Portal switch for electronic commerce

• US 6,907,401 B1
• Filed: 03/13/2000
• Issued: 06/14/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/13/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Level 3 Communications LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Genuity Inc. (Lumen Technologies, Inc.), Verizon Corporate Services Group Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Mills, Cynthia Grace, Vittal, John Jacques, Brothers, Laurence Raphael
• Primary Examiner(s): Rosen, Nicholas D.
• Application Number:
  US09/524,112
• Time in Patent Office: 1,919 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26, 705/25, 705/27, 709/228, 707/9, 707/10
• US Class Current: 705/26.2
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0605 Supply or demand aggregation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0609 Buyer or seller confidence or verification
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces

Abstract

A portal switch is provided that controls participation of merchants in on-line aggregators, such as portals, used for buying and selling goods and services. Merchants may enable or disable participation in an aggregator site by turning on or off software settings. When participation is enabled, the merchant'"'"'s site makes its catalog entries and merchant profile available to the aggregator. By enabling or disabling the switch, the merchant actively expresses a willingness to participate in (or, conversely, a desire to be excluded from) the aggregator.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method to permit a merchant to selectively participate in an aggregator, comprising:

(a) providing software recognized by the aggregator to the merchant;

(b) allowing the merchant, whose information has not been made available to the aggregator, to activate the software;

(c) activating the software by the merchant, said activating permitting participation in the aggregator by controlling a portal switch to permit users of the aggregator to connect to a merchant site to access merchant data including data available to the users only by accessing the merchant site from the aggregator through the portal switch;

(d) controlling the portal switch; and

(e) connecting to a merchant site.

2. A method as in claim 1, further comprising allowing the aggregator to specify data transfer parameters to influence an exchange of information between a computer associated with the merchant and the aggregator.

3. A method as in claim 2, further comprising providing the merchant with an encryption key to permit the aggregator to verify authenticity of said merchant.

4. A method as in claim 1, wherein allowing the merchant to activate the software includes allowing the merchant to set the portal switch to specify data transfer parameters, services and data that may be exchanged between the merchant and the aggregator.

5. A method as in claim 4, further comprising providing the merchant with an encryption key to permit the aggregator to verify authenticity of said merchant.

6. A method as in claim 4, wherein allowing the merchant to set the portal switch to specify data transfer parameters, services and data includes allowing the merchant to set the portal switch to specify at least one of an upload option, a transfer format, a pricing option, a placement, a shopping option, a data distribution, and a data lifetime.

7. A method as in claim 6, wherein the transfer format is at least one of a profile format, an ASCII text, a spreadsheet, an interoperable catalogue format, a database exchange format, and an electronic data interchange.

8. A method as in claim 6, wherein the upload option includes a transfer protocol for the data that may be exchanged by the merchant and the aggregator.

9. A method as in claim 8, wherein the transfer protocol is at least one of a hypertext transfer protocol, a file transfer protocol, an xmodem protocol, a standard query language, a simple mail transfer protocol, and an open database connectivity.

10. A method as in claim 6, wherein the pricing option allows the aggregator to display a price of goods or services of the merchant to a user of the aggregator.

11. A method as in claim 6, wherein the data lifetime specifies a period of time during which data from the merchant may be displayed to a user of the aggregator.

12. A method as in claim 6, wherein the placement influences where data from the merchant may be displayed to a user of the aggregator.

13. A portal switch, residing on a computer-readable medium, for selectively linking a computer associated with a merchant to an aggregator, the portal switch causing said computer to:

(a) enable the merchant to participate in said aggregator based on a setting of said portal switch selected by said merchant;

(b) exchange information between said computer and said aggregator based on the setting of said portal switch, wherein to participate in the aggregator, information regarding the merchant need not have been made available to the aggregator; and

(c) connect users of the aggregator to a merchant site to access merchant data through said portal switch, the portal switch enabling access to merchant data including data available to the users only through the portal switch.

14. A portal switch as in claim 13, further comprising an encryption key to permit the aggregator to verify authenticity of the merchant.

15. A portal switch as in claim 13, wherein the aggregator specifies data transfer parameters to influence an exchange of information between the computer and the aggregator.

16. A portal switch as in claim 15, further comprising an encryption key to permit the aggregator to verify authenticity of the merchant.

17. A portal switch as in claim 13, wherein said setting specifies data transfer parameters, services and data that may be exchanged between the computer and the aggregator.

18. A portal switch as in claim 17, wherein data transfer parameters, services, and data include an upload option, a transfer format, a pricing option, a placement, a shopping option, a data distribution, and a data lifetime.

19. A portal switch as in claim 18, wherein the transfer format is at least one of a profile format, an ASCII text, a spreadsheet, an interoperable catalogue format, a database exchange format, and an electronic data interchange.

20. A portal switch as in claim 18, wherein the upload option includes a transfer protocol for the information exchanged between said computer and the aggregator.

21. A portal switch as in claim 20, wherein the transfer protocol is at least one of a hypertext transfer protocol, a file transfer protocol, an xmodem protocol, a standard query language, a simple mail transfer protocol, and an open database connectivity.

22. A portal switch as in claim 18, wherein the pricing option allows the aggregator to display a price of goods or services of the merchant to a user of the aggregator.

23. A portal switch as in claim 18, wherein the data lifetime specifies a period of time during which data from the merchant may be displayed to a user of the aggregator.

24. A portal switch as in claim 18, wherein the placement influences where data from the computer associated with the merchant may be displayed to a user of the aggregator.

25. A portal switch, residing on a computer-readable medium, for selectively linking a computer associated with a merchant to an aggregator, the portal switch causing said computer to:

(a) enable the merchant to participate in said aggregator based on a setting of said portal switch selected by said merchant;

(b) exchange information between said computer and said aggregator based on the setting of said portal switch;

(c) enable the merchant to give permission to the aggregator to display data associated with the merchant to a user of the aggregator, wherein to participate in the aggregator, information regarding the merchant need not be made available to the aggregator; and

(d) connect users of the aggregator to a merchant site to access merchant data through said portal switch, the portal switch enabling access to merchant data including data available to the users only through the portal switch.