ELECTRONIC COMMERCE SYSTEM UTILIZING CUSTOM MERCHANT CALCULATIONS

• US 20070299732A1
• Filed: 06/27/2006
• Published: 12/27/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Dierks, Timothy M., Gluzberg, Eugene
• Granted Patent: US 9,105,059 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/26.81
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0635 Processing of requisition or of purchase orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces

Abstract

A customer interacts with merchants to identify items to purchase, and the merchants provide virtual shopping carts identifying the items to a broker. The cart requests that the broker utilize custom merchant calculations for the transaction, such as for determining shipping costs. The customer interacts with the broker to identify customer information, such as a shipping address, and to purchase the items. The broker sends the customer information to the merchant and requests that the merchant perform the custom calculations. If the merchant provides a valid response to the request, the broker uses the merchant calculations to calculate the total price for the transaction. If the merchant provides an invalid response, the broker utilizes backup calculations specified in the cart to calculate the price.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of conducting an electronic commerce transaction with a customer, comprising:

receiving from a remote merchant data representative of a virtual shopping cart for the customer, the cart identifying an item sold by the merchant and indicating that a custom calculation is used for the transaction;

identifying customer information regarding the transaction by interacting with the customer at a domain of a broker;

providing the customer information to the remote merchant and requesting a result of the custom calculation utilizing the customer information;

determining the price for the transaction responsive to the result received from the remote merchant; and

conducting the electronic commerce transaction with the customer at the determined price,

wherein the electronic commerce transaction is conducted without the customer leaving the domain of the broker.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the result of the custom calculation describes shipping costs, taxes to collect, and/or a discount to apply for the electronic commerce transaction.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying customer information regarding the transaction comprises:

identifying one or more shipping addresses associated with the customer.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying customer information regarding the transaction comprises:

identifying one or more coupons or gift certificates provided by the customer.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the customer information to the merchant comprises:

providing a plurality of possible shipping addresses to the merchant.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

providing one or more fake shipping addresses to the merchant to obfuscate the customer'"'"'s real shipping address.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the shopping cart indicates a plurality of possible shipping methods for the item and further comprising:

receiving results of custom calculations indicating a cost of shipping to each of the plurality of possible shipping addresses using each of the plurality of possible shipping methods.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

providing a web page to the customer, the web page displaying the price for the transaction; and

dynamically updating the price displayed on the web page using the results of the custom calculations responsive to selection of one of the shipping methods and/or shipping addresses by the customer.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing one or more web pages to the customer at the domain of the broker, the web pages displaying results of the custom calculations and enabling the customer to conduct the electronic purchase transaction with the broker.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the price for the transaction comprises:

identifying a backup method for performing the custom calculation;

utilizing the backup method to perform the custom calculations and produce backup result responsive to a failure to receive from the merchant a valid response to the custom calculation request; and

determining the price for the transaction responsive to the backup result.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein identifying the backup method comprises:

analyzing the virtual shopping cart to identify a backup method specified therein.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the backup method is utilized responsive to a failure to receive from the merchant a valid response within a specified time limit.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

analyzing the data representative of the virtual shopping cart to identify a network address of a server for performing the custom calculation;

wherein the providing step provides the customer information to the server at the network address.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

notifying the merchant of the conducted transaction and describing how the price was determined.

15. A system for conducting an electronic commerce transaction with a customer, comprising:

a communications module for receiving from a remote merchant data representative of a virtual shopping cart for the customer, the cart identifying an item sold by the remote merchant and indicating that a custom calculation is used for the transaction;

a purchase transaction module for identifying customer information regarding the transaction through interactions with the customer at a domain of a broker, for determining the price for the transaction responsive to a result of a custom calculation request provided to the remote merchant, and for conducting the electronic commerce transaction with the customer at the determined price without the customer leaving the domain of the broker; and

a calculations module for requesting from the merchant a result of the custom calculation utilizing the customer information, and providing the result of the custom calculation request to the purchase transaction module.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the result of the custom calculation request describes shipping costs, taxes to collect, and/or a discount to apply for the electronic commerce transaction.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the purchase transaction module is adapted to identify one or more shipping addresses associated with the customer.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the purchase transaction module is adapted to identify one or more coupons or gift certificates provided by the customer.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the calculations module is adapted to provide customer information comprising a plurality of possible shipping addresses to the merchant.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the calculations module is further adapted to provide one or more fake shipping addresses to the merchant to obfuscate the customer'"'"'s real shipping address.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the shopping cart indicates a plurality of possible shipping methods for the item and wherein the calculations module is further adapted to receive from the merchant results of custom calculations indicating a cost of shipping to each of the plurality of possible shipping addresses using each of the plurality of possible shipping methods.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the purchase transaction module is further adapted to provide a web page to the customer, the web page displaying the price for the transaction, and dynamically update the price displayed on the web page using the results of the custom calculations responsive to selection of one of the shipping methods and/or shipping addresses by the customer.

23. The system of claim 15, wherein the purchase transaction module is further adapted to provide providing one or more web pages to the customer at the domain of the broker, the web pages displaying results of the custom calculations and enabling the customer to conduct the electronic purchase transaction with the broker.

24. The system of claim 15, wherein the calculations module is further adapted to identify a backup method for performing the custom calculation, utilize the backup method to perform the custom calculation, and produce a backup result responsive to a failure to receive from the merchant a valid response to the custom calculation request, and provide the backup results to the purchase transaction module as the result of the custom calculations request.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the calculations module is further adapted to analyze the virtual shopping cart to identify a backup method specified therein.

26. The system of claim 24, wherein the backup method is utilized responsive to a failure to receive from the merchant a valid response within a specified time limit.

27. The system of claim 15, wherein the calculations module is further adapted to analyze the data representative of the virtual shopping cart to identify a network address of a server for performing the custom calculation, and to provide the customer information to the server at the network address.

28. The system of claim 15, further comprising:

an accounting module for notifying the merchant of the conducted transaction and describing how the price for the transaction was determined.

29. A computer program product having a computer-readable medium having computer program code tangibly embodied therein for conducting an electronic commerce transaction with a customer, the computer program code comprising:

a communications module for receiving from a remote merchant data representative of a virtual shopping cart for the customer, the cart identifying an item sold by the remote merchant and indicating that a custom calculation is used for the transaction;

a purchase transaction module for identifying customer information regarding the transaction through interactions with the customer at a domain of a broker, for determining the price for the transaction responsive to a result of a custom calculation request provided to the remote merchant, and for conducting the electronic commerce transaction with the customer at the determined price without the customer leaving the domain of the broker; and

a calculations module for requesting from the merchant a result of the custom calculation utilizing the customer information, and providing the result of the custom calculation request to the purchase transaction module.

30. The computer program product of claim 29, wherein the result of the custom calculation request describe shipping costs, taxes to collect, and/or a discount to apply for the electronic commerce transaction.

31. The computer program product of claim 29, wherein the purchase transaction module is adapted to identify one or more shipping addresses associated with the customer.

32. The computer program product of claim 29, wherein the purchase transaction module is adapted to identify one or more coupons or gift certificates provided by the customer.

33. The computer program product of claim 29, wherein the calculations module is adapted to provide customer information comprising a plurality of possible shipping addresses to the merchant.

34. The computer program product of claim 29, wherein the calculations module is further adapted to provide one or more fake shipping addresses to the merchant to obfuscate the customer'"'"'s real shipping address.

35. The computer program product of claim 33, wherein the shopping cart indicates a plurality of possible shipping methods for the item and wherein the calculations module is further adapted to receive from the merchant results of custom calculations indicating a cost of shipping to each of the plurality of possible shipping addresses using each of the plurality of possible shipping methods.

36. The computer program product of claim 35, wherein the purchase transaction module is further adapted to provide a web page to the customer, the web page displaying the price for the transaction, and dynamically update the price displayed on the web page using the results of the custom calculations responsive to selection of one of the shipping methods and/or shipping addresses by the customer.

37. The computer program product of claim 29, wherein the purchase transaction module is further adapted to provide providing one or more web pages to the customer at the domain of the broker, the web pages displaying results of the custom calculations and enabling the customer to conduct the electronic purchase transaction with the broker.

38. The computer program product of claim 29 wherein the calculations module is further adapted to identify a backup method for performing the custom calculation, utilize the backup method to perform the custom calculation and produce a backup result responsive to a failure to receive from the merchant a valid response to the custom calculation request, and provide the backup result to the purchase transaction module as the result of the custom calculations request.

39. The computer program product of claim 38, wherein the calculations module is further adapted to analyze the virtual shopping cart to identify a backup method specified therein.

40. The computer program product of claim 38, wherein the backup method is utilized responsive to a failure to receive from the merchant a valid response within a specified time limit.

41. The computer program product of claim 29, wherein the calculations module is further adapted to analyze the data representative of the virtual shopping cart to identify a network address of a server for performing the custom calculation, and to provide the customer information to the server at the network address.

42. The computer program product of claim 29, further comprising:

an accounting module for notifying the merchant of the conducted transaction and describing how the price for the transaction was determined.