Method and system for constructing price structures for complex products and services
First Claim
1. A method of providing a price structure for a transaction relating to a complex product or service to be provided by multiple providers in a business relationship, within an electronic commerce back-end platform, and comprising:
- providing a product administration interface for the providers to define their respective revenue streams for the product or service, and to collaboratively define business rules to determine a price structure of a tangible product provided by one or more of the multiple providers or a service rendered by one or more of the multiple providers;
providing a customer interface for performing a transaction with respect to the product or service at a transaction price;
providing within a computer memory, responsive to both the product administration interface and the customer interface, a pricing tree of price components for a unit of each transaction with respect to the product or service, the components comprising;
a first revenue stream representing funds to be distributed in whole or in part to a first provider; and
a second revenue stream representing funds to be distributed in whole or in part to a second provider; and
the revenue streams altogether making up the transaction price;
wherein the components stay discretely allocated in the pricing tree, and wherein the components of the pricing tree are stored independently from the product or service, and wherein the components are automatically accounted for within the computer memory to permit the funds to be distributed at predetermined.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The invention provides a system and method for constructing and maintaining a price structure for an e-commerce transaction relating to a complex product or service. A pricing tree is built of “price components” which include discrete revenues, price adjustments, taxes, and disbursements (such as royalties). Separate revenue streams, which may be allocated to different service providers, may have independent adjustment, tax, and disbursement treatments. Attributes may also be used in the calculation of separate components. Time-date adjustments and rate package adjustments are also supported. The system allows both automated calculation and accounting using the pricing tree. Transactions are supported by a modular e-commerce back-end platform.
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Citations
49 Claims
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1. A method of providing a price structure for a transaction relating to a complex product or service to be provided by multiple providers in a business relationship, within an electronic commerce back-end platform, and comprising:
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providing a product administration interface for the providers to define their respective revenue streams for the product or service, and to collaboratively define business rules to determine a price structure of a tangible product provided by one or more of the multiple providers or a service rendered by one or more of the multiple providers; providing a customer interface for performing a transaction with respect to the product or service at a transaction price; providing within a computer memory, responsive to both the product administration interface and the customer interface, a pricing tree of price components for a unit of each transaction with respect to the product or service, the components comprising; a first revenue stream representing funds to be distributed in whole or in part to a first provider; and a second revenue stream representing funds to be distributed in whole or in part to a second provider; and the revenue streams altogether making up the transaction price;
wherein the components stay discretely allocated in the pricing tree, and wherein the components of the pricing tree are stored independently from the product or service, and wherein the components are automatically accounted for within the computer memory to permit the funds to be distributed at predetermined. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 47)
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20. A system for providing a price structure for a transaction relating to a complex product or service to be provided by multiple providers in a business relationship, the system operating within an electronic commerce back-end platform, and comprising:
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a product administration interface capable of receiving definitions from the providers of their respective price components and accepting business rules that have been collaboratively defined by the providers for manipulating their components, wherein the business rules are used to determine a price structure of a tangible product provided by one or more of the multiple providers or a service rendered by one or more of the multiple providers; a customer interface capable of receiving information from a customer initiating the transaction with respect to the product or service at a transaction price; a processor, in communication with the product administration interface and the customer interface, and executing software, the software comprising; a pricing tree builder using the business rules for building a pricing tree of components for each transaction with respect to the product or service, the pricing tree including; a first revenue stream representing funds to be distributed to a first provider; a second revenue stream representing funds to be distributed to a second provider; and the revenue streams altogether making up the transaction price; and a computer storage in communication with the processor for storing the business rules and components and the information, the storage capable of storing the components discretely in the pricing tree, and wherein the components of the pricing tree are stored independently from the product or service, to permit the funds to be distributed at predetermined intervals to the providers and to permit periodic reporting to the providers. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 48)
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46. A software program stored on a computer-readable medium, the software program comprising:
a pricing tree builder for providing a pricing tree of price components for a customer transaction with respect to a tangible product provided by one or more providers or a service rendered by one or more providers, the components being passed to the software from business rules defined collaboratively by multiple providers of a complex product or service in a business relationship with values passed to the software from a customer interface, wherein the business rules are used to determine a price structure of the tangible product or rendered service, the components representing the business relationship between the multiple providers and including; a first revenue stream representing funds to be distributed to a first provider; a second revenue stream representing funds to be distributed to a second provider; the revenue streams altogether making up a transaction price payable by the customer; and wherein the components are discretely stored during and after the transaction in the pricing tree, independently from the product or service itself, to permit the funds to be distributed at predetermined intervals to the providers and to permit periodic reporting to the providers. - View Dependent Claims (49)
Specification