WO2001077915A2

WO2001077915A2 - System and method for providing for the purchase of goods or services

Info

Publication number: WO2001077915A2
Application number: PCT/EP2001/003997
Authority: WO
Inventors: Tomas Bylund; Bo Wanghammar; Mats Jansson; Jesper Ullerstam; Johan Sellstrom; Mikael Steenberg; Magnus Westling; John Palmer
Original assignee: Letsbuyit.Com Deutschland Gmbh
Priority date: 2000-04-06
Filing date: 2001-04-06
Publication date: 2001-10-18
Also published as: AU6384401A; EP1190361A1

Description

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING FOR THE PURCHASE OF GOODS OR SERVICES

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of Invention

The present application is directed to the field of offering goods or services for purchase over a network, and is more preferably directed to offering goods or services for purchase over the internet.

Description of Related Art

Good or services have typically been offered for purchase in various ways and under various constraints. In a small neighborhood, a local store have offered a variety of goods for purchase, but the small store owner might not have offered a variety of brands of a particular good. As retail stores entered the neighborhood, these retail stores were able to offer the good at a relatively lower price than the local merchants due to a statewide, regional, national, or international operation of the retail store. In other words, the retail store was able to offer goods at a relatively lower price due to the fact that the retail store could buy larger quantities of the good from a wholesaler or manufacturer and could then pass the discounts on to the consumer, resulting in relatively lower prices. Similarly, due to the retailers statewide, regional, national or international presence, the retailer could also offer various brands of a particular goods to increase selection for the consumer. With the advent of the internet, a global network serving all areas of the world, many goods and services were offered for purchase from locations outside areas of the neighborhood of a consumer. The prices at which these goods and services were offered for purchase, still essentially depended on the volume or quantity of the good or service that the seller could afford to obtain. In other words, a large retailer offering goods or services for purchase over the internet could still afford to offer these goods or services over the internet at a much cheaper price than the local retailer based upon his purchasing power. Although sales over the internet might allow for a reduction in overhead costs of the retailer, the prices that the retailer charged were essentially limited by its buying power. Further, the prices were limited by the number of products that the retailer was able to sell, and the retailer would purchase a number of products which he believed he could sell from the wholesaler or manufacturer. Thus, although the advent of the internet resulted in some lowering of the costs of goods and services, a need still existed for lowering prices to the consumer and for providing ways to ensure that the consumer pays the lowest price possible.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A system and method have been developed which provide selectable information relating to purchasable goods or services for display on a computer device connected to a network, such as the internet, and which prompt a purchase or conditional purchase of the selected goods or service. A purchase is recognized at a price equal to or lower than a current price in response to a request to purchase at the current price being received, the price preferably lowered based upon an increased number of requests to purchase. In response to a request to conditionally purchase at the conditional price being received, a purchase of the selected good or service is only recognized upon a designated number of requests to purchase the good or service at either the current or conditional price being received. Thus, a consumer can choose to purchase a good or service at a current price and can end up purchasing a good or service at a lower price if many requests to purchase the product are received; or the consumer can choose to conditionally purchase a good or service at a relatively lower conditional price, and only have such a purchase recognized upon a designated number of buyers additionally deciding to purchase the same good or service at the relatively lower conditional price. This provides the consumer with not only the possibility to receive a lower purchase price than initially contemplated, but also with the option to condition a purchase so that it is only made at a relatively lower conditional price.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present application will become more fully understood from the detailed description given hereinbelow and the accompanying drawing which given by way of illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the present invention, wherein like referenced numerals represent like elements and wherein,-

Fig. 1 illustrates a system for implementing an embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process by which purchase of goods or services are recognized in one preferred embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 2a is a further refinement of the flowchart of Fig. 2;

Fig. 2b is another further refinement of the flowchart of Fig. 2; Fig. 2c is yet another further refinement of the flowchart of Fig. 2;

Fig. 3 illustrates an exemplary display screen including information relating to purchasable goods or services;

Fig. 4 illustrates an exemplary display screen relating to one embodiment of displayed purchasing options;

Fig. 5 illustrates yet another exemplary display screen relating to yet another embodiment of displayed purchasing options;

Fig. 6 illustrates yet another exemplary display screen relating to a preferred embodiment for displaying categories of purchasable goods or services;

Fig. 7 illustrates an exemplary display screen relating to the display of selectable country information;

Fig. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process for purchasing goods or services using the country .information of Fig. 7;

Fig. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process of another preferred embodiment of the present application for recognizing a purchase based upon acceptable payment information; and

Fig. 10 illustrates an exemplary display screen relating to another preferred embodiment of the present application for notifying another regarding a purchasable good or service.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In an effort to ensure that a consumer purchases goods or services at a low price, the consumer is provided with selectable information regarding the purchase of goods or services in a number of different ways. Upon selecting a good or service for purchase, a consumer is provided with a prompt to purchase the good or service at a current price or at a conditional price. If the consumer chooses to purchase the good or service at the current price, the consumer enters an arrangement wherein the good or service will be purchased at a price equal to or less than the current price existing at the time that the consumer requested the purchase. If a number of additional consumers also decide to purchase the same good or service, the price that each consumer actually pays could be less than the current price at which the purchase was original requested.

In addition, the user is not only prompted with the option to purchase a selected good or service at the current price, but the user is also prompted with the option to conditionally purchase the good or service at a conditional price. With this conditional purchase, the user will purchase the good or service at a price relatively less than the current price, but only upon a designated number of other purchases for the same good or service being requested at either the current price or the conditional price. If no such designated number of requests are received, then a purchase at the conditional price is not recognized and the consumer does not purchase the good or service. Accordingly, the user not only has option to immediately purchase a selected good or service at the current price, which may be a price less than original anticipated if a number of others decide to make the same purchase; but the user can also conditionally purchase a good or service at only a certain price relatively lower than the current price, with the purchase being conditioned upon a designated number of requests to purchase the same good or service at either the current or conditional price.

Fig. 1 illustrates a computer device 105, such as that of a consumer, operatively connected to a system 100 of the present application through a network 110. The network 110 is preferably the internet, but can also be any other network such as an intranet, for example. The computer device 105 includes any computer device which can access a network 110, via direct or indirect connection such as that utilizing a modem for example, including but not limited to a personal computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA) , a wireless phone, etc.

The system 100 of the present application is for providing selectable information, relating to purchasable goods or services, for display on the computer device connected to the network. The system is further for prompting, via the computer device, a purchase of a selected good at a current price or a conditional purchase of a conditional purchase of a selected good or a conditional price relatively lower than the current price. The system 100 counts and recognizes a purchase at a price most equal to the current price in response to a request to purchase at the current price being received. Further, the system 100, in response to a request to purchase at the conditional price being received, counts a purchase of the selected good or service but only recognizes a purchase upon a designated number of requests to purchase the good or service at either the current price or conditional price being received.

Most specifically, the system 100 includes a processor 120, such as a central processing unit (CPU); a communication port 125 for operatively connecting the system 100 to the network 110; and memory units such as a random access memory (RAM) 130, an electrically programmable read only memory (EPROM) 135, and data storage device 140. The data storage device 140 preferably includes a product and pricing database portion 140a, a country database portion 140b, and an accounting and payment database portion 140c. The CPU 120 is operatively connected to each of the communication port 125, RAM 130,

EPROM 135, data storage device 140. The CPU 120 is also preferably connected to an e-mail processor 145, which in turn is preferably connected to an e-mail storage device 150. The e-mail processor 145 is used in conjunction with all e-mail operations in a known fashion. The e-mail storage device 150 is preferably a separate storage device for storing all e-mail operations, as well as received e- mail responses for future processing.

The product and price database portion 140a of the data storage device 140 is the main database. In this database, information relating to offered goods and services are stored in association with a good or service. This can include, but is not limited to, deal identification numbers (deal IDs) , each identifying a good or service offered for purchase; start and end dates; images; descriptions; pricing information including initial current price, optional incremental prices and a conditional price; a designated number of requests needed for a conditional purchase, and a maximum designated number of requests (although the two may be equal) ; categories and subcategories of goods and/or services; optional designated numbers of requests needed for incremental price reduction; savings; etc. The country database portion 140b includes information relating to selectable countries, enabling processor 120 to provide for a display of selectable countries such as that of Fig. 7. The country database 140b further stores information necessary to enable processor 120 to provide for a display of good or service information in a language associated with a selected country and to enable processor 120 to restrict a display based upon laws of a selected country and provide for display of pricing information in a currency of the selected country. And finally, accounting and payment database portion 140c includes information relating to payment information, enabling processor 120 to generate codes in response to received payment information, obtain verification of payment information, and recognize and confirm purchases. Operation of the processor 120, in conjunction with the information stored in data storage device 140 will be discussed hereafter.

Fig. 2 illustrates an exemplary process by which a processor 120 provides selectable information stored in data storage device 140 to computer device 105, and eventually recognizes a purchase of a good or service.

More specifically, in step S2, the processor 120 provides information relating to purchasable goods or services in accordance with the information stored in the product and pricing database portion 140a of data storage device 140. This information is provided over network 110 such as the internet for example, to a computer device 105 which may, as previously described, be any device which can access the network such as a personal computer, PDA, wireless phone, etc. The type of computer device 105 used to access the network 110 is not limitative of the present application.

Thereafter, a user of the computer device 105, such as a consumer, for example, then initiates a selection by selecting a good or service desired for purchase. This can be done in a known manner via a mouse, touch screen, keyboard, button, switch, light pen or any known input or selection device associated with the computer device 105. The indication of a selected good or service for purchase is then received by the processor 120 in step S4.

Thereafter, in step S6, based upon the information stored in the product and pricing database 140a corresponding to the selected good or service, the processor 120 outputs information to the computer device 105, through the network 110, prompting a purchase of the selected good or service at a current price, and prompting conditional purchase of the selected good or service at a conditional price. Although this will be explained in more detail regarding Figs. 4 and 5, the current price is essentially a price at which a product is currently offered and a conditional price is essentially a price relatively less than the current price. In one preferred embodiment, the conditional price is a best price, namely the best possible price at which the product can be offered. This prompting in step S6 preferably occurs on the computer device 105 in the form of a display, including selection buttons for example, requesting selection at a current price and a conditional price as well as an indication of the current and conditional price for the selected good or service .

Thereafter, in step S8, the processor 120 awaits a response from the computer device 105 and determines whether or not a request to purchase at the current price has been received. Accordingly, in response to the prompt, a consumer can select to purchase of a selected good or service at the current price or can select to conditionally purchase the good or service at the conditional price.

Assuming that the consumer decides to purchase a good or service at the current price, this is received by the processor 120 and the process proceeds to step S10 wherein the request is counted by processor 120 in association with the deal ID corresponding to the selected good or service. The processor 120 stores this count in some type of temporary memory such as RAM 130 for example, and updates this count as other requests to purchase the same good or service (requests to be part of the same "deal") are received, to determine if a designated number of requests to purchase the selected good or service have been received. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S12 wherein the purchase is recognized. At this time, the process effectively ends for that consumer and the consumer will eventually be able to purchase the good or service at a price at most equal to the current price. As will be discussed hereinafter, a purchase at the current price may result in the consumer actually purchasing the good or service at a final current price which is considerably less than the current price.

If a request to purchase at the current price was not received in step S8, the process moves to step S14 wherein it is determined whether or not a request to conditionally purchase the good or service at the conditional price has been received by processor 120. If no such conditional purchase request is received, the system essentially reverts back to step S6 where the prompting occurs, and awaits a request to purchase at the current price or to conditionally purchase and the conditional price.

If a request to conditionally purchase the good or service at a conditional price has been received, the system proceeds to step S16 where the request is counted by processor 120 in association with the deal ID. This count is stored in a manner similar to that described previously regarding step S10. Thereafter, in step S18, the processor 120 determines whether or not a designated number of requests to purchase the selectable good or service at the current or conditional price have been received. This occurs as follows.

Associated with the deal ID identifying each particular good or service stored in the product and pricing database 140a of data storage device 140, pricing information is stored as well as conditional pricing information. Essentially, associated with each deal ID of a particular good or service, a current price is stored which will be sent to the consumer upon selection of the good or service for purchase, as well as a conditional price. In addition, along with the conditional price, a designated number is also stored. This designated number corresponds to a number of requests to purchase the selected good or service at either the current or conditional price which must be received in order to trigger the purchase at the conditional price. This number is determined, for example, such that if a large number of requests to purchase a good or service are received, a relatively lower price can be offered.

As an example, assuming that the designated number stored in a association with a deal ID of a selected good or service is 8, before a conditional purchase is recognized in step S20, at least 8 requests to purchase a good or service must be received and counted. These 8 requests can be either requests to purchase the selected good or service at the current price (counted in step S10) or requests to purchase the selected good or service at the conditional price (counted in step S16) . If the processor 120, based upon the overall count stored for a selected good or service, determines that designated number of requests have been counted and received, then all requests to conditionally purchase a selected good or service are recognized in step S20; and if the designated number of requests have not been received, then the process essentially ends. It must be noted, however, that processor 120 awaits further requests to purchase at the current or conditional price. If such requests to be part of the same deal are eventually received and counted, then all requests to conditionally purchase the good or service are recognized, including those previously received and counted. As previously stated, if the designated number of requests have not been received, then the processor 120 essentially awaits further requests to purchase a selected good or service at the current or conditional price and if the designated number of requests are eventually received, then all the requests to conditionally purchase the good or service are recognized, including those previously received and counted. In another preferred embodiment of the present application as will be described with regard to Fig. 2a, for example, a time limit or buying cycle may be imposed on the offer of a selected good or service for purchase. In other words, in the product and pricing database 140a of data storage device 140, a time period or buying cycle during which a good or service is offered for purchase, can be designated and stored in association with the good or service being offered for purchase. Such a designated time period can optionally include a designated start date and time at which the selected good or service is offered for purchase, and a designated end date and time at which the selected product or service is no longer offered for purchase. Accordingly, assuming that such a designated time period is implemented, during which a good or service is offered for purchase, the additional steps as shown in Fig. 2a take place. This will be explained as follows.

Assuming that the process of Fig. 2 proceeds to step S6 wherein a purchase of a selected good or service is prompted at a current price and a conditional purchase of a selected good or service is prompted at a conditional price, the process then proceeds, in this preferred embodiment, to step S7a of Fig. 2a. In step S7a, it is determined whether or not a designated time period or buying cycle, stored in association with a selected good or service has, expired. If not, the process proceeds to step S8 of Fig. 2 as previously described. However, if this designated time period has expired, then the final price existing at the end of the designated time period is determined in step S7d, and all recognized purchases are confirmed at the determined price (the final current price) in step S7e. Accordingly, at this end of the buying cycle, the price which the consumer will actually pay for the selected good or service is determined in step S7d, wherein such a price may be less than the current price at the time that the request to purchase was received. Such a price may be less, for example, if a counted number of requests to purchase a good or service is at least equal to the designated number stored in association with the selected good or service. If this is the case, then the final price determined in step S7d will be equal to the conditional price stored in association with the selected good or service.

As previously stated, at the end of this buying cycle, when the designated time period has expired, recognized purchases at the determined price will be confirmed in step S7e. Therefore, at this time, with regard to any requests to purchase this selected good or service that have been received but not yet recognized, such as requests to purchase at a conditional price without a designated number of requests being received prior to the expiration of the designated time period or buying cycle, these requests are not confirmed and thus will never be confirmed. Accordingly, these requests can be removed from storage by the processor 120. To the contrary, if at least the designated number of requests to purchase the selected good or service at the current or conditional price have been received prior to the designated time period expiring in step S7a, all such stored requests will be recognized and eventually confirmed at the end of expiration of the designated time period in step S7e.

Fig. 2b illustrates another preferred embodiment of the present application wherein, instead of storing a buying cycle including a designated time period during which a selected good or service is offered for purchase, the product and pricing database 140a stores a designated maximum number of requests to purchase the selected good or service. Such a designated maximum number is stored in association with the good or service being offered for purchase, and corresponds to a maximum number of the selected good or service which are offered for purchase.

If this designated maximum number is reached, this will serve to close out the buying cycle of the good or service and no more requests to purchase the good or service will be counted or recognized.

In this preferred embodiment, the process of Fig. 2 proceeds from step S6 to step S7b of Fig. 2b where it is determined whether or not the designated maximum number of requests to purchase a selected good or service have been received. As previously stated, this designated maximum number is stored in association with the selected good or service, and may be equal to a greater than the designated number stored in association with the selected good or service which is necessary to trigger a conditional purchase at the conditional price. If the designated maximum number of requests to purchase a selected good or service have been, received, then all recognized purchases are confirmed in step S7d. Since the designated maximum number of requests must be greater than or equal to the designated number necessary to trigger a purchase at the conditional price, if the designated maximum number of requests has been reached, then the designated number of requests necessary to trigger a conditional price has also been reached. Accordingly, in step S7d, not only are recognized purchases confirmed, but all recognized purchases will be confirmed at the conditional price since the designated number of requests necessary to trigger a conditional purchase must be reached by the time that the designated maximum number of requests is reached. If the designated maximum number of requests have not been reached in step S7d, then this system proceeds to step S8 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 2c illustrates another preferred embodiment of the present application utilizing a buy cycle restricted by both a designated time period stored in association with the good or service being offered, and a designated maximum number of request stored in association with the good or service being offered. If either the designated time period has expired or the designated maximum number requests have been received, the buy cycle for a selected good or service will close and all recognized purchases will be confirmed at that time. It should be noted that although Fig. 2c indicates a determination of expiration of the designated time period before a determination of the designated maximum number of requests, the order of these processes should not be considered limitative of the present invention. The present invention encompasses both the order shown in Fig. 2c, and the reverse order wherein the designated maximum number of requests is determined prior to expiration of the designated time period.

Specifically, as shown in Fig. 2c, the process proceeds from step S6 of Fig. 2 to step S7a of Fig. 2c where it is determined whether or not the designated time period has expired. If the designated time period corresponding to a selected good or service has expired, then the price at the end of the designated time period is determined in step S7d, and recognized purchases are confirmed at the determined price in step S7e. If the designated time period has not been reached in step S7a, then it is determined whether or not the designated number of requests to purchase a selected good or service have been received in step S7b. If not, the process proceeds back to step S8 of Fig. 2, and if so, all recognized purchases are confirmed at the conditional price in step

S7c .

Fig. 3 illustrates an exemplary display provided by processor 120, through network 110, for display on a computer device 105. The display 300 provides selectable information, relating to purchasable goods or services, for display on the computer device 105 connected to the network 110. In one exemplary aspect, the display includes both categories of purchasable goods or services 310, and individual goods or services for display as shown by elements 340a, 340b and 340c. The information provided for display on the display 300 further preferably includes a flag symbol 320 which will be explained further with regard to Figs. 7 and 8, for return to the flag page shown in Fig. 7; a box 330 to enable one to suggest a product, good or service to be offered for purchase; a few popular goods or services offered for purchase as shown by the three boxes 340a, 340b and 340c; and preferably further includes a list of new products being offered for purchase at a future date, as shown in box 370. Again, the display screen 300 shown in Fig. 3 should not be considered limitative of any aspects of the present application in that selectable information, relating to purchasable goods or services, need be provided in some fashion for display by the processor 120, and this can include individual products as shown by boxes 340a, 340b and 340c; and/or categories of products as shown in box 310, without the additional information shown in display 300.

As previously stated, the categories shown in box 310 may include, for example, categories of goods or services for purchase such as "home electronics", "sports and leisure", etc. If a particular category such as "home electronics" is selected, the next page 600 will preferably be displayed as shown in Fig. 6 which preferably includes a title indicating the selected category, such as "home electronics", as shown in box 620, as well as individual products or services being offered for purchase and/or further subcategories within the categories, along with products or services being offered for purchase. This will be explained further with regard to Fig. 6.

In addition to categories 310, the processor 120 may provide selectable information in the form of boxes 340a, 340b and 340c. The goods or services being offered can include particularly popular goods or services, thus enabling a user to immediately select these products for purchase, without the need to access the specific category. In an exemplary aspect, product 1 shown in box 340a includes an image of the product as shown in box 350a; the name of the product is shown in box 352a; an "end-date" at which the product will no longer be offered as shown in box 354a; a maximum savings (the difference between a retail price and a conditional or best price) as shown in box 356a; a current price at which the product is offered is shown in box 358a; and a conditional or best price is shown in box 360a. The information provided in box 340a should not be considered limiting of the present invention since less information could be provided or more information could be provided. Further explanation regarding the end date, maximum savings, current price and best price (which is one example of a conditional price) , will be explained hereafter.

Finally, Fig. 3 also indicates another optional display box 370, which lists new products (or goods or services) which will soon be offered for purchase at some future start date. This includes a list of new products as shown in box 372; and for each of these new products includes a listing of a best price 374, a retail price 376, a savings 378, and a start date 380 at which time the product will be offered for purchase. The savings is essentially a difference between the retail price and the best price, and preferably each of the best price, retail price, and savings are displayed in the currency of a country selected by the user in which a product will be purchased. This aspect of selecting a country, and displaying the information in the language and currency of the selected country will be discussed further with regard to Figs . 7 and 8.

Fig. 4 illustrates one preferred embodiment of the present application indicating one way that a purchase of a selected good or service is prompted at a current price and a conditional price. As shown in Fig. 4, information is provided for display on display 400 of the computer device 105. This information is preferably provided in response to receiving an indication of a good or service selected for purchase. The display 400 can optionally include a display of an image of the product (good or service) . It can also optionally include a description of the good or service in box 420, and an option to tip a friend, mainly tell a friend about a particular product being offered for purchase, in box 430. This aspect will be described further with regard to Fig. 10 of the present application.

As shown on display 400 of Fig. 4, the prompted options to buy at a current price and buy at a conditional price, such as a best price, are shown in respective boxes 440 and 450. These are prompts provided by processor 120. The amount of the current price associated with the selected good or service and displayed in box 440b, and the amount of the conditional price associated with the selected good or service is displayed in box 450b, are retrieved by processor 120 from the product and pricing database 140a in response to receiving the selected good or service for purchase. This pricing information is preferably stored in the product and pricing database 140a, in association with each of the purchasable goods and services. In addition, a selectable button 440a may be displayed in association with the optional prompt to buy at a current price, and the button 450a may be displayed in association with the optional prompt to buy at the conditional or best price. The use of such buttons is merely exemplary and it should be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that any method of indicating a selection between two options, namely a current price option and a conditional price option, can be used in place of the buttons for 440a and 440b as shown in Fig. 4. A request to purchase a selected good or service is thus made by selecting one of the current price option or conditional price option, or by entering one of a current price and conditional price corresponding to a selected good or service.

The display 400 further preferably includes some type of information feedback for the user, provided by processor 120 after requests or replies to purchase a particular good or service are received. One type of display preferably provided is that shown by element 460, wherein the number of requests to purchase, either at the current price or the conditional price, are displayed. These are noted as "buyers" as shown by element 470, and correspond to the number of requests "counted" by processor 120 in the process of Fig. 2. In the example shown in Fig. 4, the graph is halfway filled in as shown by element 460a, indicating that requests of five of ten possible buyers have been received for a particular good or service. The display also preferably includes the designated number of requests which are necessary in order to recognize a purchase at the conditional price. This number is indicated by element 460b, and is indicated as "8" in the example shown in Fig. 4. Thus, in the example shown in Fig. 4, if one selects the option to buy at the current price, purchase will be counted and recognized; and if one selects a conditional purchase at the conditional price or best price as shown by element 450b, this purchase will be counted and displayed at element 460, but only be recognized if a total of 8 requests to purchase the selected good or service at either the current or conditional price are received and counted by processor 120.

In addition, Fig. 4 illustrates further optional displays which may be provided by processor 120. One such optional display includes a designated maximum number of buyers or purchasers. This designated maximum number, represented by element 460c, represents the maximum number of purchasers which can obtain the product at either the current or conditional price. Once this number is reached, the good or service will not longer be offered for purchase and a buying cycle for this good or service will be closed. In this particular example, eight requests to purchase the good or service are necessary to arrive at the best price (8 is the designated number stored in association with the selected good or service) , but only a maximum number of ten requests to purchase the good or service can be received before the buying cycle will be closed (10 is the designated maximum number stored in association with the selected good or service) . Once this maximum number is reached, no other request to purchase the good or service at either the current or conditional price will be recognized. It should be noted, of course, that the designated maximum number may be equal to the designated number (or greater than) . Thus, only a single designated number can serve as both the designated number and designated maximum number (10 could be both numbers and thus "8" need not be displayed in element 460) .

Another exemplary aspect of limiting the buying cycle in which a selected good or service is offered for purchase includes a display of the timebar 480 as shown in Fig. 4. The timebar preferably includes a start date of element 480a, indicating the starting date of an offer for purchase; an end date as element 480b, indicating an ending date of the offer for purchase; and an indication of the time expired thusfar is shown by the shading element 480c.

The time itself is designated by element 490. Of course, it should be noted that such a display 400 should not be considered limitative of the present invention as any way to convey a designated number, designated maximum number, or time remaining in a buying cycle is included within the scope of the present invention.

In one preferred embodiment, the selected good or service is offered for purchase for a designated time period such as for fifteen days as shown in Fig. 4. If the selected good or service is requested at the current price, the confirmed final price of purchase will be that existing at the end of the designated time period (the end of the buying cycle) , in response to a request to purchase the good or service at the current price being received by the processor 120 within the designated time period. However, a purchase of the selected good or service is only confirmed, in response to a request to purchase at the conditional price being received by the processor 120, upon the designated number of requests to purchase the selected good or service at either the current or conditional price being received before the end of the designated time period. Thus, before the fifteen day interval as shown in Fig. 4, for example, eight requests to purchase the selected good or service must be received by the processor 120. Accordingly, in an example shown in Fig. 4, if eight requests to purchase the selected good or service, at either the current price or conditional price, are not received by midnight of March 15^th for example, then only requests at the current price will be recognized and confirmed.

Fig. 5 illustrates another preferred embodiment of the present application, wherein a current price may be varied in response to a number of requests to purchase the selected good or service being received, and wherein a conditional price may be equal to a best price. As shown in Fig. 5, in response to receiving a selection to purchase a selected good or service, the processor 120 prompts the purchase of the selected good or service at a current price and conditionally prompts a purchase of the selected good or service at a conditional price relatively lower than the current price. The information provided for display on display 500 of computer device 105 can (but need not) include a display of the product image 510, description of the product 520, and an option to tip a friend as shown in box 530, regarding a particular product, somewhat similar to that shown in Fig. 4. However, in this preferred embodiment, instead of merely purchasing a product at a set current price or at the conditional price, a user may purchase a product at a varying current price. As previously stated, a purchase of the selected good or service is recognized at a price at most equal to the current price in response to a request to purchase at the current price being received. However, the actual price confirmed and paid by the user may be considerably less than the current price at the time of submission of a request to purchase the selected good or service.

Display box 540 illustrates how a current price may vary in response to the number of requests to purchase a selected good or service being received. The display area 540 includes three separate portions, first portion 542 illustrating incremental reduction steps in the current price; a second portion 544 indicating a corresponding number of requests or buyers that must have been counted to receive a good or service at each incremental price; and a third portion 546 indicating the current amount of co- buyers or requestors to purchase a selected good or service which have been counted, along with the number of co-buyers or requestors necessary to reach a next lower incremental price level or next incremental price reduction in the current price.

More specifically, as shown in the example of Fig. 5, a retail price of £176 may or may not be shown in the display (depending on the rules of a selected country as will be described regarding Figs. 7 and 8) . As the next block next to the retail price, if the retail price is shown, or as the first block if the retail price is not shown, an initial current price is listed. In the particular example of Fig. 5, the initial current price is that of £147. This is the price that will be paid if 0-3 people request to purchase the selected good or service. In the current example shown in Fig. 5, the second block is shaded as shown by element 548, to indicate that 2 people have requested to purchase the particular good or service being offered. This is also preferably indicated in area 546 as well, wherein it states that the current amount of co-buyers or requestors to purchase the selected good or service is 2.

If one additional request to purchase the selected good or service is received by processor 120, the current price will remain at £147 as shown in the example of Fig. 5. But, if 2 more requests to purchase the selected good or service are received by processor 120, then an incremental reduction in the current price will result . Namely, the current price will drop to £128. Thus, each incremental reduction in the current price corresponds to a designated number of requests to purchase a selected good or service (with incremental reductions and corresponding designated numbers of request counts necessary for each incremental price reduction being stored in product and price database portion 140a of a data storage device 140) , wherein the current price is reduced to a prestored incrementally reduced price after a corresponding designated number of requests to purchase the selected good or service at either the current or conditional price are received by processor 120.

Finally, if 7 people decide to purchase the selected good or service shown in the example of Fig. 5, the current price is again reduced, this time to £117, and this is the current price that will be paid by those who requested to purchase the selected good or service at the current price. In addition, in this particular example, if 7 people request to purchase the selected good or service, those who requested to conditionally purchase the selected good or service will not only be counted, but will also be recognized since the designated number of requests necessary to trigger a conditional purchase will have been reached. In the example shown in Fig. 5, the last incremental price reduction step equates to the conditional purchase price. Again, for incremental reductions in the current price, or to arrive at the designated number of requests to purchase the selected good or service at the conditional price, requests to purchase the selected good or service at either the current or conditional price are counted. Accordingly, in the example shown in Fig. 5, a request to buy at the conditional price and a request to buy at the current price would be counted equally in the indication of the number of co-buyers and co-buyers necessary to reach the next price level.

As shown in Fig. 5, an end date can also be displayed in box 550, indicating the date (and/or time if desired) at which an option to purchase a good or service will expire. Along the same line, a time remaining in a buying cycle, namely the amount of time remaining in a buy cycle during which a purchase can be made, can also be displayed (or alternately be displayed) in box 560. Thus, requests to purchase the selected good or service will only be counted and/or recognized if they are received at processor 120 before a designated time on the end date (typically 11:59 p.m. on the last day), or more preferably if they are received before the time remaining expires. Thus, a purchase of a selected good or service will be confirmed at the final price existing at the end of the designated time period in response to a request to purchase at the current price being received, and a purchase of the selected good or service will only be confirmed, in response to a request to purchase at the conditional price being received, upon the designated number of requests to purchase the selected good or service at either the current price or conditional price being received before the end of the designated time period. Accordingly, in the example shown in Fig. 5, in order to obtain a conditional purchase of the selected good or service at the conditional price of £117, at least 7 requests to purchase the selected good or service at either of the current price or conditional price must be received by processor 120 before the end date. Again, a designated number of requests corresponding to each incremental price reduction are preferably stored in association with the good or service being offered for purchase in product and pricing database 140a, and are retrieved using processor 120, upon the processor receiving a request to purchase the selected good or service.

As previously mentioned, Fig. 6 is an example of a display which corresponds to a particular category of information being accessed. Initially, selectable information relating to purchasable goods or services are provided for display on the computer device 105 connected to the network 110, from processor 120. This can be in the form of categories of information as indicated by element 310 of Fig. 3, for example. Upon selection of a particular category, the display 600 of Fig. 6 may result. The display may optionally continue to display categories or subcategories of information as shown by element 610, and preferably displays the selected category itself as element 620. Thereafter, particularly popular items of the category may optionally be separately displayed as shown by elements 630 and 640. These can include an image of the product 632, an end date 634, a savings amount 636

(equivalent to the difference between a retail price and a best price), a current price 638, and a best price or conditional price 639.

More preferably, when accessing a particular category, a first subcategory 650 is displayed, along with goods or services being offered for purchase within the category as shown by element 660. Thereafter, a second subcategory can be displayed as shown by element 670, along with corresponding products or services within the subcategory as shown by element 680. The subcategories can alternately be shown separately, providing selection of particular goods or services upon selection of a subcategory; or the subcategories can more preferably be shown in conjunction with each of their corresponding goods or services being offered, wherein subcategories and corresponding goods or services being offered, purchase are preferably shown in a scrolled fashion on a continuous screen. Accordingly, once a user selects a particular category, the user can then be provided with each of the subcategories within the category, as well as all goods or services being offered for purchase within each of the subcategories to thereby result in an easy selection of a desired good or service for purchase.

For example, if a user desires to select the category "home electronics", the selected category will be displayed in box 620, and two particular items such as a Fuji digital camera and Sony VCR could optionally be displayed in boxes 630 and 640. In box 650, a first subcategory of "televisions" may be displayed, along with a list of all specific televisions being offered for purchase at the current time. A second subcategory of "VCRs" may be displayed in box 670, along with all specific VCRs being offered for purchase in box 680. Boxes 660 and 680 can further preferably include a list of the products 662, best price 664, retail price 666, savings 668, and end date 669.

This provides the user with an opportunity to quickly glance at the products within each subcategory, at the subcategories within a category, and at certain key criteria involving a particular good or service being offered for purchase. If more information is desired, or if a request to purchase a selected good or service is desired, a user can then select a particular good or service and obtain a screen such as that shown in Figs . 4 or 5 to enable submission of requests to purchase a particular good or service. It should be noted that the arrangement of display elements of each of Figs . 3 to 6 is merely preferable and should not be considered limitative of the present invention; and it should also be noted that the various display elements shown in Figs . 3 to 6 are also merely exemplary and should not be considered required or limitative of the present invention.

Fig. 7 illustrates a "flag" page for display on a display screen 700 of a computer device 105. In a further preferred embodiment of the present application utilizing such a flag page, this page is the first page provided to the user upon accessing a web page of the offeror of the goods or service for purchase in connection with the present invention. For example, assuming that a user desires to purchase goods or services, the user may initially access a website offering such goods or services on the world wide web for example, by typing in the address "letsbuyit.com". In response to accessing the website, processor 120 then provides information, for display on display 700 of the computer device 105 operatively connected to the network 110 (in this case the internet) relating to a plurality of selectable countries. An example of information is shown, in Fig. 7, and will be described in conjunction with the flow chart of Fig. 8 as follows .

As previously stated, the processor is initially adapted to provide information relating to a plurality of selected countries in step S20. This information may be provided in the form of display 700 as shown in Fig. 7, or can be provided in any manner which enables selection or entry of a selectable country. In this display 700, the offeror of the goods or services for purchase may (but need not) be displayed in area 710, images of country flags can optionally be displayed in area 720, and a prompt requesting selection of a country is displayed in area 740, with the selected country being shown in area 730.

For example, in connection with this preferred aspect of the present application, goods or services are offered for sale in a plurality of countries, and when a particular country is selected, information is provided for display in a language associated with a country. Such information can further include displaying a currency associated with the selected country, including or excluding certain information such as the display of retail price for example based upon particular laws of a selected country, displaying and following certain rules and regulations corresponding to the selected country etc.

The display shown as element 700 of Fig. 7 may include only images of country flags 720 for selection of a particular country, and/or may include a prompt listing of plurality of countries in area 740, where the selected country is optionally displayed in the separate area 730. As a further alternative, a selection of a country may merely be prompted and the selected country entered into the system by the user. After providing country information in step S20, the user enters or selects a desired country at computer device

105. The processor 120 then receives an indication of the country selected in step S22 and provides information regarding goods or services offered for purchase in a language associated with the country selected. In other words, upon receiving a selected country, the processor 120 is adapted to utilize the information in country database

140b to determine a language stored in association with the selected country. Assuming that the selected country is United Kingdom as shown by element 730 of Fig. 7, the language stored in association with the selected country in country database 140b is English and thus, information provided to the computer device 105 is displayed in English. In this manner, the processor 120 works in conjunction with both the product and pricing database 140a and the country database 140b to provide information for display on the computer device 105 relating to goods or services offered for purchase in a language associated with the selected country; and thus provides a display such as that shown in Fig. 3 in the English language. Accordingly, in association with the plurality of selectable countries in which a good or service is offered, the product and pricing database 140a preferably stores product information in a plurality of languages, pricing information in a plurality of currencies, and information for display including or excluding certain information, such as retail price for example, based upon laws of countries, etc.

Thereafter, in response to the display such as that of Fig. 3 of the present application, a user of computer device 105 then selects a good or service for purchase from either the display of Fig. 3, for example, or from a particular category being accessed in a manner previously described with regard to Fig. 6 for example. This request of a good or service selected for purchase is then be received by processor 120 in step S24. Thereafter, in step S26, the processor 120 in conjunction with both the country database 140b and the product and pricing database 140a, then further preferably provides pricing information in a currency associated with the selected country, for the selected good or service, to the computer device 105. Such product and pricing information is preferably stored in product and pricing database 140a, in association with the selected good or service and in association with selectable countries, in a plurality of different languages and/or currencies. Alternatively, country database 140b could provide a currency conversion amount for processor 120, to perform a conversion of the pricing information stored in product and pricing database 140a. In either event, the resulting display of Figs. 4 or 5, for example, includes at least a current price and a conditional price in the currency associated with the selected country. As shown in examples of Figs. 4 and 5, the selected country is the United Kingdom and thus the selected currency associated with the selected country is English pounds. Thus, the display includes at least a current price and a conditional price displayed in English pounds.

Once presented with the displays of Figs. 4 or 5 for example, the user then requests to purchase a selected good or service, and such a request will be received by processor 120 in step S28. Thereafter, the processor 120 determines whether or not to recognize a purchase in step S30 based upon the process previously described with regard to Fig. 2 (or Figs. 2A, 2B, 2C, etc.) of the present application for example.

It should be noted that product and pricing database 140a and the country database 140b are shown in separate databases in data storage device 140 for the purpose of illustration only. These databases could be separately accessed by processor 120 based upon received information, or could be integrated as a single database . In either event, the pricing information may be stored in various currencies or maybe stored in a single currency, and then converted by processor 120.

In a further alternative embodiment, the processor 120 initially provides country information in step S20 upon a user initially accessing a website for purchase of the product, in the form of display 700 for example. However, once a selected country is received by processor 120, the processor 120 provides information to the computer device 105 in the form of a cookie which is stored in computer device 105. Thereafter, the next time the user attempts to access the website, instead of providing the display 700, the processor 120 recognizes the cookie stored in the computer device 105 and realizes the previously selected country. Thus, the first display screen provided to a user is in the form of Fig. 3, provided in the language and/or currency of the selected country. Thus, each time a user returns to the website to purchase goods or services, information will be provided for display in the language and/or currency associated with the initially selected country. If a user desires to change a selected country, the display 300 of Fig. 3 can optionally include a flag symbol 320 which, when selected, brings a user back to the flag page 700 as shown in Fig. 7. A user can then select a different country, and a different cookie will be stored in place of the original cookie in computer device 105.

As previously stated, a display provided to the user in response to a selected country may include or exclude certain information in accordance with the selected country. For example, some countries such as Germany do not permit display of a retail price. Thus, the display provided to the user in response to selection of "Germany" as a country would exclude the retail price as is shown in Fig. 4 or as shown by the dashed line regarding the retail price as shown in Fig. 5. Similarly, information such as savings might be excluded based on the selection of a particular country such as Germany, since this information inherently includes information regarding a retail price. Therefore, any of the displays shown in Figs. 3 to 6 would be modified based upon the particular rules in accordance with the selected country. All of the information is preferably stored in product and pricing database 140a in association with a country such that when Germany (for example) is selected, and a good or service is selected, the entire display is retrieved by processor 120 and provided to the computer device 105. Thus, the computer device 105 will display in the German language, with the currency being the German mark, and with the display excluding the retail price.

In a further preferred embodiment, goods or services may only be sold within the borders of a particular selected country. Thus, selection of a country might initially be made in response to the information provided in Fig. 7, but further steps may need to take place before the selected country is recognized by processor 120. A user may need to enter a valid mailing address because goods or services can be provided to a mailing address only within the boundaries of the selected country. Thereafter, purchases can be recognized.

Finally, any of the display screens of Figs. 3 to 6 can also include offers to purchase in a plurality of countries. Thus, assuming the data storage device 140 includes goods or services which are offered for purchase in a plurality of countries, and one of the plurality of countries is selected by computer device 105, the processor 120 provides information for display on computer device 105. This information corresponds to goods or services being offered for purchase in a plurality of countries and an indication that goods or services are being offered for purchase in a plurality of countries may optionally be displayed on computer device 105.

For example, the processor 120 optionally provides information for display on the computer device 105 indicating that a particular good or service is offered for purchase in each of France, the United Kingdom, Germany, etc. Thus, the user is provided with information which conveys to the user that he is requesting a purchase (to be part of a "deal") in conjunction with others who select the same good or service in each of a plurality of designated countries. Further, each of a plurality of users is provided with information in a language of his/her selected country and with pricing information in a currency of his/her selected country (this can occur with users receiving information in accordance with different selected countries) . This enables the user to purchase a good or service at a price determined by the number of buyers in a plurality of countries, and not a single country; with each user making an informed decision involving review of information in a language or currency of his/her selected country.

Thus, a good or service can be offered as part of a multi-country deal, wherein the good or service is offered for purchase in a plurality of countries. Each user, operating on a computer device connected to the network, then selects a good or service for purchase based upon information provided in a language and/or currency of a selected country. Subsequently, all offers to purchase or conditionally purchase a selected good or service from users selecting each of the countries in which the good or service are offered, are counted as part of the same deal (in association with a common deal ID) towards lowering a current price and/or triggering a conditional purchase as previously described. Accordingly, it should be understood that goods or services can be offered for purchase by the system 100 to users in a plurality of countries and thus determination of a particular price level and/or recognition of a purchase in response to receiving a request to conditionally purchase the selected good or service, can be based upon a designated number of combined requests to purchase the selected good or service at the current price and at a conditional price received from users of a plurality of countries. Accordingly, a good or service may be offered for purchase in a plurality of countries, information may be provided for display on the computer device 105 indicating the good or service being offered for purchase in a plurality of countries, and conditional purchases and current price determination may be based upon receiving, from each of a plurality of countries in which a good or service is offered for purchase, a designated number of combined request to purchase the selected good or service at the current price and the conditional price.

Fig. 9 illustrates another preferred embodiment of the present application, directed to a process for providing selectable information regarding any type of purchasable good or service. The process can also be used in conjunction with the present application for conditional price and current price purchase of goods and services.

Specifically, in step S40, the processor 120 in conjunction with data storage device 140 provides selectable information, relating to at least one of purchasable goods and services for display on a computer device 105 connected to a network 110. Thereafter, the processor 120 receives a request to purchase goods or services from the computer device 105 in step S42. In response to receiving such a request, the processor 120 prompts, via the computer device 105, a request for payment information. For example, the processor 120 prompts the computer device 105 for input of credit card information.

This can be done in response to a general purchase, or in response to receiving a request to purchase at a current price or a request to purchase at a conditional price as previously discussed.

Once the requested information is input from the computer device 105, it is sent through network 110, to processor 120. The processor 120, in conjunction with accounting and payment database 140c of the data storage device 140, generates a code which will be assigned to the specific payment information received in step S46. This code can be generated in any known manner. Although this generated code will correspond to the payment information received, it does not in any way indicate the payment information received.

Thereafter, the processor 120 stores only the generated code (not the payment or credit card information) along with an indicator regarding the good or service requested to be purchased (a deal identification or deal ID) , and transmits the generated code and payment information (including credit card number and optionally including other payment details such as currency and name of requested purchaser, and the deal ID) to a remote location (such as a credit card verifier) to determine if it is acceptable in step S48. For example, both the generated code and the requested payment information are transmitted to a remote location for verification of the payment information as acceptable or not. This includes verifying that a credit card number corresponds to a valid credit card, for example, (and can alternately include verification of a credit limit equal to a current price, assuming that the current price were sent with the generated code and deal ID) . Assuming that the payment information is a credit card number, both the generated code and credit card number (and optionally the other payment details) are transmitted to a remote location for verification of a valid credit card number for example.

Although the generated code is stored with the deal ID by processor 120 in memory 130 for example, the received payment information is not stored in the system 100.

Instead, it is transmitted, along with the generated code, to the remote location for verification of the payment information as acceptable.

Shortly thereafter, the processor 120 then receives an indication as to whether or not the payment information is acceptable from the remote location. This can occur by receiving a verification code, for example. If it is acceptable, mainly if the credit card is valid, then a verification code is preferably received and a purchase is counted in step S50, and potentially recognized in step S18 or recognized in step S12 of Fig. 2. The verification code is preferably then stored with the generated code and deal ID. Accordingly, a purchase is only recognized in response to receipt of verification of payment information as acceptable .

Once payment information is acceptable, a purchase is recognized. It is then counted as a request to purchase at a current price or at a conditional price for the purposes of lowering a price to a next incremental price as previously described as with regard to Fig. 5 and/or counted to recognize a buy at a conditional price as previously described with regard to Figs. 4 and 5. Accordingly, although the process described in Fig. 9 maybe applied to other sales of goods or services, it essentially adds steps after steps S8 and S14 of Fig. 2, which must occur before a purchase is counted.

As previously discussed, a request for a purchase may be counted by processor 120 for the purposes of calculating a new incremental current price reduction and/or calculating a designated number of purchasers required for conditional purchase, and a purchase transaction need not be confirmed at that time. For example, although a purchase at a current price may be counted and recognized once a request and acceptable payment information has been received, the final current price eventually charged to a consumer when the purchase is confirmed may be equal to or less than the current price at the time a purchase is recognized. With regard to a conditional purchase, although it may be counted for the purposes of lowering an incremental current price or adding to the number of purchases necessary to trigger a conditional purchase, a purchase is still not confirmed at this time. Instead, a purchase need not be confirmed until there is no more time remaining to purchase a product (namely, the buying cycle is closed because the end date and time has arrived) , or if there are no more products being offered for service (namely, a buying cycle is closed because a designated maximum number of products being offered for purchase has been reached) . This will be explained with regard to the examples shown in Figs . 4 and 5.

At such a time when requests to purchase a selected product or service will no longer be recognized, such as when a buying cycle is closed because there is no more time remaining to purchase the selected good or service and/or when a buying cycle is closed because there are no more of the selected good or service offered for purchase, the generated code corresponding to each recognized request to purchase a selected good or service is retransmitted

(preferably along with the verification code and/or deal ID) to the remote location for confirmation of the purchase using the payment information. At this time a final current price for purchase has been determined, and this price is also transmitted such that the final price will be debited to a user's credit card, for example. In other words, the credit card information received from the computer device 105 is not permanently stored by processor

120, and only a corresponding generated code is stored with the deal ID (and preferably a verification code is eventually stored as well) . At the end of a buying cycle, the stored codes corresponding to recognized requests to purchase the selected good or service (along with the final current price) are then retransmitted (without payment or credit card information) to the remote location for confirmation and completion of the purchase. This payment or credit card information need not be stored and transmitted again since, upon receiving the generated code (and preferably the verification code) , the credit card verifier at the remote location matches the generated code with the generated code previously transmitted by processor 120 along with the credit card information. Once the two generated codes are matched (and preferably the verification code is recognized) , the previously transmitted credit card information corresponding to a recognized request to purchase the selected good or service is easily determined. The credit card or payment information is then debited in the amount corresponding to the transmitted final current price at the end of the buy cycle (which could be equal to the conditional price) and the transaction is completed. Thereafter, a response in the form of an e-mail for example, can optionally be sent to the purchaser to confirm the purchase .

It should be noted that although request to conditionally purchase a good or service may be determined as acceptable or not prior to being counted towards conditional purchases or incremental price reductions, and codes may be generated corresponding to payment information received when making such a request for a conditional purchase, they are not truly recognized until a designated number of request to purchase a selectable good or service at a current price or conditional price has been received as previously discussed in step S18 of Fig. 2. Thus, only upon a determination of acceptable payment information and a determination of a designated number of requests being received, will a request to conditionally purchase a selected good or service be recognized and only thereafter, will a transaction to conditionally purchase a selected good or service at a conditional price be confirmed and completed.

Fig. 10 illustrates a further preferred embodiment of the present application directed to a user essentially prompting a friend or some other user to purchase a selected good or product. Essentially, when the user selects a particular good or service for purchase and receives a display screen such as that shown in Figs . 4 and 5, the processor 120 not only provides product and pricing information relating to the selected good or service as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, but also provides a prompt, prompting the user to advise or prompt another person to purchase the selected good or service. These are the "tip a friend" boxes are shown as elements 430 in Fig. 4 and 530 in Fig. 5. Once this "tip a friend" box is selected, the processor 120 provides the display 900 of Fig. 10 for display on the computer device 105.

The display screen 900 may include various ones of the elements shown in Fig. 10. For example, the "tip a friend" title may be shown in box 905 to indicate to the user that the "tip a friend" option has been selected. Thereafter, the display screen 900 may display the product image 910, description of the product image 915, the end date 920a, the best or conditional price 920b, the retain price 920c, and the start price 920d. This information is, of course optional, since the user already knows most of that information and since such information can be automatically inserted into an email as will explained hereinafter. The "tip a friend" option provides some type of prompt to the user for entering the name of the persons which should be tipped in box 925, as well as box 930 for entering the name. It also preferably includes an e-mail prompt 935 and a box 940 to enter the e-mail address of the friend to be tipped.

In addition, the display preferably includes a message prompt 945, as well as a box 950 to enter a text message. This message could include the information relating to the product, and date, best price, retail price and start price, but need only include a friendly greeting if all the aforementioned information is automatically generated. Preferably, this information relating to the product end date, best price, retail price and start price are already entered into the existing text. This "added text" can be displayed to the user in box 980.

As a further option, the display screen can include a prompt 955 indicating the "tippers" name, and the box 960 to enter the name; as well as an e-mail prompt 965, and a box 970 in which to enter the e-mail address.

Once the information is completed, a completed message involving the text entered in the box 950 and the added text from the box 980 is generated and optionally displayed to the "tipper" . This information is then sent to the e- mail address entered in the box 940, so that another user is made aware of the product and will hopefully request to purchase the selected good or service so as to potentially incrementally lower the current price or arrive at the designated number of buyers necessary to trigger a purchase at the conditional price. As an incentive to tell others about a selected good or service, the processor 120 could store a credit for the "tipper" based upon the e-mail address entered in box 970. Upon receiving a designated number of credits, a user could then be entitled to a discount or coupon for a subsequent purchase of a good or service.

As shown in Figure 1, according to the invention, the system for providing for the purchase of goods and services over a network, a computer device (105) being operatively connected to said network, comprises a processor (120) , a communication port (125) for operatively connecting the system (100) to said network (110) and memory units (130, 135, 140) at least comprising a storage device (140) for storing information related to said goods and services, wherein said processor (120) is adapted perform at least some of the steps described above. The system may further comprise an e-mail processor (145) preferably connected to an e-mail storage device (150) .

In order to perform at least some of the steps described above, the processor (120) may be provided with one or more code sections which are preferably stored in one of said memory units and which comprise instructions for performing the steps, which instructions are executable by the processor (120) . Said code sections may also be stored on any other storage device or computer readable medium, especially any portable storage device like a floppy disc, a CD-ROM, a CD-R, a CD-RW or a DVD.

The invention being best described, it should be apparent that the same may be varied in many ways . For example, the present application has been essentially described in terms of goods and services offered for purchase, thus the invention is equally applicable to not just tangible goods, but also services or intangible products such as airline, hotel, cruise and rental car reservations; along with other types of reservations for example. Further, the present application can also apply to other services being offered such as financial services, options, insurance, mortgages, etc. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention and all such modifications as would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art are intended to be included within the scope of the following claims .

Claims

1. A method for providing for the purchase of at least of goods and services over a network (110) , comprising the steps of:

providing selectable information, relating to at least one of purchasable goods and services, for display on a computer device (105) connected to the network (110) ;

prompting, via the computer device (105) , a purchase of a selected good or service at a current price and prompting, via the computer device (105) , a conditional purchase of the selected good or service at a conditional price relatively lower than the current price,

recognizing a purchase of the selected good or service at a price at most equal to the current price in response to a request to purchase at the current price being received, and

recognizing, in response to a request to purchase at the conditional price being received, a purchase of the selected good or service only upon a designated number of requests to purchase the good or service at either the current price or conditional price being received.

2. A method for providing for the purchase of at least of goods and services over a network (110) , comprising the steps of comprising:

receiving a selection, from a computer device (105) connected to the network (110) , selecting a good or service for purchase; prompting, via the computer device connected to the network and in response to the received selection, a purchase of selected good or service at a current price and prompting a conditional purchase of the selected good or service at a conditional price, relatively lower than the current price;

receiving at least one of a request to purchase the selected good or service at the current price and a request to conditionally purchase the selected good or service at the conditional price;

recognizing a purchase of the selected good or service at a price, at most equal to the current price, in response to receiving a request to purchase the selected good or service at the current price; and recognizing a purchase of the selected good or service at a price relatively lower than or equal the current price, only in response to both receiving a request to conditionally purchase the selected good or service at the conditional price and receiving a designated combined number of requests to purchase and requests to conditionally purchase the selected good or service.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising the steps of:

determining the combined number of received requests to purchase the selected good or service and received requests to conditionally purchase the selected good or service; and

determining the price at which the selected good or service will be purchased, in response to receipt of a request to purchase the selected good or service 75 at the current price, based upon the determined

76 combined number. 77

78 4. The method of claim 2 further comprising the

79 steps of: 80

81 determining the combined number of received

82 requests to purchase the selected good or service and

83 received requests to conditionally purchase the

84 selected good or service; and 85

86 determining whether or not to recognize a purchase of

87 the selected good or service at the conditional price,

88 in response to receiving a request to conditionally

89 purchase the selected good or service, based upon the

90 determined combined number. 91

92 5. The method according to anyone of claims 1 to 4,

93 wherein a request to purchase a selected good or

94 service is made by selecting or by entering one of the

95 current price and conditional price corresponding to

96 the selected good or service. 97

98 6. The method according to anyone of claims 1 to 5 ,

99 wherein the prompting occurs in response to receiving 100 a selection of a good or service for purchase.

101

102 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the current price

103 and conditional price are those associated with the

104 selected good or service. 105

106 8. The method according to anyone of claims 1 to 7,

107 wherein the conditional price is a relatively lowest

108 at which a good or service can be purchased and the

109 current price is a price at which a good or service is

110 currently offered for purchase. Ill

112 9. The method according to anyone of claims 1 to 8 ,

113 further comprising the step of: 114

115 varying the current price in response to the number of

116 requests to purchase the selected good or service

117 being received. 118

119 10. The method of claim 9, further comprising the

120 step of: 121

122 reducing the current price to a relatively lower

123 price, each time a designated number of requests to

124 purchase the good or service at either the current

125 price or conditional price is received. 126

127 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of

128 reducing the current price is performed such that each

129 incremental reduction in the current price corresponds

130 to a designated number of requests to purchase a

131 selected good or service, the current price being

132 reduced by an incremental reduction after the

133 corresponding designated number of requests to

134 purchase of the good or service at either the current

135 or conditional price are received. 136

137 12. The method according to anyone of claims 9 to 11,

138 further comprising the step of: 139

140 providing for display the designated incremental

141 variations in the current price and corresponding

142 designated numbers of requests necessary to reach each

143 incremental variation in the current price. 144

145 13. The method according to anyone of claims 1 to 12 ,

146 wherein the designated number of requests, necessary

147 to recognize a purchase at the conditional price, is a 148 designated number associated with the selected good or

149 service. 150

151 14. The method according to anyone of claims 1 to 13,

152 further comprising the step of: 153

154 providing for display a prompt to purchase a

155 selected good or service at a current price and a

156 prompt to conditionally purchase a selected good or

157 service at a conditional price. 158

159 15. The method of claim 14, further comprising the

160 step of: 161

162 providing for display a price, greater than the

163 current price at which a good or service is offered

164 for purchase. 165

166 16. The method according to anyone of claims 1 to 15,

167 further comprising the steps of: 168

169 offering a selected good or service for purchase

170 for a designated time period, a purchase of the

171 selected good or service at the price existing at an

172 end of the designated time period is confirmed in

173 response to a request to purchase at the current price

174 being received within the designated time period, and 175

176 confirming a purchase of the selected good or

177 service only, in response to a request to purchase at

178 the conditional price being received, upon the

179 designated number of requests to purchase the selected

180 good or service at either the current price or

181 conditional price being received before the end of the

182 designated time period. 183

184 17. The method of claim 16, further comprising the

185 step of providing for display a time remaining until

186 the end of the designated time period. 187

188 18. The method according to anyone of claims 1 to

189 17, wherein the network includes the internet and/or

190 an intranet . 191

192 19. The method according to anyone of claims 1 to 18,

193 further comprising the steps of : 194

195 prompting, via the computer device (105) , a

196 request for payment information subsequent to receipt

197 of a request to purchase or conditionally purchase a

198 good or service;

199 generating a code corresponding to receipt of the

200 requested payment information; 201

202 transmitting the generated code and the requested

203 payment information to a remote location for

204 verification of the payment information as acceptable;

205 and 206

207 recognizing a purchase only in response to

208 receipt of verification of the payment information as

209 acceptable. 210

211 20. The method of claim 19, further comprising the

212 steps of: 213

214 storing only the generated code and not storing

215 the received payment information; and 216

217 retransmitting the code to the remote location

218 for completion of the purchase using the payment

219 information. 220

221 21. The method according to claim 19 or 20, wherein

222 the payment information includes credit card

223 information. 224

225 22. The method of claim 21, wherein the payment

226 information includes credit card information, and

227 wherein the credit card information is not stored. 228

229 23. The method according to anyone of claims 1 to 22,

230 further comprising the step of: 231

232 sending a response to the purchaser, subsequent

233 to recognition of a purchase, to confirm the purchase. 234

235 24. The method according to anyone of claims 1 to 23,

236 wherein the step of prompting includes providing for

237 display of an option to purchase a selected good or

238 service at the current price and an option to

239 conditionally purchase the selected good or service at

240 the conditional price. 241

242 25. A system for providing for the purchase of at

243 least of goods and services over a network (110) ,

244 comprising: 245

246 a memory(140), adapted to store a current price

247 and a conditional price in association with goods or

248 services purchasable over the network (110) ; and 249

250 a processor (120) , operatively connected to the

251 memory (140) , adapted to receive a selection from a

252 computer device (105) connected to the network (110)

253 selecting a good or service for purchase, adapted to

254 prompt, via the computer device (105) , a purchase of

255 the selected good or service at an associated current

256 price and adapted to prompt, via the computer device

257 (105) , a conditional purchase of the selected good or 258 service at a conditional price, relatively lower than

259 or equal to the current price, wherein a purchase of

260 the selected good or service at a price, at most equal

261 to the current price, is recognized in response to

262 receiving a request to purchase the selected good or

263 service at the current price and wherein a conditional

264 purchase of the selected good or service is only

265 recognized in response to both receiving a request to

266 purchase the selected good or service at the

267 conditional price and receiving a combined number of

268 requests to purchase and requests to conditionally

269 purchase the selected good or service which are equal

270 to a designated number, stored in the memory in

271 association with the selected good or service. 272

273 26. The system of claim 25, wherein the processor

274 (120) is adapted to provide for display, on the

275 computer device (105) , of selectable options to

276 purchase a selected good or service at an associated

277 current price and at associated conditional price. 278

279 27. The system according to claim 25 or 26, wherein

280 the system is further adapted to provide a prompt to

281 purchase a selected good or service at a current price

282 and a prompt to conditionally purchase a selected good

283 or service at a conditional price by the processor

284 (120) . 285

286 28. The system according to anyone of claims 25 to

287 27, wherein the conditional price is a relatively

288 lowest at which a good or service can be purchased and

289 the current price is a price at which a good or

290 service is currently offered for purchase. 291

292 29. The system according to anyone of claims 25 to

293 28, wherein the system is further adapted to vary the

294 current price in response to the number of requests to 295 purchase the selected good or service being received

296 by the processor (120) . 297

298 30. The system of claim 29, wherein the system is

299 further adapted to reduce the current price to a

300 relatively lower price, each time a designated number

301 of requests to purchase the good or service at either

302 the current price or conditional price is received by

303 the processor (120) . 304

305 31. The system of claim 30, wherein the system is

306 adapted to reduce the current price such that each

307 incremental reduction in the current price corresponds

308 to a designated number of requests to purchase a

309 selected good or service, the current price being

310 reduced by an incremental reduction after the

311 corresponding designated number of requests to

312 purchase of the good or service at either the current

313 or conditional price are received by the processor

314 (120) . 315

316 32. The system according to anyone of claims 29 to

317 31, wherein the system is further adapted to provide

318 for display the designated incremental variations in

319 the current price and corresponding designated numbers

320 of requests necessary to reach each incremental

321 variation in the current price by the processor (120) . 322

323 33. The system according to anyone of claims 25 to

324 32, wherein the system is further adapted to offer a

325 selected good or service for purchase for a designated

326 time period, a purchase of the selected good or

327 service at the price existing at an end of the

328 designated time period is confirmed in response to a

329 request to purchase at the current price being

330 received by the processor within the designated time

331 period, and to confirm a purchase of the selected good 332 or service only, in response to a request to purchase

333 at the conditional price being received by the

334 processor, upon the designated number of requests to

335 purchase the selected good or service at either the

336 current price or conditional price being received by

337 the processor before the end of the designated time

338 period. 339

340 34. The system of 33, wherein the system is further

341 adapted to provide for display a time remaining until

342 the end of the designated time period. 343

344 35. The system according to anyone of claims 25 to

345 34, wherein the network includes the internet and/or

346 an intranet . 347

348 36. The system according to anyone of claims 25 to

349 35, wherein the processor (120) is further adapted to: 350

351 prompt, via the computer device (105) , a request

352 for payment information subsequent to receipt of a

353 request to purchase or conditionally purchase a good

354 or service; 355

356 generate a code corresponding to receipt of the

357 requested payment information; 358

359 transmit the generated code and the requested

360 payment information to a remote location for

361 verification of the payment information as acceptable;

362 and 363

364 recognize a purchase only in response to receipt

365 of verification of the payment information as

366 acceptable. 367

368 37. The system of claim 36, wherein the memory (140)

369 stores only the generated code and not the received

370 payment information, and the processor (120) is

371 adapted to retransmit the code to the remote location

372 for completion of the purchase using the payment

373 information. 374

375 38. The system of claim 37, wherein the payment

376 information includes credit card information. 377

378 39. The system of claim 38, wherein the payment

379 information includes credit card information, and

380 wherein the credit card information is not stored in

381 the memory. 382

383 40. The system according to anyone of claims 25 to

384 39, wherein the processor (120) is adapted to send a

385 response to the purchaser, subsequent to recognition

386 of a purchase, to confirm the purchase. 387

388 41. The system according to anyone of claims 25 to

389 40, wherein a request to purchase a selected good or

390 service is made by selecting or by entering the

391 current price and a request to conditionally purchase

392 the selected good or service is made by selecting the

393 conditional price. 394

395 42. A system for providing for the purchase of at

396 least one of goods and services over a network (110) ,

397 the system comprising: 398

399 first means for receiving a selection, from a

400 computer device (105) connected to a network,

401 selecting a good or service for purchase; 402

403 second means for prompting, via the computer

404 device (105) connected to the network (110) and in 405 response to the received selection, a purchase of

406 selected good or service at a current price and

407 prompting a conditional purchase of the selected good

408 or service at a conditional price, relatively lower

409 than the current price; 410

411 third means for receiving at least one of a

412 request to purchase the selected good or service at

413 the current price and a request to conditionally

414 purchase the selected good or service at the

415 conditional price; and 416

417 fourth means for recognizing a purchase of the

418 selected good or service at a price, at most equal to

419 the current price, in response to receiving a request

420 to purchase the selected good or service at the

421 current price, and for recognizing a purchase of the

422 selected good or service at a price relatively lower

423 than or equal the current price, only in response to

424 both receiving a request to conditionally purchase the

425 selected good or service at the conditional price and

426 receiving a designated combined number of requests to

427 purchase and requests to conditionally purchase the

428 selected good or service. 429

430 43. The system of claim 42, further comprising: 431

432 fifth means for determining the combined number

433 of received requests to purchase the selected good or

434 service and received requests to conditionally

435 purchase the selected good or service; and 436

437 sixth means for determining the price at which

438 the selected good or service will be purchased in

439 response to receipt of a request to purchase the

440 selected good or service at the current price, based

441 upon the determined combined number. 442

443 44. The system of claim 42 further comprising:

444

445 fifth means for determining the combined number

446 of received requests to purchase the selected good or

447 service and received requests to conditionally

448 purchase the selected good or service, wherein the

449 fourth means determines whether or not to recognize a

450 purchase of the selected good or service at the

451 conditional price, in response to receiving a request

452 to conditionally purchase the selected good or

453 service, based upon the determined combined number. 454

455 45. The system according to anyone of claims 42 to

456 44, wherein prompting by the second means includes

457 providing for display of an option to purchase a

458 selected good or service at the current price and an

459 option to conditionally purchase the selected good or

460 service at the conditional price. 461

462 46. The system according to anyone of claims 25 to

463 45, wherein the current price and conditional price

464 are those associated with the selected good or

465 service . 466

467 47. The system according to claim 42, further

468 comprising: 469

470 fifth means for prompting, via the computer

471 device, a request for payment information subsequent

472 to receipt of a request to purchase or conditionally

473 purchase a good or service; 474

475 sixth means for generating a code corresponding

476 to receipt of the requested payment information; 477 478 seventh means for transmitting the generated code

479 and the requested payment information to a remote

480 location for verification of the payment information

481 as acceptable, wherein the fourth means recognizes a

482 purchase only in response to receipt of verification

483 of the acceptance of the payment information. 484

485 48. The system according to claim 47, further

486 comprising: 487

488 eighth means for storing only the generated code

489 and not storing the received payment information,

490 wherein the seventh means retransmits the code to the

491 remote location for completion of the purchase using

492 the payment information. 493

494 49. The system according to claim 47 or 48, wherein

495 the payment information includes credit card

496 information. 497

498 50. The system according to claim 49, wherein the

499 payment information includes credit card information,

500 and wherein the credit card information is not stored

501 in the eighth means . 502

503 51. The method according to anyone of claims 1 to 24,

504 further comprising the steps of: 505

506 offering only a designated maximum number of a

507 selected good or service for purchase, and 508

509 confirming, upon the designated maximum number of

510 requests to purchase the selected good or service

511 being received, a purchase of a selected good or

512 service at the conditional price for previously

513 recognized requests to purchase at both the

514 conditional price and the current price. 515

516 52. The system of claim 51, wherein the designated

517 number and designated maximum number are equal . 518

519 53. The system according to anyone of claims 25 to

520 50, wherein the system is further adapted to offer

521 only a designated maximum number of a selected good or

522 service for purchase, and to confirm, upon the

523 designated maximum number of requests to purchase the

524 selected good or service being received, a purchase of

525 a selected good or service at the conditional price

526 for previously recognized requests to purchase at both

527 the conditional price and the current price,

528 irrespective of the end of the designated time period

529 being reached. 530

531 54. The system of claim 53, wherein the designated

532 number and designated maximum number are equal. 533

534 55. A system for providing for the purchase of goods

535 and services over a network, a computer device (105)

536 being operatively connected to said network, said

537 system (100) comprising: 538

539 a processor (120) ;

540

541 a communication port (125) for operatively

542 connecting the system (100) to said network (110) ; and

543 memory units (130, 135, 140) at least comprising

544 a storage device (140) for storing information related

545 to said goods and services; 546

547 wherein said processor (120) is adapted perform steps

548 of at least some of the methods as defined in claims 1

549 to 24 and 51 and 52. 550

551 56. The system according to claim 55, further

552 comprising a communication port (125) for operatively

553 connecting the system (100) to said network (110) . 554

555 57. The system according to claim 55 or 56, further

556 comprising an e-mail processor (145) preferably

557 connected to an e-mail storage device (150) . 558