System and method for negotiating according to improved matching criteria
A computer-implemented system stores profiles for parties to the negotiation, each profile specifying values for one or more parameters negotiated, the values reflecting a desirable outcome of the negotiation for the associated party. A matching server accesses an offer from a first party containing values for one or more of the parameters negotiated and computes a distance between the offer values and the profile values of a second party. If the distance is acceptably small, the server causes the offer to be accepted by the second party to conclude the negotiation. If the distance is not acceptably small, the server automatically modifies one or more values in the offer such that the distances between the modified offer and the profiles of the first and second parties are acceptably small simultaneously and causes the modified offer to be accepted by the first and second parties to conclude the automatic negotiation.
1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium embodied with software to reduce time spent accessing a database and increase speed of computer processing operations relative to search requests utilizing non-distance computing data structures, the software when executed using one or more computer systems is programmed to:
receive an input from a buyer entity of one or more parameters of a target item comprising one or more parameter subsets for the target item and one or more parameter values in each subset, wherein each of the one or more parameter subsets corresponds to one or both of a weight value and an order value;
receive a search request generated by the buyer entity and based on the one or more parameter values; and
communicate the search request to a matching server, wherein the matching server communicates the one or more parameter values to a matching engine, that, in response to the one or more parameter values:
retrieves at least one parameter value for one or more available items from one or more databases, the one or more available items located at a seller entity;
computes a distance between the at least one parameter value retrieved for the one or more available items and the one or more parameter values of the target item thereby reducing the time spent accessing the database and increasing the speed of computer processing operations relative to search requests utilizing non-distance computing data structures; and
communicates the search results based on the computed distance between the parameter values to the buyer entity,
wherein the search results cause the buyer entity to purchase one or more of the one or more available items based on the computed distance.
2. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the software is further programmed to sort the search results according to the overall distance between available items and the target item.
3. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 2 wherein the software is further programmed to display the sorted search results as a list of available items within a predetermined overall distance from the target item.
4. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 2 wherein the software is further programmed to display only the available item with the shortest distance from the target item.
5. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the distance is computed as:
L
n
=
∑
k
K
available
k
-
target
k
n
K
n
where K is number of parameters in the subset, available k is the value for the available item obtained from the database for the kth parameter, target k is the value specified for the target item for the kth parameter, the summation is over all K parameters in the subset, and n is the order of the distance measure.
6. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 5 wherein the value of n is user specified.
7. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 5 wherein the value of n for one or more parameter subsets is automatically specified based on the search request.
8. The non-transitory computer-readable medium claim 5 wherein the value of n for one or more parameter subsets is a default value.
9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the software is further programmed to compute the distance as:
D
=
∑
j
J
w
j
L
n
j
where D is the overall distance for the available item, l j is the distance for the jth parameter subset, w j is the weight for the jth parameter subset, and the summation is over all J parameter subsets.
10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 wherein the value of w is user specified.
11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 wherein the value of w for one or more parameter subsets is automatically specified based on the search request.
12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 wherein the value of w for one or more parameter subsets is a default value.
13. A system to reduce time spent accessing a database and increase speed of computer processing operations relative to search requests utilizing non-distance computing data structures, comprising:
an electronic commerce system comprising a seller entity and a buyer entity, the seller entity comprising one or more available items;
one or more databases that stores at least one parameter value for the one or more available items;
a matching server configured to:
receive an input over a computer network from the buyer entity of one or more parameters of a target item comprising one or more parameter subsets for the target item and one or more parameter values in each subset, wherein each of the one or more parameter subsets corresponds to one or both of a weight, w, and an order, n;
receive a search request over the computer network generated by the buyer entity and based on the one or more parameter values; and
a matching engine configured to, in response to the one or more parameter values:
receive the one or more parameter values over the computer network from the matching server and, in response to the one or more parameter values:
retrieve at least one parameter value for one or more available items over the computer network from one or more databases;
compute a distance between the at least one parameter value retrieved for the one or more available items and the one or more parameter values of the target item thereby reducing the time spent accessing the database and increasing the speed of computer processing operations relative to search requests utilizing non-distance computing data structures; and
communicate the search results based on the computed distance between the parameter values over the computer network to the buyer entity; and
cause the buyer entity to purchase the one or more available items, based on the computed distance.
14. The system of claim 13 wherein the matching server is further configured to sort the search results according to the overall distance between available items and the target item.
15. The system of claim 14 wherein the matching server is further configured to display the sorted search results as a list of available items within a predetermined overall distance from the target item.
16. The system of claim 14 wherein the matching server is further configured to display only the available item with the shortest distance from the target item.
17. The system of claim 13 wherein the distance is computed as:
L
n
=
∑
k
K
available
k
-
target
k
n
K
n
where K is number of parameters in the subset, available k is the value for the available item obtained from the database for the kth parameter, target k is the value specified for the target item for the kth parameter, the summation is over all K parameters in the subset, and n is the order of the distance measure.
18. The system of claim 17 wherein the value of n is user specified.
19. The system of claim 17 wherein the value of n for one or more parameter subsets is automatically specified based on the search request.
20. The system of claim 17 wherein the value of n for one or more parameter subsets is a default value.
21. The system of claim 13 wherein the matching server is further configured to compute the distance as:
D
=
∑
j
J
w
j
L
n
j
where D is the overall distance for the available item, l j is the distance for the jth parameter subset, w j is the weight for the jth parameter subset, and the summation is over all J parameter subsets.
22. The system of claim 21 wherein the value of w is user specified.
23. The system of claim 21 wherein the value of w for one or more parameter subsets is automatically specified based on the search request.
24. The system of claim 21 wherein the value of w for one or more parameter subsets is a default value.
25. A computer-implemented method to reduce time spent accessing a database and increase speed of computer processing operations relative to search requests utilizing non-distance computing data structures, comprising:
receiving an input over a computer network from a buyer entity of one or more parameters of a target item comprising one or more parameter subsets for the target item and one or more parameter values in each subset, wherein each of the one or more parameter subsets corresponds to one or both of a weight, w, and an order, n;
receiving a search request over the computer network generated by the buyer entity and based on the one or more parameter values; and
communicating the search request over the computer network to a matching server, wherein the matching server communicates the one or more parameter values to a matching engine, that, in response to the one or more parameter values:
retrieves at least one parameter value for one or more available items over the computer network from one or more databases, the one or more available items located at a seller entity;
computes a distance between the at least one parameter value retrieved for the one or more available items and the one or more parameter values of the target item thereby reducing the time spent accessing the database and increasing the speed of computer processing operations relative to search requests utilizing non-distance computing data structures; and
communicates the search results based on the computed distance between the parameter values over the computer network to the buyer entity,
wherein the search results cause the buyer entity to purchase one or more of the one or more available items based on the computed distance.
26. The computer-implemented method of claim 25 further comprising sorting the search results according to the overall distance between available items and the target item.
27. The computer-implemented method of claim 26 further comprising displaying the sorted search results as a list of available items within a predetermined overall distance from the target item.
28. The computer-implemented method of claim 26 further comprising displaying only the available item with the shortest distance from the target item.
29. The computer-implemented method of claim 25 further comprising computing the distance as:
L
n
=
∑
k
K
available
k
-
target
k
n
K
n
where K is number of parameters in the subset, available k is the value for the available item obtained from the database for the kth parameter, target k is the value specified for the target item for the kth parameter, the summation is over all K parameters in the subset, and n is the order of the distance measure.
30. The computer-implemented method of claim 29 wherein the value of n is user specified.
31. The computer-implemented method of claim 29 wherein the value of n for one or more parameter subsets is automatically specified based on the search request.
32. The computer-implemented method of claim 29 wherein the value of n for one or more parameter subsets is a default value.
33. The computer-implemented method of claim 25 further comprising computing the distance as:
D
=
∑
j
J
w
j
L
n
j
where D is the overall distance for the available item, l j is the distance for the jth parameter subset, w j is the weight for the jth parameter subset, and the summation is over all J parameter subsets.
34. The computer-implemented method of claim 33 wherein the value of w is user specified.
35. The computer-implemented method of claim 33 wherein the value of w for one or more parameter subsets is automatically specified based on the search request.
36. The computer-implemented method of claim 33 wherein the value of w for one or more parameter subsets is a default value.