System and method for online group buying
OwnerAli Sedighianinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A business process model for online group buying offers discount based on time of visit. It enables businesses to conduct some customers to visit the store in off-peak hours. If patrons visit business during off-peak hours they receive maximum amount of discount, while visiting during rush hours carries minimum amount of discount for customers. Hour's status (peak or off-peak), discount values and minimum of coupons to activate deals are defined by business. The deals are initiated by users and approved by business.
Claims18
A buyer client data processing system for sourcing an item for purchase, comprising:
- a computer-based processor and associated memory in which programmatic instructions may be stored, said processor being suitable for executing programmatic instructions;
- a database accessible by said processor, said database including a repository storing information for a plurality of businesses along with products of the business and their specifications;
- a user database storing user profiles for users of the system;
- a deal request interface for an end user, said interface including fields in which the user specifies the proposed deal;
- and
- a deal ranker, operating on the proposed deal from the user, the deal ranker producing an output representing a likelihood that the proposed deal will be accepted by a merchant based on merchant specified information stored in the database.
A method, operating on a computer-based processor and associated memory in which programmatic instructions may be stored, for sourcing a featured item for purchase, comprising:
- creating a database accessible by said processor, said database including a repository storing information for a plurality of businesses along with offerings of the business, as well as specifications for said offerings;
- storing user profiles for users of the system;
- providing a deal request interface for a consumer, said interface including fields in which the user specifies the proposed deal;
- and
- ranking the proposed deal from the user, and producing an output representing a likelihood that the proposed deal will be accepted by a merchant based on merchant specified information stored in the database.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.