System and method for enabling a user of an E-commerce system to visually view and/or configure a product for purchase

• US 6,985,876 B1
• Filed: 02/07/2000
• Issued: 01/10/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 02/07/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: National Instruments Corporation (Emerson Electric Company)
• Original Assignee: National Instruments Corporation (Emerson Electric Company)
• Inventors: Lee, Reid
• Primary Examiner(s): Smith, Jeffrey A.
• Assistant Examiner(s): HAQ, NAEEM U
• Application Number:
  US09/498,698
• Time in Patent Office: 2,164 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26, 705/27, 345/763, 345/765, 345/771, 345/593, 345/594, 345/661, 345/676, 717/105, 717/109, 717/113
• US Class Current: 705/26.5
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0621 Item configuration or customization
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0643 Graphical representation of items or shoppers

Abstract

A system and method that enables a user to configure a customizable product for purchase in an E-Commerce system. A user may launch a web browser on a client computer system to access a vendor'"'"'s web site to purchase a customizable product. The user may customize the product for purchase by selecting one or more customizable components of the product. A user may select one or more customizable components of the product by using a forms/menu interface or a visual graphical user interface. The vendor'"'"'s web site may receive the one or more user selections for the customized product and may, in response, send data and information to client computer system to visually depict the ‘as purchased’ customized product for user verification and product checkout.

Claims

1. A method for enabling a user to configure a measurement system in an E-Commerce system, wherein the e-commerce system includes a client system coupled through a network to an electronic commerce server, the method comprising:

receiving a request from a user of the client system to configure the measurement system, wherein the measurement system includes one or more customizable components, wherein at least one of the customizable components is a measurement device;

providing customizable component options of the customizable components to the client system for display after receiving said request, wherein said providing the customizable component options includes providing an image of the measurement system to the client system for display, wherein images of at least a subset of the one or more customizable components form at least a portion of the image of the measurement system;

receiving customizable component selections for at least one of the one or more customizable components of the measurement system in response to user input, wherein the customizable component selections applied to the measurement system specify a configured measurement system, wherein said receiving customizable component selections includes;

receiving user input selecting an image of a first customizable component displayed in the image of the measurement system, wherein said receiving user input selecting the image of the first customizable component operates to select the first customizable component for configuration; and

receiving user input selecting a first customizable component option for the first customizable component, wherein the user input selecting the first customizable component option comprises the customizable component selection for the first customizable component; and

providing an image of the configured measurement system to the client system for display, wherein the image of the configured measurement system visually depicts the customizable component selections of the user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said providing the image of the configured measurement system includes providing customizable component selection images corresponding to the customizable component selections of the user.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein at least a subset of the customizable component selection images are visually depicted at their respective locations on the image of the configured measurement system.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein at least a subset of the customizable component selection images are displayed in the image of the configured measurement system.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said providing the image of the configured measurement system includes providing text corresponding to the customizable component selections of the user;

wherein the text is visually depicted proximate to respective locations of the customizable components comprised in the image of the configured measurement system.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the image of the configured measurement system appears substantially like the configured measurement system.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the image of the configured measurement system is viewable by the user and used by the user to evaluate and confirm the customizable component selections.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving one or more new customizable component selections for at least one of the one or more customizable components of the configured measurement system after said providing the image of the configured measurement system to the client system, wherein the new customizable component selections applied to the configured measurement system specify a new configured measurement system;

providing an image of the new configured measurement system, wherein the image of the new configured measurement system visually depicts the new customizable component selections of the user.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said receiving selections includes:

receiving user input selecting a first customizable component;

providing a menu of possible options for the first customizable component to the client system for display after the user input selecting the first customizable component;

receiving user input selecting one of the possible options for the first customizable component.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said receiving user input selecting the image of the first customizable component further includes:

receiving user input indicating a position of a cursor of the client system overlaps the location of the image of the first customizable component displayed in the image of the measurement system.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said receiving customizable component selections further includes:

providing a menu comprising the customizable component options of the first customizable component for display on the client system after said receiving user input selecting the image of the first customizable component.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the menu comprising the customizable component options includes text indicating the customizable component options.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the menu comprising the customizable component options includes images indicating the customizable component options.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the menu is operable to be displayed proximate to the location of the image of the first customizable component.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein said receiving customizable component selections further includes:

providing a sequence of images corresponding to the customizable component options of the first customizable component after said receiving user input selecting the image of the first customizable component.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein said receiving user input selecting the first customizable component option includes:

providing customizable component option images corresponding to the customizable component options of the first customizable component;

receiving user input selecting a first customizable component option image corresponding to the first customizable component option.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein said providing customizable component options of the customizable components to the client system includes providing images of the customizable component options to the client system.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing an image of the first customizable component option for display on the client system in response to said receiving user input selecting the first customizable component option for the first customizable component.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the client system displaying the image of the configured measurement system in response to said providing the customizable component options of the customizable components to the client system, wherein images of at least a subset of the one or more customizable components are displayed in the image of the configured measurement system;

wherein, for each customizable component, the customizable component options are displayed proximate to the image of the customizable component.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the client system displaying customizable component options of the customizable components in response to said providing the customizable component options of the customizable components to the client system; and

the client system displaying the image of the configured measurement system in response to said providing the image of the configured measurement system to the client system for display, wherein the displayed image of the configured measurement system visually depicts the customizable component selections of the user.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the customizable component selections include one or more of:

measurement card;

cable, signal conditioning modules and transducer.

22. A method for enabling a user to configure a computer system in an e-commerce system, wherein the e-commerce system includes a client system coupled through a network to an electronic commerce server, the method comprising:

receiving a request from a user of the client system to purchase the computer system, wherein the computer system includes one or more customizable components;

providing customizable component options of the customizable components to the client system for display after receiving said request, wherein said providing customizable component options of the computer system includes providing an image of the computer system to the client system for display, wherein images of at least a subset of the one or more customizable components form at least a portion of the image of the computer system;

receiving customizable component selections for at least one of the one or more customizable components of the computer system in response to user input, wherein the customizable component selections applied to the computer system specify a configured computer system, wherein said receiving customizable component selections includes;

receiving user input selecting an image of a first customizable component which is displayed in the image of the computer system, wherein said receiving user input selecting the image of the first customizable component operates to select the first customizable component for configuration; and

receiving user input selecting a first customizable component option for the first customizable component, wherein the user input selecting the first customizable component option comprises the customizable component selection for the first customizable component; and

providing an image of the configured computer system to the client system for display, wherein the image of the configured computer system visually depicts the customizable component selections of the user.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein said providing the image of the configured computer system includes providing customizable component selection images corresponding to the customizable component selections of the user.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein at least a subset of the customizable component selection images form at least a portion of the image of the configured computer system.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein at least a subset of the customizable component selection images are displayed in the image of the configured computer system.

26. The method of claim 22, wherein said providing the image of the configured computer system includes providing text corresponding to the customizable component selections of the user;

wherein the text is visually depicted proximate to respective locations of the customizable components comprised in the image of the configured computer system.

27. The method of claim 22, wherein the image of the configured computer system appears substantially like the configured computer system.

28. The method of claim 22, wherein the image of the configured computer system is viewable by the user and used by the user to evaluate and confirm the customizable component selections.

29. The method of claim 28, further comprising:

receiving one or more new customizable component selections for at least one of the one or more customizable components of the configured computer system after said providing the image of the configured computer system to the client system, wherein the new customizable component selections applied to the configured computer system specify a new configured computer system;

providing an image of the new configured computer system, wherein the image of the new configured computer system visually depicts the new customizable component selections of the user.

30. The method of claim 22, wherein said receiving selections includes:

receiving user input selecting a first customizable component;

providing a menu of possible options for the first customizable component to the client system for display after the user input selecting the first customizable component;

receiving user input selecting one of the possible options for the first customizable component.

31. The method of claim 22, wherein said providing customizable component options of the customizable components to the client system includes providing images of the customizable component options to the client system.

32. The method of claim 22, wherein said receiving user input selecting the image of the first customizable component further includes:

receiving user input indicating a position of a cursor of the client system overlaps the location of the image of the first customizable component displayed in the image of the computer system.

33. The method of claim 22, wherein said receiving customizable component selections further includes:

providing a menu comprising the customizable component options of the first customizable component for display on the client system after said receiving user input selecting the image of the first customizable component.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the menu comprising the customizable component options includes text indicating the customizable component options.

35. The method of claim 33, wherein the menu comprising the customizable component options includes images indicating the customizable component options.

36. The method of claim 33, wherein the menu is operable to be displayed proximate to the location of the image of the first customizable component.

37. The method of claim 22, wherein said receiving customizable component selections further includes:

providing a sequence of images corresponding to the customizable component options of the first customizable component after said receiving user input selecting the image of the first customizable component.

38. The method of claim 22, wherein said receiving user input selecting the first customizable component option includes:

providing customizable component option images corresponding to the customizable component options of the first customizable component;

receiving user input selecting a first customizable component option image corresponding to the first customizable component option.

39. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

providing an image of the first customizable component option for display on the client system in response to said receiving user input selecting the first customizable component option for the first customizable component.

40. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

the client system displaying the image of the configured computer system in response to said providing the customizable component options of the customizable components to the client system, wherein images of at least a subset of the one or more customizable components are displayed in the image of the configured computer system;

wherein, for each customizable component, the customizable component options are displayed proximate to the image of the customizable component.

41. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

the client system displaying customizable component options of the customizable components in response to said providing the customizable component options of the customizable components to the client system; and

the client system displaying the image of the configured computer system in response to said providing the image of the configured computer system to the client system for display, wherein the displayed image of the configured computer system visually depicts the customizable component selections of the user.

42. The method of claim 41, wherein the customizable component selections include one or more of:

display, peripheral devices, storage devices, memory size, communication type, memory type.

43. A memory medium comprising program instructions for enabling a user to configure a measurement system in an e-commerce system, wherein the e-commerce system includes a client system coupled through a network to an electronic commerce server, wherein the program instructions are executable to implement:

receiving a request from a user of the client system to configure the measurement system, wherein the measurement system includes one or more customizable components, wherein at least one of the customizable components is a measurement device;

providing customizable component options of the customizable components to the client system for display after receiving said request, wherein said providing the customizable component options of the measurement system includes providing an image of the measurement system to the client system for display, wherein images of at least a subset of the one or more customizable components form at least a portion of the image of the measurement system;

receiving customizable component selections for at least one of the one or more customizable components of the measurement system in response to user input, wherein the customizable component selections applied to the measurement system specify a configured measurement system, wherein said receiving customizable component selections includes;

receiving user input selecting an image of a first customizable component which is displayed in the image of the measurement system, wherein said receiving user input selecting the image of the first customizable component operates to select the first customizable component for configuration; and

receiving user input selecting a first customizable component option for the first customizable component, wherein the user input selecting the first customizable component option comprises the customizable component selection for the first customizable component; and

providing an image of the configured measurement system to the client system for display, wherein the image of the configured measurement system visually depicts the customizable component selections of the user.

44. A memory medium comprising program instructions for enabling a user to configure a computer system in an e-commerce system, wherein the e-commerce system includes a client system coupled through a network to an electronic commerce server, wherein the program instructions are executable to implement:

receiving a request from a user of the client system to purchase the computer system, wherein the computer system includes one or more customizable components;

providing customizable component options of the customizable components to the client system for display after receiving said request, wherein said providing customizable component options of the computer system includes providing an image of the computer system to the client system for display, wherein images of at least a subset of the one or more customizable components form at least a portion of the image of the computer system;

receiving customizable component selections for at least one of the one or more customizable components of the computer system in response to user input, wherein the customizable component selections applied to the computer system specify a configured computer system, wherein said receiving customizable component selections includes;

receiving user input selecting an image of a first customizable component which is displayed in the image of the computer system, wherein said receiving user input selecting the image of the first customizable component operates to select the first customizable component for configuration; and

receiving user input selecting a first customizable component option for the first customizable component, wherein the user input selecting the first customizable component option comprises the customizable component selection for the first customizable component; and

providing an image of the configured computer system to the client system for display, wherein the image of the configured computer system visually depicts the customizable component selections of the user.