Patent ID: 8271344

Claim:
A method for conducting a purchase, comprising: obtaining a target item specification for purchasing a target item, wherein the target item specification comprises a target item description, a target purchase date, and a target price; obtaining, using a central processing unit (CPU), candidate item information related to a candidate item found on a merchant site consistent with the target item specification, wherein the candidate item information comprises a candidate item description and a candidate item price; populating, by the CPU without user intervention and in response to determining that the candidate item price is no more than the target price, a categorized entry in a user budget using the candidate item price and the target purchase date; obtaining, by the CPU subsequent to populating the categorized entry in the user budget, an updated candidate item price by repetitively monitoring the merchant site using the CPU without user intervention; updating, using the CPU without user intervention and in response to obtaining the updated candidate item price, the user budget based on the updated candidate item price; generating, subsequent to updating the user budget, a result by analyzing, using the CPU without user intervention, the user budget with respect to the categorized entry; and submitting, by the CPU, the result to a user for formulating a decision regarding whether to purchase the candidate item.