Abstract:
A system and method create and share purchasing lists in a network system. The system and method utilize a consumer user interface. The consumer user interface provides the consumer the ability to create a purchase list by receiving advertisement data on the consumer device, selecting an item desired for purchase, identifying the purchase list for the item to be saved, creating the purchase list if the purchase list identified does not exist, and saving the item to the identified purchase list. The consumer user interface further provides the consumer the ability to share a purchase list by identifying a purchase list to be shared, converting the purchase list to the appropriate format, identifying a recipient of the purchase list, and transmitting the purchase list to the recipient.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application is a continuation-in-part of application entitled “Apparatus and Method for a Merchant-to-Consumer Advertisement Communication System,” Ser. No. 09/151,498, filed Sep. 11, 1998 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,343,274, and application entitled “Apparatus and Method for Linking Browser Bars With Active Documents for a Browser,” Ser. No. 09/149,775, filed Sep. 8, 1998 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,266,058, and incorporated herein by reference. 
     This application is related to co-pending applications entitled “System and Method for a Distributed Electronic Payment System,” Ser. No. 09/203,251, filed Dec. 1, 1998, “System and Method for a Client-Based Electronic Shopping Cart System,” Ser. No. 09/203,246, filed Dec. 1, 1998, “System and Method for an Integrated Electronic Purchasing Shopper System,” Ser. No. 09/203,999, filed Dec. 1, 1998, “System and Method for Publishing, Distributing and Redeeming Coupons on a Network,” Ser. No. 09/203,247, filed Dec. 1, 1998, now pending and incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention generally relates to computers and software, and more particularly, to a system and method for creating and sharing purchasing lists in a network system. 
     2. Related Art 
     As known in the art, the Internet is a world-wide collection of networks and gateways that use the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol suite of protocols to communicate with one another. At the heart of the Internet is a backbone of high speed data communication lines between major nodes or host computers consisting of thousands of commercial, government, educational, and other computer systems that route data and messages. 
     World Wide Web (WWW) refers to the total set of interlinked hypertext documents residing on hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) servers all around the world. Documents on the WWW, called pages or web pages, are written in hypertext mark-up language (HTML) identified by uniform resource locators (URL) that specify the particular machine and pathname by which a file can be accessed and transmitted from node to node to the end user under HTTP. A web site is a related group of these documents and associated files, scripts, subprocedures, and databases that are served up by an HTTP server on the WWW. 
     Users need a browser program and an Internet connection to access a web site. Browser programs, also called “web browsers,” are consumer applications that enable a user to navigate the Internet and view HTML documents on the WWW, another network, or the user&#39;s computer. Web browsers also allow users to follow codes called “tags” embedded in an HTML document, which associate particular words and images in the document with URLs so that a user can access another file that may be half way around the world, at the press of a key or the click of a mouse. 
     One type of document that consumers access is merchant advertisements. The recent rapid growth of information applications on international public packet switch computer networks, such as the Internet, suggests that public computer networks have the potential to establish a new kind of open marketplace for goods and services. As web pages are used internationally, it is highly desirable for manufacturers and merchants to be able to advertise their goods and services to as many potential customers as possible. Currently, on the Internet the primary way to advertise is through the use of advertisement banners that consist of trademarks, text, buttons or images comprised of hyperlinks, which transport a user to a particular website to access information regarding goods and services. 
     Unfortunately, as the Internet provides public access to advertisements and allows purchases on a merchant&#39;s server, there is no ability for the consumer to collect and save information regarding items desired for purchase that the consumer may wish to keep organized and private. There is also a lack of ability for the consumer to share information regarding items desired for purchase with others in an organized manner. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention is generally directed to a system and method for creating and sharing purchasing lists in a network system. In general, the apparatus and method are implemented as follows. A consumer device provides the consumer the ability to create a purchase list by receiving advertisement data on the consumer device, selecting an item desired for purchase, identifying the purchase list for the item to be saved, creating the purchase list if the purchase list identified does not exist, and saving the item to the identified purchase list. 
     In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, the system and method also provides customers with the ability to share a purchase list by identifying a purchase list to be shared, converting the purchase list to the appropriate format, identifying a recipient of the purchase list, and transmitting the purchase list to the recipient. 
     In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, the system and method also provides customers with the ability to publish purchasing list, and to receive updates the purchasing list from another on the network. 
     In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, the customer is provided with a means to publish purchasing list on the commerce server via the World Wide Web. 
     In accordance with yet another embodiment of the present invention, the customer system keeps current purchasing lists available so that other second party customers receive only the latest purchasing lists from particular customer. 
     In accordance with yet another embodiment of the present invention, the consumer user interface browser program provides the consumer with a client-based electronic shopping cart mechanism to minimize network communication. This client-based electronic shopping cart mechanism constructs a list of items (i.e. a purchasing list) that the user intends to purchase in the current session or a session in the near future. The client user shopping cart stores the purchasing list information with regard to items that the user wishes to purchase on the client user system in order to provide enhanced security. The stored purchasing list information allows for user access in a user-friendly manner and can be sent to other second party customers. 
     In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, the consumer user interface browser program provides the consumer with a purchasing list to manage current and future electronic purchases. 
     In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, the consumer user interface browser program enables the consumer to create and share purchasing lists on a network. This enables the consumer user to construct a shopping wish list, e.g., a gift registry, for publication across the network. This gift registry provides for convenience and efficiency in operation by allowing numerous other consumers to receive the purchasing list, make purchases, and update the consumer&#39;s shopping purchasing list to reflect those items recently purchased. 
     All of the foregoing embodiments are believed to be separate patentable inventions and there are others not specifically listed for brevity. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The accompanying drawings incorporated in and forming a part of the specification illustrate several aspects of the present invention, and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. Note that in the drawings, like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several views. In the drawings: 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a consumer/server system utilizing the Internet in accordance with the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a block diagram of a commerce server, merchant server and consumer shopper system of the present invention. 
         FIG. 3A  is a block diagram illustrating a browser program situated within a computer readable medium, e.g., in memory of a computer system of the consumer systems. 
         FIG. 3B  is a block diagram of the distributed shopper system in a commerce server, merchant server and consumer shopper system of the present invention. 
         FIG. 4  is a flow diagram of the merchant sign-up and slot purchase process for the merchant server application of the present invention, as shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 . 
         FIG. 5  is a flow diagram of the ongoing operation process for the commerce server with the merchant server website of the present invention, as shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 . 
         FIG. 6  is a flow diagram of the advertisement publishing process for the consumer server of the present invention, as shown in FIG.  5 . 
         FIG. 7  is a flow diagram of the report generation process for the consumer server of the present invention, as shown in FIG.  5 . 
         FIG. 8  is a flow diagram of the edit profile process for the commerce server of the present invention, as shown in FIG.  5 . 
         FIG. 9  is a flow diagram of the coupon creation process for the merchant server of the present invention as shown in FIG.  5 . 
         FIG. 10  is a flow diagram of the consumer application process for the consumer user browser process of the present invention, as shown in  FIGS. 1 ,  2  and  3 . 
         FIG. 11  is a flow diagram of the statistical information capture process for the commerce server of the present invention, as referenced in FIG.  10 . 
         FIG. 12  is a flow diagram of the advertisement download process for the consumer user browser program process of the present invention, as shown in  FIGS. 2 and 3 . 
         FIG. 13  is a flow diagram of the main user interface process for the consumer user browser program process of the present invention, as shown in  FIGS. 2 and 3 . 
         FIG. 14  is a flow diagram of the advertisement viewing process for the consumer user browser program process of the present invention, as shown in FIG.  13 . 
         FIG. 15  is a flow diagram of the user wallet process with consumer user browser program process of the present invention, as shown in FIG.  13 . 
         FIG. 16  is a flow diagram of the user purchase list process for the consumer user browser program process of the present invention, as shown in FIG.  13 . 
         FIG. 17  is a flow diagram of the shopping cart process for the consumer user browser program process of the present invention, as shown in FIG.  13 . 
         FIG. 18  is a flow diagram of the user electronic purchase process for the consumer user program process of the present invention, as shown in FIG.  13 . 
         FIG. 19  is an illustration of an example screen display for merchant advertisements as referenced in FIG.  13 . 
         FIG. 20  is an illustration of an example screen display for store products as referenced in FIG.  13 . 
         FIG. 21  is an illustration of an example screen display for a catalog list as referenced in FIG.  16 . 
         FIG. 22  is an illustration of an example screen display for purchase list as referenced in FIG.  16 . 
         FIG. 23  is an illustration of an example screen display for a shopping cart mechanism as referenced in FIG.  17 . 
         FIG. 24  is an illustration of an example screen display of the consumer purchase process as referenced in FIG.  18 . 
         FIG. 25  is an illustration of an example screen display for the user purchase process notes as shown in FIG.  18 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     The present invention will now be described in detail with specific reference to the drawings. While the invention will be described in connection with these drawings, there is no intent to limit it to the embodiment or embodiments disclosed therein. On the contrary, the intent is to cover all alternatives, modifications, and equivalents included within the spirit and scope of the invention. 
     Turning now to the drawings,  FIG. 1  is a block diagram of just one example of a system configuration, wherein the present invention may be implemented, that illustrates the flexibility, expandability, and platform independence of the present invention. While the system configuration could take many forms, the diagram of  FIG. 1  illustrates a plurality of diverse consumer workstations  12  and  13 , directly connected to a network, for example, but not limited to, a local area network (LAN)  18 . Additional workstations  14  and  15  may similarly be remotely located and in communication with the network  18  through a dial-in or other suitable connection  16 . Each of the workstations  12 ,  13 ,  14  and  15  in  FIG. 1  are illustrated to emphasize that the system workstations may comprise a diverse hardware platform. 
     As is well known, browser applications are provided and readily available for a variety of hardware platforms. Browsers are most commonly recognized for their utility for accessing information over the Internet  22 . As aforementioned, a browser is a device or platform that allows a user to view a variety of service collections. The browser retrieves information from a network server  21  using HTTP, then interprets HTML code, formats, and displays the interpreted result on a workstation display. 
     Additional servers  23  and  26  provide for access to web pages on the Internet. Web commerce server  23  and database  24  communicate on a LAN  25 . LAN  25  may be, for example, an Ethernet-type network, also known as 10 BASE 2, 10 BASE 5, 10 BSAF, 10 BASE T, BASE BAN network, a COAX cable network, or the like. Merchant server  26  provides access to specific merchant web pages that include, but are not limited to, advertisements including specific merchandise information, ordering data, inventory data, shipping data, and customer support access. 
     Illustrated in  FIG. 2  is the architecture of the shopper system  10 , including the consumer system  12 , commerce server  23 , and merchant server  26 . 
     The commerce server  23  provides a central site for merchant advertisement and item purchase information available to the users. The commerce server  23  administrates the merchant advertisement and purchase item registration, the keywords to search for the merchant advertisements or items, and categories for the merchant advertisement or purchase items. The commerce server  23  acts as an interface between the merchant server  26  and the client shopper  12 . The commerce server also keeps the latest advertisement information for access by the shopper user  12 . The commerce server supports searching merchant advertisements and purchase items based on keywords, store names, and coupons. The commerce server  23  also allows the merchant to track user advertisement access and the statistics with regard to utilization of the merchant advertisements. 
     The merchant server  26  includes the merchant shopper system  70  of the present invention. The merchant server  26  enables users to construct purchase/transaction logs of purchases acquired from each merchant  26 . The merchant server  26  also publishes merchant specific advertisements to commerce server  23  via a network such as, but not limited to, the worldwide web. The merchant server  26  allows the merchant to publish, track and redeem coupons. The merchant server  26  also provides for a user interface for user shopper  12  interface with merchant customer support. The merchant  26  also enables catalog and shopping cart functionality by providing information with regard to items selected by either advertisement or search for placement into a purchased list or shopping cart. The merchant  26  also provides for a secure user shopper payment method. 
     The consumer shopper system  70  provides a mechanism to the user to register and list merchant advertisement and sales items by category and keyword. The consumer shopper system  70  also provides the user the ability to search merchant advertisements and purchase items by keyword, category and store name. The consumer shopper system  70  provides the ability to identify and display advertisements and items from featured merchants. The consumer shopper system  70  provides the mechanism to allow the user to decide what merchant advertisements to access and further allows the user to subscribe to specific advertisements or advertisements with a particular category of interest to be received. The consumer shopper system  70  accomplishes a subscription by filtering merchant advertisements and messages by category and keyword. The consumer shopper system  70  further tracks user statistics on advertisement effectiveness to the merchant. The consumer shopper system  70  also provides the consumer a local shopping cart to provide for comparison shopping and the ability to perform electronic purchasing. The consumer shopper system  70  is integrated with the MS wallet or Verifone for management of credit card payments. The consumer shopper system  70  also provides the consumer with the ability to create shopping lists and to export those shopping lists and receive updates. The consumer shopper system  70  also provides the ability to attach notes to items in both the shopper catalog list and shopping cart. The consumer shopper system  70  automatically creates a purchase log containing information specific with a user purchase and the ability to attach notes to items in the purchase log. In utilizing the purchase logs, the consumer shopper system  70  provides purchasing and tracking reports to the consumer. The consumer shopper system  70  also provides the ability to a user to subscribe and flag favorites and subscribe to stores of interest. The consumer shopper system  70  enables a consumer to communicate with stores&#39; customer service departments via a chat function. The foregoing functionality resides in the commerce server  23 , merchant server  26 , and user computer system  12 , which are herein defined with further detail in  FIGS. 3 through 25  and are described hereafter. 
       FIG. 3A  shows an example of a computer system  12  and  26  architecture, wherein the consumer or merchant shopper system  70  of the present invention may be implemented. As illustrated in  FIG. 3 , the computer system  12 ,  26  generally includes a browser program  65  (e.g., Netscape Navigator, Internet Explorer, or other browser program) for use in accessing locations on a network. These browser programs  65  reside in computer memory  51  (e.g., random access memory (RAM)) and/or nonvolatile storage device  42  (e.g., hard disk drive) and access communication facilities modem network card  47  to transport the user access to other resources connected to the network. In order to find a resource, the user should know the network location of the resource denoted by a network location identifier or URL. These identifiers are often cryptic, following very complex schemes and formats in their naming conventions. 
     The computer systems  12  and  26  identify, access, and process these resources desired by a user by using the processor  41 , nonvolatile storage device  42 , and memory  51  with an operating system  52  and window manager  53 . The processor  41  accepts data from memory  51  and storage  42  over the local interface  43 . Direction from the user can be signaled by using input devices, for example, a mouse  44  and a keyboard  45 . The actions input and result output are displayed on a display terminal  46 . 
     The first embodiment of the present invention involves the consumer shopper program  70 . The consumer shopper program  70  is the software that interacts with the commerce and merchant servers to obtain the requested advertisement data and functionality requested by the consumer. The consumer shopper program  70  will be described hereafter in detail with regard to  FIGS. 5 and 6 . 
     Illustrated in  FIG. 3B  is the distributed process architecture of the shopper system  12  including the consumer system  12  commerce server  23  and merchant server  26 . As noted with regard to  FIG. 2  above, the commerce server  23  is the central site for the shopper system  12 . The commerce server  23  includes the distributed portion of the commerce shopper system  70 . The commerce server  23  shopper system  70  includes the distributed processor  100 , herein defined with regard to  FIG. 4 ; process  110 , herein defined with regard to  FIG. 5 ; process  130 , herein defined with regard to  FIG. 6 ; process  140 , herein defined with regard to  FIG. 7 ; process  150 , herein defined with regard to  FIG. 8 ; process  170 , herein defined with regard to  FIG. 9 ; process  180 , herein defined with regard to  FIG. 10 ; process  190 , herein defined with regard to  FIG. 11 ; process  200 , herein defined with regard to  FIG. 12 ; process  210 , herein defined with regard to  FIG. 13 ; process  230 , herein defined with regard to  FIG. 14 ; process  270 , herein defined with regard to  FIG. 16 ; and process  290 , herein defined with regard to FIG.  17 . The commerce server  23  distributed portion of the shopper system  70  includes a system and method to interact with the consumer system  12  distributed portion of the shopper system  70  and the merchant server  26  distributed portion of the shopper system  70 . 
     The consumer system  12  distributed portion of the shopper system  70  includes process  180 , herein defined in further detail with regard to  FIG. 10 ; process  190 , herein defined in further detail with regard to  FIG. 11 ; process  200 , herein defined with regard to  FIG. 12 ; process  210 , herein defined in further detail with regard to  FIG. 13 ; process  230 , herein defined in further detail with regard to  FIG. 14 ; process  250 , herein defined in further detail with regard to  FIG. 15 ; process  270 , herein defined in further detail with regard to  FIG. 16 ; process  290 , herein defined in further detail with regard to  FIG. 17 ; and process  310 , herein defined in further detail with regard to FIG.  18 . 
     The merchant server  26  distributed portion of the shopper system  70  includes the merchant sign-up and slot purchase process  100 . The merchant server  26  distributed shopper system  70  also includes the commerce server  23  and merchant server  26  ongoing operation process  110 , which is herein defined in further detail with regard to FIG.  5 . The merchant server  26  distributed shopper system  70  further includes the report generation process  130 , herein defined in detail with regard to FIG.  6 . The merchant server  26  shopper system  70  also includes the advertisement publishing process  130 , herein defined in further detail with regard to FIG.  6 . Also included is the editing manager process  150  which is herein defined in further detail with regard to FIG.  8 . The merchant server  26  distributed shopper system  70  also includes the user electronic purchase process  310  herein defined in further detail with regard to FIG.  18 . 
     With the shopper system  10  being comprised of the distributed shopper system  70 , it is contemplated by the inventors that the process mechanisms herein defined above can be utilized on any of the processing systems in the network. For example, the shopper system  10  distributed shopper system  70  can utilize the processing power of the commerce server  23  to provide processing of all consumer system  12  shopper system  70  functionality and allow the consumer system  12  to be a dumb or network terminal. It is also contemplated by the inventors that the merchant server  26  could also be a dumb or network terminal and provide for all the merchant server  26 , shopper system  70  functionality process mechanisms to be implemented on the commerce server  23 . 
     Illustrated in  FIG. 4  is the flow diagram of the merchant sign-up and slot purchase process for the merchant application  100  of the present invention. The flow diagram of  FIG. 4 , as well as the flow diagrams of subsequent figures illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of the respective software that they are intended to represent. A merchant connects to the commerce server  23  to sign up at step  101 . The merchant accomplishes this by utilizing the URL on the commerce server  23 . The merchant then chooses a logon identification (ID) password and inputs this data into the commerce server  23 . This logon ID password information is written to a file within database  24 . 
     The merchant next enters the required contractual information, categories for the desired advertisement to be included in, and keywords for identifying the merchant advertisement in the advertisement itself at step  103 . The commerce server  23  writes the contract information, categories for the included advertisement, keywords to search the included advertisement, and the merchant advertisement itself into database  24  at step  104 . Next, the commerce server  23  generates and sends a notification to the commerce server administrator, indicating that a new merchant has been registered at step  105 . 
     Then, the merchant is queried if the merchant wishes to purchase more advertisement slots at step  106 . If the merchant wishes to purchase additional advertising slots, the process returns to step  103  to repeat the above steps  103  through  105 . If the merchant declines to purchase additional slots at this time, the process then exits at step  109 . 
     Illustrated in  FIG. 4  is the flow diagram of the ongoing operation process for the commerce server  23  application with the merchant server website  26  of the present invention. The merchant logs into the commerce server  23  with the ID and password established in  FIG. 4 , step  102 , at step  111 . The commerce server  23  waits for the merchant user to input a request for data at step  112 . 
     The data input is then tested to see if the merchant requests an advertisement to be published at step  113 . If an advertisement is to be published, then the process goes to step  114  to execute the published advertisement routine herein further defined with regard to FIG.  6 . After the commerce server  23  has published the advertisement at step  114 , the commerce server  23  then proceeds to step  121 . If the merchant has not selected to publish an advertisement, the commerce server  23  then checks if the merchant has selected a report at step  115 . 
     If a report has been selected at step  115 , the commerce server  23  then proceeds to step  116  to obtain the desired report which is herein defined in further detail with regard to FIG.  7 . After retrieving the desired report at step  116 , the commerce server then proceeds to step  121 . If a report is not requested at step  115 , the commerce server  23  then checks if the merchant has indicated that a profile edit is to be performed at step  117 . 
     When a profile edit is to be performed, the commerce server  23  then proceeds to step  118  to process the edit profile procedure desired by the merchant which is herein further defined with regard to FIG.  8 . After performing the desired profile edit at step  118 , the commerce server then proceeds to step  121 . If at step  117  the merchant has not selected to edit the profile, the commerce server then checks if exit of the normal operating procedure is requested at step  121 . 
     If the exit is not selected at step  121 , the commerce server then returns to step  112  for further processing. When an exit has been selected at step  121 , the commerce server  23  then exits the merchant manager program at step  129 . 
     Illustrated in  FIG. 6  is the flow diagram of the advertisement publishing process for the commerce server  26  application of the present invention. The advertisement publication routine requests the URL for a particular advertisement on the commerce server  23  from the merchant at step  131 . The commerce server  23  then checks the categories and/or keywords and the start and expiration dates for the specified advertisement to be published at step  132 . 
     The commerce server  23  then validates the URL for availability, maximum length and acceptable content at step  133 . If the validation fails for availability, maximum length, acceptable content or other tests of the like, the commerce server  23  returns to step  132  to further modify the advertisement. If the commerce server  23  validates the advertisement at step  133 , then the commerce server  23  posts the advertisement URL to the database  24  at step  134 . The commerce server  23  tests if the merchant desires to publish more advertisements at step  135 . If the merchant wishes to publish more advertisements, the process returns to step  131  for continued processing. If the merchant has chosen not to publish more advertisements at step  135 , the commerce server exits the publication routine at step  139 . 
     Illustrated in  FIG. 7  is the flow diagram of the report generation process for the consumer server application of the present invention. The commerce server  23  first allows the merchant to select a type of report for generation at step  141 . The commerce server  23  then requests the merchant to select a specific type of report requested at step  142 . The commerce server  23  next generates a specific report requested and presents the report as a HTML document to the merchant website  26  merchant browser at step  143 . In an alternative embodiment, these documents can be generated in other types of desired formats. 
     The reports can include but are not limited to the following information: Total number of impressions; Average number of impressions per client; Average time spent viewing an advertisement (i.e. impression duration); Graph of number of times advertisement seen vs. time of day; Average percentage of advertisement seen (e.g. on average, clients saw 92% of the ad); Total number of click-throughs (user clicks on advertisement URLs); Number of customers where the merchant is a favorite; Share of favorites slot—number of customers listing merchant as a favorite vs. total customers that have favorites (including breaking this down by category as well, e.g. of customers who list shoe stores in their favorites, a specific merchant is listed 71.3% of the time); advertisement share—Of all advertisements a customer has viewed, how many have been from this merchant; Time share—Of all advertisements, favorites, banners, etc., how much time have customers spent on average “viewing” the merchant; What share of advertisement clicks does the merchant get (number clicks to the merchant vs. clicks to other merchants); Distribution of the host domains used to access the merchant via the consumer registry (e.g. 75% from the .com domain, 10% from the .edu domain, etc.); Average connection speed of consumers connecting to the merchant registry and which visit the merchant; Breakdown of customer&#39;s screen resolution &amp; screen depth; Distribution of client default browser settings. 
     The commerce server  23  then checks if the merchant has requested more specific reports at step  144  and if more reports are requested returns to step  141  for further processing. If no more specific reports are requested at step  144 , then the report publication subroutine is exited at step  149  and returns to step  121  in FIG.  5 . 
     Illustrated in  FIG. 8  is flow diagram of the edit profile process for the commerce server  23  application of the present invention, referenced in  FIG. 5  at step  118 . The commerce server  23  waits for the merchant to input edit profile information at step  151 . The commerce server  23  checks to see if the merchant requests a change of the login ID or password at step  152 . If a change to the login ID or password is selected at step  152 , the commerce server  23  then changes the login ID or password at step  153  and proceeds to step  161 . If a change to login ID or password is not selected at step  152 , the commerce server  23  checks if a change to contract information is selected at step  154 . 
     If a change to the contract information is selected, the commerce server  23  performs the requested contract information change at step  155  and proceeds to step  161 . If a change to the contract information is not selected at step  154 , the commerce server  23  then determines if the merchant requires a change to the category&#39;s keywords or an advertisement at step  156 . If a change to the category&#39;s keywords or advertisement is selected at step  156 , commerce server  23  then returns to perform the change to the advertisement requested at step  157 . The change to the category&#39;s keyword or advertisement information is performed at  FIG. 4 , steps  103 - 109 . 
     After completing a change to the category&#39;s keywords or advertisement information at step  157 , the commerce server  23  then proceeds to step  161 . If a change to the category&#39;s keywords or advertisement information is not selected at step  156  by the merchant, the commerce server  23  then checks if the merchant has indicated exit from the profile editing function at step  161 . If exit of the profile edit routine is not requested at step  161 , the commerce server  23  then returns to step  151  for further profile editing. If exit is selected at step  161 , the commerce server  23  then exits via edit manager at step  169  and returns to step  121  in  FIG. 5  for continued processing. 
     Illustrated in  FIG. 9  is a flow diagram of the coupon creation process for the commerce server  23  application of the present invention referenced in  FIG. 5  at step  122 . The coupon creation process  170  is initialized at step  171  and waits for the merchant to input coupon information. The commerce server  23  accepts the input of merchant or manufacturer identification, the coupon value, expiration date, product ID associated with the coupon at step  172 . The coupon creation subroutine  170  also accepts input of vendor ID, text description of the product associated with the coupon, a bit map image of the product, the categories for the coupon, and keywords to assist in searching of the coupon, at step  172 . The commerce server  23  then creates a unique coupon ID at step  173 , to uniquely identify the coupon information input by the merchant at step  172 . The commerce server  23  saves the merchant or manufacturer information accepted at step  172  and the unique coupon ID created at step  173 , into the coupon registry database at step  174 . The commerce server  23  next reports (1) the coupon link to the registry using a URL to reference the coupon, and (2) the link to the coupon on a web page using a URL to the general public at step  175 . At step  176 , the commerce server  123  checks to see if the merchant has requested more coupons to be published. If more coupons are to be published, then the commerce server  23  returns to repeat steps  172  through  176 . If there are no more coupons to be published at step  176 , the commerce server  23  exits the publish coupon subroutine at step  179 . 
     Illustrated in  FIG. 11  is the flow diagram of the consumer shopper program  70  for the consumer user browser  65  of the present invention. The consumer shopper program  70  is initialized by the user at step  171 . The consumer or merchant shopper program  70  checks if the consumer requests a commerce server  23  interact connection at step  172 . If the consumer has not requested interaction with commerce server  23  at step  172 , the consumer shopper program  70  then proceeds to step  179  to continue processing with the main user interface in FIG.  13 . 
     If the consumer does request interaction with the commerce server  23  at step  172 , the consumer shopper program  70  then connects to the commerce server  23  at step  173 . Once the connection is established with the commerce server  23 , the consumer shopper program  70  then sends the demographic ID number for the consumer, the time stamp for the last time the consumer data was downloaded, and the version number of the program used by the consumer. The consumer shopper program  70  also sends for each merchant ID advertisement and each category advertisement, the statistical information for each advertisement the consumer has viewed. The statistical information captured about each advertisement viewed by the consumer includes, but is not limited to: the number of times each advertisement for each merchant in each category is seen; the percentage of the advertisement viewed; the total amount of time spent viewing the advertisement; what time periods of the day the advertisement is viewed; and the number of times the user has clicked on the advertisement to obtain further information from the merchant website  26 . The consumer program will continue to send this type of information for each merchant ID and category ID, for each advertisement with captured statistical information. 
     Once the consumer shopper program  70  has sent all the statistical information captured from the consumer interaction, the consumer shopper program  70  requests and receives from the commerce server  23  all advertisements from each merchant and in each category that the user has preselected at step  175 . This process on the commerce server  23  is herein defined in detail with regard to FIG.  9 . 
     The consumer shopper program  70  also receives from the commerce server  23 , any changes or updates to the list of merchants or categories. Also at step  175 , the consumer shopper program  70  detects from the commerce server  23  if a newer consumer program version exists. If a new consumer shopper program  70  version exists, then the commerce server  23  transmits the location of the newest consumer shopper program  70  version at step  175 . 
     Once the consumer shopper program  70  has received all the new advertisements regarding each merchant and each category selected at step  175 , the consumer shopper program  70  then resets all the statistical information captured with regard to all elected advertisements at step  176 . The consumer shopper program  70  then updates the advertisements on the main user interface at step  177 . The update of the main user interface is herein defined in further detail with regard to FIG.  13 . 
     After the consumer shopper program  70  has interacted with the commerce server  23  and sent all statistical information and received all new advertisements, the consumer shopper program  70  then goes to the main user interface for continued processing at step  179 . The main user interface is herein defined in further detail with regard to FIG.  13 . 
     Illustrated in  FIG. 11  is the flow diagram of the statistical information capture process performed by the commerce server  23  of the present invention. Once the consumer shopper program  70  has established a connection with the commerce server  23  at step  173  in  FIG. 9 , the commerce server  23  receives the statistical information for each advertisement viewed by the consumer with regard to each merchant ID and category ID previously selected. As defined previously, the statistical information acquired by the consumer shopper program  70  includes, but is not limited to, the number of times each advertisement is viewed, the percentage of the advertisement viewed by the consumer, the total time spent viewing each advertisement, at what time of day each advertisement is viewed and the number of times the consumer has requested further information with regard to an advertisement by clicking on the advertisement. 
     The commerce server  23 , upon connection with the consumer shopper program  70  at step  173  in  FIG. 9 , acquires a daily snapshot of the advertisement database  24  and places the advertisement database  24  in memory at step  181 . The commerce server  23  then waits for a consumer shopper program  70  to establish a connection at step  182 . This connection is defined for the consumer shopper program  70  at step  173 . 
     The commerce server  23 , upon establishing a connection with the consumer shopper program  70  receives all advertisement statistics at step  183 . These statistics were previously defined with regard to step  174  in FIG.  9 . 
     At step  184 , the commerce server  23  checks all of the advertisements viewed by the consumer for each merchant ID preselected by the consumer. For each merchant ID preselected, the commerce server  23  determines if the current merchant ID advertisement time stamp is newer than the last merchant ID advertisement accessed by the consumer. If so, the commerce server  23  transmits, to the consumer, all new merchant advertisements that are newer than the one last accessed by the consumer. The commerce server  23  then checks if there are more merchant ID entries to be processed at step  185  and returns to step  184  if there are more entries to be processed. 
     If there are no more category ID entry advertisements, the commerce server  23  then checks all of the advertisements viewed by the consumer for each category ID preselected by the consumer at step  186 . For each category ID preselected, the commerce server  23  determines if the current category ID advertisement time stamp is newer than the last category ID advertisement accessed by the consumer. If so, the commerce server  23  transmits, to the consumer, all new category advertisements that are newer than the one last accessed by the consumer. The commerce server  23  then checks if there are more category ID entries to be processed at step  187  and returns to step  186  if there are more entries to be processed. 
     If there are no more category ID advertisements at step  187 , the commerce server  23  then updates the advertisement database in memory at step  189  and then loops to step  182  to wait for the next consumer to connect to the commerce server  23 . 
     Illustrated with regard to  FIG. 11  is the flow diagram of the advertisement download process  190  for the consumer shopper program  70  of the present invention, previously referenced herein at step  177  in FIG.  9 . The update advertisement process residing in the consumer shopper program  70  acquires the URL from the advertisement ID at step  191 . The consumer shopper program  70  pulls the URL, using a background thread or process, into the browser  65  at step  192 . The consumer shopper program  70  saves the URL into memory at step  193 . In applications where the consumer browser  65  is Internet Explorer, there is a temporary Internet file folder defined for these type of documents. However, it is well known in the art that there are numerous ways to provide memory storage accessed by a browser program. 
     The consumer shopper program  70  next places the advertisement entry into the main user interface utilizing the advertisement ID at step  194 . The consumer shopper program  70  next checks if there are more advertisements to be received for all preselected merchant IDs and category IDs at step  195 . If not all elected advertisement IDs have been received at step  195 , the consumer program returns to step  191  to receive the next URL from the commerce server  23 . If all advertisement IDs have been received for all the elected merchant IDs and category IDs selected by the consumer at step  195 , then the update advertisement routine is terminated at step  199 . 
     Illustrated in  FIG. 12  is the flow diagram for the operation of the main user interface  210  referenced with regard to step  179  in FIG.  9 . The consumer shopper program  70  starts the main user interface operation at step  201 . The main user interface displays either all the consumer preselected specials (i.e., list of advertisement) for either merchant stores or category advertisements, list of merchant store advertisements or list of ideas (i.e., a favorites list) on the main user interface menu at step  202 . 
     The list of ideas is an easy, flexible way for the consumer to maintain shopping of purcharias lists, wish lists, etc. The list of ideas is a tabbed dialogue of lists the consumer wishes to maintain. Initially, only a new list “tab” will exist. When this is selected, either by clicking or adding an item, a rename dialogue will pop up asking the consumer for the desired name of this list. A new tab with this name will be created and the new list tab will shift to the right. With the exception of a new list tab “tab,” the tabs will be sorted in alphabetical order. If more tabs are created than can fit on the screen, arrows will appear on the left with a “&lt;” or on the right with a “&gt;” as needed to allow shifting to tabs not visible. The tabs will always be within one row, i.e., they should not be stacked. The list of ideas helps the consumer to become comfortable with the idea of retaining items in preparation for future action. The list of ideas also provides for the use of a list as a local “gift registry” with the ability to e-mail the list to others. 
     A list will contain the following items: 
     1. A check box to indicate whether or not an item has been purchased. This box serves as a way to keep a log within the user/browser area. 
     2. Notes, including the consumer&#39;s own brief note regarding this item. This field is intended to allow flexibility for recording items as seen in the physical store. 
     3. Location, wherein the preferred embodiment utilizes a URL where the item was found. It may also be possible to include other non-URL location information here, in case of an item being available at a local physical store. 
     4. The cost of the item will also be included in the list. 
     5. Notes for any additional information that the consumer wants to retain is also included. It is possible to drag and drop web pages into this second notes attachment field. The notes attachment should also support clip board cut and paste. 
     The list of ideas is an icon on a browser bar that brings a consumer to the ideas area with no filtering. The first time to the ideas area, the left list tab will be active, i.e., positioned in front. On subsequent visits to this list of ideas, the last used list will be displayed and active. 
     Moving through the list to a merchant site can be done in the following ways. First, it can be accomplished by clicking on a tab that brings a list forward. As mentioned earlier, if a tab is a new list, then the process of creating a new list will automatically be initiated. Another way to move through the list of ideas is by clicking on a list item that selects another item. A third way to move through the list is by clicking on the location field which jumps to a merchant page. In the preferred embodiment, a URL is used to jump to a merchant page, thereby replacing the current area with the merchant page. Another method of navigating through the list of ideas is by selecting (clicking on) the notes icon that is made available (pops up) with the notes dialog. If a note does not exist, then it is created when clicked upon. The list of ideas also includes the ability to select a find button to bring a find dialog up for consumer interaction. The lists can then be searched by store name, catalog description, keywords, and/or text description. If there are multiple matches on a given search, the first item found is highlighted (with the list moved forward, if necessary). Utilizing the find button again can then be selected via a right click on a mouse button to jump to the next matched item. If no items match a consumer search, then a dialog box is displayed indicating this situation. 
     The user also has the ability to print a list of ideas. This feature allows for a list to be sent to a printer or saved to a text or other possible formats file. The list could then be sent via e-mail or other means to another person as a gift wish list. This allows the list to act as a local gift registry as noted previously on numerous different functions that can be utilized for a wish list of ideas. The wish list may allow searching as previously defined, adding an item to a list, or adding a last item to the list to display the last item added. The list of ideas may be deleted in its entirety or just a specific item within a list may be deleted. An entire list may be renamed or an item may be renamed. The cut and paste feature is also supported for an entire list or an individual item. The utilization of these lists will be shown herein with regard to  FIGS. 13 and 16 . 
     The main user interface next checks if the consumer has selected a specific merchant advertisement for display at step  203 . If the consumer has not selected a specific merchant for display at step  203 , then the main user interface checks if the user has selected a specific advertisement at step  204 . If the consumer has selected either a specific merchant advertisement or specific advertisement to be displayed in steps  203  or  204 , the main user interface captures the statistical information with regard to each merchant advertisement or category advertisement viewed by the consumer at step  205 . After the consumer browser has captured the statistical information for the specific advertisement selected in steps  203  and  204 , the browser next inquires if there are more advertisement displays to be selected at step  206 . When the consumer indicates that more advertisements are to be displayed, the process then returns to step  202  to allow the consumer to select the next desired merchant or specific advertisement. If the consumer has indicated that no more advertisements are being selected, or if no advertisements were selected in steps  203  and  204 , the consumer browser then proceeds to step  209  to run the standard browser interface. 
     Illustrated in  FIG. 13  is a flow diagram of the main user interface  210  for the consumer shopper program  70  of the present invention, referenced in  FIG. 10  at step  189 . The client browser  65  starts the main user interface  210  of the consumer shopper program  70  at step  211 . The main user interface  210  provides the browse capability to the consumer. The browse capability enables the consumer to browse advertisements as illustrated in  FIG. 19 , the stores as illustrated in  FIG. 20 , shopping lists (i.e. catalogs) as illustrated in  FIG. 21 , lists of ideas as illustrated in  FIG. 22 , and lists of available coupons on the main user interface  210  with the client browser  65  at step  212 . After a user makes a selection at step  212 , the main user interface  210  checks to see if the user has requested to view an advertisement at step  213 . If the user has requested to review an ad, the main user interface  210  proceeds to step  214  to perform the user view advertisement procedure  230  hereindefined in further detail with regard to  FIG. 14  at step  214 . 
     If the user did not select to view an advertisement at step  213 , the main user interface  210  checks if the user has selected interaction with the wallet procedure  250  at step  215 . If the user has requested a procedure  250  at step  215 , the main user interface  210  performs the wallet procedure  250  at step  216 , hereindefined in further detail with regard to FIG.  15 . 
     When the user has not selected the wallet procedure  250  at step  215 , the main user interface  210  checks if the user has selected interaction with the purchase list procedure  270  at step  217 . If the user has selected interaction with the purchase lists, the main user interface  210  performs the purchase list procedure  270  at step  218  hereindefined in further detail with regard to FIG.  16 . 
     If the consumer has not selected interaction with the purchase list procedure  270  at step  217 , the main user interface  210  checks if the shopping cart procedure  290  has been selected at  221 . If the shopping cart procedure  290  has been selected at step  221 , the main user interface  210  performs the user shopping cart procedure  290  at step  222 , hereindefined in further detail with regard to FIG.  17 . 
     If the user has not selected the shopping cart procedure  290  at step  221 , the main user interface  210  checks if the user has selected a buy procedure  310  at step  223 . If the user has selected a buy procedure  310  at step  223 , the main user interface performs the user buy procedure  310  at step  224 , hereindefined in further detail with regard to FIG.  18 . 
     If the user has not selected the buy procedure  310  at step  223 , the main user interface checks if the user has selected the exit function at step  228 . When the user has not selected the exit function at step  228 , then the main user interface returns to step  212  to continue the browsing function within the consumer shopper program  70 . If the user has requested to exit the consumer shopper program  70  at step  228 , the main user interface  210  exits the consumer shopper program  70  and runs the standard browser interface at step  229 . 
     Illustrated in  FIG. 14  is a flow diagram of the view advertisements process  230  in the consumer shopper program  70  of the present invention referenced in  FIG. 13  at step  224 . The consumer shopper program  70  starts the user view advertisement process  230  at step  231 . An illustration of an example of an user view advertisement screen display for the merchant advertisements is shown in FIG.  19 . The view advertisement process checks if the user has selected a store or specific advertisement for viewing at step  232 . If the user has indicated the desire to view advertisements from a store or a specific advertisement at step  232 , the user view advertisements process  230  displays the store specific advertisement selected at step  233 . An illustration of an example of a specific store advertisement screen display is shown in FIG.  19 . The example illustrates a store advertisement display  340  for “Summer Book Blast” for the store “barnesandnoble.com”. 
     During the display of the store or specific advertisement, the user view advertisement process  230  captures information for each advertisement selected by the user. The consumer shopper program  70  captures for each merchant ID advertisement and each category ID advertisement, the time that the advertisement was viewed by the consumer user in addition to other statistical information captured each time the advertisement is viewed by the consumer. The statistical information captured for each advertisement viewed by the consumer includes, but is not limited to, the number of times each advertisement for each merchant in a category is seen, the number of times each advertisement for each merchant in each category is seen, the percentage of advertisements viewed, the total amount of time spent viewing the advertisements, what time period of the day the advertisement is viewed, and the number of times the user has clicked on an advertisement to obtain further information from the merchant website  26 . After the user has stopped the selection of advertisements to be viewed, the user view advertisement  230  process then checks if the user has selected the get coupon process at step  234 . 
     If the user has selected the get coupon process at step  234 , the user view advertisements process  230  captures for each coupon selected the user ID, the coupon ID, the coupon get date and time stamp, and the coupon redeem date and time stamp, at step  235 . The user view advertisements process  230  then stores the coupon data on the user system  12  for further process during the purchase and redemption process hereindefined with further detail in  FIGS. 17 and 18 . The user view advertisements process  230  then acquires the next user selection at step  247  and repeats the user view add process starting at step  232 . 
     If the user did not select the get coupon process at step  234 , the user view advertisements process  230  then checks if the user has selected to add an item to the purchase list at step  236 . If the user has selected to add an item to a purchase list at step  236 , the user view advertisements process  230  then adds the item to the purchase list at step  237  which is hereindefined in further detail with regard to FIG.  16 . After the item has been added to a purchase list, the user view advertisements process  230  then acquires the next user selection at step  274  and repeats the loop processing at step  232 . 
     If the user has not selected to add an item to a purchase list at  236 , the user view advertisements process  230  then checks if the user has selected to add an item to a shopping cart at step  241 . If the user has selected to add an item to a shopping cart at step  241 , the user view advertisements process  230  then adds the item to the shopping cart at step  242 , which is hereindefined in further detail with regard to FIG.  17 . The user view advertisements process  230  then acquires the next user selection at step  247  and continues loop processing at step  232 . 
     If the user has not selected to add an item to a shopping cart at step  241 , the user view advertisements process  230  then checks if the user has selected to display more advertisements at step  234 . If the user has selected to display more advertisements at step  234 , the user view advertisements process  230  then browses the store&#39;s coupons and adds on the main user interface at step  244  and allows the user to make his next selection at step  247  and continue processing at step  232 . If the user has not requested to display more advertisements at step  243 , the user view advertisements process  230  then exits the user view advertisements process  230  at step  249  and returns to the main user interface  210  at step  214 . 
     Illustrated in  FIG. 15  is a flow diagram of the user wallet process  250  for the consumer shopper program  70  of the present invention. The client browser  65  starts the user wallet process  250  at step  251 . The consumer shopper program  70  checks if the user has selected to add a new user at step  252 . 
     If a new user addition was selected at step  252 , the consumer shopper program  70  then requests user information, including the user name, location, limit, and payment method including card number, expiration date, name on card, etc., at step  253 . The user wallet process  250  then validates the user information at step  255 . The user information validated at step  255  is then written to the administrative payment server at step  256  and the user wallet process  250  returns to continue the loop process at step  252 . The administrative payment server is normally implemented on the user system  12 . However, the administrative payment server can be implemented on a separate computer in a network, such as for example but not limited to: the user systems  13 ,  14  or  15 ; network server  21 ; or the commerce server  23 . 
     If the user did not elect to add a new user at step  252 , the user wallet process  250  then checks if the user has requested to edit user information at step  254 . If the user has elected to edit user information at step  254 , the user wallet process  250  requests that a user ID number be input at step  257 . The user wallet process  250  then displays the user information for the user ID at step  258 . After the user wallet process  250  has displayed the user information at step  258 , the user wallet process  250  checks if the user has selected to delete a uses at step  261 . If the user has selected to delete a user at step  251 , the user wallet process  250  proceeds to step  262  to delete the user information from the administrative server database and then returns to step  252  to continue processing. If the user has not elected to delete a user at step  261 , the user wallet process  250  allows the user to update the user information at step  263 . The user wallet process  250  then validates the user information at step  264  and writes the validated user information to the administrative payment server at step  265 . The user wallet process  250  then returns to step  252  for further processing. 
     If the user has not elected to edit user information at step  254 , the user wallet process  250  proceeds to step  266  to see if the user wallet process  250  is done. If the user has selected done, the user wallet process  250  exits the user wallet process at  269 . If the user has not selected done at  266 , then the user returns to step  252  to continue processing. 
     Illustrated in  FIG. 16  is a flow diagram of the consumer purchase list process  270  for the consumer shopper program  70  of the present invention. 
     The user purchase list process  270  first checks if the user has elected to mail a purchase list at step  272 . If the mail purchase list was selected at step  272 , the user purchase list process  270  requests the title for the purchase list elected for mailing at step  273 . The user purchase list process  270  encapsulates the selected list via the mime processing and mails the encapsulated list/FTP or otherwise transmits the selected purchase list to another user including the date and time that the list was mailed at step  273 . The user purchase list process  270  then returns to continue processing at step  272 . If mailing a purchase list was not selected at step  272 , the user purchase list process  270  checks if a purchase list was received at step  274 . 
     If a purchase list was received at step  274 , the user purchase list process  270  verifies that the title of the purchase list received exists at step  277 . If the title purchase list exists, the user purchase list process  270  matches the list mailed to the recipients and updates the purchase list if the purchase list currently contained by the consumer shopper program  70  is older. The user purchase list process  270  then returns to step  272  for further processing. If a purchase list was not received at step  274 , the user purchase list process  270  then checks if the user has selected to publish a purchase list at step  281 . 
     If the user has elected to publish a purchase list at step  281 , the user purchase list process  270  requests a title for the purchase list selected at step  282 . The user purchase list process  270  then converts the named purchase list to HTML and transmits the title HTML list to a web server including the date and time that the HTML purchase list was sent. The user purchase list process  270  then mails/transmits a URL to the indicated users. The user purchase list process  270  then returns to step  272  for continued processing. If the user has not elected to publish a purchase list at step  281 , then the user purchase list process  270  then checks if a products item was selected at step  283 . 
     If a product item was selected at step  283 , then the user purchase list process  270  captures the product item information for each selection in a purchase list. The information captured includes the purchase list name, the merchant ID and the time stamp category ID and time stamp, the product item ID, the product item description, and the like, at step  284 . If the user did not elect to add a product item to a purchase list at step  283 , the user purchase list process  270  then checks if the user the has elected to display more product items at step  285 . 
     If the user has elected to select more product items at step  285 , the user purchase list process  270  provides the ability for the user to browse stores, coupons, and advertisements on the main user interface at step  286 . The user purchase list process  270  then returns to step  272  for continued processing. If the user has not elected to display more products items at step  285 , the user purchase list process  270  is exited at step  289  and process returns to step  218  in FIG.  13 . 
     Illustrated in  FIG. 17  is a flow diagram of the user shopping cart process  290  of the consumer shopper program  70 . The user shopping cart process  290  is started by the client browser  65  at step  291 . The user shopping cart process  290  allows the user to browse stores, coupons, and advertisements on the main user interface at step  292 . Once an item is selected during step  292 , the user shopping cart process  290  checks if the user has selected to buy an item at step  293 . 
     If the user has elected to buy an item, the user shopping cart process  290  extracts the item ID, item description, price, SKU, quantity of items to be purchased, the merchant ID supplying the item, advertisements and other information of the like, and adds the item information to the shopping cart list at step  294 . The user shopping cart process  290  then returns to step  292  for further browsing. If the user has not elected to buy an item at step  293 , the user shopping cart  290  then checks if the user has elected to get a coupon at step  295 . 
     If a user has elected to get a coupon, the user shopping cart process  290  has a coupon selected to the user coupon file at step  296 . The coupon information includes the coupon ID, the get date of the coupon, and the redemption or expiration date of the coupon. The user shopping cart  290  then returns to step  292  for further processing. If the user has not elected to get a coupon at step  295 , the user shopping cart process  290  then checks if the user has elected to clear an item from a shopping cart list at step  301 . 
     If the user has elected to delete an item from the shopping cart at step  301 , the item indicated is deleted at step  302  and the process returns to step  292  for continued processing. When the user has not elected to delete an item from a shopping cart at step  301 , the user shopping cart process  290  then checks if the user has elected to print a shopping cart list at step  303 . 
     If the user has elected to print a shopping cart list, the user shopping cart process  290  prints the indicated shopping list at step  304  and returns to step  292  for further processing. If the user has not elected to print a shopping cart list at step  303 , the user shopping cart process  290  then checks if the user has elected to buy an item at step  305 . 
     When the user has elected to buy an item, the user shopping cart  290  proceeds to step  306  to buy the indicated item. The process to buy an item is hereindefined in further detail with regard to FIG.  17 . Once the item is purchased, the process then returns to step  292  for continued processing. If the user has not elected to buy an item at step  305 , the user shopping cart process  290  then checks if the user has selected to exit the shopping cart at step  307 . 
     If the user has not elected to exit the shopping cart process  290  at step  307 , the user shopping cart process  290  returns to step  292  for further processing. If the user has elected to exit the user shopping cart  290  at step  307 , the user exits the shopping cart process at step  309  and returns to step  222  in  FIG. 13  for continued processing. 
     Illustrated in  FIG. 18  is a flow diagram of the consumer purchase process  310  for the consumer shopper program  70  of the present invention. The consumer browser  65  initializes the user buy process  310  at step  311 . The user buy process  310  connects to the customer payment server to verify payment information, limits and user passwords at step  312 . The user buy process  310  checks if the password entered was okay at step  313 . If the password was not okay, the user buy process  310  then exits the user buy process  310  at step  329 . If the check of the user password at step  313  is satisfactory, the user buy process  310  checks if the payment amount input at step  312  exceeds the spending unit of the user at step  314 . If the spending limit for the user is exceeded at step  314 , the user buy process  310  proceeds to step  329  to exit the user buy process. If the user has not exceeded the spending limits at step  314 , the user buy process  310  then checks if the user has elected to redeem a coupon with a purchase at step  315 . If the user has elected to redeem a coupon with a purchase, the user buy process  310  then redeems the coupon associated with the item with a coupon on a user system at  316 . In either case, the user buy process  310  transmits a buy request to the merchant including the item and coupon information at step  321 . 
     The user buy process  310  then waits to receive a buy summary from the merchant at step  322 . The summary received from the merchant includes a request for payment information. This payment information requested by the merchant is then provided to the wallet function at step  323 . The wallet establishes a secure protocol with the merchant system and transmits the requested payment information at step  324 . It is also contemplated by the applicants that other payment type processes could be utilized instead of the MS wallet function as hereindefined. The merchant  26  then notifies the coupon registry that a user with a particular user ID is redeeming a coupon with a particular coupon ID. The coupon registry then creates a log item that documents the redemption of a particular coupon for a particular item by a particular consumer. 
     The user buy process  310  then checks if more items are to be purchased at step  326 . If more items are to be purchased, the user buy process  310  then allows the user to browse the merchant advertisements, product listings or shopping cart for the next item to be purchased at step  327  and returns to step  312  for further processing. If the user has elected not to buy more items at step  326 , the user buy process  310  then exits at step  329 . 
     Illustrated in  FIG. 19  is an example of a screen display for advertisements list  340 . The advertisements list  340  displays advertisement items currently available from stores that the shopper has subscribed to. Each item in the list contains a store name  341 , advertisement description  342 , advertisement issue date  343  of the advertisement, and advertisement expiration date  344 . Also illustrated in the merchant advertisement display  340  is the area for the currently selected advertisement  345 . It is contemplated by the inventors that numerous other versions of merchant advertisement display  340  may contain similar or other types of information. 
     The advertisements list  340  can be sorted by the store name  341 , advertisement description  342 , advertisement issue date of the advertisement  343 , and advertisement expiration date  344  fields. If there are more advertisements than can be seen in the available list  340 , then a scroll bar is produced and displayed. The advertisements list  340  allows the shopper to scan through multiple advertisement descriptions at once, to quickly scan for advertisements of interest. The current advertisement item selection is shaded. Initially, only the advertisements list  340  is displayed, i.e., no advertisements content is displayed. This feature avoids downloads from the merchant site at undesired times and also allows the shopper to see a larger list before selecting an advertisement of interest. 
     The advertisements list  340  displays an actual advertisement from a merchant site. When an item in the advertisements list  340  is selected for display on terminal  46 , the associated advertisement is retrieved and displayed. The advertisement is retrieved either locally, if it has already been downloaded, or from the merchant site using the URL. The size of the advertisements list content area will be the recommended size for an advertisement for optimal viewing and fast download, however, the advertisement can be larger than the content area. If an advertisement is larger than the advertisements list content area, scroll bars are generated and displayed. 
     The advertisement  345  overlays the advertisements list  340 . If advertisement  345  content is not being displayed, the advertisement  345  fills the advertisements list  340  viewing area again. Once an advertisement  345  has been retrieved from the merchant site, it will be stored locally. 
     The intent of basic operation is to allow all the primary functions for viewing advertisements to be done with a single point and click. No menu pull-downs, mouse right-clicks, or drag and drops are required for these functions. The default behavior here is to only download advertisement content from a merchant server  26  on demand. Simply selecting (clicking on) the “Advertisements” icon brings the shopper to the advertisements area, with no filtering. The advertisement items are sorted by the current sort field. If the shopper is here for the first time, the first advertisement item in the list is highlighted. If the shopper was here previously in this session, it remembers where he/she left off. For example, if the shopper left “Nugget” and went to the “Barnes &amp; Noble” site by clicking on one of the URL references in the advertisement, clicking on the “Advertisements” icon would bring him/her back to the same advertisement. 
     Moving through advertisements and to the merchant site can be done in several ways. First, clicking on an underlined advertisement description (URL) highlights the advertisement item and displays the corresponding ad. The advertisement is downloaded from the merchant server  26 , if it has not been already. 
     Clicking outside this underlined advertisement description, e.g. in the date region, simply highlights the advertisement item. No advertisement content is displayed. This is to allow for selection to use the delete icon or as a placeholder, without triggering a download. 
     Clicking or moving within the scroll bar, on the right, scrolls through the advertisement items only, using standard scrolling behavior. The advertisement content area does not change during the scrolling of the advertisement items. The current advertisement remains selected and displayed until another advertisement item is selected. 
     Clicking on the up-arrow and down-arrow icons in the toolbar region moves line by line through the advertisement list, selecting advertisement items. As each advertisement item is selected, it is highlighted and the corresponding advertisement is displayed. The advertisement is downloaded if it is not already stored locally. The appropriate arrow is dimmed (made unavailable) when on the first or last advertisement item in the list. 
     Clicking on the Store bitmap in the advertisement list jumps to the merchant server  26 . The advertisements functional area goes away and is replaced with the merchant&#39;s home page. This is the same behavior as in the Stores functional area. 
     Clicking on the X, in the upper right corner of the advertisement content, removes the advertisement content and replaces the area with the full advertisement list. The advertisement is not deleted. 
     Clicking on a URL within the merchant&#39;s advertisement also jumps to the merchant site. The advertisements functional area goes away and is replaced with the page referenced by the URL. 
     Clicking on the Advertisements icon in the band area brings the shopper back to the advertisements functional area. 
     Because the list of all stores could become very large, there is a find store feature that can be accessed from various pop-up menus and from the toolbar. A name can be typed in directly, or a name previously searched for can be selected from the combo box in which a list of the last 10 searches is kept in the order in which they were attempted. This means that the most recent search is found at the top. The search is case-insensitive. Wildcard characters or any kind of regular expression syntax are supported. All store names and keywords that stores have registered are searched. If there are multiple matches in a given search, store names are displayed first in the results list followed by store names returned as a result of registering a keyword that matched. In this results dialog, store names are alphabetized in these two sets. If no store matches the user&#39;s search, then a dialog box is displayed to notify the user. 
     Illustrated in  FIG. 20  is an example screen display of store information during the browsing process of step  212  of FIG.  13 . The illustration of the example store display  350  includes, but is not limited to, the department information  351  listing all of the individual departments within that can be searched for a particular store. The departments (or equivalent term) area  351  displays the first level of main categories. Selection of a category drills down to its subcategories, i.e. subcategories  352  and  353  respectively, until the stores level is reached. Categories and stores are not mixed within a level. These subcategories  351 ,  352  and  353  are searchable categories within the stores listed in the featured store area  357 . At the lowest level is the stores list area  357 . To show position within the category and stores lists, the selected items (e.g., Food &amp; Drink, Coffee Shops) are shaded. It is contemplated by the inventors that there could be other information that may be displayed for each featured store. 
     Navigating through Stores and to the merchant site is done in the following ways. First, by clicking on a category icon pops up a subcategory list. Subcategory lists continue to pop up until the stores level is reached. When the mouse  44  moves over category or store names, a description pops up, similar to the “Favorites” menu in Internet Explorer. Another way is by moving the mouse  44  over a category, without clicking, also causes the next category level to pop-up. Clicking on a store icon jumps to the merchant&#39;s home page, replacing the Stores display area. The store icon can be in the featuring area or in a stores list within a category. 
     Illustrated in  FIG. 21  is a screen display of an example shopping list  360 . The shopping list screen display  360  includes a buy indicator area  361 . While the example shows that text or checkmark may be entered into the buy are to indicate that an item is to be purchased, it is also contemplated that there may be various other types of methodology such as having a push button indicator or dialog box or the like. Also included in an example of the shopping list  360  is the indicator that the items are a subset of another shopping list. This indicator  362  communicates that the overall item category listed comprises a further shopping list. Also illustrated in the example shopping list  360  is the quantity of items desired. This quantity  363  is indicated for each item. The shopping list  360  also includes a textual description of each item desired. The item description  364  can indicate the item description as well as if the item is further comprised of another shopping list. It is also contemplated by the inventors that an item ID and price can also be included in the shopping list  360 . 
     Illustrated in  FIG. 22  is an example screen display of a purchase list  370  as referenced in FIG.  16 . The purchase list display screen  370  includes a means to differentiate the different purchase lists by utilizing the purchase list indicator  371 . Also, in the example screen for purchase lists is an indicator  372  for indicating whether or not an item is to be purchased or deleted. The purchase list display also includes a note area  373  in which to note the item to be purchased. The example purchase list display  370  further includes the location of where the item is to be purchased  374  and the cost of the item  375 . 
     The purchase list  370  area displays a tabbed dialog of lists that the shopper wishes to maintain. Initially, only a “New List” tab will exist. When this is selected, either by clicking or adding an item, a Rename dialog will pop-up asking for the desired name of this list. A new tab with this name will be created and the “New List” tab will shift right. With the exception of the “New List” tab, the tabs will be sorted in alphabetical order. If more tabs are created than can fit on the screen, arrows will appear to the left (&lt;) or right (&gt;) as needed to allow shifting to tabs not visible. The tabs will always be within one row, i.e., they will not be stacked. 
     A list will contain the following items. Checkbox  372  indicates whether item has been purchased. This serves as a way to keep a purchase log within this area. Checking this box may trigger a move of this item to the Purchase Log. Note  373  are the shoppers own brief note regarding this item. This field allows flexibility, e.g. for recording items seen at a physical store. Location  374  is a URL where the item was found. It may also be possible to type other non-URL Location info here, in the case of a physical store. The cost  375  area is the cost of the item. Additional notes attachment  376  are provided for any additional information the shopper wants to retain. It is possible to drag and drop web pages to this. The notes attachment supports clipboard cut and paste. 
     A purchase log can be created for items that have already been purchased. This may be wrapped in with the purchase lists  370  area, e.g. a separate tab for purchases or a flag that indicates an items has been purchased, with a notes attachment for receipts, etc. The Purchase Log will retain information about which credit card was used, receipts, merchant details, contact data, etc. 
     Clicking on the “Ideas” icon in the Shopper bar brings the shopper to the purchase lists  370  area, with no filtering. The first time to this area, the leftmost list tab will be active (positioned in front). On subsequent visits to this area, the last list used will be active. 
     Moving through lists and to the merchant site is done in the following ways. First, by clicking on a tab brings its list forward. As mentioned earlier, if the tab is “New List”, the process of creating a new list will automatically be initiated. Secondly, clicking on a list item selects that item. Data can then be entered or the item can be deleted, moved to the purchase log when available, etc. Clicking on a Location URL jumps to that merchant page, replacing the current area with the merchant page. Clicking on the notes icon pops up the notes dialog. If a note does not exist, it is created. Clicking the Find button (or selecting Find through a popup menu), brings up the Find dialog, similar to the Find dialogs found in the other function areas. The lists can be searched by store name and/or text description. 
     The search is case-insensitive. Wildcard characters and any kind of regular expression syntax are supported. If there are multiple matches in a given search, the first item found is highlighted (with its list moved forward if necessary). “Find Again” can then be selected via a right click popup to jump to the next matched item. If no items match the user&#39;s search, a dialog is displayed indicating this. 
     Clicking the Print button in the toolbar brings up a dialog for printing or exporting data. This allows for a list to be sent to a printer or saved to a text (or other possible formats) file. The text list can then be sent via email to another person as a gift wish list. This allows the list to act as a local “Gift Registry”. The feature may be added to directly send the list via email. 
     Illustrated in  FIG. 23  is an example display of the purchase  380  screen. The purchase screen  380  includes a notation area  381  to indicate whether or not the item is currently being purchased, is in transit, or a like notation. The date that each item was purchased is indicated in the purchase list date area  382 . This purchase date  382  allows the consumer to verify the purchase date. The merchant that an item is being purchased from is indicated in the merchant area  383 . While the merchant area  383  is depicted as a text description, it is also contemplated by the inventors that an alternative would be to display a merchant ID instead of, or in combination with, the text merchant identification. Also contained within the example purchase screen  380  is the amount of each item to be purchased. The amount area  384  indicates the total amount of the purchase from a particular merchant. As shown in the description area  385  is a description of the items that are being purchased. It is also contemplated by the inventors that instead of or in addition to the text description that a product ID could also be utilized. The credit card area  386  indicates what payment method was utilized for a particular purchase transaction. 
     Illustrated in  FIG. 24  is an example of the purchase property screen display  400 . The purchase property display  400  includes the date  401  that an item was purchased and the total amount  402  of the purchase. Area  403  indicates the textual name of the merchant, however, it is contemplated by the inventors that a merchant ID may be utilized in conjunction with, or instead of, the text description of the merchant. Illustrated in description  404  is the description of the items being purchased. While the overall description may be displayed in the description area  404 , it is also contemplated by the inventors that a product ID or other code may be used in combination or instead of the textual description. Illustrated in shipping status area  405  is the status of the transaction. It is also contemplated by the inventors that the text of the status description may be utilized in combination or instead of a status ID. The example purchase properties screen display  400  may also include an indicator for the user to request a status check of a particular purchase transaction. It is contemplated that this status display indicator  406  may be a dialog screen user input or the like. Illustrated in the example purchase properties screen  400  is the payment method area  407 . The payment area  407  generally contains a textual description of the credit card, however, it may include other references to other types of payment. 
     Illustrated in  FIG. 25  is the notes field of the example of the purchase property screen  400 . The notes screen  410  includes a notes area  411  that indicates the type of notes to be documented. The inventors contemplate that there may be numerous different note types for a particular transaction. The notes includes a label  412  that indicates the textual description of the general topic of the textual notes listed in note area  413 . 
     The consumer-to-merchant shopper system  70 , which comprises an ordered listing of executable instructions for implementing logical functions, or its contained subroutines, can be embodied in any computer-readable medium for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device, such as a computer-based system, processor-containing system, or other system that can fetch the instructions from the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device and execute the instructions. In the context of this document, a “computer-readable medium” can be any means that can contain, store, communicate, propagate, or transport the program for use by or in connection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. 
     The computer readable medium can be, but is not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, device, or propagation medium. More specific examples (a nonexhaustive list) of the computer-readable medium would include the following: an electrical connection (electronic) having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette (magnetic), a random access memory (RAM) (magnetic), a read-only memory (ROM) (magnetic), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory) (magnetic), an optical fiber (optical), and a portable compact disc read-only memory (CDROM) (optical). 
     Note that the computer-readable medium could even be paper or another suitable medium upon which the program is printed, as the program can be electronically captured, via, for instance, optical scanning of the paper or other medium, then compiled, interpreted or otherwise processed in a suitable manner if necessary, and then stored in a computer memory. 
     The foregoing description has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Obvious modifications or variations are possible in light of the above teachings. The embodiment or embodiments discussed were chosen and described to provide the best illustration of the principles of the invention and its practical application to thereby enable one of ordinary skill in the art to utilize the invention in various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. All such modifications and variations are within the scope of the invention as determined by the appended claims when interpreted in accordance with the breadth to which they are fairly and legally entitled.