System and method for pairing providers with consumers of online goods and services

• US 7,596,515 B2
• Filed: 01/05/2007
• Issued: 09/29/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/24/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Intellectual Property Development Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intellectual Property Development Corporation
• Inventors: Eckel, John R. Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): Garg; Yogesh C
• Application Number:
  US11/620,567
• Publication Number:
  US 20070124165A1
• Time in Patent Office: 998 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26, 705/27, 705/1, 705/14, 705/17, 705/400, 709/217, 709/201, 709/202, 709/203, 707/10
• US Class Current: 705/26.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/204 comprising interface for record bearing medium or carrier for electronic funds transfer or payment credit
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0257 User requested
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0271 Personalized advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0282 Rating or review of business operators or products
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0613 Third-party assisted
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0625 Directed, with specific intent or strategy
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0629 for generating comparisons
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes

Abstract

A method and system is provided that operates as an intelligent intermediary between online consumers and providers of goods and services. The system operates to receive a request initiated by a consumer and transmitted over a global communication network (e.g., the Internet), said request comprised of a highly intuitive and simple domain name (e.g., INEEDACAB.COM) further associated with a large family of domain names (e.g., INEEDAHOTELROOM.COM and INEEDHOMEREPAIRS.COM) each of which includes a common domain name element (e.g., INEED). In response to receiving the request, the system determines the subject matter of the request and operates to select at least one name of at least one provider related to the subject matter using a name linking policy. Thereafter, the system operates to forward the selected at least one name of the at least one provider to the consumer, along with comparative pricing and availability information regarding goods and services offered by the selected provider(s), allowing the consumer to make optimized choices regarding which provider(s) with whom to communicate and, optionally, transact business. Privacy and payment instructions, consumer preferences, provider history and other instructive information for each consumer are maintained by the system in a common database to further facilitate commercial transactions between a consumer and a provider.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

maintaining a database of personal information relating to a consumer, the database associated with a plurality of domain names and the personal information including a list of preferences identified by the consumer or by prior selections thereby;

receiving a request initiated by the consumer and transmitted over a global communication network to a server system associated with the plurality of domain names, wherein the request includes one of the plurality of domain names and the domain name included in the request includes an identification of a subject of the request;

identifying, responsive to the received request initiated by the consumer and based upon the request and the preferences in the database, at least one available selection;

forwarding the identified at least one available selection from said server system to said consumer, wherein said consumer is subsequently capable of choosing a specific selection from the identified at least one available selection; and

updating the personal information based on the consumer choosing the specific selection, wherein the updated personal information is accessible by the server system for use in connection with a subsequent request initiated by the consumer that includes a different one of the plurality of domain names, with the domain name included in the subsequent request including an identification of the subject of the subsequent request.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising updating the personal information based on the consumer choosing the specific selection, wherein the updated personal information is accessible by the server system for use in connection with a subsequent request initiated by the consumer that includes a different one of the plurality of domain names, with the domain name included in the subsequent request including an identification of the subject of the subsequent request.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of domain names includes a common domain name element, said domain name identifying a category of subject matter without identifying a specific selection therefrom, said common domain name element is in the form INEEDSUBJECT.XXX, where “

SUBJECT”

is a consumer-selected subject matter object and “

XXX”

is a consumer-selected, top-level extension of the domain name.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein identifying at least one available selection further includes using a name linking policy to select the at least one available selection while utilizing one or a combination of subject matter information, demographic information and geographic information.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the global communication network is the Internet.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising creating a customized presentation for use by said consumer, said customized presentation containing the identified at least one available selection and detailed information about the at least one available selection.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the customized presentation is selected from the group consisting of:

web page, Wireless Application Protocol, and other data communication formats.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said consumer-provided personal information relating to the consumer includes personal preferences, payment instructions, and privacy instructions.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising operating, within said server system, as an intermediary between said consumer and a provider associated with the specific selection, wherein the intermediary is associated with the at least one domain name.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said personal information relating to the consumer includes privacy instructions submitted by the consumer, and the method further comprises enabling the consumer to interact with the interaction being in accordance with the privacy instructions submitted by said consumer.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said privacy instructions include instructions to make information, alternatively, freely available, available only when authorized by said consumer, or never available to the provider or third parties.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein operating as an intermediary further includes enabling said consumer to purchase goods or services of the provider in accordance with payment instructions submitted by said consumer and stored within said database.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein operating as an intermediary further includes the steps of tracking and awarding rewards based on selections made by said consumer.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein operating as an intermediary further includes tracking and ranking a satisfaction level of said consumer.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein said request includes a common name identifying a category of subject matter without identifying a particular selection therefrom, and identifying at least one available selection includes using the common name and a name linking policy to select the at least one available selection while utilizing one or a combination of demographic information and geographic information of the consumer.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing, within said system, information associated with said consumer including at least one of a personal preference, a payment instruction, and a privacy instruction.

17. A system comprising:

a database for storing information associated with a consumer, the database associated with a plurality of domain names and the information including a list of preferences identified by the consumer or by prior selections made thereby; and

a server for receiving a request initiated by said consumer and transmitted over a global communication network, the server associated with the plurality of domain names and the request including one of the plurality of domain names, with the domain name included in the request including an identification of a subject of the request, said server further including;

a module for identifying, responsive to the received request and based upon said request and said preferences stored in the database, at least one available selection; and

a controller for forwarding the identified at least one available selection to said consumer, wherein said consumer is then capable of choosing a specific selection from the identified at least one available selection, the server being further operable to;

update the information associated with the consumer based on the specific selection; and

access the updated information for use in connection with a subsequent request initiated by said consumer, wherein the subsequent request includes a different one of the plurality of domain names and the domain name included in the subsequent request identifying a subject of the subsequent request.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein each of the plurality of domain names includes a common domain name element, and said common domain name element is represented as INEEDSUBJECT.XXX, where “

SUBJECT”

is a subject matter object and “

XXX”

is a top-level extension for the domain name.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein said module is operable to identify the at least one available selection using one or a combination of subject matter information, demographic information, and geographic information associated with said consumer and stored in said database.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the subject matter information is maintained by the system in a database accessible by all domains of the system.

21. The system of claim 17, wherein said module is operable to select the at least one available selection using one or a combination of demographic information and geographic information.

22. A computer-implemented_method comprising:

maintaining a database of personal information relating to a consumer;

receiving a request initiated by the consumer and transmitted over a global communication network to a server system, said request comprising a uniform resource locator (URL) having a single set of characters forming a plurality of fields, a first field having a common name as between different requests and a second field identifying a subject matter category without identifying a specific selection therefrom;

automatically identifying at the server system a plurality of selections associated with the subject matter category based on the second field of the request initiated by the consumer without additional search information being directly provided by the consumer;

automatically identifying at the server system at least one specific selection from the plurality of selections based on the personal information relating to the consumer; and

forwarding the identified at least one specific selection from said server system to said consumer.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the URL is in the form INEEDSUBJECT.XXX, where “

INEED”

is the common name, “

SUBJECT”

is a consumer-selected subject matter object, and “

XXX”

is a consumer-selected, top-level extension of the URL.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein automatically identifying at least one specific selection further includes the step of using a name linking policy to identify the at least one specific selection while utilizing one or a combination of subject matter information, demographic information and geographic information maintained in the database of personal information.

25. The method of claim 22, wherein said personal information includes one or more of personal preferences of the consumer towards providers of goods/services, payment instructions and privacy instructions.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein said privacy instructions include instructions to make information, alternatively, freely available, available only when authorized by said consumer, or never available to the chosen provider or third parties.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein said payment instructions include instructions to complete transactions for said consumer in an anonymous manner.

28. The method of claim 25, wherein said payment instructions include instructions to complete transactions using a card number of the system and to rebill said consumer for said complete transactions.

29. A system comprising:

a database storing personal information relating to a consumer;

a server for receiving a request initiated by the consumer and transmitted over a global communication network, the request comprising a uniform resource locator (URL) having a single set of characters forming a plurality of fields, a first field having a common name as between different requests and a second field identifying a subject matter category without identifying a specific selection therefrom, wherein the server further includes;

at least one module adapted to;

automatically identify a plurality of selections associated with the subject matter category based on the second field of the request initiated by the consumer without additional search information being directly provided by the consumer; and

automatically identify at least one specific selection from the plurality of selections based on the personal information relating to the consumer; and

a controller adapted to forward the identified at least one specific selection from the server to the consumer.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein the URL is in the form INEEDSUBJECT.XXX, where “

INEED”

is the common name, “

SUBJECT”

is a consumer-selected subject matter object, and “

XXX”

is a consumer-selected, top-level extension of the URL.

31. The system of claim 29, wherein automatically identifying at least one specific selection further includes the step of using a name linking policy to identify the at least one specific selection while utilizing one or a combination of subject matter information, demographic information and geographic information maintained in the database of personal information.

32. The system of claim 29, wherein the personal information includes one or more of personal preferences of the consumer towards providers of goods/services, payment instructions and privacy instructions.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein the privacy instructions include instructions to make information, alternatively, freely available, available only when authorized by said consumer, or never available to the chosen provider or third parties.