Methods and systems for enabling the purchase of deliverable goods & services

• US 20110218839A1
• Filed: 10/22/2008
• Published: 09/08/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/22/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Ravi Vijay Shamaiengar
• Original Assignee: Ravi Vijay Shamaiengar
• Inventors: Shamaiengar, Ravi Vijay
• Application Number:
  US12/288,647
• Publication Number:
  US 20110218839A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7.32
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0203 Market surveys; Market polls
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces

Abstract

Exemplary embodiments of the interactive shopping module provide shopping tools that may include a consumer goods and/or services media channel, a shopping services module for interaction via a display device of a consumer'"'"'s media device (also referred to as a “communications device”), consumer profile data, advertising data, desirable consumer characteristics and metrics, and detailed vendor and catalog data such as hours of operation, delivery times, historical consumer satisfaction data, pricing data, food ingredient(s), allergy warning(s), and nutritional data, graphical images of menu items, and/or menu descriptions. Some of the embodiments may include shopping services for take-out and/or delivery food, entertainment, apparel, gifts, and/or household merchandise. In other exemplary embodiments, the consumer, vendor, and/or communications provider may match a range of discounted pricing data to identify a discounted price point to maximize sales to a plurality of consumers. According to further exemplary embodiments, billing systems and methods include invoicing, processing, and/or payment of the order from the vendor to the communications provider.

Claims

1. A media device, comprising:

an electronic directory comprising a directory listing of at least one food delivery provider with an interactive menu for accessing, selecting, and placing a food delivery order, the directory listing further associated with at least one of an identification category, a food delivery provider communications address, and a delivery address associated with a location, the location comprising one of a physical address of the media device, a physical address associated with a user, and an address associated with tracking means of the media device; and

a food delivery directory services module for accessing and managing at least one of directory content of the electronic directory for presentation to the media device and of a user profile, the user profile comprising one or more search parameters and a user communications address.

2. The media device of claim 1, wherein the one or more search parameters comprise at least one of historical food delivery order data, billing historical data, food allergy data, nutritional data, and ingredient screening data.

3. The media device of claim 1, wherein the historical food delivery order data comprises at least one of a previously ordered menu item, a price of a previously ordered menu item, a historical delivery time measuring the elapsed time of placing and receiving the food delivery order.

4. The media device of claim 1, wherein the food delivery directory services module is further operable for creating the user profile of the one or more search parameters associated with processing a selection of the at least one food delivery provider and wherein the user profile may be accessed by another authorized third-party user to view historical food delivery order data.

5. The media device of claim 1, further comprising:

a wireless transceiver for transmitting and receiving communications signals to a wireless device.

6. The media device of claim 5, wherein the wireless device comprises at least one of:

a remote control device,

a mobile phone,

a cellular phone,

a WAP phone,

a satellite phone,

a Voice over Internet Protocol phone,

a computer,

a modem,

a pager,

a personal digital assistant,

an interactive television,

a digital signal processor,

a set top box,

an appliance, and

a Global Positioning System device.

7. The media device of claim 6, wherein a media stream is simultaneously presented to the media device and the wireless device.

8. The media device of claim 1, further comprising:

a network connection for transmitting and receiving communications signals between the media device and an external communications network to process the food delivery order.

9. The media device of claim 8, wherein the external communications network comprises a communication services provider, the communications service provider processing the food delivery order with the food delivery provider, and the communications service provider billing the user communications address for the food delivery order.

10. A method, comprising:

receiving an interactive shopping directory, the interactive shopping directory comprising a directory listing of at least one vendor with an interactive menu for accessing, selecting, and placing an order, the directory listing further associated with at least one of an identification category for a good provided by the vendor, an identification category for a service offered by the vendor, a vendor communications address, and a physical address of the vendor;

storing the interactive shopping directory to a media device; and

presenting the interactive shopping directory to the media device.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving a search parameter for searching the interactive shopping directory to select the vendor, the search parameter comprising at least one of geographic coverage of the vendor, the identification category for a good provided by the vendor, the identification category for a service offered by the vendor, availability data, pricing data;

selecting the directory listing having a matched search parameter; and

presenting the directory listing to the media device.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

simultaneously presenting a media stream of the directory listing to a wireless device.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving a request at a time value for the order from the vendor of the selected directory listing;

communicating the request for the order to the vendor via a communications service provider;

storing the order to the media device, the order having a link to the associated directory listing; and

tracking a status of the order from the time value, the status comprising a status that the order has been communicated to the vendor, a status that the order has been filled, a status that the order is in transit to an identified address, a location of the order in transit to the identified address wherein the location identifies a street, nearby cross street, and an estimated delivery time to the identified address, and a status that the order has been delivered.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

authorizing the request for the order such that an unauthorized user is prohibited from communicating the request for the order.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

transmitting a survey initiated by a consumer to a plurality of media devices of at least one other consumer, the survey inquiring about a range of discounted prices that the other consumer would agrees to purchase at a selected discounted price at least one of the good and of the service;

collecting and analyzing a plurality of survey results from a plurality of consumers to determine a discounted price point for at least one of the good and of the service to maximize sales in the range of discounted prices; and

offering the at least one of the good and of the service to the plurality of consumers agreeing to purchase at the discounted price point.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

transmitting a provider survey initiated by the communications service provider to a plurality of media devices, each of the plurality of media devices associated with a unique consumer, the provider survey inquiring about a range of discounted prices that a plurality of consumers would agree to purchase at a selected discounted price at least one of the good and of the service;

collecting and analyzing a plurality of provider survey results to determine a discounted price point for at least one of the good and of the service to maximize sales in the range of discounted prices; and

offering the at least one of the good and of the service to the plurality of consumers agreeing to purchase at the discounted price point.

17. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

transmitting a vendor survey initiated by the vendor to a plurality of media devices, each of the plurality of media devices associated with a unique consumer, the vendor survey inquiring about a range of discounted prices that a plurality of consumers would agree to purchase at a selected discounted price at least one of the good and of the service;

collecting and analyzing a plurality of vendor survey results to determine a discounted price point for at least one of the good and of the service to maximize sales in the range of discounted prices; and

offering the at least one of the good and of the service to the plurality of consumers agreeing to purchase at the discounted price point.

18. A method for awarding an advertisement time slot, comprising:

accessing consumer data about a consumer'"'"'s order from an interactive shopping directory, the consumer data comprising at least one consumer criterion describing one or more consumers as desirable for receiving advertisement content;

accessing an advertising auction engine to award the advertisement time slot, the advertising auction engine comprising at least one of advertising data, auction data for selecting and bidding on the advertisement time slot, and business data for awarding the advertisement time slot, the advertising auction engine for;

i) matching the consumer data with the auction data and the advertising data to identify one or more advertisements as desirable for distribution to the one or more media devices associated with desirable consumers during the advertisement time slot,

ii) establishing a bid price for each of the identified one or more advertisements, the bid price adjusted by the advertising auction engine based upon the matched data for each advertisement and based upon the business data, and

iii) awarding the advertisement time slot to one of the identified one or more advertisements to maximize a contract price for the advertisement time slot.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

merging the advertisement content of the awarded, identified advertisement with the media content.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

communicating the merged content to at least one media device associated with at least one desirable consumer.