Patent ID: 7287002

Claim:
A method for determining whether a business is capable of fulfilling an Internet user's order for a service to be provided to at the Internet user's specified delivery location, the method comprising the steps of: associating with the business a plurality of coordinate points defining a polygonal geographic service area within which the business provides the service; determining the latitude and longitude coordinate of the delivery location; determining whether the coordinate position of the delivery street address lies within the polygonal service area; and determining that the business is capable of filling the Internet order if the delivery street address lies within the polygonal service area, wherein the Internet order comprises an order for a product to be physically delivered to the Internet user's delivery location; failing to determine the latitude and longitude position of the delivery street address; receiving from the user a telephone number associated with the delivery address; searching a business customer database for records with associated telephone numbers matching the number received from the user; presenting to the user an address from a record that also contains an associated telephone number matching the number received from the user; selecting by the user the presented address; and determining that the business is capable of fulfilling the user's Internet order for provision of the service to the selected address.