Patent ID: 7640188

Claim:
A method of manipulating data associated with products that are offered for sale in connection with electronic commerce via a computer network, in which one or more of said products may be presented for sale (a) as an individual product, (b) as part of a package comprising multiple products, and/or (c) as part of a bundle comprising multiple products, said method comprising the steps of: (1) assigning a unique identification code to each product, package and bundle in at least one database; (2) with respect to each product, package and bundle, storing data in said at least one database indicating whether it is (a) part of a package, (b) part of a bundle, or (c) neither; (3) with respect to each unique identification code, storing data in said at least one database indicating that said identification code corresponds to one of (a) a product that can be purchased individually, (b) a package or a bundle, or (c) neither of the above; (4) for each product that is part of a package or bundle, storing data in said at least one database indicating every package or bundle to which it belongs; (5) responsive to a request received at a computer via said computer network for data about a particular product, said computer determining from said stored data whether said particular product is part of a package or a bundle; (6) if said particular product is part of a package or bundle, said computer determining from said stored data all other products that comprise said package or bundle; (7) if said particular product is part of a package or bundle, said computer building a display file comprising information about all of said products comprising said package or bundle; and (8) responsive to manipulation of a product that comprises part of a package, said computer effecting said manipulation on all other products comprising said package.