Automated method and system for facilitating market transactions
First Claim
1. In a computer system, having one or more processors or virtual machines, one or more memory units, one or more input devices and one or more output devices, optionally a network, and optionally shared memory supporting communication among the processors, a computer implemented method for automatically finding the best matches between buyers'"'"' requests and sellers'"'"' offerings in a market of products or services, wherein such products or services are described by a plurality of arbitrary attributes, and for representing those matches in computer memory, and for communicating those matches, and for executing commitments based on those matches, said method comprising a microprocessor or virtual machine:
- (a) creating a buyers abstract representation of a plurality of intrinsic or extrinsic attributes of a request, and the relationship between at least one utility of the request and at least one state of the plurality of attributes;
(b) creating a sellers abstract representation of a plurality of intrinsic or extrinsic attributes of an offer, and the relationship between the total price of the offering and at least one state of the plurality of attributes;
(c) computing a rating for overall buyer'"'"'s satisfaction of the plurality of attributes of a request with respect to a given offer;
(d) determining the quantity and identity of assignments of sellers'"'"' offerings to buyers'"'"' requests, within the constraints of each party'"'"'s stated extrinsic attributes, that produces the best set of matches for a given market;
(e) capturing market data from market transactions and using the market data to automatically predict costs of attribute states in hypothetical transactions by steps comprising;
(i) recording the request and offer data, along with the transaction price and quantity, for the committed transactions, and for other transactions that scored sufficiently well, and for requests and offers that were not matched in the market;
(ii) inferring market value relationships from other data sources, such as sellers'"'"' advertisements, and or buyers'"'"' requests for proposals;
(iii) using of mathematical function approximation techniques for constructing market value functions that describe the relationship between price and the states of various intrinsic or extrinsic attributes in a hypothetical market;
(f) automatically joining buyers'"'"' requests in a consortium by steps comprising;
(i) forming the best partition of the buyers'"'"' requests into groups or singletons of requests whose representation of attributes can be satisfied by the same seller offering;
(ii) forming the combined abstract representation of the requests for the consortium, said representation which will satisfy each buyer in the consortium;
(iii) constructing an artificial negotiating entity that will represent at least one consortium, and can conceal the identities of the buyers in the consortium; and
(g) optionally signaling that the quantities and identities of assignments are accepted and that the transaction is committed by buyers and sellers.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention relates to a method for finding the best match between buyers (or buyers consortiums) and sellers (or sellers consortiums), by a set of software intermediaries, and for using the information developed in those matches to define monetary and performance commitments between parties, and to create fair distribution of the benefits of the agreement among the respective participants. The system solves three related optimization problems concurrently: the optimal aggregation of individual buyers into buyers consortiums; the optimal aggregation of individual sellers into sellers consortiums, and the optimal match of requirements, posed by the buyers consortium, to offers, posed by the sellers consortium.
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Citations
56 Claims
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1. In a computer system, having one or more processors or virtual machines, one or more memory units, one or more input devices and one or more output devices, optionally a network, and optionally shared memory supporting communication among the processors, a computer implemented method for automatically finding the best matches between buyers'"'"' requests and sellers'"'"' offerings in a market of products or services, wherein such products or services are described by a plurality of arbitrary attributes, and for representing those matches in computer memory, and for communicating those matches, and for executing commitments based on those matches, said method comprising a microprocessor or virtual machine:
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(a) creating a buyers abstract representation of a plurality of intrinsic or extrinsic attributes of a request, and the relationship between at least one utility of the request and at least one state of the plurality of attributes; (b) creating a sellers abstract representation of a plurality of intrinsic or extrinsic attributes of an offer, and the relationship between the total price of the offering and at least one state of the plurality of attributes; (c) computing a rating for overall buyer'"'"'s satisfaction of the plurality of attributes of a request with respect to a given offer; (d) determining the quantity and identity of assignments of sellers'"'"' offerings to buyers'"'"' requests, within the constraints of each party'"'"'s stated extrinsic attributes, that produces the best set of matches for a given market; (e) capturing market data from market transactions and using the market data to automatically predict costs of attribute states in hypothetical transactions by steps comprising; (i) recording the request and offer data, along with the transaction price and quantity, for the committed transactions, and for other transactions that scored sufficiently well, and for requests and offers that were not matched in the market; (ii) inferring market value relationships from other data sources, such as sellers'"'"' advertisements, and or buyers'"'"' requests for proposals; (iii) using of mathematical function approximation techniques for constructing market value functions that describe the relationship between price and the states of various intrinsic or extrinsic attributes in a hypothetical market; (f) automatically joining buyers'"'"' requests in a consortium by steps comprising; (i) forming the best partition of the buyers'"'"' requests into groups or singletons of requests whose representation of attributes can be satisfied by the same seller offering; (ii) forming the combined abstract representation of the requests for the consortium, said representation which will satisfy each buyer in the consortium; (iii) constructing an artificial negotiating entity that will represent at least one consortium, and can conceal the identities of the buyers in the consortium; and (g) optionally signaling that the quantities and identities of assignments are accepted and that the transaction is committed by buyers and sellers. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A computer data processing system comprising:
at least one processor or virtual machine;
at least one memory unit;
one or more input devices and one or more output devices, optionally at least one on network;
optionally at least one memory shared among one or more processors;
for automatically finding the best matches between buyers'"'"' requests and sellers'"'"' offerings in a market of products or services, wherein such products or services are described by a plurality of arbitrary attributes for representing those matches in computer memory, and for communicating those matches, and for executing commitments based on those matches, comprising;(a) a module implementing a buyer'"'"'s abstract representation of a plurality of intrinsic and extrinsic attributes of a request, and the relationship between at least one utility of the request and at least one state of the plurality of attributes; (b) a module implementing a seller'"'"'s abstract representation of a plurality of intrinsic or extrinsic attributes of an offer, and the relationship between the total price of the offering and at least one state of the plurality of attributes; (c) a module implementing a means for computing a rating for overall buyers'"'"' satisfaction of a plurality of attributes of a request with respect to a given offer; (d) a module implementing a means for determining the quantity and identity of assignments of sellers'"'"' offerings to buyers'"'"' requests, within the constraints of each party'"'"'s stated extrinsic attributes, that produces the best set of matches for a given market; (e) a module implementing a means for capturing market value data from market transactions and using the data to automatically predict the costs of attribute states in hypothetical transactions, wherein the system further comprises; (i) a module implementing a means for recording the request and offer data, along with the transaction price and quantity, for the committed transactions, and for other transactions that scored sufficiently well, and for requests and offers that were not matched in the market; (ii) a module implementing a means for inferring market value relationships from other data sources, such as sellers'"'"' advertisements, and or buyers'"'"' requests for proposals; (iii) a module implementing a means for using mathematical function approximation techniques for constructing market value functions that describe the relationship between price and the states of various attributes in a hypothetical market; (f) a module implementing a means for automatically joining buyers'"'"' requests in a consortium, wherein the system further comprises; (i) a module implementing a means for forming the best partition of the buyers'"'"' requests into groups or singletons of requests whose representation of attributes can be satisfied by the same seller offering; (ii) a module implementing a means for forming the combined abstract representation of the requests for the consortium which will satisfy each buyer in the consortium; (iii) a module implementing a means for constructing an artificial negotiating entity that will represent at least one consortium and can conceal the identities of the buyers in the consortium; and g optionally a module implementing a means for signaling that the quantities and identities of assignments are accepted and that the transaction is committed by buyers and sellers. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52)
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53. In a computer system, having one or more processors or virtual machines, one or more memory units, one or more input devices and one or more output devices, optionally a network, and optionally shared memory supporting communication among the processors, a computer implemented method for automatically providing a market for products or services, wherein such products or services are described by a plurality of arbitrary attributes, and for constructing matches between buyers'"'"' requests and sellers'"'"' offerings, and for representing those matches in computer memory, and for maintaining the market and for executing that market and for executing commitments based on that market, said method comprising a microprocessor or virtual machine:
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(a) creating a buyer'"'"'s specification of a plurality of intrinsic or extrinsic attributes of a request, including at least one attribute that represents at least one market protocol and a representation of the buyer'"'"'s preference for the market protocol; (b) creating a seller'"'"'s specification of a plurality of intrinsic or extrinsic attributes including at least one market protocol and a representation of the seller'"'"'s preference for the market protocol; (c) constructing the at least one market where the market protocol specified by the buyer and the market protocol specified by the seller are compatible; (d) providing at least one executable market protocol to act in accordance with the market protocol and preference specified by the buyer and the market protocol and preference specified by the seller; (e) executing the market protocol; (f) capturing market data from market transactions and using the market data to automatically predict costs of attribute states in hypothetical transactions by steps comprising; (i) recording the request and offer data, along with the transaction price and quantity, for the committed transactions, and for other transactions that scored sufficiently well, and for requests and offers that were not matched in the market; (ii) inferring market value relationships from other data sources, such as sellers'"'"' advertisements, and or buyers'"'"' requests for proposals; (iii) using of mathematical function approximation techniques for constructing market value functions that describe the relationship between price and the states of various intrinsic or extrinsic attributes in a hypothetical market; (g) automatically joining buyers'"'"' requests in a consortium by steps comprising; (i) forming the best partition of the buyers'"'"' requests into groups or singletons of requests whose representation of attributes can be satisfied by the same seller offering; (ii) forming the combined abstract representation of the requests for the consortium, said representation which will satisfy each buyer in the consortium; (iii) constructing an artificial negotiating entity that will represent at least one consortium, and can conceal the identities of the buyers in the consortium; (h) optionally executing at least one market transaction; and (i) optionally signaling that the quantities and identities of assignments committed by the market transaction. - View Dependent Claims (54, 55, 56)
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Specification