Pricing and auctioning of bundled items among multiple sellers and buyers

• US 8,041,611 B2
• Filed: 11/18/2010
• Issued: 10/18/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Tamiras Per Pte Ltd LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Platformation, Inc.
• Inventors: Cao, Yu, Kleinrock, Leonard
• Primary Examiner(s): Misiaszek; Michael
• Assistant Examiner(s): Desai; Resha
• Application Number:
  US12/949,119
• Publication Number:
  US 20110066522A1
• Time in Patent Office: 334 Days
• Field of Search: 705 261- 272
• US Class Current: 705/26.7
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0631 Item recommendations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces

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.

Claims

1. A method of bundling goods and services for a user, the method comprising:

providing an electronic interface through which a user can define at least one desired characteristic of a desired bundle;

receiving a user definition of the at least one desired characteristic through the electronic interface;

determining and displaying a sorted list of candidate bundles that satisfy the at least one desired characteristic;

mapping the at least one characteristic to normalized descriptions of a first and second item in a selected candidate bundle;

using the at least one characteristic to automatically compute by a computer bundling system a new loose bundle having third and fourth items that are equivalent to the first and the second items, respectively, wherein the third and fourth items are not expressly selected by the user; and

displaying an item-by-item comparison between the selected candidate bundle and the new loose bundle to the user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and the third items are fungible with respect to a functionality expressed by the at least one characteristic.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and the third items are from different manufacturers.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of displaying the item-by-item comparison includes normalizing a description of the items.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of computing the new loose bundle is performed based on compatibility of the first and the second items.