Pricing and auctioning of bundled items among multiple sellers and buyers
First Claim
1. A method of providing pricing for a bundle of items to a user from a bundle search engine, comprising:
- providing a bundle search engine configured to collect and analyze information regarding members of a bundle submitted by a buyer;
obtaining, via a first electronic interface provided by the bundle search engine, from the buyer bundle attributes for the members, the bundle attributes including criticality information representing a measure of desirability for inclusion of at least one of the members in the bundle, and including a price acceptance measure and a store choice, wherein the store choice specifies one or more acceptable stores from which the user may purchase a bundle and one or more stores which are excluded from consideration;
selecting automatically, by the bundle search engine, a common one of the members based on the criticality information;
identifying automatically, by the bundle search engine, sub-bundles according to the bundle attributes, the sub-bundles having alternative combinations of the members that compose the bundle, wherein each of the combinations includes the common member, and at least one of the members of the sub-bundles is not selected by the user;
calculating prices automatically, by the bundle search engine, for additional versions of the bundle that include the alternative sub-bundles;
configuring a second electronic interface to display the prices and the members of the additional versions of the bundle; and
allowing the buyer to purchase at least one of the additional versions of the bundle via the bundle search engine.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A number of sets of methods and apparatuses applicable to online shopping are disclosed. One set, “Bin Packing Methods with Approximate Membership”, includes methods in pricing and auctioning a bundle of items, some of which could belong to another bundle. Significantly, the membership of a bundle, during pricing and auction, could change. Another set, the “Shopping Console”, puts a structure into the online shopping experience, so that through one interface various shopping activities can be facilitated, including but not limited to researching, pricing, negotiation, group buying, and tracking of purchases. Still another set, “Flash Mob Shopping”, allows sellers and a (spontaneous) group of shoppers to connect on prices without requiring shoppers'"'"' hard commitments, and with sellers revealing only necessary price information.
378 Citations
10 Claims
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1. A method of providing pricing for a bundle of items to a user from a bundle search engine, comprising:
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providing a bundle search engine configured to collect and analyze information regarding members of a bundle submitted by a buyer; obtaining, via a first electronic interface provided by the bundle search engine, from the buyer bundle attributes for the members, the bundle attributes including criticality information representing a measure of desirability for inclusion of at least one of the members in the bundle, and including a price acceptance measure and a store choice, wherein the store choice specifies one or more acceptable stores from which the user may purchase a bundle and one or more stores which are excluded from consideration; selecting automatically, by the bundle search engine, a common one of the members based on the criticality information; identifying automatically, by the bundle search engine, sub-bundles according to the bundle attributes, the sub-bundles having alternative combinations of the members that compose the bundle, wherein each of the combinations includes the common member, and at least one of the members of the sub-bundles is not selected by the user; calculating prices automatically, by the bundle search engine, for additional versions of the bundle that include the alternative sub-bundles; configuring a second electronic interface to display the prices and the members of the additional versions of the bundle; and allowing the buyer to purchase at least one of the additional versions of the bundle via the bundle search engine. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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Specification