USO0RE43768E
(19)
United States
(12) Reissued Patent
(10) Patent Number:
Flinn et al. (54)
US RE43,768 E
(45) Date of Reissued Patent:
ADAPTIVE COMMERCE SYSTEMS AND METHODS .
.
(75) Inventors: Steven Dennis Flinn, Sugar Land, TX
6,154,723 A 6,321,221 B1
11/2000 Cox et a1. 11/2001 Bieganski
6,326,946 B1
12/2001 Moran et al.
6,438,579 B1
8/2002
6,611,822 B1 6,795,826 B2 6,912,505 B2
8/2003 Beams et a1. 9/2004 Flinn et al. 6/2005 Linden et al.
6,922,672 B1
7/2005 Hallpem
6,571,279 B1
(US); NaomlFellna Moneypenlly, Houston, TX (US)
(73) Assignee: ManyWorlds, Inc., Houston, TX (US)
6,934,748 B1
_
6,981,040 B1
(21)
APP1-N°~ 13/279,871
(22)
Flledi
_
Oct. 24, 2011
Oct. 23, 2012
Hosken
500% HerZ et al‘
8/2005 Louviere
12/2005 Konig
7,073,129 B1
7/2006 Robarts et a1.
7,188,153 B2
3/2007 Lunt et al.
7,324,963 B1
1/2008 Ruckait
7,366,759 B2
4/2008 Trevithick
Related US. Patent Documents
.
_ ReIssue of:
(Contmued)
(64) Pate/115110; ssue :
50415421011 ar.
FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS
,
APPI'NO':
11559493
WO PCT/US2004/037176
Filed:
Nov. 13, 2006
(Commued)
Us Applications: (63) Continuation of application No. PCT/US2005/
OTHER PUBLICATIONS
011951, ?led on Apr, 8, 2005,
(60)
PCT International Search Report Opinion for PCTUS2005/011951 F b. 24, 2009.
Provisional application No. 60/572,565, ?led on May
e
20, 2004. (51)
(Continued)
Int. Cl.
Primary Examiner * James Zurita
G06Q 30/00 (52) (58)
' 6/2005
(2006.01)
us. Cl. ..................... .. 705/26.7; 705/2663; 705/37 Field of Classi?cation Search ............... .. 705/26.7,
(57) ABSTRACT A System and method for adaptive commerce is disclosed,
705/ 2653, 37 See application ?le for complete Search history-
Adaptive commerce enables recommendations of products or services based on usage behaviors and commercial contex
_
(56)
5,375,244 5,754,939 5,790,426 5,867,799 5,870,559 5,950,200 5,999,942
tual information. Commercial contextual information may
References Clted
include the business environment of the recommendation
U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
recipient, purchase histories, and product or service attributes. Bundles of products and/or services, or speci?c
A A A A A A A
12/1994 5/1998 8/1998 2/1999 2/1999 9/1999 12/1999
product or service con?gurations may be recommended. Cor responding prices may be determined in accordance With behavioral inferences and commercial contextual informa tion.
McNair HerZ et a1. Robinson
Lang et a1. Leshem et al. Sudaiet a1. Talati
20 Claims, 54 Drawing Sheets
process
partlclpant(s (Z00)
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II
US RE43,768 E Page 2 U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
7,493,294 7,512,612 7,526,458 7,526,459 7,526,464 7,539,652 7,558,748 7,571,183 7,606,772 7,630,986 7,818,392 7,904,341 7,958,457 2001/0049623 2002/0049738 2002/0052873 2002/0069102 2002/0093537 2003/0023427 2003/0028498 2003/0055666 2003/0101449 2003/0101451
B2 B1 B2 B2 B2 B2 B2 B2 B2 B1 B1 B2 B1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1
2/2009 3/2009 4/2009 4/2009 4/2009 5/2009 7/2009 8/2009 10/2009 12/2009 10/2010 3/2011 6/2011 12/2001 4/2002 5/2002 6/2002 7/2002 1/2003 2/2003 3/2003 5/2003 5/2003
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Ehring et al. Renshaw et al. Flinn et al. HerZ et al. Martino et al. Flinn et al.
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Epstein Delgado et al.
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A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1
8/2003 11/2003 12/2003 12/2003 9/2004 5/2005 5/2005 2/2006 3/2006 6/2006
Gehlot et al. Postrel Hiller et al.
Spinola et al. Llach Ehring et al. Horowitz et al. Klem Work et a1. Teicher
FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS WO PCT/US2004/038692
6/2005
OTHER PUBLICATIONS PCT International Search Report Art Cited for PCTUS2005/011951 Jun. 20, 2008.
Vellante et al. Bocioned et al. Cassin et al.
Dynamic Consumer Pro?ling and Tiered Pricing Using Software Agents, Prithviraj Dasgupta, P Michael Melliar-Smith. Electronic
Hayes-Roth Roddy
downloaded from ProQuest Direct on the Internet on Nov. 9, 2011.*
Bentolila Bentolila
* cited by examiner
Commerce Research. Boston: Jul-Oct. 2003. vol. 3, Iss. 3-4; p. 277,
US. Patent
Oct. 23, 2012
Sheet 1 0f 54
US RE43,768 E
Figure 1A (prior art)
)110 Process 1
Process 2
105
Process 3
J
Process 4
Process 5
Enterprise
Fig u re 1 B (prior art)
110A
1105
J Process 6
1/ Process 9 120
Process 8
Process 7
Enterprise A
Process 10
Enterprise B
US. Patent
Oct. 23, 2012
Sheet 2 0f 54
Figure 2A (prior art)
US RE43,768 E
/125 130
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US. Patent
Oct. 23, 2012
Sheet 3 0f 54
US RE43,768 E
Figure 3 (prior art)
process
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US. Patent
Oct. 23, 2012
Sheet 4 0f 54
US RE43,768 E
Figure 4A process
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US. Patent
Oct. 23, 2012
US RE43,768 E
Sheet 5 0f 54
Figure 4B process . .
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US. Patent
Oct. 23, 2012
Sheet 6 0f 54
US RE43,768 E
Figure 4C process
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US. Patent
Oct. 23, 2012
Sheet 7 0f 54
US RE43,768 E
Figure 5 930
/ Activity 4 Activity 2 \
Activity 1
4 Activity 5
Activity 3 \
Process
\ Participant
Sub-process instance
\ Behav'ors 920
/ Adaptive Com puter-based
Application Process Participant Behavior and Usage Pattern Framework
(1000)
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US. Patent
0a. 23, 2012
Sheet 8 0f 54
US RE43,768 E
Figure 6 1060
Process A
1061
Process B
US. Patent
Oct. 23, 2012
US RE43,768 E
Sheet 9 0f 54
process , _ - - ->
participant(s) (200) ‘ ‘ ‘ ada pave systa?
1 WWW
structural
content aspect
aspect (210)
(230)
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(220)
adaptlve recommendatlons functlon
(240) adaptlve recommendatlons
(250) f*_~\
Adaptlve Computer-based Application (925) non-partici pants in process (260)
US. Patent
Oct. 23, 2012
Sheet 10 0f 54
US RE43,768 E
process
participant(s) (200)
adaptive system (100) non
structural
aspect (210)
adaptive
content aspect
system
(230)
(182) ‘“animated;‘W semi-automatic U m Hp ma Hnmg MD f St r u ctu m
usage aspect
(220) v
adaptive recommendations function
(240) adaptive recommendations
(250) F"\ 265
Adaptive Computer-based Application (925) non-participants in process (260)
ll!i
US. Patent
Oct. 23, 2012
Sheet 11 0154
US RE43,768 E
Figure 9A structural aspect (210)
objects (212) relationships
information (232) meta-information (234)
among
objects (214)
Figure 98 content aspect (230) h
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Figure 9C usage aspect (220) captured usage information (202)
usage behaviors (270)
usage behavior pre-processing (204)
usage behaviors categories (246) usage behavior clusters (247)
usage behavioral patterns (248)
US. Patent
0a. 23, 2012
Sheet 12 0f 54
US RE43,768 E
Figure 10 adaptive recommendations function (240)
preference inferencing (242) .
.
explicit preferences (252) inferred preferences (253) inferred interests (254)
recommendations
optimization (244)
US. Patent
0a. 23, 2012
Sheet 13 0f 54
US RE43,768 E
Figure 11 structural aspect (210)
‘
adaptive recommendations function (240) V
V
structural subset (280A)
structural subset (280B)
V
structural subset (280C) — 284
282 \
adaptive recommendations
(250)
US. Patent
Oct. 23, 2012
US RE43,768 E
Sheet 14 0f 54
Figure 12
282
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beg in
5 283
determine the usage behavioral patterns specific to the relevant affinity groups of the user 284
infer affinities among structural subsets, objects, and affinity groups 285
Q: adaptive system update only? 288
/
determine adaptive recommendations for updating
determine adaptive recommendations within the context of current
structural aspect or content
aspect
use 287
289
deliver adaptive
apply recommended
recommendations to recommendation
structural aspect or content
aspect modifications
recipients
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US. Patent
0a. 23, 2012
Sheet 15 0f 54
Figure 13 500
US RE43,768 E
US. Patent
0a. 23, 2012
Sheet 16 0f 54
US RE43,768 E
Figure 14 process
participant(s) (200)
adaptive system (100C) fuzzy network
(500)
content aspect
(230)
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updating of
(220)
content
905
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(250) 265
non-user (260)
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US. Patent
Oct. 23, 2012
Sheet 17 0f 54
US RE43,768 E
Figure 15 process
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US. Patent
Oct. 23, 2012
Sheet 18 0f 54
US RE43,768 E
Figure 16
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