Data processing: financial – business practice – management – or co – Automated electrical financial or business practice or... – Discount or incentive
Reexamination Certificate
1998-03-26
2001-10-02
Voeltz, Emanuel Todd (Department: 2761)
Data processing: financial, business practice, management, or co
Automated electrical financial or business practice or...
Discount or incentive
C705S001100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06298328
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND—OBJECTS AND ADVANTAGES
This invention relates to an apparatus, method, and system for sizing markets for products or services. It applies engineering rigor to market analysis in order to satisfy a need to produce consistent, reliable, refinable localized market data. The system allocates, tracks, and forecasts market data by product, geographic area, market segment, provider, and time period, in a way consistent with accepted regional market sizes (generally national, international, or worldwide). The system provides a means of quickly and consistently allocating regional markets to subregions and computing total industry size in terms of revenues.
The system is particularly useful for (but not limited to) large worldwide industries, and especially industries experiencing deregulation, such as the telecommunications and energy industries. In this environment, infrastructure, product development, and marketing costs are so high that local market data is critical to making such investments. The system facilitates sound decisions and strategies by providing localized data. Thinking globally and acting locally requires local market intelligence.
The system has many objects and advantages. It provides a tool for individuals analyzing rapidly changing industries and product mixes. It provides a repository (database) for important industry information and enables near real-time adjustments based on current market conditions. It provides a framework for tracking dynamic markets and a means to allocate those markets in useful and novel ways. It preserves the integrity of accepted regional market sizes while providing previously unavailable subregional market sizes. It allows any number of market factors to be used in the allocation of product markets. It provides for qualitative and quantitative inputs from industry analysts or other experts knowledgeable in the particular market dynamics of the industry and the product being processed. It allows the computed data to be refined with external data in a manner that improves accuracy while maintaining data consistency. It also provides flexibility in data output methods.
Further objects and advantages will become apparent from a consideration of the ensuing description and accompanying drawings.
SUMMARY
The invention relates to an apparatus, method, and system that satisfies the need to produce consistent, reliable, refinable localized market data. A system having features of the invention uses a computer for sizing markets. In one aspect of the system, a market is sized for a subregion of a region by allocating a portion of the regional market size to the subregion. This involves inputting a market size for the region, determining a rated buying population for the subregion, determining a rated buying population for the region, and dividing the rated buying population for the subregion by the rated buying population for the region, resulting in a market allocation fraction. The market allocation fraction is multiplied by the market size for the region, resulting in a market size for the subregion.
In another aspect, the determination of the rated buying population for the subregion involves determining a rated buying population for each market factor in a set of one or more market factors, and summing all of the rated buying populations for the set of market factors.
In another aspect, the determination of the rated buying population for a market factor involves determining a rated buying population for each category in a set of categories for the market factor, and summing all of the rated buying populations for the set of categories.
In another aspect, the determination of the rated buying population for a category involves inputting a population for the category and a propensity-to-buy rating for the category, and multiplying the population for the category by the propensity-to-buy rating for the category.
In another aspect, the determination of the rated buying population for a market factor involves weighting the rated buying population for the market factor by multiplying by a weighting coefficient.
In another aspect, the determination of the rated buying population for a subregion involves weighting the rated buying population for the subregion by multiplying by a weighting coefficient.
In another aspect, the determination of the rated buying population for the region involves determining a rated buying population for each subregion in a set of mutually exclusive subregions that together include all of the region, and summing all of the rated buying populations for the set of mutually exclusive subregions.
In another aspect, market sizes for a set of one or more subregions are summed, and the sum is subtracted from the regional market size, resulting in a remaining market size for allocation. A portion of the remaining market size for a allocation is allocated to a subregion not included in that set of subregions by determining a rated buying population for the subregion, determining a rated buying population for the portion of the region not included in that set of subregions, and dividing the rated buying population for the subregion by the rated buying population for the portion of the region not included in that set of subregions, resulting in a market allocation fraction. The market allocation fraction is multiplied by the remaining market size for allocation, resulting in a market size for the subregion.
In another aspect, the determination of the rated buying population for the portion of the region not included in the set of subregions involves determining a rated buying population for each subregion in the region which is not included in the set of subregions, and summing the rated buying populations for those subregions.
In another aspect, the system creates a database of market size data for a set of one or more subregions of a region.
In another aspect, an apparatus is provided having means for performing one or more of the processes described above.
In another aspect, a program storage device, readable by a machine, contains a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform one or more of the processes described above.
In another aspect, an article having a computer-usable medium has computer-readable program code embodied in the medium for performing one or more of the processes described above.
These and other features and aspects of the system will become better understood with reference to the following description, accompanying drawings, and appended claims.
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Dunn Gregory T.
Healy Eileen M.
Hayes John W.
Leflar John R.
Telecompetition, Inc.
Todd Voeltz Emanuel
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