E-appliance for mobile online retailing

• US 20030182195A1
• Filed: 03/21/2002
• Published: 09/25/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 03/21/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Twitter Inc (X Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: NCR Corporation (NCR Voyix Corporation)
• Inventors: Kumar, Alok
• Granted Patent: US 7,206,647 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/26
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions

Abstract

A portable device used for online retailing comprises a screen that is divided into numerous section for displaying different information. The bottom section of the screen includes navigation buttons. The top section includes promotions. The central section displays online catalog information. The device is also provided with wireless capability to connect to the Internet. All sections on the screen are activated through a touch screen. The device incorporates shopping, authentication, security and payment capabilities so that the user may have a seamless shopping experience.

Claims

1. A method of using a portable device in online retailing, comprising the steps of:

establishing a connection between the portable device and a dedicated server;

sending a request from the portable device to the dedicated server;

identifying, by the dedicated server, a type of the portable device upon receiving the request;

transferring to the portable device a plurality of items corresponding to the determined type of the portable device for selection by a user of the portable device; and

carrying out a transaction based on at least one of the items selected by the user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the request comprises a sign-up request the first time the connection is established between the portable device and the dedicated server, said method further comprising the step of downloading from the dedicated server to the portable device a dedicated application corresponding to the type of the portable device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said sending comprises executing the downloaded dedicated application.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising installing the downloaded dedicated application on the portable device, wherein said identifying comprises determining a version of the installed dedicated application, and the items are transferred based on both the type of the portable device and the version of the dedicated application.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the request comprises a session request including at least one option selected by the user from a list of options made available by said executing.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the items are transferred in response to the selected option and in form of an executable code which, when being executed on the portable device, displays the items for selection by the user.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the connection is a wireless, trusted connection.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the connection is a trusted connection, and the request and the items are sent over the trusted connection.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the transaction comprises placing an order by the user, the order comprises the items selected by the user and payment information.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the payment information comprises editable credit card information preprogrammed in the portable device.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the order is encrypted before being placed with the dedicated application via the trusted connection.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising the steps of processing the order and sending a digital receipt, upon at least one of receiving and completing the order, to the portable device.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the type of the portable device comprises at least one of Internet-ready mobile phone and wireless-capable PDA and tablet computer.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the type of the portable device excludes apparatus equipped with a display component having at least one of a screen size, a screen maximum resolution, and a screen color depth higher than a predetermined standard.

15. The method of claim 5, wherein the list of options is editable and comprises links to a number of vendor sites, the session request comprises at least one link to selected one of the vendor sites, the items are transferred to the portable device and the transaction is carried out by a server at the selected vendor site.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of opening a promotional channel, while the connection is active, to send promotional information to the portable device.

17. The method of claim 6, wherein the items are transferred based on user preferences preprogrammed by the user in at least one of the portable device and the dedicated server.

18. A portable device for use in online retailing, comprising:

a processor;

a wireless port coupled to the processor for wireless connection to a server;

a display component coupled to the processor;

an input component coupled to the processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor, the memory having stored therein sequences of instructions, which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the steps of;

establishing a wireless connection between the portable device and the server via the wireless port;

sending a request containing an indication of a type of the portable device from the portable device to the dedicated server;

receiving a plurality of items corresponding to the type of the portable device from the dedicated server;

presenting the received items on the display component for selection by a user of the portable device; and

placing an order with the server based on at least one of the items selected by the user using the input component.

19. The portable device of claim 18, wherein the display component is a LCD screen, and the input component is a key pad.

20. The portable device of claim 18, wherein the display component and the input component are integrated in a touch screen.

21. The portable device of claim 18, wherein the type of the portable device comprises at least one of Internet-ready mobile phone and wireless-capable PDA and tablet computer.

22. The portable device of claim 18, wherein the display component has at least one of a screen size, a screen maximum resolution, and a screen color depth lower than a predetermined standard.

23. The portable device of claim 20, wherein the input component comprises a set of virtual navigational buttons displayed on a navigational region of the touch screen.

24. The portable device of claim 23, wherein the touch screen further comprises a main region for displaying the items and a promotional region for displaying promotional information received from the server.

25. The portable device of claim 18, wherein the sequences of instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the processor to perform the step of monitoring the input component to capture click stream information provided by the user while browsing the items.

26. The portable device of claim 25, wherein the sequences of instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the processor to perform the step of receiving and displaying promotional information tied to the captured information from the server.

27. The portable device of claim 18, wherein the memory comprises a plurality of non-volatile erasable programmable memory cells which are configured to be substantially instantly accessible by the processor upon power on of the portable device.

28. The portable device of claim 18, wherein the memory further stores therein at least one of a light weight browser and a email program.

29. The portable device of claim 18, wherein the memory further stores therein preprogrammed credit card information to be substantially instantly accessible by the user every time the user goes shopping online using the portable device.

30. The portable device of claim 29, wherein the memory further stores therein preprogrammed user preferences.

31. The portable device of claim 30, wherein the memory further stores therein an authentication piece of software for verifying an identity of the user, and an encryption software for encrypting the request and order.

32. An online retailing system, comprising a server and a portable device communicable with the server via a wireless connection, wherein

said portable device comprises:

a user handling module for sending a request containing a type of the portable device to the server;

a functionality module downloadable from the server for presenting a catalog of items to a user of the portable device; and

a shopping module for carrying out a transaction with the server based on at least one of the items selected by the user; and

said server comprises;

an application handling module for receiving the request from the portable device and transferring the functionality module to the portable device based on the type of the portable device; and

a transaction processing module for carrying out the transaction in conjunction with the shopping module.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein the portable device further comprises a browser and the functionality module comprises an applet to be executed and displayed in the browser.

34. The system of claim 32, wherein the functionality module comprises a client application of a web service which is invoked upon execution of the client application.

35. The system of claim 32, wherein the functionality module comprises an installable application which is downloaded from the server and installed on the portable device only the very first time the portable device is communicated with the server.

36. The system of claim 32, wherein the user handling module comprises at least one of a user authentication for verifying an identity of the user, and a user environment customizer for presenting featured options to the user based on previously entered user preferences.

37. The system of claim 32, wherein the application module comprises a plurality of functionality modules for a plurality of portable device types, the application module loads the portable device with one of the functionality modules corresponding to one of the portable device types which is best matched to the type of the portable device contained in the request.

38. The system of claim 32, wherein the application module generates the functionality module embedding therein the catalog, based on the type of the portable device contained in the request.

39. The system of claim 37, wherein the portable device types of the application module include at least one of Internet-ready mobile phone and wireless-capable PDA and tablet computer.

40. The system of claim 37, wherein the portable device types of the application module include at least one of a screen size, a screen maximum resolution, and a screen color depth.