Patent Issued for Systems and methods for facilitating purchases (USPTO 11836763): United Services Automobile Association

2023 DEC 21 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- From Alexandria, Virginia, NewsRx journalists report that a patent by the inventors Basilotto, Stephen (Simsbury, CT, US), Bueche, Jr., Michael Patrick (San Antonio, TX, US), Burks, Rickey Dale (Boerne, TX, US), Gradeless, Luke James (San Antonio, TX, US), Jackson, Christopher A. (San Antonio, TX, US), Jackson, Elizabeth (Helotes, TX, US), Kincaid, Craig (Floresville, TX, US), Mendivil, Marty Lee (San Antonio, TX, US), Oakes, III, Charles Lee (Boerne, TX, US), Tuschinski, Margaret M. (San Antonio, TX, US), filed on July 28, 2020, was published online on December 5, 2023.

The patent’s assignee for patent number 11836763 is United Services Automobile Association (San Antonio, Texas, United States).

News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Consumers often spend valuable time shopping at various merchants for the best deal on an item or service for purchase. Merchants often advertise to consumers without specifically knowing what the consumer is interested in purchasing. Accordingly, both consumers and merchants would benefit from a system that allows a merchant insight into a consumer’s specific needs and provides the consumer with the best deal for the consumer.”

As a supplement to the background information on this patent, NewsRx correspondents also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “In some embodiments, a method includes receiving a wish list of a user, where the wish list includes items or services sold by merchants participating in a reverse auction program. The method may further include publishing the wish list to the merchants participating in the reverse auction program, identifying a location of the user, and receiving one or more offers from at least one of the merchants participating in the reverse auction program. The method may further include analyzing the one or more offers to calculate a total cost of each of the one or more offers and notifying the user of the one or more offers and the total cost of the one or more offers.

“Upon receiving acceptance of one of the one or more offers, a purchase may be completed with a merchant whose offer was accepted. The one or more offers may include an offer for more than one item or service on the wish list. The method may include publishing the one or more offers from the at least one of the merchants participating in the reverse auction program. Funds may be deposited into an escrow account for the user in accordance with a price or total cost the user is willing to pay for each item listed on the wish list.

“The total cost of each of the one or more offers may include a price of the item or service, a cost of delivery of the item or service, and a cost of time to the user. The method may further include aggregating wish lists associated with at least two users to negotiate on behalf of the at least two users.

“Computer-readable mediums that recite instructions similar to the method steps are discussed. Further, systems including components that are configured to accomplish the steps recited in the method are also discussed.

“While multiple embodiments are disclosed, still other embodiments will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, which shows and describes illustrative embodiments. As will be realized, embodiments of the present disclosure are capable of modifications in various aspects, all without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Accordingly, the drawings and detailed description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not restrictive.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A method, comprising: publishing, by a purchasing facilitator platform, one or more items or services indicated by a user to one or more merchants participating in a reverse auction program, wherein the purchasing facilitator platform includes at least one processor, wherein the purchasing facilitator platform interacts with at least one device associated with the one or more merchants and a user device associated with the user; determining a user location of the user based on a device location of the user device; receiving, from the at least one device associated with the one or more merchants, one or more offers for the one or more items or services based on a merchant location being within a proximity of the user location; determining, by the purchasing facilitator platform, a total cost of each of the one or more offers to the user; sending, to the user device, the one or more offers and the total cost of each of the one or more offers; determining, by the purchasing facilitator platform, the user does not have funds to accept the one or more offers; and in response to determining the user does not have funds, sending, to the user device, an offer for a line of credit to pay for all or a portion of the total cost of the one or more items or services.

“2. The method of claim 1, wherein the line of credit is funded by at least one participant of the reverse auction program or an organization that operates the reverse auction program.

“3. The method of claim 2, wherein, in response to the user accepting the offer for the line of credit, the at least one participant or the organization that offers the line of credit receives interest on the line of credit.

“4. The method of claim 1, further comprising: depositing funds into an escrow account for the user; and in response to determining that the escrow account has insufficient funds compared to the total cost of the one or more offers, sending the user the offer for the line of credit.

“5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining, by the reverse auction program, the total cost comprises calculating transportation costs for the user to obtain the one or more items or services based on a location of the user.

“6. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining the total cost of each of the one or more offers by calculating shipping costs or driving costs for the user to obtain the one or more items or services based on the user location of the user, wherein the one or more offers is based at least in part on the user location of the user.

“7. The method of claim 1, further comprising: publishing an event and a time frame indicated by the user to the one or more merchants participating in the reverse auction program; and receiving, from the one or more merchants, one or more second offers for a suggestion or recommendation associated with the event and the time frame.

“8. A non-transitory, computer-readable medium comprising non-transitory computer-readable instructions which, when executed by one or more processors of a purchasing facilitator platform, direct the one or more processors to: publish one or more items or services indicated by a user to one or more merchants participating in a reverse auction program, wherein the purchasing facilitator platform interacts with at least one device associated with the one or more merchants and a user device associated with the user; determine a user location of the user based on a device location of the user device; receive, from the at least one device associated with the one or more merchants, one or more offers for the one or more items or services based on a merchant location being within a proximity of the user location; determine a total cost of each of the one or more offers to the user; send, to the user device, the one or more offers and the total cost of each of the one or more offers; determine the user does not have funds to accept the one or more offers; and in response to determining the user does not have funds, send, to the user device, an offer for a line of credit to pay for all or a portion of the total cost of the one or more items or services.

“9. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the line of credit is funded by at least one participant of the reverse auction program or an organization that operates the reverse auction program.

“10. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein, in response to the user accepting the offer for the line of credit, the at least one participant or the organization that offers the line of credit receives interest on the line of credit.

“11. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further direct the one or more processors to: deposit funds into an escrow account for the user; and in response to determining that the escrow account has insufficient funds compared to the total cost of the one or more offers, send the user the offer for the line of credit.

“12. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further direct the one or more processors to calculate transportation costs for the user to obtain the one or more items or services based on a location of the user, wherein the total cost includes the transportation costs.

“13. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further direct the one or more processors to: determine the total cost of each of the one or more offers by calculating shipping costs or driving costs for the user to obtain the one or more items or services based on the user location of the user, wherein the one or more offers is based at least in part on the user location of the user.

“14. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further direct the one or more processors to: publish an event and a time frame indicated by the user to the one or more merchants participating in the reverse auction program; and receive, from the one or more merchants, one or more second offers for a suggestion or recommendation associated with the event and the time frame.

“15. A system, comprising: one or more processors of a purchasing facilitator platform; and one or more memories storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to perform a process comprising: publishing one or more items or services indicated by a user to one or more merchants participating in a reverse auction program, wherein the purchasing facilitator platform interacts with at least one device associated with the one or more merchants and a user device associated with the user; determining a user location of the user based on a device location of the user device; receiving, from the at least one device associated with the one or more merchants, one or more offers for the one or more items or services based on a merchant location being within a proximity of the user location; determining a total cost of each of the one or more offers to the user; sending, to the user device, the one or more offers and the total cost of each of the one or more offers; determining the user does not have funds to accept the one or more offers; and in response to determining the user does not have funds, sending, to the user device, an offer for a line of credit to pay for all or a portion of the total cost of the one or more items or services.

“16. The system of claim 15, wherein the line of credit is funded by at least one participant of the reverse auction program or an organization that operates the reverse auction program.

“17. The system of claim 16, wherein, in response to the user accepting the offer for the line of credit, the at least one participant or the organization that offers the line of credit receives interest on the line of credit.

“18. The system of claim 15, wherein the process further comprises: depositing funds into an escrow account for the user; and in response to determining that the escrow account has insufficient funds compared to the total cost of the one or more offers, sending the user the offer for the line of credit.

“19. The system of claim 15, wherein the process further comprises: calculating transportation costs for the user to obtain the one or more items or services based on a location of the user, wherein the total cost includes the transportation costs.

“20. The system of claim 15, wherein the process further comprises: determining the total cost of each of the one or more offers by calculating shipping costs or driving costs for the user to obtain the one or more items or services based on the user location of the user, wherein the one or more offers is based at least in part on the user location of the user.”

For additional information on this patent, see: Basilotto, Stephen. Systems and methods for facilitating purchases. U.S. Patent Number 11836763, filed July 28, 2020, and published online on December 5, 2023. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11836763)&db=USPAT&type=ids

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