Method for managing an electronic-commerce shopping cart

• US 20020161661A1
• Filed: 04/30/2001
• Published: 10/31/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Jaffe, Stephen Eric, Priester, Dellena Wyman, Haynes, Dennis Frank
• Granted Patent: US 7,110,968 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/26
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing

Abstract

The invention helps an on-line shopper maintain the proper relationship between primary items in a shopping cart and secondary items in the shopping cart, where secondary items are items that normally accompany the purchase of primary items. The server that provides the on-line shopping service awaits a shopper'"'"'s commands. When a command is detected that indicates a change in an attribute of a primary item, the server checks the shopper'"'"'s shopping cart to identify secondary items linked to the primary item whose attribute was changed. If a secondary item linked to the primary item is identified, the server then solicits the shopper'"'"'s authorization to change a corresponding attribute of the secondary item. If the shopper grants authorization, the server changes the corresponding attribute of the secondary item accordingly. An item'"'"'s attribute may be the quantity of the item in a shopping cart, the size of the item, the color of the item, the texture of the item, and so forth.

Claims

1. A method for managing a shopping cart, comprising the acts of:

determining whether a shopping command of a shopper changes an attribute of a primary item in a shopping cart;

when the shopping command changes an attribute of a primary item, identifying a secondary item in the shopping cart linked to the primary item; and

changing a corresponding attribute of the secondary item in response to the change in the attribute of the primary item.

2. A method for managing a shopping cart, comprising the acts of:

determining whether a shopping command of a shopper changes an attribute of a primary item in a shopping cart;

when the shopping command changes an attribute of a primary item, identifying a secondary item in the shopping cart linked to the primary item;

soliciting authorization of the shopper to change a corresponding attribute of the secondary item in response to the change in the attribute of the primary item; and

changing the corresponding attribute of the secondary item in response to the change in the attribute of the primary item, in accord with authorization of the shopper.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein authorization is explicit.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein authorization is implicit.

5. A method for managing a shopping cart, comprising the acts of:

determining whether a shopping command of a shopper changes a quantity of a primary item in a shopping cart;

when the shopping command changes the quantity of a primary item, identifying a secondary item in the shopping cart linked to the primary item; and

changing a quantity of the secondary item in response to the change in quantity of the primary item.

6. A method for managing a shopping cart, comprising the acts of:

determining whether a shopping command of a shopper changes a quantity of a primary item in a shopping cart;

when the shopping command changes the quantity of a primary item, identifying a secondary item in the shopping cart linked to the primary item;

soliciting authorization of the shopper to change a quantity of the secondary item in response to the change in quantity of the primary item; and

changing the quantity of the secondary item in response to the change in quantity of the primary item, in accord with the authorization of the shopper.

7. A method for managing a shopping cart, comprising the acts of:

determining whether a shopping command of a shopper changes a color of a primary item in a shopping cart;

when the shopping command changes the color of a primary item, identifying a secondary item in the shopping cart linked to the primary item; and

changing a color of the secondary item in response to the change in color of the primary item.

8. A method for managing a shopping cart, comprising the acts of:

determining whether a shopping command of a shopper changes a color of a primary item in a shopping cart;

when the shopping command changes the color of a primary item, identifying a secondary item in the shopping cart linked to the primary item;

soliciting authorization of the shopper to change a color of the secondary item in response to the change in color of the primary item; and

changing the color of the secondary item in response to the change in color of the primary item, in accord with the authorization of the shopper.

9. A method for managing a shopping cart, comprising the acts of:

determining whether a shopping command of a shopper changes a size of a primary item in a shopping cart;

when the shopping command changes the size of a primary item, identifying a secondary item in the shopping cart linked to the primary item; and

changing a size of the secondary item in response to the change in size of the primary item.

10. A method for managing a shopping cart, comprising the acts of:

determining whether a shopping command of a shopper changes a size of a primary item in a shopping cart;

when the shopping command changes the size of a primary item, identifying a secondary item in the shopping cart linked to the primary item;

soliciting authorization of the shopper to change a size of the secondary item in response to the change in size of the primary item; and

changing the size of the secondary item in response to the change in size of the primary item, in accord with the authorization of the shopper.

11. A method for managing a shopping cart, comprising the acts of:

determining whether a shopping command of a shopper removes a primary item from a shopping cart;

when the shopping command removes a primary item, identifying a secondary item in the shopping cart linked to the primary item; and

removing the secondary item from the shopping cart.

12. A method for managing a shopping cart, comprising the acts of:

determining whether a shopping command of a shopper removes a primary item from a shopping cart;

when the shopping command removes a primary item, identifying a secondary item in the shopping cart linked to the primary item;

soliciting authorization of the shopper to remove the secondary item from the shopping cart; and

removing the secondary item from the shopping cart, in accord with the authorization of the shopper.