Electronic commerce with shopping list builder

• US 6,249,773 B1
• Filed: 03/26/1998
• Issued: 06/19/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: PayPal, Inc. (PayPal Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Konopik, Brad J., Toohey, James J., Allard, David J., Szabo, Robert M., Fortenberry, Keith N.
• Primary Examiner(s): Millin, Vincent
• Assistant Examiner(s): ROSEN, NICHOLAS D
• Application Number:
  US09/048,520
• Time in Patent Office: 1,181 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26, 705/27, 705/1, 705/10
• US Class Current: 705/26.8
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing

Abstract

A method for engaging in electronic commerce (e-commerce) over a network from an e-commerce site, comprises the steps of: storing data representing an inventory of items for sale at the e-commerce site; storing historic and active shopping lists of respective shoppers at the e-commerce site; providing logged on shoppers with a shopping list builder tool for constructing entirely new shopping lists and for constructing new shopping lists from said stored shopping lists; accepting completed active shopping lists from the logged on shoppers; consummating purchases of products on the accepted lists; and, delivering the purchased products to the shoppers. The method can further comprise the step of: storing authorization data enabling shoppers to purchase the items at the e-commerce site on credit. Shoppers can use the shopping list builder to create, modify, delete and merge named lists. A permanent cumulative shopping list can be compiled for each shopper.

Claims

1. A method for engaging in electronic commerce (e-commerce) over a network from an e-commerce site, comprising the steps of:

storing data representing an inventory of items for sale at said e-commerce site;

storing shopping lists of respective shoppers at said e-commerce site;

storing pick lists of respective shoppers at said e-commerce site;

providing logged on shoppers with a shopping list builder tool for constructing entirely new pick lists beginning with no items in said new pick list, and for constructing new pick lists from said stored pick lists by selectively marking items in said stored pick lists for inclusion in said new pick list, each said pick list for use in completing a shopping list and each said pick list stored for defining subsequent pick lists;

accepting completed shopping lists from said logged on shoppers;

consummating purchases of products on said accepted shopping lists; and

,

delivering said purchased products to said shoppers.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

storing authorization data enabling shoppers to purchase said items at said e-commerce site on credit; and

,

authorizing shoppers to purchase said items as said shoppers log on to said e-commerce site.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of communicating with said shoppers over the Internet.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of communicating with said shoppers over a wide area network.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of communicating with said shoppers over the a local area network.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of communicating with said shoppers over a combination of at least two of the Internet, a wide area network and a local area network.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of delivering said purchased products to said shoppers at a pickup location.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of delivering said purchased products to said shoppers at locations selected by said shoppers.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of enabling said shoppers to use said shopping list builder to create a new pick list.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

enabling said shoppers to use said shopping list builder to merge pick lists; and

,

storing said merged pick lists in a new pick list.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of enabling said shoppers to use said shopping list builder to modify a pick list.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of enabling said shoppers to use said shopping list builder to delete a pick list.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of enabling said shoppers to use said shopping list builder to search the inventory data base for specific products by brand name and product type.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

compiling a cumulative pick list for each shopper;

enabling each shopper to access each shopper'"'"'s own cumulative pick list; and

,

preventing shoppers from deleting and modifying said cumulative pick lists.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of enabling said shoppers to use said shopping list builder to create, merge, modify and delete said pick lists.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising the step of enabling said shoppers to use said shopping list builder to search the inventory data base for specific products by brand name and product type.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising the steps of:

compiling a cumulative pick list for each shopper;

enabling each shopper to access each shopper'"'"'s own cumulative pick list; and

,

preventing shoppers from deleting and modifying said cumulative pick lists.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising the step of communicating with said shoppers over at least one of the Internet, a wide area network and a local area network.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising the step of communicating with said shoppers over a combination of at least two of the Internet, a wide area network and a local area network.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

displaying lists of product specials; and

,

enabling said shoppers to select said product specials for addition to a pick list in progress, for addition to a virtual shopping cart, or both.

27. The computer server of claim 1, further comprising:

means for displaying lists of product specials; and

,

means for enabling said shoppers to select said product specials for addition to a pick list in progress, for addition to a virtual shopping cart, or both.

21. A computer web server programmed with a routine set of instructions for supporting electronic commerce (e-commerce) over a network from an e-commerce site, said computer server comprising:

means for storing data representing an inventory of items for sale at said e-commerce site;

means for storing shopping lists of respective shoppers at said e-commerce site;

means for storing pick lists of respective shoppers at said e-commerce site;

means for providing logged on shoppers with a shopping list builder tool for constructing entirely new pick lists beginning with no items in said new pick list, and for constructing new pick lists from said stored pick lists by selectively marking items in said stored pick lists for inclusion in said new pick list, each said pick list for use in completing a shopping list and each said pick list stored for defining subsequent pick lists;

means for accepting completed shopping lists from said logged on shoppers;

means for consummating purchases of products on said accepted shopping lists; and

,

means for delivering said purchased products to said shoppers.

22. The computer server of claim 21, further comprising:

means for storing authorization data enabling shoppers to purchase said items at said e-commerce site on credit; and

,

means for authorizing shoppers to purchase said items as said shoppers log on to said e-commerce site.

23. The computer server of claim 21, further comprising:

means for compiling a cumulative pick list for each shopper;

means for enabling each shopper to access each shopper'"'"'s own cumulative pick list; and

,

means for preventing shoppers from deleting and modifying said cumulative pick lists.

24. The computer server of claim 21, wherein said shopping list builder comprises means for enabling said shoppers to use said shopping list builder to create, merge, modify and delete said pick lists.

25. The computer server of claim 21, further comprising means for enabling said shoppers to use said shopping list builder to search the inventory data base for specific products by brand name and product type.

26. The computer server of claim 21, further comprising means for communicating with said shoppers over at least one of the Internet, a wide area network and a local area network.

28. A method for engaging in electronic commerce (e-commerce) over a network from an e-commerce site, comprising the steps of:

storing data representing an inventory of items for sale at said e-commerce site;

storing shopping lists of respective shoppers at said e-commerce site;

storing pick lists of respective shoppers at said e-commerce site;

providing logged on shoppers with a pick list builder tool for populating entirely new pick lists with items from said inventory, and with items from said stored pick lists by selectively marking items in said stored pick lists for inclusion in said new pick list;

providing logged on shoppers with a shopping list builder tool for creating shopping lists from said stored pick lists;

consummating purchases of products on said created shopping lists; and

,

delivering said purchased products to said shoppers.