Video rental e-commerce solution
First Claim
1. A method for providing a business-to-business network service for applications used by service providers, the method comprising the steps of:
- (a) providing a central application capable of communicating with at least two applications over a public network;
(b) providing a repository database for storing customer information that spans more than one of the service providers; and
(c) allowing the applications to query the repository database through the central application, thereby making the customer information accessible to each of the applications.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and system for providing a business-to-business network service for applications used by service providers is disclosed. The method and system include providing a central application capable of communicating with at least two applications over a public network, such as the Internet, and providing a repository database for storing customer information that spans more than one of the service providers. The method and system further include allowing the applications to query the repository database through the central application, thereby making the customer information accessible to each of the applications.
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Citations
52 Claims
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1. A method for providing a business-to-business network service for applications used by service providers, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) providing a central application capable of communicating with at least two applications over a public network;
(b) providing a repository database for storing customer information that spans more than one of the service providers; and
(c) allowing the applications to query the repository database through the central application, thereby making the customer information accessible to each of the applications. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52)
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13. A network service for applications used by service providers comprising:
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a central application capable of communicating with at least two applications over a public network; and
a repository database for storing customer information that spans more than one of the service providers, wherein the applications may query the repository database through the central application, thereby making the customer information accessible to each of the applications.
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26. A method for providing a business-to-business network service for rental chains, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) allowing the rental chains to register as clients of the network service through respective rental chain applications;
(b) receiving customer information from each of the rental applications and storing the customer information in a repository database, wherein the customer information spans more than one rental chain;
(c) allowing the rental applications to access the customer information from repository database; and
(d) providing a notification service that allows the rental chain applications to subscribe to automatic notifications triggered by updates to the customer information in the repository database.
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35. A computer-readable medium containing program instructions for providing a business-to-business network service for rental applications used by rental chains, the program instructions for:
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(a) providing a central application capable of communicating with at least two rental chain applications over a public network;
(b) providing a repository database for storing customer information that spans more than one of the rental chains; and
(c) allowing the rental chain applications to query the repository database through the central application, thereby making the customer information accessible to each of the rental chain applications.
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47. A method for enhancing the display of a movie title list, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) displaying a list of movie titles to a user; and
(b) displaying indicators adjacent to each movie title on the list that allow the user to take action with respect to a particular movie title, thereby eliminating the need for the user to navigate to a separate movie title page in order to take the action.
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Specification