Method and system for providing cooperative purchasing over social networks
First Claim
1. A method for facilitating cooperative bulk discount purchasing of a product or service by a group of buyers, the method comprising:
- selecting buyers to view private offers from the group of buyers on a social network;
providing a conditional purchase opportunity from a cooperative purchase control server of a cooperative purchasing service for cooperative bulk discount purchasing by at least two of the buyers, the conditional purchase opportunity including a purchase threshold and an individual purchaser qualification factor, the conditional purchase opportunity being a private offer;
providing cooperative purchase feed formatted content associated with the conditional purchase opportunity via a telecommunication network from the cooperative purchase control server exclusively to at least one display node of the selected buyers, the cooperative purchase feed formatted content being structured data having a social network identifier identifying a social network origin of the conditional purchase opportunity;
receiving a first contingent purchase input including the social network identifier at the cooperative purchase control server from a first user of the selected buyers having a user profile on the social network, the social network comprising relationships between user accounts stored on a social network server, the relationships between user accounts being established in response to a request from a first user account to connect to a second user account, and the social network being separate and distinct from the cooperative purchasing service;
providing a publication option to publish the cooperative purchase feed formatted content from the cooperative purchase control server to the user profile on the social network;
receiving a second contingent purchase input including the social network identifier at the cooperative purchase control server from a second user of the selected buyers, the second contingent purchase input being received subsequent to the first contingent purchase input;
initiating at the cooperative purchase control server a first transaction based on the first contingent purchase input and a second transaction based on the second contingent purchase input when the purchase threshold is met, the first user satisfies the individual purchaser qualification factor, and the second user satisfies the individual purchaser qualification factor;
delivering the product or service in response to the initiating;
publishing the cooperative purchase feed formatted content from the cooperative purchase control server to the user profile on the social network; and
associating the cooperative purchase feed formatted content with the user profile on the social network.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The invention provides methods for facilitating a cooperative purchasing service. One method includes: providing a conditional purchase opportunity including a purchase threshold, providing information associated with the a conditional purchase opportunity to at least one display node, receiving a contingent purchase input from a user having a social network user profile, and associating the conditional purchase opportunity with the user profile. A further method includes: requesting cooperative purchase feed formatted content associated with a social network user account, receiving cooperative purchase feed formatted content including a cooperative purchase offer in response to the request, and providing the a cooperative purchase offer including a social network identifier, at a social network user interface. A further method includes: providing a feed formatted cooperative purchasing opportunity, receiving a request to send the cooperative purchasing opportunity to a associate, and Indexing the cooperative purchasing opportunity to an associate feed based on the request.
55 Citations
31 Claims
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1. A method for facilitating cooperative bulk discount purchasing of a product or service by a group of buyers, the method comprising:
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selecting buyers to view private offers from the group of buyers on a social network; providing a conditional purchase opportunity from a cooperative purchase control server of a cooperative purchasing service for cooperative bulk discount purchasing by at least two of the buyers, the conditional purchase opportunity including a purchase threshold and an individual purchaser qualification factor, the conditional purchase opportunity being a private offer; providing cooperative purchase feed formatted content associated with the conditional purchase opportunity via a telecommunication network from the cooperative purchase control server exclusively to at least one display node of the selected buyers, the cooperative purchase feed formatted content being structured data having a social network identifier identifying a social network origin of the conditional purchase opportunity; receiving a first contingent purchase input including the social network identifier at the cooperative purchase control server from a first user of the selected buyers having a user profile on the social network, the social network comprising relationships between user accounts stored on a social network server, the relationships between user accounts being established in response to a request from a first user account to connect to a second user account, and the social network being separate and distinct from the cooperative purchasing service; providing a publication option to publish the cooperative purchase feed formatted content from the cooperative purchase control server to the user profile on the social network; receiving a second contingent purchase input including the social network identifier at the cooperative purchase control server from a second user of the selected buyers, the second contingent purchase input being received subsequent to the first contingent purchase input; initiating at the cooperative purchase control server a first transaction based on the first contingent purchase input and a second transaction based on the second contingent purchase input when the purchase threshold is met, the first user satisfies the individual purchaser qualification factor, and the second user satisfies the individual purchaser qualification factor; delivering the product or service in response to the initiating; publishing the cooperative purchase feed formatted content from the cooperative purchase control server to the user profile on the social network; and associating the cooperative purchase feed formatted content with the user profile on the social network. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 30)
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10. A method for facilitating cooperative bulk discount purchasing of a product or service by a group of buyers through a cooperative purchasing service, the method comprising:
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selecting buyers to view private offers from the group of buyers on a social network; requesting, from a cooperative purchase control server, cooperative purchase feed formatted content associated with a social network user account, the cooperative purchase feed formatted content having conditional purchase opportunities including a purchase threshold and an individual purchaser qualification factor, the conditional purchase opportunity being a private offer, the cooperative purchase feed formatted content being structured data having a social network identifier identifying the social network user account, the social network comprising relationships between user accounts stored on a social network server, the relationships between user accounts being established in response to a request from a first user account to connect to a second user account, and the social network being separate and distinct from the cooperative purchasing service; receiving, at the social network server, the cooperative purchase feed formatted content including a cooperative purchase offer for cooperative bulk discount purchasing by at least two buyers of the selected buyers in response to the request; and providing the cooperative purchase offer including the social network identifier, at a social network interface associated with the social network server. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method for operating a cooperative purchasing service for facilitating cooperative bulk discount purchasing by a group of buyers, the method comprising:
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selecting buyers to view private offers from the group of buyers on a social network; providing a feed formatted cooperative purchasing opportunity for cooperative bulk discount purchasing by at least two buyers to a first user of the selected buyers of the social network, the feed formatted cooperative purchasing opportunity having a conditional purchase opportunity including a purchase threshold and an individual purchaser qualification factor, the conditional purchase opportunity being a private offer, the feed formatted cooperative purchasing opportunity being structured data having a social network identifier identifying a social network origin of the conditional purchase opportunity, the social network comprising relationships between user accounts stored on a social network server, the relationships between user accounts being established in response to a request from a first user account to connect to a second user account, and the social network being separate and distinct from the cooperative purchasing service; receiving at the social network server a request from the first user to associate the feed formatted cooperative purchasing opportunity with at last a second user of the selected buyers of the social network, the second user being an associate of the first user; indexing at the social network server the feed formatted cooperative purchasing opportunity to an associate feed of the second user based on the request; receiving a request to purchase from the second user; and sending a contingent purchase input including the social network identifier based on the request to purchase. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19)
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25. A method for facilitating cooperative bulk discount purchasing of a product or service by a group of buyers, the method comprising:
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selecting buyers to view private offers from the group of buyers on a social network; providing a feed formatted conditional purchase opportunity from a cooperative purchase control server, the feed formatted conditional purchase opportunity comprising a quantity of purchases required, an expiration date, a purchase threshold, and an individual purchaser qualification factor, the feed formatted conditional purchase opportunity being a private offer, the feed formatted conditional purchase opportunity being structured data having a social network identifier identifying a social network origin of the feed formatted conditional purchase opportunity; receiving at the cooperative purchase control server a first contingent purchase input associated with the feed formatted conditional purchase opportunity from a first user of the selected buyers, the first user having a first user profile on the social network, the social network comprising relationships between user accounts stored on a social network server, the relationships between user accounts being established in response to a request from a first user account to connect to a second user account, and the social network being separate and distinct from the cooperative purchasing service; associating the feed formatted conditional purchase opportunity with the first user profile on the social network based on a publication of information associated with the conditional purchase opportunity from the cooperative purchase control server to the social network server; receiving a second contingent purchase input associated with the feed formatted conditional purchase opportunity from a second user of the selected buyers, the second user having a second user profile on the social network, and the second contingent purchase input being associated with the first user; initiating at the cooperative purchase control server a plurality of contingent purchase transactions associated with the feed formatted conditional purchase opportunity including a purchase based on the first contingent purchase input and a purchase based on the second contingent purchase input, the initiating being based on meeting the quantity of purchases required, meeting the individual purchaser qualification factor for the first user, and meeting the individual purchaser qualification factor for the second user; delivering the product or service in response to the initiating; and determining a commission for the first user based on the second contingent purchase input using the social network identifier. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29)
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31. A system for facilitating cooperative bulk discount purchasing of a product or service by a group of social network users including a first user and a second user, the system comprising:
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a cooperative purchase control server; and a social network server operably connected to the cooperative purchase control server over a telecommunication network, the social network server being separate and distinct from the cooperative purchase control server; the cooperative purchase control server being operable to; provide a conditional purchase opportunity for cooperative bulk discount purchasing by the social network users, the conditional purchase opportunity including a purchase threshold and an individual purchaser qualification factor, the conditional purchase opportunity being a private offer; provide cooperative purchase feed formatted content associated with the conditional purchase opportunity exclusively to at least one display node of the social network users selected to view private offers, the cooperative purchase feed formatted content being structured data having a social network identifier identifying a social network origin of the conditional purchase opportunity; receive a first contingent purchase input including the social network identifier from the first user of the selected social network users; receive a second contingent purchase input including the social network identifier from the second user of the selected social network users, the second contingent purchase input being subsequent to the received first contingent purchase input;
when the purchase threshold is met, the individual purchaser qualification factor is satisfied for the first user, and the individual purchaser qualification factor is satisfied for the second user, initiate a first transaction based on the first contingent purchase input and a second transaction in response to the second contingent purchase input and deliver the product or service to the first user and the second user;publish the cooperative purchase feed formatted content to a first user profile on a social network in response to a publication option; associate the cooperative purchase feed formatted content with the first user profile on the social network; and the social network server being operable to; select the social network users to view private offers from the group of social network users on the social network; store user accounts including the first user profile for the first user from the group of social network users; manage the social network of relationships between the user accounts; receive a request from a first user account to connect to a second user account to establish a relationship between the first user account and the second user account; and provide the publication option to publish the cooperative purchase feed formatted content to the first user profile.
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Specification