Distributed electronic commerce system with centralized point of purchase

• US 20060242026A1
• Filed: 04/22/2005
• Published: 10/26/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/22/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Crespo, Arturo E., Dierks, Timothy M., Perrochon, Louis Vincent
• Granted Patent: US 7,865,399 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/26
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/02 involving a neutral party, e.g. certification authority, notary or trusted third party [TTP]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/04 Payment circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/12 specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/202 Interconnection or interaction of plural electronic cash registers [ECR] or to host computer, e.g. network details, transfer of information from host to ECR or from ECR to ECR
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0613 Third-party assisted
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

An electronic commerce system includes a broker that enables customers to purchase items from merchants. A customer interacts with the merchant to identify items to purchase, and the merchant directs the customer to the broker in order to complete the transaction. The broker receives a description of a virtual shopping cart generated by the merchant and presents the customer with an interface allowing the customer to select shipping and other options for the purchase. The broker calculates a total amount for the transaction based on the shopping cart description and the options selected by the customer. The broker informs the merchant of the purchase and coordinates the shipment of the purchased items from the merchant to the customer.

Claims

1. An electronic commerce system, comprising:

a communication module for receiving a description of a virtual shopping cart identifying an item for purchase by a remote customer and presenting the customer with an interface with which the customer can select options associated with the purchase;

a transaction module for calculating a purchase total responsive to the shopping cart description and the options selected by the customer, and for charging the customer for the purchase total; and

a coordination module for interfacing with a remote merchant to inform the merchant of the purchase and for coordinating delivery of the purchased item to the customer.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the description of the virtual shopping cart received by the communication module is encoded in a hypertext transport protocol (HTTP) message.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the communication module receives the description of the virtual shopping cart from the merchant.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the description of the virtual shipping cart describes shipping rules indicating shipping options for the item for purchase and/or taxation rules indicating taxes potentially applicable to the item.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the options selected by the customer include shipping options and wherein the transaction module is adapted to calculate the purchase total responsive to the selected shipping options.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the coordination module is adapted to instruct the merchant to ship the item to a placeholder address via a carrier, and to interface with the carrier to direct the shipped item to a shipping address selected by the customer.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a support module for calculating a reputation score for the merchant and/or customer responsive to the purchase.

8. A computer program product having a computer-readable medium having computer program instructions embodied therein for providing an electronic commerce system, the computer program instructions comprising:

a communication module for receiving a description of a virtual shopping cart identifying an item for purchase by a remote customer and presenting the customer with an interface with which the customer can select options associated with the purchase;

a transaction module for calculating a purchase total responsive to the shopping cart description and options selected by the customer, and for charging the customer for the purchase total; and

a coordination module for interfacing with a remote merchant to inform the merchant of the purchase and coordinating delivery of the purchased item to the customer.

9. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the description of the virtual shopping cart received by the communication module is encoded in a hypertext transport protocol (HTTP) message.

10. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the communication module receives the description of the virtual shopping cart from the merchant.

11. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the description of the virtual shipping cart describes shipping rules indicating shipping options for the item for purchase and/or taxation rules indicating taxes potentially applicable to the item.

12. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the options selected by the customer include shipping options and wherein the transaction module is adapted to calculate the purchase total responsive to the selected shipping options.

13. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the coordination module is adapted to instruct the merchant to ship the item to a placeholder address via a carrier, and to interface with the carrier to direct the shipped item to a shipping address selected by the customer.

14. The computer program product of claim 8, further comprising:

a support module for calculating a reputation score for the merchant and/or customer responsive to the purchase.

15. A method of brokering an electronic commerce transaction between a remote merchant and a remote customer, comprising:

receiving a description of a virtual shopping cart identifying an item for purchase by the customer;

presenting the customer with an interface generated responsive to the description of the virtual shopping cart with which the customer can select options associated with the purchase;

calculating a purchase total responsive to the shopping cart description and the options selected by the customer, and charging the customer for the purchase total; and

interfacing with the merchant to coordinating delivery of the purchased item to the customer.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the description of the virtual shopping cart is encoded in a hypertext transport protocol (HTTP) message.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the description of the virtual shopping cart is received from the merchant.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the description of the virtual shipping cart describes shipping rules indicating shipping options for the item for purchase and/or taxation rules indicating taxes potentially applicable to the item.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the options selected by the customer include shipping options and the calculating step calculates the purchase total responsive to the selected shipping options.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the step of interfacing with the merchant comprises:

instructing the merchant to ship the item to a placeholder address via a carrier; and

interfacing with the carrier to direct the shipped item to a shipping address selected by the customer.

21. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

calculating a reputation score for the merchant and/or customer responsive to the purchase.