Online ordering system and method utilizing normalized product feeds and insertion of order data without redirect

• US 8,600,822 B2
• Filed: 07/22/2009
• Issued: 12/03/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Liberty Peak Ventures, LLC (Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Zanni Assets Limited Liability Company (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Licardi, Courtney Ann, Tarvydas, Martin, Hammond, Jeffrey T., Sutton, Becky, Frangos, Anargiros Zacharias, Dalton, Noreen, Aliabadi, Amir
• Primary Examiner(s): LEVINE, ADAM L
• Application Number:
  US12/507,314
• Publication Number:
  US 20090281890A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,595 Days
• Field of Search: 705 26- 272
• US Class Current: 705/26.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/04 Forecasting or optimisation specially adapted for administrative or management purposes, e.g. linear programming or "cutting stock problem" market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities G06Q30/0202
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/047 Optimisation of routes or paths, e.g. travelling salesman problem
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/12 specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0234 Rebates after completed purchase
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0603 Catalogue ordering
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0605 Supply or demand aggregation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0621 Item configuration or customization
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0625 Directed, with specific intent or strategy
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0631 Item recommendations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0643 Graphical representation of items or shoppers
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 : Energy or water supply
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/40 : Business processes related to the transportation industry shipping G06Q10/083
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/50 : Business processes related to the communications industry metering or billing arrangements H04L12/14; telephonic communication involving automatic or semi-automatic exchanges H04M3/00; arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication H04M15/00; prepayment telephone systems H04M17/00; accounting or billing for wireless communication networks H04W4/24

Abstract

Systems and methods for facilitating an on-line purchase of at least one item on behalf of a consumer are disclosed. A consumer may shop and purchase at least one item on a consolidated shopping (CS) website displaying one or more items available for purchase on one or more different merchant websites. The CS website provides consumers with advanced searching that takes into consideration a personal profile of the consumer, the consumer'"'"'s previous shopping history, transactional data relating to a group of similar consumers, and the like. A host computer providing the CS website may access a merchant website selling the requested item, and order the requested item on behalf of the consumer, and charging a transaction fee, listing fee, receiving a rebate and/or offering a rebate for performing such. One embodiment allows a consumer to purchase/order multiple items from multiple websites in a single purchase request to the CS website.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a host computer, a product feed from a source;

extracting, by the host computer, an image from the product feed;

retrieving, by the host computer, an image from a web site;

creating, by the host computer, a normalized product feed from a plurality of product feeds wherein the plurality of the product feeds comprise a first format;

storing, by the host computer, the product feed image, the web site image, and the product feed in a database, wherein the database includes product data from a plurality of web sites;

displaying, by the host computer, the product data including the product feed image and the website image for viewing on a single user interface;

receiving, by the host computer, a request to purchase an item from among the product data, wherein the request includes order data entered into a first electronic form of a first website, and wherein the request is received at the first website; and

placing an order, by the host computer, for the item on a second website by inserting the order data into a second electronic form of the second website, without redirecting to the second website, wherein the second website offers the item.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising charging a transaction fee to at least one of the second website, a wholesaler of the item, a manufacturer of the item, a consumer of the item, and an issuer of a payment instrument used for placing the order.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the transaction fee comprises at least one of a set fee, a random fee, and a variable fee.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the charging the transaction fee comprises charging a set transaction fee based on at least one of a number of items purchased, a purchase amount, a number of websites where the placing the order occurs, a type of the item purchased, a payment method, a type of the payment instrument and per transaction.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the charging a transaction fee comprises charging a variable transaction fee based on at least one of a number of items purchased, a purchase amount, a number of websites where the placing the order occurs, a type of the item purchased, a payment method, a type of the payment instrument, per transaction, and a percentage.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the charging the transaction fee comprises charging an affiliated merchant website the transaction fee.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the charging the transaction fee comprises:

charging a non-affiliated merchant website the transaction fee, and

soliciting the non-affiliated merchant website for the transaction fee.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying information on the first website related to the item, wherein the item is capable of being ordered on the second website.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising charging a listing fee from at least one of the second website, a wholesaler and a manufacturer of the item.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising at least one of receiving and offering a rebate for placing the order.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a rebate from at least one of the second website, a wholesaler of the item, a manufacturer of the item and an issuer of the payment instrument.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising offering a rebate to at least one of a consumer, a school, a church, a research facility and a charitable organization.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising offering a rebate comprising at least one of a set fee, a random fee, and a variable fee.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising offering a set rebate based on at least one of a number of items purchased, a purchase amount, a number of websites where the placing the order occurs, a type of item purchased, a payment method, a type of the payment instrument and per transaction.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the order data is retrieved from a personal profile that is associated with a consumer of the item.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising parsing the normalized product feed and the product feed image into categorized data elements to determine if a category exists in a product table which corresponds to the categorized data elements, wherein the categorized data elements are added to a buffer table in response to the category not existing and the categorized data elements are integrated with stored product data to form integrated data within the product table in response to the category existing to create integrated data.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising providing the integrated data to a consumer wherein the consumer may utilize a single shopping website to search for, compare prices and order the items, wherein the items are associated with the stored product data from the plurality of websites, wherein each of the plurality of websites may be associated with a different merchant.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising placing a second order, by the host computer, for a second item on a third website by inserting a second order data into an electronic form of the third website without redirecting to the third website, wherein the third website offers the second item for sale, and wherein the first website, the second website, and the third website are each different websites.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable media having instructions stored thereon that, responsive to being executed by a host computer, cause the host computer to perform operations comprising:

receiving, by the host computer, a product feed from a source;

extracting, by the host computer, an image from the product feed;

retrieving, by the host computer, an image from a web site;

creating, by the host computer, a normalized product feed from a plurality of product feeds wherein the plurality of the product feeds comprise a first format;

storing, by the host computer, the product feed image, the web site image, and the product feed in a database, wherein the database includes product data from a plurality of web sites;

displaying, by the host computer, the product data including the product feed image and the website image for viewing on a single user interface;

receiving, by the host computer, a request to purchase an item from among the product data, wherein the request includes order data entered into a first electronic form of a first website, and wherein the request is received at the first website; and

placing an order, by the host computer, for the item on a second website by inserting the order data into a second electronic form of the second website, without redirecting to the second website, wherein the second website offers the item.

20. A host computer providing a first website configured to facilitate an on-line purchase of an item, the host computer configured to:

receive a product feed from a source;

extract an image from the product feed;

retrieve an image from a web site;

create a normalized product feed from a plurality of product feeds wherein the plurality of the product feeds comprise a first format;

store the product feed image, the web site image, and product feed in a database, wherein the database includes product data from a plurality of web sites;

display the product data including the product feed image and the web site image for viewing on a single user interface;

receive a request to purchase the item from among the product data, wherein the request includes order data entered into a first electronic form of a first website, and wherein the request is received at the first website; and

place an order for the item on a second website by inserting the order data into a second electronic form of the second website, without redirecting the consumer to the second website, wherein the second website offers the item.