Method and system for placing a purchase order via a communications network

• US 7,222,087 B1
• Filed: 09/11/1998
• Issued: 05/22/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/12/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Amazon.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Amazon.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Mohit, Maryam, Bezos, Jeffrey P., Kaphan, Sheldon J., Pope, Gene, McQueen, Colleen, Prudente, James
• Primary Examiner(s): Rosen; Nicholas D.
• Application Number:
  US09/151,617
• Time in Patent Office: 3,175 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26, 705/27
• US Class Current: 705/26.81
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/04 Payment circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/12 specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0635 Processing of requisition or of purchase orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 9/002 Vending machines being part of a centrally controlled network of vending machines

Abstract

A method and system for placing an order to purchase an item via the Internet. The order is placed by a purchaser at a client system and received by a server system. The server system receives purchaser information including identification of the purchaser, payment information, and shipment information from the client system. The server system then assigns a client identifier to the client system and associates the assigned client identifier with the received purchaser information. The server system sends to the client system the assigned client identifier and an HTML document identifying the item and including an order button. The client system receives and stores the assigned client identifier and receives and displays the HTML document. In response to the selection of the order button, the client system sends to the server system a request to purchase the identified item. The server system receives the request and combines the purchaser information associated with the client identifier of the client system to generate an order to purchase the item in accordance with the billing and shipment information whereby the purchaser effects the ordering of the product by selection of the order button.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for ordering an item using a client system, the method comprising:

displaying information identifying the item at the client computer system;

receiving from a user an indication of a recipient to whom the ordered item is to be delivered;

displaying an indication of an action that is to be performed by the user to order the item; and

in response to the indicated action being performed, sending to a server system an indication that the item is to be ordered and the indication of the recipient to whom the ordered item is to be delivered

whereby when the server system does not have sufficient information for the indicated recipient to deliver the ordered item, the server system automatically obtains additional information from one or more external information sources other than the user that is sufficient to deliver the ordered item to the indicated recipient.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the indication of the recipient is an electronic mail address.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the displaying of the information identifying the item and the displaying of the indication of the action to be performed are performed before the receiving of the indication of the recipient from the user.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the client system and the server system communicate via the Internet.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein sending includes sending an identifier of the client system.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the displaying is effected by displaying an HTML document provided by the server system.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the action is a single action.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the single action is clicking a mouse button when a cursor is positioned over a predefined area of the display.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the server system obtains the additional information by contacting the recipient directly.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the recipient is contacted directly via electronic mail.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein the recipient is contacted directly via a voice telephone call.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the server system obtains the additional information by collecting information from one or more information sources selected from among an Internet-based telephone database, an Internet-based electronic mail database, a local telephone database, a local electronic mail database, an Internet-based search engine, and a database of information relating to the domain name registration of an electronic mail address of the recipient.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the server system obtains the additional information by collecting information from one or more information sources selected from among an Internet-based telephone database, an Internet-based electronic mail database, a local telephone database, a local electronic mail database, an Internet-based search engine, and a database of information relating to the domain name registration of an electronic mail address of the recipient.

14. A computer-implemented method for ordering an item, the method comprising:

sending to a client system instructions to display information identifying the item, to input an indication of a recipient to whom the item is to be delivered, and to send the indication of the recipient to the server system when an indicated single action is performed; and

after the indicated single action is performed,

receiving the indication of the recipient from a user of the client system;

determining whether the server system does not have sufficient information for the indicated recipient to deliver the ordered item; and

when the server system does not have sufficient information, automatically obtaining additional information from one or more information sources other than the user that is sufficient to deliver the ordered item to the indicated recipient, the one or more information sources being external to the server system.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the server system obtains the additional information by contacting the recipient directly.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the recipient is contacted directly via electronic mail.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein the recipient is contacted directly via a voice telephone call.

18. The method of claim 15 wherein the server system obtains the additional information by collecting information from one or more information sources selected from among an Internet-based telephone database, an Internet-based electronic mail database, a local telephone database, a local electronic mail database, an Internet-based search engine, and a database of information relating to the domain name registration of an electronic mail address of the recipient.

19. The method of claim 14 wherein the indication of the recipient is an electronic mail address.

20. The method of claim 14 wherein the displaying of the information identifying the item and the displaying of the indication of the action to be performed are performed before the receiving of the indication of the recipient from the user.

21. The method of claim 14 wherein the client system and the server system communicate via the Internet.

22. The method of claim 14 wherein receiving includes receiving an identifier of the client system.

23. The method of claim 14 wherein the instructions are within an HTML document.

24. A computer-implemented method for ordering an item using a client system, the method comprising:

displaying information identifying the item at the client computer system;

receiving from a user an identifier of a group of one or more recipients to whom the ordered item is to be delivered, the identified group having an indication of each recipient in the group;

displaying an indication of an action that is to be performed by the user to order the item; and

in response to the indicated action being performed, sending to a server system an indication that the item is to be ordered and the indication of each recipient in the group to whom the ordered item is to be delivered

whereby when the server system does not have sufficient information for an indicated recipient to deliver the ordered item, the server system automatically obtains additional information from one or more external information sources other than the user that is sufficient to deliver the ordered item to the indicated recipient.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein the indication of a recipient is an electronic mail address.

26. The method of claim 24 wherein the displaying of the information identifying the item and the displaying of the indication of the action to be performed are performed before the receiving of the identifier of the group from the user.

27. The method of claim 24 wherein the client system and the server system communicate via the Internet.

28. The method of claim 24 wherein sending includes sending an identifier of the client system.

29. The method of claim 24 wherein the displaying is effected by displaying an HTML document provided by the server system.

30. The method of claim 24 wherein the action is a single action.

31. The method of claim 30 wherein the single action is clicking a mouse button when a cursor is positioned over a predefined area of the display.

32. The method of claim 30 wherein the server system obtains the additional information by contacting a recipient directly.

33. The method of claim 32 wherein the recipient is contacted directly via electronic mail.

34. The method of claim 32 wherein the recipient is contacted directly via a voice telephone call.

35. A method in a computer system for coordinating the delivery of a gift given by a gift giver to a recipient, the method comprising:

automatically receiving an order from the gift giver, the order identifying a gift to be delivered to the recipient and having contact information describing the recipient;

storing the received order by the computer system in a computer system order database along with an order tracking number;

automatically sending a communication by the computer system to the recipient based on the contact information, the communication requesting delivery information for the gift, the communication including the order tracking number so that the recipient can include the order tracking number in a response to the communication for identification of the stored order

when the recipient does not respond to the communication, automatically collecting additional delivery information for the gift based on the contact information from sources other than the gift giver;

when potential delivery information for the gift has been identified, automatically verifying by the computer system whether the potential delivery information is valid; and

when the delivery location has been verified as being valid,

automatically directing delivery of the gift by the computer system in accordance with the delivery information; and

automatically notifying the gift giver by the computer system that the gift has been sent to the recipient.

36. The method of claim 35 wherein the sending of a communication includes sending an electronic mail message.

37. The method of claim 35 wherein the order is received via access through a Web page.

38. The method of claim 35 wherein the delivery information is an address and where the verifying includes:

checking a database of valid addresses to determine whether the address can be determined to be a valid address; and

when the address can be determined to be a valid address, indicating that the delivery information has been verified; and

when the address cannot be determined to be a valid address, prompting a person to indicate whether the address is valid; and

when the person indicates that the address is valid, indicating that the delivery information has been verified.

39. The method of claim 35 wherein the collecting of additional delivery information includes collecting information from one or more information sources that include an Internet-based telephone database, an Internet-based electronic mail database, a local telephone database, a local electronic mail database, a database of previous recipients and gift givers, an Internet-based search engine, and a database of information relating to the domain name registration of an electronic mail address of the recipient.

40. The method of claim 35 wherein the communications is a telephone call placed to the recipient.

41. The method of claim 35 including when the gift cannot be delivered to the recipient, notifying the gift giver that the gift cannot be delivered.

42. A computer-based gift delivery system for coordinating the delivery of a gift from a gift giver to a recipient, the system comprising:

an order entry component configured to provide a selection of available gifts, to receive a selection of a gift, to receive contact information describing the recipient, and to store the gift order; and

a gift delivery component configured to retrieve the stored gift order, configured to determine whether the contact information includes sufficient delivery information to deliver the gift to the recipient, configured to obtain, responsive to determining that sufficient delivery information is not included, additional information about the recipient by attempting to contact the recipient and by searching various databases of information, at least one said database exterior to the computer system, and configured to direct the sending of the gift to the recipient when sufficient delivery information has been obtained.

43. The gift delivery system of claim 42 wherein the order entry component assigns an order tracking identification to each gift order and wherein the gift delivery component includes the order tracking identification when attempting to contact the recipient.

44. The gift delivery system of claim 42 wherein the gift delivery component searches various Internet-based databases using the recipient name or electronic mail address.

45. The gift delivery system of claim 42 wherein the order entry component receives payment electronically.

46. The gift delivery system of claim 42 wherein the order entry component is accessed via Web pages.

47. A method in a computer system for coordinating the delivery of a gift given by a gift giver to a recipient, the method comprising:

automatically receiving an order from the gift giver, the order identifying a gift to be delivered to the recipient and having contact information relating to the recipient;

storing the received order by the computer system in an order database in association with an order tracking number;

automatically identifying an electronic mail address for the recipient using the contact information received from the gift giver;

automatically sending a first electronic mail message by the computer system to the recipient based on the contact information, the first message requesting delivery information for the gift, the first message including the order tracking number so that the recipient can include the order tracking number in a response to the first message for identification of the stored order;

when a second electronic mail message that responds to the first electronic mail message sent to the recipient is received from the recipient and the received second message has sufficient delivery information,

automatically retrieving the order tracking number and the delivery information from the received second electronic mail message;

automatically retrieving from the order database the order associated with the retrieved order tracking number;

automatically directing delivery of the gift of the retrieved order in accordance with the retrieved delivery information; and

automatically sending a third electronic mail message to the gift giver indicating that the gift is being delivered to the recipient; and

when a second electronic mail message that responds to the first electronic mail message sent to the recipient is received from the recipient but the received second message does not have sufficient delivery information or when no second electronic mail message is received, automatically sending a third electronic mail message by the computer system to the gift giver, the third message indicating that the gift cannot be delivered to the recipient and including the order tracking number so that the gift giver can include the order tracking number for identification of the stored order in a response to the third message that provides additional contact information.

48. The method of claim 47 wherein the identifying of an electronic mail address includes accessing one or more web sites for locating the electronic mail address of the recipient.

49. The method of claim 47 including:

upon receiving the additional contact information, sending an electronic mail message to the recipient based on the additional contact information, the message requesting delivery information for the gift, the message including the order tracking number so that the recipient can include the order tracking number in a response to the message for identification of the stored order.

50. A computer system for ordering an item, the system comprising:

a component that sends to a client system instructions for

displaying information identifying the item at the client computer system;

receiving from a user an indication of a recipient to whom the ordered item is to be delivered;

displaying an indication of an action that is to be performed by the user to order the item; and

in response to the indicated action being performed, sending to a server system an indication that the item is to be ordered and the indication of the recipient to whom the ordered item is to be delivered; and

a component of the server system that, when the server system does not have sufficient information for the indicated recipient to deliver the ordered item, obtains additional information from one or more external information sources other than the user that is sufficient to deliver the ordered item to the indicated recipient.

51. The computer system of claim 50 wherein the indication of the recipient is an electronic mail address.

52. The computer system of claim 50 wherein the displaying of the information identifying the item and the displaying of the indication of the action to be performed are performed by the client system before the receiving of the indication of the recipient from the user.

53. The computer system of claim 50 wherein the client system and the computer system communicate via the Internet.

54. The computer system of claim 50 wherein sending includes sending an identifier of the client system.

55. The computer system of claim 50 wherein the displaying is effected by displaying an HTML document provided by the computer system.