PRODUCTS AND PROCESSES FOR REVENUE SHARING AND DELIVERY

• US 20090083177A1
• Filed: 09/21/2007
• Published: 03/26/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/21/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CFPH LLC (Cantor Fitzgerald, L.P.)
• Original Assignee: CFPH LLC (Cantor Fitzgerald, L.P.)
• Inventors: LUTNICK, Howard W.
• Granted Patent: US 8,386,380 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/39
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03

Abstract

Various techniques of distributing revenue and/or other money, selecting/bonding delivery agents, and performing other tasks are providing herein. Methods include distributing portions of loan payments to one or more referrers associated with one or more loans, bonding of delivery agents, selecting delivery agents, allocating portions of credit card payments and/or sharing advertisement revenue. Other apparatus and methods are disclosed.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a request for a delivery of at least one product;

receiving an indication of a value of the at least one product;

transmitting a request for a bonding of a delivery agent, a value of the request for the bonding being based, at least in part, on the value of the at least one product;

receiving an indication that a sum of money at least as great as the value of the request for the bonding is available to bond the delivery agent;

transmitting, to the delivery agent, a request to deliver the at least one product.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the request for the bonding includes transmitting a request to lock a charge on at least one credit card, a value of the charge corresponding to a value of the request for the bonding.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein receiving the indication that the sum of money at least as great as the value of the request for the bonding is available includes receiving an indication that the charge has been successfully locked on the at least one credit card.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving an indication that the sum of money at least as great as the value of the request for the bonding is available includes at least one of receiving an indication that the money is held by a trusted entity, and receiving the money.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the request to deliver the at least one product includes a request to act as a principal when delivering the at least one product.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein acting as a principal includes:

paying at least one merchant for the at least one product in order to take ownership of the at least one product during the delivery of the at least one product; and

transferring ownership of the at least one product to at least one customer upon delivery of the at least one product.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the request to deliver the at least one product includes a request to act as an agent when delivering the at least one product.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein acting as an agent includes:

taking possession of the at least one product from at least one merchant without paying the at least one merchant to take ownership of the at least one product during the delivery of the at least one product; and

transferring possession of the at least one product to at least one customer upon delivery of the at least one product.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the value of the request includes at least a percentage of the value of the at least one product.

10. A method comprising:

receiving a request for a delivery of at least one product;

receiving a plurality of reviews, each review of the plurality of reviews corresponding to a respective one of a plurality of delivery agents;

selecting at least one delivery agent from the plurality of delivery agents, based, at least in part, on at least one of the plurality of reviews; and

transmitting, to the at least one delivery agent, a request to deliver the at least one product.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein each review of the plurality of reviews includes at least one of a fact and an opinion regarding a respective one of the plurality of delivery agents.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein each review is received from a user of a respective one of the plurality of delivery agents.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the request to deliver the at least one product includes a request to act as a principal when delivering the at least one product.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein acting as a principal includes:

paying at least one merchant for the at least one product in order to take ownership of the at least one product during the delivery of the at least one product; and

transferring ownership of the at least one product to at least one customer upon delivery of the at least one product.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the request to deliver the at least one product includes a request to act as an agent when delivering the at least one product.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein acting as an agent includes:

taking possession of the at least one product from at least one merchant without paying the at least one merchant to take ownership of the at least one product during the delivery of the at least one product; and

transferring possession of the at least one product to at least one customer upon delivery of the at least one product.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein selecting the at least one delivery agent includes selecting a relatively positively reviewed delivery agent.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein selecting the relatively positively reviewed delivery agent includes selecting an available delivery agent.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the available delivery agent is willing to delivery the at least one product from a merchant to a customer within a desired timeframe.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein selecting the relatively positively reviewed delivery agent includes selecting a most positively reviewed delivery agent of the plurality of delivery agents.

21. The method of claim 17, further comprising filtering the reviews before selecting the delivery agent.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein filtering the reviews includes filtering the reviews based at least on one of a social network of a merchant, and a social network of a recipient.

23. A method comprising:

receiving an indication of a payment, the payment including a merchant portion and a fee portion;

determining at least a portion of the fee portion to allocate to at least one of a payer, a referrer, and a content provider associated with the payment.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising allocating at least the portion of the fee portion to the at least one of the payer, the referrer, and the content provider associated with the payment.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein the referrer includes at least one of a referrer of an advertiser, a referrer of a user accessing a user interface, and a referrer of the content provider.