Universal shopping cart and order injection system
First Claim
1. A method of processing product orders from a consumer via a network to allow the consumer to order at least one product from at least one merchant using a consistent user interface, comprising:
- retrieving a universal shopping cart;
displaying product information from said at least one merchant;
receiving a product selection command from the consumer selecting at least one selected product;
adding said at least one selected product to said universal shopping cart; and
injecting at least one product order to at least one selected merchant associated with said at least one selected product in said universal shopping cart.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A universal shopping cart is provided that obtains and orders products and services from different merchants located on the Internet. The consumer completes all of their shopping on the shopping site and is not directed to another merchant'"'"'s site to complete an order. The universal shopping cart provides a monitoring service that allows the consumer to monitor a product for specified criteria. The order injection system places orders for products contained within the universal shopping cart from affiliated and non-affiliated merchants. Specific ordering details required from merchants external to the shopping site are hidden from the consumer. For external merchant sites that require a consumer account before allowing the product to be purchased, the shopping site creates a new consumer account without intervention from the consumer. Once the products are ordered, the consumer may keep track of the ordered products from the shopping site.
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Citations
47 Claims
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1. A method of processing product orders from a consumer via a network to allow the consumer to order at least one product from at least one merchant using a consistent user interface, comprising:
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retrieving a universal shopping cart;
displaying product information from said at least one merchant;
receiving a product selection command from the consumer selecting at least one selected product;
adding said at least one selected product to said universal shopping cart; and
injecting at least one product order to at least one selected merchant associated with said at least one selected product in said universal shopping cart. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. A method of ordering products from a shopping site via a network that provides information on a plurality of products from a plurality of merchants, comprising:
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accessing the shopping site;
selecting at least one product type;
selecting at least one merchant that carries at least one product that belongs to said selected product type;
adding at least one selected product corresponding to said selected product type and said selected merchant to a universal shopping cart; and
repeating the steps of selecting at least one product type, selecting at least one merchant, and adding at least one selected product until a check out command is received from the consumer. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38)
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39. A method of providing a user interface to allow a consumer to order products via a network, comprising:
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providing a window for the consumer to browse product information from a plurality of merchants, said plurality of merchants including a non-affiliated merchant;
providing a universal shopping cart link for retrieving a universal shopping cart;
providing product selection links for selecting and adding selected products to said universal shopping cart; and
providing a universal shopping cart check out link for checking out said universal shopping cart without directing the consumer to a selected merchant'"'"'s site.
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40. An apparatus for processing product orders from a consumer via a network to provide a consistent user interface for the consumer to view product information and order products from a plurality of merchants, comprising:
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a network interface unit for interfacing the network;
a memory unit for storing a universal shopping cart service program and a universal shopping cart database; and
a processing unit operative to process product orders from the consumer according to said universal shopping cart service program by;
displaying product information from the merchants;
storing at least one selected product selected by the consumer to said universal shopping cart database; and
injecting at least one product order to the merchant associated with said at least one selected product in said universal shopping cart database. - View Dependent Claims (41, 42, 43, 44)
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45. An e-commerce server for providing a shopping site to display information on a plurality of products from a plurality of merchants, comprising:
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a network interface unit for interfacing the network;
a memory unit for storing a universal shopping cart database; and
a processing unit for providing the shopping site, receiving product selection commands, adding selected products to said universal shopping cart database, and injecting product orders to merchants associated with said selected products in said universal shopping cart database while maintaining a consistent user interface on the shopping site.
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46. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing a universal shopping cart service comprising:
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retrieving a universal shopping cart;
displaying product information from at least one merchant;
adding at least one product selected by the consumer to said universal shopping cart; and
injecting at least one product order to said merchant associated with said at least one selected product in said universal shopping cart.
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47. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable components for providing a consistent consumer shopping interface comprising:
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a search component for searching product information from at least one merchant;
a user interface component for displaying said product information;
product order processing component for injecting at least one product order to said merchant associated with at least one product selected by a consumer without directing said consumer to said merchant'"'"'s site.
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Specification