Automatic sales assistant for electronic commerce customers

• US 8,583,510 B2
• Filed: 10/29/2008
• Issued: 11/12/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation, ServiceNow Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Heilper, Andre, Walach, Eugeniusz
• Primary Examiner(s): Desai, Resha
• Application Number:
  US12/260,253
• Publication Number:
  US 20100106614A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,840 Days
• Field of Search: 705 26- 272
• US Class Current: 705/26.8
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0603 Catalogue ordering

Abstract

An Automatic Sales Assistant (“ASA”) automates the handling of electronic commerce transactions by gathering all of the relevant information with respect to an electronic commerce transaction being carried out by a customer using a computer and presenting it to the customer in a unified and convenient form (e.g., a template) that the customer may use to properly complete the electronic transaction (e.g., a purchase of retail goods using the Internet). The transaction may be an active document that resides in a private folder on the customer'"'"'s computer. This type of active process handles all of the procedures related to any given electronic commerce transaction. Moreover, the ASA facilitates the proper resolution of any problems with a transaction by providing all of the necessary support material and information.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

gathering certain information relating to a customer at a computer, the computer associated with the customer, the certain information gathered by identifying images and fields displayed on a webpage of an online provider of goods and/or services among a plurality of online providers of goods and/or services;

storing the gathered information in a storage medium that is associated with the computer;

creating, via the computer, a plurality of templates corresponding to a respective transaction of goods and/or services provided by the plurality of online providers, the plurality of templates including a first template having the gathered information, wherein the first template is a uniform function based template that relates to ordering goods and/or services over the Internet from any of the plurality of online providers of goods and/or services utilizing the gathered information, the first template comprising a single set of inputs for all of the plurality of online providers of goods and/or services, wherein the first template is displayed at predetermined times on a visual display that is associated with the computer;

storing the first template in the storage medium;

accessing, via the computer, an Internet website of one of a plurality of online providers, and automatically analyzing images and fields of interests displayed by the website;

determining, via the computer, an electronic commerce transaction to be performed among a plurality of different electronic commerce transaction provided by the online provider based on the analyzed images and fields of interests;

selecting the first template among the plurality of templates based on the determined electronic commerce transaction and performing the electronic commerce transaction using the selected first template, the performing including;

performing, via the computer, an electronic commerce transaction that comprises purchasing of goods and/or services by the customer from the accessed one of the plurality of online providers utilizing the first template and the information relating to the customer for each electronic commerce transaction performed, the electronic commerce transaction performed at the Internet website of one of the plurality of online providers;

tracking, via the computer, shipment of the purchased goods and/or services, the tracking comprising automatically receiving shipment progress from an initial point of departure and automatically checking shipment progress;

verifying, via the computer, payment by the customer of the purchased goods and/or services; and

storing all information relating to the performed electronic commerce transaction in the storage medium.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein storing all information relating to the performed electronic commerce transaction in the storage medium includes storing all information relating to the performed electronic commerce transaction in the storage medium using password protection.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the gathered information includes personal information.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein performing an electronic commerce transaction that comprises purchasing of goods and/or services by the customer from the accessed one of the plurality of online providers includes entering into the first template information relating to goods and/or services desired to be purchased by the customer.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein tracking shipment of the purchased goods and/or services includes notifying the customer of any problem relating to the shipment of the goods, wherein the customer can take any corrective action in response thereto.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein tracking shipment of the purchased goods and/or services includes creating a second template relating to shipment information regarding the purchased goods and/or services, wherein the second template is stored in the storage medium.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein each performed electronic transaction has an associated XML document that is stored in the storage medium as part of a searchable database.

8. A computer program product stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium, the computer program product configured to perform an electronic commerce transaction, the computer program product comprising:

the non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising;

computer readable program code configured to implement a method for performing an electronic commerce transaction, the method comprising the steps of;

gathering certain information relating to a customer at a computer, the computer associated with the customer, the certain information gathered by identifying images and fields displayed on a webpage of an online provider of goods and/or services among a plurality of online providers of goods and/or services;

storing the gathered information in the storage medium;

creating a plurality of templates corresponding to a respective transaction of goods and/or services among a plurality of transactions provided by the plurality of online providers, the plurality of templates including a first template having the gathered information, wherein the first template is a uniform function based template that relates to ordering goods and/or services over the Internet from any of the plurality of online providers of goods and/or services utilizing the gathered information, the first template comprising a single set of inputs for all of the plurality of online providers of goods and/or services, wherein the first template is displayed at predetermined times on a visual display;

storing the first template in the storage medium;

accessing an Internet website of one of a plurality of online providers and automatically analyzing images and fields of interests displayed by the website;

automatically determining an electronic commerce transaction to be performed among a plurality of different electronic commerce transaction provided by the online provider based on the analyzed images and fields of interests;

selecting the first template among the plurality of templates based on the determined electronic commerce transaction and performing the electronic commerce transaction using the selected first template, the performing including;

performing an electronic commerce transaction that comprises purchasing of goods and/or services by the customer from the accessed one of the plurality of online providers utilizing the first template and the information relating to the customer for each electronic commerce transaction performed, the electronic commerce transaction performed at the Internet website of one of the plurality of online providers;

tracking shipment of the purchased goods and/or services, the tracking comprising automatically receiving shipment progress from an initial point of departure and automatically checking shipment progress;

verifying payment by the customer of the purchased goods and/or services; and

storing all information relating to the performed electronic commerce transaction in the storage medium.

9. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the storage medium is part of a computer.

10. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the gathered information includes personal information.

11. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein performing an electronic commerce transaction that comprises purchasing of goods and/or services by the customer from the accessed one of the plurality of online providers includes entering into the first template information relating to goods and/or services desired to be purchased by the customer.

12. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein tracking shipment of the purchased goods and/or services includes notifying the customer of any problem relating to the shipment of the goods, wherein the customer can take any corrective action in response thereto.

13. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein tracking shipment of the purchased goods and/or services includes creating a second template relating to shipment information regarding the purchased goods and/or services, wherein the second template is stored in the storage medium.

14. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein each performed electronic transaction has an associated XML document that is stored as part of a searchable database on a computer.

15. A system for performing an electronic commerce transaction, comprising:

a computing network including a processing device in communication with one or more computer memory storage devices; and

the computing network further configured to implement a method for performing an electronic commerce transaction, the method further comprising;

gathering certain information relating to a customer at the processing device, the processing device associated with the customer, the certain information gathered by identifying images and fields displayed on a webpage of an online provider of goods and/or services among a plurality of online providers of goods and/or services;

storing the gathered information in at least one of the one or more computer memory storage devices;

creating a plurality of templates corresponding to a respective transaction of goods and/or services provided by the plurality of online providers, the plurality of templates including a first template having the gathered information, wherein the first template is a uniform function based template that relates to ordering goods and/or services over the Internet from any of the plurality of online providers of goods and/or services utilizing the gathered information, the first template comprising a single set of inputs for all of the plurality of online providers of goods and/or services, wherein the first template is displayed at predetermined times on a visual display;

storing the first template in at least one of the one or more computer memory storage devices;

accessing an Internet website of one of a plurality of online providers, and automatically analyzing images and fields of interests displayed by the website;

automatically determining an electronic commerce transaction to be performed among a plurality of different electronic commerce transaction provided by the online provider based on the analyzed images and fields of interests;

selecting the first template among the plurality of templates based on the determined electronic commerce transaction and performing the electronic commerce transaction using the selected first template, the performing including;

performing an electronic commerce transaction that comprises purchasing of goods and/or services by the customer from the accessed one of the plurality of online providers utilizing the first template and the information relating to the customer for each electronic commerce transaction performed, the electronic commerce transaction performed at the Internet website of one of the plurality of online providers;

tracking shipment of the purchased goods and/or services, the tracking comprising automatically receiving shipment progress from an initial point of departure and automatically checking shipment progress;

verifying payment by the customer of the purchased goods and/or services; and

storing all information relating to the performed electronic commerce transaction in at least one of the one or more computer memory storage devices.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the one or more computer memory storage devices are part of a computer.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the gathered information includes personal information.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein performing an electronic commerce transaction that comprises purchasing of goods and/or services by the customer from the accessed one of the plurality of online providers includes entering into the first template information relating to goods and/or services desired to be purchased by the customer.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein tracking shipment of the purchased goods and/or services includes notifying the customer of any problem relating to the shipment of the goods, wherein the customer can take any corrective action in response thereto.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein tracking shipment of the purchased goods and/or services includes creating a second template relating to shipment information regarding the purchased goods and/or services, wherein the second template is stored in at least one of the one or more computer memory storage devices.

21. The system of claim 15, wherein each performed electronic transaction has an associated XML document that is stored as part of a searchable database on a computer.

22. A method, comprising:

gathering and storing on a computer certain information relating to a customer, the computer associated with the customer, the certain information gathered by identifying images and fields displayed on a webpage of an online provider of goods and/or services among a plurality of online providers of goods and/or services;

creating a plurality of templates corresponding to a respective transaction of goods and/or services provided by the plurality of online providers, the plurality of templates including a first template having the gathered information, wherein the first template is a uniform function based template that relates to ordering goods and/or services over the Internet from any of the plurality of online providers of goods and/or services utilizing the gathered information, the first template comprising a single set of inputs for all of the plurality of online providers of goods and/or services, wherein the first template is stored on the computer;

accessing an Internet website of one of the plurality of online providers, and automatically analyzing images and fields of interests displayed by the website;

determining, via the computer, an electronic commerce transaction to be performed among a plurality of different electronic commerce transaction provided by the online provider based on the analyzed images and fields of interests;

selecting the first template among the plurality of templates based on the determined electronic commerce transaction and performing the electronic commerce transaction using the selected first template, the performing including;

performing an electronic commerce transaction that comprises purchasing of goods and/or services by the customer from the accessed one of the plurality of online providers utilizing the first template and the information relating to the customer for each electronic commerce transaction performed, the electronic commerce transaction performed at the Internet website of one of the plurality of online providers;

tracking shipment of the purchased goods and/or services, the tracking comprising automatically receiving shipment progress from an initial point of departure and automatically checking shipment progress;

detecting if the goods and/or services have shipped;

notifying the customer that the goods and/or services have not shipped in response to determining that the goods and/or services have not shipped;

verifying payment by the customer of the purchased goods and/or services; and

storing on the computer all information relating to the performed electronic commerce transaction.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein performing an electronic commerce transaction that comprises purchasing of goods and/or services by the customer from the accessed one of the plurality of online providers includes entering into the first template information relating to goods and/or services desired to be purchased by the customer.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein tracking shipment of the purchased goods and/or services includes notifying the customer of any problem relating to the shipment of the goods, wherein the customer can take any corrective action in response thereto.

25. The method of claim 22, wherein tracking shipment of the purchased goods and/or services includes creating a second template relating to shipment information regarding the purchased goods and/or services, wherein the second template is stored on the computer.