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Shopping scouts web site for rewarding customer referrals on product and price information with rewards scaled by the number of shoppers using the information

  • US 6,405,175 B1
  • Filed: 07/27/1999
  • Issued: 06/11/2002
  • Est. Priority Date: 07/27/1999
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
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1. A searchable database of information submitted by rewarded users comprising:

  • a plurality of records, each record containing information presented to a searcher when search terms input by the searcher match terms in the record;

    a data-entry module for receiving information from a rewarded user, the information being written to a target record in the plurality of records;

    a rewards database containing account records for users including a reward count for each user; and

    a reward module, coupled to the rewards database, activated when the searcher views information in the target record, the reward module increasing a reward count for the rewarded user when the searcher views the information in the target record submitted by the rewarded user;

    a verifier, coupled to the data-entry module, for verifying information submitted by the rewarded user, the verifier re-fetching a web page containing the information submitted by the rewarded user from a network, the verifier locating the information submitted on the web page and entering the information into the target record when information on the web page matches the information submitted by the rewarded user, wherein the reward count for the rewarded user increases in proportion to a number of times that a searcher or another searcher views the information submitted by the rewarded user, whereby rewards for submitting information depend on a number of times the information is viewed by others and whereby information submitted is verified by refetching the web page before information is added to the searchable database.

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