Article trading process

Abstract

Articles such as compact discs are traded among a plurality of members who are registered in a common community. Each member has an account including a trading credit balance and a mailing address. A user interface is provided that allows a member to enter articles that the member owns and is willing to trade and articles that the member wants to own. The user interface also receives article trading instruction messages. An administration computer hosts the plurality of members and facilitates article trades among the members. The administration computer identifies matches between owned and wanted articles. For each identified match, an article trading instruction message is sent to the article owner requesting that the article owner mail the owned article to the mailing address of the member who wants to own the article. If the member sends the article, a trading credit is posted to the member's account and a trading debit and a monetary charge is posted to the member's account who will be receiving the article. Each traded article has the same trading credit. A priority algorithm is used to select the member who will receive the article if there is more than one member who wants an article that another member owns and is willing to trade. The priority algorithm is based in part on a member score that is a function of the relative value of the articles that a member owns and sends to another member compared to the relative value of the articles that the member wants and receives from another member, the relative value of the articles being determined by a demand for the article compared to a supply for the article among the members. A portion of the monetary charge is placed in a pool for distribution to the content creator of the article.

1 - 102 . (canceled) 
     
     
         103 . A computer-implemented method comprising:
 providing a user interface, the user interface allowing members to enter music interest search data, the music interest search data being articles containing music recordings or properties of articles containing music recordings;   receiving music interest search data associated with a member, comprising:
 (i) music recordings that each member listens to, 
 (ii) articles containing music recordings that each member owns, and 
 (iii) articles containing music recordings that each member wants to own; 
   applying a similarity algorithm to at least some of the music interest data to determine how similar the entered music interest search data is to the music interests of other members; and   displaying to a member via the user interface the identities of a predetermined number of other members who are determined to have similar music interests as the member's entered music interest search data.   
     
     
         104 . The method of  claim 103 , wherein similar music interest search data is determined by a numerical representation of the similarity based on a distance function, and wherein the user interface displays the numerical representation for each of the members having similar music interest search data. 
     
     
         105 . The method of  claim 103 , wherein the similarity algorithm comprise at least one function from the group consisting of: cardinal distance functions, distance functions taking into account the number of music recordings associated with the member and the average number of music recordings associated with other members, Kullback Liebler Distance functions; and functions taking into account the member's most recent searches of music recordings. 
     
     
         106 . The method of  claim 103 , wherein the displayed members having similar music interest search data are displayed in descending order of similarity. 
     
     
         107 . The method of  claim 103 , further comprising:
 allowing members to trade music recordings with each other.   
     
     
         108 . A system for searching for members having similar member interest search data, the system comprising:
 a processor;   a module configured to control the processor to provide a user interface, the user interface allowing members to enter music interest search data, the music interest search data being articles containing music recordings or properties of articles containing music recordings;   a module configured to control the processor to receive music interest search data associated with a member, comprising:
 (i) music recordings that each member listens to, 
 (ii) articles containing music recordings that each member owns, and 
 (iii) articles containing music recordings that each member wants to own; 
   a module configured to control the processor to apply a similarity algorithm to at least some of the music interest data to determine how similar the entered music interest search data is to the music interests of other members; and   a module configured to control the processor to display to a member via the user interface the identities of a predetermined number of other members who are determined to have similar music interests as the member's entered music interest search data.   
     
     
         109 . The system of  claim 108 , wherein similar music interest search data is determined by a numerical representation of the similarity based on a distance function, and wherein the user interface displays the numerical representation for each of the members having similar music interest search data. 
     
     
         110 . The system of  claim 108 , wherein the similarity algorithm comprise at least one function from the group consisting of: cardinal distance functions, distance functions taking into account the number of music recordings associated with the member and the average number of music recordings associated with other members, Kullback Liebler Distance functions; and functions taking into account the member's most recent searches of music recordings. 
     
     
         111 . The system of  claim 108 , wherein the displayed members having similar music interest search data are displayed in descending order of similarity. 
     
     
         112 . The system of  claim 108 , further comprising:
 a module configured to control the processor to allow members to trade music recordings with each other.   
     
     
         113 . A computer-implemented method comprising:
 providing a user interface that allows members to enter article interest search data, the article interest search data being articles or properties of articles;   receiving article interest search data entered by a member, the article interest data of members including:
 (i) articles that each member owns, 
 (ii) articles that each member wants to own, 
 (iii) articles that each member is interested in; 
   applying a similarity algorithm to at least some of the article interest data to determine how similar the entered article interest search data is to the article interest data of other members; and   displaying to a member via the user interface the identities of a predetermined number of other members who are determined to have similar article interests as the member's entered article interest search data.   
     
     
         114 . The method of  claim 113 , wherein similar article interest search data is determined by a numerical representation of the similarity based on a distance function, and wherein the user interface displays the numerical representation for each of the members having similar article interest search data. 
     
     
         115 . The method of  claim 113 , wherein the similarity algorithm comprise at least one function from the group consisting of: cardinal distance functions, distance functions taking into account the number of articles associated with the member and the average number of articles associated with other members, Kullback Liebler Distance functions; and functions taking into account the member's most recent searches of articles. 
     
     
         116 . The method of  claim 113 , wherein the displayed members having similar article interest search data are displayed in descending order of similarity. 
     
     
         117 . The method of  claim 113 , wherein the article information search data comprise information relating to at least one item from the group consisting of: electronic sound recordings, electronic data files, electronic books, compact discs, computer readable media, online access rights, and computer-executable programs. 
     
     
         118 . The method of  claim 113 , further comprising:
 allowing members to trade music recordings with each other.   
     
     
         119 . A system for searching for members having similar member interest search data, the system comprising:
 a processor;   a module configured to control the processor to provide a user interface that allows members to enter article interest search data, the article interest search data being articles or properties of articles;   a module configured to control the processor to receive article interest search data entered by a member, the article interest data of members including:
 (i) articles that each member owns, 
 (ii) articles that each member wants to own, 
 (iii) articles that each member is interested in; 
   a module configured to control the processor to apply a similarity algorithm to at least some of the article interest data to determine how similar the entered article interest search data is to the article interest data of other members; and   a module configured to control the processor to display to a member via the user interface the identities of a predetermined number of other members who are determined to have similar article interests as the member's entered article interest search data.   
     
     
         120 . The system of  claim 119 , wherein the similarity algorithm comprise at least one function from the group consisting of: cardinal distance functions, distance functions taking into account the number of articles associated with the member and the average number of articles associated with other members, Kullback Liebler Distance functions; and functions taking into account the member's most recent searches of articles. 
     
     
         121 . The system of  claim 119 , wherein the displayed members having similar article interest search data are displayed in descending order of similarity. 
     
     
         122 . The system of  claim 119 , wherein the article information search data comprise information relating to at least one item from the group consisting of: electronic sound recordings, electronic data files, electronic books, compact discs, computer readable media, online access rights, and computer-executable programs.