System and method for establishing and managing subscription purchase agreements including commitments to purchase goods over time at agreed upon prices
DCFirst Claim
1. A system for facilitating the sale of an item, comprising:
- a data storage system storing data about a buyer, an agreement between said buyer and a seller including a commitment by said buyer to purchase a specified plural of a item from said seller over a period of time and at a specified price; and
a data processing system coupled to said data storage system and configuredto receive from said buyer a request to purchase said item from said seller,to process said request by determining a purchase price for said item based on said specified price in said agreement,to output said purchase price, said purchase price forming the basis of a transaction involving said buyer and said item, andto charge a fee to an account maintained by said buyer if said buyer does not purchase said specified plurality of said item during said period of time.
13 Assignments
Litigations
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system and process for distributing a product in accordance with a subscription purchase agreement that includes the establishment by a customer of an account with a seller of a product, the assignment of a customer identification number to the account maintained by a customer, the receipt of a credit card number corresponding to the customer, and the receipt of a request from the customer to purchase the product from the seller. The request includes a set of purchase terms and conditions related to the product. Also, the set of purchase terms and conditions are recorded for the customer. The set of purchase terms and conditions indicate a purchase price for the product. A customer'"'"'s credit card or other account may be assessed a penalty in the event that the customer does not honor the purchase terms and conditions.
346 Citations
115 Claims
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1. A system for facilitating the sale of an item, comprising:
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a data storage system storing data about a buyer, an agreement between said buyer and a seller including a commitment by said buyer to purchase a specified plural of a item from said seller over a period of time and at a specified price; and a data processing system coupled to said data storage system and configured to receive from said buyer a request to purchase said item from said seller, to process said request by determining a purchase price for said item based on said specified price in said agreement, to output said purchase price, said purchase price forming the basis of a transaction involving said buyer and said item, and to charge a fee to an account maintained by said buyer if said buyer does not purchase said specified plurality of said item during said period of time. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A system for facilitating the sale of a product, comprising:
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a data storage system storing data about a buyer, a subscription purchase agreement between said buyer and a seller including a commitment on the part of said buyer to purchase a specified plurality of a product from said seller over a period of time and at a specified price, and a record including information related to said buyer and said subscription purchase agreement; and a data processing system operatively coupled to said data storage system and configured to receive from said buyer a request to purchase said product from said seller, to process said request by querying said data storage system to determine a purchase price for said product based on said specified price in said agreement and updating said record in accordance with said request, to output said purchase price, said purchase price forming the basis of a transaction involving said buyer, said seller, and said product, and to charge a fee to an account maintained by said buyer if said buyer does not purchase said specified plurality of said product during said period of time. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. A system for facilitating the sale of a product, comprising:
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a data storage system; a data processing system coupled to said data storage system and operative to receive from a buyer a request to enter into an agreement with a seller, said agreement including a commitment by said buyer to purchase a specified plurality of an item from said seller over a specified period of time and at a specified price, to process said request by storing data in said data storage system, said data relating to said buyer, said agreement, a fee to charge to an account maintained by said buyer if said buyer does not purchase said specified plurality of said item during said period of time, and a counter indicating a number of times that said buyer purchases said item from said seller. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
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43. A point of sale processing system, comprising:
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a data storage system configured to store data about a buyer, a subscription purchase agreement between said buyer and a seller including a commitment by said buyer to purchase a specified plurality of a product from said seller over a period of time and at a specified price, and a record including information related to said buyer and said subscription purchase agreement; and a data processing system configured to be operatively coupled to said data storage system, to receive from said buyer a request to purchase said product from said seller, to process said request by querying said data storage system to determine a purchase price for said product based on said specified price in said agreement and updating said record in accordance with said request, to output sad purchase price, said purchase price forming the basis of a transaction involving said buyer, said seller, and said product, and to charge a fee to an account maintained by said buyer if said buyer does not purchase said specified plurality of said product during said period of time. - View Dependent Claims (44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55)
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56. A process for facilitating the sale of an item, comprising the steps of:
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storing in a data storage system data about a buyer, an agreement between said buyer and a seller including a commitment by said buyer to purchase a specified plurality of an item from said seller over a period of time and at a specified price; receiving from said buyer a request to purchase said item from said seller; processing in a data processing system said request by determining a purchase price for said item based on said specified price in said agreement; updating said data in accordance with said request; outputting said purchase price, said purchase price forming the basis of a transaction involving said buyer and said product; and charging a fee to an account maintained by said buyer if said buyer does not purchase said specified plurality of said item during said period of time. - View Dependent Claims (57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65)
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66. A process for facilitating the sale of an item, comprising the steps of:
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maintaining in a data storage system data about a buyer, a subscription purchase agreement between said buyer and a seller including a commitment by said buyer to purchase a specified plurality of an item from said seller over a period of time and at a specified price, and a record including information related to said buyer and said subscription purchase agreement; receiving from said buyer a request to purchase said item from said seller; processing in a data processing system said request by determining a purchase price for said item based on said specified price in said subscription purchase agreement; and updating said record in accordance with said request; outputting said purchase price, said purchase price forming the basis of a transaction involving said buyer and said product; and charging a fee to an account maintained by said buyer if said buyer does not purchase said specified plurality of said item during said period of time. - View Dependent Claims (67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77)
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78. A process for facilitating the sale of a product, comprising the steps of:
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receiving a request from a buyer to enter into an agreement with a seller, said agreement including a commitment by said buyer to purchase a specified plurality of an item from said seller over a period of time and at a specified price; processing said request by establishing a record in a data storage system, said record configured to maintain data relating to said buyer, said agreement, a fee to be charged to an account maintained by said buyer if said buyer does not purchase said specified plurality of said item during said period of time, and a counter indicating a number of times that said buyer purchases said item from said seller. - View Dependent Claims (79, 80, 81, 82, 83)
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84. A system for facilitating the sale of an item, comprising:
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a data storage system maintaining data about a buyer, an agreement between said buyer and a seller including a commitment by said buyer to purchase a specified plurality of an item from said seller over a period of time, and a record including information related to said buyer and said agreement; and a data processing system coupled to said data storage system and configured to receive from said buyer a request to purchase said item from said seller, to process said request by determining a purchase trait related to said item based on said agreement and updating said record in accordance with said request, to output said purchase trait, said purchase trait forming the basis of a transaction involving said buyer and said item; and to charge a fee to an account maintained by said buyer if said buyer does not purchase said specified plurality of said item during said period of time. - View Dependent Claims (85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97)
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98. A method of facilitating the sale of an item, comprising the steps of:
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storing in a data storage system a table including data identifying a buyer, data identifying a product, and data identifying an agreement between said buyer and a seller including a commitment by said buyer to purchase a specified plurality of said product from said seller within a specified period of time at a specified purchase price per product; receiving a request to purchase said product including said data identifying said buyer and said data identifying said product; processing in a data processing system said data identifying said buyer and said data identifying said product to identify said specified purchase price in said table; and outputting said specified purchase price. - View Dependent Claims (99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106)
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107. A system for facilitating the sale of an item, comprising:
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a data storage system storing a table including data identifying a buyer, data identifying a product, and data identifying an agreement between said buyer and a seller including a commitment by said buyer to purchase a plurality of said product from said seller within a specified period of time at a specified purchase price per product; a data processing system connected to said data storage system and operative to; receive a request to purchase said product including said data identifying said buyer and said data identifying said product, process said data identifying said buyer and said data identifying said product to identify said specified purchase price in said table, and output said specified purchase price. - View Dependent Claims (108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115)
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Specification