Conditional purchase offer management system

• US 6,085,169 A
• Filed: 07/08/1997
• Issued: 07/04/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 09/04/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Priceline.com LLC (Booking Holdings, Inc., fka Priceline Group Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Priceline Com Incorporated (Booking Holdings, Inc., fka Priceline Group Inc.)
• Inventors: Jorasch, James A., Schneier, Bruce, Walker, Jay S., Case, T. Scott
• Primary Examiner(s): MacDonald, Allen R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): CAUDLE, PENNY L
• Application Number:
  US08/889,319
• Time in Patent Office: 1,092 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26, 705/1, 705/5, 705/13, 705/15, 705/37, 705/35, 295/226, 295/228, 295/236, 295/237, 295/239, 340/825.3
• US Class Current: 705/4
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/025 Coordination of plural reservations, e.g. plural trip segments, transportation combined with accommodation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063 Operations research, analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/00 Payment architectures, schemes or protocols apparatus for performing or posting payment transactions G07F7/08, G07F19/00; electronic cash registers G07G1/12
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/02 involving a neutral party, e.g. certification authority, notary or trusted third party [TTP]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/04 Payment circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/085 involving remote charge determination or related payment systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/12 specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/201 Price look-up processing, e.g. updating
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/24 Credit schemes, i.e. "pay after"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/403 Solvency checks
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising
• 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 30/0611 Request for offers or quotes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0637 Approvals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 : Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 : Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 : Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/14 : Travel agencies
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/188 : Electronic negotiation
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 9/026 : for alarm, monitoring and auditing in vending machines or means for indication, e.g. when empty
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/944 : Business related
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 : Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 : Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 : Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 : Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

A conditional purchase offer (CPO) management system is disclosed for receiving CPOs from one or more customers, such as airline passengers, and for evaluating the received CPOs against a number of CPO rules defined by a plurality of sellers, such as airlines, to determine whether any seller is willing to accept a given CPO. A CPO is a binding offer containing one or more conditions submitted by a customer for purchase of an item, such as airline travel, at a customer-definied price. A CPO rule is a set of restrictions defined by a given seller, such as an airline, to define a combination of restrictions for which the seller is willing to accept a predefined price. The CPO rules may be securely stored by one or more servers. The CPO management system permits a seller to correct for forecasting errors, if necessary, or other competitive forces which have produced excess capacity, by providing inventory for sale to CPO customers.

Claims

1. A method for using a computer to process the sale of goods or services, comprising:

receiving by said computer a first conditional purchase offer from a customer for the purchase of said goods or services, wherein said first conditional purchase offer is a binding offer including a customer-defined price;

receiving a payment identifier specifying a credit card account for use in providing payment for said goods or services;

after receiving said first conditional purchase offer and said payment identifier, querying a database of seller-defined rules provided by a plurality of sellers to determine if said goods or services are to be sold to said customer for said customer-defined price, said seller-defined rules including prices which are concealed from said customer;

if no goods or services are to be sold to said customer after said querying, transmitting a rejection of said first conditional purchase offer to said customer; and

taking an action to deter said customer from submitting a second conditional purchase offer for said goods or services.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said action comprises rejecting said second conditional purchase offer.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving an express authorization to charge said credit card account to pay for said goods or services.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein said express authorization is received from a credit card issuer.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein said goods or services includes at least one of:

an airline ticket, an automobile, insurance, computer equipment and a hotel accommodation.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein said database is stored in a computer reservation system.

7. A system for processing the sale of goods or services, comprising:

a memory device storing a program;

a processor in communication with said memory;

said processor operative with said program to;

receive a first conditional purchase offer from a customer for the purchase of said goods or services, wherein said first conditional purchase offer is a binding offer including a customer-defined price;

receive a payment identifier specifying a credit card account for use in providing payment for said goods or services;

after receiving said first conditional purchase offer and said payment identifier, query a database of seller-defined rules provided by a plurality of sellers to determine if said goods or services are to be sold to said customer for said customer-defined price, said seller-defined rules including prices which are concealed from said customer;

if no goods or services are to be sold to said customer after said querying, transmit a rejection of said first conditional purchase offer to said customer; and

take an action to deter said customer from submitting a second conditional purchase offer for said goods or services.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein said action is to reject said second conditional purchase offer.

9. The system of claim 7 wherein said processor is operative to:

receive an express authorization to charge said credit card account to pay for said goods or services.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein said express authorization is received from a credit card issuer.

11. The system of claim 7 wherein said goods or services includes at least one of:

an airline ticket, an automobile, insurance, computer equipment and a hotel accommodation.

12. The system of claim 7 wherein said database is stored in a computer reservation system.

13. A computer system for processing the sale of goods or services, comprising:

means for receiving a first conditional purchase offer from a customer for the purchase of said goods or services, wherein said first conditional purchase offer is a binding offer including a customer-defined price;

means for receiving a payment identifier specifying a credit card account for use in providing payment for said goods or services;

means for, after receiving said first conditional purchase offer and said payment identifier, querying a database of seller-defined rules provided by a plurality of sellers to determine if said goods or services are to be sold to said customer for said customer-defined price, said seller-defined rules including prices which are concealed from said customer;

means for, if no goods or services are to be sold to said customer after said querying, transmitting a rejection of said first conditional purchase offer to said customer; and

means for taking an action to deter said customer from submitting said second conditional purchase offer for said goods or services.

14. An article of manufacture comprising:

a computer readable medium comprising instructions for;

receiving a first conditional purchase offer from a customer for the purchase of goods or services, wherein said first conditional purchase offer is a binding offer including a customer-defined price;

receiving a payment identifier specifying a credit card account for use in providing payment for said goods or services;

after receiving said first conditional purchase offer and said payment identifier, querying a database of seller-defined rules provided by a plurality of sellers to determine if said goods or services are to be sold to said customer for said customer-defined price, said seller-defined rules including prices which are concealed from said customer;

if no goods or services are to be sold to said customer after said querying, transmitting a rejection of said first conditional purchase offer to said customer; and

taking an action to deter said customer from submitting a second conditional purchase offer for said good or services.