Note : Les descriptions sont présentées dans la langue officielle dans laquelle elles ont été soumises.
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A SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR FACILITATING A TRANSACTION
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to a
system and method for facilitating a transaction,, and has
particular - but by no means exclusive - application to
facilitating a sale of real estate.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Processes for selling relatively expensive items
such as real-estate have traditionally been conducted in
person. For example, the majority of auctions held today
require parties wishing to make bids to gather at a venue
(typically the location of the real estate that is being
auctioned) where they can submit verbal bids to an
auctioneer.
Whilst conducting an auction in person (or any
other process of selling) does have some advantages, for
instance allowing the auctioneer to readily interact with
bidders in order to control the progress of the auction, it
does have a number of drawbacks. One such drawback is that
it generally excludes parties who, for one reason or the
other, are not able to attend the venue at which the
auction is being held. Therefore, to avoid excluding
parties who can not readily attend the venue it would be
advantageous if a mechanism was in place to enable parties
unable to attend the venue to submit bids, and to allow the
auctioneer to interact with such parties so that the
auctioneer can control the progress of the auction.
SUN.~lARY OF THE INVENTION
According to a first aspect of the present
invention there is provided a system for facilitating a
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transaction, the system comprising:
obtaining means operable to obtain information
pertaining to an object that is for sale;
forwarding means operable to forward the
information pertaining to the object to a first computing
device that is arranged to present the information to a
prospective purchaser; and
establishing means operable to establish a
communicating means associated with the first computing
device and a second computing device that is used by a
person managing a sale of the object, the communicating
means being such that it allows the prospective purchaser
and the person managing the sale to use the first computing
device and the second computing device, respectively, to
communicate with each other in relation to the sale of the
object, thereby facilitating the transaction.
Thus, in the case where the sale of the object is
being conducted by auction the present invention provides
the advantages of allowing the person managing the sale of
the object (for example, an auctioneer) to accept bids for
the object from parties who are unable to attend a venue at
which the auction is being held. Furthermore, the present
invention allows the person managing the sale to interact
with the parties unable to attend the venue, thereby
allowing the person managing the sale to control the
progress of the auction.
Preferably, the communicating means is operable
to assist the person managing the sale to conduct the sale
in accordance with an auction process or a tender process.
Thus, providing the person with assistance in
managing the sale provides the advantage of allowing the
person managing the sale to focus on interacting with the
crowd. By way of example, the communicating means provides
assistance by automatically presenting the prospective
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purchaser with information that indicates when the tender
process is due to close.
Preferable, the tender process comprises a closed
tender process or an open tender process.
As persons skilled in the art will readily
appreciate, a closed tender process is one in which persons
are unable to view submitted tenders until the deadline for
submitting offers has passed. In contrast to a closed
tender, an open tender is such that tender submission are
open for viewing before the deadline for submitting offers
has passed.
Preferably, the communicating means is operable
to restrict an ability of the prospective purchaser to
communicate with the person managing the sale based on
whether the prospective person is registered to participate
in the sale of the object.
Thus, being able to restrict the ability of the
prospective purchaser to communicate with the person
managing the sale provides the advantage of minimising the
likelihood of 'dummy' offers to purchase the object being
made.
Preferably, the communicating means is operable
to create a record of communication between the prospective
purchaser and the person managing the sale.
Thus, the record provides the advantage of
allowing the communication between the prospective
purchaser and the person managing the sale to be analysed.
Preferably, the communicating means is operable
to allow a party to use a third computing device to access
and edit the information pertaining to the sale.
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Thus, being able to edit the information
pertaining to the sale provides the advantage of allowing
the information to be updated if needed. For example, if
the information contained details regarding a final date
for receiving offers to purchase the object, the final date
can be changed if required.
Preferably, the obtaining means is operable to
obtain the information pertaining to the object from a
computer system via a first communication network.
Preferably, the obtaining means is operable to
determine whether it is authorised to receive from the
computer system the information pertaining to the object.
Thus, being able to determine whether it is
authorised to receive the information provides the
advantage of ensuring that only authorised information is
obtained by the system.
Preferably, the forwarding means is operable to
use a second communication network in order to forward the
information pertaining to the object to the first computing
device.
Preferably, the obtaining means is operable to
obtain additional information associated with an agency
engaged by an owner of the object to oversee the sale of
the object, whilst the forwarding means is operable to
forward the additional information to the first computing
device which is arranged to present the additional
3.nformation to the prospective purchaser.
Preferably, the information pertaining to the
sale comprises: an image of the object; details of the
sale; and/or a contract for the sale of the object.
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Preferably, the object comprises real estate.
According to a second aspect of the present
invention there is provided a method for facilitating a
transaction, the method comprising the steps of:
obtaining information pertaining to an object
that is for sale;
forwarding the information pertaining to the
object to a first computing device that is arranged to
present the information to a prospective purchaser; and
establishing a communicating means associated
with the first computing device and a second computing
device that is used by a person managing a sale of the
object, the communicating means being such that it allows
the prospective purchaser and the person managing the sale
to use the first computing device and the second computing
device, respectively, to communicate with each other in
relation to the sale of the object, thereby facilitating
the transaction.
Preferably, the communicating means is operable
to assist the person managing the sale to conduct the sale
in accordance with an auction process or a tender process.
Preferable, the tender process comprises a closed
tender process or an open tender process.
Preferably, the communicating means is operable
to restrict an ability of the prospective purchaser to
communicate with the person managing the sale based on
whether the prospective person is registered to participate
in the sale of the object.
Preferably, the communicating means is operable
to create a record of communication between the prospective
purchaser and the person managing the sale.
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Preferably, the communicating means is operable
to allow a party to use a third computing device to access
and edit the information pertaining to the object.
Preferably, the step of obtaining the information
pertaining to the object comprises obtaining the
information from a computer system via a first
communication network.
io
Preferably, the step of obtaining the information
pertaining to the object comprises determining whether the
information pertaining to the object is authorised to be
obtained.
Preferably, the step of forwarding the
information comprises using a second communication network
,in order to forward the information pertaining to the sale
to the first computing device.
Preferably, the method further comprises the step
of obtaining additional information associated with an
agency engaged by an owner of the object to oversee the
sale of the object, whilst the step of forwarding the
information comprises forwarding the additional information
to the first computing device which is arranged to present
the additional information to the prospective purchaser.
Preferably, the information pertaining to the
sale comprises: an image of the object; details of the
sale; and/or a contract for the sale of the object.
Preferably, the object comprises real estate.
According to a third aspect of the present
invention there is provided a computer program that
comprises at least one instruction for causing a computing
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device to carry out the method according to the second
aspect of the present invention.
According to a fourth aspect of the present
invention there is provided a computer readable medium
comprising the computer program according to the third
aspect of the present invention.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Notwithstanding any other embodiments that may
fall within the scope of the present invention, an
embodiment of the present invention will now be described,
by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying
figures, in which:
figure 1 provides a schematic diagram of a
computer system in accordance with the embodiment of the
present invention;
figure 2 provides a representation of software
used in the system shown in figure 1;
figure 3 shows a presentation template used in
the system of figure 1;
figure 4 shows a flow chart of an auction process
conducted using the system shown in figure 1; and
figure 5 shows a flow chart of steps performed by
persons using the system of figure 1.
AN EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION
Figure 1 illustrates a computer system 11 in
accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The
computer system 11 has particular application to facilitate
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the sale of real-estate 'on-line°, but as persons skilled
in the art will readily appreciate the computer system 11
has application to selling other objects such as. for
example, motor vehicles and/or boats.
The computer system 11 comprises a first computer
server 13 and a second computer server 15. The computer
servers 13 and 15 each include traditional computer
hardware such as a motherboard, a network interface, RAM, a
hard disk, and a power supply. The hard disk of each
computer server 13 and 15 is loaded with the Microsoft
Windows Server operating system.
The first computer server 13 is basically
arranged to operate as a web site for a particular real-
estate agent. To enable the computer server 13 to operate
as a web server the Internet Information Services (IIS)
feature of the Microsoft Windows Server operating system is
utilised.
The second computer server 15 is also arranged to
operate as a web server and also utilises the Internet
Information Services feature of the Microsoft windows
Server operating system. However, unlike the first computer
server 13 which acts as the web site for the real-estate
agent, the second computer server 15 does not act as a web
site for any real-estate agent. As described in more detail
in the subsequent paragraphs of this description, the
second computer server 15 effectively operates as a 'back-
end' web server that facilitates the on-line sale of real-
estate. In this regard, the second computer server 15 is
loaded with a software application that is executed to
support the on-line sale of real-estate. The software
application can be considered to be made up of a number of
software modules, which are depicted in figure 2.
In addition to the computer servers 13 and 15,
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the computer system 11 comprises a participant computer 17,
a subscriber computer 19, a mediator computer 21 and an
administrator computer 23. Each of the computers 17, 19, 21
and 23 comprise traditional computer hardware such as a
motherboard, a network interface, RAM, a hard disk, and a
power supply. Each of the hard disks for the computers 17,
19, 21 and 23 a.s loaded with the Microsoft Internet
Explorer web browser.
The computer system 11 also comprises a
communication network 25, which in the present embodiment
of the invention is in the form of the Internet. As persons
skilled in the art will readily appreciate, given that the
communication network 25 is in the form of the Internet the
communication network 25 comprises a plurality of
interconnected data switches (also known as routers) that
support the Internet Protocol (IP) data communication
standard.
The first and second computer servers 13 and 15
and the computers 17, 19, 21 and 23 are connected to the
communication network 25 and make use of the network 25 to
exchange data between each other. The first and second
computer servers 13 and 15 and the computers 17, 19, 21 and
23 are connected to the communication network 25 via their
network interface cards and data communication links 27,
which are electrically coupled to the network interface
cards and network access points (not shown in the figures)
of the communication network 25. The data communication
links 27 can be any one of a range of different forms
including, for example, a dial-up modem link, xDSL link or
ISDN link.
The computer system 11 is actually targeted to
real-estate agents rather than vendors of real-estate. The
computer system 11 is aimed at enabling real-estate agents
to conduct on-line sales without actually having to put in
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place their own computer system, which can be an expensive
exercise particularly for smaller real-estate agencies.
In order to make use of the computer system 11 to
sell real-estate on-line, a real-estate agent first needs
to become a registered user (subscriber) of the second
computer server 15. To become a registered user the real-
estate agent contacts an administrator of the second
computer server 15 and asks to become a registered user. In
this regard, it is envisaged that the real estate agent can
contact the administrator using various means including e-
mail or making personal contact with the administrator. In
response to the real-estate agent's request to become a
registered user, the administrator effectively establishes
an account on the second computer server 15 for the real-
estate agent. The second computer server 15 a.s such that
the administrator can remotely establish the account for
the real-estate agent using the administrator computer 23.
In order to establish the account for the real-
estate agent using the administrator computer 23, the
administrator uses the Internet Explorer web browser loaded
onto the administrator computer 23 to log onto the second
computer server 15. The second computer server 15 is such
that when the administrator initially logs onto the server
15 it causes the administrator computer 23 to display on
its monitor a dialog box prompting the administrator to
type in their username and password. Once the username and
password.have been typed into the dialog box the
administrator computer 23 submits the username and password
to the second computer server 15 for verification.
On receiving the username and password of the
administrator, the authentication module 29 of the software
application loaded onto the second computer server 15
processes the username and password to verify their
validity. Upon verifying the username and password as
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being valid, the second computer server 15 effectively
provides the administrator with access (via the
administrator computer 23) to the appropriate functionality
to set up the real-estate agent's account. In this regard
the user management module 31 of the software application
loaded on the second computer server 15 is basically
responsible for enabling the administrator to create an
account for the real-estate agent. More specifically, the
user management module 31 causes the second computer server
15 to dispense a web page to the administrator computer 23
that enables the administrator to enter in the various
details of the real-estate agent. These details include,
for example, the full name, address and telephone numbers
of the real-estate agent.
Once the administrator has created an account for
the real-estate agent the administrator provides the real-
estate agent with a username and password that can be used
by the real-estate agent to gain access to the second
computer server 15. The user management module 31 is such
that it enables the administration to nominate the username
and password for the real-estate agent.
In addition to allowing the real-estate agent to
facilitate the sale of real-estate on-line (which is
discussed in more detail in subsequent paragraphs of this
description), the software application loaded on the second
computer server 15 includes a property listing module 33
that essentially allows the real-estate agent to advertise
their real-estate on-line. In order to make use of this
property listing facility, the real-estate agent first
needs to log onto the second computer server 15. The real-
estate agent does this by using the Internet Explorer web
browser loaded on the subscriber computer 19. In response
to logging onto the second computer server 15, the
authentication module (previously discussed) causes a
dialog box to be displayed on the monitor of the subscriber
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computer 19. In response to the dialog box, the real-
estate agent types in the username and password that was
previously supplied by the administrator. Once the real-
estate's username and password have been entered into the
dialogue box, they are submitted to the second computer
server 15 (more specifically, the authentication module 29)
for verification. Assuming that the real-estate agent's
username and password are validated as being okay, the
property listings module 33 causes a web page to be
displayed on the subscriber computer 19. This web page
basically allows the real-estate agent to upload a data
file containing information about the real-estate that a.s
being offered for sale (that is, the real-estate agent's
property listings). The data file can, for example,
contain an image, an address and price of the real-estate
that is being offered for sale. The data file can also
contain details about the method that is going to be used
to facilitate the sale of the real-estate, for example,
auction closed tender, or open tender.
To effect the uploading of the data file to the
second computer server 15 (via the communication network
25) the subscriber computer 19 and the second computer
server 15 cooperate with each other using a file transfer
protocol (FTP), hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), or
secure hypertext transfer protocol (HTTPS). The second
computer server 15 is arranged to accept the data file
(that is, the real-estate agent's property listing) in a
format that accords with a comma separated values (CSV)
file format.
Once the second computer server 15 has received
the data file, it places the data file in a database (not
shown in the figures) and then issues a uniform resource
locater (URL) via the communication network 25 to the
subscriber computer 19. Essentially, the URL is the
Internet location of the data file submitted by the real-
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estate agent. The URL is designed to be incorporated into
the real-estate agent's web site, which as previously
discussed, runs on the first computer server 13. Thus, a
prospective purchaser can readily view the real-estate
which the agent has for sale by directing the Internet
Explorer web browser on the participant computer 17 to the
web server running on the first computer server 13, which
in turn will typically represent the URL as an icon of some
description on the computer monitor of the participant
computer 17 server 13. When the prospective purchaser
clicks on the URL, the real-estate agent's web server
running on the first computer server 13 will effectively
contact the second computer server 15 so as to cause the
data file (the real-estate agent's property listing) to be
forwarded, via the communications network 25, to the
Internet Explorer browser on the participant computer 17.
The Internet Explorer web browser on the participant
computer 17 is such that it will present the data file to
the prospective purchaser on a computer monitor for
viewing.
To ensure that the data file forwarded from the
second computer server 15 to the Internet Explorer web
browser on the participant computer 17 is associated with
the real-estate agent, the data file is presented by the
Internet Explorer web browser on the participant computer
17 to the prospective purchaser in a frame of the real-
estate agent's web site, which operates via the first
computer server 13. This conveys to the prospective
purchaser that the data file is that of the real-estate
agent's, and is not another real-estate agent's listing.
An example template of this presentation is shown in figure
3. It is noted that the data file (the real-estate agents
property listing) is in a hypertext mark-up language (HTML)
format so that it can be readily displayed in the Internet
Explorer web browser located on the participant computer
17 .
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The second computer server 15 is also arranged to
enable the real-estate agent to remotely log onto the
server 15 using the Internet Explorer web browser loaded on
the subscriber computer 19 to edit the data file (the
electronic property listing) that was uploaded to the
second server 15 from the participant computer 17. For
example, editing the data file can comprise changing
details of a price range of the real-estate. The ability to
edit the data file is provided by the property listings
module 33. To ensure that only the real-estate agent can
edit the data file, the authentication module 29 of the
software application of the second computer server 15
prompts the real estate agent to provide their username and
password before granting permission to edit the data file.
It is noted that in addition to forwarding the
data file via the communication network 25, the second
computer server 15 is arranged to forward, via the
communication network 25, legal paperwork (such as a
contract of sale) to the Internet Explorer web browser
loaded on the participant computer 17. This enables the
prospective purchaser to easily obtain and examine the
legal paperwork associated with the sale of the real-
estate. The legal paperwork is uploaded to the second
computer server 15 in the same manner as the electronic
listing; that is, from the subscriber computer 19 via the
communication network 25.
As mentioned previously, the computer system 11
can be used by the real-estate agent to sell real-estate
on-line. In this regard, the second computer server 15 is
arranged to establish a communicating means, which is
essentially in the form an electronic message board that
enables persons to post and exchange text based messages.
The communicating means is such that it can be used to
conduct the sale of the object in one of a number of
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different methods; for example, an auction, an open tender,
or a closed tender. The various steps involved in the
auction process are shown in the flow chart of figure 4.
The communicating means effectively enables the
prospective purchaser and a person managing the sale of the
real estate (which a.n the case of an auction is an
auctioneer) to communicate with each other regarding the
sale. The communicating means also enables other
prospective purchasers to communicate with the person
managing the sale of the real-estate. The communication
between the prospective purchaser and the person managing
the sale of the real-estate essentially consists of
bids/offers (to purchase the real-estate) made by the
prospective purchaser and response thereto by the person
managing the sale of the real-estate. As alluded to
previously the bids are made by the prospective purchaser
using the participant computer 17, whilst the responses
that the person managing the sale makes to the bids is done
via the mediator computer 21. The communication means
established by the second server computer 15 supports the
transfer of bids and responses thereto between the
participant computer 17 and the mediator computer 21.
More specifically, to enable the prospective
purchaser and the person managing the sale of the real-
estate to communicate with each other, the second computer
server 15 sends a Java application (via the communication
network 25) to the participant computer 17 and the mediator
computer 21. The participant computer 17 is used by the
prospective purchaser, whilst the mediator computer 21 is
used by the person managing the sale of the real-estate.
The Java application essentially effects the previously
mentioned electronic message board when executed by the
computers 17 and 21. As persons skilled in the art will
appreciate, the Java application can be executed on a range
of computer platforms and can therefore be used on
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different hardware platform without being re-compiled.
The communicating means is such that the
prospective purchaser can only use the communicating means
to interact (for example, place a bid) with the person
managing the sale of the real estate if they are registered
to participate in the sale of the real estate. The initial
steps of registering to participate in the sale of the
real-estate involves the prospective purchaser obtaining a
username and password in much the same way as the real
estate agent obtained their username and password from the
administrator of the second computer system 15. In this
regard, it is noted that the user management module 31
enables the prospective purchaser to be registered as a
participant user of the second computer server 15. The
authentication module 29 of the second computer server 15
is arranged to cause the participant computer 17 to prompt
the prospective purchaser for their username and password
before allowing the prospective purchaser to communicate
(for example, make a bid) with the person managing the sale
of the real-estate.. The prompt that the participant
computer 17 issues the prospective purchaser is in the form
of a dialog box. It is noted that the prompt is only issued
at the beginning of each session and is not issued each
time the prospective purchaser wishes to place a bid.
The person managing the sale of the real-estate
must also log onto the second computer server 15 in the
same manner as the prospective purchaser. In this regard
the second computer server 15 causes a dialog box to be
displayed on the computer monitor of the mediator computer
21, into which the person managing the sale of the real-
estate would enter their username and password. The
username and password of the person managing the sale of
the real-estate is previously allocated by the real-estate
or the administrator. Once the person managing the sale of
the real-estate has entered their username and password
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into the dialog box, the mediator computer 21 forwards there
onto the second computer server 15 for verification. Upon
the username and password being verified by the
authentication module 29, the second computer server 15
grants the person managing the sale with access to
participate in the sale of the real-estate.
To assist the person managing the sale, the
second computer server 15 provides various functions for
managing the sale of the real-estate. These functions are
provided by the auctions module 35 and the tenders module
37 of the software application running on the second
computer server 15. For example, where the real estate is
being sold by auction the auction module 35 may check the
validity of a bid before presenting it to the person
managing the sale. If, for instance, the bid is lower than
the highest bid to date the auction module 35 can
automatically reject the bid without presenting it the
person managing the sale, and notify the prospective
purchaser that their bid is invalid. Another function tha t
the auction module 35 provides is, for example, allowing
the person managing the sale of the real-estate to halt th_e
auction process. In this regard the auction module 35
interacts with the participant computer 17 to prevent the
prospective purchaser from using the participant computer
17 to submit further bids.
As can be seen in figure 2, the software
application loaded on the second computer server 15 also
comprises a business reports module 39 for creating
different reports about activity within the second computer
server 15. The various reports generated by the business
reports module 39 include, for example, a record of the
interaction (e.g. bids and responses thereto) between the
prospective purchaser and the person managing the sale of
the real-estate. Consequently, the business reports module
39 is arranged to track activity involving the second
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computer server 15.
As can be seen from figure 2 the software
application on the second computer server Z5 also comprises
a notifications module 41 and a site admire module 43. In
regard to the notifications module 41, this module is
arranged to allow various system notifications to be
managed. For example, the real-estate agent managing the
sale of the real-estate can make use of notification module
41 to issue the prospective purchase that an. auction or
tender is about to start. The notifications that the
notifications module 41 issues can be sent via a variety of
means such as, for example, e-mail or web massage. The
site admire module 43 enables the administrator to perform
general admire function on the second computer server 15
including, for example, editing and deleting of data files.
In some jurisdictions, it is a legal requirement
for prospective purchasers to prove their identity by, for
example, presenting a driver's licence and passport. It is
envisaged that the second computer server 15 could be
capable of receiving, via the communication network 25,
certified electronic copies of the prospective purchasers
driver's licence, passport and like documentation for
further processing to confirm the prospective purchaser's
identity.
Figure 5 provides a flow chart of various steps
performed by persons using the computer system 11 when
selling real-estate.
Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the
invention described herein is susceptible to variations and
modifications other than those specifically described. It
should be understood that the invention includes all such
variations and modifications which fall Within the spirit
and scope of the invention.
