Distributed electronic commerce system with centralized virtual shopping carts
First Claim
1. An electronic commerce system having a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable code, the computer-executable code comprising:
- a shopping cart module adapted to;
store a plurality of virtual shopping carts associated with a customer, the plurality of shopping carts adapted to contain items from a plurality of online merchants;
receive an item identified by the customer for purchase from one of the plurality of online merchants;
automatically select, from the plurality of shopping carts, at least one of the shopping carts in which to store the item identified for purchase based on a characteristic of the item; and
store the item in the selected shopping cart; and
a transaction module adapted to;
enable the customer to purchase the item contained within the selected shopping cart.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
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.
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Citations
27 Claims
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1. An electronic commerce system having a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable code, the computer-executable code comprising:
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a shopping cart module adapted to; store a plurality of virtual shopping carts associated with a customer, the plurality of shopping carts adapted to contain items from a plurality of online merchants; receive an item identified by the customer for purchase from one of the plurality of online merchants; automatically select, from the plurality of shopping carts, at least one of the shopping carts in which to store the item identified for purchase based on a characteristic of the item; and store the item in the selected shopping cart; and a transaction module adapted to; enable the customer to purchase the item contained within the selected shopping cart. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 27)
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9. A computer program product having a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having executable computer program instructions embodied therein for supporting an electronic commerce system, the computer program instructions comprising:
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a shopping cart module adapted to; store a plurality of virtual shopping carts associated with a customer, the plurality of shopping carts adapted to hold a plurality of items offered by a plurality of different online merchants; receive an item identified by the customer for purchase from one of the plurality of online merchants; automatically select, from the plurality of shopping carts, at least one of the shopping carts in which to store the item identified for purchase based on a characteristic of the item; and store the item in the selected shopping cart; and a transaction module adapted to; enable the customer to purchase the item held within the selected shopping cart. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method comprising:
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storing, by a computer system, a plurality of virtual shopping carts associated with a customer, the plurality of shopping carts adapted to contain items from a plurality of online merchants; receiving, by the computer system, an item identified by the customer for purchase from one of the plurality of online merchants; automatically selecting by the computer system, from the plurality of shopping carts, at least one of the shopping carts in which to store the item identified for purchase based on a characteristic of the item; and storing, by the computer system, the item in the selected shopping cart; and enabling, by the computer system, the customer to purchase the item contained within the selected shopping cart. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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Specification