SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONSTRAINING DEPLETION AMOUNT IN A DEFINED TIME FRAME
First Claim
1. A method for constraining a consumer'"'"'s ability to take delivery of a price protected commodity, comprising:
- setting up an account for the consumer at a price protection system accessible by the consumer over a network via one or more computing devices;
associating a virtual reserve of the price protected commodity with the account; and
specifying a time frame during which all or a predetermined portion of the virtual reserve is to be depleted.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Embodiments disclosed herein provide price protection on commodity purchases in which a consumer can select, accept, or otherwise agree to a depletion constraint on the consumption of the commodity thus purchased. Based on the agreed depletion constraint, a provider may adjust terms and/or the price of the price protection. In some embodiments, the depletion constraint can be time-based, quantity-based, value-based, or a combination thereof. In some embodiments, the depletion constraint can be linear. In some embodiments, a consumer may be required to purchase a certain amount of the commodity during a specified time frame. In some embodiments, the provider of the price protection may receive a payment from the consumer when the retail price of the commodity at the time of the purchase is below a specified floor price. In some embodiments, the commodity is motor fuel.
100 Citations
20 Claims
-
1. A method for constraining a consumer'"'"'s ability to take delivery of a price protected commodity, comprising:
-
setting up an account for the consumer at a price protection system accessible by the consumer over a network via one or more computing devices; associating a virtual reserve of the price protected commodity with the account; and specifying a time frame during which all or a predetermined portion of the virtual reserve is to be depleted. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
-
-
11. A system for constraining a consumer'"'"'s ability to take delivery of a price protected commodity, comprising:
-
a processor and a computer memory storing instructions executable by the processor to; set up an account for the consumer at the system which is accessible by the consumer over a network; associate a virtual reserve of the price protected commodity with the account; and specify a time frame during which all or a predetermined portion of the virtual reserve is to be depleted. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
-
-
19. A method for constraining a consumer'"'"'s ability to take delivery of a price protected commodity, comprising:
-
determining a plurality of depletion constraints based on volume, weight, mass, quantity, amount, time, currency, locale or a combination thereof; presenting a plurality of retail commodity price protection products to the consumer, wherein each of the plurality of retail commodity price protection products is associated with at least one of the plurality of depletion constraints; specifying a time frame during which a predefined portion of a virtual reserve of the price protected commodity is to be depleted in accordance with the at least one of the plurality of depletion constraints; and charging the consumer at a retail price for any amount depleted during the time frame over the predefined portion of the virtual reserve of the price protected commodity. - View Dependent Claims (20)
-
Specification