MULTIPLE CRITERIA BUYING AND SELLING MODEL

• US 20110016010A1
• Filed: 09/22/2010
• Published: 01/20/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/22/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Valentine Communications LLC
• Original Assignee: Ewinwin Incorporated
• Inventors: Mesaros, Gregory J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,196,811 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/26.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06375 Prediction of business process outcome or impact based on a proposed change
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0603 Catalogue ordering
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0605 Supply or demand aggregation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0611 Request for offers or quotes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0613 Third-party assisted
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0623 Item investigation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0627 using item specifications
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

A multiple criteria buying and selling system and method is provided. A seller initially establishes a deal structure for a product, which provides seller defined selling criteria information relating to the purchasing of the product, such as volume per unit price, quality, delivery time and warranty information. A buyer will be able to review a list of deals if the seller'"'"'s selling criteria matches a buyer defined buying criteria. The deal structure is preferably set up so as to provide buyers with both price and non-price criteria information that the buyer'"'"'s would consider important in a purchase of the type of product being offered by the seller. The deal structure is electronically made available to potential buyers of the product. For example, the deal structure may be displayed on an Internet site.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented system that facilitates economic transactions, comprising:

an initiation component configured to receive product registration data comprising (1) at least one provision criterion that defines one or more characteristic of a good or service, and (2) at least one offer criterion that establishes a value or range of the at least one provision criterion;

an index component stored in a tangible, computer-readable medium configured to construct an index of deals according to a type of the good or service determined based upon the product registration data, wherein the index of deals is configured to be searchable according to the type or the product registration data; and

a search component configured to receive a search query comprising (1) the at least one provision criterion, and (2) at least one non-provision criterion that defines one or more characteristic of a desired good or service and is not included in the product registration data.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising a collection component that stores data associated with the at least one non-provision criterion.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the collection component further notifies a provider of the good or service or a right-holder thereof of the at least one non-provision criterion.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the initiation is further configured to received updated product registration data based upon a notification associated with the non-provision data.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein the collection component further notifies a third party or an agent thereof of the at least one non-provision criterion.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising a relationship component that analyzes a set of data associated with at least one of product registration data or the search query.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the relationship component constructs an inference that relates to at least one characteristic associated with (1) the at least one product or service or a provider thereof;

(2) an entity that inputs the search query, or (3) a relationship associated with the entity, the provider, or that at least one product or service.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the relationship component provides a notification associated with the inference to at least one of the entity, the provider, or a third party.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the index component is further configured to construct the index of deals based upon receipt of multiple instances of the product registration data from multiple providers of the good or service or one or more agents thereof.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the search component, in connection with receipt of the search query, is further configured to enable the at least one provision criterion to be selected from a list generated based upon the product registration data.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the search component, in connection with receipt of the search query, is further configured to enable free-form input of the at least one non-provision criterion.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the search query further comprises at least one order criterion that defines a value or range associated with either the at least one provision criterion or the at least one non-provision criterion.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the search component is further configured to output results of the search query in real time.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the search component is further configured to output the results based upon a comparison of data included in the search query and data included in the index of deals.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the results are determined based upon a match between the at least one provision criterion included in the index of deals and the at least one provision criterion included in the search query and further determined based upon a match between the at least one offer criterion and at least one order criterion that defines a value or range associated with the at least one provision criterion included in the search query.

16. A system that facilitates electronic sale of a good or service, comprising:

means for receiving product registration data comprising provision criteria defining characteristics of a good or service, and offer criteria establishing a value or range of the at least one provision criterion;

means for indexing the product registration data;

means for enabling the provision criteria to be selectable; and

means for receiving the search query comprising selected provision criterion and at least one input non-provision criterion defining characteristics of a desired good or service.

17. The system of claim 16, further comprising means for matching product registration data to search query data.

18. The system of claim 17, further comprising means for outputting results associated with the means for matching.

19. The system of claim 17, further comprising means for collecting information associated with the at least one input non-provision criteria.

20. A method of facilitating economic transactions, comprising:

at least one computer-executing instruction stored in a tangible medium for carrying out a method comprising;

receiving product registration data comprising at least one provision criterion defining one or more characteristic of a good or service, and at least one offer criterion establishing a value or range of the at least one provision criterion;

receiving a search query comprising the at least one provision criterion selected from a list, and at least one non-provision criterion excluded from the product registration data and defining one or more characteristic of a desired good or service;

outputting in real time a list of offers associated with the good or service corresponding to information included in the search query; and

storing the at least one non-provision criterion.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising alerting at least one of a provider, an independent rights-holder, or an agent of either of at least one of the non-provision criterion or the desired good or service.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising receiving updated product registration data in response to the alerting.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising utilizing the updated product registration data for updating an offer for the good or service in real time.