BUSINESS PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR ONLINE PURCHASES USING A RULE-BASED TRANSFERABLE SHOPPING BASKET

• US 20090307108A1
• Filed: 06/01/2009
• Published: 12/10/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Du, John, Chow, Kingsum
• Granted Patent: US 8,321,290 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/27
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0631 Item recommendations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces

Abstract

An online shopping basket is acquired by a buyer from an online store and is customized according to rules specified by the buyer. The buyer places zero or more items in the online shopping basket(s) before they are given to at least one shopper by the online store. The shopper(s) may further customize the online shopping basket(s) with rules that do not conflict with those specified by the buyer. The shopper(s) then place zero or more items in the online shopping basket(s) and return the basket(s) to the online store. Multiple online shopping baskets are merged into a single basket, and the buyer reviews the items in the merged online shopping basket and adds or removes items as necessary. The buyer then purchases the remaining items from the online store.

Claims

1-3. -3. (canceled)

4. A system comprising:

a physical communication network connecting a plurality of computing nodes; and

a network server computer connected to a client computer through the network, the network server computer responding to requests from the client computer to;

associate a primary online shopping basket with a first customer and at least one secondary online shopping basket, wherein each secondary online shopping basket is associated with a customer different from the first customer, and wherein the at least one secondary online shopping basket is associated with corresponding pre-defined rules defining purchase preferences for items within the at least one secondary shopping basket;

allow entry into the online shopping baskets of the items which correspond to pre-defined rules; and

selectively merge items from the at least one secondary online shopping basket into the primary online shopping basket, the selection being based in part on the corresponding pre-defined rules, to create a merged online shopping basket and displaying display contents of the merged online shopping basket on a web page being viewable at one time before checkout of the selected items in the merged online shopping basket.

5. The system as recited in claim 4, wherein the network server computer responding to requests from the client computer is further configured to:

group the items in the merged online shopping basket according to customer IDs and display the contents of merged online shopping basket in lists grouped according to customer IDs and being viewable at one time.

6. The system as recited in claim 4, wherein the network server computer responding to requests from the client computer is further configured to:

automatically merge at least one secondary online shopping basket into the primary online shopping basket to create a merged online shopping basket and display contents of the merged online shopping basket on a single web page and being viewable at one time before checkout of the selected items in the merged online shopping basket; and

group the items in the merged online shopping basket according to customer IDs associated with at least one of the first customer and the customer different from the first customer, and display the contents of merged online shopping basket in lists grouped according to customer IDs and being viewable at one time.

7. A computer implemented method comprising:

associating a primary online shopping basket with a first customer and at least one secondary online shopping basket, wherein each secondary online shopping basket is associated with a customer different from the first customer, and wherein the at least one secondary online shopping basket is associated with corresponding pre-defined rules defining purchase preferences for items within the at least one secondary shopping basket;

allowing entry into the online shopping baskets of the items which correspond to pre-defined rules;

selectively merging items from the at least one secondary online shopping basket into the primary online shopping basket, the selection being based in part on the corresponding pre-defined rules, to create a merged online shopping basket and displaying display contents of the merged online shopping basket on a web page being viewable at one time before checkout of the selected items in the merged online shopping basket.

8. The method as recited in claim 7, wherein responsive to a request from a client computer, further comprising:

grouping the items in the merged online shopping basket according to customer IDs and display the contents of merged online shopping basket in lists grouped according to customer IDs and being viewable at one time.

9. The method as recited in claim 7, wherein responsive to a request from a client computer, further comprising:

automatically merging at least one secondary online shopping basket into the primary online shopping basket to create a merged online shopping basket and display contents of the merged online shopping basket on a single web page and being viewable at one time before checkout of the selected items in the merged online shopping basket; and

grouping the items in the merged online shopping basket according to customer IDs associated with at least one of the first customer and the customer different from the first customer, and display the contents of merged online shopping basket in lists grouped according to customer IDs and being viewable at one time.

10. A computer readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions when executed on a network server computer cause the computer to:

associate a primary online shopping basket with a first customer and at least one secondary online shopping basket, wherein each secondary online shopping basket is associated with a customer different from the first customer, and wherein the at least one secondary online shopping basket is associated with corresponding pre-defined rules defining purchase preferences for items within the at least one secondary shopping basket;

allow entry into the online shopping baskets of the items which correspond to pre-defined;

selectively merge items from the at least one secondary online shopping basket into the primary online shopping basket, the selection being based in part on the corresponding pre-defined rules, to create a merged online shopping basket and displaying display contents of the merged online shopping basket on a web page being viewable at one time before checkout of the selected items in the merged online shopping basket.

11. The medium as recited in claim 10, further comprising instructions that in response to a request from a client computer, cause the machine to:

group the items in the merged online shopping basket according to customer IDs and display the contents of merged online shopping basket in lists grouped according to customer IDs and being viewable at one time.

12. The medium as recited in claim 10, further comprising instructions that in response to a request from a client computer, cause the machine to:

automatically merge at least one secondary online shopping basket into the primary online shopping basket to create a merged online shopping basket and display contents of the merged online shopping basket on a single web page and being viewable at one time before checkout of the selected items in the merged online shopping basket; and

group the items in the merged online shopping basket according to customer IDs associated with at least one of the first customer and the customer different from the first customer, and display the contents of merged online shopping basket in lists grouped according to customer IDs and being viewable at one time.