Methods of expanding commercial opportunities for internet websites through coordinated offsite marketing
DC CAFCFirst Claim
1. A method of an outsource provider serving web pages offering commercial opportunities, the method comprising:
- (a) automatically at a server of the outsource provider, in response to activation, by a web browser of a computer user, of a link displayed by one of a plurality of first web pages, recognizing as the source page the one of the first web pages on which the link has been activated;
(i) wherein each of the first web pages belongs to one of a plurality of web page owners;
(ii) wherein each of the first web pages displays at least one active link associated with a commerce object associated with a buying opportunity of a selected one of a plurality of merchants; and
(iii) wherein the selected merchant, the outsource provider, and the owner of the first web page are each third parties with respect to one other;
(b) automatically retrieving from a storage coupled to the server pre-stored data associated with the source page; and
then(c) automatically with the server computer-generating and transmitting to the web browser a second web page that includes;
(i) information associated with the commerce object associated with the link that has been activated, and(ii) a plurality of visually perceptible elements derived from the retrieved pre-stored data and visually corresponding to the source page.
10 Assignments
Litigations
1 Petition
Accused Products
Abstract
An e-commerce outsourcing system and method provides hosts with transparent, context-sensitive e-commerce supported pages. A plurality of visually perceptible elements associated with and identifying a source of a host'"'"'s web page are stored in the form of data in a computer database for future use. The host includes one or more links within a page on the host website that correlate with a selected commerce object, which may be contextually related to material in the page. The commerce object can be a buying opportunity for a product of a third-party merchant, a product category containing a plurality of products of third-party merchants, or a dynamic selection indicator of a merchant'"'"'s product. A plurality of hosts may choose to link to the same commerce object. Upon activation of the link displayed by a particular host website, a visitor computer is served with a page displaying the visually perceptible elements associated with that specific host'"'"'s website and information associated with the commerce object correlated to the link. Where the commerce object is a dynamic selection indicator, the content is selected at the time of activation based upon an analysis of the page containing the activated link.
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Citations
26 Claims
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1. A method of an outsource provider serving web pages offering commercial opportunities, the method comprising:
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(a) automatically at a server of the outsource provider, in response to activation, by a web browser of a computer user, of a link displayed by one of a plurality of first web pages, recognizing as the source page the one of the first web pages on which the link has been activated; (i) wherein each of the first web pages belongs to one of a plurality of web page owners; (ii) wherein each of the first web pages displays at least one active link associated with a commerce object associated with a buying opportunity of a selected one of a plurality of merchants; and (iii) wherein the selected merchant, the outsource provider, and the owner of the first web page are each third parties with respect to one other; (b) automatically retrieving from a storage coupled to the server pre-stored data associated with the source page; and
then(c) automatically with the server computer-generating and transmitting to the web browser a second web page that includes; (i) information associated with the commerce object associated with the link that has been activated, and (ii) a plurality of visually perceptible elements derived from the retrieved pre-stored data and visually corresponding to the source page. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A system useful in an outsource provider serving web pages offering commercial opportunities, the system comprising:
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(a) a computer store containing data, for each of a plurality of first web pages, defining a plurality of visually perceptible elements, which visually perceptible elements correspond to the plurality of first web pages; (i) wherein each of the first web pages belongs to one of a plurality of web page owners; (ii) wherein each of the first web pages displays at least one active link associated with a commerce object associated with a buying opportunity of a selected one of a plurality of merchants; and (iii) wherein the selected merchant, the outsource provider, and the owner of the first web page displaying the associated link are each third parties with respect to one other; (b) a computer server at the outsource provider, which computer server is coupled to the computer store and programmed to; (i) receive from the web browser of a computer user a signal indicating activation of one of the links displayed by one of the first web pages; (ii) automatically identify as the source page the one of the first web pages on which the link has been activated; (iii) in response to identification of the source page, automatically retrieve the stored data corresponding to the source page; and (iv) using the data retrieved, automatically generate and transmit to the web browser a second web page that displays;
(A) information associated with the commerce object associated with the link that has been activated, and (B) the plurality of visually perceptible elements visually corresponding to the source page.
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20. A computer-readable memory adapted for use by an outsource provider in serving web pages offering commercial opportunities, the computer-readable memory used to direct a computer of the outsource provider to perform the steps of:
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(a) in response to activation, by a web browser of a computer user, of a link displayed by one of a plurality of first web pages, automatically recognizing as the source page the one of the first web pages on which the link has been activated; (i) wherein each of the first web pages belongs to one of a plurality of web page owners; (ii) wherein each of the first web pages displays at least one active link associated with a commerce object associated with a buying opportunity of a selected one of a plurality of merchants; and (iii) wherein the selected merchant, the outsource provider, and the owner of the first web page are each third parties with respect to one another; (b) automatically retrieving from a storage coupled to the computer of the outsource provider pre-stored data associated with the source page; and
then(c) automatically computer-generating and transmitting to the web browser a second web page that includes; (i) information associated with the commerce object associated with the link that has been activated, and (ii) a plurality of visually perceptible elements derived from the retrieved pre-stored data and visually corresponding to the source page. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A computerized system for an outsource provider serving web pages offering commercial opportunities, the system comprising:
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(a) means, at a server of the outsource provider, in response to activation, by a web browser of a computer user, of a link displayed by one of a plurality of first web pages, for automatically recognizing as the source page the one of the first web pages on which the link has been activated; (i) wherein each of the first web pages belongs to one of a plurality of web page owners; (ii) wherein each of the first web pages displays at least one active link associated with a commerce object associated with a buying opportunity of a selected one of a plurality of merchants; and (iii) wherein the selected merchant, the outsource provider, and the owner of the first web page are each third parties with respect to one another; (c) means for automatically retrieving from a storage coupled to the server pre-stored data associated with the source page; and (d) server means for then automatically computer-generating and transmitting to the web browser a second web page that includes; (i) information associated with the commerce object associated with the link that has been activated, and (ii) a plurality of visually perceptible elements derived from the retrieved pre-stored data and visually corresponding to the source page.
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Specification