System and method for identifying a product
18 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A product that is uniquely identifiable according to a globally unique identifier (GUID) (100) includes a class identifier (CID) (110) that uniquely identifies at least one product class in which the product is categorized (along with a plurality of other products) within a class hierarchy of a global content directory (42). The product class defines one or more attributes of the products categorized in the class. The product also includes a product identifier (PID) (120) that uniquely identifies the particular product from among the plurality of products categorized in the product class uniquely identified by the CID (110). The CID (110) and PID (120) collectively provide the GUID (100), which may be specified or determined to facilitate a commercial transaction involving the product.
107 Citations
45 Claims
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33. A computer-implemented method for facilitating a commercial transaction involving a product, the method performed using one or more computer systems each comprising one or more processing units and one or more memory units, the method comprising:
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using the one or more computer systems, communicating a globally unique identifier (GUID) for a particular product to a seller of the particular product, the GUID comprising;
a class identifier (CID) that uniquely identifies at least one product class in which the product is categorized, along with a plurality of other products, within a class hierarchy of a global content directory for a distributed plurality of seller databases, each seller database being associated with a corresponding seller and distinct from the other seller databases in the distributed plurality of seller databases, the product class defining one or more attributes of the products categorized in the class; and
a product identifier (PID) that uniquely identifies the particular product from among the plurality of products categorized in the product class uniquely identified by the CID; and
using the one or more computer systems, specifying to the seller a desired commercial transaction involving the particular product uniquely identified by the GUID to facilitate the desired commercial transaction involving the particular product uniquely identified by the GUID. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43)
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44. A computer-implemented method for facilitating a commercial transaction involving a product, the method performed using one or more computer systems each comprising one or more processing units and one or more memory units, the method comprising:
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using the one or more computer systems, communicating to a globally unique identifier (GUID) for a particular product to a seller of the particular product, the GUID comprising;
a class identifier (CID) that uniquely identifies at least one product class in which the product is categorized, along with a plurality of other products, within a class hierarchy of a global content directory for a distributed plurality of seller databases, each seller database being associated with a corresponding seller and distinct from the other seller databases in the distributed plurality of seller databases, the product class defining one or more attributes of the products categorized in the class, the CID comprising a class number of a first product class concatenated with class numbers of a plurality of parent product classes of the first product class which are at higher levels in the class hierarchy than the first product class; and
a product identifier (PID) that uniquely identifies the particular product from among the plurality of products categorized in the product class uniquely identified by the CID;
using the one or more computer systems, specifying to the seller a desired commercial transaction involving the particular product uniquely identified by the GUID, to facilitate the desired commercial transaction involving the particular product uniquely identified by the GUID; and
using the one or more computer systems, uniquely identifying the seller of the particular product according to a repository identifier (RID) associated with the GUID to further facilitate the desired commercial transaction involving he particular product uniquely identified by the GUID. - View Dependent Claims (45)
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Specification