System for providing localized shopping information

• US 8,032,427 B1
• Filed: 04/03/2007
• Issued: 10/04/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/03/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: David Quint
• Original Assignee: Local.com
• Inventors: Spreen, Roger B., Robertson, Michael S., Van Riper, Michael J., RYAN, JAMES J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Rosen, Nicholas D
• Application Number:
  US11/732,598
• Time in Patent Office: 1,645 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14.49, 705/14.51, 705/14.54, 705/26, 705/27, 705/26.1, 705/26.61, 705/26.9, 705/27.1
• US Class Current: 705/26.9
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0253 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0256 User search
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0623 Item investigation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0625 Directed, with specific intent or strategy
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0639 Item locations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces

Abstract

A localization service is provided that provides users with online information on local retailers that sell particular products. A user can perform a search using a web page associated with the localization service or by searching using an internet search engine. The user'"'"'s search includes a search origin. The search origin may be defined in terms of location information such as a place name or a postal code. A search for a particular product at local retailers may be made using search parameters such as search origins, product names, model numbers, product categories, and product attributes. The localization service may provide the user with search results in the form of web pages that list which retailers sell the desired product in the vicinity of the search origin. A targeted advertisement server at the localization service may use display criteria to determine which targeted advertisements should be displayed for the user.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for providing online local shopping information to a user with a web browser who is interested in purchasing a product at a brick and mortar retailer, comprising:

at an online localization service having a database including geocodes for a plurality of retailer addresses, receiving a universal resource locator from the web browser that contains a plurality of search parameters, wherein the search parameters include a search origin that indicates a geographic location and a product name for a product;

at the localization service, using the search origin and the product name to generate a web page containing a list of retailers in the vicinity of the search origin that carry the product; and

consulting a plurality of geocoding services over the internet to determine whether the geocodes are accurate with the localization service.

2. The method defined in claim 1 further comprising ordering the retailers on the web page according to their distance from the search origin.

3. The method defined in claim 1 further comprising:

with an advertisement server, providing a targeted advertisement for the web page.

4. The method defined in claim 1 further comprising:

with an advertisement server, receiving at least the product name and the search origin; and

applying targeted advertisement display criteria to at least the product name and the search origin to determine which targeted advertisement to display on the web page.

5. The method defined in claim 1 wherein the localization service comprises a database containing promotional pricing information, the method further comprising:

displaying product prices on the web page, wherein the product prices reflect promotional pricing adjustments from the promotional pricing information.

6. The method defined in claim 1 further comprising:

for each listed retailer, displaying a retailer universal resource locator adjacent to the listed retailer on the web page; and

when a user selects one of the displayed retailer universal resource locators corresponding to a given one of the retailers, generating a store detail web page for the user that contains product information for the product including at least the product name and an address for the given retailer.

7. The method defined in claim 1 further comprising:

for each listed retailer, displaying a retailer universal resource locator adjacent to the listed retailer on the web page; and

when a user selects one of the displayed retailer universal resource locators corresponding to a given one of the retailers, generating a store detail web page for the user that contains product information for the product including at least the product name and an address for the given retailer and including a map showing where the given retailer is located.

8. The method defined in claim 1 further comprising:

for each listed retailer, displaying a retailer universal resource locator adjacent to the listed retailer on the web page; and

when a user selects one of the displayed retailer universal resource locators corresponding to a given one of the retailers, generating a store detail web page for the user that contains product information for the product including at least the product name, an address for the given retailer, and the price at which the product is sold by the given retailer.

9. The method defined in claim 1 wherein the localization service has a database that includes a retailer location list, and wherein generating the web page comprises generating the web page using the retailer location list.

10. The method defined in claim 1 further comprising:

with the localization service, receiving a product category from the user; and

generating a product category web page based on the received product category, wherein the product category web page includes a plurality of product model numbers and a plurality of associated product images.

11. The method defined in claim 1 further comprising:

with the localization service, receiving a product category from the user; and

generating a product category web page based on the received product category, wherein the product category web page includes a plurality of product model numbers and a plurality of associated product images and wherein for each product model number the product category web page includes a lowest price for that product model number that is available in the vicinity of the search origin.

12. The method defined in claim 1 further comprising:

at the localization service, determining which of the retailers that carry the product are within the vicinity of the search origin using a search radius.

13. The method defined in claim 1 wherein the localization service has databases and a page generation engine, the method further comprising:

with the page generation engine, dynamically generating web pages for the user based on information in the databases.

14. The method defined in claim 1 wherein the localization service has databases and a page generation engine and wherein the databases include product prices for the product at each of the retailers, the method further comprising:

with the page generation engine, dynamically generating web pages for the user that contain the product prices based on information in the databases.

15. The method defined in claim 1 further comprising providing the universal resource locator to the localization service in response to selection of the universal resource locator from a search engine search results list viewed by the user on the web browser.

16. The method defined in claim 1 wherein the localization service comprises databases, a promotional console, a page generation engine, a data acquisition engine, a data enrichment engine, a query engine, and an advertisement server, the method further comprising:

with the page generation engine, dynamically generating web pages for the user based on information in the databases;

with the promotional console, receiving promotional information from retailers over the internet and storing the received promotional information in the databases;

with the data acquisition engine, acquiring data on prices for products sold by retailers;

with the data enrichment engine, cleansing the acquired data;

with the query engine, responding to searches from users for local retailers that sell particular products; and

with the advertisement server, providing targeted advertisements to the user on the web page containing the list of retailers.

17. The method defined in claim 1 wherein the search origin is received by the localization service in the form of a city name, the method further comprising using a retail location to product name mapping table at the localization service to determine prices for the product at the retailers in the vicinity of the search origin.

18. The method defined in claim 1 wherein receiving the universal resource locator comprises receiving a universal resource locator that contains multiple product attributes.

19. The method defined in claim 1 wherein the localization service comprises a targeted advertisement table containing targeted advertisements and associated display criteria, the method further comprising:

with the advertisement server, applying location-based display criteria from the targeted advertisement table to the search parameters from the universal resource locator to determine which targeted advertisements to display for the user on the web page that contains the list of retailers.

20. A system for providing online local shopping information to a user with a web browser who is interested in purchasing a product at a brick and mortar retailer, comprising:

a database including geocodes for a plurality of retailer addresses;

a query engine to receive a universal resource locator from the web browser that contains a plurality of search parameters, wherein the search parameters include a search origin that indicates a geographic location and a product name for a product;

a page generation engine to generate a web page using the search origin and the product name, the web page containing a list of retailers in the vicinity of the search origin that carry the product; and

a geocoding engine to consult a plurality of geocoding services over the internet to determine whether the geocodes are accurate.