E-commerce shopping cart

• US 20050021417A1
• Filed: 11/06/2003
• Published: 01/27/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 07/25/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AI-CORE TECHNOLOGIES, LLC (Ascend Innovation Management, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Lot 9 Acquisition Foundation LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Kassan, Peter
• Granted Patent: US 7,225,148 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/26
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0203 Market surveys; Market polls
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0253 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0613 Third-party assisted
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0619 Neutral agent
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces

Abstract

A system and method is provided for monitoring the keystroke and mouse-click actions of a visitor to an e-commerce web site. After receiving a signal that represents an attempt to terminate the on-line session between a visitor and the e-commerce web site, and an e-commerce shopping cart contains at least one good or service, or if the shopping has items removed from it, or even if the shopping cart is empty, the visitor is prompted to respond to one or more prompts in a display screen.

Claims

1. A system for providing a notification, the system comprising:

a communication session between an Internet web site and a user terminal over a communication network;

a request receiving module that receives a request from the user terminal for at least one sellable;

a pricing module that provides a price for the at least one sellable to the user terminal;

a signal receiving module that receives a signal after the user attempts to terminate the communication session and prior to the user purchasing the at least one sellable; and

a notification providing module that provides the notification to the user after the signal is received.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the notification is a prompt to purchase the at least one sellable.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the notification providing module formats the notification to receive input from the user.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the notification is a questionnaire.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the questionnaire includes at least one of asking the user to comment about the user'"'"'s experience of requesting the at least one sellable and asking the user to explain why the request was modified to remove at least one of the at least two sellables.

6. The system of claim 4, further comprising a coupon module that provides a coupon redeemable for value after the user responds to the questionnaire.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the coupon module formats the coupon as at least one of an alphanumeric code, a graphic, and a card.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the notification module formats the notification to provide a prompt for the user to perform at least one of continue shopping, terminate the communication session and remove a record of the at least one sellable, terminate the communication session and maintain a record of the at least one sellable, and terminate the communication session and provide a request for a reminder to purchase the at least one sellable.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the reminder is formatted as at least one of a pop-up screen, a portion of the web site, a telephone call, e-mail and physical mail.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the notification providing module formats the notification as a display screen that does not include a control to close the display screen.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the signal receiving module further determines when a user performs at least one of pressing a key and clicking a button on a pointing device.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the pointing device is at least one of a trackball, a mouse, a trackpad, a touchscreen, a pointer and a stylus.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the notification providing module provides the notification after a request is received for at least two sellables from the user and the user modifies the request to remove at least one of the at least two sellables.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the signal receiving module further receives another signal when the user modifies the request for at least one sellable by removing at least one sellable from the request, and providing the notification after receiving the another signal.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the notification providing module formats the notification as a request that asks the user to respond to an electronic questionnaire, and further provides an electronic questionnaire when the user responds affirmatively to the notification.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the user adds the request for at least two sellables to an e-commerce shopping cart.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the notification providing module further provide a notification to the user before the signal is received, but after a representation of at least one sellable is removed from an e-commerce shopping cart.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the notification providing module formats the notification to include representations of at least one other sellable that relates to the at least one sellable.

19. The system of claim 1, further comprising a database that stores a list of the at least one sellable in a database.

20. The system of claim 19, further comprising a list display module that displays the list to the user after the user establishes another electronic communication session between the web site and the user terminal.

21. The system of claim 1, wherein notification providing module further displays the notification after the user adds a respective representation for each of the at least one sellable in an e-commerce shopping cart.

22. A method for providing an electronic notification, the method comprising:

establishing an electronic communication session between a web site and a user terminal over a communication network;

receiving a request for at least one sellable from the user terminal;

providing a price for the at least one sellable to the user terminal;

receiving a signal after the user attempts to terminate the communication session and prior to the user purchasing the at least one sellable; and

providing the notification to the user after the signal is received.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the notification is a prompt to purchase the at least one sellable.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein the notification is formatted to receive input from the user.

25. The method of claim 22, wherein the notification is an electronic questionnaire.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising providing a coupon redeemable for value is provided after the user responds to the questionnaire.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the coupon is formatted as at least one of an alphanumeric code, a graphic, and a card.

28. The method of claim 22, wherein the notification prompts the user to perform at least one of continue shopping, terminate the communication session and remove a record of the at least one sellable, terminate the communication session and maintain a record of the at least one sellable, and terminate the communication session and provide a request for a reminder to purchase the at least one sellable.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the reminder is formatted as at least one of a pop-up screen, a displayed portion of the web site, a telephone call, e-mail and physical mail.

30. The method of claim 22, wherein the notification is formatted as a display screen that does not include a control to close the display screen.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the step of receiving the signal includes determining when a user performs at least one of pressing a key and clicking a button on a pointing device.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the pointing device is at least one of a trackball, a mouse, a trackpad, a touchscreen, a pointer and a stylus.

33. The method of claim 22, wherein the notification is provided after receiving a request for at least two sellables from the user and the user modifies the request to remove at least one of the at least two sellables.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the questionnaire includes at least one of asking the user to comment about the user'"'"'s experience of requesting the at least one sellable and asking the user to explain why the request was modified to remove at least one of the at least two sellables.

35. The method of claim 22, further comprising receiving another signal when the user modifies the request for at least one sellable by removing at least one sellable from the request, and providing the notification after receiving the another signal.

36. The method of claim 22, wherein the notification is formatted as a request that asks the user to respond to an electronic questionnaire, and further comprising providing an electronic questionnaire when the user responds affirmatively to the notification.

37. The method of claim 22, wherein the request for at least two sellables is presented in an e-commerce shopping cart.

38. The method of claim 22, further comprising providing a notification to the user before the signal is received, but after at least one sellable is removed from an e-commerce shopping cart.

39. The method of claim 22, wherein the notification includes displaying representations of at least one other sellable that relates to the at least one sellable.

40. The method of claim 22, further comprising storing a list of the at least one sellable in a database.

41. The method of claim 40, further comprising displaying the list to the user after the user establishes another electronic communication session between the web site and the user terminal.

42. The method of claim 22, further comprising displaying the notification after the user adds a respective representation for each of the at least one sellable in an e-commerce shopping cart.

43. The method of claim 22, further comprising moving the request for the at least one sellable to an e-commerce wish list.

44. The method of claim 22, further comprising a plurality of lists of sellables for a user, and displaying the plurality of lists to the user after the signal is received.

45. A system for providing a notification, the system comprising:

a communication session between an Internet web site and a user terminal over a communication network;

a request receiving module that receives a request from the user terminal for at least one sellable;

a pricing module that provides a price for the at least one sellable to the user terminal;

a signal receiving module that receives a signal after the user attempts to terminate the communication session and prior to the user purchasing the at least one sellable; and

a notification providing module that provides the notification to the user after the signal is received, wherein the notification is formatted to receive input from the user and to enable the user to purchase the at least one sellable.

46. A method for providing an electronic notification, the method comprising:

establishing an electronic communication session between a web site and a user terminal over a communication network;

receiving a request for at least one sellable from the user terminal;

providing a price for the at least one sellable to the user terminal;

receiving a signal after the user attempts to terminate the communication session and prior to the user purchasing the at least one sellable; and

providing the notification to the user after the signal is received, wherein the notification is formatted to receive input from the user and to enable the user to purchase the at least one sellable.