Method and apparatus to facilitate a transaction within a network-based facility

• US 8,332,275 B2
• Filed: 10/31/2001
• Issued: 12/11/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Original Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Inventors: Poon, Alex D., Leahy, Scott, Wilson, Mike
• Primary Examiner(s): Trammell, James
• Assistant Examiner(s): Malhotra, Sanjeev
• Application Number:
  US09/999,618
• Publication Number:
  US 20030093326A1
• Time in Patent Office: 4,059 Days
• Field of Search: 705/37, 704/277, 707/3, 707/513, 713/201, 370/395.1, 482/8
• US Class Current: 705/26
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0613 Third-party assisted
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0619 Neutral agent
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0625 Directed, with specific intent or strategy
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions

Abstract

Method and apparatus to facilitate programmatic access to a network-based commerce facility via a network. The method includes receiving a request from a third party application via the network at the network based commerce facility. The request performs an action pertaining to electronic commerce and being one of a plurality of requests recognized by the network-based commerce facility. In responsive to the request, the method performs the action pertaining to the electronic commerce and communicates from a result of the action from the network-based commerce facility to the third party application in a programmatically accessible format.

Claims

1. A method to facilitate programmatic access to a network-based commerce facility via a network, the method comprising:

communicating with a plurality of third-party applications that are on servers not controlled by the network-based commerce facility via a programmatic access application on a server controlled by the network-based commerce facility to allow indirect transactions between the network-based commerce facility and a first plurality of users via the respective third-party applications;

receiving requests from each of the third-party applications via said network at said server controlled by the network-based commerce facility, wherein each of said requests is based on communication between one of the first plurality of users and the respective third-party application that is associated with the particular one of the first plurality of users, each of said requests generating a call function to interact through the programmatic access application on the server controlled by the network-based commerce facility with a database of said network-based commerce facility to perform an action pertaining to electronic commerce and being one of a plurality of requests recognized by said server controlled by the network-based commerce facility, wherein the call function is customized such that the call function specifies and controls the amount of information returned from the network-based commerce facility;

responsive to said requests, performing actions pertaining to electronic commerce, and communicating via the programmatic access application on the server controlled by the network- based commerce facility said results of said actions to the respective third-party applications that are associated with each of the first plurality of users in a programmatically accessible format, wherein said results include information to be interpreted by an interpreter and to be arranged into a customized user interface, said customized user interface being readable and available to the first plurality of users communicating with the third-party applications, wherein with each call function, a session certificate uniquely identifying the associated third-party application is provided, and a determination is made as to whether the associated third-party application is authorized to use the function call based on the session certificate;

communicating directly with a second plurality of users via the programmatic access application on the server controlled by the network-based commerce facility to allow direct transactions between the network-based commerce facility and the second plurality of users, wherein the server communicates differently when communicating with the second plurality of users compared to when communicating with the first plurality of users via the third-party applications; and

wherein said results are transmitted via the programmatic access application on said network-based commerce facility to each of said third-party applications that are associated with the relevant results in a programmatically accessible format that is published by said network-based commerce facility.

2. A method as in claim 1 wherein said actions pertaining to said electronic commerce include any one of registering as a user, selling, trading, buying, obtaining information, submitting information, updating submitted information, and accessing a user profile on said network-based commerce facility.

3. A method as in claim 1 wherein said electronic commerce includes auction transactions occurring on said network-based commerce facility.

4. A method as in claim 1 wherein said actions include any one of:

putting an item up for sale, re-listing an item for sale, changing an item attribute of an item for sale;

checking for errors in said putting an item for sale before submitting;

listing auction fees for an item before submitting;

getting information about a single item;

getting all items listed in a particular category;

searching for items;

listing all the items a particular user is selling;

listing all of the items a particular user has bid on;

getting a list of high bidders for an auction;

getting information about a single user;

getting the feedback scores for a single user;

leaving feedback about a user;

getting a URL to a logo of said network-based commerce facility;

getting an official time of said network-based commerce facility;

activating a test user;

retrieving Custom Categories;

retrieving account information of said user; and

adding text to a description field for an items.

5. A method as in claim 1 wherein said call function includes any of:

registering as a user, selling, trading, buying, obtaining information, submitting information, updating submitted information, and accessing a user profile on said network-based commerce facility.

6. A method as in claim 1 wherein said call function performs any one of:

putting an item up for sale, re-listing an item, changing an item attributes;

checking for errors in said putting an item for sale before submitting;

listing auction fees for an item before submitting;

getting information about a single item;

getting all items listed in a particular category;

searching for items;

listing all the items a particular user is selling;

listing all of the items a particular user has bid on;

getting a list of high bidders for an item listed for sale;

getting information about a single user;

getting the feedback scores for a single user;

leaving feedback about a user;

getting a URL to a logo of said network-based commerce facility;

getting an official time of said network-based transaction facility;

activating a test user;

retrieving Custom Categories;

retrieving account information of said user; and

adding text to a description field for an item.

7. A method as in claim 1 wherein said customized user interface provides specialized operations designed for specific business needs.

8. A method as in claim 1 wherein said interpreter is a routine capable of parsing said result to extract raw data.

9. A method as in claim 8 wherein said routine is an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) parser capable of parsing said result, said result being an XML document.

10. A method as in claim 1 wherein said programmatically accessible format is an XML document.

11. A method as in claim 1 wherein said programmatically accessible format published by said network-based commerce facility is an XML specification having customized tags.

28. A method as in claim 1, wherein the interpreter is a browser.

12. A computer readable non-transitory medium comprising instructions, which when executed on a processor, cause the processor to facilitate programmatic access to a network- based commerce facility via a network, the instructions performing a method comprising:

communicating with a plurality of third-party applications that are on servers not controlled by the network-based commerce facility via a programmatic interface on a server controlled by the network-based commerce facility to allow indirect transactions between the network-based commerce facility and a first plurality of users via the respective third-party applications;

receiving requests from each of the third-party applications via said network at said server controlled by the network-based commerce facility, wherein each of said requests is based on communication between one of the first plurality of users and the respective third-party application that is associated with the particular one of the first plurality of users, each of said requests generating a call function to interact through the programmatic interface on the server controlled by the network-based commerce facility with a database of said server controlled by the network-based commerce facility to perform an action pertaining to electronic commerce and being one of a plurality of requests recognized by said server controlled by the network-based commerce facility, wherein the call function is customized such that the call function specifies and controls the amount of information returned from the network-based commerce facility;

responsive to said requests, performing actions pertaining to electronic commerce, and communicating via the programmatic interface on the server controlled by the network-based commerce facility said results of said actions to the respective third-party applications that are associated with each of the first plurality of users in a programmatically accessible format, wherein said results include information to be interpreted by an interpreter and to be arranged into a customized user interface, said customized user interface being readable and available to the first plurality of users communicating with the third-party applications, wherein with each call function, a session certificate uniquely identifying the associated third-party application is provided, and a determination is made as to whether the associated third-party application is authorized to use the function call based on the session certificate;

communicating directly with a second plurality of users via the programmatic interface on the network-based commerce facility to allow direct transactions between the network-based commerce facility and the second plurality of users, wherein the server communicates differently when communicating with the second plurality of users compared to when communicating with the first plurality of users via the third-party applications; and

wherein said results are transmitted via the programmatic interface on said network-based commerce facility to each of said third-party applications that are associated with the relevant results in a programmatically accessible format that is published by said network-based commerce facility.

13. A computer readable non-transitory medium as in claim 12 wherein said customized user interface provides specialized operations designed for specific business needs.

14. A computer readable non-transitory medium as in claim 13 wherein said interpreter is a routine capable of parsing said result to extract raw data.

15. A computer readable non-transitory medium as in claim 14 wherein said routine is an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) parser capable of parsing said result, said result being an XML document.

16. A computer readable non-transitory medium as in claim 12 wherein said programmatically accessible format is an XML document.

17. A computer readable non-transitory medium as in claim 12 wherein said programmatically accessible format published by said network-based transaction facility is an XML specification having customized tags.

29. A computer readable medium as in claim 12, wherein the interpreter is a browser.

18. A method to facilitate programmatic access to an Internet service facility via an Internet, the method comprising:

communicating with a plurality of third-party applications that are on servers not controlled by the network-based commerce facility via a programmatic interface that is on a server controlled by the Internet service facility to allow indirect transactions between the Internet service facility and a first plurality of users via the respective third-party applications;

receiving requests from each of the third-party applications via said Internet at said server controlled by the Internet service facility, wherein each of said requests is based on communication between one of the first plurality of users and the respective third-party application that is associated with the particular one of the first plurality of users, each of said requests generating a call function to interact through the programmatic interface on the server controlled by the Internet service facility with a database of said server controlled by the Internet service facility to perform an action pertaining to electronic commerce and being one of a plurality of requests recognized by said Internet service facility, wherein the call function is customized such that the call function specifies and controls the amount of information returned from the Internet service facility;

responsive to said requests, performing actions pertaining to electronic commerce, and communicating via the programmatic interface on the server controlled by the network-based commerce facility said results of said actions to the respective third-party applications that are associated with each of the first plurality of users in a programmatically accessible format, wherein said results include information to be interpreted by an interpreter and to be arranged into a customized user interface, said customized user interface being readable and available to the first plurality of users communicating with the third-party applications, wherein with each call function, a session certificate uniquely identifying the associated third-party application is provided, and a determination is made as to whether the associated third-party application is authorized to use the function call based on the session certificate; and

communicating directly with a second plurality of users via the programmatic interface on the server controlled by the Internet service facility to allow direct transactions between the Internet service facility and the second plurality of users, wherein the programmatic interface communicates differently when communicating with the second plurality of users compared to when communicating with the first plurality of users via the third-party applications.

30. A method as in claim 18, wherein the interpreter is a browser.

19. A method to facilitate access at a network-based commerce facility, the method comprising:

communicating with a first plurality of users via a web interface to allow direct transactions between the network-based commerce facility and the first plurality of users in an HTML format;

communicating with a plurality of third-party applications that are on servers not controlled by the network-based commerce facility via a programmatic access application that is on a server controlled by the network-based commerce facility to allow indirect transactions between the network-based commerce facility and a second plurality of users via the respective third-party applications in a programmatically accessible format, the programmatic access application on the server controlled by the network-based commerce facility receiving requests from the third-party application via a network to perform actions pertaining to electronic commerce and being one of a plurality of requests recognized by said server controlled by the network-based commerce facility and being in response to each of the second plurality of users interactions with said respective third-party application, wherein each request is customized such that the request specifies and controls the amount of information returned from the network-based commerce facility, wherein with each request, a session certificate uniquely identifying the associated third-party application is provided, and a determination is made as to whether the associated third-party application is authorized to use the request based on the session certificate; and

responsive to said requests, performing actions pertaining to electronic commerce, and communicating via the programmatic access application on the server controlled by the network-based commerce facility said results of said actions to the respective third-party applications that are associated with each of the second plurality of users in a programmatically accessible format, wherein the server communicates differently when communicating with the first plurality of users compared to when communicating with the second plurality of users via the third-party applications.

20. A method as in claim 19, wherein the programmatic interface communicates raw data without any presentation specifications dictating the display of data.

21. A method as in claim 19, wherein at least some of the third-party applications are an independent network-based commerce facility that integrates data received in a programmatically accessible format with proprietary business applications.

22. A method as in claim 19, wherein the actions pertain to an auction and the third-party applications submit requests on behalf of the users via the programmatic interface on the network-based commerce facility.

23. A method as in claim 19, wherein at least some of the third-party applications include a customized user interface to:

render HTML pages to the user and respond to user requests;

communicate call function requests to the programmatic interface in response to the user requests;

receive raw data from the programmatic interface;

format the raw data into customized pages with display specifications; and

render pages to the user.

24. A method as in claim 19, wherein at least some of the third-party applications are a web-based commerce platform that uses the network-based commerce facility via the programmatic interface to perform auctioning functionality and integrates the results into the web-based commerce platform.

25. A method as in claim 24, wherein the web-based commerce platform integrates the result anonymously so that the user is unaware of the source of the result.

26. A method as in claim 19, wherein at least some of the third-party applications customize the raw data into a format suitable for display on a mobile electronic device.

27. A method as in claim 19, wherein at least some of the users interaction with said third-party applications is done using a browser.