Systems and methods for pricing and selling digital goods

• US 7,933,829 B2
• Filed: 10/28/2005
• Issued: 04/26/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/21/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Intertrust Technologies Corporation (Fidelio Acquisition Co LLC)
• Original Assignee: Intertrust Technologies Corporation (Fidelio Acquisition Co LLC)
• Inventors: Hartline, Jason D., Goldberg, Andrew V., Wright, Andrew K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kalinowski; Alexander
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ebersman; Bruce I
• Application Number:
  US11/262,209
• Publication Number:
  US 20060178980A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,006 Days
• Field of Search: 705/37
• US Class Current: 705/37
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

Some of the embodiments provided herein disclose receiving a plurality of bids, each bid being submitted by a bidder, and each bid having a bid value; assigning a weighting factor to each bid, the weighting factor being based, at least in part, on the bid value; selecting a first bid from the plurality of bids, the first bid having been submitted by a first bidder; selecting a second bid from the plurality of bids, the second bid being selected in a manner that is dependent, at least in part, on the weighting factor assigned to the second bid; performing a comparison of the value of the first bid with the value of the second bid; using the results of the comparison to determine whether to vend a copy of the digital file to the first bidder; and sending a copy of the digital file to the first bidder.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for vending a digital file, the method being performed by one or more computers, the method including:

receiving a plurality of bids, each bid being submitted by a bidder, and each bid having a bid value;

assigning a weighting factor to each bid, wherein the weighting factor for each bid is proportional to the bid value divided by a highest bid value in the plurality of bids;

selecting a first bid from the plurality of bids independent of the weighting factor assigned to the first bid, the first bid having been submitted by a first bidder, the first bid having a first bid value;

pseudo-randomly selecting a second bid from the plurality of bids in a manner that is dependent, at least in part, on a the weighting factor assigned to the second bid, the second bid having a second bid value;

performing, by the one or more computers, a comparison of the first bid value with the second bid value;

using the results of the comparison to determine whether to vend a copy of the digital file to the first bidder, wherein a number of copies of the digital file to be vended is not specified in advance of receiving the plurality of bids;

sending, by the one or more computers, a copy of the digital file to the first bidder if a determination is made in said using step to vend a copy of the digital file to the first bidder; and

sending, by the one or more computers, a message to the first bidder if a determination is made in said using step not to vend a copy of the digital file to the first bidder.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the comparison determines whether the first bid value is greater than the second bid value.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the comparison determines whether the first bid value is greater than or equal to the second bid value.

4. A computer-readable medium including instructions which, when executed, cause a computer to perform a method, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality of bids, each bid being submitted by a bidder, and each bid having a bid value;

assigning a weighting factor to each bid, wherein the weighting factor for each bid is proportional to the bid value divided by a highest bid value in the plurality of bids;

selecting a first bid from the plurality of bids independent of the weighting factor assigned to the first bid, the first bid having been submitted by a first bidder, the first bid having a first bid value;

pseudo-randomly selecting a second bid from the plurality of bids in a manner that is dependent, at least in part, on the weighting factor assigned to the second bid, the second bid having a second bid value;

performing, by the one or more computers, a comparison of the first bid value with the second bid value;

using the results of the comparison to determine whether to vend a copy of the digital file to the first bidder, wherein a number of copies of the digital file to be vended is not specified in advance of receiving the plurality of bids;

sending, by the one or more computers, a copy of the digital file to the first bidder if a determination is made in said using step to vend a copy of the digital file to the first bidder; and

sending, by the one or more computers, a message to the first bidder if a determination is made in said using step not to vend a copy of the digital file to the first bidder.

5. The medium of claim 4, wherein the comparison determines whether the first bid value is greater than the second bid value.

6. The medium of claim 4, wherein the comparison determines whether the first bid value is greater than or equal to the second bid value.