Conditional purchase offer management system

• US 8,082,180 B2
• Filed: 12/16/2009
• Issued: 12/20/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/04/1996
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Priceline.com LLC (Booking Holdings, Inc., fka Priceline Group Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Priceline Com Incorporated (Booking Holdings, Inc., fka Priceline Group Inc.)
• Inventors: Walker, Jay S., Schneier, Bruce, Jorasch, James A., Case, T. Scott
• Primary Examiner(s): ZURITA, JAMES H
• Application Number:
  US12/639,876
• Publication Number:
  US 20100094669A1
• Time in Patent Office: 734 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26, 705/37
• US Class Current: 705/26
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/025 Coordination of plural reservations, e.g. plural trip segments, transportation combined with accommodation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063 Operations research, analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/00 Payment architectures, schemes or protocols apparatus for performing or posting payment transactions G07F7/08, G07F19/00; electronic cash registers G07G1/12
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/02 involving a neutral party, e.g. certification authority, notary or trusted third party [TTP]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/04 Payment circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/085 involving remote charge determination or related payment systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/12 specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/201 Price look-up processing, e.g. updating
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/24 Credit schemes, i.e. "pay after"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/403 Solvency checks
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising
• 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 30/0611 Request for offers or quotes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0637 Approvals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 : Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 : Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 : Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/14 : Travel agencies
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/188 : Electronic negotiation
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 9/026 : for alarm, monitoring and auditing in vending machines or means for indication, e.g. when empty
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/944 : Business related
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 : Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 : Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 : Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 : Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

A conditional purchase offer (CPO) management system is disclosed for receiving CPOs from one or more customers, such as airline passengers, and for evaluating the received CPOs against a number of CPO rules defined by a plurality of sellers, such as airlines, to determine whether any seller is willing to accept a given CPO. A CPO is a binding offer containing one or more conditions submitted by a customer for purchase of an item, such as airline travel, at a customer-defined price. A CPO rule is a set of restrictions defined by a given seller, such as an airline, to define a combination of restrictions for which the seller is willing to accept a predefined price. The CPO rules may be securely stored by one or more servers. The CPO management system permits a seller to correct for forecasting errors, if necessary, or other competitive forces which have produced excess capacity, by providing inventory for sale to CPO customers.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for processing sale of goods and services, comprising:

receiving a conditional purchase offer including an offer price from a customer for purchasing goods and services;

processing said conditional purchase offer received from the customer to determine whether said conditional purchase offer should be rejected as part of a deterrence action;

receiving a payment identifier specifying a financial account for use in providing guaranteed payment for at least the amount of said offer price for said goods and services if said conditional purchase offer is accepted;

comparing, via a computer system, said conditional purchase offer with seller inventory and comparing said offer price with seller pricing information to determine if said conditional purchase offer is acceptable;

accepting said conditional purchase offer on behalf of the seller; and

charging said payment identifier.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising offering said conditional purchase offer to a plurality of sellers in a predefined sequence.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said predefined sequence is based upon historical acceptance rate of each seller.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein said predefined sequence is based upon seller-negotiated priorities.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein said predefined sequence is based upon commission rates paid by the seller.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said conditional purchase offer includes an expiration date.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

creating a record of said conditional purchase offer, said record including the offer price and associated status of said conditional purchase offer.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said financial account is a debit account.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said financial account is a credit account.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising pre-authorizing said offer price of said conditional purchase offer with a financial clearinghouse.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining pre-authorization to charge said financial account for said good and services prior to consideration of the conditional purchase offer.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein said goods and services includes at least one of:

an airline ticket, an automobile, insurance, computer equipment, a hotel accommodation and travel services.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the customer submits said conditional purchase offer via a web page.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the customer accesses the web page using a web browser.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein said comparing the received conditional purchase offer against conditional purchase offer rules further comprises:

accessing information in at least one of a computer reservation system and an airline reservation system.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the processing further comprises:

determining whether said conditional purchase offer is one of multiple conditional purchase offers received from the customer within a predefined time period.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

notifying the customer of acceptance of said conditional purchase offer; and

wherein comparing said conditional purchase offer further comprises;

accessing an ordered seller list, wherein sellers are ranked based on a conditional purchase offer acceptance rate associated with each seller; and

comparing said conditional purchase offer against conditional purchase offer rules of each seller in order as listed on the ordered seller list until a matching seller is found for which said conditional purchase offer is acceptable;

wherein accepting said conditional purchase offer further comprises;

accepting said conditional purchase offer on behalf of the matching seller;

creating a record of said conditional purchase offer and associated status; and

transmitting the record to a central reservation system.

18. A system, comprising:

a storage device storing a program;

a processor in communication with said storage device, said processor operative with said program to;

receive a conditional purchase offer including an offer price from a customer for purchasing goods and services;

process said conditional purchase offer received from the customer to determine whether said conditional purchase offer should be rejected as part of a deterrence action;

receive a payment identifier specifying a financial account for use in providing guaranteed payment for at least the amount of said offer price for said goods and services if said conditional purchase offer is accepted;

compare said conditional purchase offer with seller inventory and comparing said offer price with seller pricing information to determine if said conditional purchase offer is acceptable;

accept said conditional purchase offer on behalf of the seller; and

charge said payment identifier.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein said conditional purchase offer is offered to a plurality of sellers in a predefined sequence.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein said predefined sequence is based upon historical acceptance rate of each seller.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein said predefined sequence is based upon seller-negotiated priorities.

22. The system of claim 19, wherein said predefined sequence is based upon commission rates paid by the seller.

23. The system of claim 19, wherein the customer submits said conditional purchase offer via a web page.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the customer accesses the web page using a web browser.

25. The system of claim 18, wherein said conditional purchase offer includes an expiration date.

26. The system of claim 18, wherein said processor is further operative with said program to create a record of said conditional purchase offer, said record including the offer price and associated status of said conditional purchase offer.

27. The system of claim 18, wherein said financial account is a debit account.

28. The system of claim 18, wherein said financial account is a credit account.

29. The system of claim 18, said processor is further operative with said program to pre-authorize said offer price of said conditional purchase offer with a financial clearinghouse.

30. The system of claim 18, wherein said processor is further operative with said program to obtain pre-authorization to charge said financial account for said good and services prior to consideration of the conditional purchase offer.

31. The system of claim 18, wherein said goods and services includes at least one of:

an airline ticket, an automobile, insurance, computer equipment, a hotel accommodation and travel services.

32. The system of claim 18, wherein said processor is further operative with said program to compare the received conditional purchase offer against conditional purchase offer rules by accessing information in at least one of a computer reservation system and an airline reservation system.

33. The system of claim 18, wherein said processor is further operative with said program to determine whether said conditional purchase offer is one of multiple conditional purchase offers received from the customer within a predefined time period.