Network and a distributed electronic commerce system using the network
First Claim
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1. A network for searching and providing content comprising:
- a plurality of user computers;
a set of content provider computers, said set of content provider computers comprising at least a first and second subset of content provider computers, and each of said content provider computer including a memory device for storing content;
a gateway;
means associated with each user computer for generating a user search request for content to the gateway;
means associated with the gateway for maintaining a record of the address of each said content provider computers and for routing said search request received from the user computer to each content provider computer in said first subset of content provider computers;
means associated with each content provider computer in said first subset of content provider computers for effecting a search of the contents of that content provider computer in response to the user search request, communicating the user search request to said second subset of content provider computers, creating a message containing the results of the search of its content, and communicating the message containing the results of the search of its content to the gateway;
means associated with each content provider computer in said second subset of content provider computers for creating a search result message containing the result of the search of that content provider computer content responsive to said consumer search request, and routing said search result message to the content provider computer in said first set of content provider computers that forwarded the consumer search request;
means associated with each of the first subset of content provider computers for forwarding the results of the search of the contents of each content provider computer in said second subset of content provider computers to the gateway; and
means associated with the gateway for communicating all results to the user computer originating said user search request.
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Abstract
A distributed network for effecting content search requests and processing of transactions is disclosed. The network has application to processes for conducting electronic commerce transactions.
59 Citations
22 Claims
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1. A network for searching and providing content comprising:
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a plurality of user computers;
a set of content provider computers, said set of content provider computers comprising at least a first and second subset of content provider computers, and each of said content provider computer including a memory device for storing content;
a gateway;
means associated with each user computer for generating a user search request for content to the gateway;
means associated with the gateway for maintaining a record of the address of each said content provider computers and for routing said search request received from the user computer to each content provider computer in said first subset of content provider computers;
means associated with each content provider computer in said first subset of content provider computers for effecting a search of the contents of that content provider computer in response to the user search request, communicating the user search request to said second subset of content provider computers, creating a message containing the results of the search of its content, and communicating the message containing the results of the search of its content to the gateway;
means associated with each content provider computer in said second subset of content provider computers for creating a search result message containing the result of the search of that content provider computer content responsive to said consumer search request, and routing said search result message to the content provider computer in said first set of content provider computers that forwarded the consumer search request;
means associated with each of the first subset of content provider computers for forwarding the results of the search of the contents of each content provider computer in said second subset of content provider computers to the gateway; and
means associated with the gateway for communicating all results to the user computer originating said user search request. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. An apparatus for effecting business to consumer electronic commerce comprising:
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at least one consumer computer each defining a consumer node;
a first set of merchant computer comprising a plurality of merchant computers each having stored product content and each defining a primary merchant node;
at least one other set of merchant computers comprising a plurality of merchant computers each having stored product content and each defining a secondary merchant node a gateway;
means associated with said consumer computer for linking to the gateway and for generating a search request for one or more products;
means associated with each of said first set of merchant computers (a) for linking to the gateway;
(b) for conducting a search of its product content responsive to a search request from the gateway;
(c) for forwarding the search request to one or more of said secondary merchant nodes;
(d) for receiving the results of the search request of the secondary merchant nodes;
(f) for communicating the results of its search and the result of the search request from said secondary merchant nodes to the gateway; and
means associated with the gateway (a) for receiving a request from the purchaser for information about a desired product (b) for routing said search request for one or more products to a subset of said set of merchant computers;
(c) for receiving results of the search from each of the merchant computer;
and creating a consolidated search result;
(d) for communicating the consolidated search results to the consumer node originating the search request. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11)
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13. A system for use in an electronic commerce transaction conducted over a network, the system comprising:
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a plurality of consumer computers a plurality of content provider computers including data relating to products;
a gateway means associated with each consumer computer for generating a message to the gateway identifying the address of the consumer computer, and products for which the consumer is requesting information;
means associated with each content provider computer for effecting a search responsive to a consumer message and for generating a message responsive to the consumer message to the consumer;
means associated with the gateway for forwarding the consumer message to a first subset of the plurality of content provider computers each of said content provider computer in said first subset being designated as a first tier node, and for generating instructions to the first subset of content provider computers to forward the consumer message to a second subset of content provider computers. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17)
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19. A method for conducting an electronic commerce transaction between parties including a plurality of merchants offering products for sale and a purchaser using a network, the method comprising the steps of:
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sending a search request from the purchaser computer to a gateway;
generating a gateway message from the gateway to a first set of merchants said message including the search request from the gateway, the address of the purchaser computer and instructions for each of said first subset of merchants to forward the request to a second subset of merchants;
forwarding the search result of each merchant to the purchaser computer; and
generating a buy instruction from the purchaser computer and communicating the buy instruction to one of said merchants. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22)
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Specification