Method and system for integrating transaction mechanisms over multiple internet sites

• US 6,643,624 B2
• Filed: 03/20/1998
• Issued: 11/04/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 03/09/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Mathur, Rakesh, Rajaraman, Anand, Philippe, Yan
• Primary Examiner(s): Hafiz, Tariq R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): MEINECKE DIAZ, SUSANNA M
• Application Number:
  US09/066,739
• Publication Number:
  US 20010016828A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,055 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26, 705/27, 705/4, 705/38, 707/507, 707/508
• US Class Current: 705/26.8
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/12 Use of codes for handling textual entities
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/123 Storage facilities
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/174 Form filling; Merging
• 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 30/0625 Directed, with specific intent or strategy
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0635 Processing of requisition or of purchase orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces

Abstract

A method for effecting transactions across multiple vendors in an integrated environment, wherein the user may purchase each of a plurality of items the user finds independent of the vendors. The user'"'"'s selections are received from the user and mapped to selected set of vendors. When the user is finished, she invokes a check-out application to fill in one or many order entry forms for each of the relevant vendors whose goods the user selected during the course of shopping. The check-out application uses common information, such as name, address and credit card number, previously provided by the user in order to fill in the order entry forms for each vendor without requiring the user to fill in these forms. Finally, the check-out application tracks confirmation numbers in a common information store.

Claims

1. A method for effecting transactions across a plurality of vendors in an internet environment, wherein a user may purchase each of a plurality of items the user finds independent of the vendors, comprising:

displaying the plurality of items for purchase, the plurality of items drawn from the plurality of vendors;

receiving from the user a selection of items to purchase from the plurality of items, the selection of items comprising items from a set of vendors from the plurality of vendors;

mapping the selection of items to purchase to the set of vendors;

determining order entry form identifiers for the set of vendors;

determining matching patterns using the order entry form identifiers, wherein the matching patterns are stored in a database;

matching the matching patterns to web pages of the set of vendors, wherein the web pages are associated with order entry forms;

for one of the web pages that matches one of the matching patterns, parsing the order entry form for that web page to obtain attributes, wherein the attributes are fields in the order entry form to be filled in;

identifying properties required to fill in the order entry form, the properties corresponding to user related information stored in a database;

transforming data formats of the properties to yield values that match data formats of the attributes using a transformation function, wherein the values are user related information in the data formats of the attributes;

automatically filling the order entry form by entering the values into the attributes; and

submitting the order entry form to one of the set of vendors.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein transforming the data formats of the properties to yield values that match the data formats of the attributes using the transformation function further comprises:

concatenating two of the properties to yield a value that can be filled into at least one of the attributes in the order entry form.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein displaying the plurality of items for purchase further comprises:

searching the internet environment for the plurality of items matching a set of user specified criterion; and

displaying a first web page comprising the plurality of items matching the set of user specified criterion.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

passing control to the user after filling the order entry form, wherein the user performs a confirming operation prior to submitting the order entry form to the one vendor.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

tracking confirmation information returned by the one vendor in response to submitting the order entry form to the one vendor.

6. A method for effecting transactions across a plurality of vendors in an internet environment, wherein a user may purchase each of a plurality of items the user finds independent of the vendors, comprising:

displaying the plurality of items for purchase, the plurality of items drawn from the plurality of vendors;

receiving from the user a selection of items to purchase from the plurality of items, the selection of items comprising items from a set of vendors from the plurality of vendors;

mapping the selection of items to purchase to the set of vendors;

determining a plurality of order entry form identifiers corresponding to the set of vendors for the selection of items;

determining matching patterns using the order entry form identifiers, wherein the matching patterns are stored in a database;

matching the matching patterns to web pages containing order entry forms that are associated with the set of vendors;

for one of the web pages that matches one of the matching patterns, parsing the order entry form for that web page to obtain attributes, wherein the attributes are fields in the order entry form to be filled in;

identifying properties required to fill in the order entry form, the properties corresponding to user related information stored in a database;

transforming data formats of the properties to yield values that match data formats of the attributes using a transformation function, wherein the values are user related information in the data formats of the attributes;

filling the order entry form by entering the values into the attributes;

passing control to the user after filling the plurality of forms to perform a confirming operation;

submitting the order entry form to a first vendor in the set of vendors in response to the confirming operation; and

tracking confirmation information returned by the first vendor in response to submitting the order entry form.

7. A method for effecting transactions across a plurality of nodes, wherein a user may make a plurality of transactions with said plurality of nodes, comprising:

displaying the plurality of transactions from which to choose, the plurality of transactions drawn from the plurality of nodes;

receiving from the user a selection from the plurality of transactions, the selection comprising transactions with a set of nodes from the plurality of nodes;

mapping the selection to the set of nodes;

determining a plurality of order entry form identifiers corresponding to the set of nodes for the selection based upon selectable criterion;

determining matching patterns using the order entry form identifiers, wherein the matching patterns are stored in a database;

matching the matching patterns to web pages containing order entry forms that are associated with the set of nodes;

for one of the web pages that matches one of the matching patterns, parsing the order entry form for that web page to obtain attributes, wherein the attributes are fields in the order entry form to be filled in;

identifying properties required to fill in the order entry form, the properties corresponding to user related information stored in a database;

transforming data formats of the properties to yield values that match data formats of the attributes using a transformation function, wherein the values comprise user related information in the data formats of the attributes;

automatically filling the order entry form by entering the values into the attributes; and

submitting the order entry form to one of the set of nodes.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the plurality of nodes are web sites on an internet.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the plurality of nodes are web sites on an intranet.

10. The method of claim 7 wherein the plurality of nodes are web sites on an Internet.

11. A system for effecting transactions across a plurality of vendors in an internet environment, wherein a user may purchase each of a plurality of items the user finds independent of the vendors, comprising:

a client system;

a server in communication with the client system;

wherein the client system is configured to display to the user the plurality of items for purchase, the plurality of items drawn from the plurality of vendors;

wherein the client system is configured to receive from the user a selection of items to purchase from the plurality of items, the selection of items comprising items from a set of vendors from the plurality of vendors;

wherein the server is configured to map the selection of items to purchase to the set of vendors;

wherein the server is configured to determine a plurality of order entry form identifiers corresponding to the set of vendors for the selection of items, to determine matching patterns using the order entry form identifiers, and to match the matching patterns to web pages containing order entry forms that are associated with the set of vendors, the matching patterns being stored in a database;

wherein the server is configured to parse at least one of the order entry forms that is contained in a web page that matches one of the matching patterns to obtain attributes and to identify properties required to fill in that order entry form, the properties corresponding to user related information stored in a database and the attributes being fields in the order entry form;

wherein the server is configured to transform data formats of the properties to yield values that match data formats of the attributes using a transformation function, wherein the values comprise user related information in the data formats of the attributes;

wherein the server is configured to fill the order entry form by entering the values into the attributes; and

wherein the server is configured to submit the order entry form to one of the set of vendors.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the selection of items to purchase is indicated by the user by means of clicking an icon.

13. The system of claim 11 wherein:

the server is configured to search the internet environment for the plurality of items matching a set of user specified criterion; and

the client system is configured to display a first web page comprising the plurality of items matching the set of user specified criterion.

14. The system of claim 11 wherein the server and the client system are further configured to pass control to the user after filling the order entry form, wherein the user performs a confirming operation prior to submitting the order entry form to the one vendor.

15. The system of claim 11 wherein the server is further configured to track confirmation information returned by the one vendor in response to submitting the order entry form to the one vendor.

16. A computer program product embodied on a computer readable storage medium for effecting transactions across a plurality of vendors in an internet environment, wherein a user may purchase each of a plurality of items the user finds independent of the vendors, comprising:

code for displaying the plurality of items for purchase, the plurality of items drawn from the plurality of vendors;

code for receiving from the user a selection of items to purchase from the plurality of items, the selection of items comprising items from a set of vendors from the plurality of vendors;

code for mapping the selection of items to purchase to the set of vendors;

code for determining order entry form identifiers corresponding to the set of vendors for the selection of items based upon selectable criterion;

code for determining matching patterns using the order entry form identifiers, wherein the matching patterns are stored in a database;

code for matching the matching patterns to web pages containing order entry forms that are associated with the set of vendors;

for one of the web pages that matches one of the matching patterns, code for parsing the order entry form for that web page to obtain attributes, wherein the attributes are fields in the order entry form to be filled in;

code for identifying properties required to fill in the order entry form, the properties corresponding to user related information stored in a database;

code for transforming data formats of the properties to yield values that match data formats of the attributes using a transformation function, wherein the values comprise user related information in the data formats of the attributes;

code for filling in the order entry form by entering the values into the attributes; and

code for submitting the form to one of the set of vendors.

17. The computer program product of claim 16 wherein the selection of items to purchase is indicated by the user by means of clicking an icon.

18. The computer program product of claim 16 wherein the code for providing to the user the plurality of items for purchase further comprises:

code for searching the internet environment for the plurality of items matching a set of user specified criterion; and

code for displaying a first web page comprising the plurality of items matching the set of user specified criterion.

19. The computer program product of claim 16 further comprising:

code for passing control to the user after filling the order entry form, wherein the user performs a confirming operation prior to submitting the order entry form to the one vendor.

20. The computer program product of claim 16 further comprising:

code for tracking confirmation information returned by the one vendor in response to submitting the order entry form to the one vendor.