Distributed electronic commerce system with centralized virtual shopping carts

• US 7,640,193 B2
• Filed: 12/09/2005
• Issued: 12/29/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/09/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Crespo, Arturo, Perrochon, Louis, Lacavera, Catherine Caroline
• Primary Examiner(s): Airapetian; Mila
• Application Number:
  US11/299,168
• Publication Number:
  US 20070271147A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,481 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26, 705/27
• US Class Current: 705/26.2
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0605 Supply or demand aggregation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing

Abstract

An electronic commerce system includes a broker that enables customers to purchase items from multiple different merchants. A customer interacts with the merchants to identify items to purchase, and the merchants send descriptions of the items to the broker. The broker maintains a virtual shopping cart that stores the items received from the different merchants. The customer can purchase the items in the shopping cart in a single purchase transaction with the broker. Further, the customer can publish a reference that identifies the shopping cart and invite other customers to purchase the items in the cart via the broker.

Claims

1. An electronic commerce system having a computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable code, the computer-executable code comprising:

a shopping cart module for;

storing a virtual shopping cart designated by a link and containing items from a plurality of online merchants, wherein the shopping cart is associated with a customer;

receiving the link from an other customer; and

providing the shopping cart to the other customer responsive to receiving the link; and

a transaction module for;

enabling the other customer to purchase the items within the shopping cart; and

maintaining the items in the shopping cart after the purchase transaction by the other customer, the items available for purchase transactions by additional customers.

2. A method of conducting electronic commerce comprising:

using a computer to perform steps comprising;

storing a virtual shopping cart designated by a link and containing items from a plurality of online merchants;

receiving from a customer associated with the shopping cart, an instruction to share the shopping cart;

responsive to receiving from the customer an instruction to share the shopping cart, making the shopping cart available to other customers via the link;

receiving the link from an other customer;

providing the shopping cart to the other customer responsive to receiving the link;

enabling the other customer to purchase the items in the shopping cart in a single transaction; and

maintaining the items in the shopping cart after the purchase transaction by the other customer, the items available for purchase transactions by additional customers.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the plurality of merchants are located within a plurality of different domains.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving from the customer instructions to manipulate the items within the shopping cart; and

manipulating the items within the shopping cart responsive to the received instructions.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving from the other customer instructions to manipulate the items within the shopping cart; and

manipulating the items within the shopping cart responsive to the received instructions from the other customer.

6. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

deleting the stored shopping cart after an expiration of a specified time interval.

7. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

periodically and automatically purchasing the items in the shopping cart from the plurality of merchants.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein the link comprises a uniform resource locator (URL) encoding an identifier of the shared shopping cart.

9. A computer program product having a computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable code for conducting electronic commerce, the computer-executable code comprising:

a shopping cart module for;

storing a virtual shopping cart designated by a link and containing items from a plurality of online merchants;

receiving, from a customer associated with the shopping cart, an instruction to share the shopping cart;

responsive to receiving from the customer an instruction to share the shopping cart, making the shopping cart available to other customers via the link;

receiving the link from an other customer; and

providing the shopping cart to the other customer responsive to receiving the link; and

a transaction module for;

enabling the other customer to purchase the items in the shopping cart in a single transaction; and

maintaining the items in the shopping cart after the purchase transaction by the other customer, the items available for purchase transactions by additional customers.