Interactive demand management

• US 7,440,918 B2
• Filed: 04/05/2001
• Issued: 10/21/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/05/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Liberty Peak Ventures, LLC (Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC)
• Original Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (American Express Company)
• Inventors: Contratto, Dale, Hand, Richard, Birbara, Linda, Berkley, John M., Corbett, Pat, Levine, Tom, Boyle, Edward J., Gonzales, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Poinvil, Frantzy
• Assistant Examiner(s): GRAHAM, CLEMENT B
• Application Number:
  US09/827,031
• Publication Number:
  US 20030208436A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,756 Days
• Field of Search: 705 35- 38, 705/26
• US Class Current: 705/37
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0206 Price or cost determination based on market factors
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0605 Supply or demand aggregation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/03 Credit; Loans; Processing thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

A system and method is disclosed which allows the aggregation of the demands of various buyers, providing an incentive for suppliers to bid to supply those demands in an auction. The system and method operates by scanning a database which contains a listing of goods or services sought by various people or entities. Thereafter, similar goods or services are grouped together and presented to various vendors. The vendors are given the opportunity to bid on the group of similar goods or services. Such a bid may vary from the originally purchased goods or services as long as the bid is within a predetermined range. The vendor which presents the optimum bid within a predetermined period of time is selected as the provider of the goods or services and proceeds to supply the goods or services at the bid upon amount.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for facilitating an auction of a travel service comprising:

compiling, at a travel reservations database, a first user profile based on first consumer rules defined by a first consumer, wherein said first consumer rules relate to departure time, arrival time, airport pair, class, and seating;

storing said first user profile in said reservations database;

compiling, at said travel reservations database, a first organization profile based on first organization rules defined by a first organization, wherein said first organization rules relate to departure time, arrival time, airport pair, class, and seating;

storing said first organization profile in said reservations database;

compiling, at a travel reservations database, a second user profile based on second consumer rules defined by a second consumer, wherein said second consumer rules relate to departure time, arrival time, airport pair, class, and seating;

storing said second user profile in said reservations database;

compiling, at said travel reservations database, a second organization profile based on second organization rules defined by a second organization, wherein said second organization rules relate to departure time, arrival time, airport pair, class, and seating;

storing said second organization profile in said reservations database;

establishing, via said travel reservations database, a network connection with a plurality of Customer Reservations Systems, wherein one of said plurality of Customer Reservations Systems was used to book travel reservations to create one of a plurality of consumer itineraries;

analyzing, via said travel reservations database, said plurality of consumer itineraries stored at said plurality of Customer Reservations Systems to identify similar itineraries, wherein said similar itineraries include a similar departure time, similar arrival time, similar airport pair, similar class, and similar seating, and wherein said similar itineraries comprise reserved travel arrangements with a first vendor;

retrieving, at said travel reservations database, said first user profile and said first organization profile corresponding to a first itinerary, wherein said first itinerary is one of said similar itineraries;

retrieving, at said travel reservations database, said first user profile and said first organization profile corresponding to a second itinerary, wherein said second itinerary is one of said similar itineraries;

comparing, at said travel reservations database, said first consumer rules and said first organization rules relating to said first itinerary to said second consumer rules and said second organization rules relating to said second itinerary to determine when said first itinerary and said second itinerary match within a predefine threshold defined within said first consumer rules, said first organization rules, said second consumer rules, and said second organization rules;

grouping, at said travel reservations database, said first itinerary and said second itinerary to create a subset of consumer itineraries;

retrieving, from said travel reservations database, a said subset of said consumer itineraries;

providing, via said travel reservations database, said subset of consumer itineraries to a vendor offering a travel service;

accepting, at said travel reservations database, a bid from said vendor to provide said travel service to said first consumer and said second consumer associated with said subset of said consumer itineraries based on an ability of said vendor to accommodate within a said predefine threshold defined within said first consumer rules, said first organization rules, said second consumer rules, and said second organization rules;

verifying, at said travel reservations database, that said bid is in accordance with said said predefine threshold defined within said first consumer rules, said first organization rules, said second consumer rules, and said second organization rules;

confirming, at said travel reservations database, that said bid is an optimum bid; and

,

modifying a second subset of said plurality of itineraries of said subset of consumer itineraries to include said travel arrangements with a second different vendor according to said bid, wherein said second subset of consumer itineraries does not include said second different vendor.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising notifying, via said travel reservations database, at least one of:

said first consumer and said second consumer of said optimum bid.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said confirming step comprises determining when said bid provides optimum savings for at least one of:

said first consumer and said second consumer.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said verifying step comprises evaluating said bid based on a proposed price and a proposed provision of said travel service.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said storing step comprises storing in said travel reservations database a deviation to said first consumer rules and said second consumer rules.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said storing step comprises storing in said travel reservations database a restriction upon a deviation from at least one of:

said first consumer rules, said second consumer rules, said first organization rules, and said second organization rules.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said travel service comprises at least one of an airline reservation, automobile rental reservation, and hotel reservation.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said retrieving step comprises scanning said travel reservations database to determine rows of said consumer information with a similar at least one of said first consumer rules, second consumer rules, said first organization rules, and said second organization rules, placing said rows of a similar at least one of said first consumer rules, second consumer rules, said first organization rules, and said second organization rules into said subset of said consumer itineraries, wherein said travel reservations database comprises a plurality of rows.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein an individual row of said rows is placed into a plurality of said subset of said consumer itineraries.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein said rows are similar when at least one of said first consumer rules, said second consumer rules, said first organization rules, and said second organization rules differ by less than a predetermined criteria.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said first consumer rules and said second consumer rules include at least two of price, scheduling preferences, departure airport, destination airport, departure date, departure time, arrival data, arrival time, seating preferences, and special accommodations.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein said first organization rules and said second organization rules include restrictions relating to at least two of price, scheduling preferences, departure airport, destination airport, departure date, departure time, arrival data, arrival time, seating preferences, and special accommodations.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein reserved travel arrangements comprise at least one of contractually obligated and booked travel reservations.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein said second different vendor more closely matches at least one of:

said first consumer rules, said second consumer rules, said first organization rules, and said second organization rules.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein said second subset of said plurality of itineraries of said subset of consumer itineraries is not modified when said second different vendor does not provide said optimum bid.

16. A machine-readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of instructions, said plurality of instructions when executed by a processor, cause said processor to perform a method comprising the steps of:

compiling, at a travel reservations database, a first user profile based on first consumer rules defined by a first consumer, wherein said first consumer rules relate to departure time, arrival time, airport pair, class, and seating;

storing said first user profile in said reservations database;

compiling, at said travel reservations database, a first organization profile based on first organization rules defined by a first organization, wherein said first organization rules relate to departure time, arrival time, airport pair, class, and seating;

storing said first organization profile in said reservations database;

compiling, at a travel reservations database, a second user profile based on second consumer rules defined by a second consumer, wherein said second consumer rules relate to departure time, arrival time, airport pair, class, and seating;

storing said second user profile in said reservations database;

compiling, at said travel reservations database, a second organization profile based on second organization rules defined by a second organization, wherein said second organization rules relate to departure time, arrival time, airport pair, class, and seating;

storing said second organization profile in said reservations database;

establishing, via said travel reservations database, a network connection with a plurality of Customer Reservations Systems, wherein one of said plurality of Customer Reservations Systems was used to book travel reservations to create one of a plurality of consumer itineraries;

analyzing, via said travel reservations database, said plurality of consumer itineraries stored at said plurality of Customer Reservations Systems to identify similar itineraries, wherein said similar itineraries include a similar departure time, similar arrival time, similar airport pair, similar class, and similar seating, and wherein said similar itineraries comprise reserved travel arrangements with a first vendor;

retrieving, at said travel reservations database, said first user profile and said first organization profile corresponding to a first itinerary, wherein said first itinerary is one of said similar itineraries;

retrieving, at said travel reservations database, said first user profile and said first organization profile corresponding to a second itinerary, wherein said second itinerary is one of said similar itineraries;

comparing, at said travel reservations database, said first consumer rules and said first organization rules relating to said first itinerary to said second consumer rules and said second organization rules relating to said second itinerary to determine when said first itinerary and said second itinerary match within a predefine threshold defined within said first consumer rules, said first organization rules, said second consumer rules, and said second organization rules;

grouping, at said travel reservations database, said first itinerary and said second itinerary to create a subset of consumer itineraries;

retrieving, from said travel reservations database, a said subset of said consumer itineraries;

providing, via said travel reservations database, said subset of consumer itineraries to a vendor offering a travel service;

accepting, at said travel reservations database, a bid from said vendor to provide said travel service to said first consumer and said second consumer associated with said subset of said consumer itineraries based on an ability of said vendor to accommodate within a said predefine threshold defined within said first consumer rules, said first organization rules, said second consumer rules, and said second organization rules;

verifying, at said travel reservations database, that said bid is in accordance with said said predefine threshold defined within said first consumer rules, said first organization rules, said second consumer rules, and said second organization rules;

confirming, at said travel reservations database, that said bid is an optimum bid; and

,

modifying a second subset of said subset of consumer itineraries to include said travel arrangements with a second different vendor according to said bid, wherein said second subset of consumer itineraries does not include said second different vendor.