Pricing and Auctioning of Bundled Items Among Multiple Sellers and Buyers

• US 20110066522A1
• Filed: 11/18/2010
• Published: 03/17/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tamiras Per Pte Ltd LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Platformation, Inc.
• Inventors: Cao, Yu, Kleinrock, Leonard
• Granted Patent: US 8,041,611 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/26.8
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• 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 30/0631 Item recommendations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces

Abstract

A number of sets of methods and apparatuses applicable to online shopping are disclosed. One set, “Bin Packing Methods with Approximate Membership”, includes methods in pricing and auctioning a bundle of items, some of which could belong to another bundle. Significantly, the membership of a bundle, during pricing and auction, could change. Another set, the “Shopping Console”, puts a structure into the online shopping experience, so that through one interface various shopping activities can be facilitated, including but not limited to researching, pricing, negotiation, group buying, and tracking of purchases. Still another set, “Flash Mob Shopping”, allows sellers and a (spontaneous) group of shoppers to connect on prices without requiring shoppers'"'"' hard commitments, and with sellers revealing only necessary price information.

Claims

1. A method of bundling goods and services for a user, the method comprising:

providing an interface through which a user can define at least one desired characteristic of a desired bundle;

mapping the at least one characteristic to a first and second item in a known bundle;

using the at least one characteristic to automatically compute a de novo bundle having third and fourth times that are equivalent to the first and the second items, respectively, which are not expressly selected by the user; and

presenting an item by item comparison between the known and de novo bundles to the user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the bundle is a functional bundle.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the bundle is a loose bundle.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and the third items are fungible with respect to a functionality expressed by the at least one characteristic.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and the third items are from different manufacturers.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of presenting the item-by-item comparison includes normalizing a description of the items.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of computing the de novo bundle is performed based on compatibility of the first and the second items.