Patent ID: 7120595

Claim:
A method for providing online comparison shopping, from among two or more vendors, by a website system accessible by a user through a communication network, the method comprising the steps of: compiling a shopping list identifying specific items to be purchased; receiving optimization criteria specified by the user; optimizing, by the website system, the shopping list based on the optimization criteria to produce an optimal shopping order, said optimization criteria being applied to offerings of said specific items made by at least two of said two or more vendors; displaying the optimal shopping order to the user; receiving the user's modifications to the optimal shopping order; receiving a request from the user to perform only a recalculation of a total cost for the optimal shopping order; recalculating, in response to the user's request, the total cost for the optimal shopping order based on the user's modifications to produce an updated optimal shopping order; and displaying the updated optimal shopping order to the user.