Acquisition of items offered for purchase online through a mobile computing appratus

• US 8,463,656 B2
• Filed: 05/03/2010
• Issued: 06/11/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/11/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Original Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Inventors: Pandurangan, Senthil K.
• Primary Examiner(s): STOPP, COURTNEY L
• Application Number:
  US12/772,866
• Publication Number:
  US 20100217688A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,135 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26.1, 705/27.1
• US Class Current: 705/26.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0639 Item locations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

In an example embodiment, a method is provided. The method may comprise receiving an item identifier from a mobile computing apparatus, such as a mobile telephone or global positioning system (GPS) device. Data associated with the item identifier is accessed and transmitted to a initiate a purchase of the item. In some embodiments, a voice portal may be used to facilitate the purchase.

Claims

1. A non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising instructions, which when implemented by one or more processors perform the following operations:

receiving, via a data communication session, a request for first data, the request including a search query for items offered for purchase and a location of a mobile computing apparatus;

searching for items offered for purchase based on the search query and the location of the mobile computing apparatus;

accessing the first data associated with items offered for purchase, the first data including a location of an item offered for purchase and an item identifier of the item offered for purchase;

transmitting, via the data communication session, a response to the request, the response including the first data;

receiving, via the data communication session, the item identifier from the mobile computing apparatus;

accessing second data associated with the item identifier;

transmitting, via the data communication session, instructions including the second data to a communication portal server, the second data including a user identifier, the instructions instructing the communication portal server to initiate a voice communication session according to a communication identifier associated with the user identifier, the voice communication session to provide an option via the voice communication session to purchase the item offered for purchase; and

initiating, on the communication portal server and in response to the instructions, the voice communication session according to the communication identifier associated with the user identifier to provide the option via the voice communication session to purchase the item offered for purchase.

2. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, further comprising receiving a request within the voice communication session to purchase the item offered for purchase.

3. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 2, further performing the operation of receiving a request from the communication portal server to purchase the item offered for purchase.

4. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 2, wherein the request to purchase the item offered for purchase is an HTTP request.

5. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein transmitting the response to the request including the first data includes transmitting a rendering of the first data.

6. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein searching for items offered for purchase based on the search query and location of the mobile computing apparatus includes:

converting the location of the mobile computing apparatus to a zip code;

searching for the items offered for purchase based on the search query and the zip code.

7. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the mobile computing apparatus includes a global positioning system (GPS) device from which the location of the mobile computing apparatus is obtained.

8. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the mobile computing apparatus is a global positioning system (GPS) device from which the location of the mobile computing apparatus is obtained.

9. A method comprising:

receiving, via a data communication session, a request for first data, the request including a search query for items offered for purchase and a location of a mobile computing apparatus;

searching for items offered for purchase based on the search query and the location of the mobile computing apparatus;

accessing the first data associated with items offered for purchase, the first data including a location of an item offered for purchase and an item identifier of the item offered for purchase;

transmitting, via the data communication session, a response to the request, the response including the first data;

receiving, via the data communication session, the item identifier from the mobile computing apparatus;

accessing second data associated with the item identifier;

transmitting, via the data communication session, instructions including the second data to a communication portal server, the second data including a user identifier, the instructions instructing the communication portal server to initiate a voice communication session according to a communication identifier associated with the user identifier, the voice communication session to provide an option via the voice communication session to purchase the item offered for purchase; and

initiating, on the communication portal server and in response to the instructions, the voice communication session according to the communication identifier associated with the user identifier to provide the option via the voice communication session to purchase the item offered for purchase.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving a request within the voice communication session to purchase the item offered for purchase.

11. The method of claim 10, further performing the operation of receiving a request from the communication portal server to purchase the item offered for purchase.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the request to purchase the item offered for purchase is an HTTP request.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein transmitting the response to the request including the first data includes transmitting a rendering of the first data.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein searching for items offered for purchase based on the search query and location of the mobile computing apparatus includes:

converting the location of the mobile computing apparatus to a zip code;

searching for the items offered for purchase based on the search query and the zip code.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the mobile computing apparatus includes a global positioning system (GPS) device from which the location of the mobile computing apparatus is obtained.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein the mobile computing apparatus is a global positioning system (GPS) device from which the location of the mobile computing apparatus is obtained.