Pricing Calculation System for Competitive Bids
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Solution Overview
Problem
Complex pricing schemes in communications and energy industries make it difficult for companies to provide competitive bids due to intricate rate plans that vary by service, region, time, and payment methods, and users often lack precise usage data.
Innovation Solution
A method and apparatus that calculates a competitive bid by receiving billing data from users, analyzing usage patterns, and applying provider pricing structures, enabling consistent quotes across channels and facilitating strategic pricing decisions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If companies maintain complex rate plans with multiple price types and tier-based pricing to adapt to market needs, then pricing adaptability improves, but pricing calculation complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the complex pricing calculation into distinct modular components: usage data collection module, rate plan definition module, calculation engine module, and bid generation module. Each module handles a specific aspect of the pricing calculation, making the overall complex system manageable and adaptable to different pricing schemes through independent configuration of each segment.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements dynamic pricing calculation by allowing rate plans to be configured with multiple price types, tier-based structures, and time-varying rates. The calculation engine dynamically selects and applies appropriate rate plans based on usage patterns, enabling the system to adapt to different market conditions while maintaining a unified calculation framework.
2Measurement precision
If companies provide detailed competitive bids with precise usage data, then bid accuracy improves, but data collection and processing time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-configuring rate plans and pricing structures in the rate plan definition module before actual usage occurs. Usage data is continuously collected and stored in advance, and the calculation engine pre-processes this data to generate usage patterns. This preliminary preparation enables rapid generation of accurate competitive bids without time-consuming calculations at the point of need.
3Measurement precision
If the system calculates competitive bids using complex usage patterns and multiple rate plans, then bid accuracy improves, but calculation processing time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary calculations by pre-processing usage data to generate usage patterns and pre-configuring multiple rate plans with their respective calculation rules. The calculation engine is pre-loaded with these patterns and rate plans, enabling it to rapidly compute accurate competitive bids by simply applying the pre-prepared calculation logic to new usage data without re-processing raw usage information.
Data Source
AI summary
A method and apparatus for providing a competitive bid from a provider comprising receiving billing data from a user, the billing data including provider information, location, and total bill amount. The method further comprising calculating a complex usage pattern based on the billing data and statistical data for the location. The method additionally comprising calculating a competitive bid for the user, based on the complex usage pattern and a pricing structure of the provider.