Patent ID: 8374921

Claim:
An online ordering system for ordering of items of real-time availability in inventory online through a networked TV system comprising: (a) an interactive TV system having a plurality of TV equipment units connected on a network to a TV services platform, wherein each TV equipment unit comprises of TV display and a TV remote control unit for sending signals to a set-top box through which the TV equipment unit is connected to the TV services platform, whereby a TV viewer can view an advertisement for a transactable item displayed on the TV display and send a request for ordering the item by request signals entered by keypresses on the TV remote control unit and sent to the TV services platform; and (b) a transaction-ordering web server co-located with and operatively connected to the TV services platform for receiving requests sent from TV viewers for transactable items of real-time availability and processing said requests into web orders sent online via Internet connection to online ordering websites for processing the web orders against real-time vendor inventories of transactable items and confirming transactions of ordered items, wherein, upon a TV viewer inputting a request for a selected transactable item displayed on the TV display using the TV remote control unit to send request signals via the set-top box to the TV services platform, said TV services platform is configured to send the request signals to the co-located transaction-ordering web server, the co-located transaction-ordering web server further being configured to process the request signals into a web order to be sent to an online ordering website for the transactable item and processed against a corresponding real-time vendor inventory for the transactable items and confirmed as a fulfilled transaction of the ordered item, wherein said TV system is a hotel in-room TV system which is coupled to a hotel purchase management system (PMS) used by the hotel to manage guest billings for purchases, and said hotel in-room TV system is operable with said hotel purchase management system to process billings of guest requests for transactable items via the hotel in-room TV units for hotel guests, wherein said hotel in-room TV system is configured to a guest advertising channel on guest in-room TV units programmed with advertising for guest activities of interest, so that a guest can send a request for ordering a selected activity item using the TV remote control unit while viewing a corresponding advertisement on the guest advertising channel, and wherein said transaction-ordering web server is operable to provide updates of activities information to said hotel in-room TV system and updates of advertisements for guest activities on the guest advertising channel of the hotel in-room TV system.