95 results about "Price reduction" patented technology

A method and apparatus determines whether a wireless apparatus (106a) that is operative to communicate over both a wireless wide area network (104) and a wireless local area network (102), will allow shared use of its short range wireless resources, such as LAN radio frequency bandwidth, optical bandwidth or other local area wireless resources, with other proximal wireless units (106b-106n) in the wireless local area network (102). In addition, the method and apparatus generated reward data (116) to provide a reward, such as free telephone calls, account credits, price reductions, or other rewards, so that a billing system is updated when a wireless apparatus (106a-106n) has been designated as allowing shared use of its wireless resources by other proximal wireless units.

A system, method and program product are provided for planning sales of one or more products or services. The method comprises selecting a markdown profile associated with the one or more products or services, selecting a sales pattern associated with the markdown profile, and distributing sales of the one or more products or services using the markdown profile and sales pattern.

A pre-form and a method of preparing pre-forms are provided. The pre-forms comprise a resin and at least three layers of oriented fibre tows. The pre-forms comprise fibre tows instead of the traditional prepregs to enhance rearranging of resin and / or fibres during subsequent processing as well as provide greater freedom, a price reduction and / or a reduction of waste. The pre-forms may be formed three-dimensionally to enhance coupling to further pre-forms or other structures and / or to enhance shaping of the pre-form to a final three-dimensional shape. The method of preparation of pre-forms involves providing an adhesive between layers of fibres and providing a resin in contact with at least one of the layers of fibres. The resin is preferably provided in a non-continuous layer to allow for removal of gas at least partially in a direction orthogonal to the layers of resin. Advantageously, during manufacturing, the fibres are placed with an exact start and ending location, thereby avoiding waste. The pre-forms are suitable for preparation of composite structures like for example spars for wind turbine blades.

A pre-form and a method of preparing pre-forms are provided. The pre-forms comprise a resin and at least two layers of oriented fibre tows. The pre-forms comprise fibre tows instead of the traditional prepregs to enhance rearranging of resin and / or fibres during subsequent processing as well as provide greater freedom, a price reduction and / or a reduction of waste. The pre-forms may be formed three-dimensionally to enhance coupling to further pre-forms or other structures and / or to enhance shaping of the pre-form to a final three-dimensional shape. The method of preparation of pre-forms involves providing an adhesive between layers of fibres and providing a resin in contact with at least one of the layers of fibres. The resin is preferably provided in a non-continuous layer to allow for removal of gas at least partially in a direction orthogonal to the layers of resin. Advantageously, during manufacturing, the fibres are placed with an exact start and ending location, thereby avoiding waste. The pre-forms are suitable for preparation of composite structures like for example spars for wind turbine blades.

Embodiments of the invention are directed to group aggregation leveraging methods and systems for consumers to buy products from a broker. The broker offers a product to consumers for a first fixed price for a predetermined time period. Once a predetermined number of consumers commit to purchasing the product (i.e., reach a threshold), the consumers receive the same product at a second fixed price wherein the second fixed price is less than the first fixed price. Once the threshold is met, each committed consumer receives an alert from the broker that the consumer will receive the same product at the new reduced price (second fixed price). This process is repeated until the predetermined time period expires or inventory of the product is depleted. Consumers may leverage their collective group buying power by communicating to others that the product is available for the predetermined time period through social media or any other suitable means.

Method and apparatus for facilitating a sales transaction between one or more sellers and potential buyers in relation to large numbers of similar units. A seller offers the units to buyers, starting at an initial price. The potential buyers make offers to buy a given number of units at that price. The price is incrementally reduced, with buyers being given the opportunity to bid with each reduction. In other embodiments, the buyer makes an offer to multiple sellers at a given price, specifying the number of units the buyer wants. Sellers offer to fulfil some or the entire offer, and the buyer subsequently reduces the price and makes additional offers until the buyer's requirements are met.

An object of the present invention is to provide a light diffusion sheet having a favorable cost reduction capability due to excellent scratching preventive property of the front face, and having in addition thereto, a favorable directional light diffusion function, transmittivity of rays of light, and a thin film character; and a backlight unit capable of promoting performances such as luminance as well as price reduction, and thin and light modeling capability. The light diffusion sheet of the present invention has a light diffusion sheet including a transparent substrate layer, and a light diffusion layer overlaid on the front face side of the substrate layer, wherein the light diffusion layer has resin beads and a resin binder, characterized in that the light diffusion layer has protruding parts having a shape of a partial spherical body on the front face in a scattering manner. It is preferred that mean height of the protruding parts be 1 mum or greater and 10 mum or less, mean diameter of the protruding parts be 4 mum or greater and 18mum or less, mean occupancy rate of the protruding parts be 2% or greater and 20% or less, and surface roughness (Ra) of the light diffusion layer be 1.5 mum or greater and 10 mum or less. As the beads, small monodisperse beads as a principal component, and large beads as a sub component may be included.

A business method prompts users of electronic payment cards and automatically adjusts automobile fuel pricing based upon the number of passengers in a vehicle at a refueling station. When the driver stops to refuel the vehicle, the system prompts the driver to insert a payment card to pay for the fuel. If there are other passengers in the vehicle, they too are prompted to insert their cards to indicate that they are riding with the driver. The system is provided with numerous protocols for ensuring that the system is not inappropriately circumvented. For example, the system can verify that the additional cards are not from other patrons at the same service center, or that the additional cards are not from other family members of the purchasing card holder. After all cards have been read and verified, the reduced price of the fuel is displayed and the fuel is dispensed.

A product sampling system including a sample code associated with a product sample, and a plurality of sample units provided to a retail location at no cost to the retail location, each sample unit including an indicia indicative of the sample code. The system further includes a database including identification data associated with loyalty members, software for reading the indicia from the sample units at the retail location and debiting a sample price associated with the sample units, and software for indentifying one or more consumers presenting the sample units at the retail location as being loyalty members based on the identification data. The system further includes software for crediting a price reduction equal to the sample price to each consumer identified as being a loyalty member, and for crediting the sample price to the retail location for each of the consumers not identified as being a loyalty member.

The invention discloses a commodity price tag number identification method which includes to-be-identified number positioning, to-be-identified number preprocessing, to-be-identified number cutting and pattern identification. The identification method includes the following specific steps: inputting commodity price tag image number information; to-be-identified number positioning: identifying thespecification, barcode, original price, current price and price reduction period of a commodity, and determining the position of a to-be-identified number area through template matching; to-be-identified number preprocessing: in view of uneven illumination on the price tag of the commodity, acquiring a minimum rectangle through adaptive local binarization or expansion corrosion morphological operation; to-be-identified number cutting: cutting the price tag number into single characters through a vertical projection method; and pattern identification, including fingerprint feature identification and number jump feature identification: extracting template number features, comparing the template number features with number cutting features, outputting the result if the output results are thesame, otherwise, outputting the result after multiple tests.

The present invention relates to a terminal device for an electronic apparatus, which includes an external lead out rod having a convex side part on the center; an insulation terminal seat consists of an outer insulation terminal seat and an inner insulation terminal seat, wherein one has a concave part and the other has a convex part and the two parts forms a concavo-convex part, and a counter boring for preventing the external lead out rod from rotating is formed on the outer insulation terminal seat; a casing of a through hole that the convex part of the insulation terminal seat goes into the outer terminal seat to prevent rotating; a fixing mechanism for fixing the external lead out rod on the casing through said insulation terminal seat; a concavo-convex part sets an inner terminal seat and an outer terminal seat in and out of the through hole of the casing. The terminal device is satisfactory in rotation preventing function to the rotational torque at a terminal part and is satisfactory in setup work by preventing deterioration of the functions of the terminal part, caused by human error and by making it into a structurally simple constitution, and is high in operability, and is capable of price reduction, too.

A new internet trading method, concept and process is introduced, enabling users to post goods and services for sale and purchasing, whereby the posted price begins at its maximum, and thereafter is gradually reduced to a minimum, pre-selected price, based on pre-programmed methods and programs, according to a pre-selected schedule of price reduction based on frequencies and sequences of amounts of time, money and percentage, respectively.The new process provides sets of pre-programmed price reduction schedules which may be prepared by the seller, or selected from a pool of sets, or randomly selected from the system, thereby, at every certain amount of pre-selected times, the maximum price of such goods or services is reduced by certain amount of money, or percentage, respectively to the maximum price initially posted during the duration of the sale, enabling a prospective buyer to ‘grab’ (purchase) the item by placing an offer at any given time, for the posted price at that time, thereby instantly purchasing the product or service, thus also, instantly, ending the sale.

Provided are a two-dimensional planar photonic crystal superprism device and a method of manufacturing the same, in which a manufacturing process is simplified using a nanoimprint lithography technique, and thus price-reduction and mass production are facilitated. The two-dimensional planar photonic crystal superprism device includes: a single-mode input waveguide comprising a straight waveguide having a taper structure and a bending waveguide; a superprism formed on an output end side of the single-mode input waveguide and comprising a slab and a photonic crystal superprism; and a single-mode output waveguide comprising a straight waveguide having a taper structure and a bending waveguide, and formed adjacent to the photonic crystal superprism. Using the two-dimensional planar photonic crystal superprism device, it is possible to facilitate manufacturing of nano-photonic integrated circuits, photonic crystal integrated circuits and nano-photonic systems. In addition, a wavelength-selectable photonic crystal superprism device using high dispersion of photonic crystal, which is several hundred times the dispersion of conventional glass prism, can be manufactured using thermal / hot and ultraviolet nanoimprint lithography techniques corresponding to nano-manufacturing technology.

A new internet trading method, concept and process is introduced, enabling users to post goods and services for sale and purchasing, whereby the posted price begins at its maximum, and thereafter is gradually reduced to a minimum, pre-selected price, based on pre-programmed methods and programs, according to a pre-selected schedule of price reduction based on frequencies and sequences of amounts of time, money and percentage, respectively.The new process provides sets of pre-programmed price reduction schedules which may be prepared by the seller, or selected from a pool of sets, or randomly selected from the system, thereby, at every certain amount of pre-selected times, the maximum price of such goods or services is reduced by certain amount of money, or percentage, respectively to the maximum price initially posted during the duration of the sale, enabling a prospective buyer to ‘grab’ (purchase) the item by placing an offer at any given time, for the posted price at that time, thereby instantly purchasing the product or service, thus also, instantly, ending the sale.