the renter, and send a contact information associated with the renter to a listing party at least in part based on the rental request.