Global electronic commerce system
First Claim
1. A method for effecting global e-commerce marketing and sales of manufacturers'"'"' products, the method comprising:
- placing, on Web pages of referral Websites that use a variety of languages and serve geographic locales throughout the world, embedded HTML forms that are submitted by buyers to request information about products from at least one manufacturer;
storing one locale identifier value at each referral Website among said referral Websites, where said locale identifier is a numerical value that is unique among many numerical locale identifiers that are assigned to the pairings of specific geographic locales and specific languages commonly used in those geographic locales, and where the geographic locale is the country served by said referral Website and where the referral Website is rendered in the language commonly used in that one geographic locale among said geographic locales;
storing in a relational database more than one natural language, locale-specific version of marketing information about each product of said products, where each stored version of marketing information is related to a stored value that is one of said locale identifier values and where said value identifies the language of the stored version of marketing information;
storing identifier values for each said product so that each said product in said database is identified by a product identifier value, a category identifier value, a family identifier value, a group identifier value, and a department identifier value;
storing a set of SQL procedures in said database, where each procedure can be used to retrieve one locale-specific language version of said stored marketing information about a product;
storing, in a server, a set of locale-specific server scripts and style sheets that are selectively used to generate locale-specific e-commerce Web pages that display said translated marketing information;
displaying to a Buyer, who is using a Web browser and is connected by the Internet to one referral Website of said referral Websites, one HTML form of said HTML forms that is manually activated to send a request to receive marketing information about a department of products, where the request comprises, first, a department identifier value that identifies the products that are a subject of the marketing information request by said buyer, and, second, a locale identifier value for a specific locale that is served by the referral Website;
receiving at said server, connected to said database, said request from said Buyer, where said request includes said department identifier value and said locale identifier value;
delivering in response to the buyer'"'"'s request a series of interactive menus by which the Buyer drills down through a hierarchy of department, group, family, and category to select for viewing product information about a particular product;
processing, by said server, said request for said marketing information about said product, where a product identifier value and said locale identifier value are used to select one SQL procedure of said set of SQL procedures to retrieve said one locale-specific language version of marketing information from said database;
generating an e-commerce Web page by using said one locale-specific language version of marketing information in conjunction with using one server script and one style sheet from said set of locale-specific server scripts and style sheets;
transmitting from said server said e-commerce Web page for display on said Buyer'"'"'s said Web browser from which said request originated, where the Web page contains marketing information that includes an offer to sell said product for a certain price as expressed in a currency that is commonly accepted in the locale identified by said locale identifier value and also contains an interactive link that is manually activated by said Buyer to order a purchase of said product;
transmitting from said Web browser to said server said purchase order;
collecting payment for said purchase of said product at a Website enabled for processing of e-commerce purchase transactions; and
notifying said manufacturer that said purchase of said product has been made by said Buyer.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A comprehensive system effectuates global electronic commerce on the Internet across frontiers of nations, cultures, and languages. Referral Websites serving various locales offer Buyers the opportunity to view products for purchase. A Buyer selects categories of products for viewing by using drop-down menus that organize products into a clear taxonomy that can be expressed across all languages. Having selected a category of products for viewing, a Buyer receives, from a multi-version relational database, a version of marketing information about each product. The version is one automatically sent from the database to match the Buyer'"'"'s language, culture, and nationality, as deduced from the use of a particular Referral Website. A shopping cart allows Buyers to select a product for purchase in an interactive way that encourages completion of the purchase. Products can be offered with custom options and in wholesale quantities. Personalized Web pages allow comprehensive customer service after a sale.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method for effecting global e-commerce marketing and sales of manufacturers'"'"' products, the method comprising:
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placing, on Web pages of referral Websites that use a variety of languages and serve geographic locales throughout the world, embedded HTML forms that are submitted by buyers to request information about products from at least one manufacturer;
storing one locale identifier value at each referral Website among said referral Websites, where said locale identifier is a numerical value that is unique among many numerical locale identifiers that are assigned to the pairings of specific geographic locales and specific languages commonly used in those geographic locales, and where the geographic locale is the country served by said referral Website and where the referral Website is rendered in the language commonly used in that one geographic locale among said geographic locales;
storing in a relational database more than one natural language, locale-specific version of marketing information about each product of said products, where each stored version of marketing information is related to a stored value that is one of said locale identifier values and where said value identifies the language of the stored version of marketing information;
storing identifier values for each said product so that each said product in said database is identified by a product identifier value, a category identifier value, a family identifier value, a group identifier value, and a department identifier value;
storing a set of SQL procedures in said database, where each procedure can be used to retrieve one locale-specific language version of said stored marketing information about a product;
storing, in a server, a set of locale-specific server scripts and style sheets that are selectively used to generate locale-specific e-commerce Web pages that display said translated marketing information;
displaying to a Buyer, who is using a Web browser and is connected by the Internet to one referral Website of said referral Websites, one HTML form of said HTML forms that is manually activated to send a request to receive marketing information about a department of products, where the request comprises, first, a department identifier value that identifies the products that are a subject of the marketing information request by said buyer, and, second, a locale identifier value for a specific locale that is served by the referral Website;
receiving at said server, connected to said database, said request from said Buyer, where said request includes said department identifier value and said locale identifier value;
delivering in response to the buyer'"'"'s request a series of interactive menus by which the Buyer drills down through a hierarchy of department, group, family, and category to select for viewing product information about a particular product;
processing, by said server, said request for said marketing information about said product, where a product identifier value and said locale identifier value are used to select one SQL procedure of said set of SQL procedures to retrieve said one locale-specific language version of marketing information from said database;
generating an e-commerce Web page by using said one locale-specific language version of marketing information in conjunction with using one server script and one style sheet from said set of locale-specific server scripts and style sheets;
transmitting from said server said e-commerce Web page for display on said Buyer'"'"'s said Web browser from which said request originated, where the Web page contains marketing information that includes an offer to sell said product for a certain price as expressed in a currency that is commonly accepted in the locale identified by said locale identifier value and also contains an interactive link that is manually activated by said Buyer to order a purchase of said product;
transmitting from said Web browser to said server said purchase order;
collecting payment for said purchase of said product at a Website enabled for processing of e-commerce purchase transactions; and
notifying said manufacturer that said purchase of said product has been made by said Buyer. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A system for effecting communication from a manufacturer of a product to a buyer via a communications network, the system comprising:
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referral Websites that have Web pages that are rendered in a variety of languages and serve geographic locales throughout the world;
embedded HTML forms on said Web pages that are submitted by buyers to request information about products from at least one manufacturer;
one locale identifier value stored in each embedded HTML form in each Web page on each referral Website among said embedded HTML forms, Webpages, and Websites, where said locale identifier is a numerical value that is unique among many numerical locale identifiers that are assigned to the pairings of specific geographic locales and specific languages commonly used in those geographic locales, and where the geographic locale is the country served by said referral Website and where the referral Website is rendered in the language commonly used in that one geographic locale among said geographic locales;
a first relational database where is stored marketing information from said manufacturer in more than one natural language, locale-specific version of marketing information about each product of said products, where each stored version of the marketing information is related to a stored value that is one of said locale identifier values and where said value identifies the language of the stored version of marketing information, and a second relational database where are stored identifier values for each said product so that each said product in said database is identified by a product identifier value, a category identifier value, a family identifier value, a group identifier value, and a department identifier value;
a set of stored SQL procedures in said database, where each procedure can be used to retrieve one locale-specific language version of said stored marketing information about a product;
a server connected to said databases which contains a set of locale-specific server scripts and style sheets that are selectively used to generate locale-specific e-commerce Web pages that display said translated marketing information;
a Buyer'"'"'s computer with a Web browser that is connected by the Internet for displaying one referral Website of said referral Websites to the Buyer who manually submits one HTML form of said HTML forms to request to receive marketing information about a department of products, where the request comprises, first, a department identifier value that identifies the products that are a subject of the marketing information request by said Buyer, and second, a locale identifier value for a specific locale that is served by the referral Website;
a series of interactive menus that are displayed on said Buyer'"'"'s computer by which the Buyer sequentially drills down through a hierarchy of department, group, family, and category to select for viewing product information about a particular product;
an e-commerce Web page that is generated by said server in response to said Buyer'"'"'s request for said product information, where (a) a product identifier value for said particular product and said locale identifier value are used to select one SQL procedure of said set of SQL procedures to retrieve said one locale-specific language version of marketing information from said database;
(b) where said server script, and said style sheet are used in the generation of the e-commerce Web Page; and
(c) where an interactive link is present on the ecommerce Web page for the Buyer to initiate an e-commerce purchase transaction of said product for a certain price as expressed in a currency that is commonly accepted in the locale identified by said locale identifier value;
a payment collection website enabled for processing of said e-commerce purchase transaction; and
an email notification to the manufacturer of said product that a purchase of said product has been made by said Buyer. - View Dependent Claims (20)
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Specification