Method and system for facilitating opportunistic transactions using auto-probes

• US 6,778,968 B1
• Filed: 03/17/1999
• Issued: 08/17/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 03/17/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: ViaLogy LLC (Yourgene Health Plc)
• Original Assignee: Vialogy Corp.
• Inventors: Gulati, Sandeep
• Primary Examiner(s): Millin, Vincent
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kanof, Pedro R.
• Application Number:
  US09/271,096
• Time in Patent Office: 1,980 Days
• Field of Search: 705/37, 705/36
• US Class Current: 705/36.00R
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/03 Credit; Loans; Processing thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/06 Asset management; Financial planning or analysis

Abstract

An automated internet based exchange system is described for controlling the exchanging of ownership interests in objects on a secondary market. The automated exchange includes one or more sub-exchanges for maintaining information representative of secondary market transactions and for controlling said transactions. The automated exchange includes a secondary portfolio auction sub-exchange, a pricing and valuation services sub-exchange, an electronic contract negotiation services sub-exchange and a delivery and auditing service sub-exchange. The automated exchange also includes a logic switch manager that creates opportunistic auctions from a transaction for a product or service so as to trigger further auctions or service sales on the same or different secondary markets.

Claims

1. A system for transferring an ownership interest in a secondary market object comprising:

a user input device for receiving information regarding the secondary market objects;

a database coupled to said user input device for storing the information regarding the secondary market objects;

a marketplace coupled to said database, accessible by a plurality of users, for the transfer of ownership interests in the secondary market objects; and

one or more sub-exchanges coupled to said marketplace each providing services complimentary to the transfer of the ownership interest in the secondary market objects, wherein said sub-exchanges are chosen from the group comprising;

an auction sub-exchange;

a valuation services sub-exchange;

a contract negotiation services sub-exchange; and

a delivery and auditing services sub-exchange.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein secondary portfolio auction sub-exchange includes

means for accessing an auto-probes database storing information pertaining to a plurality of conditional alert subscriptions and conditional portfolio purchase/sale offers; and

means for arbitrating among conflicting conditional alert subscriptions and conditional portfolio purchase/sale offers.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein said pricing and valuation services sub-exchange includes:

means for modeling revenue using subscriber-provided models; and

means for modeling revenue using exchange-provided models.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the said electronic contract negotiation services includes:

an augmented Gelfand-Naimark Segal (GNS) construction unit for communicating transaction data; and

dynamic bid state means for storing information pertaining to most recent bids offered by subscribers.

5. The system of claim 4 further including

portfolio encoding means for parameterizing portfolio sale or purchase offers provided by subscribers for storage by the transaction data storage means.

6. The system of claim 4 further including

means for identifying object and service transaction opportunities based upon the transaction information maintained by said sub-exchanges, said means for identifying including logic switch means for selectively controlling information flow among said sub-exchanges based upon said transaction information so as to exploit information maintained in separate sub-exchanges.

7. The system of claim 6

wherein said means for identifying transaction opportunities operates to input a conditional alert from an external source identifying a possible opportunity;

and

wherein said logic switching means operates as a focal attentive switch to activate information flow between selected sub-exchanges based upon the explicit conditional alert to identify additional transaction opportunities.

8. The system of claim 6

wherein said logic switching means operates as a pre-attentive switch to activate information flow between selected sub-exchanges based upon transaction information maintained by the sub-exchanges.

9. The system of claim 6

wherein information maintained by a sub-exchanges includes portfolio requirements received from external sources representative of transactions that participants to the sub-exchange wish to consummate;

and

wherein said logic switch means include means for converting portfolio requirements maintained by the plurality of sub-exchanges into active auto-probes and means for comparing a plurality of auto-probes to identify transaction opportunities.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the means for converting and electronically manipulating the portfolio requirements into active auto-probes employs a Gelfand-Naimark-Segal (GNS) construction.

11. An automated exchange system for controlling the exchanging of ownership interests in objects on at least one secondary market, wherein the objects have a dynamic value affected by time-varying external factors, said exchange system including:

a plurality of sub-exchange means for maintaining information representative of secondary market transactions and for controlling said transactions; and

means for identifying transaction opportunities based upon the transaction information maintained by said sub-exchange means, said means for identifying including logic switch means for selectively controlling information flow among said sub-exchange means based upon said transaction information so as to exploit information maintained in the separate sub-exchanges.

12. The system of claim 11

wherein said means or identifying transaction opportunities operates to input a conditional alert from an external source identifying a possible opportunity; and

wherein said logic switching means operates as a focal attentive switch to activate information flow between selected sub-exchange means based upon the explicit conditional alert to identify additional transaction opportunities.

13. The system of claim 12

wherein said external source identifying a possible opportunity identified by said means for identifying transaction opportunities is a different secondary market.

14. The system of claim 11

wherein said logic switching means operates as a pre-attentive switch to activate information flow between selected sub-exchange means based upon transaction information maintained by the sub-exchanges.

15. The system of claim 11

wherein information maintained by a sub-exchange means includes portfolio requirements received from external sources representative of transactions that participants to the sub-exchange wish to consummate;

and

wherein said logic switch means include means for converting portfolio requirements maintained by the plurality of sub-exchange means into active auto-probes and means for comparing a plurality of auto-probes to identify transaction opportunities.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the means for converting the portfolio requirements into active auto-probes employs a Gelfand-Naimark-Segal (GNS) construction.

17. A system for controlling an auction directed to secondary market objects, said system comprising:

an input unit for inputting parameters from a participant in the auction identifying an object to be sold, said object being a secondary market object having a dynamic value affected by time-varying external factors;

a dynamic value updating unit for inputting parameters representative of the external factors;

a valuation unit for estimating a value of the secondary object based on the external factors;

a selective information unit configured to permit the participant to selectively suppress the estimate of the value to third party users of the auction based on criteria determined by the participant; and

an auction unit for auctioning the object among the participants.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the secondary market object is selected from a group including commercial real estate loans, automobile leases, credit card financing, individual direct financing, corporate direct financing, home mortgages, equipment leases, bankruptcy debt, delinquent debt, and student loans.

19. The system of claim 17 wherein the external factors are selected from a group including securitization factors, primary market factors, bond yields, coupon rates, money supply factors, the prime rate, currency exchange rates, economic indicators, housing starts, and consumer debt.

20. The system of claim 17 wherein said valuation unit is configured to provide a current estimate of the value.

21. The system of claim 17 wherein said valuation unit is configured to provide a projection of the future value of the object as a function of time.

22. The system of claim 17 wherein said valuation unit includes:

means for estimating the value based upon a sub-set of a total set of factors affecting the value of the object;

means for inputting a selection from a participant in the auction of a particular sub-set of factors for use in the estimation; and

means for providing the estimate based upon the sub-set to only the participant making the selection.

23. The system of claim 17 wherein said selective information unit includes means for assessing a fee to each participant receiving the estimate.

24. The system of claim 17 wherein means for selectively providing the estimate of the value to participants in the auction includes means for assessing a fee to each participant receiving the estimate.

25. The system of claim 17 further including means for assessing an exchange commission if the object is sold.

26. The system of claim 25 wherein an amount of said commission is based upon a total amount of time the object is presented for auction before a bid is received.

27. The system of claim 26 wherein said amount of said commission is reduced to zero after a pre-determined amount of time.

28. The system of claim 17 further including means for permitting a participant to place an escrow lock on said object.

29. The system of claim 28 further including means for assessing a fee to the participant placing the escrow lock on the object.

30. The system of claim 17 further including means for permitting a participant to place a lock on said means for estimating the value of the object.

31. The system of claim 30 further including means for assessing a fee to the participant placing a lock on the means for estimating the value of the object.

32. The system of claim 17 further including

means for inputting parameters representative of an object to be purchased from a participant in the auction;

and

means for determining whether there are any objects offered for sale that conform to the parameters.

33. The system of claim 32 wherein said parameters representative of an object to be purchased are selected from a group consisting of current value, geographic location, yield, risk rating, term.

34. The system of claim 32 wherein the means for determining whether there are any objects offered for sale that conform to the parameters includes

means for periodically estimating the values of all objects offered for sale;

and

means for alerting the participant when an object is identified that conforms to the requirements of the participant.

35. The system of claim 17 further comprising auditing means for auditing said auctioned object.

36. The system of claim 35 wherein said auditing means are provided by an outside party.

37. The system of claim 17 further comprising delivery means for transferring the auctioned object to the purchaser.

38. The system of claim 37 wherein said delivery means are provided by an outside party.

39. The system of claim 17 further comprising servicing means for servicing any post-auction requirements for said auctioned object.

40. The system of claim 39 wherein said servicing means are provided by an outside party.

41. The system of claim 17 wherein the means for estimating a value of the secondary object includes an electronic interface permitting third parties to receive information pertaining to the secondary object to value the secondary object and to convey the value to the participant.

42. The system of claim 41 wherein said third parties may charge the participant a fee for valuing the secondary object.