# US 2021/0082003 A1 · Methods and system to compare different options in a decision making process

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- Number: US 2021/0082003 A1
- Document ID: US20210082003A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 17/035,613
- Filed: 2020-09-28
- Published: 2021-03-18
- Earliest claimed: 2007-08-23
- Assignees: Four Charm Technologies, LLC
- Applicants: Four Charm Technologies, LLC
- Inventors: Rawdon W. Kellogg
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20210082003A1

## CPC

- G06Q 30/0277: {Online advertisement}
- G06N 5/04: Inference or reasoning models
- G06Q 30/0241: Advertisements
- G06Q 30/0256: {User search}
- G06Q 30/0601: Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
- G06Q 30/0627: {by specifying product or service characteristics, e.g. product dimensions}
- G06Q 30/0629: {by pre-processing results, e.g. ranking or ordering results}
- G06Q 30/0631: {Recommending goods or services}
- H04L 67/10: in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network (software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46)
- G06Q 30/0275: {Auctions}
- 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
- G06N: COMPUTING ARRANGEMENTS BASED ON SPECIFIC COMPUTATIONAL MODELS
- H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M)

## Abstract

A system, method and computer program product for interfacing a decision engine and a marketing engine in order to provide vendor-related data in response to decision-related data is disclosed. In at least one embodiment, the system and method may include providing a decision engine on a user-accessible network, interfacing a marketing engine with the decision engine on the network; receiving a plurality of user inputs with the decision engine; processing decision-related data with the decision engine in accordance with the plurality of user inputs; sharing the decision-related data with the marketing engine; processing the decision-related data with the marketing engine; and transmitting vendor-related data via the network.

## Claims

### Claim at position 1

1-19. (canceled)

### Claim 20

A method of comparing a plurality of decision options, said method implemented on a computing device programmable to perform the steps comprising:
entering at least one factor;
obtaining a plurality of decision options, with each of the plurality of decision options obtained either by determining the decision option based on the at least one factor through a search of a database by an engine or by user entry;
calculating a numeric value for the at least one factor entered based on the at least one factor and the plurality of decision options;
calculating a weighted score for each decision factor of each decision option;
ranking each decision option based on the total score of each factor; and
outputting the rankings for each decision option.

### Claim 21 (depends on 20)

The method of claim 20, further comprising entering factor data for each factor.

### Claim 22 (depends on 20)

The method of claim 20, further comprising entering an importance level for each factor.

### Claim 23 (depends on 22)

The method of claim 22, further comprising calculating a weighted score for each factor based on the importance level for each factor.

### Claim 24 (depends on 23)

The method of claim 23, further comprising calculating a total score for each decision option based on the weighted score of each factor.

### Claim 25 (depends on 20)

The method of claim 20, wherein the plurality of decision options include at least one of a plurality of products or services.

### Claim 26

A computer program embodied on one of non-volatile or volatile media comprising at least one code segment configured to instruct a computer to:
receive at least one factor;
obtain a plurality of decision options, with each of the plurality of decision options either determined based on the at least one factor through a search of a database by an engine or received through user input;
calculate a numeric value for the at least one factor based on the at least one factor received and the plurality of decision options;
calculate a weighted score for each factor of each of the plurality of decision options;
rank the plurality of decision options based on the total score of each factor; and
output the rank of the plurality of decision options.

### Claim 27 (depends on 26)

The computer program of claim 26, wherein the computer program further comprises at least one code segment configured to receive an importance level for each factor.

### Claim 28 (depends on 27)

The computer program of claim 27, wherein the computer program further comprises at least one code segment configured to calculate a weighted score for each factor based on the importance level of each factor.

### Claim 29 (depends on 28)

The computer program of claim 28, wherein the computer program further comprises at least one code segment configured to calculate a total score for each decision option based on the weighted score of each factor.

### Claim 30 (depends on 26)

The computer program of claim 26, wherein the computer program further comprises at least one code segment configure to receive factor data for each factor.

### Claim 31 (depends on 26)

The computer program of claim 26, wherein the computer program further comprises at least one code segment configured to calculate a numeric value for each of the factors.

### Claim 32

A decision making system comprising:
at least one server coupled in communication with at least one first party and at least one second party, the at least one server configured to:
receive at least one factor;
obtain a plurality of decision options, each of the plurality of decision options either determined based on the at least one factor through a search of a database by an engine or received through user input;
calculate a numeric value for the at least one factor based on the at least one factor received and the plurality of decision options;
calculate a weighted score for each factor of each decision option;
rank the plurality of decision options based on the total score of the plurality of factors of each decision option; and
output the rank of the plurality of decision options.

### Claim 33 (depends on 32)

The system of claim 32, wherein the server is further configured to receive factor data for each factor.

### Claim 34 (depends on 32)

The system of claim 32, wherein the server is further configured to determine one or more decision option that includes at least one product or service.

### Claim 35 (depends on 32)

The system of claim 32, wherein the server is further configured to receive an importance level of each factor.

### Claim 36 (depends on 35)

The system of claim 35, wherein the server is further configured to calculate a weighted score for each factor based on the importance level for each of the factors.

### Claim 37 (depends on 36)

The system of claim 36, wherein the server is further configured to calculate a total score for each decision option based on the weighted score of each factor.