Robert A Flint

US Patent:

20020116348, Aug 22, 2002

Filed:

May 18, 2001

Appl. No.:

09/859674

Inventors:

Robert Phillips - Palo Alto CA, US
Michael Gordon - San Mateo CA, US
Ozgur Ozluk - San Francisco CA, US
Stefano Alberti - Mountain View CA, US
Robert Flint - Redwood City CA, US
Jorgen Andersson - Sunnyvale CA, US
Keshava Rangarajan - Twickenham MiddleSex, IN
Tom Grossman - Rockville MD, US
Raymond Cooke - Half Moon Bay CA, US
Jeremy Cohen - Sunnyvale CA, US

International Classification:

G06F017/00

US Classification:

705/400000

Abstract:

The present invention provides a dynamic pricing system that generates pricing recommendations for each product in each market. In particular, the system normalizes historic pricing and sales data, and then analyzes this historic data using parameters describing the user's business objectives to produce a pricing list to achieve these objectives. The system uses historical market data to forecast expected sales according to a market segment, product type, and a range of future dates and to determine the effects of price changes on the forecasted future sales. The system further calculates unit costs for the product. The system then estimates profits from sales at different prices by using the sales forecasts, adjusting these sales forecasts for changes in prices, and the costs determinations. The system optionally optimizes prices given current and projected inventory constraints and generates alerts notices according to pre-set conditions.

US Patent:

20060004598, Jan 5, 2006

Filed:

Jun 27, 2005

Appl. No.:

11/169201

Inventors:

Dean Boyd - Cottage Grove OR, US
Thomas Guardino - Eugene OR, US
Henry Schwarz - Foster City CA, US
Robert Flint - Redwood City CA, US

International Classification:

G06F 17/60

US Classification:

705001000

Abstract:

The system for implementing Customized Pricing includes, in a preferred embodiment, four modules operable within a server or workstation environment, including a CP Statistics Calibration module, a CP Pricer, a CP Strategy Tool, and a CP Performance Monitor. The CP Statistics Calibration module examines the historical pricing proposals and their corresponding subsequent fulfillment data (e.g., what products were delivered at the offered prices). The historical pricing proposals are generated from or stored within databases coupled to the system. The CP Statistics Calibration module generates the market response parameters that are key to quantifying predicted future buyer behavior. Customer response behavior to various offers for products is preferably modeled using a Zero Inflated Regression Model approach. The CP Pricer software module is operative to construct a pricing proposal using the market response parameters generated by the CP Statistics Calibration module. The CP Strategy Tool coupled to retrieve market response parameters from said CP Statistics Calibration module and strategic goal information from said computer database and generating impacts on said strategic goals cooperative with pricing proposals received from said CP Pricer software module. The CP Performance Monitor operative within the system to receive fulfillment history from records of buyer responses to prior pricing proposals, and periodically monitor a variance from a model established from the market response parameters.