System, program product, and methods for online image handling
First Claim
1. A system to facilitate electronic commerce associated with an online marketplace between a plurality of selling users and a plurality of potential buyers over a computer network, the system comprising:
- a first computer accessible to the computer network to host the online marketplace to thereby define a marketplace administrator server, the marketplace administrator server having a processor and memory coupled to the processor to store operating instructions therein;
a marketplace administrator server database accessible to the processor of the marketplace administrator server and having database records related to a plurality of marketplace items by the plurality of selling users, each item database record including a unique item identification number, item title, item description, and at least two unique item image file names corresponding with at least two associated item image files;
a marketplace administrator image file server accessible to the processor of the marketplace administrator server and having image files related to the plurality of items to be sold by the plurality of selling users, each image file having a unique image file name;
a lookup table organized by image file name accessible to the processor of the marketplace administrator server and mapping image files stored in the image file server;
a second computer positioned remote from the marketplace administrator server and each of the plurality of selling users and accessible to the computer network to provide seller marketplace item management services to the plurality of selling users to thereby define a seller marketplace item management server, the seller marketplace item management server having a processor and memory coupled to the processor to store operating instructions therein;
a seller marketplace item management server database accessible to the processor of the seller marketplace item management server and having database records related to the plurality of marketplace items to be sold by the plurality of selling users;
a seller marketplace item management image file server accessible to the processor of the seller marketplace item management server and having image files related to the plurality of marketplace items to be sold by the plurality of selling users;
a plurality of selling user computers each positioned at a separate selling user site remote from the marketplace administrator server and the seller marketplace item management server, accessible to the computer network and having a processor and memory coupled to the processor to store operating instructions therein, each selling user computer positioned to transmit data related to a marketplace item including an item title, item description, and scheduled item posting time and duration, and positioned to transmit a uniform resource locator providing an address for an original item image file including an item image of the marketplace item;
a plurality of potential buyer computers each positioned at a separate potential buyer user site remote from the marketplace administrator server and seller marketplace item management server, and each accessible to the computer network to access a plurality of seller marketplace item web pages through the computer network;
seller marketplace item management program product stored in the memory of the seller marketplace item management server to facilitate seller marketplace item management between the plurality of selling users and the online marketplace, the seller marketplace item management program product including instructions that, when executed by the seller marketplace item management server, cause the to seller marketplace item management server to perform the operations of;
receiving data related to a respective one of a plurality of marketplace items defining database record data from each of the plurality of selling user computers over the computer network, storing in the seller marketplace item management server database the database record data received from each of the plurality of selling user computers to define a corresponding plurality of database records, queuing each of the plurality of database records for sending to the marketplace administrator server, and sending each of the plurality of database records to the marketplace administrator server, responsive to each respective scheduled item posting time; and
an online e-commerce program product stored in the memory of the marketplace administrator server to facilitate electronic commerce over the computer network between the plurality of selling users and the plurality of potential buyers, the online e-commerce program product including instructions that, when executed by the marketplace administrator server, cause the marketplace administrator server to perform the operations of;
receiving each of the plurality of database records from the seller marketplace item management server over the network, storing each of the plurality of database records in the marketplace administrator server database, receiving over the network the original item image file for each of the plurality of marketplace items, forming from each of the original item image files a set of at least two item image files to provide image size variations of the item image of each respective marketplace item to thereby represent each respective marketplace item, the set of at least two item image files including a first item image file providing a first image sized randomly based on a first preselected size range and a second item image file providing a second image sized randomly based on a second preselected size range, the second image being substantially larger than the first image, storing each set of first and second item image files in the marketplace administrator image file server, each of the first and the second item image files assigned a unique name, accessing one of the plurality of database records responsive to a received item identification number for a selected marketplace item to thereby determine a item title and description of the selected marketplace item and the item image file name for each of the first and the second item images of the selected marketplace item, determining a location of the first image associated the selected marketplace item and a location of the second image associated with the selected marketplace item using the look-up table organized by image name responsive to the accessing, and adding the image file location for the first and the second item image and associated title and description of the selected marketplace item to an associated seller marketplace item web page.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system to facilitate electronic commerce associated with an online marketplace, program product, and methods are provided. Electronic commerce over a computer network is facilitated by a computer system that forms a community of computers that enable the users to buy and sell items in an online marketplace. To list the item on an online marketplace website, for example, the selling user posts an item with a seller marketplace item management website by completing an online-item marketplace item creation form. The form requires input related to the item, such as a description, sale price or minimum bid, shipping instructions, and the like, and an image file or image file location illustrating the marketplace item. The seller marketplace item management server provides a marketplace administrator server the marketplace item data including original image file or image file location. The server contains a random image size generator that generates at least two additional images of the marketplace item for display in a seller marketplace item web page to advertise the marketplace item.
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Citations
27 Claims
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1. A system to facilitate electronic commerce associated with an online marketplace between a plurality of selling users and a plurality of potential buyers over a computer network, the system comprising:
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a first computer accessible to the computer network to host the online marketplace to thereby define a marketplace administrator server, the marketplace administrator server having a processor and memory coupled to the processor to store operating instructions therein;
a marketplace administrator server database accessible to the processor of the marketplace administrator server and having database records related to a plurality of marketplace items by the plurality of selling users, each item database record including a unique item identification number, item title, item description, and at least two unique item image file names corresponding with at least two associated item image files;
a marketplace administrator image file server accessible to the processor of the marketplace administrator server and having image files related to the plurality of items to be sold by the plurality of selling users, each image file having a unique image file name;
a lookup table organized by image file name accessible to the processor of the marketplace administrator server and mapping image files stored in the image file server;
a second computer positioned remote from the marketplace administrator server and each of the plurality of selling users and accessible to the computer network to provide seller marketplace item management services to the plurality of selling users to thereby define a seller marketplace item management server, the seller marketplace item management server having a processor and memory coupled to the processor to store operating instructions therein;
a seller marketplace item management server database accessible to the processor of the seller marketplace item management server and having database records related to the plurality of marketplace items to be sold by the plurality of selling users;
a seller marketplace item management image file server accessible to the processor of the seller marketplace item management server and having image files related to the plurality of marketplace items to be sold by the plurality of selling users;
a plurality of selling user computers each positioned at a separate selling user site remote from the marketplace administrator server and the seller marketplace item management server, accessible to the computer network and having a processor and memory coupled to the processor to store operating instructions therein, each selling user computer positioned to transmit data related to a marketplace item including an item title, item description, and scheduled item posting time and duration, and positioned to transmit a uniform resource locator providing an address for an original item image file including an item image of the marketplace item;
a plurality of potential buyer computers each positioned at a separate potential buyer user site remote from the marketplace administrator server and seller marketplace item management server, and each accessible to the computer network to access a plurality of seller marketplace item web pages through the computer network;
seller marketplace item management program product stored in the memory of the seller marketplace item management server to facilitate seller marketplace item management between the plurality of selling users and the online marketplace, the seller marketplace item management program product including instructions that, when executed by the seller marketplace item management server, cause the to seller marketplace item management server to perform the operations of;
receiving data related to a respective one of a plurality of marketplace items defining database record data from each of the plurality of selling user computers over the computer network, storing in the seller marketplace item management server database the database record data received from each of the plurality of selling user computers to define a corresponding plurality of database records, queuing each of the plurality of database records for sending to the marketplace administrator server, and sending each of the plurality of database records to the marketplace administrator server, responsive to each respective scheduled item posting time; and
an online e-commerce program product stored in the memory of the marketplace administrator server to facilitate electronic commerce over the computer network between the plurality of selling users and the plurality of potential buyers, the online e-commerce program product including instructions that, when executed by the marketplace administrator server, cause the marketplace administrator server to perform the operations of;
receiving each of the plurality of database records from the seller marketplace item management server over the network, storing each of the plurality of database records in the marketplace administrator server database, receiving over the network the original item image file for each of the plurality of marketplace items, forming from each of the original item image files a set of at least two item image files to provide image size variations of the item image of each respective marketplace item to thereby represent each respective marketplace item, the set of at least two item image files including a first item image file providing a first image sized randomly based on a first preselected size range and a second item image file providing a second image sized randomly based on a second preselected size range, the second image being substantially larger than the first image, storing each set of first and second item image files in the marketplace administrator image file server, each of the first and the second item image files assigned a unique name, accessing one of the plurality of database records responsive to a received item identification number for a selected marketplace item to thereby determine a item title and description of the selected marketplace item and the item image file name for each of the first and the second item images of the selected marketplace item, determining a location of the first image associated the selected marketplace item and a location of the second image associated with the selected marketplace item using the look-up table organized by image name responsive to the accessing, and adding the image file location for the first and the second item image and associated title and description of the selected marketplace item to an associated seller marketplace item web page. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A system to facilitate electronic commerce associated with an online website between a plurality of selling users and a plurality of potential buyers over a computer network, the system comprising:
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a computer accessible to the computer network to host the online website to thereby define a marketplace administrator server, the marketplace administrator server having a processor and memory coupled to the processor to store operating instructions therein;
a plurality of selling user computers each positioned at a separate selling user site remote from the marketplace administrator server, accessible to the computer network, and having a processor and memory coupled to the processor to store operating instructions therein;
a plurality of potential buyer computers each positioned at a separate potential buyer user site remote from the marketplace administrator server and accessible to the computer network to access a plurality of seller marketplace item web pages through the computer network; and
online e-commerce program product stored in the memory of the marketplace administrator server to facilitate electronic commerce over the computer network between the plurality of selling users and the plurality of potential buyers, the online e-commerce program product including a set of instructions that, when executed by the marketplace administrator server, cause the marketplace administrator server to perform the operations of;
receiving over the network a plurality of original image files each related to a separate one of a plurality of marketplace items and each providing an item image of the respective one of the plurality of marketplace items, and forming from each of the original item image files a set of at least two item image files to provide image size variations of each respective item image of each of the plurality of marketplace items. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method of facilitating electronic commerce associated with an online marketplace between a selling user computer and a potential buyer computer over a computer network, the method comprising:
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scheduling a time and a duration for displaying a marketplace item on a seller marketplace item web page hosted by the online marketplace;
sending data related to the marketplace item over the computer network to a seller marketplace item management server for storage and on-demand retrieval, the data including a title and a description of the marketplace item and a location of an original item image file of the marketplace item, the original item image file including an item image of the marketplace item;
sending a database record related to the marketplace item by the seller marketplace item management server over the computer network to a marketplace administrator server;
storing the database record related to the marketplace item in a marketplace administrator server database for use on the online marketplace;
receiving the original item image file of the marketplace item through the computer network;
forming a set of at least two item image files from the original item image file to provide image size variations of the item image to represent the marketplace item, the set of the at least two item image files including a first item image file providing a first image and a second item image file providing a second image sized substantially larger than the first image; and
storing the first and the second item image files in a marketplace administrator image file server for use on the online marketplace. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method of facilitating electronic commerce associated with an online marketplace between a selling user computer and a potential buyer computer over a computer network, the method comprising the steps of:
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receiving an original item image file of a marketplace item through a computer network;
forming a set of at least two item image files from the original item image file to provide image size variations of the item image to represent the marketplace item, the set of at least two item image files including a first item image file providing a first image and a second item image file providing a second image sized substantially larger than the first image; and
storing the first and the second item image files for use on the online marketplace. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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21. A computer readable medium that is readable by a computer to facilitate electronic commerce between a plurality of selling user computers and a plurality of potential buyer computers over a computer network to define a marketplace administrator server, the computer readable medium comprising a set of instructions that, when executed by the marketplace administrator server, cause the marketplace administrator server to perform the following operations:
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receiving a plurality of database records related to a corresponding plurality of marketplace items over the computer network from a seller marketplace item management server;
receiving through the computer network a separate original item image file for each of the plurality of marketplace items;
forming a set of at least two item image files from each of the original item image files to provide image size variations of each respective item image to thereby represent each respective marketplace item, each set of at least two item image files including a first item image file providing a first image sized randomly based on a first preselected size range and a second item image file providing a second image substantially larger than the first image and sized randomly based on a second preselected size range;
storing the first and the second item image files in a marketplace administrator image file server for on-demand retrieval and display through an online marketplace; and
adding to a seller marketplace item web page an image file location for each of the first and the second item images of at least one of the sets of at least two item image files. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23)
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24. A computer readable medium that is readable by a computer to facilitate electronic commerce over a computer network between a selling user computer and a potential buyer computer, the computer readable medium comprising a set of instructions that, when executed by the computer, cause the computer to perform the following operations:
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receiving an original item image file of an item for sale through a computer network;
forming a set of at least two item image files from the original item image file to provide image size variations of an item image of the item for sale to thereby represent the item for sale, the set of at least two item image files including a first item image file providing a first image and a second item image file providing a second image sized substantially larger than the first image; and
storing the first and the second item image files for use on an e-commerce website. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27)
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Specification