Conditional purchase offer management system
First Claim
1. A system, comprising:
- a server providing a web page accessible by customers;
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 unit price from a customer utilizing said web page for purchasing goods or services;
receive a payment identifier specifying a financial account for use in providing guaranteed payment for said goods or services if said conditional purchase offer is accepted;
compare said conditional purchase offer with seller inventory and pricing information to determine if said conditional purchase offer is acceptable;
if said conditional purchase offer is unacceptable, transmit a rejection of said conditional purchase offer to the customer; and
take an action to deter the customer from submitting multiple conditional purchase offers for said goods or services, wherein said action includes restricting submission of additional conditional purchase offers containing a progressively increasing unit price following an initial conditional purchase offer rejection.
6 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
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.
95 Citations
31 Claims
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1. A system, comprising:
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a server providing a web page accessible by customers; 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 unit price from a customer utilizing said web page for purchasing goods or services; receive a payment identifier specifying a financial account for use in providing guaranteed payment for said goods or services if said conditional purchase offer is accepted; compare said conditional purchase offer with seller inventory and pricing information to determine if said conditional purchase offer is acceptable; if said conditional purchase offer is unacceptable, transmit a rejection of said conditional purchase offer to the customer; and take an action to deter the customer from submitting multiple conditional purchase offers for said goods or services, wherein said action includes restricting submission of additional conditional purchase offers containing a progressively increasing unit price following an initial conditional purchase offer rejection. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A system, comprising:
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a server providing a web page accessible by customers; a storage device storing a program; a processor in communication with said storage device, said processor operative with said program to; receive a first conditional purchase offer including an offer unit price from a customer utilizing said web page for purchasing goods or services; receive a payment identifier specifying a financial account for use in providing guaranteed payment for said goods or services if said first conditional purchase offer is accepted; compare said first conditional purchase offer with seller inventory and pricing information to determine if said first conditional purchase offer is acceptable; if said first conditional purchase offer is unacceptable, transmit a rejection of said first conditional purchase offer to the customer; and take an action to deter the customer from submitting a second conditional purchase offer with an increased offer unit price for said goods or services within a predetermined period of time after transmitting a rejection of said first conditional purchase offer, wherein said action includes restricting submission of additional conditional purchase offers containing a progressively increasing unit price following an initial conditional purchase offer rejection. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. A system, comprising:
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a server providing a web page accessible by customers; 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 a customer defined offer unit price from a customer utilizing said web page for purchasing goods or services; receive a payment identifier specifying a financial account for use in providing guaranteed payment for said goods or services if said conditional purchase offer is accepted; compare said conditional purchase offer with seller inventory and pricing information to determine if said conditional purchase offer is acceptable; if said conditional purchase offer is unacceptable, transmit a rejection of said conditional purchase offer to the customer; and take an action to deter the customer from submitting multiple conditional purchase offers for said goods or services, wherein said action includes restricting submission of additional conditional purchase offers containing a progressively increasing unit price based on an unacceptable conditional purchase offer following rejection of the unacceptable conditional purchase offer.
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29. A system, comprising:
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a server providing a web page accessible by customers; 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 customer-defined offer unit price, from a customer utilizing said web page for purchasing travel-related products; receive a payment identifier specifying a financial account for use in providing guaranteed payment for said goods or services if said conditional purchase offer is accepted, wherein the payment identifier is a customer'"'"'s credit card account number; compare said conditional purchase offer with seller inventory and pricing information to determine if said conditional purchase offer is acceptable; if said conditional purchase offer is acceptable, transmit a purchase indicator to a third party for payment pre-authorization; if said conditional purchase offer is unacceptable, transmit a rejection of said conditional purchase offer to the customer; and take an action to deter the customer from submitting multiple conditional purchase offers for said goods or services, wherein said action includes restricting submission of additional conditional purchase offers containing a progressively increasing unit price following an initial conditional purchase offer rejection.
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30. A system, comprising:
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a server providing a web page accessible by customers; 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 unit price from a customer utilizing said web page for purchasing goods or services; receive a payment identifier specifying a financial account for use in providing guaranteed payment for said goods or services if said conditional purchase offer is accepted; compare said conditional purchase offer with at least seller inventory and seller pricing information to determine if said conditional purchase offer is acceptable; if said conditional purchase offer is unacceptable, transmit a rejection of said conditional purchase offer to the customer; and take an action to deter the customer from submitting multiple incremental conditional purchase offers for said goods or services following an initial conditional purchase offer rejection to prevent the customer from identifying a seller'"'"'s selling price for accepting the conditional purchase offer.
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31. A system, comprising:
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a server providing a web page accessible by customers; 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 at least one customer-defined purchase condition and a customer-defined offer unit price from a customer utilizing said web page for purchasing goods or services; receive a payment identifier specifying a financial account for use in providing guaranteed payment for said goods or services if said conditional purchase offer is accepted; compare said customer-defined purchase condition and customer-defined offer unit price with seller inventory and pricing information to determine if the conditional purchase offer is acceptable; if said conditional purchase offer is unacceptable, (i) transmit a rejection of said conditional purchase offer to the customer; and (ii) take an action to deter the same customer from submitting multiple conditional purchase offers for said goods or services, wherein said action includes restricting submission of additional conditional purchase offers containing a progressively increasing unit price following an initial conditional purchase offer rejection.
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Specification