Method and system for global communications network management and display of market-price information
DCFirst Claim
1. A method for displaying market prices arising from telecommunications transactions, comprising the steps of:
- receiving service offers from one or more sellers of telecommunications services, each service offer offering for sale a block of telecommunications services, each service offer specifying a plurality of parameters including rate information for the offered block of telecommunications services;
identifying one or more routes for routing calls between a pair of locations based on the parameters specified in one or more of said service offers, each of the identified routes comprising one or more legs, service for each leg being provided by a telecommunications service provider;
receiving service requests from a plurality of buyers of telecommunications services, each service request requesting purchase of a block of telecommunications services, each service request specifying a plurality of parameters that include a terminating location for the requested block of telecommunications services;
matching one or more of the service requests to at least a portion of one or more of the service offers based on the plurality of parameters specified by the buyers and sellers;
brokering a transaction that effects a transfer of ownership of at least a portion of the blocks of telecommunications services specified in the matched service offers from one or more of said one or more sellers to one or more of said plurality of buyers who provided the correspondingly matched service requests;
determining a market price for at least one identified route; and
displaying the market price.
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Abstract
A system and method for flexibly routing communications transmissions in an efficient manner is disclosed. In a preferred embodiment, service providers submit information to a centralized server node which comprises cost and service parameter data for routing a communication from a first location to a second location. The server node receives all of the submitted rate information, evaluates it, and generates from the information a rate-table database comprising efficient routing paths for connecting transmissions between any two locations in a communications switching network. The server may be programmed to substantially optimize its rate-table database with respect to one or more parameters, such as price, network utilization, return traffic volumes, and others. Service requesters submit service requests to the centralized service node. The server node identifies efficient routes which meet the requesters'"'"' requirements and brokers sales of communication (or connect) time from the service providers to the service requesters. In a preferred embodiment the system is capable of displaying market-price information related to the supported communication routes to prospective sellers and buyers of connection time.
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Citations
40 Claims
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1. A method for displaying market prices arising from telecommunications transactions, comprising the steps of:
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receiving service offers from one or more sellers of telecommunications services, each service offer offering for sale a block of telecommunications services, each service offer specifying a plurality of parameters including rate information for the offered block of telecommunications services;
identifying one or more routes for routing calls between a pair of locations based on the parameters specified in one or more of said service offers, each of the identified routes comprising one or more legs, service for each leg being provided by a telecommunications service provider;
receiving service requests from a plurality of buyers of telecommunications services, each service request requesting purchase of a block of telecommunications services, each service request specifying a plurality of parameters that include a terminating location for the requested block of telecommunications services;
matching one or more of the service requests to at least a portion of one or more of the service offers based on the plurality of parameters specified by the buyers and sellers;
brokering a transaction that effects a transfer of ownership of at least a portion of the blocks of telecommunications services specified in the matched service offers from one or more of said one or more sellers to one or more of said plurality of buyers who provided the correspondingly matched service requests;
determining a market price for at least one identified route; and
displaying the market price. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A system for displaying market prices arising from transactions of blocks of telecommunications services, comprising:
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a server node adapted to;
receive service offers from one or more sellers of telecommunications services, each service offer offering for sale a block of telecommunications services, each service offer specifying a plurality of parameters including rate information for the offered block of telecommunications services;
identify one or more routes for routing telecommunications traffic between a pair of locations based on the parameters specified in one or more of the service offers, each of the identified routes comprising one or more legs, service for each leg being provided by a telecommunications service provider;
receive service requests from a plurality of buyers of telecommunications services, each service request requesting purchase of a block of telecommunications services, each service request specifying a plurality of parameters that include a terminating location for the requested block of telecommunications services;
match one or more of the service requests to at least a portion of one or more of the service offers based on the plurality of parameters specified by the buyers and sellers;
broker a transaction that effects a transfer of ownership of at least a portion of the blocks of telecommunications services specified in the matched service offers from said one or more sellers to one or more of said plurality of buyers who provided the correspondingly matched service requests; and
determine a market price at least one identified route;
a processor connected to said server node and adapted to receive market price information from said server node;
a market-price database connected to the processor, the market-price database having stored therein market-price information for each of a plurality of routes identified by the server node;
a webserver connected to the processor, the webserver being adapted to receive the market-price information concerning the plurality of routes from the processor; and
a client-PC adapted to cooperate with the webserver to display the market-price information. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14)
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15. A method for facilitating the clearing of transactions of blocks of telecommunications services, comprising the steps of:
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receiving service offers comprising a plurality of parameters including rate information from one or more sellers of telecommunications services, each service offer comprising an offer to sell a block of telecommunications services for a route connecting a pair of locations in a network;
receiving service requests from a plurality of buyers of telecommunications services, each service request requesting purchase of a block of telecommunications services, each request comprising a plurality of parameters including a terminating location for the requested telecommunications services;
matching said service requests from the buyers to at least a portion of one or more service offers provided by at least one seller;
identifying one or more routes for routing telecommunications traffic from a first location to a second location based on said matched service requests; and
brokering a transaction that effects a transfer of ownership of at least a portion of the telecommunications services specified in the matched service offers from a seller to a respective buyer. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A system for facilitating the clearing of transactions of blocks of telecommunications services, comprising:
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means for receiving service offers comprising a plurality of parameters including rate information from one or more sellers of telecommunications services, each service offer comprising an offer to sell a block of telecommunications services;
means for receiving service requests from a plurality of buyers of telecommunications services, each service request requesting purchase of a block of telecommunications services, each request comprising a plurality of parameters including a terminating location for the requested telecommunications services;
means for matching said service requests from the buyers to at least a portion of one or more service offers provided by the sellers;
means for identifying one or more routes for routing telecommunications traffic from a first location to a second location based on said matched service requests; and
means for brokering a transaction that effects a transfer of ownership of at least a portion of the telecommunications services specified in the matched service offers from a seller to a respective buyer. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. A method for providing a market for facilitating clearing of telecommunications transactions, comprising:
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receiving service offers from one or more sellers of telecommunications services, each service offer constituting an offer to sell a block of telecommunications services, each service offer comprising a plurality of parameters including price information and a destination location;
identifying buyers for the service offers; and
executing transactions that transfer ownership of blocks of telecommunications services from sellers to buyers. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33)
identifying a communication path for which the buyer has purchased telecommunications services;
providing telecommunications services using the identified communications path.
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33. The method of claim 31, further comprising:
configuring a telecommunications node to route telecommunications traffic from a buyer to a terminating location for which the buyer has purchased telecommunications services.
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34. A method for providing a market for facilitating clearing of telecommunications transactions, comprising:
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receiving communications from one or more sellers of telecommunications services, each communication specifying a price at which the seller is willing to sell a block of telecommunications services;
each seller having an account stored in a memory, each account having a balance;
receiving communications from a plurality of buyers of telecommunications services, each communication specifying a price at which the buyer is willing to purchase a block of telecommunications services, each buyer having an account stored in a memory, each account having a balance;
using the received communications, identifying one or more buyers to purchase telecommunications services from one or more sellers;
executing transactions that transfer ownership of blocks of telecommunications services from sellers to buyers; and
updating the buyer and seller account balances to reflect the executed transactions. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
identifying a communication path for which the buyer has purchased telecommunications services;
providing telecommunications services using the identified communications path.
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40. The method of claim 34, further comprising:
configuring a telecommunications node to route telecommunications traffic from a buyer to a terminating location for which the buyer has purchased telecommunications services.
Specification