US 2001/0034663 A1 · Electronic contract broker and contract market maker infrastructure

Abstract

The electronic contract broker and contract market maker is a system and method for providing a buyer with a discount on the purchase of commodities, such as goods, services, or capital, by tying the original transaction to the long term purchase of goods or services from one or more commodity providers. The system is implemented via a distributed computer network, such as the Internet, or a proprietary network. A buyer selects the amount of the discount in the limits defined by the system, which presents the buyer with goods and services in one or more buyer-selected categories to purchase over time, and the buyer contracts with the system to make the time purchases. The system advances the discount to the original merchant, and bundles the contractual commitments of several buyers in a given category into software objects which are auctioned to commodity providers over a distributed network.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A computerized system for providing an original buyer with a discount on the purchase of goods, services or the advance of credit from an original merchant, said computerized system comprising:

a) at least one server computer having a processor, an area of main memory for executing program code under the direction of the processor, and a disk storage device for storing data and program code;
b) a data communications device linking said server computer to a distributed network;
and
c) computer program code stored in said disk storage device and executing in main memory under the direction of said processor, the computer program including:
i) order processing system means for interfacing with the original buyer in order to receive the buyer's request for a discount and the buyer's contractual commitment to purchase goods and services from one or more commodity providers over an extended period of time and for advancing the discount to the original merchant;
and
ii) trading system means for creating a bundle of a plurality of original buyer's contractual commitments for purchase of goods and services over an extended period of time grouped by category, buyer's location, and time period, and subsequently auctioning the bundles to commodity providers over the distributed network.

4 more elements

A computer program product that includes a medium readable by a processor, the medium having stored thereon a set of instructions for making and brokering contracts electronically, comprising:

a) a first sequence of instructions which, when executed by the processor, causes said processor to provide an electronic interface over a distributed network for accepting an original buyer's request for a discount to complete the purchase of goods, services, or capital from an original merchant;
b) a second sequence of instructions which, when executed by the processor, causes said processor to display a plurality of goods and services on said electronic interface and to permit the original buyer to select one or more categories of goods and services for purchase and to enter a period of time to make the purchases;
c) a third sequence of instructions which, when executed by the processor, causes said processor to calculate a sum that a commodity provider will pay in exchange for the buyer's contractual commitment for purchase of goods and services over the extended period of time for each category elected by the buyer, allocate the sums so calculated between the categories elected by the buyer in order to cover the discount requested by the buyer, and display the sums to the buyer over said interface;
d) a fourth sequence of instructions which, when executed by the processor, causes said processor to solicit and obtain the buyer's digital signature to a contractual commitment to purchase the goods and services in the elected categories over an extended period of time in exchange for payment of the discount requested by buyer.

1 more element

A computerized method for making and brokering contracts over a distributed network, comprising the steps of:

(a) providing at least one server computer publishing an interface on the distributed network offering payment of a discount requested by an original buyer to an original merchant for an original transaction involving the purchase of a product, a service, or the advancement of capital;
(b) electronically receiving a buyer's request for a discount and an election of at least one category of a tie-in goods and services for purchase over an extended period of time in exchange for advancement of the discount;
(c) calculating a sum that a commodity provider will pay in exchange for the buyer's contractual commitment for purchase of goods and services over the extended period of time for each category elected by the buyer;
(d) allocating the sums so calculated between the categories elected by the buyer in order to cover the discount requested by the buyer;
(e) displaying the sums so calculated and allocated to the original buyer over the distributed network;
(f) soliciting and receiving the buyer's digital signature to a contractual commitment to purchase goods and services in the calculated and allocated sums over the time periods elected in exchange for the discount;
(g) paying the discount requested by the buyer to the original merchant.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Electronic contract broker and contract market maker infrastructure

Life of this patent

Electronic contract broker and contract market maker infrastructure

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims20