MULTI-SEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE SUPPORTING ADVERTISING & INTERNET SEARCH TERM REUSE

• US 20120271716A1
• Filed: 06/14/2012
• Published: 10/25/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/19/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PayPal, Inc. (PayPal Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Enpulz LLC
• Inventors: Bennett, James D., Winslade, Christopher C.
• Granted Patent: US 8,463,643 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.54
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0222 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0224 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0235 constrained by time limit or expiration date
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0239 Online discounts or incentives
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0244 Optimization
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0253 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0257 User requested
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0605 Supply or demand aggregation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0611 Request for offers or quotes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0613 Third-party assisted
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0625 Directed, with specific intent or strategy
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/03 : Credit; Loans; Processing thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 : Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 : Insurance

Abstract

A system for online sales with automatic rebate and coupon redemption provides customers making online purchases to automatically retrieve and redeem all applicable rebates and coupons during an online purchase. Purchase orders from customers are selectively fulfilled and products are shipped to the customers either by the system for online sales with automatic rebate and coupon redemption or by other merchant or manufacturer environments. The system makes purchases from merchants or manufacturers using all applicable coupons and rebates and then sells the products to the customers, passing the savings to them. The system automatically retrieves coupons and rebates for items in a shopping cart during the activity of an online purchase at an electronic mall or an online merchant site and to retrieve manufacturer'"'"'s and merchant'"'"'s coupons prior to an online purchasing activity for subsequent submission to an online merchant during a subsequent purchasing activity.

Claims

1. A multi-search infrastructure comprising:

a first search service that couples with a web database system, the web database system storing representations of Internet data collected from a plurality of Internet servers;

a second search service that couples with a multi-promoter database system, the multi-promoter database system storing a plurality of groups of promotion data, each group of the plurality of groups of promotion data including description data, limitation data, link data, and price reduction data;

a third service that interacts with a first user computer of a first user to receive single search input;

the first search service, based at least in part on the single search input, produces first search results based on selected content from the web database system;

the second search service, based at least in part on the single search input, produces second search results based on selected content from the multi-promoter database system, the second search results supporting selected vectoring of the first user computer based on the link data; and

the second search service having an associated service fee.

2. The multi-search infrastructure of claim 1, wherein the third service comprises a web browser or page.

3. The multi-search infrastructure of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the first search results are associated with at least a portion of the second search results in one or both of the web database system and the multi-promoter database system.

4. The multi-search infrastructure of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the first search results are associated with at least a portion of the second search results in a database.

5. The multi-search infrastructure of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the first search results comprises an identification of one or more goods and/or services.

6. The multi-search infrastructure of claim 5, wherein second search results are related to a given good and/or service, and are used in acquiring the given good and/or service.

7. The multi-search infrastructure of claim 6, wherein the second search results comprise one or both of a coupon and a rebate selected from the plurality of groups of promotion data.

8. The multi-search infrastructure of claim 1, wherein the second search results comprise link data from one or more of the plurality of groups of promotion data, the link data enabling vectoring of the first user computer to one or more websites corresponding to the first search results.

9. The multi-search infrastructure of claim 8, wherein the first search results comprise an identification of a plurality of products from a corresponding plurality of sellers.

10. The multi-search infrastructure of claim 1, wherein each group of the plurality of groups of promotion data includes data used in constructing a visual representation of a promotion for display on the first user computer.

11. A multi-search infrastructure comprising:

a first search service that couples with a web database system, the web database system storing representations of Internet data collected from a plurality of Internet servers;

a second search service that couples with a multi-seller database system, the multi-seller database system storing competing advertisement data collected from a plurality of independent sellers systems of a plurality of independent sellers, the competing advertisement data being related to a plurality of sales items, the plurality of independent sellers having a plurality of independent sales portals on which the plurality of sales items are being offered for sale;

a third service that interacts with a first user computer of a first user to receive single search input;

the first search service, based at least in part on the single search input, produces first search results based on selected content from the web database system; and

the second search service, based at least in part on the single search input, produces second search results based on selected content from the multi-seller database system, the second search results supporting a selected vectoring of the first user computer to a first of the plurality of independent sales portals, the selected vectoring relating to at least a portion of the selected content and having an associated service fee assessment.

12. The multi-search infrastructure of claim 11, wherein the third service comprises a web browser or page.

13. The multi-search infrastructure of claim 11, wherein at least a portion of the first search results are associated with at least a portion of the second search results in one or both of the web database system and the multi-seller database system.

14. The multi-search infrastructure of claim 11, wherein at least a portion of the first search results are associated with at least a portion of the second search results in a database.

15. The multi-search infrastructure of claim 11, wherein at least a portion of the first search results comprises an identification of one or more of the plurality of sales items.

16. The multi-search infrastructure of claim 15, wherein second search results are related to a given one or more of the plurality of sales items, and are used to support acquiring the given one or more of the plurality of sales items.

17. The multi-search infrastructure of claim 16, wherein the second search results comprise comprises an advertisement related to the given one or more of the plurality of sales items.

18. The multi-search infrastructure of claim 11, wherein the second search results comprise at least a portion of the competing advertisement data, the at least a portion of the competing advertisement data including link data, the link data enabling vectoring of the first user computer to the first of the plurality of independent sales portals.

19. The multi-search infrastructure of claim 18, wherein the first search results comprise an identification of one or more of the plurality of sales items being offered for sale by the first of the plurality of independent sales portals.

20. The multi-search infrastructure of claim 11, wherein the second search results comprise at least a portion of the competing advertisement data, the at least a portion of the competing advertisement data including data used in constructing a visual representation of a promotion for display on the first user computer, wherein the second search results comprise at least a portion of the competing advertisement data, the at least a portion of the competing advertisement data including

21. A multi-search infrastructure comprising:

a first search service associated with a first database structure that stores first content, the first content including a plurality of groups of promotion data, each group of the plurality of groups of promotion data including description data, limitation data, link data, and price reduction data;

a second search service associated with a second database structure that stores second content;

a third service that interacts with a first user computer of a first user to receive single search input;

the first search service, based at least in part on the single search input, produces first search results based on first selections from the first content, the first search results supporting selected vectoring of the first user computer based on the link data;

the second search service, based at least in part on the single search input, produces second search results based on second selections from the second content; and

the first search service generating revenue via an associated service fee charge assessment.

22. The multi-search infrastructure of claim 21, wherein the third service comprises a web browser or page.

23. The multi-search infrastructure of claim 21, wherein at least a portion of the first search results are associated with at least a portion of the second search results in one or both of the first database structure and the second database structure.

24. The multi-search infrastructure of claim 21, wherein at least a portion of the first search results are associated with at least a portion of the second search results in a database.

25. The multi-search infrastructure of claim 21, wherein at least a portion of the second search results comprises an identification of one or more goods and/or services.

26. The multi-search infrastructure of claim 25, wherein first search results are related to a given good and/or service, and are used in acquiring the given good and/or service.

27. The multi-search infrastructure of claim 26, wherein the first search results comprise one or both of a coupon and a rebate selected from the plurality of groups of promotion data.

28. The multi-search infrastructure of claim 21, wherein the first search results comprise link data from one or more of the plurality of groups of promotion data, the link data enabling vectoring of the first user computer to one or more websites corresponding to the second search results.

29. The multi-search infrastructure of claim 28, wherein the second search results comprise an identification of a plurality of products from a corresponding plurality of sellers.

30. The multi-search infrastructure of claim 21, wherein each group of the plurality of groups of promotion data includes data used in constructing a visual representation of a promotion for display on the first user computer.