INTERACTIVE DEMAND MANAGEMENT
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- determining, by a computer-based system for accepting a bid for a travel service, that a first itinerary of a first consumer and a second itinerary of a second consumer match within a predefined threshold;
grouping, by said computer-based system, said first itinerary and said second itinerary to create a subset of consumer itineraries;
providing, by said computer-based system, said subset of consumer itineraries to a vendor offering said travel service;
accepting, by said computer-based system, said bid from said vendor to provide said travel service to said first consumer and said second consumer based on an ability of said vendor to provide said travel service within said predefined threshold;
verifying, by said computer-based system, that said bid is in accordance with said predefined threshold;
confirming, by said computer-based system, that said bid is an optimum bid; and
modifying, by said computer-based system, a second subset of said subset of consumer itineraries to include travel services from a second different vendor according to said bid.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method is disclosed which allows the aggregation of the demands of various buyers, providing an incentive for suppliers to bid to supply those demands in an auction. The system and method operates by scanning a database which contains a listing of goods or services sought by various people or entities. Thereafter, similar goods or services are grouped together and presented to various vendors. The vendors are given the opportunity to bid on the group of similar goods or services. Such a bid may vary from the originally purchased goods or services as long as the bid is within a predetermined range. The vendor which presents the optimum bid within a predetermined period of time is selected as the provider of the goods or services and proceeds to supply the goods or services at the bid upon amount.
9 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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determining, by a computer-based system for accepting a bid for a travel service, that a first itinerary of a first consumer and a second itinerary of a second consumer match within a predefined threshold; grouping, by said computer-based system, said first itinerary and said second itinerary to create a subset of consumer itineraries; providing, by said computer-based system, said subset of consumer itineraries to a vendor offering said travel service; accepting, by said computer-based system, said bid from said vendor to provide said travel service to said first consumer and said second consumer based on an ability of said vendor to provide said travel service within said predefined threshold; verifying, by said computer-based system, that said bid is in accordance with said predefined threshold; confirming, by said computer-based system, that said bid is an optimum bid; and modifying, by said computer-based system, a second subset of said subset of consumer itineraries to include travel services from a second different vendor according to said bid. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. An article of manufacture including a non-transitory, tangible computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by a computer-based system for accepting a bid for a travel service, cause the computer-based system to perform operations comprising:
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determining, by said computer-based system, that a first itinerary of a first consumer and a second itinerary of a second consumer match within a predefined threshold; grouping, by said computer-based system, said first itinerary and said second itinerary to create a subset of consumer itineraries; providing, by said computer-based system, said subset of consumer itineraries to a vendor offering said travel service; accepting, by said computer-based system, said bid from said vendor to provide said travel service to said first consumer and said second consumer based on an ability of said vendor to provide said travel service within said predefined threshold; verifying, by said computer-based system, that said bid is in accordance with said predefined threshold; confirming, by said computer-based system, that said bid is an optimum bid; and modifying, by said computer-based system, a second subset of said subset of consumer itineraries to include travel services from a second different vendor according to said bid.
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20. A system comprising:
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a tangible, non-transitory memory communicating with a processor for accepting a bid for a travel service, the tangible, non-transitory memory having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising; determining, by said processor, that a first itinerary of a first consumer and a second itinerary of a second consumer match within a predefined threshold; grouping, by said processor, said first itinerary and said second itinerary to create a subset of consumer itineraries; providing, by said processor, said subset of consumer itineraries to a vendor offering said travel service; accepting, by said processor, said bid from said vendor to provide said travel service to said first consumer and said second consumer based on an ability of said vendor to provide said travel service within said predefined threshold; verifying, by said processor, that said bid is in accordance with said predefined threshold; confirming, by said processor, that said bid is an optimum bid; and modifying, by said processor, a second subset of said subset of consumer itineraries to include travel services from a second different vendor according to said bid.
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Specification