Abstract:
A distributed comparison shopping system is based on a decentralized, distributed architecture utilizing a peer-to-peer network. The system creates an active marketplace with real-time price comparisons, with the peer-to-peer nodes coordinating connectivity with other peers and building a dynamic network. Each message includes a fixed component and an adaptive update component. The adaptive update component contains search criteria and search status fields that are selectively modified as the message travels through the peer-peer network. A node that receives a message will interpret the search criteria and apply those criteria to a local search result. The node then either forwards the unmodified or the modified message to other nodes in its neighborhood, or, alternatively, requests an authorization to modify the message prior to rebroadcasting, from the source node.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    The present invention generally relates to the field of electronic commerce (or e-commerce) over a network such as a peer-to-peer network. More particularly, this invention pertains to a system and associated method for creating an active marketplace with real-time price comparisons within the peer-to-peer network. Specifically, this invention provides a mechanism whereby messages from nodes in the peer-to-peer network can be adaptively modified (or updated), returned to the originator, and transmitted to other nodes in the network.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    The World Wide Web (WWW or the Web) is comprised of an expansive network of interconnected computers upon which businesses, governments, groups, and individuals throughout the world maintain inter-linked computer files known as web pages. Shoppers navigate these pages by means of computer software programs commonly known as Internet browsers. Due to the vast number of WWW sites, many web pages have a redundancy of information or share a strong likeness in either function or title. The vastness of the unstructured WWW causes shoppers to rely primarily on Internet search engines to retrieve information or to locate businesses. These search engines use various means to determine the relevance of a shopper-defined search to the information retrieved.  
           [0003]    The authors of web pages provide information known as metadata within the body of the hypertext markup language (HTML) document that defines the web pages. A computer software product known as a web crawler systematically accesses web pages by sequentially following hypertext links from page to page. The crawler indexes the pages for use by the search engines from information about a web page as provided by its address or Universal Resource Locator (URL), metadata, and other criteria found within the page. The crawler is run periodically to update previously stored data and to append information about newly created web pages. The information compiled by the crawler is stored in a metadata repository or database. The search engines search this repository to identify matches for the shopper-defined search rather than attempt to find matches in real time.  
           [0004]    A typical search engine has an interface with a search window where the shopper enters an alphanumeric search expression or keywords. The search engine sifts through available web sites for the shopper&#39;s search terms, and returns the results of the search in the form of HTML pages. Each search result includes a list of individual entries that have been identified by the search engine as satisfying the shopper&#39;s search expression. Each entry or “hit” may include a hyperlink that points to a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) location or web page.  
           [0005]    Electronic shopping (or e-shopping) has been gaining popularity on the WWW. An outgrowth of the popularity of Internet or on-line shopping is the advent of on-line comparison shopping engines. Price comparison tools, often promoted by Web portals such as Yahoo!®, AltaVista®, Shopping.com®, or shopping services such as Bluefly® or MySimon.com®, are essentially web search engines that allow a user to search a population of web merchants for the lowest price for a desired item.  
           [0006]    These search engines allow a shopper to enter a key word that is usually a description of the desired item. In response to the shopper&#39;s query, the search engines return a set of corresponding Web-based matches listing the merchants or merchant&#39;s Web sites that offer the desired item.  
           [0007]    Typically, the user must undertake these searches on an item-by-item basis. The search is performed against a set of retailers determined by the search engine owner. The population of merchants searched may be open-ended as in the case of search engines that use agents or “bots” to scan the Web for such items or closed as in search engines that search only across a group of subscribed merchants.  
           [0008]    To create a database of items and their prices, the price crawlers typically go to each merchant&#39;s web site, extract the price information from that web site, and create a database of items, prices, and other supporting information. However, it is difficult to acquire the price data from the merchant&#39;s web site. Technologies exist that prevent a price crawler or other such other service from extracting any information from a Web site.  
           [0009]    Price information obtained over the Web can be incomplete, inaccurate, or out of date. In addition, the centralized approach for price comparison used by current price comparison web sites could be unduly manipulated by merchants. In addition, current comparison shopping solutions rely on price crawlers capturing information from the merchant. There is currently no mechanism for allowing merchants and customers to interact in a marketplace format, in that the current comparison shopping solutions available to the customers are limited.  
           [0010]    What is therefore needed is a system and associated method for direct communication between buyer and sellers, allowing a free marketplace interaction. The need for such a system and method has heretofore remained unsatisfied.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0011]    The present invention satisfies this need, and presents a system, a computer program product, and an associated method (collectively referred to herein as “the system” or “the present system”) for conducting an adaptive search using a peer-to-peer network. In a preferred embodiment, the present system uses a peer-to-peer network to conduct distributed comparison shopping. The present system is based on a decentralized, distributed architecture utilizing a peer-to-peer network, creating an active marketplace with real-time price (features or criteria) comparisons. Standard peer-to-peer infrastructures such as Gnutella, Freenet, or Sun Microsystems JXTA® can be used to implement the present system.  
           [0012]    Sellers either enter price information for products or services in a graphical user interface with electronic forms or use a gateway to provide access to an existing product/price database. The peer-to-peer node coordinates connectivity with other peers, building a dynamic network. A user/buyer can enter specific search requests using complex search criteria based on XML. Each node on the peer-to-peer network can participate simultaneously in selling and buying activities. The seller&#39;s request is broadcast from node to node by the peer-to-peer network.  
           [0013]    The present system uses an adaptive search approach. A starting node is the origination of the search request. Messages are described, for exemplification purpose, in XML, using “channels,” e.g., using XML namespaces.  
           [0014]    Each message can include, for example, a subject component (or section) and an adaptive update component (or section). In one embodiment, the subject component is preferably fixed by the user and does not change. The subject component can include an identifier, such as a product or service identification that uniquely identifies the product or service of interest.  
           [0015]    The adaptive update component can be adaptively changed, either in part or in whole as the message propagates or travels through the network. In a preferred embodiment, the adaptive update component can be comprised of any one or more of a search criterion (or criteria), a search status field (or fields). It should be clear that the message may also contain other fields or information of interest to the user and/or merchants, and required by the network.  
           [0016]    An aspect of the present system is that the adaptive update component of the message changes (or is updated) while traveling in the peer-to-peer network. Nodes that receive a search request will interpret the search criteria and apply those criteria to a local search result. If no results are found by the node, the node stops the search, and forwards the message, unchanged, to the next node or nodes in the peer-to-peer network.  
           [0017]    Otherwise, if one or more search criteria are found by the node, the node can take, for example, one of two actions, as determined by the user and set as instructions in the message. According to a first embodiment, the node updates the adaptive update component of the message, resulting in a modified message. The node then forwards the modified message to the next node or nodes in the peer-to-peer network. For example, the merchant responds to the buyer with a lower price or better shipping terms. This new information is encoded in the original search request, which reflects that the dynamically changing nature of the adaptive search.  
           [0018]    According to a second embodiment, the node returns the response back to the source or originating node, requesting confirmation or authorization request to update the message. If the authorization request is approved by the source node, the node forwards the updated message to the next node or nodes in the peer-to-peer network.  
           [0019]    As an example, if the local found result is “better” in some aspect than the current criterion (or criteria), such as price, of the original message, the node contacts the originating node and sends a request to modify the original message. The modified message request contains, for example, the following information:  
           [0020]    The message type (modified);  
           [0021]    the original message the node received;  
           [0022]    the condition on which the node is offering the product (price, shipping, etc.); and  
           [0023]    virtual or physical location/address of the product or service.  
           [0024]    Additional optimizations for query routing are possible. The use of channels for communication between nodes provides rich expressiveness in queries because the underlying format is XML. Digital signatures may be used to verify data integrity properties.  
           [0025]    The present system provides a marketplace for merchants and customers that does not require price crawlers. Because the connection between merchant and customer is “real time,” the information provided to the customer is current. The present system has unlimited scalability; millions of nodes can be supported concurrently. Users can buy and sell products or services simultaneously. The present system is readily integrated into the existing Internet infrastructure.  
           [0026]    For example, a user other than a merchant wishes to sell an item such as a book. The user chooses a shopping channel. Once the information is entered, it is available for the adaptive search of the present invention. A merchant may provide products or services by providing a gateway to their legacy product database. This makes the information in the database available to the peer-to-peer network. The gateway performs the transcoding work required to communicate with other nodes in the network.  
           [0027]    To purchase a product, such as a book, the user enters a specific search request within a graphical user interface using a “book channel.” The present system searches for the lowest available price for that item by transmitting the request to its neighborhood nodes on the peer-to-peer network. The nodes that wish to respond return the request with their offer and a URL to the product site.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0028]    The various features of the present invention and the manner of attaining them will be described in greater detail with reference to the following description, claims, and drawings, wherein reference numerals are reused, where appropriate, to indicate a correspondence between the referenced items, and wherein:  
         [0029]    [0029]FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary operating environment in which a distributed comparison shopping system of the present invention can be used;  
         [0030]    [0030]FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a high-level architecture of the distributed comparison shopping system of FIG. 1;  
         [0031]    [0031]FIG. 3 is comprised of FIGS. 3A, 3B, and  3 C, and represents a process flow chart illustrating a method of operation of the distributed comparison shopping system of FIGS. 1 and 2;  
         [0032]    [0032]FIG. 4 is represents a schematic illustration of the operation of the distributed comparison shopping system of FIGS. 1 and 2 within a peer-to-peer network; and  
         [0033]    [0033]FIG. 5 is a block diagram representation of an original message as modified by the system of FIG. 4.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0034]    The following definitions and explanations provide background information pertaining to the technical field of the present invention, and are intended to facilitate the understanding of the present invention without limiting its scope:  
         [0035]    Channel: Communications category within the peer-to-peer network. Nodes can form their own channels that they then broadcast to other nodes. These other nodes might or might not adopt this new channel.  
         [0036]    Node: A processing location in a network. In a peer-to-peer networks, a node can be a computer, server, or a gateway.  
         [0037]    Peer-to-peer Architecture: A type of network in which each workstation has equivalent capabilities and responsibilities. This differs from client/server architectures, in which some computers are dedicated to serving the others. Peer-to-peer networks are generally simpler, but they usually do not offer the same performance under heavy loads.  
         [0038]    XML: eXtensible Markup Language. A standard format used to describe semi-structured documents and data. During a document authoring stage, XML “tags” are embedded within the informational content of the document. When the XML document is subsequently transmitted between computer systems, the tags are used to parse and interpret the document by the receiving system.  
         [0039]    [0039]FIG. 1 portrays an exemplary overall environment in which a system  10  and associated method for conducting distributed comparison shopping using a peer-to-peer network according to the present invention may be used. System  10  includes a software programming code or computer program product that is typically embedded within, or installed on a host server  15 . Alternatively, system  10  can be saved on a suitable storage medium such as a diskette, a CD, a hard drive, or like devices. While the system  10  will be described in connection with the WWW, the system  10  can be used with a stand-alone database of terms that may have been derived from the WWW and/or other sources.  
         [0040]    The cloud-like peer-to-peer network  20  is comprised of communication lines and switches connecting servers such as servers  25 ,  30 , to gateways such as gateway  35 . The servers  25 ,  30  and the gateway  35  provide the communication access to the WWW or Internet. Users, such as remote Internet users, are represented by a variety of computers such as computers  40 ,  45 ,  50 , and can query the host server  15  for desired information through the peer-to-peer network  20 . Computers  40 ,  45 ,  50  each include software that will allow the user to browse the Internet and interface securely with the host server  15 .  
         [0041]    The host server  15  is connected to the peer-to-peer network  20  via a communications link  55  such as a telephone, cable, or satellite link. The servers  25 ,  30  can be connected via high-speed Internet network lines  60 ,  65  to other computers and gateways. System  10  could use the Internet for communication between computers and servers. Rather than using a server-client approach as used in the Internet, the peer-to-peer network  20  uses nodes. Each node can operate either as a server or as a client, publishing or receiving information. The host server  15  and computers  40 ,  45 ,  50  can be viewed as nodes in the peer-to-peer network  20 .  
         [0042]    The high-level architecture for system  10  is shown in FIG. 2. System  10  generally comprises a request preprocessor  205 , a main decision logic  210 , a query engine  215 , an updater  220 , and a request forwarder  225 . In addition, system  10  has access to a local database  230 . System  10  connects to the peer-to-peer network  20  via a peer-to-peer communication core  235 . The peer-to-peer communication core  235  could use known or available technology such as Gnutella, Freenet, or Sun Microsystems JXTA®.  
         [0043]    With further reference to FIG. 3 (FIGS. 3A, 3B,  3 C), it illustrates a method of operation  300  of system  10  as implemented by a merchant&#39;s node (Node A,  406  in FIG. 4). The peer-to-peer (P2P) communication core  235  receives a message via the peer-to-peer network  20  at block  305 , and forwards it to the request preprocessor  205  at block  310 .  
         [0044]    The request preprocessor  205  then verifies the integrity of the message at block  315  by, for example, validating the contents and the electronic signatures. If method  300  determines at decision block  320  that the message is invalid, system  10  forwards it to the next node in the network  20  (block  325 ). Otherwise, system  10  proceeds to block  330  and forwards the message to the main decision logic  210  at block  330 .  
         [0045]    The main decision logic  210  retrieves the subject ID (e.g., product and/or service identification) and search criteria from the message at block  335 , then forwards the subject ID and search criteria to the query engine  215  at block  340 . At block  345 , the query engine  215  formulates the query using the subject ID and search criteria then queries the local database  230 .  
         [0046]    The local database  230  returns the query results back to the query engine  215  at block  350 , which, in turn, forwards the query results to the main decision logic  210  at block  355 . The main decision logic  210  compares the query results with the search criteria at decision block  360 . If the search criteria are met, i.e., the merchant has the item and can meet the price presented in the message, the node A,  406  can take, for example, one of two actions, as determined by the user and set as instructions in the message.  
         [0047]    According to a first embodiment (FIG. 3B), the main decision logic  210  forwards the results to the updater  220 , at block  365 . The updater  220  updates the search criteria and/or the search status within the message, resulting in a modified message, at block  366 . The updater  220  forwards the modified message to the request forwarder  225  at block  367 .  
         [0048]    The request forwarder  225  sends the modified message to the peer-to-peer communication core  235  at block  368 , which, in turn, forwards the modified message to the next node or nodes in the peer-to-peer network  20  at block  369 . For example, the merchant responds to the buyer with a lower price or better shipping terms. This new information is encoded in the original search request, which reflects that the dynamically changing nature of the adaptive search.  
         [0049]    According to another embodiment of the present invention (FIG. 3C), the main decision logic  210  forwards an authorization request to the request forwarder  225 , at block  370 . In turn, the request forwarder  225  forwards the authorization request back to the source or originating node, requesting confirmation or authorization to update the message, at block  372 .  
         [0050]    If method  300  determines at decision block  373  that the authorization request has been approved by the source node, such as if the source node returns the authorization to the main decision logic  210 , via the request pre-processor  205 , at block  374 , method  300  proceeds to block  365  and repeats the steps at block  366 ,  367 ,  368 , and  369 , as described earlier, forwarding the updated message to the next node or nodes in the peer-to-peer network.  
         [0051]    As an example, if the local found result is “better” in some aspect than the current criterion (or criteria), such as price, of the original message, the node contacts the originating node and sends a request to modify the original message. The modified message request contains, for example, the following information:  
         [0052]    The message type (modified);  
         [0053]    the original message the node received;  
         [0054]    the condition on which the node is offering the product (price, shipping, etc.); and  
         [0055]    virtual or physical location/address of the product or service.  
         [0056]    If, however, method  300  determines at decision block  373  that the source node did not grant the request authorization, the source node B,  408 , sends an instruction to node A,  406 , to either (1) send forward the unmodified message to succeeding nodes in the network  20 , or (2) not to forward the message to any other node in the peer-to-peer network  20 .  
         [0057]    One function of the updater  220  is to negotiate a modified message from the search result and the original message. Three exemplary responses are possible. First, the merchant can provide the item for less than the current minimum. In which event, the main decision logic  210  instructs the updater  220  to modify the message and to replace the current minimum with the new minimum available from the merchant and to update the status field of the message.  
         [0058]    Second, the merchant can provide the item for the same value as the current minimum. In which event, the main decision logic  210  instructs the updater  220  to update the status part of the message.  
         [0059]    Third, the merchant can not match or beat the price value in the message, but can match one or more other criteria in the message, such as the shipping time, etc. In which event, the main decision logic  210  may instruct the updater  220  to modify the search criteria portion of the message, resulting in a modified message.  
         [0060]    Returning now to FIG. 3B, if method  300  determines at decision block  360  that the search criteria are not met, i.e., the merchant does not have the product requested, then the original message is sent unmodified to the request forwarder  225  at block  380 . The request forwarder  225  then forwards the unmodified (or original) message to succeeding nodes. Optionally, the node A,  406 , could modify the search status field of the message and forwards the updated information to the succeeding nodes in the neighborhood.  
         [0061]    An example that further illustrates the operation of system  10  is illustrated by FIGS. 4 and 5. The various nodes in FIG. 4 preferably have the same or similar design and operation using system  10 . The peer-to-peer network  20  includes many neighborhoods such as neighborhood  402  and neighborhood  404 . Each neighborhood  402 ,  404 , contains clusters of peers or nodes within the peer-to-peer network  20 . In this illustration, node A,  406 , node B  408 , node C,  410 , and node D,  412 , are in neighborhood  402 . Node C,  410 , is also in neighborhood  404  along with node E,  414 , and node F,  416 .  
         [0062]    In this example, node B  408  is the source node, and wishes to request quotes for an item (represented by the letter “X”) such as a book, and sets the price limit for that book at $20. System  10  creates the request as a structured query, shown as original message  418 .  
         [0063]    Message  418  and subsequent modified (or updated) messages preferably comprise two components: a fixed component  505  and an adaptive update component  510 . In turn, the fixed component  505  comprises a subject identification (ID)  515 , which is comprised of a product or service identification, encoded in XML.  
         [0064]    The adaptive update component  510  comprises a search criteria field (or fields)  520 , encoded in Boolean Expression query language, and a search status field  525  that contains metadata collected as the message travels throughout the peer-to-peer network  20 .  
         [0065]    The product or service identification may be very specific; i.e., “book; ISBN #1123413”. Exemplary search criteria include price limits and delivery date limits. Message  418  comprises the structured message “X” and the criteria limit “20”. The search status field  525  monitors the number of modifications the message receives, and includes values such as number of nodes traveled by the message, time stamp, etc.  
         [0066]    The search status field  525  is a bookkeeping value, and is not part of the search criteria. However, the search criteria  520  of the message can be formulated to include the search status. For example, the user at node B,  408 , may limit the travel time of message  418  through the network  20  to a few hours, such as  4  hours. In which case, system  10  (at each node) will not rebroadcast the message after the time limit expires.  
         [0067]    System  10  at node A,  406 , determines whether the merchant at node A,  406  has the product that the source node B,  408 , is requesting by querying a local database  230  (or any other suitable database to which node A has access) at node A,  406  (block  345 ). If the merchant at node A,  406 , has the product, system  10  at node A,  406 , determines whether the search criteria goal of message  418  can be met. If not, node A,  406 , forwards message  418  to one or more nodes in neighborhood  402 . If node A,  406 , can satisfy the criteria of message  418 , node A,  406 , modifies the search criteria  515  and/or the search status  525 , as described earlier, resulting in modified message  555  that contains a modified search criteria component  520 ′ and/or a modified search status component  525 ′.  
         [0068]    A feature of system  10  is the ability to change the criteria goal of message  418  to reflect the new criteria  520 . For example, the price of node A,  406 , for the product requested by node B,  408 , is $18. System  10  at node A,  406 , changes the price criteria of message  418 , to $18, as shown by the modified message  555 . Node A,  406 , then broadcasts (or rebroadcasts) the modified message  555  to node D,  412 , via path  424 , node C,  410 , via path  426 , and back to node B,  408 , via path  428 .  
         [0069]    Node D,  412 , searches its local database for the product and price in modified message  555 . Node D,  412 , finds that it has the product, but the price is $24. However, the merchant at node D,  412 , may be able to match or beat some other criteria such as shipping time or shipping cost. Node D,  412 , then changes the modified message  555 , creating another modified message  430 . Node D,  412  returns the modified message  430  to node B,  408 , via path  432  and forwards modified message  430  to other nodes in its neighborhood, as indicated by path  434 .  
         [0070]    Node C,  410 , also searches its local database for the product and price in modified message  555 . The merchant at node C,  410 , can match the price in modified message  555 . Node C,  410 , then sends a modified message  436  to node B,  408 , via path  438 , matching the search criteria of the modified message  555 . Node C,  410 , also sends the modified message  436  to node E,  414 , via path  440  in neighborhood  404 .  
         [0071]    Node E,  414 , forwards the modified message  436  to node F,  416 , via path  442 . Node F,  416 , can route a response back to node B,  408 , through node C,  410 , via path  444  and path  438  if the merchant at node F,  416 , can meet the criteria of modified message  436 .  
         [0072]    Node B,  408 , is waiting for incoming search results. These incoming messages could take one of three modified message forms. First, the originator of the modified message may offer the product for more than the current minimum (node D,  412 ). Node B,  408 , would update the search status component  525  of the modified message and replace it with the current minimum, then return the modified message to the originator of the modified message.  
         [0073]    Second, the originator of the modified message offers the product for the same price as the current message (i.e. node C,  410 ). Node B,  408 , would update the status part of the incoming message and replace it with the current minimum. Node B,  408 , would then add the merchant at that node (node C,  410 ) to the response list in the local database  230  at node B,  408 .  
         [0074]    Third, the originator of the modified message offers the product for less than the current minimum (node A,  406 ). Node B,  408  updates the search status component of the obtained message, replaces it with the current minimum, and adds the seller to the list in the local database  230  at node B,  408 .  
         [0075]    The user at node B  408  now has quotes from two merchants stored in the local database  230 : the merchant at node A,  406 , for $18 and the merchant at node C,  410 , for $18. In addition, the original message  418  is stored in the local database for reference to incoming quotes. The user may now select either offer by using the URL included in the message to contact the merchant.  
         [0076]    In another embodiment, node C,  410 , does not change the message but matches the search criteria. According to one embodiment, node C,  410 , sends an authorization request to modify the message, informing node B  408  that node C  410  can offer the best price for the item. Node B  408  then decides whether or not to accept node B&#39;s offer, as explained earlier.  
         [0077]    The user at node B,  408 , may investigate the credibility of the merchant at node C,  410 , and find that the merchant at node C,  410 , has a reputation for poor service or unethical business practices, etc. The user at node B,  408 , may then refuse to allow node C,  410 , to update the message. Otherwise, the user at node B  408  chooses to update the message from the merchant at node C,  410 , and returns the appropriate authorization to node C,  410 .  
         [0078]    It is to be understood that the specific embodiments of the invention that have been described are merely illustrative of certain application of the principle of the present invention. Numerous modifications may be made to the system and method for modifying a peer-to-peer network to accommodate distributed comparison shopping invention described herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.