Modularized In Application Commerce System and Method

• US 20120130856A1
• Filed: 11/23/2011
• Published: 05/24/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/24/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Digital River Incorporated (Danube Private Holdings II, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Digital River Incorporated (Danube Private Holdings II, LLC)
• Inventors: Petri, Daniel, Kohout, Georg, Nader, Georg, Mayerhofer, Martin
• Application Number:
  US13/304,171
• Publication Number:
  US 20120130856A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/26.61
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0623 Item investigation

Abstract

An in-game e-commerce web service system and method is described. The system provides a seamlessly integrated, modular, turn-key solution to in-game commerce on game publisher web sites. Primary publisher-to-player and secondary player-to-player markets are supported along with their associated billing and customer management functions. Modules have been designed to allow the greatest flexibility in choosing the services to which a game publisher subscribes.

Claims

1. A modularized in-game e-commerce system operatively coupled through a network to a game application, the e-commerce system comprising a server with a processor and a memory, the e-commerce system further comprising:

an account management module containing program code which when executed by the processor in the server causes the server to perform operations of;

an account service that manages user profiles and accounts, each user account comprises a wallet and an account identity within the game application;

an inventory service that manages items owned by an account identity for each user account;

a wallet service that manages a balance with the wallet for each user account; and

a storefront management module containing program code which when executed by the processor in the server causes the server to perform operations of;

an item service that manages a catalog of items offered in a storefront within the game application; and

a search service that retrieves data from the catalog for presentation within the game application storefront.

2. The modularized in-game e-commerce system of claim 1 further comprising a purchasing management module containing program code which when executed by the processor in the server causes the server to perform operations of a notification callback service that responds to a call made by the game application to the e-commerce system in order to receive notification of purchases made in the e-commerce system.

3. The modularized in-game e-commerce system of claim 2 wherein the notification callback service comprises an on delivery method of interfacing with the game application to provide transaction detail for a purchase to the game application.

4. The modularized in-game e-commerce system of claim 3 wherein the notification callback service comprises a two-way authentication handshake method of interfacing with the game application to retrieve a security key and wherein the on delivery method utilized the security key when providing transaction details for the purchase to the game application.

5. The modularized in-game e-commerce system of claim 1 wherein the item service comprises a method selected from a list of:

a create event method that creates event templates for the catalog;

a create item method that creates an item for the catalog; and

a create offer method that creates an offer for an item in the catalog.

6. The modularized in-game e-commerce system of claim 1 wherein the search service comprises a method selected from a list of:

a find shop method that retrieves a listing of storefronts offered through the game application;

a find offer method that retrieves an offer matching given search parameters from a storefront offered through the game application;

a find inventory method that retrieves inventory owned by the account identity identified by the e-commerce system; and

a find transaction method that retrieves a storefront transaction from the e-commerce system.

7. The modularized in-game e-commerce system of claim 1 wherein the account service comprises a create account method that creates a user account and returns an account identification.

8. The modularized in-game e-commerce system of claim 1 wherein the account service comprises a modify account method that modifies the user account with provided details.

9. The modularized in-game e-commerce system of claim 1 wherein the wallet service comprises a credit wallet method that adds balance to the wallet for the user account.

10. The modularized in-game e-commerce system of claim 1 wherein the wallet service comprises a credit wallets method that performs batch wallet credits.

11. The modularized in-game e-commerce system of claim 1 wherein the user account comprises a second account identity within the game application and wherein the wallet is shared with both account identities.

12. An in-game e-commerce method performed by a server coupled through a network to a game application, the method comprising steps of:

managing user profiles and accounts stored in a memory on the server through an account management module, each user account comprising a wallet and an account identity within the game application;

managing items owned by an account identity through an inventory service in the account management module;

managing a balance with the wallet for each user through a wallet service in the account management module;

managing a catalog of items offered in a storefront within the game application through an item service in a storefront management module; and

retrieving data from the catalog for presentation within the game application storefront through a search service in a storefront management module.