System and method for fuel price-protection

Abstract

A fuel-price protection mechanism whereby customers may pre-purchase quantity-based amounts of fuel and retrieve said fuel at any participating fuel retailer. The quantity-based amounts of fuel are represented in the customer's account as a quantity-based fuel credit. The fuel credits may be redeemed at a participating fuel retailer to obtain fuel. The fuel credits are associated with a customer's home geographical region or a customer's selected price class. A conversion mechanism will allow the customer to redeem fuel credits in a different geographical region or price class. Redemption within the home region or the customer selected price class can occur without conversion.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system for maintaining a price-centric-classification of point-of-sale prices, comprising:
 a storage system configured to store a first collection of records, each record comprising a price-centric class identifier, a price range segment and a time point; and   a processor configured to determine a price range based on point-of-sale pricing information, to divide the price range into a plurality of price range segments according to a predetermined number of price-centric class identifiers, and to add a record to the first collection of records holding the predetermined number of price-centric class identifiers constant over a plurality of time points.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein each of the first collection of records comprises a minimum and a maximum value to define the price range segment. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein each of the first collection of records comprises a posted price to define the price range segment. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 3 , wherein the posted price is a minimum price, a maximum price, an average price, a median price, or a modal price. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 3 , wherein the processor is configured to determine a ratio for conversion from a first price-centric class identifier to a second price-centric class identifier, the ratio based on a first posted price of the first price-centric class identifier and a second posted price of the second price-centric class identifier, both the first and second posted prices associated with the same time point. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising an interface device configured to receive the point-of-sale pricing information over a network, the pricing information comprising point-of-sale transaction prices. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to determine whether the predetermined number of price-centric class identifiers should be held constant or changed by comparing price ranges from at least two different time points. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising a second collection of records each record comprising a point-of-sale identifier, a point-of-sale price, and a time point. 
     
     
         9 . A method for maintaining a price-centric-classification of point-of-sale prices, comprising:
 storing a first collection of records in a storage system each record comprising a price-centric class identifier, a price range segment and a time point;   determining a price range based on point-of-sale pricing information;   dividing the price range into a plurality of price range segments according to a predetermined number of price-centric class identifiers; and   adding a record to the first collection of records holding the predetermined number of price-centric class identifiers constant over a plurality of time points.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein each of the first collection of records comprises a minimum and a maximum value to define the price range segment. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein each of the first collection of records comprises a posted price to define the price range segment. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the posted price is a minimum price, a maximum price, an average price, a median price, or a modal price. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising determining a ratio for conversion from a first price-centric class identifier to a second price-centric class identifier, the ratio based on a first posted price of the first price-centric class identifier and a second posted price of the second price-centric class identifier, both the first and second posted prices associated with the same time point. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising receiving the point-of-sale pricing information over a network using an interface device, the pricing information comprising point-of-sale transaction prices. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising determining whether the predetermined number of price-centric class identifiers should be held constant or changed by comparing price ranges from at least two different time points. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising storing a second collection of records each record comprising a point-of-sale identifier, a point-of-sale price and a time point. 
     
     
         17 . A computer readable medium embodying a computer program for maintaining a price-centric-classification of point-of-sale prices, comprising:
 computer program code for storing a first collection of records in a storage system each record comprising a price-centric class identifier, a price range segment and a time point;   computer program code for determining a price range based on point-of-sale pricing information;   computer program code for dividing the price range into a plurality of price range segments according to a predetermined number of price-centric class identifiers; and   computer program code for adding a record to the first collection of records holding the predetermined number of price-centric class identifiers constant over a plurality of time points.   
     
     
         18 . The computer readable medium of  claim 17 , wherein each of the first collection of records comprises a minimum and a maximum value to define the price range segment. 
     
     
         19 . The computer readable medium of  claim 17 , wherein each of the first collection of records comprises a posted price to define the price range segment. 
     
     
         20 . The computer readable medium of  claim 19 , wherein the posted price is a minimum price, a maximum price, an average price, a median price, or a modal price. 
     
     
         21 . The computer readable medium of  claim 19 , further comprising computer program code for determining a ratio for conversion from a first price-centric class identifier to a second price-centric class identifier, the ratio based on a first posted price of the first price-centric class identifier and a second posted price of the second price-centric class identifier, both the first and second posted prices associated with the same time point. 
     
     
         22 . The computer readable medium of  claim 17 , further comprising computer program code for receiving the point-of-sale pricing information over a network using an interface device, the pricing information comprising point-of-sale transaction prices. 
     
     
         23 . The computer readable medium of  claim 17 , further comprising computer program code for determining whether the predetermined number of price-centric class identifiers should be held constant or changed by comparing price ranges from at least two different time points. 
     
     
         24 . The computer readable medium of  claim 17 , further comprising computer program code for storing a second collection of records each record comprising a point-of-sale identifier, a price, and a time point.