USER INTERFACE USING TAGGED MEDIA, 3D INDEXED VIRTUAL REALITY IMAGES, AND GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM LOCATIONS, FOR ELECTRONIC COMMERCE

• US 20170148090A1
• Filed: 06/26/2015
• Published: 05/25/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Imagine Universe Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Imagine Universe Incorporated
• Inventors: Davi, Gary, Madison, Mark
• Granted Patent: US 10,861,083 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0609 Buyer or seller confidence or verification
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0643 Graphical representation of items or shoppers

Abstract

A user interface operated via at least one consumer computing device, a database, and at least one host computer processor, provide an electronic commerce (eCommerce) environment for secured transactions between consumer and vendor members subscribed to the environment. Digital product images are scaled into digital images of environments of intended use for virtual reality observation. Tags to product representations or other features of media performance transmissions are scanned by consumer members for product purchasing, saving for later purchase, and/or sharing with other consumers (e.g. via social networks). Consumers create their own consumer product store with an inventory of items saved within the environment database for later purchasing or sharing. Original vendors initially providing items saved by consumers are rewarded commissions if later purchased from other vendors. Sharing saved items between consumers is also rewarded and provides an efficient B2C2C sCommerce environment and marketplace centered on products and driven by consumers.

Claims

1. A method for creating, managing, and conducting transactions through, a consumer-controlled electronic product store, comprising:

providing an eCommerce environment comprising a database system, a user interface system comprising a consumer interface operable at least in part by at least one consumer computing device to receive user inputs from and provide information to the consumer, and at least one computer processor;

operating the at least one computer processor to process a set of instructions to;

receive at least one subscription input from the consumer via the consumer interface to subscribe as a consumer member of the environment by creating a consumer member account with a corresponding consumer ID and one or more respective consumer member records within the database system, and such that the consumer member may log off-line out from and then log on-line back into the environment via the consumer interface;

provide a readable storage in the database system for the consumer to store an inventory of saved item records under the consumer member account as a consumer product store controlled by the consumer;

in response to item save inputs from the consumer member via the consumer interface, store item records, which comprise item identification (ID) information tagged to correspond with and identify respective items for potential purchase, in the consumer product store under the respective consumer member'"'"'s account;

maintain the consumer member'"'"'s inventory in the consumer product store while the consumer is logged off-line from the environment, such that the saved item records are thereafter recallable by the consumer member from the inventory at a later on-line access event and time; and

in response to a transaction input for a saved item record, conduct a transaction for the respective item.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the transaction input comprises a purchase input with instructions to purchase the item corresponding to the saved item record; and

the transaction comprises a purchase transaction for the respective item.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein:

the purchase input is provided by the consumer member.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one computer processor is further operated to, in response to a purchase criteria input from the consumer member and which provides at least one purchase term as a criteria for purchasing an item corresponding with a saved item record:

save the purchase term in the database system to correspond with the saved item record;

access at least one set of vendor terms offered by at least one vendor for selling the respective item;

compare the vendor terms against the criteria; and

if the vendor terms meet the criteria, conduct at least one of (a) conduct the purchase transaction for the item with a chosen respective vendor meeting the purchase criteria and according to the respective vendor terms, and (b) notify the consumer member that the purchase criteria is met and such that a purchase transaction may be then conducted for the item with the chosen respective vendor in response to a purchase input from the consumer member.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one computer processor is further operated to, in response to a purchase criteria input from the consumer member and which provides at least one purchase term as a criteria for purchasing a bundled batch of multiple saved item records:

save the at least one purchase term in the database system to correspond with each of the saved item records in the bundled batch;

access at least one set of vendor terms offered from at least one vendor for selling the respective items corresponding with the bundled batch;

compare the vendor terms against the purchase criteria; and

if the vendor terms meet the purchase criteria, then (a) conduct the purchase transaction for the item with a such respective vendor meeting the purchase criteria, or (b) notify the consumer member that the purchase criteria is met and such that a purchase transaction may be then conducted in response to a purchase input from the consumer member.

10. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one computer processor is further operated to:

provide at least one vendor access to review the consumer member store;

receive an offer input from a respective said vendor offering a corresponding set of vendor terms for selling an item associated with a saved item record in the consumer product store;

notify the consumer member of the offered vendor terms; and

conduct at least one of;

(a) in response to a counter input from the consumer member comprising a set of counter terms offered by the consumer member back to the vendor, notify the respective vendor of the counter terms for a vendor acceptance, rejection, or further counter-offer;

or (b) in response to a purchase input from the consumer member corresponding with the offered vendor terms, conduct the purchase transaction for the item between the consumer member and the respective vendor according to the vendor terms.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein:

the offered set of vendor terms are provided by multiple vendors syndicated to sell different respective items, respectively, in the bundled batch.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

monitoring, in relation to a saved item record;

at least one of (a) an initial time, and (b) an initial location of the consumer member, corresponding with the consumer member saving the saved item record;

whether and when a purchase transaction is conducted after the initial time;

at least one of (i) an elapsed time from the initial time, and (ii) a change in location of the consumer member in distance from the initial location, after the initial time and before a purchase transaction is conducted by the consumer member;

providing access for at least one vendor of a respective item corresponding with the saved item record to at least the elapsed time or distance; and

wherein the at least one computer processor is further operated to receive the offer input from the respective said vendor when the elapsed time or distance meets a threshold criteria.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

monitoring a changing location of the consumer member over time;

calculating a distance between the consumer member location and the location of the at least one vendor; and

providing the access for the at least one vendor to review the consumer member store, and also with an opportunity to provide the offer input with the offered vendor terms, when the distance is below a threshold criteria.

18. The method of claim 2, wherein:

the item comprises a product for sale; and

the item ID information comprises product ID information that comprises at least one of a quick response (QR) code, general specifications (GS1) code, or universal product code (UPC).

19. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the transaction input comprises a share input from the consumer member; and

the transaction comprises sharing the item record with another consumer member or via a social network.

20. The method of claim 2, wherein the user interface system further comprises a vendor interface operated via one or more vendor computing devices to receive inputs from and provide information to respective vendors, and further comprising operating the at least one computer processor to:

receive at least one vendor subscription input from a respective vendor via the vendor interface to subscribe as a vendor member of the environment by creating a vendor member account with a corresponding vendor ID and one or more respective vendor member records within the database system, and such that the vendor member may log off-line out from and then log on-line back into the environment via the vendor interface;

in response to item registration inputs from the respective vendors via the vendor interface, register information related to items for sale as sale item records corresponding with the respective vendor member accounts within the database system and as vendor item stores within the environment; and

provide at least one of;

(a) vendor members access to consumer product stores under the environment in order to provide offer inputs to respective consumer members to sell items offered by the respective vendor members also provided within the consumer product stores of the consumer members;

(b) consumer members access to sale item stores under the environment in order to provide purchase inputs to conduct purchase transactions, save inputs to save item records, or share inputs to share item records, corresponding with the sale items in the respective vendor item stores.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

tagging in the database system a saved item record of a consumer member store with a vendor ID corresponding with a source vendor member that provided the consumer member with initial access to the item that then became the saved item record of the consumer member; and

upon a purchase transaction conducted by the consumer member from another vendor other than the source vendor member, providing a sales commission to the source vendor member based upon the item purchase.

25. The method of claim 20, wherein the at least one computer processor is further operated to:

complete the purchase transaction on the consumer member'"'"'s account by reference to a pre-defined set of purchase criteria for the item saved prior to the consumer member providing the purchase input;

determine a real-time set of purchase terms for the item at the time of the purchase input, compare the real-time purchase terms against a saved set of purchase terms associated with the item at an earlier time when the consumer member saved the item in the consumer member'"'"'s store for potential later purchase, and either;

(a) complete the purchase transaction according to the real-time purchase terms if the real-time purchase terms match the saved purchase terms within a pre-determined criteria, or (b) if the real-time purchase terms do not match the saved purchase terms within the pre-determined criteria, suspend the purchase transaction, present the consumer member with the real-time set of purchase terms, allow the consumer member to provide confirm or cancel inputs for the purchase transaction based upon the real-time purchase terms, and complete the purchase transaction upon receipt of a confirm input or cancel the purchase transaction upon receipt of a cancel input;

source the item against a population of vendor members having registered such item within the database system, and determine a vendor member and set of purchase terms based upon a set of purchase terms criteria;

allow multiple such items receiving a purchase input by the consumer member to be purchased via one or multiple vendors, according to a single set of common consumer purchase information, including a source account of payment funds, associated with the consumer member account within the database system;

allow each vendor member, via the respective vendor interface, to provide a link within the environment to an electronic shopping cart hosted by the respective vendor member for conducting purchase transactions of items associated with item records in the respective vendor member account, and such that the purchase transaction is conducted via the linked shopping cart;

search for multiple vendor members providing the item for sale on respective purchase terms provided by each said vendor member within the environment, and present to the consumer member a purchase option between the multiple vendor members and respective terms; and

purchase the item for the consumer member by allowing the consumer member to activate a single purchase trigger according to pre-defined purchase terms accepted by the consumer member.

5-6. -6. (canceled)

8-9. -9. (canceled)

11-12. -12. (canceled)

16-17. -17. (canceled)

22-24. -24. (canceled)

26. An electronic commerce (eCommerce) method, comprising:

providing an eCommerce environment comprising a database system, a user interface system, and at least one computer processor that is operable in an operating mode to process a set of computer instructions stored in a computer readable storage medium to operate the database system and user interface system to;

allow vendors of items for sale to subscribe as vendor members within the environment by creating and storing respective vendor member records corresponding with respective vendor member accounts within the database system and via the user interface system;

allow the vendor members, via the user interface system, to register information related to items for sale as item records corresponding with the respective vendor member accounts within the database system;

allow consumers to subscribe as consumer members of the environment by creating and storing respective consumer member records corresponding with respective consumer member accounts within the database system and via the user interface system;

provide a readable storage in the database system for the consumer member to store an inventory of saved item records on the consumer member'"'"'s account as a consumer product store controlled by the consumer member;

allow a consumer member, via the user interface system, to store item records flagged to respective items for potential purchase under the consumer'"'"'s product store under the respective consumer member'"'"'s account;

maintain the consumer member'"'"'s saved inventory in the consumer product store off-line for the consumer member to recall items from its inventory at a later access event and time after storing the items; and

allow the consumer member to recover the stored record of the flagged item and to provide a purchase input to initiate a purchase transaction for the item.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the processor in the operating mode is further operated to conduct at least one of:

complete the purchase transaction on the consumer member'"'"'s account by reference to a pre-defined set of purchase criteria for the item saved prior to the consumer member providing the purchase input;

determine a real-time set of purchase terms for the item at the time of the purchase input, compare the real-time purchase terms against a saved set of purchase terms associated with the item at an earlier time when the consumer member saved the item in the consumer member'"'"'s store for potential later purchase, and (a) complete the purchase transaction according to the real-time purchase terms if the real-time purchase terms match the saved purchase terms within a pre-determined criteria, or (b) if the real-time purchase terms do not match the saved purchase terms within the pre-determined criteria, suspend the purchase transaction, present the consumer member with the real-time set of purchase terms, allow the consumer member to provide confirm or cancel inputs for the purchase transaction based upon the real-time purchase terms, and complete the purchase transaction upon receipt of a confirm input or cancel the purchase transaction upon receipt of a cancel input;

source the item against a population of vendor members having registered such item within the database system, and determine a vendor member and set of purchase terms based upon a set of purchase terms criteria;

allow multiple such items receiving a purchase input by the consumer member to be purchased via one or multiple vendors, according to a single set of common consumer purchase information, including a source account of payment funds, associated with the consumer member account within the database system;

allow each vendor member, via the user interface system, to provide a link within the environment to an electronic shopping cart hosted by the respective vendor member for conducting purchase transactions of items associated with item records in the respective vendor member account, and such that the purchase transaction is conducted via the linked shopping cart;

search for multiple vendor members providing the item for sale on respective purchase terms provided by each said vendor member within the environment, and present to the consumer member a purchase option between the multiple vendor members and respective terms; and

purchase the item for the consumer member by allowing the consumer member to activate a single purchase trigger according to pre-defined purchase terms accepted by the consumer member.

28. A business-to-consumer-to-consumer (B2C2C) social media commerce (sCommerce) method, comprising:

providing a B2C2C sCommerce environment comprising a database system, a user interface system comprising a consumer interface operated at least in part by at least one consumer computing device to receive user inputs from and provide information to respective consumer users, and at least one computer processor; and

operating the at least one computer processor to process a set of computer instructions to;

receive at least one subscription input from each consumer via the consumer interface to subscribe as a consumer member of the environment by creating a consumer member account with a corresponding consumer ID and one or more respective consumer member records within the database system, and such that the respective consumer member may log off-line out from and then log on-line back into the environment via the consumer interface;

in response to a tag input from a first said consumer member via the respective consumer interface, tag an item record within the database system, and corresponding with an item for sale, with an association to the first consumer member'"'"'s respective consumer ID or consumer member account;

in response to a share input from the first consumer member via the respective consumer interface, share information related to the tagged item with a second consumer member;

track and record the tagged, shared item as corresponding with the first consumer member as a first source consumer member and with the second consumer member as a first recipient consumer member;

in response to a purchase input from the first recipient consumer member, or from a third consumer member as a subsequent recipient consumer member following a second sharing of the tagged item shared by the first recipient consumer member as a second source consumer member, conduct a purchase transaction for the tagged item on behalf of the respective consumer member; and

provide a benefit to the first source consumer member as a result of at least one of (a) the item sharing and (b) the purchase transaction.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the benefit comprises a commission payment based upon a price paid for the item in the purchase transaction.

30-36. -36. (canceled)

37. A method for tagging and processing media content of a media performance transmitted to a user, comprising:

transmitting the media performance to a consumer user;

transmitting a tag to the user to coincide with the media performance transmission, wherein the tag comprises tag information corresponding with a feature of the media content;

operating a user interface at least in part via a computing device of the user for providing information to the user and receiving user inputs from the user; and

operating at least one computer processor according to a set of instructions to;

based at least in part upon receipt of the tag by the user, provide the user with feature identification (ID) information and transaction information for conducting a transaction related to the feature;

upon providing the feature ID and transaction information or following a user input in response to the user'"'"'s receipt of the feature ID and transaction information, provide at least one transaction prompt via the user interface to receive at least one transaction input from the user to conduct an electronic transaction associated with the feature; and

upon receiving said at least one transaction input, conduct the electronic transaction.

38. The method of claim 37, further comprising:

transmitting the tag as a signal that is (a) a portion of the media content itself in the media performance transmission, or (b) a separate signal from but embedded or superimposed with the media content in the media performance transmission;

receiving the media and corresponding tag transmission via a receiver coupled to the user'"'"'s computing device and operable by the user via the user interface; and

operating the at least one computer processor to signal process the tag transmission received via the receiver to derive and provide the tag information to associate the tag with and identify the feature.

39-94. -94. (canceled)