SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR COMMUNITY AIDED RESEARCH AND SHOPPING

• US 20090307100A1
• Filed: 06/04/2008
• Published: 12/10/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/04/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PayPal, Inc. (PayPal Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Inventors: Sundaresan, Neelakantan, Sarwar, Badrul M., Ruvini, Jean-David, Nguyen, Hill Trung
• Granted Patent: US 8,538,821 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/26
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0603 Catalogue ordering
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0623 Item investigation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0627 using item specifications
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces

Abstract

A system and method for providing product research help to a consumer doing internet shopping. A consumer helper application for internet commerce has been designed to integrate the techniques that are currently used by many internet consumers into a single application program. For example, the consumer helper application allows a user to take notes, store web site links, store web site annotations, obtain collaborative input, and perform other tasks commonly used by web site consumers. The consumer helper application stores all of the information gathered in a single place. Information provided by other consumers may be shared using the consumer helper application. The consumer helper application will suggest specific items for a consumer to purchase based up on the information gathered by the consumer into the consumer helper application.

Claims

1. A method of providing help to a consumer performing online product research, said method comprising:

receiving a product type selected from said consumer;

receiving a set of desired product features for the product type selected by said consumer;

selecting a set of web sites based on said product type, said set of desired product features selected by said consumer, and any additional input received from said consumer;

presenting said set of web sites to said consumer;

accepting additional input from said consumer; and

repeating said steps of selecting, presenting and accepting using said additional input from said consumer.

2. The method of providing help to a consumer performing online product research as set forth in claim 1 wherein said additional input from said consumer comprises highlighting of sections of text from one of said set of web sites.

3. The method of providing help to a consumer performing online product research as set forth in claim 1 wherein said additional input from said consumer comprises additional desired product features for the product type selected by said consumer.

4. The method of providing help to a consumer performing online product research as set forth in claim 1 wherein said additional input from said consumer comprises text entered by said consumer.

5. The method of providing help to a consumer performing online product research as set forth in claim 1 wherein said additional input from said consumer comprises an address to an additional web site.

6. The method of providing help to a consumer performing online product research as set forth in claim 1 wherein annotations from other consumers are displayed on said web sites.

7. The method of providing help to a consumer performing online product research as set forth in claim 5, said method further comprising:

adding said address to said additional web site to a set of potential web sites associated with said product type.

8. The method of providing help to a consumer performing online product research as set forth in claim 1, said method further comprising:

selecting a product template after receiving said product type from said consumer, said product template comprising said set of desired product features for the product type selected by said consumer.

9. The method of providing help to a consumer performing online product research as set forth in claim 2, said method further comprising:

storing data describing said highlighting of sections of text from one of said set of web sites onto an internet server.

10. The method of providing help to a consumer performing online product research as set forth in claim 1 wherein said step of selecting further comprises selecting suggested products.

11. The method of providing help to a consumer performing online product research as set forth in claim 1 wherein said step of selecting further comprises selecting advertisements.

12. A system for providing help to a consumer performing online product research, said system comprising:

a server application running on a computer server, said server application receiving a product type selection and product feature selections from said consumer;

an online database coupled to said server application, said online database comprising a set of web sites related to known product types;

a web browser add-on application, said web browser add-on application providing additional functionality to a web browser program;

wherein said server application selects and presents a set of web sites based on said product type, said set of desired product features selected by said consumer, and any additional input received from said consumer.

13. The system for providing help to a consumer performing online product research as set forth in claim 12 wherein said system further comprises:

an internet commerce application, said server application further selects and presents products from said internet commerce application based on said product type, said set of desired product features selected by said consumer, and any additional input received from said consumer.

14. The system for providing help to a consumer performing online product research as set forth in claim 12 wherein said additional input from said consumer comprises highlighting of sections of text from one of said set of web sites using said web browser add-on application.

15. The system for providing help to a consumer performing online product research as set forth in claim 12 wherein said additional input from said consumer comprises additional desired product features for the product type selected by said consumer.

16. The system for providing help to a consumer performing online product research as set forth in claim 12 wherein said additional input from said consumer comprises text entered by said consumer.

17. The system for providing help to a consumer performing online product research as set forth in claim 12 wherein said additional input from said consumer comprises an address to an additional web site.

18. The system for providing help to a consumer performing online product research as set forth in claim 12 wherein annotations from other consumers are displayed on said web sites.

19. The system for providing help to a consumer performing online product research as set forth in claim 17, said system further comprising:

a data-mining application, said data-mining application examining web site addresses added by consumers to identify potential additional web sites to add to said set of web sites.

20. The system for providing help to a consumer performing online product research as set forth in claim 12 wherein said server application selects a product template after receiving said product type from said consumer, said product template comprising said set of product features for the product type selected by said consumer.

21. The system for providing help to a consumer performing online product research as set forth in claim 14 wherein said server application stores data describing said highlighting of sections of text from one of said set of web sites into said online database.