System and method for matching an offer with a quote
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method of matching an offer for a product with a quote, comprising:
- at a first computer;
receiving the offer from a customer;
selecting a preferred provider from a group of preferred providers;
obtaining at least one quote for the product from the selected preferred provider;
evaluating the at least one quote from the selected preferred provider to determine if the at least one quote satisfies the offer;
if the at least one quote from the selected preferred provider does not satisfy the offer, repeatedly;
selecting another preferred provider from the group of preferred providers;
obtaining at least one quote for the product from the selected preferred provider; and
evaluating the at least one quote from the selected preferred provider to determine if the at least one quote satisfies the offer;
until the offer is satisfied or until the group of preferred providers is exhausted;
if the group of preferred providers is exhausted without satisfying the offer, attempting to satisfy the offer from a group of non-preferred providers;
if the offer is satisfied from either the group of preferred providers or the group of non-preferred providers, negotiating a purchase of the product from the provider associated with a satisfying quote; and
if the offer is not satisfied from either the group of preferred providers or the group of non-preferred providers, returning an indication that the customer'"'"'s offer was not accepted.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Described is a system and method for matching a customer'"'"'s offer for travel services with quotes from providers of those travel services in a way that allows the providers to negotiate preferential treatment. An online travel service exchanger receives an offer from a customer for travel services, such as airfare. The online travel service exchanger attempts to satisfy the customer'"'"'s offer by retrieving from a global distribution system one or more quotes for the identified travel services. Rather than merely requesting quotes from randomly selected airlines, the online travel service exchanger first requests quotes from one preferred airline at a time in descending order of preference until the offer is satisfied. If no preferred airline satisfies the offer, the online travel service exchanger may request quotes from a group of non-preferred airlines. The online travel service exchanger then satisfies, if possible, the offer with one of the quotes from the non-preferred airlines.
37 Citations
29 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method of matching an offer for a product with a quote, comprising:
at a first computer; receiving the offer from a customer; selecting a preferred provider from a group of preferred providers; obtaining at least one quote for the product from the selected preferred provider; evaluating the at least one quote from the selected preferred provider to determine if the at least one quote satisfies the offer; if the at least one quote from the selected preferred provider does not satisfy the offer, repeatedly; selecting another preferred provider from the group of preferred providers; obtaining at least one quote for the product from the selected preferred provider; and evaluating the at least one quote from the selected preferred provider to determine if the at least one quote satisfies the offer; until the offer is satisfied or until the group of preferred providers is exhausted; if the group of preferred providers is exhausted without satisfying the offer, attempting to satisfy the offer from a group of non-preferred providers; if the offer is satisfied from either the group of preferred providers or the group of non-preferred providers, negotiating a purchase of the product from the provider associated with a satisfying quote; and if the offer is not satisfied from either the group of preferred providers or the group of non-preferred providers, returning an indication that the customer'"'"'s offer was not accepted. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions which, when executed on a computer, comprise:
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receiving from a customer machine an offer representing a value that a customer is willing to exchange for a product; ranking each preferred provider in a plurality of preferred providers according to a preferred criteria; selecting a highest ranked preferred provider from the plurality of preferred providers; and attempting to match the offer from the customer with the highest ranked preferred provider by determining whether a quote obtained from the highest ranked preferred provider satisfies the preferred criteria associated with the highest ranked preferred provider. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A computer system for matching offers with quotes, comprising:
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an online travel service exchanger, including; a web server component configured to interface with a customer machine over a network connection and receive from the customer machine an offer for a product, the offer identifying a cost for the product; a travel server component configured to obtain at least one quote associated with each provider in a plurality of providers to provide the product at a cost, the plurality of providers comprising at least two groups;
a preferred providers group and a non-preferred providers group, each preferred provider having a distinct preference ranking; andthe online travel service exchanger being further configured to attempt to match the offer with each preferred provider in the preferred providers group in descending order of preference. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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Specification