Method and apparatus for presenting and aggregating information related to the sale of multiple goods and services

• US 20080295130A1
• Filed: 12/04/2007
• Published: 11/27/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/24/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AutoData Solutions Inc.
• Original Assignee: Unity Works! LLC
• Inventors: Worthen, William C.
• Granted Patent: US 8,893,171 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2743 Video hosting of uploaded data from client
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4788 communicating with other users, e.g. chatting arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4825 using a list of items to be played back in a given order, e.g. playlists
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/64322 IP
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8405 represented by keywords
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/85406 involving a specific file format, e.g. MP4 format
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

A computer-implemented method can automatically present a plurality of selectable rich media video clips associated with goods and/or services offered for sale via an interactive networked communication system including at least one client and at least one server. A request to the server can be initiated at the client via the interactive networked communication system to select a plurality of rich media video clips from a database of rich media video clips associated with corresponding goods and/or services. A static descriptor can be displayed on the client for each of the plurality of rich media video clips as selected and received from the server. The plurality of rich media video clips can automatically be presented on the client in a concatenated sequence in a continuous rich media video stream.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of automatically presenting a plurality of selectable rich media video clips associated with goods and/or services offered for sale via an interactive networked communication system including at least one server and at least one client, comprising:

initiating at the client a request to the server via the interactive networked communication system to select a plurality of rich media video clips from a database of rich media video clips associated with corresponding goods and/or services;

displaying on the client a static descriptor for each of the plurality of rich media video clips as selected and received from the server; and

automatically presenting on the client a continuous rich media video stream of a concatenated sequence of the plurality of rich media video clips as selected and received from the server.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein there is a special offer associated with the corresponding good and/or service for one or more of the rich media video clips and wherein the step of automatically presenting on the client a continuous rich media stream presents the special offers together with the corresponding ones of the rich media video clips.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising presenting a selected rich media video clip in the continuous rich media video stream in response to a selection of the static descriptor associated with the selected rich media video clip.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of initiating at a client a request to a server via the interactive networked communication system to select a plurality of rich media video clips is initiated based on a search query submitted by a user.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein each good and/or service associated with a rich media video clip includes a unique identifier and is stored in the database using the unique identifier.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the unique identifier is a Vehicle Identification Number (VIN).

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying on the client additional static descriptors for a second plurality of rich media video clips selected by and received from the server.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising presenting a selected one of the second plurality of rich media video clips in the continuous rich media video stream in response to a selection of one of the static descriptors associated with the second plurality of rich media video clips.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of displaying on the client a static descriptor for each of the plurality of rich media video clips as selected and received from the server displays the static descriptors in the same order as the order of the concatenated sequence of the plurality of rich media video clips in the continuous rich media video stream.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising collecting records of user activity on the client and utilizing the user activity to affect the selected ones of the rich media video clips and the concatenated sequence of the continuous rich media video stream.

11. The method of claim 2, further comprising collecting records of user activity on the client and utilizing the user activity to affect the special offers.

12. A computer-implemented method of automatically presenting a plurality of selectable rich media video clips associated with goods and/or services offered for sale via an interactive networked communication system including at least one client and at least one server, comprising:

selecting a plurality of rich media video clips from a database of rich media video clips associated with corresponding goods and/or services in response to a request received from the client via the interactive networked communication system;

transmitting to the client a static descriptor to be displayed on the client for each of the plurality of rich media video clips; and

transmitting to the client a continuous rich media video stream of a concatenated sequence of the plurality of rich media video clips to be automatically presented on the client.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising linking a special offer associated with the corresponding good and/or service for one or more of the rich media video clips with the corresponding ones of the rich media video clips.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising transmitting a selected rich media video clip in the continuous rich media video stream to the client in response to a selection of the static descriptor associated with the selected rich media video clip.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the step of selecting a plurality of rich media video clips selects the plurality of rich media video clips based on a search query submitted by a user.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein each good and/or service associated with a rich media video clip includes a unique identifier and is stored in the database using the unique identifier.

17. The method of claim 12, further comprising transmitting to the client additional static descriptors to be displayed on the client for a second plurality of rich media video clips and transmitting to the client a selected one of the second plurality of rich media video clips in the continuous rich media video stream in response to a selection of one of the static descriptors associated with the second plurality of rich media video clips.

18. The method of claim 13, further comprising receiving records of user activity on the client and utilizing the user activity to affect the selected ones of the rich media video clips, the concatenated sequence of the continuous rich media video stream and/or the special offers.

19. A computer readable medium storing an application program to execute a computer-implemented method of automatically presenting a plurality of selectable rich media video clips associated with goods and/or services offered for sale via an interactive networked communication system including at least one client and at least one server, the method comprising:

selecting a plurality of rich media video clips from a database of rich media video clips associated with corresponding goods and/or services in response to a request received from the client via the interactive networked communication system;

transmitting to the client a static descriptor to be displayed on the client for each of the plurality of rich media video clips; and

transmitting to the client a continuous rich media video stream of a concatenated sequence of the plurality of rich media video clips to be automatically presented on the client.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 19, wherein the method further comprises linking a special offer associated with the corresponding good and/or service for one or more of the rich media video clips with the corresponding ones of the rich media video clips.

21. The computer readable medium of claim 19, wherein the method further comprises transmitting a selected rich media video clip in the continuous rich media video stream to the client in response to a selection of the static descriptor associated with the selected rich media video clip.

22. The computer readable medium of claim 19, wherein the step of selecting a plurality of rich media video clips selects the plurality of rich media video clips based on a search query submitted by a user.

23. The computer readable medium of claim 19, wherein each good and/or service associated with a rich media video clip includes a unique identifier and is stored in the database using the unique identifier.

24. The computer readable medium of claim 19, wherein the method further comprises transmitting to the client additional static descriptors to be displayed on the client for a second plurality of rich media video clips and transmitting to the client a selected one of the second plurality of rich media video clips in the continuous rich media video stream in response to a selection of one of the static descriptors associated with the second plurality of rich media video clips.

25. The computer readable medium of claim 20, wherein the method further comprises receiving records of user activity on the client and utilizing the user activity to affect the selected ones of the rich media video clips, the concatenated sequence of the continuous rich media video stream and/or the special offers.