Electronic commerce system
First Claim
1. An electronic commerce system, comprising:
- a virtual warehouse server configured to communicate over a network with a seller client and a buyer client, the virtual warehouse server being further configured to receive a product allocation from the seller client, the product allocation providing a set quantity of a product from the seller'"'"'s inventory that is available for purchase through the electronic commerce system, and storing the product allocation at the virtual warehouse server,wherein the virtual warehouse server is further configured to;
receive, from the buyer client, a request to reserve the product and to check the product allocation to assure availability of the product being purchased,make a reservation to buy, responsive to the request to reserve the product, against the product allocation, andrelease the reservation to buy against the product allocation if the request to reserve the product is not followed by a confirmation of the reservation within a specified period of time.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
An electronic commerce system includes a client computer and a server computer interconnected by a public packet switched communications network. The client computer is programmed to transmit to the server computer an order acceptance request that includes a plurality of terms or conditions of a proposed offer for a purchase, including multiple options of at least one of the terms or conditions of the offer. The server computer is programmed to process the order acceptance request based on pre-programmed criteria and, based on the processing of the order acceptance request, to transmit to the client computer an order acceptance response that includes a plurality of amendments to the proposed offer for the purchase, including selection of an option of the at least one of the terms or conditions. The processing of the order acceptance request is performed by a controller module that handles processing of the order acceptance request that is primarily not specific to a particular application of the electronic commerce system to which the order acceptance request pertains, and that initiates a plurality of calls to a plurality of plug-in modules. The server can handle fraud-avoidance processing of the order acceptance request. The server can initiate a call to a database of a virtual warehouse in which merchants store virtual inventories of items, to ensure that a sufficient virtual inventory exists for a purchase.
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Citations
17 Claims
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1. An electronic commerce system, comprising:
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a virtual warehouse server configured to communicate over a network with a seller client and a buyer client, the virtual warehouse server being further configured to receive a product allocation from the seller client, the product allocation providing a set quantity of a product from the seller'"'"'s inventory that is available for purchase through the electronic commerce system, and storing the product allocation at the virtual warehouse server, wherein the virtual warehouse server is further configured to; receive, from the buyer client, a request to reserve the product and to check the product allocation to assure availability of the product being purchased, make a reservation to buy, responsive to the request to reserve the product, against the product allocation, and release the reservation to buy against the product allocation if the request to reserve the product is not followed by a confirmation of the reservation within a specified period of time. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 16)
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6. A computer-implemented method of selling products in an electronic commerce system comprising buyer computers, at least one seller computer, and a virtual warehouse system computer coupled via a network, comprising:
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receiving a product allocation from the seller computer at the virtual warehouse system computer, the product allocation providing a set quantity of a product from the seller'"'"'s inventory that is available for purchase through the electronic commerce system; storing the product allocation at the virtual warehouse system computer; receiving, from a buyer computer, a request to reserve the product and checking the product allocation at the virtual warehouse system computer to assure availability of the product to be purchased; making a reservation to buy, responsive to the request to reserve the product against the product allocation at the virtual warehouse system computer; and releasing the reservation to buy against the product allocation if the request to reserve the product is not followed by a confirmation of the reservation within a specified period of time. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17)
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Specification