U.S. patent application number 11/777978 was filed with the patent office on 2008-01-17 for video rental e-commerce solution.
This patent application is currently assigned to INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION. Invention is credited to Abdul Hamid AL-AZZAWE.
Application Number | 20080015950 11/777978 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 26966193 |
Filed Date | 2008-01-17 |
United States Patent
Application |
20080015950 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
AL-AZZAWE; Abdul Hamid |
January 17, 2008 |
VIDEO RENTAL E-COMMERCE SOLUTION
Abstract
A method and system for providing a business-to-business network
service for applications used by service providers is disclosed.
The method and system include providing a central application
capable of communicating with at least two applications over a
public network, such as the Internet, and providing a repository
database for storing customer information that spans more than one
of the service providers. The method and system further include
allowing the applications to query the repository database through
the central application, thereby making the customer information
accessible to each of the applications.
Inventors: |
AL-AZZAWE; Abdul Hamid; (San
Jose, CA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
SAWYER LAW GROUP LLP
P.O. BOX 51418
PALO ALTO
CA
94303
US
|
Assignee: |
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES
CORPORATION
Armonk
NY
10504
|
Family ID: |
26966193 |
Appl. No.: |
11/777978 |
Filed: |
July 13, 2007 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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09886747 |
Jun 21, 2001 |
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11777978 |
Jul 13, 2007 |
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60290457 |
May 11, 2001 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
705/14.51 ;
705/26.1; 705/26.7; 705/27.1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q 30/0203 20130101;
G06Q 30/0645 20130101; G06Q 30/0643 20130101; G06Q 10/0637
20130101; G06Q 30/0601 20130101; G06Q 30/02 20130101; G06Q 20/3829
20130101; G06Q 30/0641 20130101; G06Q 30/0631 20130101; G06Q
30/0253 20130101; G06Q 30/0633 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
705/026 |
International
Class: |
G06Q 30/00 20060101
G06Q030/00 |
Claims
1. A method for providing a business-to-business network service
for applications used by service providers, the method comprising
the steps of: (a) providing a central application capable of
communicating with at least two applications over a public network;
(b) providing a repository database for storing customer
information that spans more than one of the service providers; and
(c) allowing the applications to query the repository database
through the central application, thereby making the customer
information accessible to each of the applications.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein step (b) further includes the step
of: receiving different customer information from each of the
applications.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein the service providers comprise
video rental chains.
4. The method of claim 3 wherein step (b) further includes the
steps of: (i) storing movie title information in the repository
database; and (ii) making the movie title information accessible by
the applications, thereby eliminating a need to manually enter
information at the rental stores.
5. The method of claim 3 wherein step (b) further includes the step
of: receiving the movie title information from movie
distributors.
6. The method of claim 1 further including the step of: (d)
providing a notification service that allows the applications to
subscribe to automatic notifications triggered by updates to the
customer information in the repository database.
7. The method of claim 1 further including the step of: registering
the applications as clients with the network service.
8. The method of claim 7 further including the step of: making
access to the repository database secure through encryption, and
during a registration process, generating authentication keys to
validate future data exchange requests made by the
applications.
9. The method of claim 2 wherein step (b) further includes the step
of: receiving customer information from each of the applications
that includes one or more of; a list of business customers, a
customer wish list, customer rental history, and customer
evaluations.
10. The method of claim 1 wherein step (c) further includes the
step of: receiving queries from the applications and analyzing data
in the repository database to uncover patterns and relationships
relating to the customers' rental activities and histories.
11. The method of claim 10 wherein step (c) further includes the
step of: returning in response to the queries one or more of a
recommended list, an order list, a user rating list, and a list of
user infractions.
12. The method of claim 1 wherein the service providers provide
online retail services.
13. A network service for applications used by service providers
comprising: a central application capable of communicating with at
least two applications over a public network; and a repository
database for storing customer information that spans more than one
of the service providers, wherein the applications may query the
repository database through the central application, thereby making
the customer information accessible to each of the
applications.
14. The network service of claim 13 wherein each of the
applications submit different customer information.
15. The network service of claim 14 wherein the service providers
are video rental chains.
16. The network service of claim 15 wherein the repository database
stores movie title information that is accessible by all of the
applications, thereby eliminating a need to manually enter
information by the rental chains.
17. The network service of claim 16 further including a request
servlet, a notify servlet, and a data access process.
18. The network service of claim 17 wherein there is no direct
customer interaction with the central application.
19. The network service of claim 18 wherein the applications
include point-of-sale applications, business-to-consumer
applications, and business-to-business applications.
20. The network service of claim 19 wherein the protocol of the
network service is HTTP Servlets.
21. The network service of claim 20 wherein the central application
communicates with the applications using XML messages.
22. The network service of claim 21 wherein the XML messages are
contained in Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) envelopes.
23. The network service of claim 22 wherein the repository database
further includes; a first component for storing information
regarding each of the service providers, a second component for
storing information regarding each of the rental customers, and a
third component for storing data that describes movie titles.
24. The network service of claim 23 wherein the network comprises
the Internet.
25. The network service of claim 13 wherein the service providers
provide online retail services.
26. A method for providing a business-to-business network service
for rental chains, the method comprising the steps of: (a) allowing
the rental chains to register as clients of the network service
through respective rental chain applications; (b) receiving
customer information from each of the rental applications and
storing the customer information in a repository database, wherein
the customer information spans more than one rental chain; (c)
allowing the rental applications to access the customer information
from repository database; and (d) providing a notification service
that allows the rental chain applications to subscribe to automatic
notifications triggered by updates to the customer information in
the repository database.
27. The method of claim 26 further including the steps of: (e)
receiving movie title information and storing the movie title
information in the repository database; and (f) making the movie
title information accessible by the rental chain applications,
thereby eliminating a need to manually enter information at the
rental stores.
28. The method of claim 27 wherein step (e) further includes the
step of: receiving the movie title information from movie
distributors.
29. The method of claim 28 wherein step (b) further includes the
step of: (i) receiving customer information from each of the rental
applications that includes one or more of; a list of business
customers, a customer wish list, customer rental history, and
customer evaluations of movie titles.
30. The method of claim 29 wherein step (a) further includes the
step of: (i) making access to the repository database secure
through encryption, and during a registration process, generating
authentication keys to validate future data exchange requests made
by the rental chain applications.
31. The method of claim 30 wherein step (c) further includes the
step of: (i) receiving queries from the rental applications and
analyzing data in the repository database to uncover patterns and
relationships relating to the customers' rental activities and
histories.
32. The method of claim 31 wherein step (c) further includes the
step of: (ii) returning in response to the queries one or more of a
recommended list, an order list, a user rating list, and a list of
user infractions.
33. The method of claim 32 wherein step (b) further includes the
step of: (i) storing the customer information in XML format, and
communicating between the rental applications and the network
service using XML messages.
34. The method of claim 33 wherein step (b) further includes the
step of: containing the XML messages in Simple Object Access
Protocol (SOAP) envelopes.
35. A computer-readable medium containing program instructions for
providing a business-to-business network service for rental
applications used by rental chains, the program instructions for:
(a) providing a central application capable of communicating with
at least two rental chain applications over a public network; (b)
providing a repository database for storing customer information
that spans more than one of the rental chains; and (c) allowing the
rental chain applications to query the repository database through
the central application, thereby making the customer information
accessible to each of the rental chain applications.
36. The computer-readable medium of claim 35 wherein instruction
(b) further includes the instruction of: receiving different
customer information from each of the rental applications.
37. The computer-readable medium of claim 35 wherein instruction
(b) further includes the instructions of: (i) storing movie title
information in the repository database; and (ii) making the movie
title information accessible by the rental chain applications,
thereby eliminating a need to manually enter information at the
rental stores.
38. The computer-readable medium of claim 37 wherein instruction
(b) further includes the instruction of: receiving the movie title
information from movie distributors.
39. The computer-readable medium of claim 35 further including the
instruction of: (d) providing a notification service that allows
the rental chain applications to subscribe to automatic
notifications triggered by updates to the customer information in
the repository database.
40. The computer-readable medium of claim 35 further including the
instruction of: registering the rental applications as clients with
the network service.
41. The computer-readable medium of claim 40 further including the
instruction of: making access to the repository database secure
through encryption, and during a registration process, generating
authentication keys to validate future data exchange requests made
by the rental chain applications.
42. The computer-readable medium of claim 36 wherein instruction
(b) further includes the instruction of: receiving customer
information from each of the rental applications that includes one
or more of; a list of business customers, a customer wish list,
customer rental history, and customer evaluations of movie
titles.
43. The computer-readable medium of claim 35 wherein instruction
(c) further includes the instruction of: receiving queries from the
rental applications and analyzing data in the repository database
to uncover patterns and relationships relating to the customers'
rental activities and histories.
44. The computer-readable medium of claim 43 wherein instruction
(c) further includes the instruction of: returning in response to
the queries one or more of a recommended list, an order list, a
user rating list, and a list of user infractions.
45. The computer-readable medium of claim 35 further including the
step of storing customer credential reports in the repository
database, allowing customers to request their credential reports
directly from the central application to challenge the report's
source/validity.
46. The computer-readable medium of claim 35 wherein the service
providers provide online retail services.
47. A method for enhancing the display of a movie title list, the
method comprising the steps of: (a) displaying a list of movie
titles to a user; and (b) displaying indicators adjacent to each
movie title on the list that allow the user to take action with
respect to a particular movie title, thereby eliminating the need
for the user to navigate to a separate movie title page in order to
take the action.
48. The method of claim 47 further including the step of displaying
a combination of indicators from among a group comprising: (i) an
in stock or out of stock indicator, (ii) an already
rented/purchased indicator, (iii) an order command, (iv) an add to
wish-list command, and (v) an add to shopping cart command.
49. The method of claim 48 further including the step of providing
icons as the indicators, wherein a click on the icon initiates a
corresponding action.
50. The method of claim 49 further including the step of using
customer historical data to display the indicators.
51. The method of claim 50 further including the step of using
customer historical data that spans multiple rental chains.
52. The method of claim 51 further including the step of storing
the customer historical data in a repository database that spans
multiple rental chains and this is accessible by the multiple
rental chains.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] Under 35 USC .sctn.120 this application is a continuation
application and claims the benefit of priority to U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 09/886,747, filed Jun. 21, 2001, entitled
"Video Rental E-Commerce Solution" and provisional patent
application Ser. No. 60/290,457 filed on May 11, 2001, all of which
is incorporated herein by reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The present invention relates to Web services, and more
particularly to a method system for providing a
business-to-business e-commerce solution for retail rental
businesses.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] A common need among video rental chains is to ensure that
potential customers have suitable backgrounds and sufficient credit
to become rental customers. Rental chains could also provide better
service to their customers if they had access to the customer's
rental history, a list of movie titles the customer is currently
interested in viewing, ratings of previously viewed movies, and so
on.
[0004] One solution available to video rental chains to provide
such services is to develop tightly coupled intranet applications
that allow each store in the chain to access a database containing
such data directly. Customers, however, almost always rent from
more than one rental chain. Video rental chains, as with most other
businesses, do not readily share customer information with their
competitors. Accordingly, any solution that is bounded by a
particular video chain loses the benefit of a customer's history
with other video rental chains.
[0005] Besides brick and mortar video rental chains, there are now
Web based video businesses such as www.imdb.com and
www.netflix.com, for example. lmdb.com is a video
business-to-consumer Web site that allows customers to build a wish
list and review/rate movie titles. This Web based video rental
business does not track customer rental history, credentials, or
provide services to other rental businesses. Netflix.com is a Web
based video rental cyberstore for DVDs. Again, this business tracks
local customer information only, and cannot access it's customer
rental history or credentials outside of its business
boundaries.
[0006] In addition, these online video rental applications also
have a problem with how movie title lists are displayed to users
for selection. As users browse the rental applications sites, the
movie title list displayed to the users are either query generated
or automatically generated. Automatically generated lists include
upcoming releases, new arrivals, and hot (top) rentals among other
users. Query generated movie title list result from a search
entered by the user, such as a search by actor, director, producer,
writer, genre, and so forth, as well as a combination of these
categories.
[0007] The purpose of movie title lists is to typically allow users
to rent or buy a movie title, or to add the movie title to a wish
list (i.e., registering and interest in a particular title). In
order for the user to actually rent a title from the movie title
list, the user must first click on one of the displayed movie
titles. A new Web page specific to that movie title is then
displayed showing the information for the movie as well as a button
to "rent", "buy", or "add to wish-list" (in most cases, wish-lists
are not even supported). The user must then click the appropriate
button to perform the corresponding action (e.g., rent the movie
title).
[0008] Although the traditional method for displaying movie title
list effectively allows users to rent/purchase movie titles and is
a useful feature, it requires an extra user click in order to drill
down to the actual page where the user can rent/purchase the movie.
Added to this, users are not told up-front if he/she has already
purchased, rented, or added this title to the wish-list. In
addition, there is no up-front indication of whether the title is
even in stock and available before the user spends time navigating
to the specific movie title pages from the movie title list.
[0009] Thus, video rental chains face the following limiting
factors when conducting day-to-day rental business operations:
[0010] inability to suggest movie titles to their customers based
on the customers renting history/preferences, [0011] no knowledge
of the renting preferences/history of customers outside of each
store's business location, [0012] restricted ability to evaluate
credentials of new or existing customers that are to be entrusted
with expensive rental items, and [0013] loss of revenue due to
stolen titles by new customers [0014] inability to tell a user
up-front if the user has already purchased, rented, or added a
movie title to a wish-list, or whether the title is in stock and
available without first navigating to the movie-specific web
page.
[0015] In addition, video rental chains require manual and
repetitive data entry of the movie title information, and such
title descriptions are typically limited in scope.
[0016] What is needed, therefore, is an improved solution for video
rental chains. The present invention addresses such a need.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0017] The present invention is a method and system for providing a
business-to-business network service for applications that are used
by service providers, such as rental and retail applications. The
method and system include providing a central application capable
of communicating with at least two applications over a public
network, such as the Internet, and providing a repository database
for storing customer information that spans more than one of the
service providers. The method and system further include allowing
the applications to query the repository database through the
central application, thereby making the customer information
accessible to each of the applications.
[0018] According to the method and system disclosed where the
service providers are video rental chains, for example, the present
invention provides a more efficient way for video rental chains to
serve and manage their customer base. The repository database
provided by the network service makes validating customer
credentials accessible by each registered rental chain, and
provides consumer-based services by storing information such as
customer rental history, wish-list registry, and a recommended
video list for each customer no matter which rental chain the
customer used. By making the customer information accessible to all
registered rental chains, rental chains may increase their revenue
per customer.
[0019] In a further aspect of the present invention, movie title
lists are enhanced by displaying dynamic icons adjacent to the
movie titles on the list, where a click on the dynamic icons
initiates a corresponding action, such as "rent" or "buy".
Accordingly, users are allowed to take immediate action with
respect to a particular movie title without needing to first
navigate to a separate movie title web page.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0020] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a B2B Web service for rental
chains in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present
invention.
[0021] FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating a process for providing
a Web service for rental chain applications in accordance with a
preferred embodiment of the present invention.
[0022] FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an enhanced movie title
list in accordance with the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0023] The present invention relates to a Web service for service
providers. The following description is presented to enable one of
ordinary skill in the art to make and use the invention and is
provided in the context of a patent application and its
requirements. Various modifications to the preferred embodiments
and the generic principles and features described herein will be
readily apparent to those skilled in the art. Thus, the present
invention is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown
but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the
principles and features described herein.
[0024] The present invention provides a business-to-business
network service for rental and retail chains. The present invention
will be described in terms of a preferred embodiment where the
network service is referred to herein as VideoCentral that is
accessed by rental applications that are used by respective rental
chains. Although a preferred embodiment of the present invention
will be described in terms of servicing video rental stores, the
present invention also applies to other types of rental stores,
such as game and music rental stores, for instance, and to retail
stores.
[0025] The purpose of VideoCentral is to provide a central data
repository that may be accessed by registered rental chain
applications. The VideoCentral application provides a suite of Web
services to address the business needs of the rental video chains
in two areas: business services that serve the administrative need
of the video rental chains, and customer services that enable video
rental chains to serve and manage their customer base.
[0026] The central repository provided by VideoCentral makes
validating customer credentials accessible by each registered
rental chain. The central repository also provides consumer-based
services by storing information such as customer rental history,
wish-list registry, and a recommended video list for each customer
no matter which rental chain the customer used. By making the
customer information accessible to all registered rental chains, it
is possible for each rental chain to increase their revenue per
customer.
[0027] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a B2B Web service for rental
chains in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present
invention. The Web service 10 includes an VideoCentral application
12 and one or more video rental chain applications 14 that interact
with the VideoCentral application 12 over a public network, such as
the Internet, to provide value added features to their customers.
Examples of different types of rental applications 14 include POS
(Point of Sale) applications for rental stores, applications for
Business to Consumer (B2C) online rental cyberstores, and
applications for other Business-to-Business (B2B) online portals
that further customize VideoCentral services as well as providing
additional services.
[0028] The VideoCentral application 12 includes a request servlet
16, a notify servlet 18, a request DTD 20, a data access process
22, and a central repository database 24. According to the present
invention, the central repository database 24 includes information
that spans multiple video rental chains. The shared data is not
business sensitive in the sense that no quantitative or qualitative
information about one store location is passed to another store
location. This information is censored in the sense that only
customer information is shared between the video rental chains. In
a preferred embodiment, however, since the customer credential
reports stored in the repository database are similar to credit
reports, customers of the video chains may be given the ability to
request their credential reports directly from the VideoCentral
application 12 and challenge the source/validity of the
reports.
[0029] Data is exchanged between the rental chains and the
VideoCentral application 12 in a Business-to-Business (B2B)
fashion. In a preferred embodiment, there is no direct customer
interaction with the VideoCentral application 12. Rather, only the
rental applications 14 interact with the VideoCentral application
12 over the Internet.
[0030] FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating a process for providing
a Web service for rental chain applications in accordance with a
preferred embodiment of the present invention. The VideoCentral
application 12 preferably provides video rental chains through
their applications 14 with 1) registration services, 2) data
exchange services, and 3) notification services.
[0031] Before becoming a client of the VideoCentral application 12
and accessing the repository database 24, a video rental chain must
first register with the VideoCentral application 12 through the
rental applications 14 in step 50. In a preferred embodiment,
access to the repository data is made secure using either
encryption or SSL (Secure Sockets Layer). Therefore, during the
registration process, authentication keys may be generated to
validate future data exchange requests made by the video rental
chains.
[0032] After registration, clients may submit customer information
to the repository database 24 and access the customer information
from the central repository database 24 via the data exchange
services provided by the VideoCentral application 12 in step 52.
The data exchange services allows a client to report and access
customer and movie title data. In accordance with the present
invention, VideoCentral application 12 may receive the following
data from each client: [0033] List of business customers (renters).
[0034] Customer wish list data gathered through a manual or an
online solution from the customers by the client applications 14.
This is a list of titles a customer might be interested in renting
in the future. This data is a value-added service for video rental
chains to allow them to automatically suggest titles for customers
as the wish-list entries become available. The wish list data is
entered by customers over the Web or supplied by the various rental
stores. [0035] Customer rental history gathered through day-to-day
rental operation of the client applications 14. This is a list of
titles previously viewed by the customer. This data is a value
added service for the video rental chains to facilitate the
detection of duplicate title rentals. This would avoid having the
customer return the title for exchange/refund. This data will also
be used to recommend titles to customers through business
intelligence database queries. [0036] Customer evaluations
(ratings) of various rental movie titles gathered through a manual
or an online solution from the customers by the client applications
14. This data is a value added service for the rental chains to
allow for the exchange of public opinion of movie titles. [0037]
Business customer evaluation and customer incident report gathered
through submissions made by the client applications 14.
[0038] Thus, if a customer rents movies from more than one rental
chain, those rental chains will submit chain-specific customer data
to the VideoCentral application 12, thereby aggregating the
customer's information across multiple rental chains. The data
supplied by each respective video rental chain is secure to the
chain; however, there may be some sharing of the data without
identifying the chain from which the data originated. The sharing
of data is required in order to provide the type of value-added and
business intelligence service to all of the video rental
chains.
[0039] Besides receiving data submitted by the rental chains, the
VideoCentral application 12 also receives movie title information
from movie distributors and other sources in step 54. The movie
title information may include: [0040] Movie titles and cast/crew.
The title information could include storyline, actors, directors,
and so on. [0041] Movie title ratings. This information includes
general public ratings of titles. This data is a value added
service for video rental chains to allow for the exchange of public
opinion of movie titles.
[0042] Making the movie title information accessible from the
VideoCentral application 12 by the rental chain applications 14
eliminates the need for manual entry at the rental stores.
[0043] After customer data has been stored in the central
repository 24, the VideoCentral application 12 allows the rental
applications 14 to access the data from central repository 24 in
step 56. The rental applications 14 may perform either simple
queries or complex queries on the data. Simple queries access the
data reported by the rental chains, such as title ratings, user
wish list, and user rented list. According to the present
invention, complex queries may be performed on the data stored in
repository 24 that result in data mining. That is, based on the
queries, the VideoCentral application 12 analyzes the data to
uncover patterns and relationships relating to the customers'
rental activities and histories. The results returned from such
complex queries may include: [0044] A recommend list--a list of
titles automatically recommended by the VideoCentral application 12
for each customer. This data is used as a value-added service for
the video chains to allow them to automatically suggest titles for
customers. The recommend list is generated based on intelligent
analysis the customers' personal information (age, sex, and so on)
and critical data analysis of the customers rented list, title
ratings and wish list in conjunction with the movie title data.
[0045] An order list--is a list of title names and quantities
automatically recommended that VideoCentral application 12. This
data is used as a value added service for the video rental chains
to allow them to automatically determine which new release titles
to order for their stores and how many. This data is generated
based on historical data analysis of each store's customers each
customers rented list, title ratings and wish list in conjunction
with the movie title data. [0046] A user ratings list--an overall
evaluation of a customer's ratings based on input from the video
rental chains.
[0047] A list of user infractions--a list of historical infractions
committed by the customer (stolen rentals, lost rentals, damaged
rentals, late rentals, arguments/disputes, and so on). This data is
used to protect the video rental chains from loss of revenue due to
renting titles to customers that may steal, damage, or lose the
rented items. It serves as a way of validating new and existing
customer credentials.
[0048] Accordingly, the present invention provides secure data
sharing for the video rental chains and data mining derived through
business intelligence on the shared data.
[0049] In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the
VideoCentral application 12 also provides notification services in
step 58 that allow the rental chain applications 14 to subscribe to
automatic notifications triggered by repository data updates to
customer and movie title information. In a preferred embodiment,
the notification services are handled by a MQ series server 26
(FIG. 1) from IBM, which is an asynchronous data propagation
service provider.
[0050] Referring again to FIG. 1, in one preferred embodiment of
the present invention, the format of the VideoCentral Web service
data is XML, and the rental chain applications 14 interact with the
VideoCentral application 12 by sending and receiving data in XML
format. The XML scheme is generic enough such that it may be
applied to a variety of applications 14.
[0051] In one preferred embodiment, the VideoCentral application 12
communicates via HTTP servlets or Simple Object Access Protocol
(SOAP) envelopes. For HTTP, requests in the form of XML data are
received by the request servlet as HTTP requests. The XML request
is validated using the request DTD 20, which is an XML schema
document type definition. After validation, the data access process
22 applies business logic to the request and accesses the data from
the repository 24. The results are then sent back to the requesting
application 14 through the notify servlet 18 in the form of
XML.
[0052] In a preferred embodiment, the XML messages may also be
contained in Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) envelopes. SOAP
is an application invitation protocol developed by IBM, Microsoft,
and others that defines a simple protocol for exchanging
information encoded as XML messages. SOAP is in the process of
being more formally specified by the World Wide Web Consortium
(W3C) as XML protocol. SOAP makes no assumptions on implementation
of the end points. This means that a service requester need only to
create an XML request, send it to a service provider, and
understand the XML response that comes back.
[0053] In a preferred embodiment, the database repository 24
includes three main components: eBusiness, eUser, and eTitle.
eBusiness contains information on each of the video rental chains
such as locations of stores, what type of information they qualify
for, and so on euser contains information regarding each of the
rental customers. And etitle is the data that describes the various
movie titles.
[0054] Using a centralized and secure repository database that
spans multiple franchises in accordance with the present invention
will provide rental business owners with the following value-add
features:
[0055] 1. Sets the maximum rental limits for customers based on
their rental credentials to minimize loss;
[0056] 2. Rewards good customers (frequent renters with good
credentials);
[0057] 3. Avoids duplicate rentals to customers where a customer
forgets that he/she already rented a title in the past--no local
management of the rented list is required;
[0058] 4. Makes the wish list readily available to all stores to
empower them to recommend titles that are in stock. The wish list
is automatically updated on the VideoCentral database 24 as the
customer rents/updates his list--no local management of the wish
list is required;
[0059] 5. Provides business intelligence queries for generating
title rental recommendation list based on customer rental history,
wish list, prior rating of rentals, and rental titles info. The
data is more accurate than what would have been possible if access
was limited to local store database only. The business intelligence
queries also generate title purchase (quantity and type) list to
businesses based on their customer preferences and new titles
info;
[0060] 7. Automatically updates new rental title information into
local store databases, thereby avoiding manual and repetitive entry
of newly purchased titles;
[0061] 8. Shares cross-store customer rating and reviews of titles;
and
[0062] 9. Automatically notifies rental chains of user profile
updates for those customers for which a business registers its
interest in.
[0063] In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the
repository database 24 is not intended for access by customers or
end users. However, in an alternative embodiment, the Web service
10 may be modified to allow limited access by individual end users
over the Internet through a web browser. End users may then access
and query movie title lists, which are enhanced in accordance with
the present invention by displaying dynamic icons next to movie
titles on the movie title lists.
[0064] FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an enhanced movie title
list 100 in accordance with the present invention. Compared to a
traditional movie title list that only displays a list of movie
titles 102 and perhaps a graphic of the movie jacket (not shown),
the present invention displays dynamic icons 104-108 adjacent to
each movie title 102 on the list 100. According to the present
invention, a click on the dynamic icons 104-108 initiates a
corresponding action, such as "rent" or "buy", thereby allowing the
user to take immediate action with respect to a particular movie
title 102 without needing to first navigate to a separate movie
title web page.
[0065] In a preferred environment, the dynamic icons that may be
displayed adjacent to movie titles 102 include: [0066] An in stock
or out of stock indicator 104. [0067] An already rented/purchased
indicator (if customer historical data indicates that the items
already rented/purchased), order it command (if not ordered), or
un-order it command 106. The customer historical data used may span
multiple rental chains, or only span the history of the customer at
a particular chain. [0068] An already rented/purchased indicator,
add to wish-list command (if not in the wish-list), or remove from
wish-list command (if already in the wish-list) 108.
[0069] For purchase oriented online stores, the already purchased
indicator may include an add to shopping cart command (if not added
yet) or a remove from shopping cart command (if already in the
shopping cart).
[0070] Accordingly, the dynamic icons of the present invention
provide users with the following benefits: [0071] Users are shown
in advance if the title is available or not. [0072] Users are shown
in advance of the title is already rented/purchased. [0073] Users
are allowed at a very early stage to add or remove the item to/from
the shopping cart. [0074] Users are allowed a very early stage to
add or remove the item to/from the ordered rental title list.
[0075] Users are allowed at a very early stage to add or remove the
item to/from the wish-list.
[0076] Because the icons 104-108 may be small, the icons may also
include a descriptive tool-tip (not shown) to describe the icons
use in detail.
[0077] A method system for providing a B2B network service for
rental chains has been disclosed. The present invention has been
described in accordance with the embodiments shown, and one of
ordinary skill in the art will readily recognize that there could
be variations to the embodiments, and any variations would be
within the spirit and scope of the present invention. Accordingly,
many modifications may be made by one of ordinary skill in the art
without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended
claims.
* * * * *
References