Conditional purchase offer (CPO) management system for packages

• US 6,553,346 B1
• Filed: 09/04/1997
• Issued: 04/22/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 09/04/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Priceline.com LLC (Booking Holdings, Inc., fka Priceline Group Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Priceline Com Incorporated (Booking Holdings, Inc., fka Priceline Group Inc.)
• Inventors: Jorasch, James A., Tedesco, Daniel E., Walker, Jay S., Case, T. Scott, Vanluchene, Andrew S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Poinvil, Frantzy
• Application Number:
  US08/923,683
• Time in Patent Office: 2,056 Days
• Field of Search: 705/1, 705/38, 705/39, 705/211-27, 380/23, 380/25, 902/22, 902/24, 902/25
• US Class Current: 705/26.35
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/00 Payment architectures, schemes or protocols apparatus for performing or posting payment transactions G07F7/08, G07F19/00; electronic cash registers G07G1/12
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/02 involving a neutral party, e.g. certification authority, notary or trusted third party [TTP]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/04 Payment circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/12 specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/209 Specified transaction journal output feature, e.g. printed receipt or voice output
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/24 Credit schemes, i.e. "pay after"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/403 Solvency checks
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0609 Buyer or seller confidence or verification
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/03 Credit; Loans; Processing thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 9/026 for alarm, monitoring and auditing in vending machines or means for indication, e.g. when empty

Abstract

A conditional purchase offer (CPO) management system for receiving and processing CPOs for packages of component goods or services. The package CPO management system preferably deconstructs an overall package CPO into component CPOs which are individually offered to sellers. If each component CPO of a given package CPO is accepted, the package CPO management system binds the buyer, on behalf of each of the accepting sellers, to purchase the entire package. An offer price for each component CPO is preferably calculated by initially determining the total market price of the package based on the market price of each individual component good or service within the package. The package CPO management system then calculates an offer price for each component CPO based on the total price offered by the buyer for the entire package (as adjusted by a reserved margin, if appropriate) multiplied by the ratio of the market price of the respective component CPO to the total market price of the package. As each individual component CPO is accepted by a seller, the package CPO management system preferably enters a “pre-bind” agreement with the seller, whereby the component good or service is reserved for a predefined time period to pen-nit the package CPO management system to complete the processing of the remaining active component CPOs. The package CPO management system preferably provides an optional agency feature that permits the package CPO management system to accept or reject a given component CPO on behalf of certain sellers who have delegated such authority to the package CPO management system.

Claims

1. A method of using a computer to process the sale of a package of component items, comprising the steps of:

obtaining, using said computer, a purchase offer for said package from a customer, said purchase offer containing a description of each component item and a payment identifier for specifying a general-purpose account from which funds may be paid;

deconstructing by said computer said package purchase offer into a plurality of component purchase offers each having a component price;

providing said component purchase offers to a plurality of potential sellers;

receiving from one or more of said sellers an acceptance of said component purchase offers;

binding said customer to purchase said package if an acceptance is received for each of said component purchase offers; and

preventing said customer from identifying said component price.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of initiating the use of said payment identifier to collect said funds.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein said component purchase offers are offered at a component price.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein said purchase offer includes a total price and a portion of said total price is reserved as a margin.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising filtering said component purchase offers provided to said sellers based on the industry associated with each component purchase offer and the industry of said sellers.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of entering a preliminary agreement with each seller accepting a component purchase offer, whereby the component item associated with said accepted component purchase offer is reserved for a predefined time period.

6. A method of using a computer to process the sale of a package of component items, comprising the steps of:

obtaining, using a computer, a purchase offer for said package from a customer, said purchase offer containing a description of each component item and a payment identifier for specifying a general-purpose account from which funds may be paid;

deconstructing by said computer said package purchase offer into a plurality of component purchase offers each having a component price, and wherein said component price of each component is based on the percentage of the market value of the component item to the market value of the package;

providing said component purchase offers to a plurality of potential sellers;

receiving from one or more of said sellers an acceptance of said component purchase offers; and

binding said customer to purchase said package if an acceptance is received for each of said component purchase offers.

8. A method of using a computer to process the sale of a package of component items, comprising the steps of:

obtaining, using said computer, a purchase offer for said package from a customer, said purchase offer containing a description of each component item and a payment identifier for specifying a general-purpose account from which funds may be paid;

deconstructing by said computer said package purchase offer into a plurality of component purchase offers each having a component price;

providing said component purchase offers to a plurality of potential sellers;

increasing the component price of one or more of said component purchase offers that remain unaccepted by said sellers after a predefined time period;

receiving from one or more of said sellers an acceptance of said component purchase offers;

binding said customer to purchase said package if an acceptance is received for each of said component purchase offers.

9. A method of using a computer to process the sale of a package of component items, comprising the steps of:

obtaining, using said computer, a purchase offer for said package from a customer, said purchase offer containing a description of each component item and a payment identifier for specifying a general-purpose account from which funds may be paid;

deconstructing by said computer said package purchase offer into a plurality of component purchase offers;

providing said component purchase offers to a plurality of potential sellers, in a serial order based on the likelihood that each component item of the package will be accepted by a seller;

receiving from one or more of said sellers an acceptance of said component purchase offers; and

binding said customer to purchase said package if an acceptance is received for each of said component purchase offers.

10. A method of using a computer to process the sale of a package of component items, comprising the steps of:

obtaining, using said computer, a purchase offer for said package from a customer, said purchase offer containing at least one customer-defined condition for each of said component items and a total price;

deconstructing by said computer said package purchase offer into a plurality of component purchase offers each having a component price;

identifying one or more rules from a plurality of sellers of said component items, each of said rules containing one or more seller-defined restrictions;

comparing one or more of said component purchase offers to said rules to determine whether any of said sellers is willing to accept said component purchase offer if said customer-defined condition satisfies said seller-defined restrictions of at least one of said rules;

providing said package of component items to said customer if each of said component purchase offers is acceptable; and

preventing said customer from identifying said component price.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein said component purchase offers are offered at a component price.

12. The method according to claim 10, further comprising the step of entering a preliminary agreement with each seller accepting a component purchase offer, whereby the component item associated with said accepted component purchase offer is reserved for a predefined time period.

13. The method according to claim 10, wherein said purchase offer includes a total price and a portion of said total price is reserved as a margin.

14. The method according to claim 10, further comprising filtering said component purchase offers provided to said sellers based on the industry associated with each component purchase offer and the industry of said sellers.

15. The method according to claim 10, wherein said component purchase offers are provided to said sellers in a serial order based on the likelihood that each component item of the package will be accepted by a seller.

16. A method of using a computer to process the sale of a package of component items, comprising the steps of:

obtaining, using said computer, a purchase offer for said package from a customer, said purchase offer containing at least one customer-defined condition for each of said component items;

deconstructing by said computer said package purchase offer into a plurality of component purchase offers each having a component price, wherein said component price of each component is based on the percentage of the market value of the component item to the market value of the package;

identifying one or more rules from a plurality of sellers of said component items, said rules containing one or more seller-defined restrictions;

comparing one or more of said component purchase offers to said rules to determine whether any of said sellers is willing to accept said component purchase offer if said customer-defined condition satisfies said seller-defined restrictions of at least one of said rules; and

providing said package of component items to said customer if each of said component purchase offers is acceptable.

17. A method of using a computer to process the sale of a package of component items, comprising the steps of:

obtaining, using said computer, a purchase offer for said package from a customer, said purchase offer containing at least one customer-defined condition for each of said component items;

deconstructing by said computer said package purchase offer into a plurality of component purchase offers;

identifying one or more rules from a plurality of sellers of said component items, said rules containing one or more seller-defined restrictions;

comparing one or more of said component purchase offers to said rules to determine whether any of said sellers is willing to accept said component purchase offer if said customer-defined condition satisfies said seller-defined restrictions of at least one of said rules;

increasing the component price of one or more of said component purchase offers that remain unaccepted by said sellers after a predefined time period; and

providing said package of component items to said customer if each of said component purchase offers is acceptable.

18. A method of using a computer to process the sale of a package of component items, comprising the steps of:

obtaining, using said computer, a purchase offer for said package from a customer, said purchase offer containing a description of each component item;

deconstructing said package purchase offer into a plurality of component purchase offers;

providing each of said component purchase offers to a plurality of potential sellers;

receiving from one or more of said sellers an acceptance of each of said component purchase offers at a component price; and

preventing said customer from identifying said component price.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein said component purchase offers are offered at a component offer price.

20. The method according to claim 19, wherein said component offer price of each component is based on the percentage of the market value of the component item to the market value of the total package.

21. The method according to claim 19, further comprising the step of increasing the component offer price of one or more of said component purchase offers that remain unaccepted by said sellers after a predefined time period.

22. The method according to claim 18, further comprising the step of entering a preliminary agreement with each seller accepting a component purchase offer, whereby the component item associated with said accepted component purchase offer is reserved for a predefined time period.

23. The method according to claim 18, wherein said purchase offer includes a total price and a portion of said total price is reserved as a margin.

24. The method according to claim 18, further comprising the step of filtering said component purchase offers provided to said sellers based on the industry associated with each component purchase offer and the industry of said sellers.

25. The method according to claim 18, wherein said component purchase offers are provided to said sellers in a serial order based on the likelihood that each component item of the package will be accepted by a seller.

26. A method of using a computer to process the sale of a package of component items, comprising the steps of:

obtaining, using said computer, a purchase offer for said package from a customer, said purchase offer containing at least one customer-defined condition for each of said component items and a total price;

deconstructing by said computer said package purchase offer into a plurality of component purchase offers each having a component price;

providing each of said component purchase offers to a plurality of potential sellers;

receiving from one or more of said sellers an acceptance of each of said component purchase offers at a component price and an identification of a component product satisfying said customer-defined condition;

binding said customer to purchase said package if an acceptance is received for each of said component purchase offers; and

preventing said customer from identifying said component price.

27. The method according to claim 26, wherein said component purchase offers are offered at a component price.

28. The method according to claim 26, further comprising the step of entering a preliminary agreement with each seller accepting a component purchase offer, whereby the component item associated with said accepted component purchase offer is reserved for a predefined time period.

29. The method according to claim 26, wherein a portion of said total price is reserved as a margin.

30. The method according to claim 26, further comprising the step of filtering said component purchase offers provided to said sellers based on the industry associated with each component purchase offer and the industry of said sellers.

31. A method of using a computer to process the sale of a package of component items, comprising the steps of:

obtaining, using said computer, a purchase offer for said package from a customer, said purchase offer containing at least one customer-defined condition for each of said component items and a total price;

deconstructing by said computer said package purchase offer into a plurality of component purchase offers each having a component price, and wherein said component price of each component is based on the percentage of the market value of the component item to the market value of the package;

providing each of said component purchase offers to a plurality of potential sellers;

receiving from one or more of said sellers an acceptance of each of said component purchase offers at a component price and an identification of a component product satisfying said customer-defined condition; and

binding said customer to purchase said package if an acceptance is received for each of said component purchase offers.

32. A method of using a computer to process the sale of a package of component items, comprising the steps of:

obtaining, using said computer, a purchase offer for said package from a customer, said purchase offer containing at least one customer-defined condition for each of said component items and a total price;

deconstructing by said computer said package purchase offer into a plurality of component purchase offers each having a component price;

providing each of said component purchase offers to a plurality of potential sellers;

increasing the component price of one or more of said component purchase offers that remain unaccepted by said sellers after a predefined time period;

receiving from one or more of said sellers an acceptance of each of said component purchase offers at a component price and an identification of a component product satisfying said customer-defined condition; and

binding said customer to purchase said package if an acceptance is received for each of said component purchase offers.

33. A method of using a computer to process the sale of a package of component items, comprising the steps of:

obtaining, using said computer, a purchase offer for said package from a customer, said purchase offer containing at least one customer-defined condition for each of said component items and a total price;

deconstructing by said computer said package purchase offer into a plurality of component purchase offers;

providing each of said component purchase offers to a plurality of potential sellers in a serial order based on the likelihood that each component item of the package will be accepted by a seller;

receiving from one or more of said sellers an acceptance of each of said component purchase offers at a component price and an identification of a component product satisfying said customer-defined condition; and

binding said customer to purchase said package if an acceptance is received for each of said component purchase offers.

34. A system for processing the sale of a package of component items comprising:

a communications port to receive a purchase offer for said package from a customer, said purchase offer containing a description of each component item and a payment identifier for specifying a general-purpose account from which funds may be paid; and

a processor to (1) deconstruct said package purchase offer into a plurality of component purchase offers including component prices, (2) determine if each of said component purchase offers are accepted by one or more potential sellers and thereby bind customer to purchase said package if an acceptance is received for each of said component purchase offers, and (3) prevent said customer from identifying said component prices.

35. A system for processing the sale of a package of component items comprising:

a communications port for obtaining a purchase offer for said package from a customer and for obtaining one or more rules from a plurality of sellers of said component items, said purchase offer containing at least one customer-defined condition for each of said component items and each of said rules containing one or more seller-defined restrictions; and

a processor to;

deconstruct said package purchase offer into a plurality of component purchase offers each having a component price;

compare one or more of said component purchase offers to said rules to determine whether any of said sellers is willing to accept said component purchase offer if said customer-defined condition satisfies said seller-defined restrictions of at least one of said rules;

provide said package of component items to said customer if each of said component purchase offers is acceptable; and

prevent said customer from identifying said component price.

36. A method of using a computer to process the sale of a package of component items, comprising:

obtaining, using a computer, a package purchase offer from a customer, said package purchase offer containing a description of each component items, at least one customer-defined condition for each component item, a total price and a payment identifier for specifying a general-purpose account from which funds may be paid;

identifying one or more rules from a plurality of sellers of said component items, each of said rules containing one or more seller-defined restrictions;

comparing said package purchase offer to said rules to determine whether said sellers are willing to accept components of said package purchase offer if said customer-defined condition satisfies said seller-defined restrictions of at least one of said rules;

binding said customer to purchase said package if each component of said package purchase offer is acceptable is acceptable; and

preventing said customer from identifying component prices.

37. The method of claim 36 further comprising deconstructing said package purchase offer into a plurality of component purchase offers.

38. A system for processing the sale of a package of component items, comprising:

a memory device; and

a processor disposed in communication with said memory device, said processor configured to;

obtain a package purchase offer from a customer, said package purchase offer containing a description of each component item, at least one customer-defined condition for each component item, a total price and a payment identifier for specifying a general-purpose account from which funds may be paid;

identify one or more rules from a plurality of sellers of said component items, each of said rules containing one or more seller-defined restrictions;

compare said package purchase offer to said rules to determine whether said sellers are willing to accept components of said package purchase offer if said customer-defined condition satisfies said seller-defined restrictions of at least one of said rules;

bind said customer to purchase said package if each component of said package purchase offer is acceptable; and

prevent said customer from identifying component prices of said component items.

39. The system of claim 38 wherein said processor is further configured to deconstruct said package purchase offer into a plurality of component purchase offers.

40. A system for processing the sale of a package of component items, comprising:

means for obtaining a package purchase offer from a customer, said package purchase offer containing a description of each component item, at least one customer-defined condition for each component item, a total price and a payment identifier for specifying a general-purpose account from which funds may be paid;

means for identifying one or more rules from a plurality of sellers of said component items, each of said rules containing one or more seller-defined restrictions;

means for comparing said package purchase offer to said rules to determine whether said sellers are willing to accept components of said purchase offer if said customer-defined condition satisfies said seller-defined restrictions of at least one of said rules;

means for binding said customer to purchase said package if each component of said package purchase offer is acceptable; and

means for preventing said customer from identifying component prices of said components.

41. The system of claim 40 further comprising means for deconstructing said package purchase offer into a plurality of component purchase offers.