Patent Publication Number: US-2009240555-A1

Title: Dynamic internet shopping method and system

Description:
The present invention relates to a dynamic internet shopping method and system. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and system wherein the prior shopping activities of a potential customer and of other customers are determined and stored in a shopping portal. Information that is relevant to the same or a similar product or service that was investigated during the prior shopping activities is presented to the potential customer as a dynamic shopping portal if the potential customer&#39;s present shopping activities substantially match the prior shopping activities, thereby shielding the customer from irrelevant, annoying or unwanted information. 
     Persons in search of goods or services to purchase may conduct their search in a number of ways, including browsing websites and visiting stores, both of which are referred to herein as “browsing a shopping site.” Personalized dynamic websites are known, as is the use of cookies, user purchasing history, and user geographic location to construct and determine the content of such websites. See U.S. Pat. No. 6,782,370 to Stack, issued Aug. 24, 2004 (“Stack”), US Published Application 2003/0105682 A1 to Dicker, et al., published Jun. 5, 2003 (“Dicker”), and European Published Application EP 1 315 111 A2 to Matsushita, published May 28, 2003 (“Matsushita”). 
     Browsing a shopping site over the internet (“website browsing”) may be achieved via a PC or a laptop computer (collectively “computer”); via a Personal Data Assistant (“PDA”), a term which herein means a portable device, such as a pocket PC, a handheld computer, a palm top computer, or similar devices, whether stylus- or keyboard-operated; or via a mobile (or cell) telephone. When a potential customer browses a shopping website, there may be presented a webpage containing many details of numerous products or services offered on the site. In order to focus on the product or service that is to be purchased, the customer must, by trial and error, make numerous selections until an item generally corresponding to the one sought is identified. Following this, the identified item may be examined in detail. The examination may lead the customer to purchase the item; otherwise, the process may be iterated or terminated. The foregoing may irritate the customer if there are a large number of choices—many of them irrelevant to the customer—or if the viewing screen is small, as is the case with PDAs, requiring frequent vertical and horizontal scrolling. Moreover, this hit-or-miss process consumes bandwidth. 
     Browsing a shopping site by in-store browsing is similar to the foregoing, sometimes possibly requiring less time because of real time interactions between the customer and store personnel. 
     “Push” ads—ads not requested by the customer—are often presented to potential customers who browse websites and stores. Virtual shopping push ads on internet websites typically include pop-ups and icons inviting the customer to visit other websites. In-store browsing also exposes the customer to push ads, such as displays and notices. Push ads, most of which are usually for products or services other than that which the customer desires to purchase, constitute a further customer irritant and extend the time of the shopping search. 
     The present invention contemplates streamlining a potential customer&#39;s virtual and physical browsing for items that may be purchased by taking into account the “context” of the potential customer, and of any other customer, who has previously specifically considered purchasing or (more significantly) purchased, an item that is similar to, or the same as, the item the potential customer presently seeks. This context includes those selected circumstances and factors that were applicable when the prior specific consideration or purchase occurred. The terms “context” and “shopping sequence” are used herein synonymously. 
    
    
     
         FIG. 1  is a diagrammatic and schematic representation of a dynamic internet shopping system according to the present invention for effecting the method of the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a flow sequence of a dynamic internet shopping method according to the present invention. 
     
    
    
     A functional description of the method ( FIG. 2 ) of the present invention and of a generalized system or network ( FIG. 1 ) for performing the method is set forth below. In this description, several definitions are applicable in the context of the present invention. 
     The term “pushed ad” means information, such as a web page or ad, that is presented to a user, e.g., on a computer or mobile device screen, without the viewer&#39;s request. One type of pushed ad is a “pop-up,” an unrequested ad appearing before, during, or after the viewing of an intentionally visited website. Another type is an ad sent by e-mail without the request of the addressee following the addressee&#39;s visiting a web site. A further type of pushed ad is an unrequested ad and other information displayed in a store. 
     “GPS or Global Positioning System,” “A-GPS or Assisted Global Positioning Services,” and “EOTN or Enhanced Observed Time Difference” all refer to systems which perform trilateration (or other topographical operation) in three-dimensional space to locate, e.g., by longitude and latitude, a point on the earth. GPS and A-GPS calculate the point on the earth by calculating the distance from the point to three or more earth-orbiting satellites. EOTN is similar, but calculates the distance from the point to three or more cellular base stations. 
     “OMA or Open Mobile Alliance” and “WAM or Wireless Application Protocol,” now jointly functioning under OMA, promote and set standards for protocols that permit Internet content to be displayed on various wireless devices, such as cell or mobile phones. As the name implies, “MMS or Multimedia Messaging Service” relates to protocols that permit all types of Internet content—photos, movies, audio and other media forms—to be displayed on devices such as mobile phones. 
     Referring first to  FIG. 1 , a “Shopping Sequence”  8  or “context” comprises a series of factors  9  relating to or arising out of the activities (“shopping sequence”) of a potential customer at a shopping site  10 —a virtual location (a shopping site on the internet) or a physical location (a shopping site comprising a store)—who purchases or who is likely to purchase a product or service. The present invention contemplates using a combination of selected factors  9  derived from the prior shopping sequence(s)  8  of the potential customer and/or from the prior shopping sequences  8  of a number of other customers at the shopping site  10  and/or at other shopping sites  11  to determine information  12  that will be presently furnished to the potential customer when one or more internet shopping sites  10 , 11  are subsequently browsed thereby or when the potential customer subsequently browses in a store shopping site  10 . The furnishing of the relevant information  12  to the potential customer during a present shopping sequence  13  renders the website or store  10  browsed by the potential customer a “dynamic shopping site”  14 . 
     The selected factors  9  comprising each relevant prior shopping sequence  8  are stored in a shopping portal  16 . Thereafter, when the potential customer presently browses the internet or a store  10 , selected, relevant, stored prior shopping sequences  8  having factors  9  substantially similar to the factors related to the potential customer&#39;s present shopping sequence  13  are used as filters or maps  17  by the shopping portal  16  to identify similar prior shopping sequences  8 . Furnished to the potential customer at the dynamic shopping site  14  are ads and other information  18  that were either previously furnished (to the potential customer or other customers), or that are similar to the previously furnished information, when the selected factors  9  of the prior shopping sequences  8  arose. 
     Various factors  9  may be selected and weighted or differentiated at the discretion of the seller(s) of the goods or services or of the seller(s)-designated third party. For example, the following factors  9  may be considered significant:
         (1) The time (e.g., terrestrial time and/or day) when the potential customer
 
or other customers sought specific information from the internet (virtual location) or at a store (physical location)—The time factor may be weighted or differentiated. For example the seller may determine that the fact that information was sought during leisure time—weekends, after 8:00 PM, holidays—is more significant than the seeking of information during normal working hours, the former being given high weight and the latter being given little or no weight, or vice versa.
   (2) The location of the potential customer or other customers when the specific information was sought—Such locations include the customer&#39;s home when the internet is accessed on a PC or laptop; the customer&#39;s home when the internet is accessed by a mobile device; a non-home location when the internet is accessed by a mobile device, such as on the road, in a shopping center, in front of a particular store, or in a store; in a store when information is obtained from its personnel. Again, the seller, or the seller-designated third party, may give much weight to particular locations and little or no weight to others.   (3) The nature of the source (or shopping site) from which information was previously sought—This factor may involve contrasting and differentiating, for example, a general retail store, which sells lawn tractors, and a specialized farm equipment store. Specifically, a retail store may choose to present information about its lawn tractors, even though prior activity (of the potential customer and/or other customers) related to a farm equipment store, on the theory that the potential customer may feel that a lawn tractor is a lawn tractor, regardless of its point of sale. A farm equipment store may choose to not present information about its lawn tractors where the prior activity related to a retail store, on the theory that the potential customer will not be interested in its more robust, but much more expensive, lawn tractors.   (4) The type of information sought by the potential customer or other customers from the internet or from store personnel, that is, the product or service concerning which the information was sought—This factor will typically be given much weight, as one goal of the present invention is to furnish the potential customer only with information relevant to his wishes and to not furnish, and thereby not annoy, the potential customer with irrelevant data. However, the factor covering information type may be weighted or differentiated similar to factor (3). For example, if a potential customer or other customers have sought information concerning a particular brand of wrist watch, one seller may choose to present to the potential customer only information pertaining to that brand, while another seller may choose to present information about several brands of watches in the same price range as the particular brand.   (5) Whether the potential customer or other customers have previously purchased the product or service of interest—The seller may view this factor as neutral when no purchase has been previously made, but may view a completed purchase as a weighty factor. Obviously, where a significant number of customers have previously consummated purchases of the relevant product or service, and where the present potential customer&#39;s other activities or factors match those of previous purchasers, there is a higher likelihood that the potential customer presented with information about the item will purchase it.       

     As noted, in the foregoing and the following, the potential customer is assumed to be presently seeking to obtain information either indirectly from the shopping portal  16 —that is, from a shopping site  10 , such as a website (a virtual location) on the internet or a store (a physical location) or directly from the shopping portal  16 . Shopping sites  10  can access, over the internet, the shopping portal  16 , which has stored the relevant prior factors  9 . The shopping portal  16  (factor-storage facility) may be centrally located (or comprise a number of storage facilities tied together) and/or shared by numerous sellers, and/or operated by a seller(s)-designated third party, although some sellers may choose to maintain, or have maintained, a shopping portal  16  for their sole access, or for access by only selected other sellers. 
     A functional description of the present invention immediately follows. 
     Assume that a potential customer A (or another customer) has previously accessed a travel-related website (virtual shopping site) of X from his home on a weekend night, browsing for weekend tours. His shopping sequence may be viewed as comprising Factor1 (“F1”), the time of his activity (a weekend night); Factor2 (“F2”), his location (at home); Factor 3 (“F3”), the website type (travel-related); and Factor4 (“F4”), his target product or service (weekend tours). The customer may book and pay for a weekend tour, Factor F5 1 , or he may decline doing so, Factor F5 2 . Two possible shopping sequences (“SS”) are thus produced: SS 1 =F1+F2+F3+F4+F5 1  and SS 2 =F1+F2+F3+F4+F5 2 , both of which are stored in the Shopping Portal. 
     Now assume that A accesses the same website  10  or the shopping portal  16  several weekends later. In response to this access, or current shopping sequence  13 , the shopping portal  16  may, depending on weighting or differentiation by the seller or the seller-designated third party, as indicated at  20 , use either or both SS 1  or SS 2  to initially display at the dynamic shopping site  14  information  18  regarding various similar tours. The shopping portal  16  may use the weighting or differentiation  20 , at the discretion of the seller. That is, SS 1  may result in displaying only the information  18  concerning weekend tours having similar content and pricing to that purchased as a result of SS 1 , and in displaying similar information  18  concerning weekend tours of varying contents and prices as a result of SS 2 . Further, customer A may be directed to, or the website may display by “pushing,” content  22  from the seller or from another seller, say Y, which contains information regarding F4, weekend tours generally. 
     Additionally, assume that customer B has previously accessed X&#39;s and/or Y&#39;s or others&#39; travel-related websites from home during a weekend. This similarity in A&#39;s and B&#39;s shopping sequences—both include at least F1+F2+F3+F4—may lead the seller to assume some commonality in the wishes and attitudes of A and B. Accordingly, when A accesses X&#39;s website  10 , he may be shown a dynamic shopping site  14  that includes information  18  on websites previously visited by B during a similar shopping sequence  8 . Again, the weighting or differentiation  20  may be used. For example, a tour that B purchased (F5 1 ) may be “pushed” or prominently presented to A, while other tours that B examined, but did not purchase, Factor F5 2 , may be less prominently presented, or not presented at all, to A. 
     The present invention contemplates that a potential customer may access the shopping portal  16  either directly or indirectly via the shopping site  10  that comprise websites using facilities  24 , such as (a) personal or laptop computers or (b) mobile or hand-held devices—such as telephones and PA&#39;s, or the like. Preferably mobile or hand-held devices used in the present invention are WAP/OMA-compliant and may be MMS-compliant. 
     If the potential (and other) customer&#39;s location, F2, is deemed significant in defining a shopping sequence  8  or  13 —as might well be the case where a virtual shopping site has been browsed while the potential customer is standing in front of the display window of a physical shopping site—either a computer or a mobile device  24  may yield F2 (potential customer&#39;s location) for storage in the shopping portal  16 . Specifically, facilities and systems for determining the physical location of a computer user are known. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,757,740 to Parekh et al., issued Jun. 29, 2004. The location of the user of a hand-held or mobile device may be determined by including appropriate GPS, A-GPS, DGPS, EOTN, or similar capabilities therein. 
     The time of the potential customer&#39;s activity, factor F1, is routinely available from a computer or a mobile device, all 24 of which contain internal clocks. Similarly, by well known techniques, factors F3-F5 (the shopping sites previously visited, the product or service sought, and whether or not a sale was consummated) may be easily collected and then stored in the shopping portal  16 . 
     The present invention also contemplates that factors F1-F5 may be derived from prior activity at a shopping site  10  that comprises a store. In this event, the relevant factors  9  may be determined by store personnel who subsequently tabulate and cause them to be stored in the shopping portal  16 , for example by manual entry using in-store facilities  24  connected thereto. 
     Those skilled in the art will appreciate that other factors  9  related to prior shopping sequences  8  of the potential customer and other customers may be collected and stored in the shopping portal  16 . Such additional factors  9  may include price or price range, brand name, apparent credit worthiness (e.g., where a prior sale was consummated and paid for with a valid credit card), and the customer&#39;s age and sex. 
     The factors  9  comprising the prior shopping sequences  8  and the present shopping sequence  13  may be collected by the facilities  24  at the present shopping site  10  and at other shopping sites. This facilities  24  may be connected to the shopping portal  16  by a dedicated path or circuit or (preferably) via the internet, both indicated at  30 . The storing of the previous factors  9  and the comparing of these factors  9  with those of the present shopping sequence  13  may be performed in the shopping portal  16  as an integrated facility, or the shopping portal  16  may comprise separate facilities linked by the internet or otherwise, as shown at  32 . Similarly, the information  18 , 22  may be entered by the seller(s), via the internet or otherwise as indicated at  34  and  36 , into the facility  12 , which may form an element of the shopping portal  16  or constitute a separate entity linked to the shopping portal  16  via the internet or otherwise, as indicated at  38 . The information  18  and  22  may be transmitted to the dynamic shopping site  14  by the internet or otherwise, as indicated at  40  and  42 . Seller factor-selecting, -weighting, and -differentiation  20  may be similarly linked to the comparison/matching facility  17 , as indicated at  44 . 
     Referring now to  FIG. 2 , there is shown a general flow diagram of the method according to the present invention. 
     At Step  50 , the factors  9  of previous shopping sequences  8  at one or more shopping sites  10 , 11  are collected, and at location  52  these factors  9  are stored at the shopping portal  16 . At Step  54  the seller or the seller-designated third party selects, weights and differentiates those previous factors  9  that are felt to be significant. At Step  56 , the factors  9  of the potential customer&#39;s present shopping sequence  13  are collected as the potential customer browses the shopping site  10  or the portal  16 . At Step  58  the factors  9  of the present shopping sequence  13  are compared at the portal  16  to the stored seller-selected, -weighted, and -differentiated factors  9 . At Step  60 , when the selected factors of one or more of the previous shopping sequences  8  substantially match the same factors of the present shopping sequence  13 , the same or similar information  18  furnished during the previous shopping sequence  8  is presented to the potential customer at the present shopping site  10 , now transformed into the dynamic shopping site  14 . Optionally, the information  18  may be accompanied or supplemented by pushed ads or similar information  22 . 
     The foregoing description shall not limit the present invention to the precise form thereof as described. Further, those ordinarily skilled in the field of this invention will appreciate that variations and modifications of the present invention, as described above, may be effected without departing from the spirit hereof. Such variations and modifications are covered by the following claims.