Method and apparatus for facilitating a transaction between a buyer and one seller

• US 8,095,450 B2
• Filed: 09/25/2007
• Issued: 01/10/2012
• 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., Tedesco, Daniel E., Mik, Magdalena
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Nga B.
• Application Number:
  US11/861,179
• Publication Number:
  US 20080010099A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,568 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26, 705/27, 705/37, 705/80, 705/5, 705/6, 705/39, 705/40
• US Class Current: 705/37
• 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 20/04 Payment circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/12 specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0206 Price or cost determination based on market factors
• 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 30/0609 Buyer or seller confidence or verification
• 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 50/188 Electronic negotiation

Abstract

A seller server receives an offer which specifies a type of product (e.g. a seat on a flight), at least one condition (e.g. destination and date of departure), and an offer price specified by a buyer. The seller server also receives an associated payment identifier that specifies a financial account, such as a credit card account. The payment identifier essentially “guarantees” the offer in that the seller may receive payment from the financial account even if the buyer attempts to renege. The seller determines whether to accept the offer, based on various factors such as the offer price and the availability of appropriate products to satisfy the conditions of the offer. If the offer is accepted, payment is provided to the seller using the payment identifier.

Claims

1. A processor-implemented method for facilitating a transaction between a buyer and one seller of airline carriage, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving an offer which specifies an origination, a destination, and an offer price specified by a buyer;

seeking an eligible product based on the origination, the destination, and the offer price specified by the buyer;

receiving a payment identifier specifying a financial account, the payment identifier being associated with the offer;

determining by the processor whether to accept the offer for the eligible product based on at least one of seller inventory and seller price; and

receiving payment by using the payment identifier upon determining to accept the offer.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a plurality of flights that specify both the origination and the destination.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

transmitting an indication of the plurality of flights to the buyer.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

receiving from the buyer a selection of one of the plurality of flights.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

selecting a flight from the plurality of flights to fulfill the offer.

6. The method of claim 5, in which the step of selecting comprises:

selecting a flight based on expected profit from the product.

7. The method of claim 5, in which the step of selecting comprises:

selecting a flight based on availability of the seats on the flight.

8. The method of claim 5, in which the step of selecting comprises:

selecting a flight based on a comparison of predicted sales of seats on the flight and actual sales of the seats on the flight.

9. The method of claim 5, in which the step of selecting comprises:

selecting a flight based on whether actual sales of seats on the flight are less than predicted sales of seats on the flight.

10. The method of claim 5, in which the step of selecting comprises:

determining, for each flight, an amount by which actual sales of seats on the flight are less than predicted sales of seats on the flight; and

selecting a flight that has a maximal amount by which actual sales of seats on the flight are less than predicted sales of seats on the flight.

11. The method of claim 5, in which the step of determining whether to accept the offer comprises:

determining whether sales of seats on a first flight are less than sales of seats on a second flight; and

selecting a seat from the first flight if sales of seats on the first flight are less than sales of seats on the second flight.

12. The method of claim 11, in which each seat of a plurality of seats is allocated for fulfilling offers.

13. The method of claim 1, in which the step of determining whether to accept the offer comprises:

determining whether to accept the offer based on an availability of seats on a flight.

14. The method of claim 1, in which the step of determining whether to accept the offer comprises:

determining whether to accept the offer based on a comparison of predicted sales of seats on a flight and actual sales of seats on the flight.

15. The method of claim 14, in which the step of determining whether to accept the offer comprises:

determining whether to accept the offer based on whether actual sales of seats on the flight are less than predicted sales of seats on the flight.

16. The method of claim 1, in which the step of determining whether to accept the offer comprises:

determining a minimum price for a seat on a flight; and

accepting the offer if the offer price is greater than the minimum price.

17. The method of claim 16, in which the step of determining a minimum price comprises:

determining a minimum price for the seat based on an availability of seats on the flight.

18. The method of claim 16, in which the step of determining a minimum price comprises:

determining a minimum price for the seat based on a comparison of predicted sales of seats on the flight and actual sales of seats on the flight.

19. The method of claim 16, in which the step of determining a minimum price comprises:

determining a minimum price for the seat based on whether actual sales of seats on the flight are less than predicted sales of seats on the flight.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein determining by the processor whether to accept the offer based on at least one of seller inventory and seller price further comprises:

generating a random number;

comparing the random number with a threshold value;

determining whether to accept the offer based on the seller inventory and not on the seller price when the random number is less than the threshold value; and

determining whether to accept the offer based on both the seller inventory and the seller price when the random number is greater than the threshold value.

22. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

updating a minimum acceptable price based on the offer price specified by the buyer upon determining to accept the offer.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein the offer price comprises at least two forms of currency, including at least a dollar amount and a frequent flyer amount, and wherein the ayment identifier specifies a different financial account for each different form of currency.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein determining by the processor whether to accept the offer is further based on inspection of offer fulfillment eligibility data associated with a candidate product.

25. The method of claim 1, wherein determining by the processor whether to accept the offer is further based on a load balancing analysis.

20. A processor-implemented method for facilitating a transaction between a buyer and one seller of airline carriage, the method comprising:

receiving an offer which specifies an origination, a destination, and an offer price specified by a buyer;

selecting a plurality of flights based on the origination, the destination, and the offer price;

determining for each of the plurality of flights a seat sales discrepancy amount by which actual sales of seats on each flight are less than predicted sales of seats on that flight;

selecting a flight having a maximal seat sales discrepancy amount to fulfill the offer from the plurality of flights;

receiving a payment identifier specifying a financial account, the payment identifier being associated with the offer;

determining by the processor a minimum acceptable price for the flight based on the seat sales discrepancy;

comparing the offer price to the determined minimum acceptable price; and

receiving payment by using the payment identifier if the offer price is greater than the minimum price.