U.S. patent application number 14/054192 was filed with the patent office on 2014-02-13 for software system for decentralizing ecommerce with single page buy.
This patent application is currently assigned to Glyde Corporation. The applicant listed for this patent is Glyde Corporation. Invention is credited to Simon Rothman.
Application Number | 20140046780 14/054192 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 40789729 |
Filed Date | 2014-02-13 |
United States Patent
Application |
20140046780 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Rothman; Simon |
February 13, 2014 |
Software System for Decentralizing eCommerce with Single Page
Buy
Abstract
A software system with a "single page buy" capability--both
product information and purchase information on a single webpage.
The software does the backend work needed to display both, in order
to simplify the user experience. In one embodiment, commerce is
"atomized" by pushing out the capability to purchase throughout the
Internet--to ads on 3rd party sites, references in blogs, articles,
etc. In one embodiment, a gliding product display is provided. The
ad has a banner-type ad dimension, with product icons scrolling or
gliding across it.
Inventors: |
Rothman; Simon; (Palo Alto,
CA) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Glyde Corporation |
Palo Alto |
CA |
US |
|
|
Assignee: |
Glyde Corporation
Palo Alto
CA
|
Family ID: |
40789729 |
Appl. No.: |
14/054192 |
Filed: |
October 15, 2013 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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13555294 |
Jul 23, 2012 |
8589253 |
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14054192 |
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11963711 |
Dec 21, 2007 |
8244590 |
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13555294 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
705/14.73 ;
705/26.41 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q 30/06 20130101;
G06Q 30/0254 20130101; G06Q 30/0601 20130101; G06Q 30/0625
20130101; G06Q 30/02 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
705/14.73 ;
705/26.41 |
International
Class: |
G06Q 30/06 20060101
G06Q030/06 |
Claims
1. A method comprising: storing product information in a database
for a plurality of products offered for sale by a plurality of
different sellers, the computer database being associated with a
multi-seller server, the product information including, for each
product, a product description providing a description of the
product; storing seller information regarding the sellers, the
seller information including, for each product and for each seller
offering the product for sale, a sale price associated with the
seller, the sale price indicating a price at which the seller
offers the product for sale; receiving, at the multi-seller server,
a request for product information for one of the products, the
request being received from a third party web server separate from
the multi-seller server in response to a user interacting with a
web page hosted by the third party web server; and in response to
receiving the request for product information from the third party
web server: determining, from the database, the product description
for the product corresponding to the requested product information;
determining, from the database, price information for the product
corresponding to the requested product information; and
communicating the product description and the price information to
the user via the web page hosted by the third party web server.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein: the request for product
information includes a request to purchase one of the products;
determining price information includes identifying the user from a
plurality of users, determining an ideal seller of the product from
the plurality of sellers, and determining the sale price associated
with the ideal seller for the product; and communicating the price
information to the user includes communicating the sale price
associated with the ideal seller to the user via the web page
hosted by the third party web server.
3. The method of claim 2 wherein identifying the user includes
determining an address for the user, and determining an ideal
seller includes determining a seller that offers the lowest
combined sale price for the product and shipping cost for shipping
the product from the ideal seller to the user.
4. The method of claim 1 further comprising, in response to
receiving the request for product information from the third party
web server: establishing an information pipeline between the
multi-seller server and a web browser associated with the user and
used to display the web page to the user, the information pipeline
enabling real-time interaction between the web browser and the
multi-seller server, wherein the product description and the price
information are communicated to the user via the information
pipeline.
5. The method of claim 4 further comprising, after communicating
the product description and the price information to the user:
receiving a change in the product description and/or price
information from one of the sellers; and communicating, in
real-time, the change in the product description and/or price
information to the user via the web page hosted by the third party
web server.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein communicating the product
description and the price information to the user includes causing
the product description and the price information to be displayed
via a widget hosted by the third party web server, said widget
comprising at least one display element that is customizable by an
operator associated with the third-party server.
7. The method of claim 6 wherein the at least one display element
that is customizable includes a category of the products offered
for sale by the plurality of different sellers.
8. The method of claim 6 wherein the at least one display element
that is customizable includes a genre of the products offered for
sale by the plurality of different sellers.
9. The method of claim 6 wherein the at least one display element
that is customizable includes a list of at least some of the
products offered for sale by the plurality of different
sellers.
10. The method of claim 6 wherein the widget further comprises a
widget preview that displays the at least one display element as
the display element changes as a result of the customization by the
operator.
11. A system comprising: a database configured to store: product
information for a plurality of products offered for sale by a
plurality of different sellers, the product information including,
for each product, a product description providing a description of
the product; and seller information regarding the sellers, the
seller information including, for each product and for each seller
offering the product for sale, a sale price associated with the
seller, the sale price indicating a price at which the seller
offers the product for sale; a multi-seller server coupled to the
database; and a communication interface coupled to the multi-seller
server and configured to enable communication between the
multi-seller server and a third-party web server separate from the
multi-seller server and/or between the multi-seller server and a
web browser associated with a user, the web browser being operable
to browse a web page hosted by the third-party web server; wherein
the multi-seller server is configured to perform operations
including: receiving a request for product information for one of
the products, the request being received from the third party web
server in response to the user interacting with the web page hosted
by the third party web server; and in response to receiving the
request for product information from the third party web server:
determining, from the database, the product description for the
product corresponding to the requested product information;
determining, from the database, price information for the product
corresponding to the requested product information; and
communicating the product description and the price information to
the user via the web page hosted by the third party web server.
12. The system of claim 11 wherein the multi-seller server is
configured to perform further operations including, after
communicating the product description and the price information to
the user via the web page hosted by the third party web server:
receiving, from the user via the third party web server, an
indication of a buy decision with respect to the product associated
with the request for product information; and in response to
receiving the indication of a buy decision: selecting an actual
seller from the sellers offering the product associated with the
request for product information; and facilitating a purchase
transaction for the user to purchase the product associated with
the request for product information from the actual seller.
13. The system of claim 11 wherein the multi-seller server is
configured to perform further operations including: prior to
receiving a request for product information, causing at least some
of the product information in the database to be displayed in a
banner ad of the web browser; wherein: receiving a request for
product information includes receiving a user selection of a
product advertised via the banner ad; determining the product
description includes determining the product description
corresponding to the selected product; determining price
information includes determining price information corresponding to
the selected product; and communicating the product description and
price information includes causing the product description and the
price information corresponding to the selected product to be
displayed in a pop-up window of the web browser other than the
banner ad.
14. The system of claim 11 wherein the multi-seller server is
configured to perform further operations including: prior to
receiving a request for product information, causing at least some
of the product information in the database to be displayed in a
banner ad of the web browser; wherein: receiving a request for
product information includes receiving a user selection of a
product advertised via the banner ad; determining the product
description includes determining the product description
corresponding to the selected product; determining price
information includes identifying a location of the user, and
identifying a seller from the plurality of sellers that offers the
lowest combined sale price for the selected product and shipping
cost for shipping the selected product from the seller to the user;
and communicating the product description and price information
includes causing the product description corresponding to the
selected product, the lowest combined sale price and shipping cost
for the selected product, and a buy option providing the user with
an option to purchase the selected product, to be simultaneously
displayed in a pop-up window of the web browser other than the
banner ad.
15. The system of claim 14 wherein identifying a location of the
user includes: identifying the user from a cookie stored on a
computing device associated with the user and on which the web
browser operates; receiving address information from the user;
and/or receiving login information from the user.
16. The system of claim 11 wherein the user interaction with the
web page is selected from the group consisting of: the user
selecting an ad displayed on the web page; the user selecting
hyperlinked text displayed on the web page; the user selecting an
image displayed on the web page; and the user selecting a product
displayed via a gliding product display.
17. The system of claim 11 wherein: determining price information
for the product corresponding to the requested product information
includes determining a sale price for different conditions of the
requested product being offered for sale by different sellers; and
communicating the price information to the user includes causing
the sale price for the different conditions of the requested
product to be simultaneously displayed to the user.
18. The system of claim 17 wherein: determining a sale price for
different conditions of the requested product includes: identifying
a location of the user; identifying, for each condition of the
requested product, a seller from the plurality of sellers that
offers the lowest combined sale price for the requested product and
shipping cost for shipping the requested product from the seller to
the user; and communicating the price information to the user
includes causing the lowest combined sale price and shipping cost
for the different conditions of the requested product to be
simultaneously displayed to the user.
19. The system of claim 11 wherein: communicating the product
description and the price information to the user includes causing
the product description and the price information to be displayed
to the user via a widget executing on a computing device associated
with the user and that is used to operate the web browser.
20. The system of claim 11 wherein the multi-seller server is
configured to perform additional operations including: before
receiving a request for product information: identifying a location
of the user; identifying, for each product of a subset of the
products, a seller from the plurality of sellers that offers the
lowest combined sale price for the product and shipping cost for
shipping the product from the seller to the user; and communicating
the lowest combined sale price for each of the subset of products
to the third party web server, wherein communicating the lowest
combined sale price for each of the subset of products includes
causing the lowest combined sale price for each of the subset of
products to be displayed to the user via the web page hosted by the
third party web server.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This Application is a Continuation of U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 13/555,294, filed Jul. 23, 2012, now allowed,
which is a Divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No.
11/963,711, filed Dec. 21, 2007, granted as U.S. Pat. No.
8,244,590, and entitled "Software System for Decentralizing
Ecommerce with Single Page Buy". Related applications are U.S.
patent application Ser. No. 11/963,675, entitled "Virtual Shelf
with Single Product Choice and Automatic Multiple Vendor
Selection"; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/963,382, entitled
"System and Method for Dynamic Product Pricing"; U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 11/963,718, entitled "3D Product Display on
Internet with Content or Transaction Data on Back of Image"; U.S.
patent application Ser. No. 11/963,470, entitled "Product
Distribution System and Method Thereof"; U.S. patent application
Ser. No. 11/963,592, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,831,584 B2, entitled
"System and Method for Providing Real-Time Search Results on
Merchandise"; and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/963,601, now
U.S. Pat. No. 7,899,716 B2, entitled "System and Method for
Integrated Payment and Shipping Information"; all filed Dec. 21,
2007.
BACKGROUND
[0002] The present invention relates to selling products on the
Internet, and in particular to simplifying the user purchasing
experience.
[0003] Most websites follow a model popularized by Amazon.com and
others. The user first selects the product on a product webpage,
then must navigate through the checkout pages on separate
webpages.
[0004] Currently the Internet experience mirrors the physical. In
the brick and mortar world, a user walks from storefront to
storefront to buy goods. On the Internet, a user navigates from
website to website. Some websites are like shopping malls, with
users able to go to one site, but then navigating from page to
page. When advertising is done on other websites, the user can
click on the ad to navigate to the storefront website selling the
advertised goods. Once the user is at the storefront, the user
first selects the product, then must navigate through the checkout
pages.
[0005] Ads take many forms on the internet. Typically, a "banner
ad" is a rectangular graphic element on a webpage has the artwork
and product description, with a hyperlink. If the user clicks on
the ad, the user is taken to the website offering the product or
service. There are also pop-up ads, ads that incorporate video,
pop-under ads and floating ads. These ads typically describe one
product or service, or a class of products or services.
[0006] With respect to providing information to users, this takes
many forms. In addition to webpages, ticker-type information can be
provided which scrolls across the bottom of the screen, such as a
stock ticker. RSS feeds can provide customized content, such as
news subjects the viewer is interested in, pushed to a webpage for
viewing.
[0007] US Patent Application Publication No. 20030020758 describes
providing dynamically alterable banner ads. The ads can scroll
either horizontally or vertically.
[0008] Unicast Communications Corporation U.S. Pat. No. 7,155,663
describes a number of prior art techniques for providing ads in
webpages. A banner ad is generally produced by embedding HTML code
for that banner within the HTML coding for a given web page.
Consumers can obtain more information by clicking through the ad,
thus being referred to the advertiser's site, and click through
counts can be monitored. Interstitial ads are displayed in an
interval of time that occurs after a user has clicked on a hot-link
displayed by a browser to retrieve a desired web page but before
that browser has started rendering that page. Ads can also be
provided via a "push" application program that connects with a
server, typically during off-hours. Ads are downloaded for later
display. A user profile is used to determine the type of ads for
that user. Real-time downloading and rendering of advertising HTML
files uses advertising files stored on remote web servers. These
ads show content in a "streamed" media file that relies on a
continuous real-time network connection existing to a remote web
server.
[0009] The '663 patent goes on to describe decoupling referring web
page content from its corresponding advertising content, allowing
an advertiser to easily update ads. Multi-threaded pipelining is
used, processing each ad as a different thread.
[0010] US Patent Application Publication No. 20070083440 describes
electronic advertising that enables a consumer to purchase
advertised products while remaining connected to a hosting web
site. The banner ads contain links that are activated to send a
request to the banner applet for additional product information, or
for an order form to allow the consumer to purchase the advertised
product. The banner applet supplies on-demand information to the
consumer workstations without causing the workstations to query the
hosting server, or to terminate or suspend their active sessions
with the sessions manager.
BRIEF SUMMARY
[0011] The present invention provides software system with a
"single-page buy" capability--both product information and purchase
information on a single webpage, eliminating the need to go to a
separate checkout page. The software does the backend work needed
to display both, in order to simplify the user experience. A
database includes data on (1) products, including dimensions and
weight, (2) sellers, including location, and the user (buyer),
including the buyer location and credit card information. For
example, when the user first navigates to the page, the software
already has all the data needed to calculate shipping price
(knowing the product weight, dimensions, and in some cases where it
is to be shipped from and to), allowing a total number to be
displayed on the page. The removal of the need for additional
information to be displayed and collected allows the purchase
function (checkout) to fit on the same page as the product
information.
[0012] In one embodiment, commerce is "atomized" by pushing out the
capability to purchase throughout the Internet, not just on a
company's website. The capability can be pushed out with ads on 3rd
party sites, widgets on social networking sites, references in
blogs, articles, etc. For example, an ad on a 3rd party website
contains the information needed to make a purchase, without
necessarily having to leave the 3rd party website. As used herein,
an "ad" can be anything which references a product or service, such
as images, text, a widget, etc. When a user clicks on the ad (or
beforehand), the single-page buy (described above) is displayed.
The code for this can actually be on the webpage where the ad is
displayed, or a channel is opened to the a seller server. The "ad"
may know who the user is, with all the user's credit card and
shipping address data, if the user had previously registered with
the site/system. Thus, all this information is filled in
automatically. Alternately, the user can sign up on a 3rd party
site within a widget. Similarly, a reference to the product (book
name, CD title, etc.), can act as an ad in a blog, article, etc.,
such that when a user clicks on it, the single-page buy window
appears.
[0013] In one embodiment, a gliding product display is provided.
The ad has a banner-type ad dimension, with product icons scrolling
or gliding across it. The multiple products can be from different
sellers. Graphics for different products glide or slide across an
area, which may be a traditional banner ad area. This is done not
only on the system website, but in banner ad areas on 3rd party
sites. Combined with the single-page buy feature (described above),
this allows multiple products purchasing to be pushed out all over
the web so buyers can purchases items wherever they are without
having to go to a centralized destination site. The display may be
a subset or category of products based on a user's preferences,
publisher's preferences, or system discretion or algorithmic
determination. Registered users are detected when they enter a
website, and their data is retrieved to allow displaying product
information deemed most applicable to that user. Alternately, or in
addition, the ad could have check boxes or a drop-down list to
allow the user to select a category of products to be
displayed.
[0014] In addition to traditional ads, subscribing websites can
have links to such a single-page buy. For example, a blog site can
have software or use a webservice that recognizes when the name of
a product offered by the system or any seller on the system is
typed (such as in a review or comment on the product). The product
name is automatically hyperlinked in the blog to the seller single
page buy.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0015] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a single page buy window
according to an embodiment of the invention.
[0016] FIG. 2 is a diagram of an overall system supporting the
present invention.
[0017] FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the atomization of commerce
according to one embodiment of the present invention.
[0018] FIG. 4 is a diagram of a user interface for configuring a
widget according to an embodiment of the invention.
[0019] FIG. 5 is a diagram of an example of a widget with product
images on a Facebook page according to an embodiment of the
invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Single-Page Buy Window
[0020] FIG. 1 illustrates one embodiment of a display according to
an embodiment of the invention. A window 102 shows artwork for
multiple products which glide across in a stream. A second,
expanded, single-page buy window 104 shows more information on a
selected product which has been clicked on. Alternately, instead of
a window 102 with multiple products, a single static ad could be
clicked on to bring up window 104, or even just text with the
product name in an article, blog, etc. Alternately, just the buy
box 103 from window 104 could be displayed, or just a pricing
information box 114 plus a buy button 120, or any other combination
allowing a buy to be accomplished. In one example, the buy window
can be just the cover art, with the price, condition and buy button
above, below or on the cover art. Alternately, any other
combination of information may be provided to give a small
footprint buy window.
[0021] Window 104 includes artwork 108 and product description 112,
including a version 107. Window 104 can show one product, or a
number of versions or conditions of product. The example of FIG. 1
shows 3 products, which can all be offered by the same seller, or 2
or all 3 could be from different sellers. The user thus has the
option of buying a new DVD 109 (or book or other product), a used
DVD in excellent condition 111, or a used DVD in good condition
113. Other conditions could be used as well, such as acceptable
condition. In addition to condition, other parameters could be
used, such as disc-only sales, where a bare disk without the
package is sent, instead of a packaged disc. Thus, a single seller
is selected for each stock keeping unit (SKU) and each condition
category for that SKU. For purposes of simplicity and quality of
the user experience, poor products are not displayed. Alternate
embodiments may provide more options for the user, such as more
degrees of condition, or different ranges of prices or different
seller reliability ratings.
[0022] Each product is listed with price information 114, which
includes item cost, shipping cost and total cost. The price
information includes the shipping costs. The shipping cost is
calculated based on the dimensions and weight of the product, the
address of the seller, and the address of the buyer. Because both
seller and buyer information is stored, it is available at the time
the user clicks on the product, and the calculation is run before
window 104 is displayed. If the windows are on the system server, a
local database can be used. If the windows are an ad on a 3rd party
database, the information is pushed or fetched over the Internet to
the window.
[0023] In one embodiment, the product is offered by multiple
sellers. The price information is calculated by first selecting the
appropriate seller using a number of factors, including item price,
seller reliability rating, and shipping price and speed from the
seller location. The price 114 reflects the selection of the
appropriate seller. In one embodiment, an actual seller is not
picked until a buyer makes a buy decision. The software merely
determines that there are one or more sellers who can supply the
product at the price and shipping costs displayed.
[0024] Additionally, since the buyer information is available, the
buyer preferred payment information 116 is displayed, in this
instance the last digits of a credit card. Also, the buyer's
preferred shipping address 118 is displayed for the buyer to see.
The buyer is identified from a cookie on the buyer's computer.
Thus, no matter on what website the buyer is browsing, the buyer
information is readily available. If the buyer agrees, the buyer
can initiate what is truly a single-click, or a single-page, buy.
This is done by clicking on buy button 120. If the buyer instead
wants to select a different payment mechanism or shipping address,
the buyer can click on payment information 116 or address 118 to
bring up other options the buyer has previously entered, and a form
for entering new data. If the buyer enters a different shipping
address, the shipping costs and/or seller selection may be
re-calculated.
[0025] The buyer can indicate interest in an ad by clicking on it,
moving a cursor over it, having eye gaze at the ad detected, etc.
The user can click on an image, words describing a product, a buy
button on an ad, etc.
Current Information Pipeline
[0026] In one embodiment, the time-sensitive data (such as price
and product availability) in the window is updated using Comet
software program or similar technology. Comet enables web servers
to send data to the browser without the need by the browser to
continually request it. It allows creation of event-driven web
applications, enabling real-time interaction in a browser. An open
connection is established with the browser to update the web window
in real time. For a gliding ad display 102, the various ads are
pushed to the browser. When a buyer clicks on one, part or all of
the additional information in window 104 is pushed to the browser.
This information is designed so that it rarely needs to be updated,
minimizing the bandwidth needed. For example, the cover art,
description, version, buy buttons, etc. should be stable, almost
never changing. The price is calculated for the buyer before it is
displayed, so it also would rarely change, unless the market price
changes while the window is open. Since the market price is
designed to be stable, this should also rarely occur (see co-owned
U.S. application Ser. No. 11/963,382, filed Dec. 21, 2007, entitled
"System and Method for Dynamic Product Pricing", the disclosure of
which is hereby incorporated herein by reference.
System
[0027] FIG. 2 illustrates a system supporting the present
invention. A server 201 hosting the multi-seller website is
connected to a network 203 (e.g., the Internet). Also connected to
the Internet is a 3rd party seller 204 which may display ads for
products on the multi-seller website. Finally, a user computer 205
is shown connected to the Internet, for browsing either the
multi-seller or 3rd party website.
[0028] The server 201 is configured to provide the window 104 with
a display of products, and react to user actions. The server 201
may be implemented using multiple computing devices. A database 202
stores data on both sellers and users. In one embodiment, database
202 is directly connected to server 201. In another embodiment,
database 202 includes multiple storage devices that are accessible
over network 203 or another network.
Atomizing of Commerce
[0029] FIG. 3 illustrates one embodiment of how commerce can be
atomized Not only are ads (in particular, widgets) pushed out
everywhere on the Internet, but the user experience is one of all
or most of the buy capability being in the widget itself. FIG. 3
shows an example of a blog 302 mentioning a movie 304 available on
DVD. The blog author will have subscribed to the multi-seller
website, downloaded software or embedded a code snippet. As part of
that process, software is provided to the blogger that compares
what the blogger writes to product descriptions at the multi-seller
website. If there is a match, the words are hyperlinked. After
hyperlinking, if a reader clicks (or mouses over) the hyperlink, a
single page buy window 306 is generated, as described above with
respect to FIG. 1. The information for identifying the buyer for
the single-page buy window comes from a cookie 308 on the reader's
computer, and a pipeline 310 opened by the Comet application to
retrieve the product information including current market price
from the multi-seller server 311.
[0030] The buyer is identified by the cookie which is sent to the
multi-seller server. From identifying the buyer, the multi-seller
server looks up the buyer's address, which can be used to determine
the best market price (by determining the best seller from the item
price, seller reliability, and shipping costs and time from the
seller location). That information is used to generate the
single-page buy window. If the user clicks the buy button on the
single-page buy window, the purchase is made and a receipt is
displayed to the buyer, as well as an email receipt being sent to
the buyer's registered address. Thus, from the user's perspective,
it appears as if the blog site handles the purchase. Note that this
works only if both the blogger and the buyer are registered. If the
blogger doesn't register, the text isn't highlighted. If the user
isn't registered, when the user clicks, the single page buy page
may prompt the user to enter a zip code or other aspects of an
address, or sign in or log in. With or without that information,
the best market price can be determined and displayed. If the new
buyer clicks "buy," the user will be directed to enter a credit
card or other payment information, as well as completing the full
address information, if that hasn't already been done. The buy is
then completed as for a true single-page buy. A cookie is placed on
the user computer, and the user is registered, with the payment and
shipping address information being stored at the multi-seller
server. If desired, the user could instead opt-out of
registration.
[0031] Window 310 of FIG. 3 is another example of the atomization
of commerce. The buy trigger is pushed out into an article 312,
which is a review of a product 314. Again, the review website with
article 312 first registers, and product descriptions matching
those on the multi-seller website are hyperlinked. When the
potential buyer clicks, a single page buy window 316 pops up,
pulling information from cookie 308 and a pipeline 318 to the
Multi-Seller Server 311 opened by a Comet application, as described
above. As can be seen, anything could be hyperlinked--a traditional
ad, a word description, an image, etc. The ads could be hyperlinked
text or images on a person's MySpace or Facebook or other social
networking page, or in an email. In another example, a blog 302
includes a product reference 304 (Pirates of the Caribbean). When a
user clicks on reference 304, a single page buy window 306 pops up.
Window 306 pulls information from cookie 308 and a pipeline 310 to
the Multi-Seller Server 311.
[0032] In one embodiment, a buyer ad display is provided. The ad
display is associated with the buyer, not with the multi-seller
website or 3rd party websites the buyer visits. A gliding display
102 can be placed by the buyer on his/her desktop, phone, etc. The
user can download a plug-in application for the user's browser to
do this function. The gliding display will appear as the buyer
browses around the Internet. Any other ad described herein can also
be used. The display or widget can be in a toolbar, in a window at
the bottom of the display, or in any other location on the desktop.
The application for producing the ad or widget can be a client
added to a desktop or a plug-in for a browser, or any other local
application. Alternately, a link to activate a remote application
can be downloaded. Words can also be highlighted as in the blog
example described above, for either online or offline content. For
example, documents the user has locally saved, or even as they are
being typed, can have keywords linked to an ad. When the buy pulls
up material on the web, such as an article, the ad software can
highlight items in the article and link them to ads. The user may
receive an incentive for accepting such software, such as a
discount on items bought.
Gliding Display
[0033] FIG. 1 illustrates a gliding display 102 according to an
embodiment of the invention. As a product image 120 moves off the
display to the left, a new product image 122 appears from the
right. The product images move, or glide, in a scrolling movement
across the display window 102. This display window can be placed in
a banner ad area on any website or as a widget anywhere on a 3rd
party site. The information is provided and updated in real time
using Comet or a similar technology. The scrolling movement is
similar to a ticker-tape. By using such a scrolling motion,
multiple products can be displayed in an area typically used for a
single product ad. Thus, multi-product, multi-seller information
can be easily distributed throughout the internet on 3rd party
sites. In addition, this format can be used for the multi-seller
site itself, with multiple gliding windows being displayed on a
page.
[0034] In one embodiment, the type of product information displayed
can be controlled by the user if desired. Alternately, it can be
controlled by the publisher's preferences, or multi-seller website
system discretion or algorithmic determination. For example, if
DVDs are being displayed, as illustrated, the user can click on one
of buttons 124 to select a genre of movies. Alternately, or in
addition, the user could select other classes of products to be
displayed, or a random mix of different products. For a registered
user, the multi-vendor website will have historical data on that
user stored in a database. That information is used to generate
personalized product ads that are most likely to appeal to that
particular user. Thus, any where that user goes on the Internet
(anytime the user's browser is opened), specialized ads will be
displayed at any site also registered. In alternate embodiments,
variations may be used. For example, the ads could flip over or be
replaced to reveal the new ads, instead of scrolling. A single or
double click could cause the ad to flip over, revealing more
information, with the changing of ads being paused for a period of
time.
Widget
[0035] In one embodiment, a widget can be used to display images of
products. Widgets are downloadable interactive virtual tools. They
can be loaded into social networking pages, such as MySpace or
Facebook, or could be put on retailer or other sites. Typical uses
of widgets include showing the user the latest news, the current
weather, a dictionary, a map program, etc.
[0036] FIG. 4 is a diagram of a user interface for configuring a
widget according to an embodiment of the invention. A box 402 shows
how the gliding display described above can be imported as a
widget, configured as the user desires. For example, the user can
select a category 406 and a genre 408.
[0037] Alternately, the user can use box 404 to create a scrolling
display of a list of that user. The user can select an existing
user list 410, import a list 412, or create a list 414. The
software of the multi-user site will access the list, compare it to
items in its database, and generate a scrolling display of just
those products.
[0038] The user can also customize the title 416 that will appear
on the widget, such as "Check out these CDs. Guess which are in my
top 10." The user is provided radio buttons 418 to select one or
more locations to download the widget to. An option to turn on or
off the glide function is provided by buttons 420. The user can
preview the widget with button 422, and if satisfied, can export
and download it with button 424. In one embodiment, a scrolling
window 426 is shown, and is configured on the fly as the user makes
the selections, giving an instant preview.
[0039] FIG. 5 is a diagram of an embodiment of a users Facebook
page showing the widget 428 having been imported. The user can
click on a portion of the widget display, such as the title, to
bring up the configuration screen of FIG. 4 to modify the widget
display or turn it on or off.
[0040] It is to be understood that the examples and embodiments
described above are for illustrative purposes only and that various
modifications or changes in light thereof will be suggested to
persons skilled in the art and are to be included within the spirit
and purview of this application and scope of the appended claims.
For example, the scrolling of gliding ads could be left to right,
or vertical, or spiral shaped. A non-open connection could be used,
with static ads that are periodically replaced, but still using the
single-page buy with its open connection when clicked on. The ads
could be placed in video games, such as an image of a DVD on a
shelf in a virtual room being linked to a single page buy when
clicked. For another example, the products can be DVDs, CDs, video
games, books, consumer electronics (i.e., PDAs, cell phones, etc.),
jewelry, toys, software or any other product or service. The
product or service can be bought, bartered for or rented. The
embodiments can be applied to single or multi-vendor websites, and
the vendors can be individuals, large corporations, small
businesses, charities or any other organization. As used in the
claims, the term "products" includes services. Therefore, the above
description should not be understood as limiting the scope of the
invention as defined by the claims.
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