Patent Publication Number: US-2002007319-A1

Title: Method of tracing a shopping path of a consumer

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001] 1. Field of the Invention  
       [0002] The present invention relates to a method of network shopping, and, more particularly, to method of tracing a shopping path of a consumer.  
       [0003] 2. Description of the Related Art  
       [0004] The Internet has provided consumers with a new medium for electronic commerce. Currently, numerous consumers prefer to shop on the Internet. Most of shopping websites provide many different kinds of items for consumers. The consumer connects to the shopping websites via a network communication device with browsing functionality, such as a personal computer, notebook, mobile phone, etc.  
       [0005] Traditionally, a shopping website categorizes the items offered to present them to the consumer. It is possible that the consumer browses over 10 web pages on the same shopping website but only orders two items. When the consumer finishes shopping, the shopping website shows a shopping list which includes all the items chosen by the consumer. However, the browsers of present-day browsing programs only have a “Return to last page” function. Therefore, when the consumer wants to know the contents of an ordered item again, he has to keep returning back to previous web pages until reaching the web page containing the ordered item. Furthermore, when the consumer first orders an item, but later decides to cancel the order, the prior art shopping website will not display this related information to the consumer at the end of the shopping session. So the consumer will not have chance to reconsider the item again.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0006] The object of the present invention is to provide a method and computer-implemented program for tracing a shopping path of a consumer, thus enabling the consumer to directly return back to any transaction-occurred shopping web page. When the consumer chooses an ordered item in a recorded shopping web page, the shopping website will link to the shopping web page and display the contents.  
       [0007] Another object of the present invention is to provide an order-cancelled item list to the consumer, so the consumer can retrieve information about cancelled items and return back to the shopping web page containing the order-cancelled item.  
       [0008] To achieve these objectives, the method of the present invention includes establishing a shopping path record to record all of the uniform resource locators (URLs) of transaction-occurred shopping web pages of the consumer; providing a database for storing the shopping path record of the consumer; displaying a shopping path record list to enable the consumer to choose a recorded item in the shopping web page; receiving a request from the consumer for returning back to a transaction-occurred recorded shopping web page; and linking to the recorded shopping web page. The consumer can return to any one of the ordered items in the recorded shopping web pages by selecting the shopping path record list to modify a transaction.  
       [0009] Other objects, advantages, and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
     
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
     [0010]FIG. 1 is a work environment schematic drawing of the method of the present invention.  
     [0011]FIG. 2 is a flowchart of the method of the present invention.  
     [0012]FIG. 3 is a schematic drawing of a shopping path record list of the present invention.  
     [0013]FIG. 4 is a schematic drawing of another embodiment of the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
     [0014] Please refer to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a work environment schematic drawing of the method of the present invention. A plurality of consumers  10  use a computer to connect to a shopping website  20  via a network  12 . The shopping website  20  has a web server  22  and a database  24 . The computer could be any kind of network communication device enabled with browsing functionality, such as a personal computer, notebook, mobile phone, etc. In this manner, the potential consumers  10  can shop on-line at the shopping website  20 .  
     [0015] In order to offer various choices to the consumer  10 , the shopping website  20  provides a plurality of different items, so the consumer  10  can purchase several different items in a session. However, these items may be arranged on different web pages. The database  24  of the shopping website  20  will record a shopping path of the consumer  10 .  
     [0016] Please refer to FIG. 2. FIG. 2 is a flowchart of the method of the present invention. After the consumer  10  logs into the shopping website  20 , the consumer  10  can start to purchase the items on the shopping website  20 . In the following, a “transaction-occurred” shopping web page is a shopping web page at which the consumer  10  has ordered an item, or cancelled an order. The following steps explain the method of tracing a shopping path of the consumer  10 :  
     [0017] Step  201 : establishing a shopping path record to record all of the uniform resource locators (URLs) of transaction-occurred shopping web pages of the consumer  10 ;  
     [0018] Step  202 : providing a database  24  for storing the shopping path record of the consumer  10 ;  
     [0019] Step  203 : displaying a shopping path record list  26  to enable the consumer  10  to choose a recorded item in the associated shopping web page;  
     [0020] Step  204 : receiving a request from the consumer  10  for returning back to one transaction-occurred recorded shopping web page;  
     [0021] Step  205 : linking to the chosen recorded shopping web page; and  
     [0022] Step  206 : automatically updating the shopping path record until the consumer  10  finishes shopping.  
     [0023] Please refer to FIG. 3. FIG. 3 is a schematic drawing of a shopping path record list  26  of the present invention. The shopping website  20  presents the shopping path tracing functionality to the consumer  10  via a pop-up window function or by displaying a virtual functional button on each web page. In steps  203  and  204 , the consumer  10  chooses the recorded items in the shopping path record list  26  to return back to any one of transaction-occurred recorded shopping web pages to modify the original purchase. The URLs recorded in the web page shopping path record includes the URLs of ordered shopping web pages and the URLs of order-cancelled shopping web pages. Additionally, the shopping path record list  26  further includes related item information, such as the title of the item, a description of item, the purchase price and the order status. As shown in FIG. 3, when the consumer  10  chooses a recorded item in the shopping path record list  26 , the shopping website  20  will immediately link to the web page that contains this recorded item and display the appropriate web page.  
     [0024] When the consumer  10  enters into the shopping website  20 , the web server  22  of the shopping website  20  establishes a specific text file for the consumer  10 , and stores this text file under a subdirectory of the browsing program directory, which is usually called a “cookie”. This text file provides the storage and the transmission of extra information between the web server  22  of the shopping website  20  and the browsing program.  
     [0025] Please refer to FIG. 4. FIG. 4 is a schematic drawing of another embodiment of the present invention. In the prior art technology, when the consumer  10  finishes shopping, the typical shopping website displays a shopping list  27  before the consumer  10  pays the bill, so the consumer  10  can verify the transaction. In another embodiment of the present invention, in addition to the shopping list  27 , the shopping website  20  also displays an order-cancelled item list  28 , and provides a “return to this web page” virtual button. The consumer  10  can thus not only check all of the transaction-occurred (including the order-cancelled) items, but can also select the recorded shopping web page to return back to it.  
     [0026] The method of the present invention should be executed by a computer program. The method of the present invention can be coded as a computer program on a computer readable medium, such as a hard disk, a floppy disk, an optical disk and other computer readable mediums. The computer usable medium has computer readable program code means embedded in the medium for tracing the shopping path of a consumer  10 . The computer program product comprises: a first program code for causing the computer to establish a shopping path record to record all of the uniform resource locators (URLs) of transaction-occurred shopping web pages of the consumer  10 ; a second program code for causing the computer to provide a database  24  for storing the shopping path record of the consumer  10 ; a third program code for causing the computer to display a shopping path record list  26  to enable the consumer  10  to choose an ordered item in the recorded shopping web page; a fourth program code for causing the computer to receive a request from the consumer  10  for returning back to the transaction-occurred recorded shopping web page; a fifth program code for causing the computer to link to the recorded shopping web page; and a sixth program code for causing the computer to automatically update the shopping path record until the consumer  10  finishes shopping.  
     [0027] Summarizing the above-mentioned disclosure, the method and the computer program product of the present invention enable the consumer to directly return back to any transaction-occurred shopping web page. Therefore, the consumer can find the shopping web page again, instead of using the standard browsing functions of the browsing program to look for the ordered item page by page. Furthermore, the present invention further provides an order-cancelled item list, so the consumer has a chance to reconsider cancelled items again. Therefore, the shopping website of the present invention can offer more shopping information to consumers, so more consumers will be attracted by the service of the website and encourage more sales.  
     [0028] Although the present invention has been explained in relation to its preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that many other possible modifications and variations can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.