Patent ID: 6643624
Filing Date: 2003-11-04
Classification: G06F,G06Q

Abstract:
A method for effecting transactions across a plurality of vendors in an internet environment, wherein a user may purchase each of a plurality of items the user finds independent of the vendors, comprising:displaying the plurality of items for purchase, the plurality of items drawn from the plurality of vendors; receiving from the user a selection of items to purchase from the plurality of items, the selection of items comprising items from a set of vendors from the plurality of vendors; mapping the selection of items to purchase to the set of vendors; determining order entry form identifiers for the set of vendors; determining matching patterns using the order entry form identifiers, wherein the matching patterns are stored in a database; matching the matching patterns to web pages of the set of vendors, wherein the web pages are associated with order entry forms; for one of the web pages that matches one of the matching patterns, parsing the order entry form for that web page to obtain attributes, wherein the attributes are fields in the order entry form to be filled in; identifying properties required to fill in the order entry form, the properties corresponding to user related information stored in a database; transforming data formats of the properties to yield values that match data formats of the attributes using a transformation function, wherein the values are user related information in the data formats of the attributes; automatically filling the order entry form by entering the values into the attributes; and submitting the order entry form to one of the set of vendors.