Patent ID: 8332275
Filing Date: 2012-12-11
Classification: G06F,G06Q

Abstract:
1. A method to facilitate programmatic access to a network-based commerce facility via a network, the method comprising: communicating with a plurality of third-party applications that are on servers not controlled by the network-based commerce facility via a programmatic access application on a server controlled by the network-based commerce facility to allow indirect transactions between the network-based commerce facility and a first plurality of users via the respective third-party applications; receiving requests from each of the third-party applications via said network at said server controlled by the network-based commerce facility, wherein each of said requests is based on communication between one of the first plurality of users and the respective third-party application that is associated with the particular one of the first plurality of users, each of said requests generating a call function to interact through the programmatic access application on the server controlled by the network-based commerce facility with a database of said network-based commerce facility to perform an action pertaining to electronic commerce and being one of a plurality of requests recognized by said server controlled by the network-based commerce facility, wherein the call function is customized such that the call function specifies and controls the amount of information returned from the network-based commerce facility; responsive to said requests, performing actions pertaining to electronic commerce, and communicating via the programmatic access application on the server controlled by the network- based commerce facility said results of said actions to the respective third-party applications that are associated with each of the first plurality of users in a programmatically accessible format, wherein said results include information to be interpreted by an interpreter and to be arranged into a customized user interface, said customized user interface being readable and available to the first plurality of users communicating with the third-party applications, wherein with each call function, a session certificate uniquely identifying the associated third-party application is provided, and a determination is made as to whether the associated third-party application is authorized to use the function call based on the session certificate; communicating directly with a second plurality of users via the programmatic access application on the server controlled by the network-based commerce facility to allow direct transactions between the network-based commerce facility and the second plurality of users, wherein the server communicates differently when communicating with the second plurality of users compared to when communicating with the first plurality of users via the third-party applications; and wherein said results are transmitted via the programmatic access application on said network-based commerce facility to each of said third-party applications that are associated with the relevant results in a programmatically accessible format that is published by said network-based commerce facility.