Mirroring a storefront to a social media site

• US 10,229,414 B2
• Filed: 06/23/2014
• Issued: 03/12/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/25/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Block, Inc. (f/k/a Square, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Block, Inc. (f/k/a Square, Inc.)
• Inventors: Varma, Ajit Kalidindi, Robinson, Joseph Loree, Reiss, Jesse, Lin, Andrew
• Primary Examiner(s): Brandenburg, William A
• Assistant Examiner(s): Shorter, Rashida R
• Application Number:
  US14/312,433
• Publication Number:
  US 20140379497A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,723 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/202 Interconnection or interaction of plural electronic cash registers [ECR] or to host computer, e.g. network details, transfer of information from host to ECR or from ECR to ECR
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/384 using social networks
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/386 using messaging services or messaging apps using mobile network messaging services for payment, e.g. SMS G06Q20/3255
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/4016 involving fraud or risk level assessment in transaction processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/409 Device specific authentication in transaction processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions

Abstract

Method, systems, and apparatus for mirroring a storefront to a social media site. A social media interface system mirrors an online or offline storefront of a merchant to an account of the merchant on a social media site. The system receives a copy of an electronic message from a user device of the merchant. The system parses the copy of the message and determines that the message is related to the item and related to an online store or physical store of the merchant. The system then inserts a tag into the copy of the message, the tag linking the message to an online storefront of the online store or an offline storefront of the physical store. The system posts the copy of the message, including the tag, in the account of the merchant on a social media site.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by an inventory management system associated with a payment processing service, and from a merchant computer associated with a merchant, a first electronic message for updating an inventory of items for sale at a physical store of the merchant or an online store of the merchant;

receiving, by a social media interface system associated with the payment processing service, and from the merchant computer associated with the merchant, a copy of the first electronic message, the copy of the first electronic message having been sent responsive to the first electronic message being sent to the inventory management system;

parsing, by a message parser of the social media interface system, the copy of the first electronic message to determine one or more keywords in the first electronic message;

determining, by the message parser, that the one or more keywords describe an item that is offered by the merchant to sell at the physical store or the online store, wherein determining that the one or more keywords describe the item includes;

identifying that the one or more keywords describe an offer to sell; and

identifying the item from the inventory of items stored on the inventory management system using the one or more keywords;

in response to determining that the one or more keywords describe the item, generating a link based at least in part on the one or more keywords, the link being directed to the online store of the merchant or being associated with an address of the physical store;

generating, using the copy of the first electronic message, a second electronic message that includes the link as a tag that, responsive to receiving a selection of the tag, is operable to;

direct a browser to display a web page of the online store, or

display a location of the physical store corresponding to the address; and

causing the second electronic message that includes the tag to be posted on an account of the merchant on a social media site.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more keywords describe prices or discounts of the item.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that an identifier associated with the merchant corresponds to a registered user identifier,

and wherein the link is further generated based at least in part on the registered user identifier.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing the link in a user registry in association with a registered user identifier.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the social media interface system, an indication of a destination page of the social media site for posting the second electronic message,

and wherein causing the second electronic message to be posted on the account of the merchant on the social media site comprises sending, to a destination system, the second electronic message that includes the link for posting on the destination page of the social media site.

21. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the social media interface system, one or more instructions for posting a message on a destination page of the social media site,

and wherein generating the second electronic message is based at least in part on the one or more instructions.

3. A method comprising:

receiving, by a social network interface system, a copy of a first electronic message, wherein the first electronic message is sent from a merchant computer associated with a merchant to an inventory management system and the copy of the first electronic message is sent by the merchant computer responsive to the merchant computer sending the first electronic message or in association with the merchant computer sending the first electronic message;

parsing the copy of the first electronic message by a message parser of the social network interface system to determine one or more keywords in the copy of the electronic message;

determining, by the message parser, that the one or more keywords describe an item that is offered by the merchant to sell at an online store of the merchant, wherein determining that the one or more keywords describe the item includes;

identifying that the one or more keywords describe an offer to sell; and

identifying the item from an inventory of the merchant stored on the inventory management system using the one or more keywords;

in response to determining that the one or more keywords describe the item, generating a link based at least in part on the one or more keywords, the link being directed to the online store of the merchant;

generating, using the copy of the first electronic message, a second electronic message that includes the link as a tag; and

providing the second electronic message that includes the link to a server of a social media site.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the one or more keywords describe prices or discounts of the item.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the link is a uniform resource locator (URL) link to the online store.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the tag is configured to receive a click or touch input when being viewed in a browser and, based at least in part on receiving the click or the touch input, direct the browser to the online store.

15. The method of claim 3, wherein the method further comprises:

determining that an identifier associated with the merchant corresponds to a registered user identifier,

and wherein the link is further generated based at least in part on the registered user identifier.

16. The method of claim 3, further comprising storing the link in a user registry in association with a registered user identifier.

22. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

receiving, by the social network interface system, an indication of a destination page of the social media site for posting the second electronic message,

and wherein providing the second electronic message that includes the link to the server of the social media site is based at least in part on the indication of the destination page.

23. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

receiving, by the social network interface system, one or more instructions for posting a message on a destination page of the social media site,

and wherein generating the second electronic message is based at least in part on the one or more instructions.

7. A method of automatically inserting links into electronic messages, comprising:

receiving a copy of a first electronic message, wherein the first electronic message is sent from a merchant computer associated with a merchant to an inventory management system and the copy of the first electronic message is sent by the merchant computer responsive to the merchant computer sending the first electronic message or in association with the merchant computer sending the first electronic message;

parsing the copy of the first electronic message to identify one or more keywords;

determining that the one or more keywords relate to selling or buying an item;

in response to determining that the one or more keywords relate to the selling or the buying the item, generating a link to access an online store associated with the merchant, the online store being configured to facilitate the selling or the buying of the item;

generating, using the copy of the first electronic message, a second electronic message that includes the link as a tag; and

providing the second electronic message that includes the link to one or more servers at a destination.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the destination includes the one or more servers programmed to provide a social networking or microblogging service.

17. The method of claim 7, wherein the method further comprises:

determining that an identifier associated with the merchant corresponds to a registered user identifier,

and wherein the link is further generated based at least in part on the registered user identifier.

9. A system for automatically inserting links into electronic messages, comprising:

one or more processors; and

a non-transitory storage device storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising;

receiving a copy of a first electronic message, wherein the first electronic message is sent from a merchant computer associated with a merchant to an inventory management system and the copy of the first electronic message is sent by the merchant computer responsive to the merchant computer sending the first electronic message or in association with the merchant computer sending the first electronic message;

parsing the copy of the first electronic message to identify one or more keywords;

determining that the one or more keywords relate to selling or buying an item;

in response to determining that the one or more keywords relate to the selling or the buying of the item, generating a link to access an online store associated with the merchant, the online store being configured to facilitate the selling or the buying of the item;

generating, using the copy of the first electronic message, a second electronic message that includes the link as a tag; and

providing the second electronic message that includes the link to one or more servers at a destination.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the destination includes the one or more servers programmed to provide a social networking or microblogging service.

18. The system of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining that an identifier associated with the merchant corresponds to a registered user identifier,

and wherein the link is further generated based at least in part on the registered user identifier.

11. A non-transitory storage device storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

receiving a copy of a first electronic message, wherein the first electronic message is sent from a merchant computer associated with a merchant to an inventory management system and the copy of the first electronic message is sent by the merchant computer responsive to the merchant computer sending the first electronic message or in association with the merchant computer sending the first electronic message;

parsing the copy of the first electronic message to identify one or more keywords;

determining that the one or more keywords relate to selling or buying an item;

in response to determining that the one or more keywords relate to the selling or the buying of the item, generating a link to access an online store associated with the merchant, the online store being configured to facilitate the selling or the buying of the item;

generating, using the copy of the first electronic message, a second electronic message that includes the link as a tag; and

providing the second electronic message that includes the link to one or more servers at a destination.

12. The non-transitory storage device of claim 11, wherein the destination includes the one or more servers programmed to provide a social networking or microblogging service.

19. The non-transitory storage device of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining that an identifier associated with the merchant corresponds to a registered user identifier,

and wherein the link is further generated based at least in part on the registered user identifier.