Message audit trail feature for facilitating electronic transactions

• US 8,195,520 B1
• Filed: 07/06/2010
• Issued: 06/05/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/02/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Gavarini, Paul Marie Pierre
• Primary Examiner(s): Misiaszek, Michael
• Application Number:
  US12/831,202
• Time in Patent Office: 700 Days
• Field of Search: 705 261- 272
• US Class Current: 705/26.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0603 Catalogue ordering
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0635 Processing of requisition or of purchase orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/188 Electronic negotiation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99932 Access augmentation or optimizing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99934 Query formulation, input preparation, or translation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99935 Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access

Abstract

An electronic commerce system provides various features for assisting customers in locating items and generating orders from a merchant'"'"'s electronic catalog, and for assisting customers and merchants in communicating about such orders. A user-definable categories feature allows customers and/or merchants to define search queries for searching the electronic catalog, and to store these search queries under user-defined category names for subsequent use. An “active quote” feature allows the customer to view and modify quantities of items selected for prospective purchase throughout various catalog browsing or viewing modes. A message audit trail feature allows a customer and a merchant to send messages to one another that are linked to a particular order, and to view an order-specific log of such messages.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

one or more computing devices configured to;

generate a first browser interface through which buyers place orders, the first browser interface including a first portion for displaying at least a subset of the negotiated terms between a buyer and merchant for a particular order and a second portion including;

a message field for a buyer to generate, and submit to the merchant, messages that are linked to particular orders, and

a display of at least a subset of a record of messages previously exchanged between the buyer and the merchant linked to the particular order; and

generate a second user interface through which the merchant views the orders, including a first portion for displaying at least a subset of the negotiated terms between a buyer and merchant for a particular order and a second portion including;

a terms field for a merchant to generate, and submit to the buyer, terms that are linked to particular orders, and

a display of at least a subset of a record of terms previously exchanged between the buyer and the merchant linked to the particular order.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the first and second user interfaces are linked to a common order database that stores both the negotiated terms and messages related to a particular order.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the first and second user interfaces permit the buyers and merchants respectively to associate at least one or more messages with at least one or more negotiated terms.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the first and second interfaces comprise web pages served by a common host site.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the first and second user interfaces each provide a link that is selectable to view the history of the messages between merchant and buyer.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the first and second user interfaces provide for communications between the merchant and the buyer without use of electronic mail.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the second user interface provides functionality for the merchant to modify the order in response to a message from a buyer.

8. A computer-implemented method for facilitating communication between buyers and merchants, the computer-implemented method comprising:

as implemented by one or more computing devices configured with specific executable instructions,

generating a first browser interface through which buyers place orders, the first browser interface including a first portion for displaying at least a subset of the negotiated terms between a buyer and merchant for a particular order and a second portion including;

a message field for a buyer to generate, and submit to the merchant, messages that are linked to the particular order, and

a display of at least a subset of a record of messages previously exchanged between the buyer and the merchant linked to the particular order; and

generating a second user interface through which the merchant views the orders, including a first portion for displaying at least a subset of the negotiated terms between a buyer and merchant for a particular order and a second portion including;

a terms field for a merchant to generate, and submit to the buyer, terms that are linked to particular orders, and

a display of at least a subset of a record of terms previously exchanged between the buyer and the merchant linked to the particular order.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising linking the first and second user interfaces a common order database, wherein the common order database stores both the negotiated terms and messages related to the particular order.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the first and second user interfaces permit the buyers and merchants respectively to associate at least one or more messages with at least one or more negotiated terms.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the first and second interfaces comprise web pages served by a common host site.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the first and second user interfaces each provide a link that is selectable to view the history of the messages between merchant and buyer.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the first and second user interfaces provide for communications between the merchant and the buyer without use of electronic mail.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the second user interface provides functionality for the merchant to modify the order in response to a message from a buyer.