Interactive on-line catalog
First Claim
1. A method for initiating an on-line catalog session that offers an on-line commercial transaction between a customer and a plurality of business units of a diversified company, the method comprising the steps of:
- a. providing a common portal for the plurality of business units that offers an on-line customer a catalog of at least one of the business units of the diversified company;
b. receiving from the customer, via the common portal, a commercial transaction request directed to at least one of a plurality of business units of the diversified company;
c. as a function of the identity of each of the at least one business unit to which a commercial request was directed, and of the identity of the customer, selecting at least one additional business unit of the diversified company to offer another catalog of the additional business unit; and
d. via the common portal, offering the customer the commercial transaction relating to at least one of the catalogs of the business units.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An on-line catalog system provides a customer with access, over a communications network, to the offerings of disparate business units of a diversified company or a joint business enterprise. Although the information systems of the business units will, in general, differ from one another, the provision of a common portal and a mechanism for allowing the common portal to access the content of the potentially disparate information systems of the business units enables an on-line catalog system through which a customer can access product or service data originating from the differing information systems of the plurality of business units in a unified fashion as though dealing with a single business entity.
-
Citations
25 Claims
-
1. A method for initiating an on-line catalog session that offers an on-line commercial transaction between a customer and a plurality of business units of a diversified company, the method comprising the steps of:
-
a. providing a common portal for the plurality of business units that offers an on-line customer a catalog of at least one of the business units of the diversified company;
b. receiving from the customer, via the common portal, a commercial transaction request directed to at least one of a plurality of business units of the diversified company;
c. as a function of the identity of each of the at least one business unit to which a commercial request was directed, and of the identity of the customer, selecting at least one additional business unit of the diversified company to offer another catalog of the additional business unit; and
d. via the common portal, offering the customer the commercial transaction relating to at least one of the catalogs of the business units. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
-
-
7. A method for providing a customer access over a communications network to an on-line catalog of offerings relating to a plurality of business units of a diversified company, the business units each having a respective information system, each business unit information system comprising a legacy information system, the legacy information systems including ones that differ from one another, the method comprising the steps of:
-
providing a common portal for the business units accessible to the customer over the communications network, the portal in communication with the information systems of the business units; and
upon receipt of a customer request relating to a selected one of the plurality of business units, retrieving data responsive to the request, and transmitting the retrieved data to the customer, via the common portal;
whereby the customer can access data originating from the differing information systems of the plurality of business units via the common portal. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10)
-
-
11. A method for providing a customer access over a communications network to on-line offerings of a plurality of business units of a diversified company, the business units each having a respective information system, each business unit information system comprising a legacy information system, the legacy information systems including ones that differ from one another, the method comprising the steps of:
-
providing a common portal for the business units, the portal being accessible to the customer over the communications network and in communication with the information systems of the business units;
upon receipt of a customer request relating to a selected one of the plurality of business units, retrieving data responsive to the request, and transmitting the retrieved data to the customer via the common portal;
transmitting content to the customer enabling the customer to invoke an interactive session involving a selected one of the plurality of business units;
receiving from the customer an invocation of an interactive session involving a selected one of the plurality of business units; and
establishing, via the common portal, an interactive session with the selected one of the plurality of business units, whereby the customer is provided a common portal for interactively accessing information of the particular business units and access to an interactive session with the information system of the selected business unit without the user exiting the common portal.
-
-
12. A method for providing a customer access over a communications network to an on-line catalog of offerings relating to a plurality of business units of a diversified company, the business units each having a respective information system and a respective representative, each business unit information system comprising a legacy information system, the legacy information systems including ones that differ from one another, the method comprising the steps of:
-
providing a common portal for the business units accessible to the customer over the communications network, the portal in communication with the information systems of the business units;
upon receipt of a customer request relating to a selected one of the plurality of business units, retrieving data responsive to the request and transmitting the retrieved data to the customer via the common portal;
transmitting content to the customer enabling the customer to invoke an interactive session involving the representative associated with a selected one of the plurality of business units;
receiving from the customer an invocation of an interactive session involving the representative associated with the selected one of the plurality of business units; and
establishing, via the common portal, an interactive session with the representative of the selected one of the plurality of business units, whereby the customer is provided a common portal for interactively accessing a representative of selected ones of a plurality of business units in an interactive session without exiting the common portal.
-
-
13. An interactive, on-line system for enabling a customer to access over a communications network an on-line catalog of offerings relating to a plurality of business units of a diversified company, the business units each having a respective information system, each business unit information system comprising a legacy information system, the legacy information systems including ones that differ from one another, the system comprising:
-
a common portal for the plurality of business units accessible by the customer over the communications network, the portal comprising a table that, upon customer request for information from a selected one of the plurality of business units, retrieves and transmits data responsive to the request via the portal to the customer, and a dialog box that prompts the customer to invoke an interactive session involving data originating from the information system of the selected business unit;
the common portal being in communication with the information systems of the plurality of business units;
whereby the customer is provided a common portal for interactively accessing information associated with selected ones of the plurality of business units without exiting the common portal. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
-
-
20. A method for providing a customer access over a communications network to an on-line catalog of offerings relating to a plurality of business units of a diversified company, the business units each having a respective information system, each business unit information system comprising a legacy information system, the legacy information systems including ones that differ from one another, the method comprising the steps of:
-
providing a common portal for the business units accessible to the customer over the communications network, the portal in communication with the information systems of the business units;
via the common portal, transmitting to the customer content enabling the customer to place an order for on-line business project planning services relating to at least one of the plurality of business units;
upon receipt of a customer order for on-line business project planning services, retrieving and transmitting content to the customer, the content permitting customer entry and updating of project parameters, the content transmitted to the customer via the common portal;
receiving and storing customer entries for later retrieval by the customer via the common portal;
whereby the customer is provided with means to develop and monitor a project plan relating to any of the plurality of business units using the common portal. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22)
-
-
23. An on-line catalog method for providing customer access over a communication network to products or services information relating to a plurality of business units of a diversified company, the method comprising the steps of:
-
providing a common portal for the business units accessible to the customer over the communication network;
upon receipt of a customer order for on-line business project planning services, retrieving and transmitting content to the customer, the content permitting customer entry and updating of project parameters, the content transmitted to the customer via the common portal; and
determining a market cluster corresponding to the customer, the market cluster comprising the identities of a set of offerings from business units of the diversified company relating to the customer'"'"'s purchasing requirements, the purchasing requirements inferred from a record of the customer'"'"'s historical transactions with the business units.
-
-
24. A method for providing a customer access over a communications network to an on-line catalog of offerings relating to a plurality of business entities of a joint business enterprise, the business entities each having a respective information system, each business unit information system comprising a legacy information system, the legacy information systems including ones that differ from one another, the method comprising the steps of:
-
providing a common portal for the business entities accessible to the customer over the communications network, the portal in communication with the information systems of the business entities; and
upon receipt of a customer request relating to a selected one of the plurality of business entities, retrieving data responsive to the request, and transmitting to the customer via the common portal;
whereby the customer can access data originating from the information systems of the plurality of business units via the common portal.
-
-
25. An interactive, on-line system for enabling a customer to access over a communications network an on-line catalog of offerings relating to a plurality of business entities of a joint business enterprise, the business entities each having a respective information system, each business entity information system comprising a legacy information system, the legacy information systems including ones that differ from one another, the system comprising:
-
a common portal for the plurality of business entities accessible by the customer over the communications network, the portal comprising a table that, upon customer request for information from a selected one of the plurality of business entities, retrieves and transmits data responsive to the request via the portal to the customer, and a dialog box that prompts the customer to invoke an interactive session with the information system of the particular business entities;
the common portal being in communication with the information systems of the plurality of business entities;
whereby the customer is provided a common portal for interactively accessing information associated with selected ones of the plurality of business entities without exiting the common portal.
-
Specification