Method and apparatus for facilitating construction of e-commerce web pages having featured products and the like

• US 20020165799A1
• Filed: 03/01/2001
• Published: 11/07/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 03/01/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Trevathan, Matthew B., Jaffe, Stephen E., Haynes, Dennis F., Bull, Ralf, Lala, Ravesh
• Granted Patent: US 7,533,336 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/27
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/174 Form filling; Merging
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/18 of spreadsheets form-filling G06F40/174
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces

Abstract

A method and apparatus for facilitating the creation of e-commerce Web pages that include Featured Product areas. The invention includes a spreadsheet or similar user-friendly data entry mechanism which can be used to enter content pertaining to featured products. The content is imported from the spreadsheet into a Featured Product information database. The invention further provides one or more display templates, each defining a look and feel for a Featured Product area of a Web page. Each template has a corresponding HTML file defining the template, within which the actual content is represented by variables. Display engine software retrieves Featured product information from the Featured Product database as well as retrieves a selected template HTML file and replaces the variables with the selected feature product information from the database to create a Featured Product area of a Web page.

Claims

1. A method of constructing Web pages, said method comprising the steps of:

(1) providing a plurality of display templates, each defining a scheme for presenting information about at least one featured item, said templates including variables as place holders for information content;

(2) providing a database of information about featured items; and

(3) substituting information from said database for said variables to create a Web page.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said templates comprise HTML code defining said presentation scheme.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said database includes information about a plurality of featured items, said information about each featured item organized into categories, said categories including at least a path for an image file, descriptive text and price.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein said database categories further include a display template category identifying a particular display template into which the information about the corresponding featured item is to be substituted.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein said categories of said database correspond to said variables in said templates and wherein, in step (3), data corresponding to a particular featured item and category is substituted for said corresponding variable in said templates.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein said templates include a plurality of areas, each for presenting information about one featured item, each of said areas including sub-areas defined for information corresponding to categories in said database.

7. The method of claim 2 further comprising the step of:

(4) enabling a user to view a visual representation of each of said templates.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

(5) importing said information about featured items into said database from a spreadsheet.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising the step of:

(6) entering said information about said featured items into said spreadsheet.

10. The method of claim 4 wherein step (3) is performed when a user requests a Web page and comprises the steps of:

(3.1) identifying the specific page requested;

(3.2) finding in said database all featured items corresponding to said requested page;

(3.3) for each featured item in said database corresponding to said requested page, determining the template indicated in said database for displaying said featured item;

(3.4) substituting information from said database for corresponding variables in said template to form a populated template;

(3.5) inserting said populated template into said requested page; and

(3.6) delivering said requested page to said user.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein said database categories further include an item area category identifying a particular portion of the display template identified in the display template category into which the information about the corresponding featured item is to be inserted and wherein step (3.4) comprises substituting information from said database for a featured item for the corresponding variables in the corresponding item area of the corresponding template.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein said Web pages are part of an electronic commerce Web site that offers products and/or services for sale via said Web site.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein said featured items are products and/or services.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein said templates include a plurality of item areas, each said item area comprising a portion of said template dedicated to one featured item and wherein said database further includes for each featured item an identity of one of said item areas of a display template into which the information about the featured item is to be inserted and wherein step (5) comprises substituting said information about said featured item from said database for the corresponding variables in the corresponding item area of the corresponding template.

16. The method of claim 14 wherein said Web pages are part of an electronic commerce Web site that offers products and/or services for sale via said Web site.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein said featured items are products and/or services.

18. The method of claim 14 wherein said templates comprise HTML code defining said presentation scheme.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein said categories of said database correspond to said variables in said templates and wherein, in step (5), data corresponding to a particular featured item and category is substituted for said corresponding variable in said templates.

20. The method of claim 14 wherein said database category for information about said featured items comprises categories for (1) a path to an image pertinent to said item, (2) descriptive text, and (3) price.

14. A method of building Web pages, said method comprising the steps of:

(1) providing a plurality of display templates, each defining a scheme for presenting information about at least one featured item, said templates including variables as place holders for information content;

(2) providing a database of information about featured items, said database including for each featured item at least a category for (1) an identity of a display template that is to be used for displaying information about said featured item, (2) an identity of a Web page within which said featured item should appear and (3) information about said item;

(3) when a user requests a particular Web page, determining the template indicated in said database for displaying said featured items in said particular Web page;

(4) finding in said database all featured items corresponding to said particular Web page;

(5) for each featured item in said database corresponding to said particular Web page, substituting said information about said item from said database for corresponding variables in said template to form a populated template; and

(6) inserting said populated template into said particular Web page.

21. A method of building a featured item database for use in creating Web pages for an electronic commerce Web site, said method comprising the steps of:

(1) providing a database of information about featured items, said database including for each featured item a plurality of categories for a particular type of information about said featured items;

(2) entering information about featured items into a spreadsheet, said spreadsheet including categories corresponding to said categories of said database; and

(3) importing data from said spreadsheet into said database.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein said database and said spreadsheet include categories for at least (1) an identity of a display template that is to be used for displaying information about said featured item, (2) an identity of a Web page within which said featured item should appear and (3) information about said featured item.

23. The method of claim 21 wherein said database and said spreadsheet further include categories for at least (1) a path to an image pertinent to said corresponding item, (2) text, and (3) price.

24. The method of claim 22 wherein said templates include a plurality of item areas, each said item area comprising a portion of said template dedicated to one featured item and wherein said database and spreadsheet further include a category for an identity of one of said item areas of a display template into which the information about the featured item is to be inserted.

25. The method of claim 21 wherein said Web pages are part of an electronic commerce Web site that offers products and/or services for sale via said Web site.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein said featured items are products and/or services.

28. The computer program product of claim 27 wherein said templates comprise HTML code defining said presentation scheme.

29. The computer program product of claim 27 wherein said database includes information about a plurality of featured items, said information about each featured item organized into categories, said categories including at least a path for an image file, descriptive text and price.

30. The computer program product of claim 29 wherein said database categories further include a display template category identifying a display template into which the information about the corresponding featured item is to be substituted.

31. The computer program product of claim 30 wherein said categories of said database correspond to said variables in said templates and wherein, in instruction (3), data corresponding to a particular featured item and category is substituted for said corresponding variable in said templates.

32. The computer program product of claim 31 wherein said templates include a plurality of areas, each for presenting information about one featured item, each of said areas including sub-areas defined for information corresponding to categories in said database.

33. The computer program product of claim 28 further comprising computer executable instructions for:

(4) enabling a user to view a visual representation of each of said templates.

34. The computer program product of claim 27 further comprising computer executable instructions for:

(5) importing said information about featured items into said database from a spreadsheet.

35. The computer program product of claim 34 further comprising computer executable instructions for:

(6) entering said information about said featured items into said spreadsheet.

36. The computer program product of claim 30 wherein instruction (3) is performed when a user requests a Web page and comprises computer executable instructions for:

(3.1) identifying the specific page requested;

(3.2) determining the template corresponding to said specific page indicated in said database for displaying featured items;

(3.3) finding in said database all featured items corresponding to said requested page;

(3.4) substituting information from said database for corresponding variables in said template to form a populated template;

(3.5) inserting said populated template into said requested page; and

(3.6) delivering said requested page to said user.

37. The computer program product of claim 36 wherein said database categories further include an item area category identifying a particular portion of the display template identified in the display template category into which the information about the corresponding featured item is to be inserted and wherein instruction (3.4) comprises substituting information from said database for a featured item for the corresponding variables in the corresponding item area of the corresponding template.

38. The computer program product of claim 27 wherein said Web pages are part of an electronic commerce Web site that offers products and/or services for sale via said Web site.

39. The computer program product of claim 38 wherein said featured items are products and/or services.

27. A computer program product embodied on a computer readable medium, for constructing Web pages, said product comprising computer executable instructions for:

(1) providing a plurality of display templates, each defining a scheme for presenting information about at least one featured item, said templates including variables as place holders for information content;

(2) providing a database of information about featured items; and

(3) substituting information from said database for said variables to create a Web page.