Deal matching system

• US 8,341,035 B2
• Filed: 10/12/2011
• Issued: 12/25/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/22/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Valentine Communications LLC
• Original Assignee: Ewinwin Incorporated
• Inventors: Mesaros, Gregory J.
• Primary Examiner(s): RUDY, ANDREW J
• Application Number:
  US13/271,464
• Publication Number:
  US 20120022970A1
• Time in Patent Office: 440 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26.1, 705/26.4, 705/28, 705/30, 705/34, 705 36- 38, 705 732- 741, 705/26.61, 705/26.62, 705/26.63, 705/26.64, 705/26.7, 705/26.8
• US Class Current: 705/26.61
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06375 Prediction of business process outcome or impact based on a proposed change
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0603 Catalogue ordering
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0605 Supply or demand aggregation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0611 Request for offers or quotes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0613 Third-party assisted
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0623 Item investigation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0627 using item specifications
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

A multiple criteria buying and selling system and method is provided. A seller initially establishes a deal structure for a product, which provides seller defined selling criteria information relating to the purchasing of the product, such as volume per unit price, quality, delivery time and warranty information. A buyer will be able to review a list of deals if the seller'"'"'s selling criteria matches a buyer defined buying criteria. The deal structure is preferably set up so as to provide buyers with both price and non-price criteria information that the buyer'"'"'s would consider important in a purchase of the type of product being offered by the seller. The deal structure is electronically made available to potential buyers of the product. For example, the deal structure may be displayed on an Internet site.

Claims

1. A method for electronically conducting business, the method comprising:

storing in memory information regarding a plurality of sellers, each seller offering one or more deals, each deal having a plurality of selling criteria, wherein the selling criteria includes a seller-defined price, characterization of a product or service by type, and versatility in time schedule;

receiving information from a buyer over a communication network, the received buyer information including one or more buying criteria indicating buyer versatility in time schedule and a type of interest of the buyer;

registering the buyer prior to generating a display of the one or more deals to the buyer, wherein registration includes at least receiving buyer address information from the buyer;

generating information to display at least one deal from the plurality of deals, wherein the versatility in time schedule of the at least one deal matches the buyer versatility in time schedule and the at least one deal meets the one or more buying criteria; and

receiving an order for the at least one deal from the buyer over the communication network when the buyer accepts terms and conditions associated with the at least one deal and provides a valid form of payment for the seller-defined price.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the time schedule includes a limited time frame for delivery of a product or service.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the buyer address information is stored in a buyer database in memory and wherein the stored buyer address information is referenced in future deal matches.

4. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, having embodied thereon a program, the program executable by a processor to perform a method for electronically conducting business, the method comprising:

storing information regarding a plurality of sellers, each seller offering one or more deals, each deal having a plurality of selling criteria, wherein the selling criteria specifies a seller-defined price, characterization of a product or service by type, and a time schedule;

receiving information from a buyer, the received buyer information including one or more buying criteria indicating buyer versatility in time schedule and a type of interest of the buyer;

registering the buyer prior to generating a display of the one or more deals to the buyer, wherein registration includes at least receiving buyer address information from the buyer;

generating information to display at least one deal from the plurality of deals, wherein the versatility in time schedule of the at least one deal matches the buyer versatility in time schedule and the at least one deal meets the one or more buying criteria; and

receiving an order for the at least one deal from the buyer when the buyer accepts terms and conditions associated with the at least one deal and provides a valid form of payment for the seller-defined price.