# US 2014/0156420 A1 · Systems and methods for customer valuation and merchant bidding

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- Number: US 2014/0156420 A1
- Document ID: US20140156420A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 13/706,101
- Filed: 2012-12-05
- Published: 2014-06-05
- Earliest claimed: 2012-12-05
- Assignees: eBay Inc.
- Inventors: Jing-Ta Chow; Michael Macasek
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20140156420A1

## CPC

- G06Q 30/0275: {Auctions}
- G06Q 30/02: Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
- G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR

## Abstract

A mediator system, which serves as a conduit between a customer and merchants, includes customer profile data. The mediator system analyzes the customer profile data, and assigns an indication to a customer represented by the customer profile data. The mediator system then provides the indication to the merchants, and then receives bids from the merchants. The bids are for establishing a connection between the merchants and the customer. The mediator system provides to a portion of the merchants, based on the bids, a connection to the customer.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A process comprising:
receiving customer profile data on a mediator system using a computer processor, the mediator system serving as a conduit between a customer and one or more merchants;
analyzing the customer profile data on the mediator system;
assigning, on the mediator system, an indication to a customer represented by the customer profile data as a function of the analyzing of the customer profile data;
providing, via the mediator system, the indication to the one or more merchants;
receiving bids, on the mediator system, from the one or more merchants for a connection to the customer; and
providing to a portion of the one or more merchants, via the mediator system, the connection to the customer based on the bids.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The process of claim 1, comprising:
predicting, on the mediator system, future purchasing decisions likely to be made by the customer based at least in part on the analysis of the customer profile data;
providing to the one or more merchants, via the mediator system, the predicted future purchasing decisions likely to be made by the customer;
receiving, on the mediator system, bids from the one or more merchants for the connection to the customer based on the future predicted purchasing decisions likely to be made by the customer; and
providing to a portion of the one or more merchants, via the mediator system, the connection to the customer based on the bids.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The process of claim 1, wherein the connection to the customer comprises:
receiving, on the mediator system, one or more promotions from the one or more merchants; and
transmitting, via the mediator system, the one or more promotions to the customer.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The process of claim 3, wherein the transmitting of the promotions comprises transmitting the one or more promotions to one or more of a computer storage device and a computer display device that are associated with the customer.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The process of claim 1, wherein the receiving the customer profile data by the mediator system is triggered by a location of a mobile communication device associated with the customer.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The process of claim 1, wherein the receiving the customer profile data by the mediator system is triggered by one or more of an Internet search by the customer and an accessing of a web site by the customer.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

The process of claim 6, comprising:
calculating, in real time on the mediator system, a place graph for the customer based on the location of the mobile communication device;
traversing the place graph, using the mediator system, to identify one or more merchants that are within a certain distance of the location of the mobile communication device; and
providing to the portion of the one or more merchants the connection to the customer based on the certain distance to the location of the mobile communication device.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

The process of claim 7, wherein the calculating the place graph comprises:
accessing the customer profile data, the customer profile data comprising a first plurality of places, with each place of the first plurality of places including interaction history recorded within the customer profile data;
extracting a feature matrix from the first plurality of places;
accessing place data for a second plurality of places proximate to the location of the mobile communication device; and
projecting the feature matrix from the first plurality of places onto the second plurality of places proximate to the current location of the mobile communication device.

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

The process of claim 1, wherein one or more of the receiving of customer profile data, analyzing the customer profile data, assigning an indication to a customer associated with the customer profile data, providing the indication to the one or more merchants, receiving into the computer processor bids from the one or more merchants for access to the customer, and providing to a portion of the one or more merchants access to the customer based on the bids, are executed in real time.

### Claim 10 (depends on 1)

The process of claim 1, wherein the indication comprises a numerical value.

### Claim 11 (depends on 1)

The process of claim 1, wherein the customer profile data comprises one or more of:
a merchant that the customer has patronized;
a location of the merchant;
an identification of goods or services purchased by the customer from the merchant;
a cost of the goods and services;
a customer-supplied rating of the one or more merchants; and
a presence of the merchant in an address book of the customer.

### Claim 12 (depends on 1)

The process of claim 1, wherein the assigning an indication to the customer is a function of implicit user input.

### Claim 13 (depends on 1)

The process of claim 1, wherein the assigning an indication to the customer is a function of explicit user input.

### Claim 14 (depends on 13)

The process of claim 13, wherein the explicit user input comprises one or more of a user-supplied rating, a review, a related check-in, and a customer saving a merchant into an address book.

### Claim 15 (depends on 1)

The process of claim 1, wherein the providing the connection to the customer comprises transmitting data received from the portion of the one or more merchants to a mobile communication device associated with the customer.

### Claim 16

A system comprising:
a computer processor operable for:
receiving customer profile data on a mediator system, the mediator system serving as a conduit between a customer and one or more merchants;
analyzing the customer profile data on the mediator system;
assigning, on the mediator system, an indication to a customer represented by the customer profile data as a function of the analyzing of the customer profile data;
providing, via the mediator system, the indication to the one or more merchants;
receiving bids, on the mediator system, from the one or more merchants for a connection to the customer; and
providing to a portion of the one or more merchants, via the mediator system, the connection to the customer based on the bids.

### Claim 17 (depends on 16)

The system of claim 16, wherein the computer processor is operable for:
predicting, on the mediator system, future purchasing decisions likely to be made by the customer based at least in part on the analysis of the customer profile data;
providing to the one or more merchants, via the mediator system, the predicted future purchasing decisions likely to be made by the customer;
receiving, on the mediator system, bids from the one or more merchants for the connection to the customer based on the future predicted purchasing decisions likely to be made by the customer; and
providing to a portion of the one or more merchants, via the mediator system, the connection to the customer based on the bids.

### Claim 18 (depends on 16)

The system of claim 16, wherein the connection to the customer comprises:
receiving, on the mediator system, one or more promotions from the one or more merchants; and
transmitting, via the mediator system, the one or more promotions to the customer,
wherein the transmitting of the promotions comprises transmitting the one or more promotions to one or more of a computer storage device and a computer display device that are associated with the customer.

### Claim 19

A computer readable medium comprising instructions that when executed by a processor execute a process comprising:
receiving customer profile data on a mediator system using a computer processor, the mediator system serving as a conduit between a customer and one or more merchants;
analyzing the customer profile data on the mediator system;
assigning, on the mediator system, an indication to a customer represented by the customer profile data as a function of the analyzing of the customer profile data;
providing, via the mediator system, the indication to the one or more merchants;
receiving bids, on the mediator system, from the one or more merchants for a connection to the customer; and
providing to a portion of the one or more merchants, via the mediator system, the connection to the customer based on the bids.

### Claim 20 (depends on 19)

The computer readable medium of claim 19, comprising instructions for:
calculating, in real time on the mediator system, a place graph for the customer based on the location of the mobile communication device;
traversing the place graph, using the mediator system, to identify one or more merchants that are within a certain distance of the location of the mobile communication device; and
providing to the portion of the one or more merchants the connection to the customer based on the certain distance to the location of the mobile communication device;
wherein the calculating the place graph comprises:
accessing the customer profile data, the customer profile data comprising a first plurality of places, with each place of the first plurality of places including interaction history recorded within the customer profile data;
extracting a feature matrix from the first plurality of places;
accessing place data for a second plurality of places proximate to the location of the mobile communication device; and
projecting the feature matrix from the first plurality of places onto the second plurality of places proximate to the current location of the mobile communication device.