Electronic shopping service

• US 7,634,428 B1
• Filed: 09/15/2000
• Issued: 12/15/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/15/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Symbol Technologies, LLC (Zebra Technologies Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Symbol Technologies, Inc. (Zebra Technologies Corporation)
• Inventors: Varatharajah, Anandakumar
• Primary Examiner(s): Garg; Yogesh C
• Application Number:
  US09/663,069
• Time in Patent Office: 3,378 Days
• Field of Search: 705/1, 705/2, 705/14, 705/16, 705/17, 705/21, 705/22, 705/26, 705/27, 705/65, 715/513, 235/375, 235/380
• US Class Current: 705/26.8
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/202 Interconnection or interaction of plural electronic cash registers [ECR] or to host computer, e.g. network details, transfer of information from host to ECR or from ECR to ECR
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/203 Inventory monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/204 comprising interface for record bearing medium or carrier for electronic funds transfer or payment credit
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/367 involving electronic purses or money safes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0609 Buyer or seller confidence or verification
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing

Abstract

Apparatus and methods for an electronic shopping service. The service enables a consumer to select line items from electronic receipts and group them as a review list. The consumer may create groups of people to have access to the review list and may assign access permissions to each of the review groups. A member of a review group may review the items in a review list and comment on the items. The comments may be directed to the consumer or to other members of the review group. The review may be off-line or on-line, as in a chat session or telephone or audiovisual conference. The consumer or a review-group member may order on-line any of the items listed in a review list. The consumer or a review-group member may add products from e-commerce sites to the review list (if so authorized). The shopping service handles the ordering. Where the items to be purchased are from multiple e-commercial sites, the shopping service places multiple orders as necessary, with shipping and payment as directed by the consumer. The shopping service may enable the consumer or a review-group member to match items from a review list for comparison. The comparison may be visual, cost-wise, etc. The service may enable a consumer to upload data to use in the item comparison. Such data may include images of the consumer or of his belongings, for example.

Claims

1. A method for manipulating receipt data, the method comprising:

receiving, on a user computing device, a user selection of a first line item from a first electronic receipt stored on a remotely located data farm, thereby forming an electronic list, wherein the first electronic receipt includes a record of a first purchase transaction;

transmitting the selection to the data farm;

storing the list on the data farm after the selection is made; and

receiving a user authorization for a group of people to remotely review the list, the reviewing performed using at least one remote computing device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of

reviewing the list, the reviewing performed by one of the group of people.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising the step of

receiving, at one of a consumer and a shopping-service coupled to the data farm, an order selection from the one of the group of people for the first line item.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of reviewing comprises viewing and commenting on the list.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of

receiving, on the user computing device, a user selection of a second line item from the first electronic receipt and adding that second line item to the list.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of

receiving, on the user computing device, a user selection of a second line item from a second electronic receipt, wherein the second electronic receipt includes a record of a second purchase transaction, and adding that second line item to the list.

7. A method according to claim 6, further comprising:

generating the first electronic receipt as a result of a first purchase transaction at a first merchant; and

generating the second electronic receipt as a result of a second purchase transaction at a second merchant.

12. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

generating the first electronic receipt as a result of a first purchase transaction at a first merchant.

8. A method for purchasing goods, including services, from multiple merchants, the method comprising:

receiving, on a user computing device, a user'"'"'s selections of first and second goods for purchase on respective first and second websites;

receiving payment for the first and second goods through the second website with one transaction from the user'"'"'s perspective;

generating an electronic receipt for the transaction, the receipt including a line item corresponding to a purchase record for each of the first and second goods; and

storing the electronic receipt in a remote database for later retrieval, wherein the user may select the line items using the user computing device and then store the selection in the remote database, thereby authorizing a group of users to retrieve the line items, the retrieval performed using at least one remote computing device.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of paying comprises

automatically placing first and second orders for the first and second goods with the respective first and second websites.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising the step of

retrieving, using the user computing device, the electronic receipt.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising the step of

presenting an advertisement on the user computing device during the step of paying.

13. A system for manipulating receipt data, the system comprising:

a first e-merchant stored in a first computing device and operable to generate an electronic receipt, wherein the electronic receipt includes a record of a first purchase transaction;

a data farm stored in a memory coupled to the first e-merchant and configured to store the electronic receipt; and

a shopping service stored in a second computing device coupled to the data farm and configured to retrieve the electronic receipt for a consumer and allow the consumer to remotely select a line item from the transaction record, thereby creating a review list stored on the data farm after the selection is made, wherein the shopping service enables the consumer to authorize one of a group of people to remotely review the list, the reviewing performed using at least one remote computing device.

14. A system for manipulating receipt data according to claim 13, further comprising:

a second e-merchant stored in a third computing device coupled to the data farm and operable to generate a second electronic receipt, wherein the second electronic receipt includes a record of a second purchase transaction, the data farm further configured to store the second electronic receipt; and

the shopping service further operable to retrieve the first and second electronic receipts.

15. A computer program product for manipulating receipt data comprising a computer readable memory and a program module, the program module including instructions directing a processor to:

select a first line item from a first electronic receipt, wherein the first electronic receipt includes a record of a purchase transaction;

store the selected first line item in a remote storage location after the selection is made, to form a list; and

receive a user authorization for a group of people to remotely review the list, the reviewing performed using at least one remote computing device.

16. A computer program product according to claim 15, wherein the program module further includes instructions directing a processor to:

receive a user selection of a second line item from a second electronic receipt, wherein the second electronic receipt includes a record of a purchase transaction, and adding that second line item to the list.