Patent Issued for Systems and methods for bartering services and goods using distributed ledger techniques (USPTO 11704726): United Services Automobile Association

2023 AUG 08 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- United Services Automobile Association (San Antonio, Texas, United States) has been issued patent number 11704726, according to news reporting originating out of Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx editors.

The patent’s inventors are Baker, Kelly Q. (San Antonio, TX, US), Chavez, Carlos J P (San Antonio, TX, US), Guerra, Oscar (San Antonio, TX, US), Khmelev, Yevgeniy Viatcheslavovich (San Antonio, TX, US), Matowitz, Theresa Marie (San Antonio, TX, US), Philbrick, Ashley Raine (San Antonio, TX, US).

This patent was filed on November 24, 2020 and was published online on July 18, 2023.

From the background information supplied by the inventors, news correspondents obtained the following quote: “The present disclosure relates generally to systems and methods for facilitating bartering for services and goods and, more particularly, to systems and methods for enabling a marketplace for bartering for services and goods using distributed ledger techniques.

“Quite often, individuals may desire to exchange services and/or goods with other individuals. However, these individuals often do not have a common marketplace that facilitates bartering for such services and/or goods. Furthermore, even in situations where bartering between individuals is encouraged, there is no centralized repository for tracking such bartering or the exchanges that actually occur as part on these bartering processes.

“This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present techniques, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.”

Supplementing the background information on this patent, NewsRx reporters also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “One or more specific embodiments will be described below. In an effort to provide a concise description of these embodiments, not all features of an actual implementation are described in the specification. It should be appreciated that in the development of any such actual implementation, as in any engineering or design project, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be made to achieve the developers’ specific goals, such as compliance with system-related and business-related constraints, which may vary from one implementation to another. Moreover, it should be appreciated that such a development effort might be complex and time consuming, but would nevertheless be a routine undertaking of design, fabrication, and manufacture for those of ordinary skill having the benefit of this disclosure.

“When introducing elements of various embodiments of the present disclosure, the articles “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to mean that there are one or more of the elements. The terms “comprising,” “including,” and “having” are intended to be inclusive and mean that there may be additional elements other than the listed elements. Additionally, it should be understood that references to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” of the present disclosure are not intended to be interpreted as excluding the existence of additional embodiments that also incorporate the recited features.

“Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to systems and methods for tracking bartering using distributed ledger techniques to, for example, facilitate the establishment of a bartering marketplace that enables users to barter for, and ultimately exchange, services and/or goods with each other. In certain embodiments, a monetary value (e.g., which may be entirely made up (i.e., fictitious) for the purposes of the bartering marketplace, in certain embodiments) may be assigned to each service and/or good to be bartered. However, this monetary value may simply be for the purpose of valuing the service and/or good for the purpose of establishing appropriate bartering baselines. In addition, in certain embodiments, additional monetary value exchanges may be tracked for particular exchanges to make sure that the exchanges are fair. In general, the bartering marketplace described herein would obviate the need for (or, at least, reduce) sales taxes. In addition, in certain embodiments, one or more matching algorithms may be used to identify individuals with particular needs and supplies (e.g., a restaurant and a farm, as but one non-limiting example) for bartering purposes.

“As used herein, the term “service” is intended to mean any and all tasks that may be performed by a first user for a second user. Example services may include, but are not limited to, household maintenance (e.g., house cleaning, pool cleaning, carpet cleaning, lawn mowing, hedge trimming, gutter cleaning, car washing, plumbing services, electrical services, electronic device set-up, and so forth), personal care (e.g., babysitting, elderly care, and so forth), financial services (e.g., financial planning, tax planning, tax return preparation, budget preparation, foreign monetary exchange, and so forth), consulting services (e.g., mentoring, career counseling, drug/alcohol addition support/sponsoring, and so forth), delivery services (e.g., vehicle for hire, food delivery, medicine delivery, package delivery, and so forth), among other services. In addition, a used herein, the term “good” is intended to mean any and all personal property, new or used, which may be exchanged between first and second users.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A system comprising: at least one processor; and at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage media communicatively coupled to the at least one processor, the at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage media storing instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations comprising: implementing, via a network interface associated with the at least one processor, an application programming interface (API) configured to facilitate interaction with data relating to bartering of services or goods, wherein the data relating to bartering of services or goods is stored in a blockchain network; receiving, via the API, data relating to a bartering offer of a first set of one or more services or goods in exchange for a second set of one or more services or goods from a first user device associated with a first user, wherein the first set of one or more services or goods comprises one or more first set of personal tasks to be performed by the first user for a second user or a first set of personal property owned by the first user to be given to the second user, and the second set of one or more services or goods comprises one or more second set of personal tasks to be performed by the second user for the first user or a second set of personal property owned by the second user to be given to the first user; converting, via the API, the data relating to the bartering offer into binary code suitable for storage in the blockchain network; storing, via the API, the converted data relating to the bartering offer in the blockchain network; and sending, via the API, a first control signal to a second user device associated with the second user to automatically launch a first application via the second user device to notify the second user of the bartering offer.

“2. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations comprise: receiving, via the API, data relating to a bartering counteroffer to the bartering offer from the second user device associated with the second user, wherein the bartering counteroffer comprises at least one change to the first set of one or more services or goods or the second set of one or more services or goods; storing, via the API, the data relating to the bartering counteroffer in the blockchain network; and sending, via the API, a second control signal to the first user device associated with the first user to automatically launch a second application via the first user device to notify the first user of the bartering counteroffer.

“3. The system of claim 2, wherein the operations comprise: receiving, via the API, confirmation of completion of an exchange of the first set of one or more services or goods for the second set of one or more services or goods; and storing, via the API, data relating to the completion of the exchange in the blockchain network.

“4. The system of claim 2, wherein the bartering offer or the bartering counteroffer comprise a monetary value exchange.

“5. The system of claim 4, wherein the first set of one or more services or goods are assigned a first monetary value and the second set of one or more services or goods are assigned a second monetary value, and the monetary value exchange is determined based on the first and second monetary values.

“6. The system of claim 2, wherein the operations comprise using one or more matching algorithms to match the first user with the second user to establish a bartering process between the first user and the second user.

“7. The system of claim 6, wherein the one or more matching algorithms are automatically derived using artificial intelligence algorithms.

“8. A method performed by at least one processor, the method comprising: implementing, via a network interface associated with the at least one processor, an application programming interface (API) configured to facilitate interaction with data relating to bartering of services or goods, wherein the data relating to bartering of services or goods is stored in a blockchain network; receiving, via the API, data relating to a bartering offer of a first set of one or more services or goods in exchange for a second set of one or more services or goods from a first user device associated with a first user, wherein the first set of one or more services or goods comprises one or more first set of personal tasks to be performed by the first user for a second user or a first set of personal property owned by the first user to be given to the second user, and the second set of one or more services or goods comprises one or more second set of personal tasks to be performed by the second user for the first user or a second set of personal property owned by the second user to be given to the first user; converting, via the API, the data relating to the bartering offer into binary code suitable for storage in the blockchain network; storing, via the API, the converted data relating to the bartering offer in the blockchain network; and sending, via the API, a first control signal to a second user device associated with the second user to automatically launch a first application via the second user device to notify the second user of the bartering offer.

“9. The method of claim 8, comprising: receiving, via the API, data relating to a bartering counteroffer to the bartering offer from the second user device associated with the second user, wherein the bartering counteroffer comprises at least one change to the first set of one or more services or goods or the second set of one or more services or goods; storing, via the API, the data relating to the bartering counteroffer in the blockchain network; and sending, via the API, a second control signal to the first user device associated with the first user to automatically launch a second application via the first user device to notify the first user of the bartering counteroffer.

“10. The method of claim 9, comprising: receiving, via the API, confirmation of completion of an exchange of the first set of one or more services or goods for the second set of one or more services or goods; and storing, via the API, data relating to the completion of the exchange in the blockchain network.

“11. The method of claim 9, wherein the bartering offer or the bartering counteroffer comprise a monetary value exchange.

“12. The method of claim 11, wherein the first set of one or more services or goods are assigned a first monetary value and the second set of one or more services or goods are assigned a second monetary value, and the monetary value exchange is determined based on the first and second monetary values.

“13. The method of claim 9, comprising using one or more matching algorithms to match the first user with the second user to establish a bartering process between the first user and the second user.

“14. The method of claim 13, wherein the one or more matching algorithms are automatically derived using artificial intelligence algorithms.

“15. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media storing instructions which, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations comprising: implementing, via a network interface associated with the at least one processor, an application programming interface (API) configured to facilitate interaction with data relating to bartering of services or goods, wherein the data relating to bartering of services or goods is stored in a blockchain network; receiving, via the API, data relating to a bartering offer of a first set of one or more services or goods in exchange for a second set of one or more services or goods from a first user device associated with a first user, wherein the first set of one or more services or goods comprises one or more first set of personal tasks to be performed by the first user for a second user or a first set of personal property owned by the first user to be given to the second user, and the second set of one or more services or goods comprises one or more second set of personal tasks to be performed by the second user for the first user or a second set of personal property owned by the second user to be given to the first user; converting, via the API, the data relating to the bartering offer into binary code suitable for storage in the blockchain network; storing, via the API, the converted data relating to the bartering offer in the blockchain network; and sending, via the API, a first control signal to a second user device associated with the second user to automatically launch a first application via the second user device to notify the second user of the bartering offer.

“16. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 15, wherein the operations comprise: receiving, via the API, data relating to a bartering counteroffer to the bartering offer from the second user device associated with the second user, wherein the bartering counteroffer comprises at least one change to the first set of one or more services or goods or the second set of one or more services or goods; storing, via the API, the data relating to the bartering counteroffer in the blockchain network; and sending, via the API, a second control signal to the first user device associated with the first user to automatically launch a second application via the first user device to notify the first user of the bartering counteroffer.

“17. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 16, wherein the operations comprise: receiving, via the API, confirmation of completion of an exchange of the first set of one or more services or goods for the second set of one or more services or goods; and storing, via the API, data relating to the completion of the exchange in the blockchain network.”

There are additional claims. Please visit full patent to read further.

For the URL and additional information on this patent, see: Baker, Kelly Q. Systems and methods for bartering services and goods using distributed ledger techniques. U.S. Patent Number 11704726, filed November 24, 2020, and published online on July 18, 2023. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11704726)&db=USPAT&type=ids

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