Access to guest accounts in electronic commerce

• US 10,013,712 B2
• Filed: 05/02/2014
• Issued: 07/03/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/28/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Dugaw, John Ingram Baker, McIlwain, Sarah, Ferry, Bruce K., Sell, Julian
• Primary Examiner(s): Crawley, Talia F
• Assistant Examiner(s): CRAWLEY, TALIA F
• Application Number:
  US14/268,203
• Publication Number:
  US 20140244434A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,523 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing

Abstract

Disclosed are various embodiments involving access to guest orders in an electronic commerce application. In one embodiment, a request to access a guest account is obtained from a client. The request specifies a destination network address and an order identifier. A message is sent to the destination network address in response to verifying that the destination network address and the order identifier are associated with the guest account. The message includes a link that facilitates access to an order management function for the guest account.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing specific instructions that, when executed, cause at least one computing device to at least:

generate a guest order for a purchase of an item based at least in part on interaction with another computing device;

generate a network page facilitating an input of a destination network address and an identifier of the guest order;

send the network page to the other computing device;

send a message to the destination network address in response to receiving the destination network address and the identifier of the guest order from the other computing device;

authenticate the other computing device based at least in part on a manipulation of a link in the message via the other computing device; and

provide the authenticated other computing device with access to guest order data associated with the guest order to facilitate at least one customer action with respect to the guest order.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the guest order data is stored in isolation with respect to a plurality of user accounts stored in a data store.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the guest order data is stored in isolation with respect to order data corresponding to a plurality of other guest orders stored in a data store.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the specific instructions, when executed, further cause the at least one computing device to at least verify that the link was manipulated within a predefined time period.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the specific instructions, when executed, further cause the at least one computing device to at least:

generate a confirmation user interface configured to elicit the identifier of the guest order;

send data encoding the confirmation user interface to the other computing device in response to the manipulation of the link; and

authenticate the other computing device in response to receiving the identifier of the guest order from the other computing device via the confirmation user interface.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 5, wherein the specific instructions, when executed, further cause the at least one computing device to at least verify that the identifier of the guest order was received from the other computing device via the confirmation user interface within a predefined time period.

7. A system comprising:

a data store configured to store guest order data; and

at least one computing device in communication with the data store, the at least one computing device configured to at least;

generate a network page facilitating an input of a request to access a guest account;

send the network page to another computing device;

receive the request to access the guest account from the other computing device, the request specifying a destination network address and an order identifier; and

send a message to the destination network address in response to verifying that the destination network address and the order identifier are associated with the guest account, the message including a link that facilitates access to at least one order management function for the guest account.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the at least one order management function includes at least one of cancelling an order associated with the guest account or making a change to the order.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the at least one order management function includes making a change to an order and wherein the at least one computing device is further configured to at least reject the change to the order in response to determining that the change would increase an order price of the order.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the guest account is unassociated with a password.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the guest account is associated with a single order corresponding to the order identifier.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein the link is valid for a predefined time period.

13. The system of claim 7, wherein the at least one computing device is further configured to at least send data encoding a confirmation user interface to the other computing device in response to a manipulation of the link at the other computing device, the confirmation user interface eliciting the order identifier.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the at least one computing device is further configured to at least maintain a validity timer associated with the confirmation user interface, the validity timer indicating a time period for which a response via the confirmation user interface is valid.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the at least one computing device is further configured to at least send data encoding an order management user interface to the other computing device in response to receiving the order identifier from the other computing device via the confirmation user interface, the order management user interface including at least one component configured to perform the at least one order management function.

16. A computer-implemented method comprising:

sending, via at least one computing device, data encoding an input interface to another computing device, the input interface facilitating an input of a guest order access request;

receiving, via the at least one computing device, the guest order access request from the other computing device, the guest order access request specifying an order identifier and a destination network address;

verifying, via the at least one computing device, that the order identifier and the destination network address are associated with a guest order;

in response to verifying that the order identifier and the destination network address are associated with the guest order, sending, via the at least one computing device, a message to the destination network address, the message specifying a link configured to request a confirmation user interface;

sending, via the at least one computing device, data encoding the confirmation user interface to the other computing device in response to a manipulation of the link via the other computing device; and

authenticating, via the at least one computing device, the other computing device for management of the guest order in response to receiving the order identifier via the confirmation user interface.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 16, further comprising in response to authenticating the other computing device for management of the guest order, sending, via the at least one computing device, data encoding a guest order management user interface to the other computing device, the guest order management user interface configured to present information summarizing the guest order.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 16, wherein the guest order is stored in a data store in isolation from a plurality of other guest orders stored in the data store.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 18, wherein the guest order and at least one other guest order of the plurality of other guest orders were generated by a single purchaser.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 16, further comprising:

receiving, via the at least one computing device, an order modification request from the other computing device after the other computing device is authenticated for management of the guest order;

determining, via the at least one computing device, whether implementation of the order modification request would increase an order price of the guest order beyond an original order price; and

rejecting, via the at least one computing device, the order modification request when the implementation of the order modification request would increase the order price of the guest order beyond the original order price.