Performing predictive pricing based on historical data

• US 7,346,520 B2
• Filed: 02/10/2006
• Issued: 03/18/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/27/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: University of Washington
• Inventors: Knoblock, Craig A., Etzioni, Oren, Tuchinda, Rattapoom, Yates, Alexander
• Primary Examiner(s): Dixon; Thomas A.
• Assistant Examiner(s): NELSON, FREDA ANN
• Application Number:
  US11/352,420
• Publication Number:
  US 20070021991A1
• Time in Patent Office: 767 Days
• Field of Search: 705/1, 705/27, 705/400, 235/384
• US Class Current: 705/1.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/201 Price look-up processing, e.g. updating
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0202 Market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0206 Price or cost determination based on market factors
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0611 Request for offers or quotes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 Energy or water supply

Abstract

Techniques are described for using predictive pricing information for items to assist in evaluating buying and/or selling decisions in various ways, such as on behalf of end-user item acquirers and/or intermediate item providers. The predictive pricing for an item may be based on an analysis of historical pricing information for that item and/or related items, and can be used to make predictions about future pricing information for the item. Such predictions may then be provided to users in various ways to enable comparison of current prices to predicted future prices. In some situations, predictive pricing information is used to assist customers when purchasing airline tickets and/or to assist travel agents when selling airline tickets. This abstract is provided to comply with rules requiring an abstract, and it is submitted with the intention that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims.

Claims

1. A method in a computing system for providing information on airline tickets to customers, the method comprising:

providing information about prices for airline tickets that were previously offered to customers for airline flights between origins and destinations for multiple airlines;

analyzing the provided information to predict price trends for airline tickets between origins and destinations;

receiving a request from a customer for pricing information relating to desired airline flights between a desired origin and a desired destination for a desired departure date;

when a predicted price trend indicates that a future price will be lower than a current price for a desired airline flight,

offering to sell an airline ticket for that desired airline flight to the customer at an offered price that is between the current price and the future price; and

when the customer accepts the offer, purchasing on behalf of the customer the airline ticket for that desired airline flight after the price drops below the offered price; and

when a predicted price trend indicates that a future price will not be lower than the current price for the desired airline flights, advising the customer that a future price will likely not be lower.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the analyzing of the provided information includes aggregating price information about airline tickets for a time range.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the analyzing of the provided information includes aggregating price information about airline tickets for multiple airlines.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the analyzing of the provided information includes aggregating price information about airline tickets for multiple airports.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein when a predicted price trend indicates that a future price will not be lower than the current price for the desired airline flights, advising the customer to purchase an airline ticket for one of the desired airline flights at the current price.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein when a customer is advised that a future price will likely not be lower, offering price protection to the customer.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein when the customer accepts the price protection and when a future price drops below the current price, providing a discount to the customer.

8. A method in a computing system for providing information on airline tickets to customers, the method comprising:

providing information about prices for airline tickets that were previously offered to customers for airline flights between origins and destinations for multiple airlines;

analyzing the provided information to predict price trends for airline tickets between origins and destinations;

receiving a request from a customer for pricing information relating to desired airline flights between a desired origin and a desired destination for a desired departure date;

providing to the customer a likely direction of future price changes for a desired airline flight;

offering price protection to the customer based on the likely direction of future price changes; and

when the customer accepts the offer for price protection and the provided likely direction of future price changes turns out to be incorrect, providing additional benefit to the customer.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the additional benefit includes providing a refund of a desired airline ticket purchased by the customer.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein the customer purchases the desired airline ticket at the current price and the future price drops below the current price.

11. The method of claim 8 including:

when the customer does not accept the offer of price protection, when a predicted price trend indicates that a future price will be lower than a current price for a desired airline flight,

offering to sell an airline ticket for that desired airline flight to the customer at an offered price that is between the current price and the future price; and

when the customer accepts the offered price, purchasing on behalf of the customer the airline ticket for that desired airline flight after the price drops below the offered price.

12. The method of claim 8 including:

when the customer does not accept the offer of price protection, when a predicted price trend indicates that a future price will not be lower than the current price for the desired airline flights, advising the customer that a future price will likely not be lower.

13. The method of claim 8 wherein the analyzing of the provided information includes aggregating price information about airline tickets for a time range.

14. The method of claim 8 wherein the analyzing of the provided information includes aggregating price information about airline tickets for multiple airlines.

15. The method of claim 8 wherein the analyzing of the provided information includes aggregating price information about airline tickets for multiple airports.

16. The method of claim 8 wherein when a predicted price trend indicates that a future price will not be lower than the current price for the desired airline flights, advising the customer to purchase an airline ticket for a desired airline flight at the current price.

17. The method of claim 8 wherein the providing of information about prices for airline tickets that were previously offered to customers for airline flights is for a specified interval of time.