U.S. patent application number 11/857168 was filed with the patent office on 2008-01-24 for method and system for facilitating service transactions.
Invention is credited to LILLY MAE VEGA.
Application Number | 20080021794 11/857168 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 25418342 |
Filed Date | 2008-01-24 |
United States Patent
Application |
20080021794 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
VEGA; LILLY MAE |
January 24, 2008 |
METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR FACILITATING SERVICE TRANSACTIONS
Abstract
A computer-implemented method and system for facilitating
service transactions, both on-line and off-line, for transacting
services driven by purchasers or by service providers. In
particular, the invention makes services freely tradable as goods
via standardizing material terms describing such service
transactions. The method includes steps defining a set of service
classification and material terms, registering a plurality of
participants of the service marketplace, searching and compiling at
least one offer and one request for offers provided by the
participants for selling or buying services while the offer and the
request for offer is described in the set of service classification
and material terms, evaluating and matching the offer and the
request for offer based upon the degree of identicalness of the set
of service classification and material terms recited in the offer
and the request for offer, and communicating to matched
participants of the result generated by the evaluating and matching
step.
Inventors: |
VEGA; LILLY MAE; (Galesburg,
IL) |
Correspondence
Address: |
MCKEE, VOORHEES & SEASE, P.L.C.
801 GRAND AVENUE
SUITE 3200
DES MOINES
IA
50309-2721
US
|
Family ID: |
25418342 |
Appl. No.: |
11/857168 |
Filed: |
September 18, 2007 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
09903985 |
Jul 13, 2001 |
7272575 |
|
|
11857168 |
Sep 18, 2007 |
|
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Current U.S.
Class: |
705/14.66 ;
705/26.4; 705/27.1; 705/319 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q 30/0269 20130101;
G06Q 30/0613 20130101; G06Q 50/01 20130101; G06Q 20/10 20130101;
G06Q 50/188 20130101; G06Q 40/04 20130101; G06Q 30/0641 20130101;
G06Q 30/0611 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
705/026 ;
705/001 |
International
Class: |
G06Q 30/00 20060101
G06Q030/00; G06F 17/30 20060101 G06F017/30 |
Claims
1. A computer-implemented method for facilitating a services
marketplace between multiple buyers and sellers of services,
comprising: defining a set of service classification and material
terms; registering a plurality of participants of the service
marketplace; compiling offers to sell services and requests to buy
services provided by said participants, wherein the offers and the
requests are described in said set of service classification and
material terms; automatically evaluating and matching the offers
and the requests, without human intervention, based upon the degree
of identicalness of said set of service classification and material
terms recited in the offers and the requests; communicating to
matched participants of the result generated by the evaluating and
matching step; and the offers being unknown to service buyers and
requests being unknown to service sellers prior to the
communicating step.
2. A computer-implemented method for facilitating a services
marketplace according to claim 1, further comprising a step of
making the offer and the request accessible for consideration by
the participants.
3. A computer-implemented method for facilitating a services
marketplace according to claim 1, further comprising a step of
settling a transaction based upon said set of service
classification and material terms recited in the matched offer and
the matched request.
4. A computer-implemented method for facilitating a services
marketplace according to claim 1, further comprising a step of
arbitrating a dispute regarding said set of service classification
and material terms recited in the matched offer and the matched
request.
5. A computer-implemented method for facilitating a services
marketplace according to claim 3, further comprising a step of
assisting the matched participants to fulfill the transaction based
upon said set of service classification and material terms recited
in the matched offer and the matched request.
6. A computer-implemented method for facilitating a services
marketplace according to claim 1, wherein the searching and
compiling step includes organizing at least one of retaining
session, off-retaining session, accumulating session, and double
session.
7. A computer-implemented method for facilitating a services
marketplace according to claim 1, further comprising a step of
data-mining the offers and the requests to discover at least one
transactional attribute of one, a portion, or all of the
participants.
8. A computer-implemented method for facilitating a services
marketplace according to claim 7, further comprising a step of
simulating the marketplace based upon the results of the
data-mining step and operational constrains of one of said
participants, wherein the operational constrains includes asset,
cash, capital, inventory, labor, staff, debt, liability,
intellectual property, customer preference, competitors' actions
and plans, suppliers' actions and plans so as to determine an
optimized business action or plan from an integrated and long term
perspective.
9. A computer-implemented method for facilitating a services
marketplace according to claim 1, further comprising a step of
recognizing at least one of speech, language, emotion, social
intelligent, character and characteristics of at least one of the
participants by analyzing acoustic or imagery signals collates with
the at least one of the participants.
10. A computer-implemented method for facilitating a services
marketplace according to claim 7, further comprising a step of
recognizing at least one of speech, language, emotion, social
intelligent, character and characteristics of at least one of the
participants by analyzing acoustic or imagery signals collates with
the at least one of the participants in conjunction with the at
least one transactional attribute of one, a portion, or all of the
participants.
11. A computer-implemented method for facilitating a services
marketplace according to claim 1, further comprising a step of
referring business among the participants based upon the results of
the registration step or the offers and requests.
12. A computer-implemented method for facilitating a services
marketplace according to claim 1, wherein the registering step
further including registering at least one charity and one donor,
wherein the offers and requests include at least one offer to
donate services and one request for donating services.
13. A computer-implemented method for facilitating a services
marketplace according to claim 1, wherein some of the participants
are in locations without sufficient internet infrastructure.
14. A computer-implemented method for facilitating a services
marketplace according to claim 1, further comprising providing a
retaining agent to execute all steps in the method, wherein the
retaining agent is equipped with artificial intelligence.
15. A computer-implemented method for facilitating a services
marketplace according to claim 1, further comprising a step of
taking or sharing risk with at least one of the participants.
16. A computer-implemented method for facilitating a services
marketplace according to claim 1, further comprising a step of
collecting fees or commission at least one of the participants for
executing any one of the other steps in the method.
17. A computer-implemented method for facilitating a services
marketplace according to claim 1, further comprising a step of
promoting at least one of the offer and the request of at least one
of the participants.
18. A computer-implemented method for facilitating a services
marketplace according to claim 3, wherein the settling step
including forwarding payment via a mode selected from the group
consisting of credit card information, debit card information,
electronic cash information, billing, invoicing, bartering or other
non-monetary consideration, and combinations thereof.
19. A computer-implemented method for facilitating a services
marketplace according to claim 1, further comprising a step of
gap-filling any unspecific material terms in the offers and
requests with a set of default terms or gap-fillers.
20. A computer-implemented method for facilitating a services
marketplace according to claim 7, further comprising a step of
predicting behavior of the participants or market based on the
result generated by the data-mining step, a set of predetermined
operational constrains of one participant, and casual relationships
and sensitivities among the factors.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a Continuation application Ser. No.
09/903,985 filed Jul. 13, 2001, herein incorporated by reference in
its entirety.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] 1. Field of the Invention
[0003] The invention generally relates to a method and system for
facilitating service transactions between service providers and
purchasers for services, and more particularly to a
computer-implemented method/system that provides a service
marketplace, both on-line and off-line, for transacting services
driven by purchasers or by the service providers. In particular,
the invention makes services freely tradable as goods via a set of
standardizing material terms describing such service
transactions.
[0004] 2. Description of Related Arts
[0005] A variety of service transaction promoting systems have been
developed for promoting the transactions of services either on-line
or off-line. The following sites are examples of attempts to
transact services on-line known at the time of filing the
application. Applicant is not aware of when such systems may have
become known to the public relative to the time of conception
and/or reduction to practice of the invention. While many companies
have attempted to transact services on the Internet, none of them
provides a solution to freely trade services as goods, stocks or
commodities. For example, ServiceMagic.com assists a purchaser to
search via a list of pre-screened home maintenance service
professionals selected by an interested purchaser. It is limited to
home maintenance services, and its pre-screening procedure only
ensures the providers are licensed by the state, have not filed
bankruptcy within the past seven years, and have no liens or
judgments against them within the past three years. The site rather
passively provides the information without going forward to compare
or match any transaction. None of these searches results in any
forms of binding transactions of services. In other words,
ServiceMagic.com is merely a volume of on-line maintenance service
yellow pages.
[0006] Elance.com intends to connect buyers with freelancers or
independent contractors electronically but having a few
shortcomings. Firstly, the e-lanced services are limited to the
traditional freelancing services, such as writing, designing and
translation, and conventional professional services, such as legal
and accounting services. Secondly, the buyers have to browse
respective profiles of each service provider so as to invite them
to bid. Alternatively, the buyers wait for service providers to
submit proposals including estimate and explanations responsive to
the buyers' projects. Then the buyers "handpick" a bid-winner.
Although Elance.com is implemented on-line, its automation is
limited to recording and posting offers. As such, the number and
length of the proposals is significantly limited by the capability
of the human brain for processing multiple variables of multiple
proposals. Thirdly, Elance.com does not provide actual bidding or
auctions since whatever being proposed is not final and binding on
the buyers. Rather, the buyers are free to disregard all the
proposals or arbitrarily decide a winner after a posting section is
closed. The alleged bidding process is not an actual bid but rather
a one-sided (pro-buyer) transactional forum.
[0007] Fourthly, in its default procedure, Elance.com certifies the
buyers' ability to pay via credit cards or debit cards but does not
certify any service providers' credentials or ability to carry out
the services. Fifthly, Elance.com collects the feedback from
participants to establish cumulative ratings of other chosen
participants, but it does not verify the comments. Just like any
classified advertisements in newspapers, the service providers may
post whatever they would like on Elance.com, and Elance.com is not
responsible for the contents other than the credit card
information.
[0008] According to CNET News, a handful of software companies are
seeking to automate management of legal contracts and agreements
for tracking contract terms and conditions, which is still an
abstract idea, and the idea is limited to internal contract
management.
[0009] Currently, there is no neutral platform facilitating service
transactions between purchasers and service providers via
automatically and simultaneously comparing multiple service
proposals with multiple variables.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0010] It is a purpose of this invention to foster global service
transactions by automatically collecting and compiling viable
offers for a purchaser regardless of geographical location so
buyers can thereby compare competing offers on-line in real time
based upon a set of material terms.
[0011] It is a purpose of this invention to allow a participant of
the service marketplace to leverage the market forces of supply and
demand and to dynamically reduce costs of operation
[0012] It is a purpose of this invention to provide "total cost
functionality" which enables a participant to make business
decisions based not only on price, but also on multiple criteria
such as quality, delivery time and referral based.
[0013] It is a purpose of this invention to provide an integrated
management tool to shorten transaction and fulfillment cycles,
reduce inventory and administrative costs, and reliably fulfill
service contracts.
[0014] It is a purpose of this invention to provide a method for
marketing to targeted customers with focused content so as to
create sales.
[0015] It is another purpose of this invention to provide a
complete and sophisticated prediction, simulation and optimization
decision-making platform for participants of the service
marketplace.
[0016] It is another purpose of this invention to mine customer
data not previously available.
[0017] It is another purpose of this invention to certify credits
and credentials of any participants of the service marketplace.
[0018] It is another purpose of this invention to collect feedback
about the quality and value of services based on price and buyers'
evaluations.
[0019] It is another purpose of this invention to reduce manual
analysis and data consolidation.
[0020] It is another purpose of this invention to improve
decision-making assistance for business strategic planning.
[0021] It is another purpose of this invention to improve inventory
and distribution channel management.
[0022] It is another purpose of this invention to improve
monitoring of business initiatives.
[0023] It is another purpose of this invention to identify and
recapture lost revenue.
[0024] It is another purpose of this invention to offer strategic
decision-making solutions that will help a participant of the
service marketplace to coordinate services and make the optimal
decision at each critical decision point.
[0025] It is another purpose of this invention to enable managers
with different functional responsibility to make decisions
consistent with overall long-term company success by utilizing a
lifetime consumption value of services (LCVS).
[0026] It is still another purpose of this invention to recognize
the speech, language, emotion, social intelligence, character and
characteristics of a participant so as to improve the communication
and interaction in the service marketplace.
[0027] It is still another purpose of this invention to provide
three-dimensional or holographic videoconferencing to provide a
real sense of live participation and the opportunity of observing
the counterpart's facial expression and body language as if talking
face-to-face.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0028] The foregoing and additional features and characteristics of
the present invention will become more apparent from the following
detailed description considered with reference to the accompanying
drawings in which like reference numerals designate like elements
and wherein:
[0029] FIG. 1 is diagram illustrating the technical functions of
the Retaining Engine and the Automated Retaining Management Systems
according to the present invention;
[0030] FIG. 2 a schematic view of the interactions among the
buyers, the service providers, and the Retaining Engine in the
service marketplace according to the present invention.
[0031] FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating one embodiment of the
operation of the Retaining Engine of the present invention.
[0032] FIG. 4 is diagram contrasting the Lifetime Consumption Value
for Services of the present invention with the traditional
metrology of decision-making which focuses on one specific time
point. * The features are the features of MicroStrategy Web.TM.
available at
http://www.microstrategy.com/oldstore/software/web/toc.asp.
[0033] FIG. 5 shows the layers of data mined by the Retaining
Engine compiled from speech recognition to language recognition and
other layers subsequently according to one embodiment of the
present invention.
[0034] FIG. 6 is diagram contrasting the data sources for data
mining of the present invention with prior art. In particular, one
embodiment of the present invention further includes the data of
the social intelligence, character and characteristics as well as
the service transaction records in material terms.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0035] In order to more clearly and concisely describe the subject
matter of the claims, the following definitions are intended to
provide guidance as to the meanings of specific terms used in the
following written description. Also it is to be understood that the
phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of
description and not of limitation. As used herein:
[0036] "Services" include any act of assistance or benefit to
other(s), such as the services classified according to the
Universal Standard Products and Services Classification (UNSPSC)
Code, the U.S. Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system or
the like.
[0037] A "Service marketplace" includes any tangible or intangible
place where services are offered for sale or transacted. A tangible
place may be a law office in Falls Church, Va., and an intangible
place may be a H. R. Block website.
[0038] "Participants of the Service Marketplace" include but are
not limited to service providers providing the above-mentioned
services, purchasers intending to purchase services, and
facilitators facilitating transactions of services. The
facilitation of service transaction, such as customer data mining
or customized marketing, also constitutes one type of service to be
transacted in the service marketplace. Facilitators include any
third parties which are not directly involved in service
transactions. For example, the Retaining Engine of the present
invention functions as a facilitator to a service provided by a
contractor to a buyer as well as to a service provider when hosting
a service provider's website. In other words, the designation of
roles depends on each service transaction rather than a fixed label
to a participant.
[0039] "Requests for offers" ("RFOs") include general solicitation
for offers to buy services which are proposed by interested buyers
and which do not address as a particular blank offer to sell, as
well as general solicitation for offers to sell which are proposed
by service providers and do not correspond to any particular offers
to buy. Such solicitation is merely an invitation for offers, which
has no binding effect. To simplify the discussion, the phrase
generally refers to Requests for offers to sell in the
application.
[0040] "Blank offers" include general offers to sell which are
proposed by services providers and do not respond to any particular
offers to buy, as well as general offers to buy which are proposed
by purchasers and do not respond to any particular offers to sell.
Offers become binding once they are accepted by the offerees. To
simplify the discussion, the phrase generally refers to Blank
offers to sell in the application.
[0041] "Responsive offers" includes acceptances or counter offers
which are proposed by services providers responsive to respective
offers to buy, as well as acceptances or counter offers which are
proposed by purchasers in response to respective offers to sell.
Responsive offers become binding once they are accepted by the
original offerers. To simplify the discussion, the phrase generally
refers to responsive offers to sell in the application.
[0042] "Transactions of services" includes exchanges for services
with any forms of consideration, and exchanges services for
services.
[0043] "Considerations" include any benefit to promisee or a third
person, or any detriment sustained by a promiser. Considerations
may be in a form of money, goods, real estate, intellectual
property (via assignment or license), services, or even love and
affection.
[0044] "Description of Services": each project should be dissected
into components of services according to the above-mentioned
service classification codes. Each component of service may be
further dissected into more detailed indexes to increases
comparison efficiency and billing accuracy. For example, Incoterms@
are most commonly used in shipping service definitions promulgated
by the International Chamber of Commerce, such as Free On Board
(FOB).
[0045] Each "service package" contains two or more complementary or
co-branding services; for example, bundling 40 hours of
transcription secretarial/paralegal services with billing
services.
[0046] "Material terms" of a service transaction are a set of
standardized features, requirements, symbols and terminology
regarding technical and quality characteristics of services. The
material terms include, but are not limited to, price (covering
cost, margin of preference, reimbursement for transportation,
lodging, insurance, use of equipment, duties or taxes in one
currency or currencies); terms of payment and of guarantees in
respect of the services; completion timeframe; service quality;
locations of performance and delivery of services; functional
characteristics of services; deadline(s) for response to a purchase
request; availability of service packages; past performance, trade
records, consumer reviews; requirements concerning testing and test
methods, packaging, marking or labeling or conformity certification
and symbols and terminology; extent of participation by local
service providers or labor; transfer of technology, the development
of managerial, scientific and operational skills; negotiations with
the buyer or other service providers; counter trade arrangements
offered by providers; criteria to be used in determining the
winning offers, including qualifications, experience, reputation,
reliability and professional and managerial competence, and the
relative weight of each criteria; alternative methods for
evaluating and comparing offers; means for service providers to
seek clarifications of the request for offers, references to the
laws and regulations directly pertinent to the purchase; any
formalities that will be required once an offer has been accepted;
after-delivery customer services; service provider's right to
review other offers, and combinations thereof.
[0047] "Provider's right to review other offers": any service
providers that claim to have suffered, or that may suffer, loss or
injury due to a breach of a duty imposed on a purchaser by law,
such as discrimination, may seek to review the winning offer.
[0048] "Gap-fillers" for unspecified material terms include default
terms adopted by the present invention, or acknowledged by service
trade associations or the service industry, or default terms agreed
upon by a service provider and a purchaser according to their
course of dealings.
[0049] "On-line": on the internet
[0050] "Off-line": off the internet, i.e. the physical world rather
than the cyberworld, which includes any close communication
communities, such as the VISA payment network.
[0051] A "Retaining session" is a set period of time for (1) a
participant to collect responsive offers; or (2) the retaining
engine to accumulate a collective offer or a collective request for
offers (i.e. an "accumulating session"). A "Double session" is an
accumulating session for a collective RFO/offer to start at the
same time with a retaining session for offers/RFOs. Auctions are a
special species of retaining sessions, which focus on price rather
than all material terms.
[0052] "Off-Retaining session" means a buyer searching for blank
offers without publishing any request for offers. In case of
emergency, a buyer can accept blank offers assuming that the
respective service providers set their blank offers to be binding
upon acceptance.
[0053] "Collective offers /requests for offers" consist of
incremental retaining amounts for service(s) accumulated during an
accumulating session offered by a group of SPs or a group of buyers
which are interested in selling or buying the involved
services.
[0054] The present invention provides the infrastructure of a
service marketplace which allows services to be freely traded as
goods, stocks or commodities (primary goods such as agricultural or
mining).
Legal Infrastructure: Services Classification & Material
Terms
[0055] The conventional seller-driven service transaction systems
are not prevalent because buyers do not want to be inundated with
numerous blank offers from service providers, many of which may be
marginal or unqualified. On the other hand, the conventional
buyer-driven systems, such as governmental purchasing or bidding
systems, impose inherent costs on service providers just to collect
and review each buyer's different sets of purchasing specifications
which are in non-uniform commercial or technological terms. In the
present invention, the problem is eliminated by the automatic
retaining system which adopts a common set of terms for all the
participants of the service marketplace to describe the relevant
services and contracts, i.e. in terms of standardized services
classification and material terms.
[0056] If a buyer wants to contract out a project of building a new
hospital, the buyer needs to first classify the project into pieces
of services according to the classification of services, and then
describe the implementation of each piece of service in the
material terms. For example, to build a new hospital, a buyer will
need commercial Realtor services for finding the potential
locations, architectural services for designing the physical
structure of the hospital, loan brokerage services for negotiating
and securing a loan to finance the project, construction services
for building the hospital, and legal services for negotiating and
preparing all the relevant contracts among the parties in the
material terms. The construction services may be sub-classified
into plumbing, mechanical, electrical, etc. Then each component of
the sub-classified service is described in the material terms.
[0057] The service marketplace is organized around all services
available worldwide. According to one embodiment of the present
invention, the services are broken down into classes and subclasses
then associated with service providers. In one embodiment of the
present invention, the services are classified according to the
Universal Standard Products and Services Classification (UNSPSC)
Code at http://eccma.org/unspsc/. For example, class 621
"Ambulatory Health Care Services" is divided to the following
subclasses: [0058] 621 Ambulatory Health Care Services [0059] 6211
Offices of Physicians [0060] 62111 Offices of Physicians [0061]
621111 Offices of Physicians (except Mental Health Specialists)
[0062] 621112 Offices of Physicians, Mental Health Specialists
[0063] 6212 Offices of Dentists [0064] 62121 Offices of Dentists
[0065] 6213 Offices of Other Health Practitioners [0066] 62131
Offices of Chiropractors [0067] 62132 Offices of Optometrists
[0068] 62133 Offices of Mental Health Practitioners (except
Physicians) [0069] 62134 Offices of Physical, Occupational and
Speech Therapists and Audiologists [0070] 62139 Offices of All
Other Health Practitioners [0071] 621391 Offices of Podiatrists
[0072] 621399 Offices of All Other Miscellaneous Health
Practitioners
[0073] The services are further classified according to the ICD-9
coding incorporated into the Medicare Reimbursement Code which was
approved by the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA). ICD-9
breaks down treatments into detailed procedures. As an example,
treatment of cancer is further broken down into chemotherapy. A
more recent ICD-10 code is being developed by the World Health
Organization (WHO) which contain the entire list of official
descriptions of diseases and health related problems, i.e., the
diagnosis or reason for a patient episode of health care. This
example of medical service classification may be modeled for other
type of services then promoted over the internet so as to develop a
complete set classification of services which also evolves along
with the social and cultural changes.
[0074] Currently, there is no public legal infrastructure
customized for service contracts in place. Most of the public legal
infrastructure was designed for contracts for goods. For example,
each state in the U.S. has its own version of the Uniform
Commercial Code (UCC) which facilitates transactions of goods
(rather than services) under a set of pre-agreed terms and
conditions. Internationally, the United Nations Commission on
International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) has developed a model law
supporting electronic commerce of goods (but not services). The
evolving Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA) is
designed only to harmonize the law regarding computer information
transactions. The only model law relates to services is the
UNCITRAL Model Law on Procurement of Goods, Construction and
Services, which was created in the 1980s and is only applicable to
governmental entities.
[0075] With respect to the efforts of the private sector, Bolero is
backed by about 120 banks and logistics firms so as to set up a
global technical standard for transmitting commercial documents or
contracts around the world via incompatible computer systems and
bureaucrats.
[0076] There is a need for a set of rules and norms adopted by the
service industry and governments that validates and recognizes
service offers or contracts, whether through electronic means or
not. The present invention establishes standard services
classification, material terms, as well as technical protocols and
formats to be used in services offers and requests for offers to
promote easily understood and assessed service transaction
opportunities. The laid-out material terms of the present invention
in a request for offers or an offer saves time and costs in
negotiating terms. Specific circumstances of different services
should be developed by the relevant trade or professional
associations according to industrial customs, course of dealings,
or mutual agreement of parties.
[0077] The greater the number and complexity of the material terms,
the more difficult for a service provider to evaluate the
profitability of a request for offers. As such, the number of
competing service providers declines. To solve this problem, the
present invention develops a Retaining Engine working in
conjunction with a plurality of Automated Retaining Management
systems to enable a participant in the services marketplace to
efficiently evaluate a plurality of offers or Requests for offers
to make a decision.
Technical Infrastructure: Retaining Engine/Automatic Retaining
Management System
[0078] As a brief overview and referring to FIG. 1, a neutral
computer-implemented system for negotiating/performing continuous
retaining auctions over a computer network, a "Retaining Engine"
(RE) 100, has been developed to execute the functions of
registering participant 110, searching and compiling viable
RFOs/offers 120, evaluating and matching RFOs/offers 130, managing
transactions 140, data mining 150, integrated business management
160, speech/language/emotion/social
intelligence/character/characteristic recognition 170, business
referrals 180, and others 190, so that the participants of the
service marketplace can freely, almost instantly, transact services
or service packages like transacting stocks at the NYSE.
Alternatively, these functions can be executed through more than
one component of software or by a cluster of computers. For
example, a plurality of individually fully automated retaining
management systems ("ARMS") 200, including accounting, maintenance
and operation, installed independently at a buyer's or SP's
computer working in conjunction with a central hub to carry out the
RE's functions. The ARMS 200 can be installed directly on an SP's
server to allow an SP to either manage their own postings/auctions,
co-brand with others, or communicate with the RE 100.
[0079] The RE preferably resides in a central server associated
with one or more ARMS servers. Each ARMS resides in a ARMS server
and is associated with one or more SPs. Some ARMS servers are
remotely located from the central RE server but selectively
integrated with the central RE server so as to prevent one SP from
accessing, obtaining or altering any proprietary information of
another SP without authorization. Each ARMS server contains
sensitive information, including price flexibility and available
scheduling, of at least one SP, which, if known to other SPs or
purchasers, could dramatically impact the SP's negotiating power.
Thus, according to a feature of the present invention, the
proprietary information is securely stored by each ARMS server, to
prevent one SP from accessing, obtaining or altering the
proprietary information of another SP. In another embodiment, the
secured ARMS servers utilize encryption or biometrics techniques
and database access control mechanisms.
[0080] The architecture of the retaining engine is open so that it
is flexible with any add-on features known by one skilled in the
art, such as inserting logos and buttons created by SP's into
requested headers, footers, frames, multi-file up loader, animated
banners, link popularity, keyword pointers, chat rooms, bulletin
boards, video and audio interaction, etc. For example, a "Hire Now"
feature allows employers to work with the employment SPs or other
affiliated SPs and gives the added feature of hiring an
individual(s) instantly. This feature also has audio and video
resumes and interview features.
[0081] The retaining engine is language-independent, and it
supports cross-platform applications, such as Windows NT, Java, and
Solaris platforms (XML, COM and CORBA), relational databases, such
as but not limited to Informix, Oracle8 and SQL Server, or any
invoicing and billing modules. The notification mechanisms of the
present invention include E-mail, instant messaging, cellular
phones, facsimile, business phone, personal pager, home phone, SMS
phone, and any other requested method of contact.
[0082] In another embodiment of the present invention, a
holographic image of a human figure is created to represent the RE
100, namely, a retaining agent 101, which is equipped with
artificial intelligence to perform all the functions of the RE 100.
A participant of the service marketplace may custom design such an
image. The image may be assigned with human expression and reaction
and interacts with a participant in a real-time manner. The RE 100
supports transmitting of such a holographic image over a computer
network or satellite system on a real-time base. The RE 100 further
facilitates social interactive intelligence over a computerized
network, holographic downloads, projected holographic imagery over
a computer network, i.e., holographic projections, holographic
optical networking, holographic fiber optics communications,
holo-speed optical routing, interconnect and cross connect
holographic communications over a computerized network, and
communication of holographic imagery and video over computer
networks, including the Internet, whether accessed by personal
computers, cellular phones, PDAs, or another access means. The RE
100 further supports holographic spatial interaction, holographic
rapid image generation over a computerized network, auto
stereoscopic secular optical viewing of holographic imagery over a
computer network, holographic environments over a computerized
network, smart holography and intelligent holography in relation to
holographic imagery over a computer network, and holographic
optical computing over a computerized network.
[0083] The RE may collect fees for registration, posting requests
for offers/offers, closing transaction, searching and compiling
offers, authentication, arbitration 143, data mining, etc.
[0084] FIG. 3 shows a flow chart illustrating one embodiment of the
operation of the Retaining Engine 100. The RE 100 first defines a
set of service classification and material terms in step 105,
registers a plurality of participants of the service marketplace in
step 110, then makes the first RFO/offer accessible for
consideration by the participants in step 115. After a retaining
session is required by a buyer, the RE 100 searches and compiles
offers/RFOs meeting certain initial criteria in the first RFO/offer
in step 130. If there is a complete match, a transaction is settled
in step 141. If there is no complete match but some offers/RFOs
meet certain initial criteria in the first RFO/offer, the RE 100
either resets the first RFO/offer in step 137, or proceed to step
135 to evaluate and match offers/RFOs based upon degree of
identicalness with service classification and material terms in the
first RFO/offer. If there is a substantial match, a transaction is
settled in step 141. If there is no substantial match, the RE 100
communicates the results generated by the evaluating and matching
step to the buyer in step 135. If the buyer is interested in
one-on-one negotiating with some service providers, the RE 100 will
facilitate the negotiation in step 136 with the support of data
mining conducted in step 150 and the Speech, Language, Social
Intelligence, Character & Characteristics Recognition conducted
in step 170. The negotiation may lead to settlement in step 141 or
reset the first RFO/offer in step 137. After a transaction is
settled in step 141, the RE 100 transfers payment and assists the
matched participants to fulfill the transaction in step 142. If the
matched participants dispute the terms of the settled transactions,
they may elect to arbitrate in step 143.
Registering the Participants 110
[0085] To provide a safe and fair service marketplace, any
participant is required to register with the retaining engine 100
so as to effect a transaction in the service marketplace. Each
participant provides the information of a name, a user name or
I.D., and a financial account number, such as, but not limited to,
a credit card, checking account, savings account or escrowed
retainer account, an image, video or textual description of a
service or package of services, and a Universal Resource Locator
(URL) indicating a location of the image, video or textual
description of the service or package of services, the location of
server or a computer on the network. The RE 100 then assigns a user
identification to a registrant.
[0086] The RE 100 maintains a participant's anonymity if the
participant so requires. For numerous privacy and competitive
reasons, customers and SPs often prefer not to have their
identities revealed in commercial transactions. Each registered
participant transacts with an identification number stored and
secured in a database.
[0087] The RE 100 prevents a third party who does not know the
registered user's ID and password from participating in an
invitation-only transaction. The RE 100 also prevents a person
having no encryption key from conducting wiretapping for data
concerning a retaining session or falsifying the data concerning
such a retaining session.
Searching and Compiling Viable Offers 120
[0088] The participants of the service marketplace may post blank
offers 23 of their service(s) or package(s) of services, which may
include their business history or background 24, or request of
offers 14 on a webpage which is hosted by the RE 100, a ARMS 200,
or other servers. The descriptions of RFOs 14 and offers 23, 25 are
provided in the services classification 131 and material terms 132
commonly used in the service marketplace so that the RE 100
searches more effectively via the available databases for viable
matches than those defined in non-standardized terms and languages.
If there are any descriptions of services or service packages 26 or
offers 23, 25 are not prepared in the terminology of the service
marketplace, the RE 100 spots for equivalent terms and clarifies
with the posting participants. Posting all offers in a centralized
location is preferred in order for the participants to search
easily.
[0089] A buyer may order the RE 100 to search all available
databases, on-line or off-line, for viable blank offers 23 without
publishing a request for offers in the service marketplace. This
feature is commonly used by general contractors for outsourcing
subcontractors or by SPs for retaining complementary services. For
example, a general contractor instructs the RE 100 to search for
qualified subcontractors, the dates they are available to perform
the work (services), and the minimum price (e.g., hourly wage).
More commonly, a buyer usually publishes a request for offers to
receive responsive offers 25. Any SP can browse the posted request
for offers. If an SP intends to accept any browsed request, the SP
submits a responsive offer 25 to the RE 100 during a retaining
session 121 or other similar accepting periods. From the starting
time of the retaining session 121, such as 9 a.m., the buyer may
elect to settle the first exactly matching offers or evaluate all
viable offers at the end of the retaining session 121, such as 5
p.m.
[0090] Even if a buyer has posted its request for offers, the buyer
can still request the RE 100 to search for blank offers 23 in
conjunction with a retaining session 121. The RE 100 pre-qualifies
offers by searching for viable blank offers 23 and screening
responsive offers 25 which meet one or two necessary terms
("initial terms") specified in the request for offers 14. The
number of initial terms is preferably limited to one or two to
ensure the RE 100 will search efficiently during the preliminary
screening stage. All the material terms will be considered in the
evaluating and matching stage 130 discussed in the next section.
The complied lists of viable offers is presented in a chosen format
by the buyer in step 135 of FIG. 3. The required formats may
include text, table, highlights of key terms, ranking according to
price, location, or posting time, graphics or video, etc. For
example, a large corporation may want to integrate open and
scalable RE capabilities into its existing websites and business
models. The information may be aggregated onto an accessible web
page, an e-mail, or a document sent by fax, courier or mail, etc.,
and collected for data mining in the step 150.
[0091] If an emergency occurs where services are needed immediately
and there is no time to negotiate, a buyer can accept blank offers
23 posted by SPs (if the offers are allowed to be binding by
acceptance) in order to expedite the transaction, which is a type
of "off-retaining session" 122 purchase.
[0092] If there is no viable offer, the request of offers 14 shall
be reset in step 137 by the RE 100 or the buyer for another
retaining session. Alternatively, the RE 100 automatically matches
the closest offer according to some alternate initial terms, such
as quantity range, quantity range, or other range of a material
term designated by the buyer.
[0093] The traditional means for submitting requests for offers 14
or offers 23, 25 are also acceptable, such as telephone, facsimile,
on-line access, e-mail, and in-person contact or through an
agent.
[0094] Besides a public retaining session, a buyer may hold a
private retaining session and invite only a group of selected
service providers by providing such a list of SPs to the RE 100.
The RE 100 will only inform those service providers to participate.
The private session significantly reduces the number of responsive
offers 25 so as to expedite the process. To compile such an
invitation list, the purchaser may give some simple conditions for
the retaining engine 100 to search by I.D. number, by title and
description, words to exclude, price range, service classification,
service location, payment method, feedback, insurance, escrow
services, authentication, investigations, dispute resolution,
specific listings, etc. Similarly, a participant may set up a
boycott list to exclude some other participants with poor trade
records or other negative reputation from submitting offers or
browsing the requests for offers 14.
[0095] In another embodiment, the RE 100 stores all offers or the
compiled offers in an offer database 32. A buyer may browse offer
database 32 by services classification or any material terms to
identify relevant offers meeting with their requests for offers.
The RE 100 also stores all received requests for offers 14 in a RFO
database 31. Any SPs may browse the RFO database 31 by services
classification or any material terms to identify relevant requests
within their qualification, inventory, operation schedule, etc, as
set in their automatic scanning preferences. In another embodiment,
an SP may be required to provide qualifications in order to view
certain requests for offers if the relevant buyers so require.
[0096] Information regarding retaining sessions 121 is accessible
from a participant's terminals. The display may be customized with
unique user interfaces and supplemental applications. For example,
the retaining engine 100 uses a software interface to relate
information predicated upon the geographical area of a browsing
participant which the participant may be desired, or to relate the
participant's preference obtained via data mining 150. The
purchaser is presented with several options including a "viewpoint"
map, which may comprise, for example, an actual visually displayed
map of a selected geographical area, or text information, which
pertains to the resources, associated with the selected
geographical area. A geographical database, a local content
database and a yellow pages database are provided to allow the
purchaser to obtain information at different levels. The
geographical database allows the purchaser to browse through
different geographic areas which are ordered hierarchically, while
the local content database includes information about services
available within a given geographic location and the yellow pages
database includes information about specific services in the
geographic location. Thus, the purchaser is provided with a means
whereby information which is associated with particular geographic
locations can be readily accessed. This breakdown feature is an
added benefit for rural and small SPs, in addition to areas where
delivery or pickup is available or requested, such as livestock and
grain, construction materials. The geographic break-down feature is
especially important for services involving labor, unions,
professional licenses, local contain requirements, heavy equipment
or materials, or other factors with geographic restrictions, such
as any unique taste of agriculture products. With respect to labor,
unions, professional licenses, or local contain requirements, there
are additional local laws or practices to be satisfied. With
respect to heavy equipment or materials, the major concern is
shipping cost and methods. All there factors can either be set as a
preliminary factor for viable RFOs/offers search in the searching
and compiling step 120 or as a material terms to be evaluated in
the evaluating and matching step 130.
Matching Offers: Evaluation and Comparison of Proposals/Offers
130
[0097] As mentioned, the RE 100 significantly accelerates
transaction speed and brings the viable offers directly to a
purchaser regardless of geographical location. The RE 100 compares
competing offers in real time and selects an offer by material
terms 132. In addition, the RE 100 itemizes cost so as to determine
the total cost of the request. Such a "total cost functionality" is
supported by the integrated management tool 160 which enables
buyers to make purchase decisions based not only on price, but also
on multiple criteria such as quality, delivery time, etc. The
buyers determine a deal via a comparison table generated by the RE
100, or the RE 100 makes the decision on behalf of the buyer.
[0098] The viable offers are evaluated and compared to the
proposals that have been accepted in order to ascertain the
successful proposal in accordance with the procedures and criteria
set forth in the Request for proposal. Among all the viable offers,
one offer is usually selected according to a set of criteria for
determining the winning proposal, including qualifications,
experience, reputation, reliability, professional and managerial
competence and/or any other material terms 132 according to the
relative weight of each term. The selected SP is notified that it
has "won" the business at the price quoted and should be prepared
to settle the transaction in step 141. If there are no acceptable
offers, a retainer is reset in step 137. When no SP is interested
or there is no matching offer, the request for offers will be reset
to be less stringent, such as by lowering qualification
requirement, increasing the maximum price, etc.
[0099] The criteria shall, to the extent practicable, be objective
and quantifiable, and shall be given a relative weight in the
evaluation procedure or be expressed in monetary terms wherever
practicable. No criteria shall be used that has not been set forth
in the Request for proposal unless the purchaser has stipulated in
the Request for proposal regarding additional criteria. For
example, the buyer requires that a winning offer shall be the offer
with the lowest proposal price, subject to a margin of preference
specified in the request for offers. The lowest proposal price
includes the cost of operating, maintaining and repairing the
services or a subject, such as a hospital. The secondary criteria
would include the time for completing the hospital, the functional
characteristics of the hospital, the terms of payment and bonds.
Some offers will be disqualified even if they passed the viability
test since they fail some other legal requirements. For example,
certain types of SP's are licensed in one state but not another,
such as medical doctors, lawyers, etc.
[0100] Preferably, each of the qualified SP(s) is prioritized into
a hierarchy based on the criteria in the appropriate order. For
example, SPs may be automatically assigned a priority in the
hierarchy based on the price, then chronological order in which
their automatic acceptances are received by the RE when the price
is the same. When the receipt time is the same, the past
performance or geographical proximity of the compatible offers
kicks in.
[0101] When the amount of qualified services (maybe accumulated
from a number of offers) are more than requested, the buyer either
takes those first corners or resets the material terms 132 to be
more stringing according to the alternative methods for evaluating
and comparing listed in the Request for offer. The third option is
to proceed to a post-session auction for the qualified SPs to
propose new offers. A fourth option is to proceed to a one-on-one
negotiation between the buyer with hand-picked SPs from the
qualified SPs.
[0102] If the buyer allows SPs to conditionally accept the Request
of offers, the qualified SPs may submit counteroffers. The
counteroffers are again prioritized into a hierarchy based on the
predetermined criteria.
[0103] The RE 100 prohibits one SP or one buyer to probe for
undisclosed prices, price range, or flexibility with certain
material terms 132 by sending multiple RFOs or offers containing a
progressively increasing price in order to identify the
counterpart's undisclosed material terms 132. Since each RFO/offer
becomes binding upon the acceptance of an offeree, the buyer will
either accept the first matching offer or choose the best offer
collected during a retaining session. In other words, if a buyer
sets up a retaining session, SPs are discouraged from submitting
multiple responsive offers containing a progressively increasing
price since the offers will be considered all together at the end
of the section. Alternatively, the buyer can directly limit the
number of offers to be submitted by one SP in the request for
offers and the RE 100 will execute accordingly by bouncing back any
additional offers beyond the set number limit.
[0104] When a retaining session 121 proceeds as an auction, SPs or
buyers receive e-mail notification when they have been outbid. The
RE 100 automatically updates the all bids. Confirmation and
congratulatory notices will be sent via e-mail to a winner.
Multiple Participants Environment: Collective RFOs or Offers,
Double Session
[0105] The RE 100 supports a multiple-participant environment which
not only hosts retaining sessions for multiple SPs to compete for a
RFO or multiple buyers to compete for an offer to sell, but also
hosts accumulating sessions 123 to accumulate RFOs or offers with
incremental amounts into one collective RFO or offer. The
participants of an accumulating session 123 may be affiliated via a
franchise, association, business or merely a group of
individuals/corporations formed exclusively for the purpose of
retaining services and or packages of services. The participants
place incremental retainer amounts (IRAs) in the area of retaining
group 43 by accepting the same material terms 132 except for some
individualized terms such as volume and schedule.
[0106] Before the starting time of an accumulating session 123, one
or more organizers will prepare and publish a request for retaining
members in a matter similar to a request for offers but including
additional terms for binding the member with the collective
agreement. The collective agreement usually stipulates a target
retaining amount to gain buying or selling leverage and a mechanism
to distribute a deficiency or surplus. The accumulating session 123
then proceeds similar to a retaining session. A collective
agreement shall specify whether participation in the retaining
session is conducted after effecting a retaining group, whether the
retaining group will be resolved if the total amount of the
RFOs/offers is less than the target.
[0107] At the close of an accumulation session, if the accumulating
session 123 accumulates a total amount sufficient to cover the
target, each individual IRA contributed to the total IRA is matched
by registered user identification number to a corresponding
retaining group account, and each IRA entered by a buyer or an SP
are recorded by the RE 100 a individual retaining amount and a
member I.D. The RE 100 then functions on behalf of the retaining
groups to facilitate the transaction, charge or credit according to
the respective IRA amount of an SP of a buyer.
[0108] A collective request for offers is handled as a regular
request for offers as discussed above. The RE 100 organizes a
retaining session for offers usually after the collective request
has been accumulated. A collective offer is accumulated as
discussed above, which usually finishes accumulating before a
retaining session starts so that the collective offer may compete
with other regular offers.
[0109] It is possible to start an accumulating session 123 for a
collective RFO/offer along with a retaining session for offers/RFOs
("double session" 124). There are at least two possible outcomes at
the end of the double session 124. When the amount of the
accumulated amount of the collective RFO/offer is less than the
total amount of offers/RFOs, the RE will evaluate the offers
according to the criteria set by the retaining group. If the amount
of the accumulated amount of the collective RFO/offer is more than
the total amount of offers/RFOs, the RE 100 will execute the
distribution as instructed by the retaining group or according to
the collective agreement. During the double session 124, the
accumulated retaining amount is updated and published real-time
when each IRA is added to the total amount.
[0110] If the accumulated offers is lower then the target, the RE
will distribute the offered amount per rata or in an agreed
hierarchy. Alternative, the RE 100 organizes another accumulating
session 123 with better terms to compensate the deficiency or with
stringer terms to defuse any surplus.
[0111] When the RE runs a double session for all the participants
rather than a specific retaining group, no preference is given to
any retaining group (collective requests or offers) and request and
offers are treated equally as in a stock exchange, in which buyers
enter competitive requests and sellers enter competitive offers
simultaneously, as opposed to a buyer-driven or seller-driven
market, wherein transactions are initiated and dictated by buyers,
or the traditional SP-driven market, wherein transactions are
initiated and dictated by SPs.
Managing Transactions 140: Settlement 141 & Fulfillment 142
[0112] A key element necessary to achieve a critical mass of the
service marketplace is the buyers' or SPs' ability to bind the
other party to a legal contract under the terms of a responsive
offer or a counteroffer. In contrast to a non-binding blank offer,
a binding offer is attractive to potential participants because it
sets out each and every material term and condition under which the
other party will be bound without additional time and cost of
negotiating. This key element is embedded in the RE 100 and within
the automatic retaining management system 200 (ARMS). The
traditional non-binding blank offers or solicitation are still
available for participants who would like to have continuing
negotiations for complex deals or any other circumstances.
[0113] Additionally, the RE 100 automatically effectuates
performance of the agreement between the parties by guaranteeing
payments according to an agreed-upon performance schedule. Before
communicating a Request for offers to potential SPs, the RE 100
automatically authenticates the buyer's identification number
against a registrant database. The RE 100 requires the buyer to
submit undated financial information, such as a credit card number,
to ensure that the customer has sufficient credit to pay the
estimate or maximum price specified in the request. The RE 100 then
assigns a unique tracking number to the Request for offers and
globally disseminates the Request to potential SPs.
[0114] Besides credit cards, other payment modes include banking
accounts, debit cards, electronic cash information, billing,
invoicing, bartering or other non-monetary consideration, and
combinations thereof
[0115] A SP wishing to accept any browsed request will submit a
responsive offer to the RE 100. The RE 100 time-stamps the received
offers and verifies whether the Request is still "active" and
capable of being automatically accepted. If so, the RE 100 then
automatically authenticates the identity of the SP and its capacity
to deliver the service(s) and or package of services. If a Request
is capable of being automatically accepted only by one SP, it is
automatically "completed" when the first qualified SP automatically
accepts it. A unique automatic tracking number is assigned to a
"completed" Request. The customer and SP are now parties to a
legally binding automatic contract. Subsequent SPs will not be able
to automatically accept a "completed" Request.
[0116] The RE 100 accepts various automatic payment methods,
including but not limited to credit cards, personal checks,
electronic funds transfer, debit cards, retainer escrow accounts,
digital cash or bonds. If the buyer defaults in the contract
period, the RE 100 will collect the payment from a escrow account,
which is associated with the customer wherein funds automatically
advanced by the buyer is kept by an escrow agent, or a third party
bonding agencies which have verified and endorsed the SP's ability
to deliver the contracted services, or any other means.
[0117] To assist SPs to deliver the services, the RE 100 offers
information on financing, outsourcing, import/export law and
procedures etc., provides interaction with colleagues and industry
experts, or direct services with any task, projects or service(s).
The RE 100 may be appointed by the parties to administer
transactions and any relevant disputes. Alternatively, the RE may
refer the dispute to a third-party arbitrator to resolve contract
disputes and thereby increase buyer and SP confidence in the
system.
Data Mining 150
[0118] As mentioned above, the conventional seller-driven service
transactional system is not prevalent because buyers do not want to
be bombarded with numerous offers from service providers, many of
who may be marginal or unqualified. The retaining engine 100
supports a novel seller-driven service transactional system with a
data mining feature to assist a buyer to screen SPs. Meanwhile, the
RE 100 also uses data mining to assist SPs to approach targeted
buyers in the competitive e-commerce. The use of demographic
analysis to market featured goods that fit each participant's
profile of interests and transactional records collected on-line or
off-line are popular in the market for goods but not in the service
marketplace. FIG. 6 contrasts the data sources for data mining of
the present invention with prior art. In particular, one embodiment
of the present invention further includes the data of the social
intelligence, character and characteristics as well as the service
transaction records in material terms.
[0119] E-commerce enabling consumers and businesses to search for
all available offers boosts the competition across industries and
market sectors worldwide, and customers are becoming more demanding
and less loyal in their uncompromising search for that "just right"
combination of service, and/or package of services and
retainer/price to meet their individual needs and geographical
location. As a result, companies are racing to discover what
customers really want and to incorporate that value perspective
into their overall market strategies and in every aspect of the way
they do business. The need to understand customer behaviors and
their impact on profitability over time is required to improve
decision making to meet customer demands and create profit while
effectively managing risk.
[0120] Data mining, or knowledge discovery, often via
computer-assisted process, uncovers hidden patterns and
relationships in data. Meaningful information or transactional
attributes, such as consumption profiles, habits and preferences,
is extracted from enormous databases through advanced statistical
analysis and modeling techniques. Data mining has emerged as a key
technology for companies that want to improve the quality of their
decision making and gain competitive advantage by exploiting the
data available to them.
[0121] In an interactive knowledge discovery environment supported
by the RE 100, the background knowledge of a participant is
combined with the underlying algorithms so as to derive
transactional patterns or relevant information. As such, targeted
content embedded in qualified offers will be supplied to focused
audiences and lead to efficient and effective service transactions.
Based on the service or package of services that the clients have
already retained, data mining will find out what other offers of
services that the clients would also interest the clients. In other
words, data mining finds out the best ways to target potential
customers. In one embodiment of the present invention, the RE 100
selects a linear algorithm, such as a simple machine learning
algorithm, or a non-linear algorithm, such as a neural network
model, or any hybrid combination, to generate noticeable patterns
from millions of records and hundred of attributes.
[0122] Major data mining methods include predictive modeling (e.g.,
decision trees, neural networks, naive bayesian, branching
criteria), database segmentation (e.g., clustering, K-means), link
analysis (e.g., Rule association), text mining (e.g., Semantic
maps), and deviation detection (e.g., visualization). Many
off-the-shelf data mining algorithm tools, such as Basic data
mining algorithm tools are Oracle.RTM. Express Serve,
Microsoft.RTM. Decision Trees, Microsoft.RTM. Clustering, and are
available to be used in conjunction with extensive researches
conducted on user experiences and product functionality via
e-commerce. Much off-the-shelf software, such as XpertRule.RTM.
Miner (www.attar.com/tutor/miner.hLm), Oracle.RTM. Discoverer,
Oracle.RTM. Reports, is available. These products, however, only
address business decision-making needs at a freezing time point
rather than a long-term period of time offered by the RE 100 or the
ARMS 200.
[0123] For example, the ARMS 200 aims to determine which marketing
effort should be adjusted, and to what degree, for optimal impact
by measuring each customer sector's value in a forward-looking,
consistent, and integrated manner, factoring in the interactions
among marketing decisions across the customer portfolio and
throughout the customer life cycle. The above-mentioned software is
applied in a proactive rather than responsive manner. The ARMS 200
is not taking the stance of, "If I don't do x, then y will happen."
Instead, it's "My goal is for y to happen in the future, what do I
do now to make it happen?" In other words, the present invention is
not seeking to make the best profit from the market at certain
points of time but rather is seeking to make the best accumulated
profit/value from the aggregated customers over the life time
cycle, i.e. the lifetime consumption value for service ("LCVS") of
a customer sector or an account. LCVS will be discussed in detail
in next section. As shown in FIG. 4, the Lifetime Consumption Value
for Services of the present invention intends to maximize the
profit over a life time cycle rather than a specific time point as
the prior art.
[0124] Precise, robust decision is the result of a framework that
leverages multiple data sources and integrates statistics, neural
networks and optimization technology. For example, the RE 100
converts customers' hits to leverage data for designing new
services in conjunction with budgets, price models, etc. Such an
approach not only considers past historical services that have been
retained by the clients and transactions but also predicts future
services and transactions broken down into specific markets and/or
services or packages of services for optimizing
customer(s)/client(s).
[0125] Since the transactional information collected by the RE 100
is well defined by the services classification and material terms
of the present invention, the RE 100 or the ARMS 200 can analyze
and summarize more effectively for interested consumers attributes
or patterns of the service marketplace.
[0126] The ARMS 200 uses the robust optimization technique to look
at different scenarios for cost and benefits of marketing services
so as to optimize profits with the best solution, which goes beyond
standard simulation application. The ARMS 200 models short-term
events in detail, but, past a certain point, i.e., after an
estimate of time, it just does a coarser grain forecasting. A SP
may enter data about a newly-integrated construction approach, then
the ARMS 200 cross-references the data-mining statistics and
reports of the RE 100, then processes through its logic to simulate
the best marketing approach. It could let the SP know how to adjust
the new services to local needs according to local taste, weather
patterns, local zoning regulation, and marketing.
[0127] Moreover, the RE 100 or ARMS 200 visualizes the new data
into graphics or accumulates the new data into market reports. The
data-mining feature of the RE 100 or ARMS 200 dramatically
redesigns and improves marketing methods and delivers efficient and
measurable marketing information. When used in conjunction with
extensive demographic, socio-economic and lifestyle information,
the RE 100 or ARMS 200 provides superior predictive models and
brings actionable marketing information directly to the desktops of
decision-makers. This information guides marketing executives to
stronger, more client/customer-specific marketing decisions. For
example, the RE 100 or ARMS 200 provides prospective buyers the
preview of livestock and grain availability at different locations
and available shipping method and routes for the respective
locations on one chart.
[0128] The RE 100 or ARMS 200 utilizes a neural network-based data
mining technology to enable users to create sophisticated
predictive models of complex market forces and customer behavior,
build models that not only reflect past historical services or
packages of services and events and transactions, but also predict
future services or packages of services and transactions. This
allows for optimizing customer/client management strategies,
including service, cross-selling and retaining, and cost control,
and for proactively managing the relationship with the
customer/client.
[0129] The data mining feature enables large and small SPs alike
the opportunity to know more about a service marketplace
participant, whether a customer or a competitor, so as to make
informed decisions regarding what marketing efforts to expend on
who, what, when and how to present an offer for services or
packages of services. By knowing individuals' or companies'
sensitivity to certain types of appeals, these service providers
tailor their offers and services or package(s) of services
specifically to an individual or company. The outputs of data
mining tools are used to accurately predict individuals' or
companies' likelihood of responding to a particular type of
service(s) or package(s) of services offer so as to segment
customer/client bases, run simulated marketing campaigns, and
predict results before going into the field. The critical piece of
the puzzle for marketers of all service providers, whether direct
or virtual, understands which marketing mix will yield the best
possible results in the customer universe.
[0130] The products of data mining 150 provides the information
base for marketing to analyze and refine strategies for direct
marketing campaigns, such as personalized weekly HTML services for
auction e-mail newsletters to registered bidders (which will
include particularly attractive opportunities for services),
specific service management strategies, which match consumers
buying habits to geographic and demographic profiles, program
offerings (i.e., polls, chats, games) to increase levels of regular
participation, personalizing a webpage presentation around a
professional service theme (wallpaper and custom cursors and screen
savers), offers of customized services to meet specific needs. The
data-mining feature also helps SPs track services or packages of
services performance and customer satisfaction, measure advertising
effectiveness, assess brand strength and competitive position,
determine price sensitivity, and evaluate new services and packages
of services, markets or other business opportunities.
[0131] The RE 100 systematically integrates data mining, prediction
and forecasting capabilities with simulation and optimization
technologies to enable SPs to proactively and precisely recommend
services and/or packages of services, making decisions and
maximizing financial returns with much more certainty and
confidence. As a truly robust optimization instrument, the RE 100
empowers companies to determine the comprehensive cause and effect
behaviors of each possible action combination to each individual
customer/client. The RE 100 fully captures and measures the causal
relationships and sensitivities between key decision variables and
subsequent customer behaviors. Decision variables are those actions
that management can proactively control and change. Experimental
design expertise facilitates the collection of a rich and complete
mapping of tested actions to find their impact on customer behavior
over varying account profiles.
[0132] Furthermore, the RE 100 uncovers the complex patterns
(between decision variables and customer behaviors) by leveraging
the neural network technologies. World class testing methodologies,
behavioral data observation and collection, and predictive model
development form the strong foundation of advanced optimization
solution.
[0133] This comprehensive view enables all SPs, especially those
engaged in marketing and extending credit to their
customers/clients, to make accurate decisions about each individual
customer sector's value, closing the loop between data analysis and
corporate strategic goals. By taking data mining to the long-term
level, the RE method and system cross-cultural functionality
leverages an SP's current analytical process into a robust,
multidimensional picture of a customer sector's value over time.
For example, the RE 100 converts hits into preference data to be
stored in a data warehouse and to perform visitor analysis and
enterprise reporting. Through the use of different tracking
mechanisms (cookies, log analysis tools, etc.) data can be gleaned
and factors that lead to purchases or other causal relationships
can be identified. These results will then be cross referenced with
those that were similar, but contained differences (did not
purchase or recommend). Data gained from this process will allow
the system administrator to view what behaviors and variables are
more likely to lead to sales generations, etc.
[0134] In one embodiment of the present invention, the RE 100 uses
independently developed data mining software. In another embodiment
of the present invention, the RE 100 incorporates the
above-mentioned commercial software to process internet log files
and outputs reports on any number of topics and demographic
information with a long-term perspective, which also works in
conjunction with the data mining and data warehousing. SPs can
extend their e-business analysis through campaign, content,
commerce, and affiliate modules that provide powerful analysis.
[0135] With such a data-mining capability, the RE 100 can capture
and measure the causal relationships and interaction effects of all
customer/client behaviors in a complete and structured manner. The
result is a fully integrated decision-making environment that
provides SPs with detailed customer-sector level, or even
account-level, action plans to structure their services or packages
of services. While incorporating real-world business constraints
and policy parameters, the RE 100 provides recommendations for
producing maximum economic returns to each customer-sector or
account.
[0136] The data-mining feature allows the ARMS to predict which
client is likely to default on payment or switch to a competitor.
Furthermore, the data mining feature is incorporated into the
Integrated Management Tool to be discussed in next section so as to
apply powerful predictive modeling, segmentation, and forecasting
algorithms to the service marketplace beyond marketing or client
management. For example, predictive models are helpful to solve
marketing issues. But, once it is determined WHO is likely to buy
and WHAT is the best marketing approach, the question of WHAT TO DO
remains--whether to. provide in-house or through outsourcing, and
the pact on profit. The Integrated Management Tool will suggest the
best, the optimal, proactive action to take with each customer
sector to ensure you obtain the most profit over their
lifetime.
[0137] The portfolio of customers is the most important asset of a
business. Traditionally, predictive modeling and analysis have
provided support for the decision as to what action to take. But
the final decision of WHAT TO DO has frequently been made on gut
feel alone. Models can predict WHO is likely to exhibit a
particular behavior, such as response or attrition, but cannot
proactively prescribe what to do to meet an SP's or organization's
goals given this information. The RE's optimization environment
simulates the future under varying scenarios and conditions giving
the decision-maker fill control to stress test and optimize
strategic decisions before they are made.
[0138] In addition, the RE 100 provides a wide spectrum of data
products, data integration services, mailing list services, as well
as data warehousing and decision support services to SPs. For
example, the RE 100 collects feedback about the quality of services
based on the value of transactions, price, and participants'
evaluations.
Integrated Management Tool 160
[0139] Fortune 1000 companies continue to turn to outside
assistance for creative cost-and-time-management tools. Many
companies are using advanced statistics to calculate the expected
profitability of each account. When an event causes a particular
customer's profitability prediction to drop below an acceptable
level, a certain action is designated to occur. This is the
problem. The "acceptable level" is set by the organization and the
action to take when the prediction drops below this level is
stipulated by the organization. No science is helping determine at
what point something should be done and, more importantly, what
should be done.
[0140] The present invention expends data-mining beyond customer
relationship management into a fully integrated business
management, including accounting, maintenance, operation,
scheduling, etc. The comprehensive optimization metric of the
present invention allows a participant to proactively reach and
surpass the SP and or organization's profitability goals by
providing scientific advice on what to do. As mentioned, the RE 100
or ARMS 200 is not taking the responsive stance of, "If I don't do
x, then y will happen." but rather a proactive one, "My goal is for
y to happen in the future, what do I do now to make it happen?"
[0141] In addition, the lack of common success target within a
organization has caused organizational divisions to clash over
strategic decisions. The RE 100 or ARMS 200 enables managers in
different areas of functional responsibility to make decisions
consistent with overall long-term company success by utilizing a
lifetime value metric (LCVS). This elevates their decision-making
from a tactical to a strategic focus. While most profit-based
scores or models are artificially truncated to reflect short-term
measures, such as NOI, it capitalizes on forecast models that allow
its optimization algorithms to develop a more comprehensive, LCVS
decision metric. It breaks down LCVS into a series of properly
discounted incoming and outgoing cash flows. Individual costs and
revenues are aggregated into the most accurate representation of
account value available today. It optimizes the overall strategic
goals of the company, maximizing economic value over the
long-term.
[0142] Moreover, the conventional scheduling systems with tools to
anticipate excess capacity make forecasting errors and invariably
lead to unanticipated slow times or excess capacity in workers. And
conventional scheduling systems do not support forecasting slow
times in a given time period and or geographical locations
associated with labors to be available to provide service.
Furthermore, unexpected external events, such as a price war or
extreme weather conditions, can also affect an SPs scheduling and
available service(s) and or packages of services. On the other
hand, uncertainty is incorporated in a range of values to frame a
decision with respect to the risk in the present invention. A user
may include a range of scenarios, such as the predicted best and
worst case scenarios, based on the participant's expertise.
[0143] The RE 100 or ARMS 200 simulates the marketplace based upon
the results of the data-mining and operational constraints of a
participant so as to determine an integrated business plan from a
long term perspective, wherein the operational constraints includes
asset, cash, capital, inventory, labor, staff, debt, liability,
intellectual property, customer preference, competitors' actions
and plans, and suppliers' actions and plans. The data mining
feature elicits the best ways to target new customers, the
Integrated Management Tool comes up with the integrated
profit-optimizing operation plan to reach the new customers and
serve all customers. The RE 100 or ARMS 200 boasts rich modeling
capabilities, which combine advanced analeptics, mathematical
programming techniques, applied probability, simulation and neural
network technologies to model complex business situations and
compute optimal decisions. Mathematical programming, a branch of
operations research, is used to determine what actions or what
combination of actions will lead to a desired outcome. With an open
architecture, the RE 100 or ARMS 200 leverages existing investments
in data, analytical models, data warehousing and mining tools, and
custom segmentation schemes.
[0144] In particular, the integral management feature supports a
strategic optimization, looking at long-term behavior, not just how
to optimize the next promotion, but how to optimize a long-term
series of decisions, services and or packages of services for each
customer/client. Traditional optimization did not involve
predictive modeling. Instead, it relied on linear programming
techniques. Typically, analysts knew the values of all variables
and it was just a matter of finding the most efficient way to
allocate resources for outsourcing. The integral management feature
has a modeling component that provides a forecasting capability to
its optimization and simulation tools.
[0145] Such an integral management feature of the RE 100 can be
remotely accessed by a buyer or SP, or installed independently at
the SP's computer and or with the automatic retaining management
system ("ARMS") 200. In other words, ARMS is a system working
exclusively for an SP or a buyer, which can be installed
independently from the RE but working in conjunction with the RE.
As such, the RE works as a neutral third party to any transaction
without concerns of conflict of interest. Technologically, a ARMS
can reside in the server which supports the RE.
[0146] Optimization has moved from a purely academic exercise to
one that is applied effectively in the commercial world. However,
the more complex the problem, the more flexible the solution must
be. Only by incorporating the five processes discussed above, can
decision-makers confidently reach the most reasoned, and reliable
solutions. The RE 100 or ARMS 200 permits SPs to incorporate
real-world business constraints and policy parameters and goals,
enabling organizations to proactively and precisely make optimal
strategic decisions and to maximize financial returns with
certainty and confidence.
[0147] Before optimization can be conducted, the representations of
the interactive environment, or models, have to be built.
Predictive modeling uses raw data or data resulting from data
mining to describe the process of mathematically or mentally
representing a phenomenon or occurrence with a series of equations
or relationships. These models are composed of inputs, such as age,
income, and transactional history, and outputs, such as
profitability, life-time value, or chum. There are many types of
artificial intelligence and statistical techniques that can be used
to engage in predictive modeling or data mining. For example, there
are several methods including, but not limited to neural networks,
decision trees, CHAID, CART, fuzzy logic, chaos theory, and other
more traditional statistical methods, such as linear regression.
The RE 100 or ARMS 200 decides which types of predictive models to
utilize in varying situations.
[0148] The RE 100 or ARMS 200 enables and facilitates a buyer or SP
to systematically applies judgment to the entire decision-making
process regarding what services to offer at what costs at when and
to whom. The RE 100 or ARMS 200 determines cause and effect from
multi-source data to facilitate the decision-making process. In the
value chain that spans from raw data to actionable information,
towards analytical solutions. These solutions produce the greatest
returns and routinely turn gigabytes of data into meaningful
decision points and marketing plans to provide service(s) and/or
packages of services. After determining the timewise price
elasticity of one's portfolio of customers and potential
competition, the RE 100 or ARMS 200 simulates the clients' response
to a new service package during an aggregated life cycle of the
clients to decide the best launching time and shelf life of the
service package so as to obtain the optimized profit for the
service package. The RE 100 or ARMS 200 further performs
cross-service simulation to see the impact of the new service
package on other existing services or service packages so as to
modify the best launching time and shelf life of the service
package thereby obtaining the optimized profit for all services and
service packages over the aggregated life cycle of the clients.
[0149] The optimizing technology simulates "what-if" and
goal-seeking optimization scenarios, which help decision-makers
understand the consequences of various business strategies and the
possibilities of outsourcing or completing the services or packages
of services locally or in specific geographical locations or
"in-house". The integral management feature enables SPs not only to
gain much greater insight into the relationships within their
databases, but also to gain these results in a fraction of the time
or in three to six days which has traditionally taken six weeks to
six months to generate. The predictive optimization solutions
enable clients and service providers to achieve the maximum value
from each individual customer and/or service provider or
combination of service providers. The RE 100 or ARMS 200 predicts,
tests, tracks, and optimizes strategic and tactical goals based on
a complete and integrated view of revenue, risk and costs. The RE
100 or ARMS 200 also generates reports overviewing all variables of
all transactions so that a buyer or an SP adjust accordingly. Data
will be pulled from multiple areas within the system and integrated
into one easy-to-read report.
[0150] The results are descriptive rather than prescriptive. The RE
100 or ARMS 200 predicts the best champion or any interaction
effects of changing variables. The complexity of prescribing
multiple decision variable changes for multiple segments can become
impossible in such a system. However, it is a valuable framework
for relationship mapping and forming the basis for subsequent
analytic steps of optimization. It also identifies the importance
of the various decision variables for a manager to focus. The
decision variables are the model parameters or coefficients to be
adjusted to achieve a good fit.
[0151] The RE 100 or ARMS 200 designs a solution for integrating
functions and building value through a comprehensive optimization
metric which incorporates uncertainty. Once a metric has been
established and stored in the system, variables that are introduced
at a later time can be added against the set of already
pre-existing variables, and rather than trying to refigure each
individual previous variable, they can be grouped and optimized and
or simulated.
[0152] The integral management feature has the capabilities in
prediction, simulation and optimization platform that incorporate
real-world business constraints and policy parameters to provide
recommendations for maximum economic returns for each
customer/client over their entire portfolio. The solution combines
the simulation and optimization technologies with its data mining
prediction and forecasting capabilities. With the neural
network-based predictive modeling and data mining tool, it is the
ultimate retaining engine for outsourcing and retaining services
and or packages of services from all service providers. Two types
of constraints reflecting the real world, record-level constraints
and cross-record constraints, will be provided to the RE 100 or
ARMS 200. One may suppose a manager must optimize under policies
that prevent long-term customers from receiving either increases or
decreases in costs per service or package of services. These are
local, or record-level, constraints since they apply one customer
(or record) at a time. There may also be a constraint limiting the
total expected losses due to default in the next year, i.e., a
cross-record constraint since the actions (the values of the
decision variables) on all accounts (records) must be considered at
once in order to check compliance with this constraint.
[0153] Each optimization problem has an objective function--the
expression of the metric it optimizes. The objective function is
customizable to the individual business. Lifetime Consumption Value
of Services (LCVS) is one measure that reflects the complete
consumption of specific services of the business by a customer, a
customer segment or all aggregated customers, considering all
economic flows. Existing market research and forecast methods
implemented on a weather forecast supercomputer can logically
forecast the consumption of specific services provided by the
business in a continuous and dynamic manner. Multiple consumption
attributes (color, price, timing) within the complex mathematical
expression of LCVS leads to a big optimization metric. Both of the
aggregated life consumption and the price elasticity are expressed
in functions of time and client segments with weighting. Client
segmentation categories clients into different behavioral group
with respect to LCVS. Each client segment is defined by income,
balance, risk, preference or a combination of these consumption
attributes. The relevant explanatory and tracking formula are
mathematically constructed as a series of component cash flows over
time but in present-value dollars.
[0154] SPs gain strategic advantage by fully understanding causal
relationships, integrating cross-departmental goals, defining a
company-wide and comprehensive performance measurement,
incorporating real-world constraints, and exploring the tradeoffs
between various strategic decisions. As shown in the following case
study, the relationships between decision variables and customer
behaviors influence multiple components of LCVS. Therefore, these
individual variables must be broken down and represented to
decision-makers in the most intuitive manner possible. A LCVS
statement representing LCVS cash flow components to key executives
reflecting the impact of their decisions on revenues and expenses,
near term and over an extended time period.
[0155] The formulas can be modified to incorporate weighted
combination of the different objectives (where the weights
represent their relative importance), or by representing some of
the objectives as constraints, whenever those objectives must
attain known desired values.
[0156] A cash flow calculator (CFC) accurately measures all the
cash inflows and outflows demanded by the objective function and
constraints. The cash flow calculator can calculate inflows and
outflows from model predictions and forecasts of account behavior
as well as from other data available to the decision-maker,
converting all available data into a series of detailed and
customizable cash flows at time series intervals specified by the
client (monthly, quarterly, bi-annually or annually). Cash inflows
and outflows also facilitate the calculation of "terminal value."
Individual cash flows calculated at the most granular or detailed
level with respect to the different individual components that
comprise all flows of cash--can be discounted and ultimately form
the expression that is the objective function of the optimization
analysis. The cash flow calculator easily and systematically
calculates and reports, or combines them into LCVS.
[0157] The RE 100 or ARMS 200 also executes per-scheduled purchases
for a participant according to a set of pre-set preferences or
criteria. For example, one buyer may order the RE 100, an agent, or
a vendor, such as an on-line casino, to automatically and
systematically purchase the lottery tickets according to pre-set
preferences or criteria, such as types of lotteries, search
criteria, pay-offs, numbers and dates etc. Besides executing the
purchase/retaining according the buyer's instruction, such as the
same set of number 10, 4 every week for one year or three months in
certain city or certain area codes, the RE 100 or ARMS 200 of the
marketplace or a vendor can also forecasts the probability of
winning according to the historical winning numbers with respect to
each location. Beyond that, the buyer can simulate other purchasing
scenarios to optimize the chances of winning. In particular, the RE
100 or ARMS 200 targets on the optimized accumulated awards over a
period of time rather than one time. Alternatively, the vendor
solicits on-line for a retaining group so as to pool their money
together to participate in the lottery in a matter but not limited
to as described above.
[0158] When the RE 100 or ARMS 200 identify an RFO for an SP, it
first evaluates the RFO to decide whether its inventory and
existing resources can carry out the RFO or whether it needs to
invest additionally to fulfill the RFO. Once it submits a
responsive offer to the buyer by a deadline, and is subsequently
informed of the buyer's acceptance, the offer becomes binding, and
the RE 100 or ARMS 200 will rearrange the operational schedule and
inventory of the SP accordingly.
[0159] The RE 100 or ARMS 200 permits affiliated SPs to dispose of
extra service capability and fill slow times and thereby obtain
value from such unwanted services and slow periods. For example,
when a service(s) and or package(s) of services is first added to
an SP's schedule, the SP's automatic retaining management system
attempts to maximize revenue for the service by establishing a
plurality of fees/rates and then allocating the number of services
and fees assigned to each service(s) or packages of services. The
automatic retaining management system will thereafter continue to
monitor the actual demand within each service(s) or packages of
services relative to forecasted demand, and based on geographical
location and the available service(s) and or packages of services
to dynamically reevaluate the availability of service(s) and or
packages of services allocation and pricing of each service(s) or
packages of services for a given service(s) or packages of services
also considering and specific requirements that may be specified by
the user(s) or the SP(s). In this manner, the SPs attempt to
schedule each service(s) and or packages of services and keep their
schedules as full as possible without allowing earlier scheduling
and retaining of discounted-fees to displace later-booking fall-fee
clients.
[0160] Case Study: One pharmaceutical company has a strong product
promoted by two of its sales forces. Although sales met corporate
expectations, the company's product management team feel there is
room for improvement. The management looks for new ways to increase
their profitability and ROI, outside of the existing promotional
activities, such as sampling, dinner meetings, direct mail, and
teleconferences. The RE 100 develops a promotional predictive model
with the pharmaceutical company's prescription data and internal
promotion and sales activity for the last six months. Using the
optimization solution, the RE 100 simulates the real world effect
of various promotional plans before assigning one to their sales
team. The promotional response analysis revealed that each of the
six different new services has substantially different effects on
physician prescribing behavior. Surprisingly, only two new services
have significant positive impacts on prescription behavior for each
of the 100,000 physicians in the database. The RE 100 further
simulates how much profitability could be increased if the two new
services are launched within the company's operational constraints.
For example, no physician could receive more than 500 samples in a
six-month period. The RE 100 adjusts all levels of marketing
activity under the company's control until an optimal solution is
found. A tailored marketing and promotional mix is recommended for
each physician to maximize profit from all the physicians for, as
an example, the future 10 years (the predicted life cycle of the
new services). A summary table provides more detail on the plan
chosen for implementation, including sales, total profits, profits
due to additional investment, and ROI. The RE 100 also discovers
that, by simply changing the physician-sampling strategy, the
predicted sales increases by $1.4 million.
[0161] After a new service(s) and or package(s) of services is
added to the company's schedule, the RE 100 continues monitoring
the actual sales relative to forecasted demand, and based on
geographical location and the available service(s) to reevaluate
the availability of service(s) allocation and pricing. Accordingly,
the company schedules each service(s) appropriately to keep the
schedules as full as possible, and tries to avoid the cost of
last-minute cancellation or discounted fees due to early
scheduling.
Speech, Language, Emotion, Intelligence, Character &
Characteristics Recognition 170
[0162] Speech recognition by voice (acoustic) or by facial
expression/facial muscle movement (visual) has been applied to help
the blind in recognizing the content of the speech. The recognition
is improved when combining the acoustical source with an optical
source that contains information from the facial region such as
gestures, expressions, head-position, eyebrows, eyes, ears, mouth,
teeth, tongue, cheeks, jaw, neck, and hair. The major models for
speech recognition (visual) include Hidden Markov Models,
Multi-Layer Perception, etc. which is enabled by analyzing image
sequences. Experts combine the acoustic and visual analysis since
human speech production and facial expression are inherently linked
by a synchrony phenomenon, where changes often occur simultaneously
with speech and facial movements. For example, an eye blink
movement may occur at the beginning or end of a word, while
oral-cavity movements may cease at the end of a sentence.
[0163] The RE 100 not only combines the acoustical source with an
visual source that contains information from the facial regions but
also processes the data via data mining 150 so as to analyze the
speech 171, emotion 173 (anger, surprise), truthfulness,
temperament (hostility), and personality (shyness) of a participant
of the service marketplace. Specifically, the RE 100 data-mines the
collected acoustic and visual data to develop a set of behavior or
body language algorithms to identify the speaker's emotion
(psychiatry, psychological) and social intelligence in conjunction
with the content of the speech. The acoustic and visual data of a
speaker are measured, sensed, then transferred to a database to be
filtered and translated to patterns via optimizing queries, on-line
lie detecting, graph systems, semi structured data, simulation,
query answering algorithms, etc. As such, the RE 100 combines,
classifies, and analyzes acoustic and visual data to deepen
understanding of the sample behaviors so as to discover the
implications to the speaker's cognitive, ethical, educational,
legal, and social intelligence and to collaborate in sharing this
knowledge and working together interactively. With such a data
mining approach, the RE 100 accumulates a person's emotional and
social history that can be related to and dispense that particular
person's social intelligence.
[0164] The analysis of social intelligence 174 includes
identifying, investigating, and modeling the ways natural and
artificial systems operate in order to arrive at unifying
principles that explain (1) how learning and intelligent behavior
occur in humans, in other natural systems, and in artificial
systems; (2) the types of learning tasks and decision making that
are best suited; (3) the kinds of information and decisions each
characteristic produces or creates; (4) the impact of interactions
among alternative interactive learning environments, social
contexts and experiences. With a comprehensive set of learning and
research tools, methods and technologies that use biological,
behavioral, cognitive, linguistic, social, and educational concepts
with interactive, collaborative, and multi-sensory technologies,
the RE 100 develops fundamental knowledge concerning the nature of
learning and intelligence in natural or artificial systems, and to
apply such knowledge in speech 171, language 172, emotion 173,
social intelligence 174, character and characteristics 175
recognition.
[0165] For analyzing the social intelligence of a participant, the
RE 100 use at least one factor for intelligence, i.e., IQ tests,
which are conducted through inputs of the user and or through
sensors connected with equipment including age definition meaning
by touch and size of fingertips so as to analyze the user of age
six by the information the user enters while surfing the web, such
as the accuracy of spelling, words, topics, interests, mathematical
inputs, etc., to determine a valued IQ of the user. Intelligence
and intelligence testing focuses on the question of whether it is
useful or meaningful to evaluate people according to a single major
dimension of cognitive competence. There is indeed a general mental
ability we commonly call "intelligence," and it is important in the
practical affairs of life. Regardless the form or content, tests of
mental skills invariably point to the existence of a global factor
that permeates all aspects of cognition. And this factor seems to
have considerable influence on a person's practical quality of
life. Intelligence as measured by IQ tests is the single most
effective predictor known of individual performance at school and
on the job. It also predicts many other aspects of well-being,
including a person's chances of divorcing, dropping out of high
school, being unemployed or having illegitimate children. The RE
100 then determines the on-line user social intelligence. The
information on social intelligence can be used for promoting
dynamic task allocation, interaction, coordination, process and
organization representation, collective learning, consistency
business management, protocol, and negotiation.
[0166] By the same approach as with the emotion recognition 173,
the RE 100 also tracks a speaker's character and characteristics
175 over time by analyzing a sequence of images with a sets of
characteristic algorithms then saves the images into a imagery
database.
[0167] In one embodiment of the present invention, the sensors are
programmed to function automatically under certain emergent
circumstance. For example, a 50-year-old man has his cell phone in
his pocket with a built-in sensor. When the man has a heart attack,
the cell phone senses the pulse change and automatically calls 911
for emergency services. The same technique can be applied to babies
and the elderly, and hikers and other physical fitness/sports
enthusiasts.
[0168] The RE 100 solves problems by searching, game playing,
logical reasoning in conjunction with the results from speech,
language, emotion, social intelligence, character and
characteristics recognition. The analysis results may be forwarded
to a third party, such as an attorney, an expert or a mediator, for
facilitating the negotiation.
[0169] In addition, the emotion is recognized real-time base and
with means beyond the traditional ones. For example, the RE 100
uses sensors to catch smells, touch, taste, pulse, body
temperature, body language, heart beats, etc. of a participant or
an object to decide whether the participant is lying. These sensors
include equipment and/or many devices such as neuron technology
built into the chips, fiber-optic or lasers sensor.
[0170] In another embodiment of the present invention, the sensors
are remotely controlled to conduct tele-medicine, joint lab
research projects, etc. For example, one oncologist processes cell
classification and taxonomy analysis by controlling the sensor on a
patient. As another example, three scientists working on the same
prototype of a special material by sensing the temperature and
characteristics of the material.
[0171] The recognition information is to be used for collaborative
knowledge construction, developing representation and filtering
tools, digital libraries and repositories across disciplines and
application domains, translation of representations, building
domain-specific, multidisciplinary knowledge networks and
co-laboratories. The recognition information can also be used to
determine a customer's lifetime consumption value of services
(LCVS) as discussed previously.
[0172] The RE 100 applies a similar technique for language
recognition 172, reference languages and patterns of good quality
are generated from the holographic database over a computerized
network or satellite system. Continuous language patterns and
reference language patterns are efficiently compressed so users can
pick and choose the language preferences and or that can be
converted to be used in the holographic imagery preferences in the
database. The compressed continuous language patterns are
sequentially and directly matched with the compressed reference
language patterns to recognize the language at high speed and with
high precision.
[0173] A reference pattern-generating unit generates a reference
language pattern by normalizing sample patterns while taking into
consideration their non-linear compression/expansion and by
calculating an average of the sample patterns into the
two-dimensional, three-dimensional, six-dimensional, or holographic
imagery database system. A continuous language recognition unit
recognizes a continuous language at high speed by sequentially
matching the continuous language of time sequential patterns with
reference language patterns while allowing non-linear expansion and
compression in the time domain.
[0174] A language translation system is provided in which a
language as well as the facial expression, movement or emotion of a
language user is recognized and converted into a holographic image
and with, but not limited to, a spoken language with emotion and
movement and transferred in the form of holographic imagery texts,
voices, sign languages of another type to a particular partner
among a plurality of unknown holographic and/or system users.
[0175] FIG. 5 shows the layers of data mined by the Retaining
Engine 110 compiled from speech recognition to language recognition
and other layers subsequently according to one embodiment of the
present invention. The sequence may be altered for specific data
mining inquiries incorporation with a particular data mining method
or model.
[0176] The RE 100 provides descriptions of the characteristics and
motions between but not limited to two holographic image frames and
databases. These descriptions of characteristics and motions are
further analyzed by the RE 100 to recognize the aforementioned
characteristics, movement, expression etc. The RE 100 analyzes
characteristics and motions between but not limited to two images
using but not limited to parameterized models of image
characteristics and motions. The RE 100 defines segmented regions
so as to track the pan and tilt of facial muscles and changes of
skin tones to decide the curvature of the facial expression of a
speaker. Initially, a first image in a sequence of images is
segmented into a region and a plurality of regions. Then it is used
to recover characteristics and motion parameters that estimate
characteristics and motion between the segmented region in the
first image and a second image in the sequence of images. The
second image is warped or shifted back towards the first image
using the estimated characteristics and motion parameters of the
model, in order to model the characteristics and motions relative
to the first image. A first model and a second model with curvature
are used to recover characteristics and motion parameters that
estimate the image characteristics and motion between the segmented
characteristics and motions and within the regions and the second
image. The recovered characteristics and motion parameters of the
regions represent the relative characteristics and motions of the
features between the first image and the second image. The region
in the second image is tracked using the recovered characteristics
and motion parameters of the region. The regions in the second
image are tracked using both the recovered characteristics and
motion parameters for the region and the characteristics and motion
parameters for the regions. The parameters describing the
characteristics and motion of the features are filtered to derive
mid-level predicates that define body gestures occurring between
the two images. These mid-level predicates are evaluated over time
to determine but not limited to the above-mentioned characteristics
and expression and gestures occurring in the image sequence.
[0177] In addition to generate a holographic image 101 representing
the RE 100, i.e., a Retaining Agent 101, the RE 100 also generates
holographic images of a buyer or an SP to be displayed to another
buyer or SP whether the RE 100 is conducting a speech, language,
emotion, social intelligence or characteristics recognition of
either speaker.
[0178] In another embodiment of the present invention, the speaker
may use an image different from the speaker's actual appearance so
as to disguise the speaker's actual identity. As such, the RE 100
will create a mirror image of the speaker's emotions, social
intelligence or characteristics. Whenever the reaction of the
holographic image does not match with the speaker's, the RE 100
will adjust the emotion generation algorithms and body language
algorithms.
Business Service Referral 180
[0179] The RE 100 provides referrals regarding services and/or
packages of services as required by a participant. In association
with each SP and such services, the service or package of services
includes a hyper textual "referral link" that allows a user
("customer") to link to colleagues, friends and family the SP's
site and/or services or package of services and retain the service.
When a customer selects a referral link, the customer's computer
transmits unique IDs of the selected service or package of services
and of the SP's site, allowing the SP to identify the service and
the referring user. If the customer subsequently retains the
services or package of services from the SP's site, the RE 100
automatically credits an account of the referring individual. In
another embodiment of the present invention, when that individual's
credited account reaches a limit, then that individual qualifies
for free services or packages of services from the SP.
Other Functions 190
[0180] The charity feature supported by the RE 100 allows SP's to
donate free services to those in need locally or worldwide. The
charity feature allows a charity request for donations to be
processed as a request for offers but with less restrict
registration procedure for donors and recipients than the
participant of the service marketplace. Charities often hold fund
raising auctions in which they sell valuable items not services and
or packages of services, which have been donated to the charity.
The retaining auction method presented allows services and/or
packages of services to be retained and increases the amount of
funds a charity raises in these auctions for two reasons. First, it
greatly increases the number of participants by allowing easy
on-line access to the retaining auction. Second, it increases the
retainer by allowing ordinary individuals, in addition to wealthy
individuals, to contribute to the total retainer, expanding the
pool of available funds. In one possible embodiment, competitive
retaining groups are formed, each retaining group representing a
different charitable cause. Each IRA or retainer contributed to a
retaining group helps the respective charity, but only the winning
group is awarded the service(s) and or package of services being
auctioned and retained. The winning group then holds a lottery to
determine which one of the contributing registered users gets to
keep or distribute the service(s) and/or package of services.
[0181] The RE 100 actively promotes or markets services for any
participants, especially those in countries without sufficient
internet infrastructure. The RE 100 may take or share risk as well
as commissions for such activities based on agreements.
[0182] The RE 100 organizes e-mail or notification campaigns for a
participant. The registered participants receive advanced notice
promoting the upcoming services, such as guest speakers'
availability, and the exclusive silent/private auction. Email
newsletters are generated to meet users' specific needs and
requests. In addition, the RE 100 also auctions the Guest Speakers
services for the retaining of the guest speakers on a certain
available date and location, and then schedules that guest speaker
at the time of retaining. Further more, The Re 100 supports
employment matching whether it is oriented by an employer, an
job-seeker, or a head-hunter.
[0183] The principles, preferred embodiments and modes of operation
of the present invention have been described in the foregoing
specification. However, the invention which is intended to be
protected is not limited to the particular embodiments disclosed.
The embodiments described herein are illustrative rather than
restrictive. Variations and changes may be made by others, and
equivalents employed, without departing from the spirit of the
present invention. Accordingly, it is expressly intended that all
such variations, changes and equivalents which fall within the
spirit and scope of the present invention as defined in the claims,
be embraced thereby.
* * * * *
References