Patent application number | Description | Published |
20100299608 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR IMPLEMENTING MULTI-APPLICATION TABS AND TAB SETS - A sharing model enables users to easily and conveniently create and share standard and custom database objects, and applications, among users or groups of users. The sharing model includes systems and methods that allow users to conveniently create and customize tabs and tab sets that define relationships between custom objects and fields, standard objects and fields, and applications. A tab visually represents a user interface into an element of an application or into a database object. Selection of a tab provides a user access to the object or element of the application represented by the tab. A tab set is a group of related tabs that work as a unit to provide application functionality. New tabs and tab sets may be defined and tab set views may be customized so that an end user can easily and conveniently switch between the various objects and application elements represented by the displayed tabs and tab set views. | 11-25-2010 |
20110071995 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR IMPLEMENTING MULTI-APPLICATION TABS AND TAB SETS - A sharing model enables users to easily and conveniently create and share standard and custom database objects, and applications, among users or groups of users. The sharing model includes systems and methods that allow users to conveniently create and customize tabs and tab sets that define relationships between custom objects and fields, standard objects and fields, and applications. A tab visually represents a user interface into an element of an application or into a database object. Selection of a tab provides a user access to the object or element of the application represented by the tab. A tab set is a group of related tabs that work as a unit to provide application functionality. New tabs and tab sets may be defined and tab set views may be customized so that an end user can easily and conveniently switch between the various objects and application elements represented by the displayed tabs and tab set views. | 03-24-2011 |
20110071996 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR IMPLEMENTING MULTI-APPLICATION TABS AND TAB SETS - A sharing model enables users to easily and conveniently create and share standard and custom database objects, and applications, among users or groups of users. The sharing model includes systems and methods that allow users to conveniently create and customize tabs and tab sets that define relationships between custom objects and fields, standard objects and fields, and applications. A tab visually represents a user interface into an element of an application or into a database object. Selection of a tab provides a user access to the object or element of the application represented by the tab. A tab set is a group of related tabs that work as a unit to provide application functionality. New tabs and tab sets may be defined and tab set views may be customized so that an end user can easily and conveniently switch between the various objects and application elements represented by the displayed tabs and tab set views. | 03-24-2011 |
20110072385 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR IMPLEMENTING MULTI-APPLICATION TABS AND TAB SETS - A sharing model enables users to easily and conveniently create and share standard and custom database objects, and applications, among users or groups of users. The sharing model includes systems and methods that allow users to conveniently create and customize tabs and tab sets that define relationships between custom objects and fields, standard objects and fields, and applications. A tab visually represents a user interface into an element of an application or into a database object. Selection of a tab provides a user access to the object or element of the application represented by the tab. A tab set is a group of related tabs that work as a unit to provide application functionality. New tabs and tab sets may be defined and tab set views may be customized so that an end user can easily and conveniently switch between the various objects and application elements represented by the displayed tabs and tab set views. | 03-24-2011 |
20110072386 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR IMPLEMENTING MULTI-APPLICATION TABS AND TAB SETS - A sharing model enables users to easily and conveniently create and share standard and custom database objects, and applications, among users or groups of users. The sharing model includes systems and methods that allow users to conveniently create and customize tabs and tab sets that define relationships between custom objects and fields, standard objects and fields, and applications. A tab visually represents a user interface into an element of an application or into a database object. Selection of a tab provides a user access to the object or element of the application represented by the tab. A tab set is a group of related tabs that work as a unit to provide application functionality. New tabs and tab sets may be defined and tab set views may be customized so that an end user can easily and conveniently switch between the various objects and application elements represented by the displayed tabs and tab set views. | 03-24-2011 |
20110072387 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR IMPLEMENTING MULTI-APPLICATION TABS AND TAB SETS - A sharing model enables users to easily and conveniently create and share standard and custom database objects, and applications, among users or groups of users. The sharing model includes systems and methods that allow users to conveniently create and customize tabs and tab sets that define relationships between custom objects and fields, standard objects and fields, and applications. A tab visually represents a user interface into an element of an application or into a database object. Selection of a tab provides a user access to the object or element of the application represented by the tab. A tab set is a group of related tabs that work as a unit to provide application functionality. New tabs and tab sets may be defined and tab set views may be customized so that an end user can easily and conveniently switch between the various objects and application elements represented by the displayed tabs and tab set views. | 03-24-2011 |
20110225527 | CONFIGURABLE HIGHLIGHTS PANEL FOR DISPLAY OF DATABASE RECORDS - Systems and methods for configuring a UI display layout for displaying record fields in a multi-tenant on-demand database service. A data record is initially displayed on a first portion of a user interface display, and an identification of a set of one or more fields of the data record is received, e.g., from a user. A selection of a display configuration for the set of identified fields is also received, e.g., from a user. The display configuration may include one or more columns, each column having one or more rows, wherein the display configuration identifies, for each of the set of fields, in which column and row the field is to be displayed. Data for the set of fields based on the selected display configuration is then displayed on a second portion of the user interface display which may include a collapsible display panel. | 09-15-2011 |
20130227443 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR IMPLEMENTING MULTI-APPLICATION TABS AND TAB SETS - A sharing model enables users to easily and conveniently create and share standard and custom database objects, and applications, among users or groups of users. The sharing model includes systems and methods that allow users to conveniently create and customize tabs and tab sets that define relationships between custom objects and fields, standard objects and fields, and applications. A tab visually represents a user interface into an element of an application or into a database object. Selection of a tab provides a user access to the object or element of the application represented by the tab. A tab set is a group of related tabs that work as a unit to provide application functionality. New tabs and tab sets may be defined and tab set views may be customized so that an end user can easily and conveniently switch between the various objects and application elements represented by the displayed tabs and tab set views. | 08-29-2013 |
20130232429 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR IMPLEMENTING MULTI-APPLICATION TABS AND TAB SETS - A sharing model enables users to easily and conveniently create and share standard and custom database objects, and applications, among users or groups of users. The sharing model includes systems and methods that allow users to conveniently create and customize tabs and tab sets that define relationships between custom objects and fields, standard objects and fields, and applications. A tab visually represents a user interface into an element of an application or into a database object. Selection of a tab provides a user access to the object or element of the application represented by the tab. A tab set is a group of related tabs that work as a unit to provide application functionality. New tabs and tab sets may be defined and tab set views may be customized so that an end user can easily and conveniently switch between the various objects and application elements represented by the displayed tabs and tab set views. | 09-05-2013 |
20140101149 | COMPUTER IMPLEMENTED METHODS AND APPARATUS TO INTERACT WITH RECORDS USING A PUBLISHER OF AN INFORMATION FEED OF AN ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORK - Disclosed are methods, apparatus, systems, and computer-readable storage media for interacting with records using a publisher configured to publish information to a feed of a social network. In some implementations, a computing device receives a request to interact with a child record related to a parent record stored in a database system. The request is generated via the publisher displayed in a user interface on a display device. The user interface is also configured to display the feed in association with an entity of the social network. Child record information indicating a type of the child record and field data to populate one or more fields of the child record can be received. The field data is differentiated from message content generated via the publisher to include in a feed item for presentation in the feed when displayed to one or more users following the parent record. The requested interaction with the child record can be performed using the child record information. | 04-10-2014 |
20160026650 | COMPUTER IMPLEMENTED METHODS AND APPARATUS TO INTERACT WITH RECORDS USING A PUBLISHER OF AN INFORMATION FEED OF AN ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORK - Disclosed are methods, apparatus, systems, and computer-readable storage media for interacting with records using a publisher configured to publish information to a feed of a social network. In some implementations, a computing device receives a request to interact with a child record related to a parent record stored in a database system. The request is generated via the publisher displayed in a user interface on a display device. The user interface is also configured to display the feed in association with an entity of the social network. Child record information indicating a type of the child record and field data to populate one or more fields of the child record can be received. The field data is differentiated from message content generated via the publisher to include in a feed item for presentation in the feed when displayed to one or more users following the parent record. The requested interaction with the child record can be performed using the child record information. | 01-28-2016 |
20160026670 | COMPUTER IMPLEMENTED METHODS AND APPARATUS TO INTERACT WITH RECORDS USING A PUBLISHER OF AN INFORMATION FEED OF AN ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORK - Disclosed are methods, apparatus, systems, and computer-readable storage media for interacting with records using a publisher configured to publish information to a feed of a social network. In some implementations, a computing device receives a request to interact with a child record related to a parent record stored in a database system. The request is generated via the publisher displayed in a user interface on a display device. The user interface is also configured to display the feed in association with an entity of the social network. Child record information indicating a type of the child record and field data to populate one or more fields of the child record can be received. The field data is differentiated from message content generated via the publisher to include in a feed item for presentation in the feed when displayed to one or more users following the parent record. The requested interaction with the child record can be performed using the child record information. | 01-28-2016 |
Patent application number | Description | Published |
20110022525 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR THE UTILIZATION OF PRICING MODELS IN THE AGGREGATION, ANALYSIS, PRESENTATION AND MONETIZATION OF PRICING DATA FOR VEHICLES AND OTHER COMMODITIES - Embodiments of systems and methods for the aggregation, analysis, display and monetization of pricing data for commodities in general, and which may be particularly useful applied to vehicles are disclosed. In certain embodiments, one or more models may be applied over a set of historical transaction data associated with a vehicle configuration to determine pricing data. Some models may leverage incremental data in various conditions, including cases where fewer than a desired number of historical transactions are present in the bin of a specified vehicle, where fewer than, equal to, or more than a certain number of list prices for the specified vehicle available, and where no historical transaction data for new models is available. | 01-27-2011 |
20110082720 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR THE ANALYSIS OF PRICING DATA INCLUDING A SUSTAINABLE PRICE RANGE FOR VEHICLES AND OTHER COMMODITIES - Embodiments disclosed herein can produce and present sustainable price information to help dealers to price vehicles for sustainability and facilitate consumers in making purchase decisions. In one approach, a sustainable price range for a specific vehicle configuration may be based on an average profit margin (APM) determined utilizing historical sale prices and an estimated actual dealer cost. Other approaches may utilize some or all of the following steps: determine APM and build a model of distribution of profit margins by APM, build a model to adjust APM by certain variables, identify sustainable levels for the inventory, production, and incentives variables feeding into the APM model, plug those in to get the averages for those sustainable levels, identify sustainable percentile cutoffs for a given profit margin, then use this relationship with the now identified sustainable levels as inputs to find the overall sustainable profit margin. | 04-07-2011 |
20110082759 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR THE ANALYSIS OF PRICING DATA INCLUDING DEALER COSTS FOR VEHICLES AND OTHER COMMODITIES - The sale of a vehicle may involve many cost and profit components. It is generally impossible for a potential buyer to know all of these components. For example, dealers may be paid by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) on their Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) and volume bonus. Embodiments disclosed herein may determine and present to a user an accurate estimate of dealer cost, taking into consideration an aggregate of dealer cost components. For each component, a predictive model may be built to determine an expected value at a particular level. An average of the expected value of the component is then calculated for the most recent month. From that, an average bonus payout per vehicle for the most recent month may be determined. A base dealer cost is adjusted to account for these payouts to produce an accurate estimate of actual dealer cost. | 04-07-2011 |
20110082804 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR THE ANALYSIS OF PRICING DATA INCLUDING PRICING FLEXIBILITY FOR VEHICLES AND OTHER COMMODITIES - Embodiments disclosed herein can provide consumers with an effective tool for evaluating the negotiability of prices for vehicles in the marketplace. The tool may include a Price Flexibility Score which measures the elasticity of transaction prices by vehicle model. Specifically, a method may dynamically incorporate factors that affect price variance, convert those factors into variables, generate order statistics for each of the variables, apply a weighting factor to the variables to generate a price flexibility score for each make-model, and determine a negotiability index utilizing the price flexibility score. In one embodiment, the process of determining the negotiability index may be fully driven by a price flexibility model that incorporates a plurality of factors. | 04-07-2011 |
20120066092 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND PROGRAM PRODUCT FOR PREDICTING BEST/WORST TIME TO BUY - In response to a user request for information on the best/worst days in an upcoming time period to buy a commodity, a vehicle data system may determine anticipated daily discounts applicable to the commodity. An example commodity may be a vehicle of a specific configuration. In one embodiment, characteristics of month, day of week, and day of month may be gathered and fed into a Best Day to Buy model to determine, for each day of the time period, a projected daily discount relative to a set price for the commodity. Additional input variables such as incentives and seasonal discounts may be included. From the computed daily discounts, the vehicle data system may determine the best day and/or the worst day to buy and report same to the user. | 03-15-2012 |
20130006876 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT FOR GEO-SPECIFIC VEHICLE PRICING - Disclosed are embodiments for the aggregation and analysis of vehicle prices via a geo-specific model. Data may be collected at various geo-specific levels such as a ZIP-Code level to provide greater data resolution. Data sets taken into account may include demarcation point data sets and data sets based on vehicle transactions. A demarcation point data set may be based on consumer market factors that influence car-buying behavior. Vehicle transactions may be classified into data sets for other vehicles having similar characteristics to the vehicle. A geo-specific statistical pricing model may then be applied to the data sets based on similar characteristics to a particular vehicle to produce a price estimation for the vehicle. | 01-03-2013 |
20130006916 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR SELECTION, FILTERING OR PRESENTATION OF AVAILABLE SALES OUTLETS - Embodiments disclosed herein provide systems and methods for the filtering, selection and presentation of vendors accounting for both user characteristics and vendor characteristics, such that the systems and methods may be used by both customer and vendor alike to better match customer needs with the resource-constrained vendors with whom a successful sale has a higher probability of occurring. Embodiments may include filtering, selecting and/or presenting vendors to a user sorted by the probability that the particular vendor will possess the characteristics that appeal to a particular customer and therefore result in a large probability of sale and suppress presentation of those vendors that are unlikely to be selected by the customer since their characteristics are less consistent with those needed by the customer and, therefore, are unlikely to result in a sale. | 01-03-2013 |
20130007705 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT FOR PREDICTING ITEM PREFERENCE USING REVENUE-WEIGHTED COLLABORATIVE FILTER - Embodiments disclosed provide a system, method, and computer program product for identifying consumer items more likely to be bought by an individual user. In some embodiments, a collaborative filter may be used to rank items based on the degree to which they match user preferences. The collaborative filter may be hierarchical and may take various factors into consideration. Example factors may include the similarity among items based on observable features, a summary of aggregate online search behavior across multiple users, the item features determined to be most important to the individual user, and a baseline item against which a conditional probability of another item being selected is measured. | 01-03-2013 |
20130018804 | System and Method for the Analysis of Pricing Data Including a Sustainable Price Range for Vehicles and Other Commodities - Embodiments disclosed herein can produce and present sustainable price information to help dealers to price vehicles for sustainability and facilitate consumers in making purchase decisions. In one approach, a sustainable price range for a specific vehicle configuration may be based on an average profit margin (APM) determined utilizing historical sale prices and an estimated actual dealer cost. Other approaches may utilize some or all of the following steps: determine APM and build a model of distribution of profit margins by APM, build a model to adjust APM by certain variables, identify sustainable levels for the inventory, production, and incentives variables feeding into the APM model, plug those in to get the averages for those sustainable levels, identify sustainable percentile cutoffs for a given profit margin, then use this relationship with the now identified sustainable levels as inputs to find the overall sustainable profit margin. | 01-17-2013 |
20130030870 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ANALYSIS AND PRESENTATION OF USED VEHICLE PRICING DATA - Systems and methods for the aggregation, analysis, and display of data for used vehicles are disclosed. Historical transaction data for used vehicles may be obtained and processed to determine pricing data, where this determined pricing data may be associated with a particular configuration of a vehicle. The user can then be presented with an interface pertinent to the vehicle configuration utilizing the aggregated data set or the associated determined data where the user can make a variety of determinations. This interface may, for example, be configured to present the historical transaction data visually, with the pricing data such as a trade-in price, a list price, an expected sale price or range of sale prices, market low sale price, market average sale price, market high sale price, etc. presented relative to the historical transaction data. | 01-31-2013 |
20130117067 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT FOR DEMAND-WEIGHTED SELECTION OF SALES OUTLETS - In embodiments disclosed herein, a computer may operate to determine, for each member in a set and each non-member under consideration for the set, an expected revenue to be passed to a parent organization. The expected revenue may be determined utilizing a plurality of weighted features. Members in the set may be ranked according to their expected revenues. Top performing members in the set may be protected to ensure their expected revenues. Bottom performing members may be removed from the set and/or replaced with new members outside of geographical protective areas of the top performing members. The optimization process can be repeated until the set of members can satisfy an existing demand while maximizing revenue for the parent organization. | 05-09-2013 |
20130198167 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT FOR DECODING VEHICLE IDENTIFICATION NUMBERS - A vehicle identification number (VIN) decoder (VDC) implementing a unique VIN decoding method may, for a given VIN, shorten the VIN and form a stem and a leaf therefrom. Utilizing the stem, the VDC may operate to find matching leaf values, if any, from a set of look up tables. Depending upon a match outcome, one or more trim identification code (TIC) values can be assigned to the VIN and a candidate list can be constructed utilizing the assigned TIC value(s). The candidate list, which can be optimized, may contain one or more candidate trims for the VIN. For each candidate trim, a confidence score and match probability can be generated. The VDC may provide decoded information containing trim data associated with at least one of the one or more candidate trims for the VIN to a client device over a network connection. | 08-01-2013 |
20130226945 | NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING SYSTEM, METHOD AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT USEFUL FOR AUTOMOTIVE DATA MAPPING - Natural language processing (NLP) approaches may be utilized to map two strings. The strings may come from sources utilizing different naming conventions. One example may be a data aggregator that collects used car transaction information. Another example may be a comprehensive database listing all possible manufacturer-defined vehicle options. A NLP system may operate to determine whether a source string is present in a target string and outputting a match containing the source string and the target string if the source string is present in the target string or computing a similarity factor if the source string is not present in the target string. The similarity factor representing a measure of similarity between two strings may be computed based on a plurality of parameters, including a Levenshtein edit distance parameter. The computed similarity can be used to find pricing information, including trade-in, sale, and list prices, across disparate naming conventions. | 08-29-2013 |
20140058957 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR THE UTILIZATION OF PRICING MODELS IN THE AGGREGATION, ANALYSIS, PRESENTATION AND MONETIZATION OF PRICING DATA FOR VEHICLES AND OTHER COMMODITIES - Embodiments of systems and methods for the aggregation, analysis, display and monetization of pricing data for commodities in general, and which may be particularly useful applied to vehicles are disclosed. In certain embodiments, one or more models may be applied over a set of historical transaction data associated with a vehicle configuration to determine pricing data. Some models may leverage incremental data in various conditions, including cases where fewer than a desired number of historical transactions are present in the bin of a specified vehicle, where fewer than, equal to, or more than a certain number of list prices for the specified vehicle available, and where no historical transaction data for new models is available. | 02-27-2014 |
Patent application number | Description | Published |
20130304571 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND COMPUTER PROGRAM FOR VARYING AFFILIATE POSITION DISPLAYED BY INTERMEDIARY - Endogenous and exogenous variables associated with an item for sale by an affiliate may be displayed to a user of an affiliate decision-making tool. In response to the user selecting one of the endogenous variables, the affiliate decision-making tool may compute a number of introductions, a number of leads, and a number of sales for each of a plurality of possible values of the endogenous variable. The computation may be done utilizing a display position algorithm. A visualization of effects of setting the endogenous variable at different levels may be presented. The user may interact with the display position algorithm to vary one or more of the plurality of possible values of the endogenous variable such that the affiliate is eligible or disqualified to be displayed by an intermediary in response to a search for the item by a visitor of a network site owned and operated by the intermediary. | 11-14-2013 |
20140089046 | System, Method and Computer Program Product for Demand-Weighted Selection of Sales Outlets - In embodiments disclosed herein, a computer may operate to determine, for each member in a set and each non-member under consideration for the set, an expected revenue to be passed to an organization. The expected revenue may be determined utilizing a plurality of weighted features. Members in the set may be ranked according to their expected revenues. Top performing members in the set may be protected to ensure their expected revenues. Bottom performing members may be removed from the set and/or replaced with new members outside of geographical protective areas of the top performing members. The optimization process can be repeated until the set of members can satisfy an existing demand and/or revenue for the organization is maximized. | 03-27-2014 |
20140114726 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ANALYSIS AND PRESENTATION OF USED VEHICLE PRICING DATA - Systems and methods for the aggregation, analysis, and display of data for used vehicles are disclosed. Historical transaction data for used vehicles may be obtained and processed to determine pricing data, where this determined pricing data may be associated with a particular configuration of a vehicle. The user can then be presented with an interface pertinent to the vehicle configuration utilizing the aggregated data set or the associated determined data where the user can make a variety of determinations. This interface may, for example, be configured to present the historical transaction data visually, with the pricing data such as a trade-in price, a list price, an expected sale price or range of sale prices, market low sale price, market average sale price, market high sale price, etc. presented relative to the historical transaction data. | 04-24-2014 |
20140129290 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT FOR PREDICTING ITEM PREFERENCE USING REVENUE-WEIGHTED COLLABORATIVE FILTER - Embodiments disclosed provide a system, method, and computer program product for identifying consumer items more likely to be bought by an individual user. In some embodiments, a collaborative filter may be used to rank items based on the degree to which they match user preferences. The collaborative filter may be hierarchical and may take various factors into consideration. Example factors may include the similarity among items based on observable features, a summary of aggregate online search behavior across multiple users, the item features determined to be most important to the individual user, and a baseline item against which a conditional probability of another item being selected is measured. | 05-08-2014 |
20140136550 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT FOR DECODING VEHICLE IDENTIFICATION NUMBERS - A vehicle identification number (VIN) decoder (VDC) implementing a unique VIN decoding method may, for a given VIN, shorten the VIN and form a stem and a leaf therefrom. Utilizing the stem, the VDC may operate to find matching leaf values, if any, from a set of look up tables. Depending upon a match outcome, one or more trim identification code (TIC) values can be assigned to the VIN and a candidate list can be constructed utilizing the assigned TIC value(s). The candidate list, which can be optimized, may contain one or more candidate trims for the VIN. For each candidate trim, a confidence score and a match probability can be generated. The VDC may provide decoded information containing trim data associated with at least one of the one or more candidate trims for the VIN to a client device over a network connection. | 05-15-2014 |
20140180882 | PAY-PER-SALE SYSTEM, METHOD AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT THEREFOR - A vehicle sales matching system may include a vehicle sales lead data database, a vehicle sales information database, and a sales matching system embodied on a non-transitory computer readable medium and communicatively connected to the vehicle sales lead data database and the vehicle sales information database. The vehicle sales lead data may include validated customer data and third party customer data. The vehicle sales information may include sales data from vehicle dealers, third party data extract services, and third party sales data sources. The sales matching system may be configured for applying one or more matching rules for matching a vehicle sales lead from the vehicle sales lead database to a vehicle sale from the vehicle sales information database. | 06-26-2014 |
20140188558 | SUBSCRIPTION PRICING SYSTEM, METHOD AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT THEREFOR - A method for subscription pricing may include estimating a number of leads to be provided by an entity to a dealer in a dealer network associated with the entity; estimating a price per lead based at least in part on the estimated number of leads; determining a preliminary subscription price for the dealer based on the estimated number of leads and the estimated price per lead; and applying one or more decision rules imposing one or more constraints to the preliminary subscription price to thereby determine a final subscription price for the dealer. The one or more decision rules may be applied depending upon whether the dealer is a potential subscriber member or an existing member of the dealer network associated with the entity. | 07-03-2014 |
20140214491 | Out-the-Door Pricing System, Method and Computer Program Product Therefor - Embodiments provide consumers browsing and shopping online for durable goods such as new vehicles with out-the-door prices for user-specified vehicle configurations. A vehicle data system can obtain automotive registration data from various sources, identify true taxes versus fees, process them into separate groups, associate them to vehicle configurations, and persist the associated taxes and fees in a database. This backend process can be done offline, independent of a frontend process that services user requests in real time. A user request containing a user-specified vehicle configuration may be received by the vehicle data system through a website. The vehicle data system may determine an out-the-door price for the user-specified vehicle configuration, the out-the-door price representing a final amount that a consumer is to pay a dealer for the user-specified vehicle configuration and including applicable taxes and fees retrieved from the database. | 07-31-2014 |
20140214696 | Wholesale/Trade-In Pricing System, Method and Computer Program Product Therefor - Systems, methods and computer program products that determine wholesale prices for durable goods such as used vehicles. In one embodiment, a system includes a computer processor, a network interface, a data storage device, and an output device. The system collects and stores, via the network interface, historical sales information from external data sources. A retail price for a target vehicle is determined based on the collected information. Condition information for the vehicle is collected and used to adjust the retail price to arrive at a wholesale price, which is output to a user. The system may also adjust the price based on repair costs associated with identified vehicle conditions. The system may collect cost information associated with a wholesale sale transaction and deduct these costs and a profit margin from the wholesale price to produce a trade-in price. | 07-31-2014 |
20140222519 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR THE ANALYSIS OF PRICING DATA INCLUDING PRICING FLEXIBILITY FOR VEHICLES AND OTHER COMMODITIES - Embodiments disclosed herein can provide consumers with an effective tool for evaluating the negotiability of prices for vehicles in the marketplace. The tool may include a negotiability index which determines flexibility in vehicle pricing. Specifically, a method may obtain data from multiple sets of vehicle models, construct a price flexibility model to estimate an average price range for each set of models, determine a negotiability index using the average price range, and generate an interface to present the negotiability index. In one embodiment, the price flexibility model incorporates a plurality of factors. | 08-07-2014 |
20140244424 | DYNAMIC VEHICLE PRICING SYSTEM, METHOD AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT THEREFOR - Embodiments provide consumers browsing and shopping online for durable goods such as new vehicles with pricing information for user-specified vehicle configurations based at least in part on dynamic, user-centric local regions that can be any shape. A local region may initially center around or start from user-provided geo-specific information and be refined using criteria such as distance, demographics, buying behaviors, etc. The system can leverage data from the finest level of granularity available and dynamically determine multiple, potentially overlapping, local regions which can be user-specific, product-specific, or both. A pricing model may incorporate the data within a dynamic local region thus determined. The parameters of the pricing model may be weighted utilizing a weighting function that can be dynamically adapted to individual users as well as specific vehicles. The pricing model may provide for pricing information that is not limited or constrained by standard administrative or political boundaries. | 08-28-2014 |
20140279258 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DETERMINING COST OF VEHICLE OWNERSHIP - Systems and methods for estimating the cost of vehicle ownership wherein, in one embodiment, a system includes a computer processor that is coupled to a network interface, a data storage device and an output device, the processor being configured to receive information identifying a user-specified vehicle of interest and interval of interest. The processor uses this information to identify and retrieve pre-calculated data items that are stored in the data storage device, and to request external data items from an external data source and receive the requested external data items via the network interface. The processor computes cost-of-vehicle-ownership (COVO) components for the vehicle of interest, sums the components to determine an overall COVO, and outputs the components and overall COVO to a user via the output device. The user may provide further input to modify the COVO calculation. | 09-18-2014 |
20140279263 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING PRODUCT RECOMMENDATIONS - Systems, methods and computer program products for providing recommendations to consumers, where the recommendations are based on determinations of similarity between desired products and recommended products. In one embodiment, a system includes a server computer coupled to a network and a data store. The server computer receives from client devices user input that identifies the characteristics of a desired product. The data store contains a plurality of product listings. For each of a set of these listings, the server computer identifies characteristics of the listed product, and compares characteristics of the listed product to characteristics of the desired product. The server computer determines similarity measures for the individual characteristics, and determines an overall similarity score for the listed product based on the similarity measures for the individual characteristics. The server computer orders the listed products based on the similarity scores, and provides a recommendation output to the user. | 09-18-2014 |
20140279708 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DETERMINING THE TIME TO BUY OR SELL A VEHICLE - Systems and methods for assisting a vehicle owner in making decisions regarding when to replace a vehicle by determining a vehicle owner's satisfaction with the vehicle relative to the cost of owning the vehicle. In one embodiment, a system is configured to provide a model for owner satisfaction which is based on historical vehicle replacement information, but is tailored to a particular owner according to user input. An owner satisfaction curve is produced from this model and is compared to a cost-of-ownership curve that is tailored to the vehicle and possibly also the user. The owner satisfaction curve is compared to the cost-of-ownership curve to enable the user to determine where the cost of ownership exceeds the owner's satisfaction, and the vehicle should be replaced. | 09-18-2014 |
20140279709 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DETERMINING COSTS OF VEHICLE REPAIRS AND TIMES TO MAJOR REPAIRS - Systems, methods and computer program products for determining costs of vehicle repairs and times to major repairs. In one embodiment, a system includes a computer processor, a data storage device, and an output device. The processor receives information from a user identifying a vehicle of interest. The processor retrieves repair data items that have characteristics common to the vehicle of interest from a database stored in the data storage device. The processor determines repairs that are expected to be necessary for the vehicle of interest based on the retrieved repair data items, and determines the costs associated with the identified expected repairs. The processor provides output to the user indicating the repair costs and/or the times at which the repairs are likely to be necessary. The output may be in graphical and/or numerical form. | 09-18-2014 |
20150134422 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND COMPUTER PROGRAM FOR VARYING AFFILIATE POSITIONDISPLAYED BY INTERMEDIARY - Endogenous and exogenous variables associated with an item for sale by an affiliate may be displayed to a user of an affiliate decision-making tool. In response to the user selecting one of the endogenous variables, the affiliate decision-making tool may compute a number of introductions, a number of leads, and a number of sales for each of a plurality of possible values of the endogenous variable. The computation may be done utilizing a display position algorithm. A visualization of effects of setting the endogenous variable at different levels may be presented. The user may interact with the display position algorithm to vary one or more of the plurality of possible values of the endogenous variable such that the affiliate is eligible or disqualified to be displayed by an intermediary in response to a search for the item by a visitor of a network site owned and operated by the intermediary. | 05-14-2015 |
20150193800 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AGGREGATION, ANALYSIS, PRESENTATION AND MONETIZATION OF PRICING DATA FOR VEHICLES AND OTHER COMMODITIES - Embodiments of systems and methods for the aggregation, analysis, display and monetization of pricing data for commodities in general, and which may be particularly useful applied to vehicles are disclosed. Specifically, in certain embodiments, historical transaction data associated with a particular vehicle configuration may be obtained and processed to determine pricing data associated with the vehicle configuration. The historical transaction data or determined pricing data may then be presented in an intuitive manner. | 07-09-2015 |
20150242926 | MOBILE PRICE CHECK SYSTEMS, METHODS AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCTS - A price check system may receive a vehicle identification number (VIN) or determine the VIN via an image from a mobile price check application. The price check system may determine if build data is available for a vehicle associated with the VIN and, if build data is available for the vehicle, determine one or more prices for the vehicle based on the build data and provide same to the mobile price check application. If build data is not available for the vehicle, the price check system may prepare and send a request to the mobile price check application to obtain configuration information on the vehicle from a user of the mobile price check application. The price check system may then determine one or more prices for the vehicle based on the configuration information and provide same to the mobile price check application in real time or substantially real time. | 08-27-2015 |
20150310466 | SALES ANALYZER SYSTEMS AND METHODS - Sales data and vehicle data may be collected by a vehicle data system embodying a special sales analyzer application. For each dealer affiliated or registered with the system and each vehicle transaction record received from the dealer, the system may run analytics to determine, compute, and/or impute supplemental data and internal vehicle pricing data such as trim-level vehicle configuration data, price ranges, exclusion reasons, dealer-specific recommendations, etc. that can later be used to generate a dealer-facing custom user interface. The results are collated into a comprehensive database and persisted in a data store. When requested by a dealer, the system may retrieve dealer-specific information, including sales prices, salespeople, average dealer margins, sales volumes, etc., and anonymized sales data from others in the same geographic region as the dealer and display a visual presentation of all transactions and also individual transactions for that dealer. | 10-29-2015 |
20150363838 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR TRANSFORMATION OF RAW DATA TO ACTIONABLE DATA - Embodiments of systems and methods disclosed herein provide solutions for predicting vehicle invoice pricing, trim, and options by starting from scratch (raw data), transforming the raw data into actionable data, and comprehensively exploring all possible option combinations that can match a vehicle's Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price (MSRP). Embodiments implement algorithms that determine the trim of a vehicle and intelligently analyze all possible option combinations that would result in a target MSRP while avoid searching unnecessary vehicle configurations. The algorithms can be used to predict the trim, invoice, and options of a vehicle based on the vehicle's VIN and MSRP. | 12-17-2015 |
20150363855 | Systems and Methods for Automatic Popular Configuration Generation - Embodiments of systems and methods disclosed herein provide solutions for determining popular configurations in an automated and balanced manner, useful in facilitating consumers in making their purchase decisions on high value items such as vehicles. In particular, in certain embodiments, a user may utilize a vehicle data system to obtain pricing data corresponding to automatically generated vehicle configurations. When the user is presented with the pricing data associated with the automatically generated vehicle configuration the user may additionally be presented with an upfront price offered by a dealer. | 12-17-2015 |
20150363865 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR VEHICLE PURCHASE RECOMMENDATIONS - A vehicle data system may receive, via a website, a user query about a vehicle or features of a vehicle that may not actually exist. The vehicle data system can transform a set of features representing a query vehicle associated with the user query into a query vehicle feature vector, compare the query vehicle feature vector with one or more inventory vehicle feature vectors representative of one or more dealer inventory vehicles, determine a similarity score between the query vehicle and the one or more dealer inventory vehicles, and generate at least one recommendation based on the similarity score, for instance, a great match and/or a good match to the vehicle that the user has inquired about. The at least one recommendation can be presented via the website in real time. | 12-17-2015 |
20160034999 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR SELECTION, FILTERING OR PRESENTATION OF AVAILABLE SALES OUTLETS - Embodiments disclosed herein provide systems and methods for the filtering, selection and presentation of vendors accounting for both user characteristics and vendor characteristics, such that the systems and methods may be used by both customer and vendor alike to better match customer needs with the resource-constrained vendors with whom a successful sale has a higher probability of occurring. Embodiments may include filtering, selecting and/or presenting vendors to a user sorted by the probability that the particular vendor will possess the characteristics that appeal to a particular customer and therefore result in a large probability of sale and suppress presentation of those vendors that are unlikely to be selected by the customer since their characteristics are less consistent with those needed by the customer and, therefore, are unlikely to result in a sale. | 02-04-2016 |