Method and storage medium for obtaining an offer for a sale of a product or a service

• US 7,379,904 B2
• Filed: 02/12/2004
• Issued: 05/27/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/12/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: At&T Delaware Intellectual Property, Inc. (AT&T, Inc.), F/K/A Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation
• Inventors: Tischer, Steven
• Primary Examiner(s): Haq; Naeem
• Assistant Examiner(s): Allen; William J.
• Application Number:
  US10/777,358
• Publication Number:
  US 20050182683A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,566 Days
• Field of Search: 705 26- 27, 705/1, 705/37, 705/14, 235/383, 235/492, 455/73, 455/91, 455/403
• US Class Current: 705/26.4
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0611 Request for offers or quotes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0623 Item investigation

Abstract

Systems and methods for obtaining an offer for a sale of a desired product or a service are provided. The method includes iteratively transmitting a first signal including a first data message using a mobile transceiver device. Each of the first data messages includes information relating to the desired product or service. The method further includes receiving at least one of the first signals having the first data message and determining whether a product or service provider has the desired product or service available for sale. Finally, the method includes transmitting a second signal including a second data message to the mobile transceiver device. The second data message includes an offer to sell the desired product or service.

Claims

1. A method for obtaining an offer for a sale of a desired product or service using electronic devices, comprising:

identifying the desired product or service for a single purchase transaction;

iteratively transmitting a first signal including a first data message using a mobile transceiver device, the first data message having information relating to the desired product or service, the first signal being transmitted to product or service providers within a broadcast range of the mobile transceiver device regardless of identities of the product or service providers and abilities of the product or service providers to provide the desired product or service;

receiving the first signal having the first data message and determining whether at least one of the product or service providers has the desired product or service available for sale;

wherein iteratively transmitting the first signal further comprises cycling through multiple digital communication protocols to iteratively transmit the first signal;

transmitting a second signal including a second data message to the mobile transceiver device, the second data message containing an offer to sell the desired product or service;

receiving a plurality of additional offers to sell the desired product or service from a plurality of vendors prior to a completion of the single purchase transaction;

organizing the offer to sell the desired product or service and the plurality of additional offers to sell the desired product or service on a screen of the mobile transceiver device prior to a completion of the single purchase transaction; and

deleting a subset of the offer to sell the desired product or service and the plurality of additional offers to sell the desired product or service in response to the subset failing to meet a desired criterion prior to a completion of the single purchase transaction.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the information in the first data message includes a product or service identifier and a desired price of the desired product or service.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the information in the first data message further includes a request expiration date wherein an offer to sell the desired product or service is not desired after the request expiration date.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the offer to sell the product or the service in the second data message includes a product or service identifier and a price of the desired product or service.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the offer to sell the desired product or service in the second data message further includes an offer expiration date wherein the offer to sell expires afier the offer expiration date.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the mobile transceiver device comprises a cellular telephone.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the product or service providers directly receive the first signal having the first data message at a store location.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the transmission of the first signal occurs at predetermined time intervals.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the mobile transceiver device comprises a cellular telephone including a display screen, the method further including:

receiving the second signal by the cellular telephone; and

displaying the second data message from the second signal on the display screen.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein iteratively transmitting the first signal includes iteratively transmitting the first signal through multiple communication protocols to transmit the first signal in each protocol.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the second message containing the offer to sell the desired product or service includes a predetermined number of data messages having offers for sale with the lowest prices.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising determining a first communication protocol to iteratively transmit the first signal.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising determining a second communication protocol to transmit the second signal.

14. The method of claim 1 further comprising cycling through multiple communication protocols to transmit the second signal.

15. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising transmitting a third signal including a third data message to the mobile transceiver device, the third data message containing an additional offer to sell the desired product or service.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein the mobile transceiver device comprises a cellular telephone including a display screen and keypad, the method further including:

receiving the second and third signal by the cellular telephone; and

displaying the second and third data messages from the second signal and third signal, respectively, on the display screen in response to a generation of a signal indicative of a key selection from the keypad to view the second and third data massages.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the multiple digital protocols include CDMA, TDMA, and GSM.

18. A storage medium encoded with machine-readable computer program code for obtaining an offer for a sale of a desired product or service, the storage medium including instructions for causing at least one device operatively associated with a system to implement a method comprising:

identifying the desired product or service for a single purchase transaction;

iteratively transmitting a first signal including a first data message using a mobile transceiver device, the first data message having information relating to the desired product or service, the first signal being transmitted to product or service providers within a broadcast range of the mobile transceiver device regardless of identities of the product or service providers and abilities of the product or service providers to provide the desired product or service;

receiving the first signal having the first data message and determining whether at least one of the product or service providers has the desired product or service available for sale;

wherein iteratively transmitting the first signal further comprises cycling through multiple digital communication protocols to iteratively transmit the first signal;

transmitting a second signal including a second data message to the mobile transceiver device, the second data message containing an offer to sell the desired product or service;

receiving a plurality of additional offers to sell the desired product or service from a plurality of vendors prior to a completion of the single purchase transaction;

organizing the offer to sell the desired product or service and the plurality of additional offers to sell the desired product or service on a screen of the mobile transceiver device prior to a completion of the single purchase transaction; and

deleting a subset of the offer to sell the desired product or service and the plurality of additional offers to sell the desired product or service in response to the subset failing to meet a desired criterion prior to a completion of the single purchase transaction.

19. The storage medium of claim 18, wherein the multiple digital protocols include CDMA, TDMA, and GSM.