Method and apparatus for generating a sale offer over an electronic network system

• US 7,263,505 B1
• Filed: 06/30/2000
• Issued: 08/28/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Triumvirate Systems LLC (Jeffrey M. Gross)
• Original Assignee: Kyklos Entertainment Srl
• Inventors: Forlai, Luigi
• Primary Examiner(s): Subramanian, Narayanswamy
• Application Number:
  US09/609,142
• Time in Patent Office: 2,615 Days
• Field of Search: 705 35- 37, 705/1, 705/14, 705/80, 705/26
• US Class Current: 705/37
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06375 Prediction of business process outcome or impact based on a proposed change
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0211 Determining the effectiveness of discounts or incentives
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0222 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0609 Buyer or seller confidence or verification
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

A method and apparatus are provided for generating a sale offer over an electronic network (such as the Internet). The method and apparatus may be used with a commercial sale system designed to increase the revenue income of Web site by offering, at a substantially discounted or virtually free basis, one more goods and/or services to visitors of the Web site. According to the features of the invention, the seller (who may be the owner or co-owner of the Web site) transmits a sale offer on the Web site for a high quality good or service, wherein the good or service can be purchased for free or a cost near to zero. The seller may make the offer visible and available to a number of perspective buyers, who are connected at that very moment to the Web site. According to an additional aspect of the invention, the sale offer may be available for only a very limited amount of time (e.g., one or more minutes) and may be offered at random or unpredictable times on the Web site in order to increase Web traffic to the site.

Claims

1. A method of advertising a Web site by making a sale offer over an electronic network system, comprising the steps of:

randomly generating an offer to purchase a product or service on the electronic network system at an offer price that is substantially equal to a delivery price associated with sending the offered product or service to the buyer, the delivery price being less than a current value of the offered product or service in a competitive market;

communicating the randomly generated offer through the electronic network system at an unknown start time after one or more potential buyers visit the Web site and for a predetermined duration of time while the one or more potential buyers remain visiting the Web site;

completing the sale of the product or service at the offer price through the electronic network system in response to an acceptance of the offer at the offer price by a buyer visiting the Web site within the predetermined period of time; and

removing the offer at the offer price from the electronic network system should the buyer visiting the Web site not accept the offer at the offer price within the predetermined period of time.

2. A method of advertising on a Web site by making a sale offer over an electronic network system, comprising:

randomly displaying at least one offer to accept a product or service at an offer price substantially equal to a delivery price of the offered product or service to one or more potential recipients visiting a Web site on the electronic network system at an unknown start time while the one or more potential recipients are visiting the Web site, the delivery price being substantially less than a current value of the offered product or service in a competitive marketplace;

providing an opportunity for the one or more potential recipients visiting the Web site on the electronic network system to accept the at least one randomly displayed offer within a limited duration of time;

receiving an indication of acceptance of the randomly displayed offer at the offer price from the one or more potential recipients visiting the Web site on the electronic network system;

completing the sale of the product or service through the electronic network system in response to an acceptance of the offer at the offer price by the one or more potential recipients visiting the Web site on the electronic network system; and

removing the offer at the offer price from the Web site on the electronic network system should the one or more potential recipients visiting the Web site not accept the offer at the offer price within the limited duration of time.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of randomly displaying the offer includes the step of providing a random frequency device for displaying the at least one sale offer in an unpredictable manner.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of randomly displaying the offer includes displaying the offer to a potential recipient on the electronic network system for a predetermined duration of time.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of randomly displaying the offer includes randomly displaying a plurality of offers on the electronic network system during a predetermined period of time.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising controlling the frequency of randomly displaying the plurality of offers on the electronic network system.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein controlling the frequency of randomly displaying the plurality of offers includes increasing a number of unknown sale offer start times when a number of potential recipients on the electronic network system increases.

8. The method of claim 2, further comprising selecting one of a plurality of different types of product or services offered to the one or more potential recipients on the electronic network system.

9. The method of claim 2, further comprising selecting one of a plurality of different types of products or services offered based on a profile of the one or more potential recipients on the electronic network system.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the profile of the one or more potential recipients on the electronic network system is based on a history of Internet web sites visited by the one or more potential recipients on the electronic network system.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein randomly generating an offer includes providing the seller with the opportunity to randomly display one of a plurality of different types of products or services on the electronic network system based on a plurality of different types of content displayed on the electronic network system.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein randomly generating an offer includes randomly displaying a first type of product or service that matches content displayed at a first location within the electronic network system and randomly displaying a second type of product or service that matches content displayed at a second location within the electronic network system.

13. The method of claim 2, further comprising the steps of:

receiving, through the electronic network system, a first indication of acceptance from a potential recipient on the electronic network system in response to the display of the at least one randomly generated sale offer;

displaying at least one term associated with the at least one randomly generated sale offer in response to the first indication of acceptance;

receiving a second indication of acceptance from the potential recipient on the electronic network system in response to the display of the at least one term associated with the at least one randomly generated sale offer;

displaying an acceptance form to the potential recipient on the electronic network system in response to the second indication of acceptance from the potential recipient;

receiving a third indication of acceptance from the potential recipient on the electronic network system in response to the display of the acceptance form for forming a purchase agreement concerning the offered product or service;

displaying at least one payment method option in response to the third indication of acceptance;

receiving at least one payment method selection from the potential recipient on the electronic network system in response to the display of the at least one payment method option;

transferring a sum corresponding to the selected payment method from the potential recipient to the seller; and

requesting delivery of the offered product or service to the potential recipient.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the at least one term associated with the randomly generated sale offer comprises an offer price substantially equal to a delivery price associated with the sale offer transaction.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the at least one term associated with the randomly generated sale offer comprises an offer price substantially equal to a delivery price associated with the sale offer transaction, the delivery price being less than a current price of the offered product or service in a competitive market.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the at least one payment method option comprises a credit card payment option or a cash-upon-delivery payment option.

17. The method of claim 13, further comprising the step of withdrawing the at least one randomly generated sale offer in the event the potential recipient does not indicate acceptance within a predetermined period of time after the step of displaying the at least one randomly generated sale offer.

18. The method of claim 13, further comprising the step of withdrawing the at least one randomly generated sale offer in the event the potential recipient does not indicate acceptance within a predetermined period of time after the step of displaying the at least one term associated with the at least one randomly generated sale offer.

19. The method of claim 13, further comprising the step of withdrawing the at least one randomly generated sale offer in the event the potential recipient does not indicate acceptance within a predetermined period of time after the step of displaying the acceptance form.

20. The method of claim 13, further comprising the step of withdrawing the at least one randomly generated sale offer in the event the potential recipient does not indicate acceptance within a predetermined period of time after the step of displaying the at least one payment method option.

21. The method of claim 13, further comprising the step of determining if a predetermined monetary amount is available to transfer from the potential recipient to the seller.

22. A method of advertising a Web site of an electronic network system by randomly offering products or services on the Web site, comprising:

providing a random frequency device for randomly displaying an offer to one or more potential recipients visiting the Web site on the electronic network system to accept a product or service at a offer price substantially equal to zero, the randomly displayed offer having an unpredictable start time;

providing an opportunity for the one or more potential recipients visiting the Web site on the electronic network system to accept the randomly displayed offer at the offer price within a predetermined duration of time;

receiving an indication of acceptance of the randomly displayed offer from the one or more potential recipients visiting the Web site on the electronic network system;

completing the sale of the product or service at the offer price through the electronic network system in response to an acceptance of the offer at the offer price by the one or more potential recipients visiting the Web site on the electronic network system; and

removing the offer at the offer price from Web site on the electronic network system should the one or more potential recipients visiting the Web site not accept the offer at the offer price within the predetermined duration of time.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising controlling the frequency of randomly displaying the plurality of offers on the electronic network system.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein controlling the frequency of randomly displaying the plurality of offers includes increasing a number of unknown sale offer start times when a number of potential recipients on the electronic network system increases.

25. The method of claim 22, further comprising selecting one of a plurality of different types of products or services offered based on a profile of the one or more potential recipients on the electronic network system.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the profile of the one or more potential recipients on the electronic network system is based on a history of Internet web sites visited by the one or more potential recipients on the electronic network system.

27. The method of claim 22, wherein randomly generating an offer includes providing the seller with the opportunity to randomly display one of a plurality of different types of products or services on the electronic network system based on a plurality of different types of content displayed on the electronic network system.

28. The method of claim 22, wherein the electronic network system comprises a plurality of rooms each displaying different types of content, and the step of randomly generating an offer includes randomly displaying a first type of product or service that matches content displayed at a first room within the electronic network system and randomly displaying a second type of product or service that matches content displayed at a second room within the electronic network system.

29. A method of advertising a Web site on an electronic network system by randomly offering products or services on the Web site, comprising:

a step for randomly displaying an offer to one or more potential recipients visiting the Web site on the electronic network system to accept a product or service at an offer price substantially equal to zero plus a cost associated with shipping the product or service to the buyer, the randomly displayed offer having an unpredictable start time;

a step for providing an opportunity for the one or more potential recipients visiting the Web site on the electronic network system to accept the randomly displayed offer at the offer price within a predetermined duration of time;

a step for receiving an indication of acceptance of the randomly displayed offer at the offer Price from the one or more potential recipients visiting the Web site on the electronic network system;

a step for completing the sale of the product or service at the offer price through the electronic network system in response to an acceptance of the offer at the offer price by the one or more potential recipients visiting the Web site on the electronic network system; and

a step for removing the offer from the electronic network system should the one or more potential recipients visiting the Web site not accept the offer at the offer price within the predetermined duration of time.

30. The method of claim 29, further comprising a step for controlling the frequency of randomly displaying the plurality of offers on the electronic network system.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein controlling the frequency of randomly displaying the plurality of offers includes increasing a number of unknown sale offer start times when a number of potential recipients on the electronic network system increases.

32. The method of claim 29, further comprising a step for selecting one of a plurality of different types of products or services offered based on a profile of the one or more potential recipients on the electronic network system.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein the profile of the one or more potential recipients on the electronic network system is based on a history of Internet web sites visited by the one or more potential recipients on the electronic network system.

34. The method of claim 29, wherein randomly generating an offer includes providing the seller with the opportunity to randomly display one of a plurality of different types of products or services on the electronic network system based on a plurality of different types of content displayed on the electronic network system.

35. The method of claim 29, wherein the electronic network system comprises a plurality of rooms each displaying different types of content, and the step for randomly generating an offer includes randomly displaying a first type of product or service that matches content displayed at a first room within the electronic network system and randomly displaying a second type of product or service that matches content displayed at a second room within the electronic network system.