Patent ID: 7305427

Claim:
A method for facilitating purchases of gift items made available for purchase by a host server, comprising the steps of: a) downloading to a client machine a component from the host server, the component including a selection template which coordinates with information in an address book which is accessible from the client machine; b) retrieving into the component at least a set of names of potential gift recipients from the address book; c) retrieving from the host server a set of gift items, each of which is associable with one or more names in the set of potential gift recipients; d) displaying in a browser operating at the client machine a matrix of selection cells which is defined by intersecting rows and columns, one of the rows and columns denoting the set of gift items and the other denoting the names in the set of potential gift recipients; e) enabling the user to associate names in the set of potential gift recipients with one or more gifts chosen from the set of gift items by interacting with one or more selection cells so as to select one or more cells and thereby define a set of intended gift recipients and associated gifts; and f) after interacting with the one or more selection cells, submitting for purchase only the associated gifts from the set of gift items, while any remaining gift items in the set of gift items lacking an association with a name in the set of potential gift recipients is not submitted.