COLLABORATIVE LINKING SYSTEM WITH BI-DIRECTED VARIABLE GRANULARITY SEARCH ENGINE

Abstract: The present invention is a system and method for shortening response time and reducing resource utilization in an electronic advertising and customer enquiry system, operating in an interactive communications and distributed database environment. The system is designed to enable customers (01) to easily find product and service offerings that match their requirements for immediate local accessiblity (A1), as well as the customer's (01) specific product desires. Where a perfect match does not exist, slightly less satisfactory solutions are offered. Such product offerings and customer (01) desires have static and dynamic characteristics that effect their electronic publication, enquiry, matching, and subsequent response.

Description: COLLABORATIVE LINKING SYSTEM WITH BI-DIRECTED VARIABLE GRANULARITY SEARCH ENGINE Field of the Invention Generally, the present invention relates to networked computer systems. More specifically, the present invention relates to computer systems and search engines used to selectively link members from any of a plurality of classes of users via any of a plurality of network enabled, wired or wireless, computers (or electronic devices). Cross Reference to Related Applications This application claims benefit of priority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial Number 60/182,749, entitled Collaborative Linking System with Bi-directed Variable Granularity Search Engine, filed February 16, 2000. ^ Background of the Invention Internet usage has become immense and promises to be much larger in the amount of information stored and made available to it users. In fact, the quantity of accessible information content and the number of requests for information are growing much more rapidly then the ability to deliver the desired information. This delivery is limited by the power of the available processors, database machines, and communication bandwidth available and limited by the ability of the humans and their local computers (or electronic devices) to receive and process the data returned. Considerable research has been carried out to create more efficient search engines that attempt to minimize the actual data access, data communications, and querying required to satisfy the user's real need. The great thrust of the Internet is characterized by the thrust of the "World Wide Web," suggesting that all of the information stored, worldwide, can be accessed by all of the users, worldwide via increasing numbers and types of wired or wireless computers, such as workstations, personal computers, cell phones, pagers, and personal organizers, just to name a few. Research, applications, and usage have been concentrated on this worldwide accessibility, such that the reach and access of a Web user seems limitless. However, with the apparent focus on increasing a user's reach and access to volumes of data, the Internet and World Wide Web, at times, is a forum of scarcely tapped potential on a community level. That is, consumers and product and service providers have realized only marginal benefits from the Web in their mutual conduct of community level business transactions. It is believed that as much as 85% of a consumer's purchases occur within 20 miles of the consumer's residence. Yet, presently, the Web does not link local consumers with local providers of goods and services in a scalable and efficient manner. Summary of the Invention The present invention is a network-based collaborative linking system having bi-directed, variable granularity search engines configured to selectively link one or more members from a first class of users with one or more members from at least one other class of users. Each class member may interact with the collaborative linking system using a wired or wireless computer. Wherein, the word "computer" as used herein is to include, but is not limited to, those wireless devices, like cell phones, personal organizers, and pagers, which are network enabled and which allow their users (or class members) to interact with a network to send and receive messages, for example. In the case of pagers and personal organizers (i.e., receive only devices), it may be used to receive solicited or unsolicited advertisements, or announcements or e-mail with limited text, as an example. However, for the most part, messages may be include text, graphics (static and dynamic), or audio information, or some combination thereof. In its simplest form, the collaborative linking system links members of a first class with members of a second class, wherein members of the second class generally seek information or data from members of the first class. Also, members of the first class may seek and use certain information related to members of the second class to facilitate more efficient and focused information providing. Each class may be generally characterized according to the application for which the collaborative linking system is to be applied. For example, in an e-commerce application, all members of the first class maybe characterized as "providers" and all members of the second class may be characterized as "consumers". The collaborative linking system may impose a general structure or framework on classes (e.g., consumers and providers), to facilitate efficient processing. Providers may selectively map their provider information into the framework and consumers may then search for provider information in a logical manner. By selectively mapping into certain areas of the collaborative linking system, a provider imposes a filter on its entry. From a consumer's perspective, by defining certain search criteria, within the context of the framework, the consumer defines a filter into the collaborative database for obtaining information. Given that the consumer can define and redefine his search criteria, the consumer can control the granularity of the search. Within each class, members of that class maybe grouped into subclasses, according certain criteria. Subclasses may or may not be hierarchical. That is, a subclass is constructed in accordance with certain criteria. Other than the criteria that defines the class generally (e.g., all providers), the other criteria that defines one subclass may be independent of the criteria that defines every other subclass. For example, a subclass of providers selling pizza may be independent from a subclass of providers selling skateboards, but they may both be part of an independent subclass of providers targeting consumers under the age of 21 years old. However, in a hierarchical context, an auto dealer subclass may be further subclassified into certain makers of automobiles (e.g., Chevrolet, Ford, etc.). In most embodiments, the collaborative linking system will include some combination of independent and hierarchical subclassifying. Consumers may be similarly subclassified, either independently, hierarchically, or some combination thereof. As an example, consumers may be independently subclassified into age groups, that is, age group 1, or age group 2, or age group 3, or "all ages", and independently, they may be subclassified as male, or female, or both. Generally, the criteria of providers correspond to the criteria of consumers, such that the more refined the criteria (or search criteria) of a consumer the smaller the solution set of providers that will satisfy the consumer's criteria. Similarly, the more refined the criteria (or search criteria) of a provider the smaller the solution set of consumers that will satisfy the provider's criteria. Classes, and their members, may be defined in any of a variety of manners, as dictated by the application for which the collaborative linking system is to be used. A member may be an individual, an organization, or some other type of entity. Preferably, the collaborative linking system is a Web-based system implemented over the Internet for e-commerce purposes. However, the collaborative system may also be implemented with other types of networks, such as, for example, a wide area network (WAN), local area network (LAN), or Intranet of an organization or affiliation or some combination thereof, and need not be restricted to e- commerce. Additionally, classes and their members may have different system privileges and the system may employ various known security mechanisms. The collaborative linking system includes a plurality of wired and/or wireless computers (e.g., workstations, personal computers (PCs), cell phones, pagers, electronic personal organizers, Web enabled television, or other such interactive electronic devices) linked to one or more content servers and content databases of provider, and potentially consumer, information. The provider database content may include relatively static data, as well as short-term "promotional" or time critical dynamic data that may be of interest to consumers, hi the preferred form, a control center having one or more control servers and associated control databases, serves as an entry point for selectively distributing and managing the distribution of providers' data to the content servers and content databases. The control center also establishes and manages, to some degree, the high level framework within which the classes operate. In addition to provider and consumer databases that may be provided as part of the collaborative linking system, third party databases may be linked to the system and the data therein used to facilitate improved satisfaction of the objectives of the collaborative linking system. For example, third party databases including directory listings, maps, SIC codes, Zip codes, telephone exchange numbers, and/or directions for getting from one place to another may be linked to, or imported into, the collaborative linking system. A collaborative linking system program code is executable by one or more of said content servers and includes one or more bi-directed, variable granularity search engines. A search engine facilitates searches of, for example, provider content databases according to consumer's defined filters (i.e., search criteria). Based on a first level of search criteria, the search engine determines the appropriate one or more content servers and associated content databases most likely to satisfy the user's search. By continuing to add search criteria, additional (or more refined) filters are applied by the search engine to the content databases; thus, the user's search is further refined. The collaborative linking system includes a plurality of user interfaces (UI) to facilitate the interaction of each of several types of users and computers (e.g., PC, cell phone, or pager) with the system. Preferably, each UI is generated from program code executed within a standard Web browser, on a user ' s workstation or PC, but the actual UI implementation will often vary as a function of the type of device with which a user interacts with the collaborative linking system. Each UI may be established with specific user privileges, having different levels of access and security. For example, a system administrator UI (SAUI) is provided to facilitate the configuring and maintenance of the system. A developer's UI (DUI) may also be provided for initial development and integration of system components and for performing functions similar to those accomplished using the SAUI. Preferably the SAUI and DUI are part of the control center. The control center is, for the most part, a logical center of the system and may or may not have all of its components physically collocated. Access to the control center may be local, remote, or some combination thereof, depending on the embodiment. In various embodiments, the collaborative linking system also includes UIs for billing and account management, which may be part of the SAUI or part of a separate UI. A provider UI (PUI) may also be provided to allow each provider to directly add, modify, delete, and map the provider's information into the system's content servers and databases. As an alternative or a companion to the provider's direct entry, the system administrator may add, modify, delete, and map provider data into the system via the SAUI. Using the PUI a provider can also, preferably, establish a provider account on the collaborative linking system and take advantage of, for example, non-static information providing features of the system, such as, for example, offering specials to consumers. To facilitate a consumer's interaction with the collaborative linking system, a consumer UI (CUI) is provided. The CUI facilitates a consumer's search for provider information by enabling the consumer to enter and create filters (i.e., search criteria) used to efficiently migrate through the collaborative linking system content servers and content databases to optimally locate relevant provider data, both static and dynamic. Screens displayed and information provided within the consumer's Web browser are a function of the framework, the providers' mapping of data into the framework, and the consumer's search criteria. Where appropriate, the UI screens generated by the collaborative linking system may include Web site and e-mail links. A consumer may optionally enter consumer information into the collaborative linking system via the CUI and avail himself of an automatic linking capability that links providers and consumers as a function of a certain amount of synergy between the two. For example, the consumer's information may indicate that the consumer is an avid hiker and as local providers offer specials on hiking (or related) equipment, those providers and their specials are automatically identified to the consumer (e.g., via e-mail). Additionally, the collaborative linking system may selectively link consumers and providers using information obtained about the consumer's purchasing practices (or using other consumer related information), such that the consumer receives unsolicited provider promotional announcements. Preferably, a consumer may opt out of the distribution of unsolicited provider promotional announcements. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the various user interfaces may vary depending on the particular type of computer used. For example, the CUI for a PC may differ from the CUI for a cell phone, which may also differ from the CUI of an electronic organizer, and so on. Differences may be realized for each type of UI, among various types of computer devices. Brief Description of the Drawings The foregoing and other objects of this invention, the various features thereof, as well as the invention itself, may be more fully understood from the following description, when read together with the accompanying drawings, described: Figures 1-10 are diagrams illustrating the entity types and relationships of the preferred embodiment of a collaborative linking system, in accordance with the present invention; Figure 11-16 are architecture-based diagrams of portions of the collaborative linking system of Figures 1-10; and Figures 17-24 are screen display diagrams of the user interface of the collaborative linking system of Figures 1-16. For the most part, and as will be apparent when referring to the figures, when an item is used unchanged in more than one figure, it is identified by the same alphanumeric reference indicator in all figures. Trademarks of various entities are used herein as examples and do not indicate any specific relationship to the present invention. The trademarks used herein remain the property of their respective owners and nothing herein is intended to alter those property rights. Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiments hi the preferred form, the collaborative linking system is applied in a Web-based e- commerce context. In such a context, a first class of users includes "providers", having members that include a plurality of retailers, service providers, restaurants, and so on. For the most part, in the preferred embodiment, a provider may be any type of entity found in a typical Yellow Pages phone book, for example. A second class of users includes "consumers", having members that include individuals, businesses, and so on. Preferably, providers and consumers interact with the collaborative linking system via any of a variety of wired or wireless types of computers (e.g., workstations, personal computers (PCs), cellular telephones, pagers, electronic personal organizers, Web enabled televisions, or other types of electronic devices). Members of each class (i.e., providers and consumers) maybe grouped into subclasses based on additional criteria. Sub classifying may be either independent, relationship-based or some combination thereof. An example of relationship-based sub classifying is a hierarchical approach, but subclasses may be related in some other manner. In contrast, if a subclass is independent, it has no particular relationship to any other subclass within its class. Generally, a provider seeks to be linked to consumers in search of the provider's products or services. Similarly, a consumer seeks to be linked to providers that provide the products or services that the consumer desires. In some situations a provider may be a consumer, for example, in a business-to-business transaction. Figures 1-10 depict the entities and relationships of the preferred embodiment of the collaborative linking system. The collaborative linking system of the preferred embodiment implements a structure that defines a first level of criteria for linking providers and consumers. In an e-commerce context, recognition that most people shop in their immediate vicinity for many products and services, such as for perishables, items or services they need in a relatively short time, and items they prefer to inspect before purchasing, leads to a preference for a geography-based framework or structure. Therefore, consumers and providers are linked, at a first level, in relation to a predetermined geographic region. For the most part, the provider's choice of geographic preference is more or less static, over a period of time, because of the general "bricks and mortar" aspect of providing products and services from a physical location. On the other hand, the consumer has greater physical mobility, so the collaborative linking system provides the capability to allow the consumer to dynamically specify his cur ent geographic point bϊ Merest. As an architectural implementation, a plurality of content servers and associated content databases are linked together under the general management of a control center and made accessible via the Internet and Web, as shown in Figures 11-16. Additionally, third party databases, information sources (and related functional code), functionality, networks, and systems may be linked to, or imported into, the collaborative linking system, such as databases including directory listings, maps, SIC codes, ZIP codes, telephone exchange numbers, directions for how to get from one place to another, credit information, financial account information and so forth. The content servers and databases are defined according to a geographic region, within the larger geography-based framework. Each provider maps its provider information into those geographical content servers and databases (i.e., "business places") that correspond to that provider's consumer base and/or that provider's storefront locations. A consumer searching for a particular product or service dynamically chooses a geographic region within which to search, that is, the consumer chooses a certain one or more content servers and databases. Preferably the content servers are physically located proximate to or within the geographic region that they serve. This geography-based architecture imposed on providers and consumers provides at least two performance benefits. First, if the consumer is searching a content server and database that is in or near his geographic location, transmission times between the consumer and the content server will be relatively short, due to fewer relays in the transmission path, among other things. Second, the server's response time (to the consumer's search request) will be relatively short, since the content database being searched contains only the data for that geographic region. Also, the more refined the consumer's search, the faster the search results are presented. Of course, in other embodiments, a geography-based structure need not be imposed; the choice of structure is made in light of several considerations and will vary depending on the application for wliich the collaborative linking system is used. Generally, the structure is chosen to enhance or optimize performance. In other architectures, content servers and databases may be dynamically allocated as a function of the availability of system resources. A geographic region may be defined in any of a variety of manners, such as, for example, by postal codes, by telephone area codes and exchanges, by a circle defined by longitude and latitude values, by a set of points each with a longitude and latitude value, by governmental census tracks identifiers, or by a set of other geographic regions (places). The provider information (or data) may include information relating to the provider's location (e.g., the store's address), store hours, products and services offered and current promotions. The product information may include make, model, features, price, and quantity on hand. Additionally, providers may be rated and consumers may search for providers meeting a certain minimum rating threshold, for a given product of service. While a user is most likely to inquire about providers in his geographic region, the user may optionally expand his search to include adjacent geographic regions or to search in remote geographic regions. Additionally, consumers may generally be willing to travel farther within their general geographic area for some products than for others. For example, the geographic region (or business place) for auto dealerships may be larger (in the consumer's mind) than the geographic region for pizza parlors. Thus, a provider may wish to list a particular place of business (e.g., an auto dealership) in multiple surrounding areas. Using the Internet and Web as a communications network, a consumer may seamlessly transition between business places, expand or contract a search, or change the product/ service being searched. In a broad context, the collaborative linking system is implemented for a large group of business places (i.e., towns), wherein each business place includes a plurality of businesses (or providers) offering products and services. A combination of business places may form a higher- level business place. For example, a large geographic region may be the United States ("U.S."), which may include a plurality of separate business places (or geographic sub-regions). A provider that has a presence (e.g., store or franchise) in many locations throughout the U.S. may then pick and choose within which business places to advertise each store. Presumably, the provider advertises in those regions where the provider has a physical presence. Additionally, a provider may pick and choose within which business places certain products will be promoted. For example, a department store provider may, in the month of January, promote snow scrapers in Massachusetts and sun glasses in Florida, but not vice versa. However, if the provider is a mail order business with no traditional storefronts, that provider may chose to advertise only in business places having consumers that have demonstrated a demand for the provider's mail order products or may advertise in all business places. In the preferred embodiment, the collaborative linking system includes the control center, having access to the control servers and control databases. The control center accomplishes the system administration, management, maintenance, modifications, upgrades, and so forth of the collaborative linking system, as well as establishing the basic framework of the system. The control center provides a mechanism for the storage and subsequent mapping of provider data into business places (i.e., business place content servers and databases) and administration of links to third parties (e.g., provider Web sites or third party databases or services). Although, third parties need not link to the collaborative linking system through the control center; they may link to a proximate content server, hi the " preferred embodiment, providers seeking to offer promotions (e.g., advertise sales or distribute coupons), derive or collect consumer information or derive other benefits beyond a static listing from the collaborative linking system are referred to as "syndicators", and derive such benefits by establishing an account that is managed through the control center. Other providers may simply have their static information (e.g., non-promotional information) provided to consumers. The collaborative linking system provides a mechanism for providers to use consumer information to tailor or otherwise influence their marketing approach. For example, geographically related consumer information may be added into the system, such as average household income, number of homeowners, political and religious affiliations and other census infoπnation, and so on for a geographic region. Additionally, other consumer related information (e.g., number of "hits", consumer preferences, and consumer activity patterns) may be collected by the system, as part of consumer's use of the collaborative linking system. This information may then be used by providers in determining which products and specials are to be offered in a given geographic region, which types of ads are most effective, and which ads are most effective relative to the time of day, among other things. Use of this information may be by overt provider selection, or as an automated function of the application of automated filters. For example, a kitchen appliance company may only promote certain appliances in the towns where the company has a distributor and where new home construction is higher than 5%. Once a town's new home sales drop below 5%, the collaborative linking system may automatically cease promotions on those appliances in that town. In the preferred embodiment, the collaborative linking system user interface is comprised of at least three user-type interfaces: a system administrator user interface (SAUI), a provider user interface (PUI), and a consumer user interface (CUI). That is, the SAUI includes a plurality of displays useful by system administrator personnel for monitoring, data gathering, troubleshooting, analyzing, modifying, upgrading, configuring, enhancing, testing, and otherwise operating and maintaining the collaborative linking systems and the information thereon. The SAUI may also be used for billing and account management purposes. Also, the SAUI may be used to add, modify, and delete provider and consumer data and to establish and maintain links to third party systems and databases. Access to certain aspects of the collaborative linking system for system administration purposes may vary as a function of predetermined user privileges. For the most part, system administration is conducted via the control center. The PUI allows a provider to access information related to that provider on the collaborative linking system. In the preferred form, the collaborative linking system databases are populated with relatively static provider data within a geographic context for substantially each provider in a selected business place. As previously discussed, such relatively static provider data typically includes a provider name, address, and telephone number (which may collectively be referred to as a "listing"). Such information is entered into the system via the SAUI or by the provider via the PUI. Using the PUI, a provider may "register" with or establish an account on the collaborative linking system and subsequently view, add, delete, or modify its provider data. Registered providers are required to logon to the collaborative linking system in order to interact with their provider data. Using the PUI, for example, a provider may define promotional specials, change or update provider data and view statistical information related to their listing and specials. Appendix A (and its figures) describes an embodiment of the PUI. For the consumer, the collaborative linking system CUI provides, preferably, a hierarchical, link or text-based search approach to finding providers relative to a chosen geographical region, as a first level criterion. Decreasing recall and increasing accuracy of results is achieved with the addition of subsequent criteria by the consumer, as indicated in the CUI screen prints of Figures 17-24. In the preferred embodiment, the consumer interacts with the collaborative linking system via a standard Web browser. The consumer may directly access a business place Web site, associated with a particular business place (e.g., the town of Wellesley, MA) to find providers in that business place. Additionally, the consumer may broaden the search to include other business places or migrate to other business places. As a function of the user's search, the collaborative linking system generates and displays within the CUI provider information and data, and may additionally provide information about companion providers or promotions. For example, if a consumer searches for pizza places in Wellesley, MA, the CUI may provide a list of all pizza places in that town. Additionally, the user interface may provide indications of specials or promotions offered by certain providers (e.g., icons, conspicuous text, and/or sound messages). Also, as a function of the consumer's search, companion specials or promotions may also be included within the CUI, for example, a promotion by a local convenience store on soft drinks. Additionally, provider specials and promotions may provide virtual links to the provider's own Internet pages. Additionally, a consumer's interests or other consumer information may be registered with the collaborative linking system. In such a case, a consumer may be linked (or matched) with providers as part of an "opt-in" service, as a function of a synergy between the consumer and the providers. For example, the consumer's interests may correspond to one or more provider's offers; consequently, the consumers and providers are linked by the collaborative linking system. Preferably, the collaborative linking system maintains the anonymity of the consumer with respect to the provider when linking the two. Further aspects of this service may be better understood and appreciated in the context of the embodiment described in Appendix B herein. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the various UIs may vary, depending on the type of computer or electronic device with which they are to be used. For example, the CUI for a PC may differ from the CUI for a cell phone, and so on. Additionally, the various UIs may be defined in other manners without departing from the present invention. The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or central characteristics thereof. For example, mapping of provider information may be dynamically accomplished and editable. Also, automated filters may be applied to effect the dynamic mapping of provider information. Additionally, third party databases may be linked into the collaborative linking system and used by providers to select consumers or by consumers to select providers. In other embodiments, the definition of the geographic regions may vary as a function of the product or service being searched, rather than be relatively statically defined. The present embodiments are therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by appending claims rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes that come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein. Appendix A DESCRIPTION OF PROVIDER USER INTEFACE (PUI) User Interface, Software Mechanism and Business Processes for Placing Business Directory & Promotional Information, for Place-specific data, and the means to search for it. OUTLINE OF PUI (OR UI) SCREENS (Cross referenced by number to other sections) PUI provides an interface for providers to access the system for a variety of purposes. One possible set of functions and screens are described below, with one embodiment of UI screens shown. 1. Self-service UI for planning and placing "Yellow Pages style ads, and also promotional content. 1.0 Business Service interface 1.0.1 Welcome Back screen, invites providers to Login or Register as a New User. 1.0.1.1 Find and Select Listing screen, even if not registered can find your listing or proceed to register. 1.0.1.2 Registration screen, solicits information for provider to register with system 1.0.1.3 Response screen, if provider did not provide all required information in 1.0.1.2. 1.1. Search mechanism that sets up vendor/publisher relationship by permitting "binding" of one or more existing business listings or telephone listings to an owner buy means of a search and match process. 1.1.1. Verification that Online customer has ownership rights to publish 1.1.1.1.Assurance for Verification of identity above, by means of asking for credit card information, without charging a fee. 1.1.1.2.Any edits of main name, address, phone number, web address are verified by sending mailed postcard to former address, as well as to the new address and person named. 1.1.1.3. (Enhancement to present system) Listings already taken are searchable, but returned with indicator flag or message showing as "listing already registered " and is non-selectable, but with an e-mail-based system to dispute the ownership of the record. 1.1.2. Binding together of telephone listings by creating a new data element named Store Name / Store Group Name (currently named Location I.D) so as to reestablish data relationships when using telephone data being assembled back into business store listings with one or many telephone numbers and subsidiary telephone numbers. Example raw data Jeffs garage - service 781 235 1111 Jeffs garage new car sales 781 235 2222 is re-grouped by means of a user-entered name as Jeffs Garage service 781 235 1111 new car sales 781 235 2222 1.1.2.1.Implemented by a combination of keyword search and point+click association 1.2. Order form for taking data for placing a YP-style ad online. Yellow Pages (Store- oriented Business Directory) style publishing system in an Internet-based UI, 1.2.1. The ability to select from a group of stores, any combination, one or all of the phone / store listings being managed, to be acted on in the shopping cart. 1.2.2. Order form SKUs, organized by decomposed by data type instead of by offer/graphical foπnat. Typically offline and online services propose a layout format with multiple sizes. PlaceLinks subsets the design by fielded data elements and charges by that format of skus; e.g. Business Categories Keywords Realnames Publish in many places. 1.3. Interface for Editing and/or Creating a Listing, providing online publishing options for a Yellow Pages (Store-oriented Business Directory) style publishing system in an Internet- based UI 1.3.1. Giving possibility of setting Time of day, Audience age, Audience gender, Content Ratings (Adult/All), 1.3.2. The above for both editing acquired listings and creating new ones 1.3.3. Organizing original Yellow Page headings (from original data) distinct from designed category headings, serving the same purpose, but designed as a separate taxonomy, plus meshing of same with relationships; so as to allow: 1.3.3.1. flexible acceptance of new data sources while protecting the integrity of the "house" category style" 1.3.3.2.permits use of parallel system of industrial classification; e.g. new and old SIC categories, NAICs codes and similar, reducing the disruption caused by changes in such systems. 1.3.3.2.1. Presented as a pop-up window (today), alphabetical listing (future), keyword search on categories and synonyms (future) 1.4. Order form for accepting keywords which may be typed to permit very rich shopping search opportunities 1.4.1. Mimicking the web search engines ability to find text in a document, but not using HTML structures, but employing fielded data associated with the advertisement 1.4.1.1.Which may or may not be rendered (may not = "hidden" data typing) 1.4.2. Data is typed as: with examples: brand Reebok, Chevrolet product automobile, truck, oranges, movie service plumbing, legal services, hairdressing, movies activity sailing, swimming, movie-going 1.4.2.1. Typing presented through a pop-up window 1.4.3. Subsidiary typing is permitted keyword=Chevrolet, type brand, formatting=hidden, [Present structure keeps hidden as a separate typing parallel to the other types) 1.4.4. Cross-linking relationships are permitted to allow creating flexible Bill-of- Materials and ordering structures, so that PlaceLinks may build online ordering systems in the future around SKUs; e.g. SKU= xxxx, Brand= Product Descriptor Size= (typical of garments, grocery) Style= (typical of garments) Universal Product Code= 1.4.4.1.Relationships implemented via XML to take advantage of the unique relational and storage capabilities of that language 1.5. Transforming a URL locator system into a mechanism for relating content stored under that locator to place-specific commercial relationships: 1.5.1. PlaceLinks has taken the RealNames locator service and database, and provided a way to merchandise and "sell" it on a place-specific basis : A link is established from the store owner's local listing to the (typically) national scale web site of a RealNames licensee. 1.5.1.1. Implemented by a search, review, click-select dialog 1.6. Online UI for Customer Advertisers to describe a limited time promotion (a.k.a. Special) 1.6.1. for publication in a place-specific Internet advertising medium 1.6.2. permitting publishing options (as in 1.3.1) 1.6.3. permitting keyword entry to enhance ability to do specific searches for promotions (see 1.4) 1.6.4. and also permitting additional categories for describing the field of commerce 1.6.5. and also peπnitting "associate with" categories (in future "product" as well as categories) as an indication of when to advertise in the context of a different search type of product e.g. - liquor stores specials advertised next to the pizza search, when the merchant has an expectation that one category will tend to be purchased with another. 1.6.6. Permitting UI setup via of several versions of the copy, for the purposes of copy- testing the versions, made possible because the traffic manager below 1.6.6. l.UI realized as parallel forms & randomization of delivery within all other publishing parameters 1.6.6.2.Hotlink to special version of traffic manager to filter out only those results needed to evaluate the copy choices (future) 1.6.7. Security enhancement - any promotion entered within a (reasonable postal delay cycle) days of the first registration will also be mailed along with the registration notice, or in addition to it. 1.7. Online UI for placing advertised listings in a random selection of places 1.7.1. Competitors typically do by geographical radius from store (e.g. Switchboard, I think) 1.7.2. This method described as selecting a "mosaic" 1.7.2.1.Presently implemented by searching for a place name and picking from a list 1.7.2.2.Future implementations may use: 1.7.2.2.1. economic value against merchant's advertising targeting criteria 1.7.2.2.2. an area map for visualization 1.7.2.2.3. 3D maps to show economic value against merchant's advertising targeting criteria 1.7.2.2.4. synonym tables for search when the name in question is not used as a region of publication example: Beacon Hill, = part of place area = Boston Southboro = synonym for = Southborough Windy City = synonym for = Chicago Twin Cities = synonym for = Minneapolis / St. Paul 1.8. Traffic Manager to integrate all measurable data types with presentation of level of advertising impressions due to the keywords etc. chosen. 1.8.1. Presenting data by totals and sub-totals and totals for individual data elements, within store location format MIGRATION THROUGH SOME OF THE UI SCREENS: Provider User Interface (PUI) The Welcome Back! Screen, shown immediately below, was reached by typing in the www address, "bsl.placelinks.net." That screen is the basis of all following access to the business system and the provider user interface (PUI). Welcome Back! (PUI) Login to Business Service Order Form (#01) (section 1.2.2) (PUI) View Consumer Activity Traffic Monitor (section 1.8.1) (PUI) Order Form [returns to Order Form (#01)] Logout [] Edit Business Listing Listing Manager (PUI) Find [Fill in the form.] Order Form [returns to Order Form (#01)] Shopping Cart Shopping Cart (PUI) Complete Transaction Checkout (PUI) Complete Transaction [] Order Form [returns to Order Form (#01)] Logout Response: Thank you for visiting PlaceLinks (PUI) Login [returns to Welcome Back! screen] Find / Create Business Listing Add New Listing (PUI) Add Listing [adds listing and then returns to Order Form (#01)] Order Form [returns to Order Form (#01)] Checkout Shopping Cart (PUI) Complete Transaction Checkout (PUI) Complete Transaction [ processes transaction and returns control to Welcome Back! Screen] Order Form [same response as described above] Shopping Cart [returns control to Welcome Back! screen] Logout Tsame response as described above for logout] Add / Remove Categories Category Manager: Find a Category (section 1.3.3.2.1) (PUI) Find [ returns to Category Manager: Find a Category if none are found, else goes to Category Manager (#02) below] Category Manager: Matches Found (display augmented with found categories) Add Selections Category Manager (#03) [display augmented with selected categories] Add to Cart [adds to cart and then returns control to Order Form (#01)] Find [maintains selected categories, then acts like Category Manager: Find a Category above] Order Form [] Check out [] Find [] Order Form [] Check Out Shopping Cart: Your Shopping Cart is Empty (PUI) Order Form [returns control to Order Form (#01) screen] Logout Response: Thanks for your visiting PlaceLinks Login [returns control to Welcome Back! screen] Shopping Cart: (your cart is not empty) Order Form [discards any input and returns to Order Form screen] Check Out Shopping Card (PUI) Complete Transaction Checkout (PUI) Complete Transaction Response: Your Credit Card has been Charged Successfully Login Again [returns control to Welcome Back!] Order Form [returns control to Welcome Back screen] Logout [returns control to Welcome Back screen] Add / Remove Keywords Keyword Manager: Enter New Keyword (PUI) Add New [new keyword displayed] Keyword Manager: Selected Keywords (PUI) Add to Cart [keyword added, control returned to Order Form (#01) screen] Add New π Order Form [] Check Out f] Order Form [] Check Out [] Link to Manufacturer's Web Page Realnames Manager (section 1.5.1) (PUI) example [button] click here [button leads to URL] Consumer View [button] Delete [carries out action and returns control to updated Realnames Manager screen] Find η Realnames Manager (section 1.5.1) after response (PUI) Order Form [] Check Out [1 Edit / Create Promotions Promotions Manager (PUI) Consumer View [] Delete [] Update [] Add Categories [] Create New Promotion [] Order Form T] Publish Listing in many Places [] Checkout [] Profile n Logout [] Back [returns control to Welcome Back! screen] Forgotten Password? Forgot Password? (PUI) Send Password Now Response: Password has been sent to your e-mail address. (PUI) Login [returns control to Welcome Back! screen] (Section 1.0.1) I am a new user Register me now! (Section 1.0.1) Find and Select Listings (section 1.0.1.1 & 1.2.1) (PUI) Find [] I am a new Business Owner. Create New Listing after Registration (Section 1.0.1.1) Continue with Registration Register [complete fields] (Section 1.0.1.2) Register Now Response [Required Fields are Missing] (Section 1.0.1.4) Back opup ^ PlaceLinks: Activity Report - Microsoft Internet Explorer Edit _£rew Fa ofite$ lools ϋelp Back FciβaKl Stop Refresh Home Search favorites Hftfoty Mai Address |@ https bsl placelinks com/monitor |htmPιd=2474& 3 ^ Go •A PLACELINKS Activity Log View how consumers are finding your listing(s) Ad Manager Costal Seafoods Edit Content 02/15/2001 Start;.11/15/2000 End; 02/15/2001 Mam Menu Listings __ ^ Where Found Report Categories Ittipression αuri, *.ace Service Consumer View Keywords 106 * AH Places Preview Link Sites 106 MetroWest Actual Promotions 1 How Found Report Publish Listing Network Directories Impresstan ountiSearch Method Actrurty t » " jft.11 Searches Shopping Cart ? Text Searches Logout 2 lobster 1 seafood References 1 tuna Edit Profile 1 shrimp Prices 1 fish Terms 1 classes Help 9 . Category Searches 3 Fish and Seafood Markets 3 Specialty Food Stores 3 Grocery Stores ,1 T f" ' f Product Searches 1 Opah r' A Street.Searches 4 Mmnehaha Ave What Action Report Impression Count {User Action 85 All Actions 67 Promotions 18 Listing Views Go Shopping I About PlaceLinks [ Terms of Service I Your Feedback I Privacy Policy I Help Advertise Here I Technology & Products Copyright (c) PlaceLinks Inc 1999-2001 All Rights Reserved PlaceLinks com and the PlaceLinks logo are trademarks of PlaceLinks Inc Done Internet A PlaceLinks: Free Registration - Preview Listing Microsort Internet Explorer £ιle Edit )£ιe Fgvoies Jools Help Back Stop Refresh Horns Search favorites History | Marl Print Address. |fj ] https ttb$ placelinks comΛeviewJisting ihtml __J (C^G° ll PLACELINKS Preview Listing This is what vour listinα now looks like listing the way Review this WYSIWYG mock-up (actual listing) This is a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) mockup of your listing as consumers will find rt Consumers can find it by searching on your business name, captions and keywords you've entered on the previous page Consumers can also find your listing by navigating the ' Other Businesses on street name" link and the ' Find us in Category category name" 600 PIXELS ACTUAL WIDTH '* Links do network in preview mode ** Dominos Pizza ^ Business Name and Captions Dominos Pizza Weston Road & Rte 9 Intersection phone (781) 235-0020 Business Location Street 868 Worcester St Search Address (Wellesley, MA 02482 Map and Directions Our Offerings Brands Domino's Products Chicken Wings, Pizza Services Delivery Activities Parties Related Industries 1 Category Restaurants E-Mail toFriend Hew Search Go Back - Make Changes Coft tnue - Free Registration Go Shopping I About PlaceLinks I Terms of Service I Your Feedback I Privacy Policy I Help Advertise Here I Technoloov £- Products Copyright (c) PlaceLinks Inc 1999- 2 001 All Rights Reserved Done ~ ϊ!fl# |ntemel A e PlaceLinks: Contact Information - Microsoft Internet Explore I £ιle Edit ιew F vowtes lools Help Back flββfd Stop Refresh Home Search Favorites Historj; Marl Print Address MS] https t/b$ placelinks com/contact_ιnformatιon |htmPsubmιt=Contιnue+ +Free+Regιstratιon jzl ^ e ° PLACELINKS Contact Information Tell us about vou Enter your contact information (not published) A valid email address is required for us to contact you regarding your listings We email you a user ID S password so you can use the full power of our self service marketing system Indicates required field ' Contact" First Name ! Jonathan " Contact Last Name Bach man |jbachman@placelιnks com ,- Contact E-Mail Valid email address required e g me@my-ompany oom ^ Email format? HT L or ^ Plain text (default safest choice) "" ' » ~" j . Number of Employees |12 , ' Contact Phone | (781) 2^35-_0020 e g (731)555 1212 Contact Fax | _ __ optional Φ< Keep me updated about PlaceLinks services Go Back- Mak& C anges Continue - Free Registration Go Shopping I About PlaceLinks I Terms of Service I Your Feedback I Privacy Policy 11 Advertise Here I Technology & Products Copyright (c. PlaceLinks Inc 1999-2:001 All Rights Reserved PlaceLinks com and the PlaceLinks logo are trademarks of PlaceLinks Inc Dope [§Tj$ lπterπfa A Appendix B Summary This is a requirements document for a "Local Shopper" service, complemented by a sample format, cut from the example spreadsheet, pi copy2.xls. Anonymous Shopper (A-S) was the original name. PlaceLinks "Local Shopper" is the working name. Objectives for document • Describe a set of business objectives for the feature. • Describe a features • Describe a format. • Describe a overview of surrounding business processes Reference documents The model references ... PlaceLinks consumer website, csl.placelinks.net as of today • PlaceLinks business website, bsl.placelinks.net as of today Description of objectives and design of our billing system, price model05.doc Detail listing structure Specials detail structure Draft UI in spreadsheet plcopy2.xls • Descriptions of function in the billing system spec, pricemodel05.doc Requirements of the TRUSTe.org privacy branding, as well as complying with the Federal laws on soliciting minors in the COPPA legislation. Report on November 1999 consumer groups from Pathfinder research Contents PLACELINKS INC 46 Feature: Local Shopper Error! Bookmark not defined. Change Summary Error! Bookmark not defined. Summary 46 Objectives for document 46 Reference documents 46 Contents 47 Business Objectives 47 What is Local Shopper? 47 Revenue reasons to build Local Shopper 48 Expense reasons to build Local Shopper 48 Pricing 48 Feature Requirements 49 Construct 52 Promote 60 Register Consumer 60 Track Registration Response 62 Consumer Maintains 62 Match Supply and Demand 62 Send E-mail 63 Track Response 63 Display Results 63 PlaceLinks administrates Local Shopper 65 Business Processes 65 Data capture opportunities 65 Patent Opportunities 65 Business Objectives What is Local Shopper? • Local Shopper is an opt-in consumer service for matching consumers' buying interests with suppliers' offers. It is implemented as opt-in email. • Local Shopper operates for the consumer as a persistent news service for shopping. The consumer declares his / her interests in brands, products, services, stores, activities, reflected by the following kinds of sentiments: Brands "I love to buy Donna Karan" Products "Find me a lawnmower" Stores "Starbucks is a daily stop for me". Store names may also be considered brands, of course. Activities "I love to go sailing and dancing" The Local Shopper consumer's personal profile is known only to PlaceLinks, not to the advertiser. The advertiser knows only the aggregate potential traffic data for the categories or keywords he buys. Local Shopper allows consumers to receive emails, and gives them ways of responding. The transaction is an email sent from the advertiser, via the PlaceLinks server, to the consumer, yielding an email impression, message impression, and maybe a click-through. These events can all be measured separately by the server, as a different level of result. Anonymity is important because it encourages the disclosure of profile information, and therefore the use of the service. The consumer groups we held showed the high value and importance of putting the Local Shopper substantially under the consumer's control. Consumers in our October focus groups spontaneously mentioned features like the following. • Allow me to get emails on a subject with the frequency I like to set. • Allow the editing of individual keywords as a direct response to an email, from an embedded URL in the email message. Example: This message sent in response to the keyword "Izod" in your PlaceLinks Local Shopper. Click here to * turn off this keyword * add an other keyword * change message frequency on this keyword * give PlaceLinks feedback on this offer There are both Revenue and Expense reasons to develop "Local Shopper". Revenue reasons to build Local Shopper Opt-in e-mail has a very high growth rate on the Internet as a medium of advertising. PlaceLinks needs to tap into this business opportunity and help our customers use it, as easily and cost- effectively as possible. Response rates for e-mail as said to be 2-3 times comparable direct mail. Rates as high as 15% have been reported for high-context lists. We can't be left out! Expense reasons to build Local Shopper A new portal has a primary challenge to attract customers and achieve a high repeat use rate. Local Shopper can reach out and remind registered consumers of the existence of PlaceLinks, therefore directly addressing the "forgetting effect" of people trying many web sites, and forgetting even those that they enjoyed using. Web sites can also reduce their advertising costs by encouraging Word-of-mouth traffic whenever and wherever possible. In this case, Local Shopper is another vehicle for "refer a friend" and is "word-of email". In fact, since the reader gets Local Shopper as an email, they may be more actively willing to forward the message, which has links back to both the PlaceLinks site as well as the advertiser. Pricing Pricing could be on a performance basis or by time-within-geography like today's specials. If by time, it can work on a daily basis like Syndication, scaled to the town where matches are attempted. The variability of a match is likely to be so high that we may be forced into constructing a performance pricing basis, (this means pay by results - see price model05.doc for explanation of terms) The value of an e-mail to a vendor could be highly variable too. For example, stock brokers pay about $100-$200 for new clients, so numbers might be small but value would be high, compared to, say, a coupon distrbution. Issue: Should we auction keywords daily in a place? Arnold Kraft bought auction software for $50k, leased! Feature Requirements The basic requirement is to capture shopping keywords from consumers, match them to specials- type promotions and send mail to the consumer. A process view is: 1 Construct Allow the Advertiser to easily construct a commercial e-mail message 2 Promote the existence of a Shopper Service in the Consumer System, and as a benefit reason, ask the consumer to register / sign up 3 Register Consumer Provide the registration dialog, showing sample ads again on the right a reason to register, and providing the forms to signal buying agenda, and the contact and demographic information. 4 Track registration response for PlaceLinks, because we want to maximize registration success, and explore how registrants track through the screens, and where they drop out 5 Consumer Maintains his/her own keywords, and PlaceLinks provides a mechanism for the consumer to maintain the record of his/her buying agenda and preferences 6 Match supply and demand of consumer preferences to retail offers 7 Send e-mail to the matched consumers 8 Track response by recording impressions for our advertisers; the basic actions on direct e-mail, namely response rates at key stages of 1) seeing, 2) opening and 3) responding to the mail. 9 Display Results The Advertiser should be able to measure the results through the Traffic Manager 10 PlaceLinks administrates Local Shopper measures and displays, so PlaceLinks can see rates of response, match rates, and the failure points in the dialog. SAMPLE EMAIL to: Joan Everywoman from: PlaceLinks Local Shopper date: 1/1/2000 Subj: New, Soft Collar Shirt from Brooks Brothers This mail is never sent un-solicited - see below. <»Links BROOKS BROTHERS CELEBRATES 180 YEARS Local Shopper An Innovator of Classic American Style Brooks Brothers keyword found this for you through PlaceLinks Local Shopper (sm) find me more for this store in Wellesley search neighboring towns for this item add a new keyword to my Search List change my Search List in Local Shopper unsubscribe to Local Shopper delete this keyword from my list email Local Shopper Customer Service refer a friend to PlaceLinks Local Shopper 5 PlaceLinks 1999-2000. Portions copyright Acxiom, Val-Pak, Mapquest. SAMPLE EMAIL AS PLAIN TEXT to : Joan Everywoman from: PlaceLinks Local Shopper date: 1/1/2000 Sub : New, Soft Collar Shirt fro Brooks Brothers This mail is never sent un-solicited see below. Brooks Brothers BROOKS BROTHERS CELEBRATES 180 YEARS An Innovator of Classic American Style New, Soft Collar Shirt Paired with a tie for a dressier look or without for a more relaxed feel . Our new soft collar shirt is essential for Fall! Stop by our store on Main St. Plus a free gift at Brooks Brothers. Offer valid while supplies last. Use your Brooks Brothers credit card to reserve. Sizes 14-17 only. Valid from 1 Jan 2000 to 31 Jan 2001 Take me to a picture > wwfrj.brookesbrothers.com/123bdcrehr Take me to map and directions > www.placelinks . com/klai f akina . tml Brooks Brothers 125 Main St Wellesley MA 02116 (781) 235 1999 Brooks Brothers keyword found this for you through PlaceLinks Local Shopper (sm) find me more for this <store> in Wellesley> wwv7.placelinks.com/9872591874 search neighboring towns for this item > www.placelinks . com/9872591874 add a new keyword to my Search List > www.placelinks.com/ihaweah741 change my Search List in Local Shopper > www.placelinks ■ com/ hgwakjna. delete this keyword from my list > www,placelinks . com/-ihαyreαh74a refer a friend to PlaceLinks Local Shopper > www.placelinks . com/ hgweq .h unsubscribe to Local Shopper > www.placelinks ■ com/ihα41-vaki email to Local Shopper Customer Service > www.placelinks.com/jhg741-vak ® PlaceLinks 1999-2000. Portions copyright Acxiom, Val-Pak, Mapquest . Construct The Specials Editor provides most of the functionality we need for Local Shopper, (see data model on next page, and sample emails above). The word NEW below shows a new feature compared to today's Specials Dialog. NEW: Syndication for e-mail should be distinct from the list for listings. The user interface could be an exact copy of the one for listings. NEW: Graphics. Issue: Do we launch without graphics? Graphics would add a lot to the value of this medium and would fully exploit the rich HTML opportunity Adding graphics to the business system and managing them could be a challenge. I recommend we standardize a layout to allow some standard size graphic elements Title graphic - similar to banner proportion "Brookes Brothers" Item graphic - thumbnail size graphic in middle of copy next to Offer text Right Bar graphic - larger portrait size graphic that allows more creative flexibility and a larger palette. NEW: A hyperlink feature has been specified that can be embedded into the offer text. This permits very flexible actions to be done through the offer text, while making the language natural - see example. For example, we could detect hyperlink text by creating our own XML extension to put around text typed into the form. Visit &&our store=www.placelinks.com/new visitor.htm&& and see what you can buy. NEW: There should be a language setting variable - this should apply to the whole system not simply to Local Shopper. This allows Local Shopper to deliver in the appropriate language and to block others. Note: PlaceLinks will need this for growth internationally. Also, Dept of Census projects Spanish descent will be $50mil people by 2050 —the largest minority in USA. NEW: Keyword typing. Although all the keywords here are implicitly of type "hidden", I think we should be typing visible/hidden separately from the types that indicate marketing role. NEW: mail me map and directions to store hyperlink and URL. See example page. NEW: Navigation and management URLs find me more URL URL to act as effectiveness measure for advertiser. A measure of consumer "appetite" for this type of offer. search neighboring towns for this item URL URL launches PlaceLinks and uses these keywords to search neighboring towns from the town in this email. This also writes a flag to place this consumer in another town as a virtual inhabitant, (see data model) add a new keyword to my Search List URL URL is a management URL taking the consumer back to his profile (if we can cookie them in the URL or elsewhere) or back to the consumer login screen. change my Search List in Local Shopper URL URL is a management URL taking the consumer back to the Search List his profile to change keywords delete this keyword from my list URL sends a message to delete this keyword, (can we do this without going to the site?) refer a friend to PlaceLinks Local Shopper URL opens a form which looks like an email and sends a message (email to a friend format) that has a link to the Local Shopper first page. Unsubscribe to Local Shopper un-subscribe - positioned carefully to reduce response from page. email to Local Shopper Customer Service basic customer service - suggest we use this to capture user response at start, even if it gets too busy to handle afterwards. Mouseover text could be "Ideas, Suggestions, Problems) CONSUMER REGISTRATION SCREENS - IN ORDER Local Shopper Sϊgn-up to get Shopping Ideas about your favorite brands, stores, product categories and activities. Show me examples? Then ideas will start to arrive by email. You New, Soft Collar Shirt can stop or change at any time. PlaceLinks Paired with a tie for a dressier look or without for a more relaxed feel. Our matches your interests with great ideas in new soft collar shirt is essential for Fall 1 your neighborhood — Stop by our store on Main St. Plus a so you get the latest news and the very free gift at Brooks Brothers. best values. How to Get Started with PlaceLinks- Local Shopper Victoria's Secret Any important shopping activities that you Semi-Annual Sale and need to get done? Clearance * a vacation ? It's the perfect time to pamper yourself * a birthday present ? or a friend: Enjoy savings of up to 50% * a new child ? on your favourite styles from our world- * a favorite local store? famous collections. And now there are two ways to shop the sale - you can search by size or browse our store on Register Now ! Walnut St. This page promotes Local Shopper with a vision of what you will find - how comes later Local Shopper How to Use PlaceLinks Local Shopper Two of our great offers. Tell us about what you like. * a vacation ? New, Soft Collar Shirt * a birthday present ? * a new child ? * a favorite local store ? Victoria's Secret * a favorite hobby / activity (dancing, football, collecting) ? Semi-Annual Sale and Type in some keywords. Qn-target e-mail coming your way ! Clearance Keywords about things I am looking for Brand Need Hints for brands to pick? click by category Make Local Shopper smarter by telling us about the keyword. Apparel Food/Drink EΞxamples: Bath/Beauty Music Reebok - brand Plumbing - service Computers Toys Candle - product Sailing - activity Electronics Video/DVD Starbucks - store Your Search List Child Care service how often delete Sailing activity how often delete Remember keywords and stores Personal Management Page 1 Local Shopper Hints Search by brand, product, business name So1 O Business CBrand CProduct Oervice Cλctivity Where are you? Town: ▼ State: Browse brands by name ABC DEFG HI JKLM N O P Q R STUVWXY Z # Back to Local Shopper Paαβ Hints Page Local Shopper How often do you want news from Local Shopper? You are in control - do this now or pick later. . Don' earei Your Search List - How often? The Woman's i Store D D ϋ 0 Reebok α D □ Ξ Candle D D D Ξ Child Care D D □ Ξ Sailing D D G Ξ Personal Management Page 2 Local Shopper Information about you This information helps Local Shopper to match you with the right products and services. We promise to keep it confidential. Check our privacy policy. E-mail (e.g. name@website.com) First Name? I prefer to receive HTML rich e-mail Ξ Yes Do, my email likes plain text Date Birth (mo-day -yr) Gender L-J Male U Female Children at home? Pick one option Boys / Girls ? Pick from list Street Address - home City State Zip code - home If you like to shop around work, please give us that town or zip too Get promotional offers from other companies? [ ~ 7 Yes □ No, only from PlaceLinks Thanks for Registering - lots of smart shopping coming your way Go to home page! Data Model Promote The Local Shopper starting page has to promote with a visualization of the goods available in the area - it just will not work to describe the benefits in the abstract. We have to show a sample of what is on offer. This sample offers page is maintained by hand by PlaceLinks marketing people from a sampling of current offers. If a consumer has a Local Shopper cookie, he/she goes straight to the Local Shopper personal management page, bypassing page one. This also promotes, with the sample of some current offer titles on the right at the top. - see example. Register Consumer The registration process is on 4 pages. Personal management page 1- the start of the keyword management process I have given a lot of though to the consumer language here to make it as simple and clear as possible. For example, the internal jargon, "base listing" is not shown -just "store / business". Remember keywords button brings you to the "how often" page. NEW: "how often" link is added to the present delete column of the form. This branches to management page 2 which allows people to specify a how often the consumer wants to see e-mails on the keyword topic - this idea got a good response in the focus groups. Stores are added to the "search List" via the consumer system too. We have to align the words used to describe each. The word "Favorites" is not used here, though it is a good word. Maybe we make it more obvious by listing stores as "favorite store" in the list? Your Search List The Woman's Store favorite store how often delete Reebok brand how often delete Candle product how often delete Child Care service how often delete Sailing activity how often delete Hints page, as a branch off the first page The main purpose of hints is to let people with bad memories or no clear shopping agenda browse for ideas. Personal management page 2- "How often?" allows people to specify a frequency response to the topic — this got a good response in the focus groups. This defaults to "when you have something". People who reset are scheduled with a target date in the matching system. Information about You This title is carefully chosen to be less threatening than "profile". The TRUSTe logo is displayed prominently. Date of birth, not a date range is used, so we can send a birthday email to Local Shopper users - this gets great response I hear. A special hyperlink addresses the legal issue of under 13 's giving personal mformation, even if it' s not published. "Children at home" allows us to target the kids markets. Pick options are ... Pick one option None Infant(s) Under 13 Teenager(s) Adult(s) Several age groups Boy/Girl allows PlaceLinks to target the children more accurately when combined with item above, without asking for a detailed list, child by child of age and sex. Pick from list Boy(s) Girl(s) Both Issue: Will street address reduce response? Personally I think asking for street address will reduce response significantly, though I left it in - we can test with / without. We should field the data, because we may need it for a future valid use, e.g. helping with delivery services. Work city, state and zip put in to capture the opportunity for PlaceLinks to offer "sausage " search later. Track Registration Response One critical success factor with e-mail is lcnowing why and where you are failing. We should log every form step, so we can see where in the registration process we get the biggest drop-out. For example, if people drop out of the profile info, that is potentially caused by asking "too many questions / too private". Consumer Maintains Consumer self-maintenance should be easy if ... 1 we make the pages 1 and 3 easy to use and 2 give them URLs in the e-mails to get back directly and change/update their Search List words/frequencies. Match Supply and Demand Local Shopper demand /supply engine will work in a batch mode. It implements ... 1 For each place, matching offers to consumers via keywords 2 eliminating consumers with constraints supplied by the supplier 3 regulating the frequency of messages to the consumer 4 any consumer gets an offer only once. 5 Every day, assembling sub-batches of lists to mail in the required time-of-day period Queries are driven from the supply side for ease of query - there are fewer offers than readers. For each offer while valid, daily 1 For each place, construct a sample of people in the syndication list for the e-mail trading area geography - need for syndication step in Local Shopper! To deal with low numbers, construct 2 lists - where actually syndicated and "N" (neighbors) list if # matches are low. Match the list actually syndicated first - keep the other in reserve. 2 Test age and gender fit on the list 3 Query the consumer / offer table for keyword match in profiles 4 Sent this offer i.d. already? - ignore this consumer 5 "How Often" measure - test versus date on last message on this keyword. "When you have it" allows immediate e-mail to be sent without a restriction from the consumer. 6 Assemble the day's e-mail list, and subdivide it by time of day for that day. The default of "anytime" will be sent to optimize the likelihood of reading, which tends to be early afternoon - check this with the best practices e-mail file from the DMA seminar. 7 Send the mail 8 Assemble a log file similar to the consumer / offer record, which records e-mails actually opened, to allow for traffic reporting. 9 Analyze the consumer / offer record for any nul entries to report on "no-match". 10 Run daily "no-match" analysis - see below for explanation. Issue: lack of matches: We will likely evolve some algorithms for forcing "near hits". We .either let the advertiser propose a match (e.g. by adopting his competitors keywords! ! - do we stop this?), or let the consumer know we have a near hit by category + brand or product type + brand. The first thing to relax is the place requirement. Process Design: Reports of no-matches on brands and products requested by consumers is given to sales to canvass business on this basis from typical providers of these brands. Similarly, reports of offers with no matches are promoted to PlaceLinks customers in various ways, including setting up PlaceLinks-authored specials on the site. Send E-mail I do not have many observations on this. We will log unsuccessful e-mails, and if non-delivery persists we may take some action eventually to remove them from the list or mark them non-responsive. Track Response PlaceLinks server should log the behavior-related actions described in other sections, as an extension of the Traffic Manager functionality. Display Results Results display will show how many eyeballs saw the email, as a total, and arranged by "reason", just like the Traffic manager format we have - see example on next page. Example - author's notes in Iffejl <Business Owner> Local Shopper Results for <report date start> to <report date end> <Offer Title> <Start date> to <End Date> Deliveries 310 Total Message Successful deliveries to consumer's mail server f|gff of which, Impressions Delivered to recipient (title viewed) 100% 300 Message opened 90% of which, Actions 260 Took click-through action <tit 75% 100 Requested map and directions 35% 90 search neighboring towns for this <search type> x% 101 find me more for this <brand/product/etc> in <placename> x% 120 offer sent to a friend x% 43 delete this keyword from their list x% 3 unsubscribe x% 2 email to Local Shopper Customer Service x% Why Found 300 Message opened 90% Reasons 261 <keyword l> 75% 101 <keyword 2> 35% 90 <keyword 3> x% 101 <keyword 4> x% 120 <keyword 5> x% Where Found 300 Message opened 90% Places 262 <place name> 75% 102 <place name> 35% 90 <place name> x% 101 <place name> x% 120 <place name> x% PlaceLinks administrates Local Shopper Some obvious administration issues arise: 1 Refreshing the "promote" page in each major geography. Offers displayed may be in the general area (Boston not just Wellesley but not out of state) 2 Inspecting content for undesirable businesses / offers. 3 Reporting on offers with no matches 4 Reporting on number of consumers with "no-match in last n days" 5 Reporting on "orphan keywords" by frequency, further refined by a separate report on orphan keywords only on "no-match" people, so that each selling effort to create an offer will do the most to reduce the number of no-match consumers. Business Processes • We can mine the lists to suggest new stores to sign up for the service. • We can mine for orphan consumer's keywords and orphan offers, as described. • We filter offers for undesirable text. We put a disclaimer on the business system dialog allowing us to remove an offer from publication. • We implement the requirements of the TRUSTe license. Data capture opportunities 1 When the consumer send a Local Shopper page to a friend, their email is automatically registered with PlaceLinks Local Shopper, with no search text ("favorites", "wish list") populated. We send them a greeting 2-3 days later inviting them to enter their own search list. Patent Opportunities We are starting to see many varieties of this keyword match style of shopping. We need more time to study them in detail to help guide our efforts. • The place expansion routine may well be unusual. • The format and style of our e-mails may be patent-able - Coolsavings has done it. Semantic search taxonomies of shopping terms hold out the promise for much higher match rates. End

Claims: CLAIMS 1. A collaborative linking system, comprising: A. a network of content servers and associated databases arranged according to a predetermined framework, wherem for each member of a first class, a first class member data is selectively mapped into one or more of said associated databases, as a function of a first class member criteria and said framework; B. one or more computers configured to selectively access said network of content servers and associated databases, wherein each of said computers is configured to selectively link a member of a second class to one or more of said content servers and associated databases, as a function of a second class member criteria and said framework, and C. a program code, configured to selectively associate said member of said second class with one or more first class member data, as a function of a corresponding one or more first class member criteria, said second class member criteria and said framework. 2. A collaborative linking system as in claim 1, wherein said content servers are linked via the Internet and World Wide Web. 3. A collaborative linking system as in claim 1, wherein said computers access said content servers via the Internet and World Wide Web. 4. A collaborative linking system as in claim 1, wherein said framework is substantially a geographically oriented framework. 5. A collaborative linking system as in claim 1, wherein said network includes the Internet and World Wide Web and said computer is either wired or wireless and is chosen from a group including: B. i. workstations; ii. personal computers; iii. cellular telephones; iv. pagers; v. electronic organizers; and vi. Web enabled televisions. 6. A collaborative linking system as in claim 1, further comprising: D. at least one interface to a third party system. 7. A collaborative linking system as in claim 1, wherein said second class member criteria includes search criteria, said collaborative linking system further comprising: D. a user interface program code, configured to render said first class member data on a computer display of said second class member, as a function of said search criteria. 8. A collaborative linking system as in claim 7, wherein said first class member data is provider data that includes information relating to: i. identification of a provider; and ii. offerings by said provider. 9. A collaborative linking system as in claim 8, wherein said user interface program code is further configured to: selectively display on said computer display of said second class member an ancillary set of information. 10. A collaborative linking system as in claim 9, wherein said ancillary set of information includes information relating to a set of companion offerings by said provider. 11. A collaborative linking system as in claim 9, wherein said ancillary set of infoπnation includes information relating to a set of companion offerings by a second provider. 12. A collaborative linking system as in claim 7, wherein said first class member data includes links to relevant Web sites. 13. A collaborative linking system as in claim 7, wherein the user interface program code is further configured to: selectively display on said computer display of said second class member a secondary set of information related to said first class member data, wherein said secondary information is dynamic temporary data. 14. A collaborative linking system as in claim 13, wherein said secondary set of information is promotional offerings information. 15. A collaborative linldng system as in claim 1, wherein said associated databases include second class member data. 16. A collaborative linking system as in claim 15, wherein said program code is further configured to selectively associate a member of said first class with one or more members of said second class, as a function of a corresponding one or more second class member criteria, a corresponding first class member criteria and said framework. 17. A collaborative linking system as in claim 1, wherein said second class member is linked with said one or more members of said first class via the Internet, and wherein at least one of said one or more members of said first class provides at least some portion of said first class member data to said second class member via e-mail. 18. A collaborative linking system as in claim 1, further comprising: D. a control center linked with said content servers via the Internet and World Wide Web, wherein at least one member of said first class enters a corresponding set of first class member data into said control center via a first class member computer and said control center selectively distributes said first class member data to one or more of said content servers and associated databases. 19. A collaborative linking system as in claim 18, wherein said control center includes a Web server and said first member computer is linked to said Web server via the Internet and World Wide Web. 20. A collaborative linking system as in claim 1, further comprising: D. an account management program code configured to create, manipulate, edit, and delete an account associated with a first class member. 21. A collaborative linking system as in claim 1 , further comprising: D. an account management program code configured to create, manipulate, edit, and delete an account associated with a second class member. 22. A collaborative linking system as in claim 1 , wherein the collaborative linking system is an e-commerce system and said first class members are providers, said second class members are consumers, and said framework is a geographically oriented framework. 23. A collaborative linking system as in claim 22, wherein a first class member data includes information identifying a provider and said second class member criteria includes consumer search criteria, used by said program code to locate one or more providers substantially satisfying said consumer search criteria. 24. A collaborative linking system as in claim 23, wherein said first class information includes information relating to promotional offerings by said provider. 25. A collaborative linking system comprising: A. a set of database systems comprising a set of commerce data comprising data representing providers and their locations and offerings; and B. a control system linked to said set of database systems, wherein said control system is configured for user access to receive a set of user commerce criteria, including a geographic region definition, and wherein said control system is further configured to generate a solution set of providers derived from said commerce data, as a function of said user commerce criteria.

Inventors: BACHMAN JONATHAN A, SOLE CHRISTOPHER J, BACHMAN, JONATHAN, A., SOLE, CHRISTOPHER, J.
Applicants: BACHMAN JONATHAN A, PLACELINKS INC, SOLE CHRISTOPHER J, BACHMAN, JONATHAN, A., PLACELINKS, INC., SOLE, CHRISTOPHER, J.
Application year: 2001
Main classification: G06F17
IPC codes: G06F17, G06Q30, H04L29