Video Rental E-Commerce Solution
First Claim
1. A method for providing a business-to-business network service for applications used by service providers, the method comprising:
- providing a central application capable of communicating with at least two applications over a public network;
providing a repository database for storing customer information that spans more than one of the service providers;
allowing the applications to query the repository database through the central application, thereby making the customer information accessible to each of the applications; and
providing a notification service that allows the applications to subscribe to automatic notifications triggered by updates to the customer information in the repository database.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and system for providing a business-to-business network service for applications used by service providers is disclosed. The method and system include providing a central application capable of communicating with at least two applications over a public network, such as the Internet, and providing a repository database for storing customer information that spans more than one of the service providers. The method and system further include allowing the applications to query the repository database through the central application, thereby making the customer information accessible to each of the applications.
7 Citations
22 Claims
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1. A method for providing a business-to-business network service for applications used by service providers, the method comprising:
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providing a central application capable of communicating with at least two applications over a public network;
providing a repository database for storing customer information that spans more than one of the service providers;
allowing the applications to query the repository database through the central application, thereby making the customer information accessible to each of the applications; and
providing a notification service that allows the applications to subscribe to automatic notifications triggered by updates to the customer information in the repository database. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A network service for applications used by service providers comprising:
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a central application capable of communicating with at least two applications over a public network; and
a repository database for storing customer information that spans more than one of the service providers, wherein the applications may query the repository database through the central application, thereby making the customer information accessible to each of the applications, wherein the service providers provide online retail services.
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8. A method for providing a business-to-business network service for rental chains, the method comprising:
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allowing the rental chains to register as clients of the network service through respective rental chain applications;
receiving customer information from each of the rental applications and storing the customer information in a repository database, wherein the customer information spans more than one rental chain;
allowing the rental applications to access the customer information from repository database; and
providing a notification service that allows the rental chain applications to subscribe to automatic notifications triggered by updates to the customer information in the repository database, receiving movie title information and storing the movie title information in the repository database; and
making the movie title information accessible by the rental chain applications, thereby eliminating a need to manually enter information at the rental stores. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15)
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12. The method of claim 12 wherein the allowing the rental applications to access the customer information step further comprises returning in response to the queries one or more of a recommended list, an order list, a user rating list, and a list of user infractions.
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16. A computer-readable medium containing program instructions for providing a business-to-business network service for rental applications used by rental chains, the program instructions for:
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providing a central application capable of communicating with at least two rental chain applications over a public network;
providing a repository database for storing customer information that spans more than one of the rental chains;
allowing the rental chain applications to query the repository database through the central application, thereby making the customer information accessible to each of the rental chain applications; and
providing a notification service that allows the rental chain applications to subscribe to automatic notifications triggered by updates to the customer information in the repository database. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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Specification