SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CHANNEL TO CHANNEL INTEGRATION IN AN IP MARKETPLACE

• US 20120016767A1
• Filed: 09/12/2011
• Published: 01/19/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (American Express Company)
• Original Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (American Express Company)
• Inventors: Thomas, Tracey R.
• Granted Patent: US 8,650,318 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/26.61
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0623 Item investigation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0627 using item specifications
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0631 Item recommendations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0643 Graphical representation of items or shoppers

Abstract

A comprehensive platform for merchandising intellectual property (IP) and conducting IP transactions is disclosed. A standardized data collection method enables IP assets to be characterized, rated and valuated in a consistent manner. Project management, workflow and data security functionality enable consistent, efficient and secure interactions between the IP Marketplace participants throughout the IP transaction process. Business rules, workflows, valuation models and rating methods may be user defined or based upon marketplace, industry or technology standards.

Claims

1. An intellectual property (IP) marketplace system, comprising:

a network interface communicating with a memory;

the memory communicating with an IP marketplace processor, wherein the memory stores a computer program and a plurality of application programming interfaces (APIs); and

the processor, when executing the computer program, performs operations comprising;

displaying, by the processor and to a user, a plurality of channels in a channel guide interface;

in response to first input from the user, initiating, by the processor, a first channel;

receiving, by the processor and via a channel output API, first channel output;

initiating, by the processor, via a channel integration API and based on at least a portion of the first channel output, a second channel;

receiving, by the processor and via the channel output API, second channel output; and

presenting, by the processor, at least one of the first channel output and the second channel output to the user.

2. The system of claim 1, the operations further comprising determining, by the processor and based on the first channel output, a second channel.

3. The system of claim 1, the operations further comprising searching, by the processor and based on the first channel output, channel data to determine search results, the search results comprising a plurality of channels.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the channel data comprises at least one of channel metadata, channel registration data, channel attributes, channel content, a web service, a service provider database and a third party database.

5. The system of claim 3, the operations further comprising presenting the search results to the user in a search results interface.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the search results are presented in an order based on at least one of a channel relevancy and a channel effectiveness.

7. The system of claim 5, the operations further comprising, determining based on second input, that the user selected the second channel.

8. The system of claim 1, the operations further comprising validating the first channel output prior to the initiating the second channel.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the validating is based on at least one of a business rule associated with the second channel and a business rule associated with an integration of the first channel and the second channel.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of APIs comprises at least one of a channel registration API, a channel configuration API, a channel output API, a channel promotion API, and a channel negotiation API.

11. The system of claim 1, further comprising determining a third channel based on the second channel output, wherein the third channel is a subchannel of at least one of the first channel and the second channel.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the presenting further comprises determining a recommendation based on the first channel output and the second channel output.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the recommendation is based on a workflow associated with at least one of the first channel and the second channel.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the displaying the plurality of channels comprises configuring the channel guide interface based on a user profile associated with the user.

15. The system of claim 14, the operations further comprising retrieving the user profile from a user database, wherein the user profile comprises at least one of company information, a company hierarchy, affiliate information, partner information, transaction data, associated buyers, associated sellers, associated inventors, an industry, a technology, a commercialization strategy, business rules, and a commercialization workflow.

16. The system of claim 15, the operations further comprising retrieving IP asset data, based on the user profile, from an IP asset database.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the configuring the channel guide interface comprises dynamically rendering the channel guide interface based at least partially upon at least one of the user profile and the IP asset data.

18. The system of claim 1, further comprising sending a notification to at least one of a second user and a service provider based on the first channel output and the second channel output.

19. A computer-based method, comprising:

displaying, by a computer for IP commercialization and to a user, a plurality of channels in a channel guide interface;

in response to first input from the user, initiating, by the computer, a first channel;

receiving, by the computer and via a channel output API, first channel output;

initiating, by the computer, via a channel integration API and based on at least a portion of the first channel output, a second channel; and

receiving, by the computer and via the channel output API, second channel output;

presenting, by the computer, at least one of the first channel output and the second channel output to the user.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by a computer for IP commercialization, causes the computer perform a operations comprising:

displaying, by the computer for IP commercialization and to a user, a plurality of channels in a channel guide interface;

in response to first input from the user, initiating, by the computer, a first channel;

receiving, by the computer and via a channel output API, first channel output;

initiating, by the computer, via a channel integration API and based on at least a portion of the first channel output, a second channel;

receiving, by the computer and via the channel output API, second channel output; and

presenting, by the computer, at least one of the first channel output and the second channel output to the user.