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.

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&#39;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 &#39;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&#39;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&#39;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&#39;s preferences, publisher&#39;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&#39;s preferred shipping address  118  is displayed for the buyer to see. The buyer is identified from a cookie on the buyer&#39;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&#39;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&#39;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&#39;s registered address. Thus, from the user&#39;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&#39;t register, the text isn&#39;t highlighted. If the user isn&#39;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&#39;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&#39;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&#39;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&#39;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&#39;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.