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Dynamic price tracking for products and services in electronic commerce

Dynamic price tracking for products and services in electronic commerce description/claims

The present Application for Patent claims priority to Provisional Application No. 60/866,433 entitled “System And Method For Tracking Target Assets And Alerting Users Of Changes On A Computer Network,” filed Nov. 20, 2006, attorney docket no. 79789-011, and assigned to the assignee hereof and hereby expressly incorporated by reference herein.

The present invention relates generally to conducting transactions in electronic commerce, and more specifically to techniques for dynamically tracking prices of goods and services available for purchase over a communications network.

Many different types of assets may be available to a consumer in the world of electronic commerce on the Internet. Some of these assets can be highly volatile, having characteristics that often tend to change with time. Examples include items like stocks, antiquities, concert tickets, bank interest rates, precious metals, money markets, airline tickets, hotel prices, and the like. The prices of these items often tend to fluctuate, rendering it a challenge for a consumer attempting to keep track of the current values and other characteristics of different asset descriptions found on disparate websites.

The changing nature of assets such as the ones describe above may entitle a consumer to a benefit. For example, where the consumer has yet to purchase the asset, certain conditions may entitle the consumer to a discount from the initially viewed purchase price. Alternatively, where the consumer has already purchased the asset, certain other conditions may entitle the consumer to a refund. While benefits like these may be highly desirable, whether such benefits may apply to the consumer's situation is a question that may be difficult in practice to answer. Conventionally, a consumer may consult the vendor website, the law, or another appropriate source to investigate as to whether the consumer is eligible to receive some benefit when, for instance, the price changes to a certain value. In addition, where the benefit is dependent at least in part on the price of the asset, the consumer often must monitor the asset for the price change. These endeavors are burdensome, inefficient, and often lead to consumer frustration. In many cases a user might determine that performing these actions is not worth the possible payoff if an applicable benefit is identified.

Equally difficult is the task for consumers who opt to perform these searches to determine whether the potentially applicable provision of law, clause in a purchase agreement, or the like, actually entitles them to the benefit sought even if a new price for the asset is published. In an illustrative scenario, the consumer has purchased an item on the Internet from a web site, has placed items in a shopping cart or wish list associated with a web site, or both. The consumer may be unclear where to find such information (e.g., on the website or otherwise) relating to the applicability of any benefits such as refunds or discounts, and whether any such information applies to the consumer's situation based on the price change at issue or other criteria.

The problem is exacerbated where a consumer is attempting to determine entitlements relative to several purchases or prospective purchases over more than one websites. Presently, consumers lack a more efficient and streamlined procedure to keep track of changes in prices of assets in various locations on the Internet or to determine whether any price changes lead them to entitlements such as refunds for an asset already purchased, or both.

Accordingly, a need exists in the art for a superior method and system for keeping track of price changes of an asset and for notifying users in the event an entitlement is determined that overcomes the above disadvantages.

A computing system for tracking price changes in assets like products and services may include a data storage device for storing executable code, and a processing system associated with the data storage device and configured to run the code, wherein the code is configured when run to receive an identity and a price of an asset, the price comprising a first value and subject to change over time, identify at least one rule for determining whether a specified action is authorized when the price changes from the first value to a second value, track the price over time, identify a change in the price from the first value to the second value, and issue a notification sufficient to identify the second value when the at least one rule authorizes the action.

A computing system may include a data storage device having executable code stored thereon, a processing system configured to run the executable code; the code configured when run to receive an identity and a first price of an asset, the price subject to change over time, determine at least one tracking rule for the asset, cause a query to be executed in accordance with the at least one tracking rule, the query configured to identify whether a price of the asset has changed, issue a notification including a second price identified above if the notification is authorized by the at least one tracking rule; and repeat the causing and issuing steps one or more times if the notification is not authorized.

A computer may include a display, a memory device having executable code stored thereon, a processing system associated with the display and the memory device and configured to run the code, the code configured when run to execute a query at a website, retrieve an identity and a price of an asset from the website, send the identity and the price over a network to a specified node, receive a request from the node to execute an automated query at the website to determine whether the price has changed, execute automated query at the website in response to the one or more requests, send data retrieved by the query to the node, the data comprising a new price, receive a notification from the node in accordance with a tracking rule, and displaying the notification on the display.

It is understood that other aspects of the invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, wherein various aspects of the invention are shown and described by way of illustration. As will be realized, the invention is capable of other and different configurations and implementations and its several details are capable of modification in various other respects, all without departing from the scope of this disclosure. Accordingly, the drawings and detailed description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not as restrictive.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of a server system in a distributed network.

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• Utility Patent

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