Method and apparatus to enable consumer replenishment shopping by expiration date

• US 6,965,871 B1
• Filed: 05/08/2000
• Issued: 11/15/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/08/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Toohey, James J., Szabo, Robert M., Fortenberry, Keith N.
• Primary Examiner(s): Smith, Jeffrey A.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Brown, Timothy M.
• Application Number:
  US09/566,770
• Time in Patent Office: 2,017 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26, 700/16, 700/18, 186/56
• US Class Current: 705/26.8
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0222 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0239 Online discounts or incentives
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0603 Catalogue ordering
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing

Abstract

A method produces a shopping list consisting of one or more items, wherein at least one item in the shopping list is a perishable item. The method operates in an e-commerce site and includes the steps of: storing one or more consumer shopping lists of respective consumers at the e-commerce site; storing a list of items previously purchased by one or more consumers from the e-commerce site; receiving a request from a consumer for at least one consumer shopping list; and determining if the request from the consumer is from a consumer that has previously purchased one or more perishable items from the e-commerce site. If the consumer has previously purchased one or more perishable items from the e-commerce site, then the method performs the sub-steps of: reviewing if any items previously purchased are perishable items with expiration dates; and adding to the at least one consumer shopping list one or more perishable items that have exceeded a predefined expiration date range. Additionally, a computer readable medium and a system are disclosed corresponding to the method above.

Claims

1. A method for producing a shopping list consisting of one or more items, wherein at least one item in the shopping list is a perishable item, the method on an e-commerce site comprising the steps of:

storing, on a data-base by an e-commerce site, one or more consumer shopping lists of respective shoppers at the e-commerce site;

storing, on a data-base by the e-commerce site, a list of items previously purchased by the one or more respective shoppers at the e-commerce site;

receiving, at the e-commerce site, a request from a shopper for at least one of the at least one or more consumer shopping lists; and

determining, at the e-commerce site, if the request from the shopper is from a shopper that has previously purchased one or more perishable items from the e-commerce site and in response to the request and a determination that the shopper has previously purchased one or more perishable items from the e-commerce site, performing the sub-steps of;

reviewing the consumer'"'"'s list of items previously purchased, at the e-commerce site, to determine if any items previously purchased by the shopper from the e-commerce site are perishable items with an expiration date associated at the e-commerce site; and

adding, at the e-commerce site, to the at least one requested consumer shopping list one or more perishable items from the list of items previously purchased that have exceeded, as determined at the e-commerce site, a predefined expiration date range.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the sub-steps further include the sub-steps of:

prompting the consumer if they want to authorize the addition of the one or more perishable items to be added to the at least one consumer shopping list; and

adding the one or more perishable items to the at least one consumer shopping list authorized by the shopper.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of storing one or more consumer shopping lists includes storing a consumer shopping list that has zero items in the consumer shopping list.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

storing data representing inventory of items available at the e-commerce site; and

wherein the step of storing one or more consumer shopping lists includes storing a shopping list containing one or more items available as inventory at the e-commerce site, and wherein the adding step comprises adding to the at least one consumer shopping list-one or more perishable items that have exceeded a predefined expiration date range and that are items available as inventory at the e-commerce site.

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

creating a purchase order for the items in the at least one consumer shopping list.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of storing a list of items previously purchased includes:

storing at least part of the expiration date of at least one item.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the step of storing a list of items previously purchased includes the sub-steps of:

scanning an identifier code for at least one of the items purchased by the one or more shoppers;

looking up an expiration date previously associated with the identifier code; and

storing, at the e-commerce site, at least part of the expiration date of the at least one of the items.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the sub-step of reviewing includes reviewing if at least one perishable item is a food item.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the sub-step of reviewing includes reviewing if at least one perishable item is a pharmaceutical item.

10. A method for producing a shopping list of perishable items based on the expiration date of a perishable item, the method on an e-commerce site comprising the steps of:

storing, on a data-base by an e-commerce site, data representing an inventory of items available for sale at the e-commerce site;

storing, on a data-base by the e-commerce site, one or more shopping lists for one or more respective shoppers at the e-commerce site;

storing, on a data-base by the e-commerce site, a purchase history of items purchased by the one or more respective shoppers at the e-commerce site;

storing, on a data-base by the e-commerce site, at least part of an expiration date of at least one item purchased in the purchase history by scanning a product code during a previous delivery or pickup of the at least one purchased item to the one or more respective shoppers;

receiving, at the e-commerce site, a request from one of the one or more respective shoppers for at least one of the shopping lists to build an active shopping list;

reviewing, at the e-commerce site, the purchase history of the one of the one or more respective shoppers to determine if the at least one perishable item previously purchased from the purchase history has exceeded a predefined expiration date range;

if the at least one perishable item previously purchased has exceeded its predefined expiration date range, prompting the one of the one or more shoppers to authorize the addition of the at least one perishable item previously purchased; and

adding, at the e-commerce site, the at least one perishable item to the active shopping list if authorized by the one of the one or more shoppers.

11. A computer readable medium containing programming instructions for producing a shopping list consisting of one or more items, wherein at least one item in the shopping list is a perishable item, the programming instructions comprising:

storing, on a data-base by an e-commerce site, one or more consumer shopping lists of respective shoppers at the e-commerce site;

storing, on a data-base by the e-commerce site, a list of items previously purchased by the one or more respective shoppers at the e-commerce site;

receiving, at the e-commerce site, a request from a shopper for at least one of the one or more consumer shopping lists; and

determining, at the e-commerce site, if the request from the shopper is from a shopper that has previously purchased one or more perishable items from the e-commerce site and in response to the request and a determination that the shopper has previously purchased one or more perishable items from the e-commerce site, performing the sub-steps of;

reviewing the list of items previously purchased, at the e-commerce site, to determine if any items previously purchased by the shopper from the e-commerce are perishable items with an expiration date associated with the e-commerce site; and

adding, at the e-commerce site, to the at least one consumer shopping list, one or more perishable items that have exceeded a predefined expiration date range as determined by the reviewing step.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 11 wherein the program instruction further includes:

prompting the consumer if they want to authorize the addition of the one or more perishable items to be added to the at least one consumer shopping list; and

adding the one or more perishable items to the at least one consumer shopping list authorized by the shopper.

13. The computer readable medium off claim 11, wherein the program step of storing one or more consumer shopping lists includes storing a consumer shopping list that has zero items in the consumer shopping list.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 11, further comprising the programming instructions of:

storing data representing inventory of items available at the e-commerce site; and

wherein the step of storing one or more consumer shopping lists includes storing a shopping list containing one or more items available as inventory at the e-commerce site, and wherein the adding step comprises adding to the at least one consumer shopping list one or more perishable items that have exceeded a predefined expiration date range and that are items available as inventory at the e-commerce site.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 11 further comprising the programming instructions of:

creating a purchase order for the items in the at least one consumer shopping list.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 11 wherein the programming instruction of storing a list of items previously purchased includes the programming instruction of:

storing at least part of an expiration date of at least one item.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 16 wherein the programming instruction of storing a list of items previously purchased includes the programming instructions of:

scanning an identifier code for at least one of the items purchased by the one or more shoppers;

looking up an expiration date previously associated with the identifier code; and

storing, at the e-commerce site, at least part of the expiration date of the at least one of the items.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the programming instruction of reviewing includes reviewing if at least one perishable item is a food item.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein the programming instruction of reviewing includes reviewing if at least one perishable item is a pharmaceutical item.

20. A computer readable medium containing programming instructions for producing a shopping list of perishable items based on the expiration date of a perishable item, the programming instructions executing on an e-commerce site comprising:

storing, on a data-base by an e-commerce site, data representing an inventory of items available for sale at the e-commerce site;

storing, on a data-base by the e-commerce site, one or more shopping lists for one or more respective shoppers at the e-commerce site;

storing, on a data-base by the e-commerce site, a purchase history of items purchased by the one or more respective shoppers at the e-commerce site;

storing, on a data-base by the e-commerce site, at least part of an expiration date of at least one item purchased in the purchase history by scanning a product code during a previous delivery or pickup of at least one item to the one or more respective shoppers;

receiving, at the e-commerce site, a request from at least one of the one or more respective shoppers for at least one of the shopping lists to build an active shopping list;

reviewing, at the e-commerce site, the purchase history of the at least one or more respective shoppers to determine if at least one perishable item previously purchased from the purchase history has exceeded a predefined expiration date range;

in response to a determination that one or more of the at least one item previously purchased has exceeded its predefined expiration date range, prompting the at least one of the one or more shoppers to authorize the addition of the at least one perishable item previously purchased; and

adding, at the e-commerce site, the at least one perishable item to the active shopping list if authorized by the at least one of the one or more shoppers.

21. An e-commerce system for producing a shopping list of perishable items based on the expiration date of a perishable item, the e-commerce system comprising:

an inventory database for storing data representing an inventory of items for sale at an e-commerce site;

a shopping list database for storing one or more shopping lists for one or more respective shoppers at the e-commerce site;

a purchase history database for storing a purchase history of items purchased by the one or more shoppers at the e-commerce site;

means for storing at least part of an expiration date of at least one item purchased in the purchase history by scanning a product code during a previous delivery or pickup of the at least one item to the one or more shoppers;

means for receiving, at the e-commerce site, a request from at least one of the one or more shoppers for at least one of the shopping lists to build an active shopping list;

means for reviewing, at the e-commerce site, the purchase history of the at least one of the one or more shoppers to determine if at least one perishable item previously purchased from the purchase history has exceeded a predefined expiration date range;

means for prompting one of the one or more shoppers to authorize the addition of the at least one perishable item previously purchased in response to a determination that the at least one perishable item has exceeded its predefined expiration date range; and

means for adding, at the e-commerce site, the at least one perishable item to the active shopping list if authorized by the at least one consumer.