Purchaser Value Optimization System Consolidating Rewards
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing online purchasing systems, particularly in travel and non-travel contexts, fail to provide users with a comprehensive comparison of purchase options from multiple providers, making it difficult for consumers to determine the best value due to information overload and disparate data presentation formats that do not simultaneously display both cost and rewards benefits.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that consolidates and simultaneously displays purchase options from multiple providers, including both purchase prices and corresponding rewards benefits, allowing users to compare options on an 'apples to apples' basis and make optimal decisions by evaluating net costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If multiple purchase options from different providers are displayed separately, then each provider can present their specific rewards format, but the user experiences information overload and cannot easily compare options
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple disparate purchase options and rewards presentations into a single consolidated display table. Each row represents a complete purchase option from a different provider, with all relevant information (price, rewards miles, rewards type) unified in one view. This allows users to compare options side-by-side without experiencing information overload, while still preserving the flexibility to display different rewards formats from various providers.
2Reliability
If rewards are displayed in different formats for different providers, then each provider's loyalty program can be accurately represented, but the traveler cannot make direct comparisons between alternatives
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by converting all rewards information into a standardized format (total rewards miles) for consistent display and comparison. The system maintains accuracy by still showing the specific rewards type and provider-specific details, but transforms the presentation parameter to enable direct comparison. This allows travelers to see that one option awards 5000 miles while another awards 7500 miles, making apples-to-apples comparison possible while preserving the reliability of provider-specific rewards information.
3Ease of operation
If consolidated purchase options with unified formatting are displayed, then users can easily compare options on an apples-to-apples basis, but the system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary processing layer that consolidates data from multiple disparate provider systems into a unified presentation format. This intermediary layer handles the complexity of translating different rewards formats, pricing structures, and provider-specific information into a consistent table format. The user interacts only with the simplified unified view, while the intermediary manages the underlying complexity of integrating multiple data sources and formats.
Data Source
AI summary
A purchasing system includes a master server linking to a product and service inventory database. A query and response coordination database is hosted on the master server and includes a customer profiles database, a loyalty program rules database, and a purchase rules dataset. The coordination database receives a purchase request query, extracts purchase data elements from the received purchase request query, uses purchase rules from the rules dataset, applying the extracted purchase data elements to form a purchase query, applies the purchase query to the inventory database to determine available product and service inventory that satisfy the purchase request query, available product and service inventory that satisfy the purchase request query being identified as purchase options, receives purchase options from the inventory database, determines a total rewards benefit and creates a file for sending via the network to the purchaser's computer to display the query response.