System and method for promoting commerce, including sales agent assisted commerce, in a networked economy

• US 6,965,868 B1
• Filed: 01/24/2000
• Issued: 11/15/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 08/03/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Michael David Bednarek
• Original Assignee: Michael David Bednarek
• Inventors: Bednarek, Michael David
• Primary Examiner(s): MEINECKE DIAZ, SUSANNA M
• Application Number:
  US09/490,087
• Time in Patent Office: 2,122 Days
• Field of Search: 705/8, 705/26, 705/9, 705/10, 379/265.04, 379/265.07, 379/265.08, 379/265.09, 379/265.12, 379/266.02
• US Class Current: 705/7.14
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0203 Market surveys; Market polls
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]

Abstract

A personal communication and electronic commerce system for use by participating users and participating merchants in connection with incentive programs in the Network Economy. The system includes a cellular communication network that includes geographically spaced base stations that are linked to a fixed communication network. Users may have personal communication devices that can be used to allow a digital message generated on the personal communication devices by placing a call through one of the base stations and memory for storing a digital value corresponding to a monetary value. The personal communication device may also be used as a cellular position locator to determine one'"'"'s geographic location and, if desired, to access information from a merchant information database containing information pertaining to a plurality of participating merchants located within the geographic territory covered by the cellular communication network. The merchant information may be stored on a database that is accessible by merchants so those merchants can add, delete or alter information contained in their respective listings. An incentive system is also provided for creating incentives for participating users to encourage. This computer implemented incentive program for encouraging certain participant actions includes a first reward program under which participants may earn points for certain actions and a second reward program through which the redemption rate associated with a particular participant is adjusted in response to certain participant action. The incentive program has a wide range of applications, including transportation, financial services and computer gaming.

Claims

1. A computer implemented process for facilitating electronic commerce by establishing communication connections between distributed agents and distributed customers comprising:

establishing a communication connection with a remote agent;

receiving, from the remote agent, log in information sufficient to associate a unique ID with the remote agent;

associating expertise data indicative of an expertise of the remote agent with the remote agent'"'"'s unique ID;

updating a record of available remote agents to indicate that the remote agent is available;

establishing a communication connection with a remote customer;

providing the remote customer information, including the unique ID and expertise data, pertaining to remote agents that are logged in;

receiving, from the remote customer, data indicative of selection of a remote agent and establishing a communication link between the remote agent and the remote customer; and

retrieving product-related data from a database in response to data received from the remote agent and transmitting the product-related data to the remote customer.

2. The computer implemented process for facilitating electronic commerce by establishing communication connections between distributed remote agents and distributed customers of claim 1, further comprising a certification process for certifying remote agents as having expertise with regard to certain products, services, vendors or departments and storing a record of the certification in association with the unique ID of the remote agent.

3. The computer implemented process for facilitating electronic commerce by establishing communication connections between distributed remote agents and distributed customers of claim 1, wherein the process comprises receiving, from the remote customer, information concerning an area of interest and, in response, determining which remote agents, among a set comprising all remote agents that are logged in, have expertise in the area of interest and identifying a subset of remote agents having expertise in the area of interest and providing the remote customer the unique ID of remote agents having expertise in the area of interest.

4. The computer implemented process for facilitating electronic commerce by establishing communication connections between distributed remote agents and distributed customers of claim 3, comprising:

a certification process for certifying remote agents as having expertise with regard to certain products, services, vendors or departments;

determining which remote agents, among a set comprising all remote agents that are logged in, are certified and having expertise in the customer'"'"'s area of interest;

notifying remote customers of the ID of remote agents that are online and have expertise in the customer'"'"'s area of interest;

providing the remote agent access to a set of additional information including at least one of video, graphic or other sensory images based upon the remote agent'"'"'s certified expertise; and

allowing the remote agent to cause information from the set of additional information to be received by a remote customer.

5. The computer implemented process for facilitating electronic commerce by establishing communication connections between distributed remote agents and distributed customers of claim 1, further comprising a customer feedback process for receiving, from customers, feedback regarding a remote sales agent and storing a record of the customer feedback in association with the unique ID of the remote agent.

6. The computer implemented process for facilitating electronic commerce by establishing communication connections between distributed remote agents and distributed customers of claim 1, wherein the process comprises certifying remote agents as having expertise with regard to certain products, services, vendors or departments and storing a record of the certification in association with the unique ID of the remote agent.

7. The computer implemented process for facilitating electronic commerce by establishing communication connections between distributed remote agents and distributed customers of claim 1, wherein the process comprises retrieving data indicative of the remote customer'"'"'s purchase of at least one item and, in response to receipt of such data, creating a record of purchase that is associated with the unique ID of the remote agent that assisted the remote customer with the purchase.

8. The computer implemented process for facilitating electronic commerce by establishing communication connections between distributed remote agents and distributed customers of claim 7, further comprising determining a monetary payment due to the remote agent and creating a data record of the monetary payment due to the remote agent and associating the data record with the unique ID of the remote agent.

9. The computer implemented process for facilitating electronic commerce by establishing communication connections between distributed remote agents and distributed customers of claim 1, further comprising establishing a direct peer-to-peer communication link between the remote agent and the remote customer.

10. The computer implemented process for facilitating electronic commerce by establishing communication connections between distributed remote agents and distributed customers of claim 1, wherein the remote customer and remote agent communicate with one another by telephone.

11. The computer implemented process for facilitating electronic commerce by establishing communication connections between distributed remote agents and distributed customers of claim 1, wherein the remote customer and remote agent communicate with one another through computers linked through the global information network.

12. The computer implemented process for facilitating electronic commerce by establishing communication connections between distributed remote agents and distributed customers of claim 2, comprising allowing a remote agent to personally select product information to be displayed on a remote customer'"'"'s display wherein the remote agent'"'"'s access to product information is determined based upon the remote agent'"'"'s expertise.

13. The computer implemented process for facilitating electronic commerce by establishing communication connections between distributed remote agents and distributed customers of claim 12, further comprising allowing the remote agent to push instructions for recreating sensory images to the remote customer using push technology.

14. The computer implemented process for facilitating electronic commerce by establishing communication connections between distributed remote agents and distributed customers of claim 1, further comprising associating a ranking with the remote agent'"'"'s unique ID wherein the ranking is based on at least one objective factor and displaying the rankings of available agents to remote customers.

15. A computer implemented system for facilitating electronic commerce by establishing a communication connection between a customer support agent and a remote customer comprising a computer system for:

storing customer support agent information regarding a set of customer support agents, the customer support agent information including information regarding previous customer feedback and areas of expertise of individual customer support agents within the set of customer support agents;

allowing customer support agents to log in to the system from remote locations;

maintaining a list of a subset of customer support agents that are logged in;

obtaining, from the remote customer, an area of interest;

determining which customer support agents, among the subset of customer agents that are logged in, have expertise in the customer'"'"'s area of interest;

providing a list of available customer support agents to a remote customer;

providing the remote customer with information, including an unique ID, previous customer feedback and areas of expertise for the customer support agents;

receiving a request from the remote customer for establishing a communication connection between the remote customer and the customer support agent; and

establishing a communication connection between the remote customer and the customer support agent selected by the customer wherein the system provides the customer support agent access to additional information concerning the products, including at least one of video, graphic or other sensory images based upon the customer support agent'"'"'s level of expertise.

16. The computer implemented system for facilitating electronic commerce by establishing a communication connection between a customer support agent and a remote customer of claim 15, wherein the computer system allows remote customer support agents to sign into the system through the global information network, the system includes a certification process that allows the remote customer support agents to be certified as having predetermined expertise and wherein the system notifies remote customers as to which remote agents are online and the certification of the remote customer support agents.