Patent · US Expired

Method, system and apparatus to facilitate conditional purchase orders with bounce back functionality

US7848940B1 · kind B1 · utility

28Cited by
77References
34Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateNov 14, 2000
Grant dateDec 7, 2010
Priority date
Expiry dateAug 6, 2022

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06Q50/188
  • WIPO fieldIT methods for management
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A conditional purchase offer (CPO) management system, including bounce back capability, provides 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 a principal (any seller, agent or operator of the CPO management system) is willing to accept a given CPO. A customer whose CPO has been accepted may receive a bounce back offer from a vendor (supplier-partner) of other services or products—e.g., an automobile rental. The bounce back process determines whether a supplier-partner can participate in a bounce back transaction. For example, in the case of an airline passenger in need of an automobile rental, the bounce back process determines whether an automobile rental company is located in the flight destination area and has excess capacity. If an automobile rental company is located in the customer's destination area and has excess capacity, a bounce back offer may be made to the customer in accordance with a supplier-partner allocation process. If a bounce back transaction is effectuated between the customer and supplier-pa…

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.