Data processing: database and file management or data structures – Database design – Data structure types
Reexamination Certificate
2002-04-10
2004-03-30
Choules, Jack (Department: 2177)
Data processing: database and file management or data structures
Database design
Data structure types
C705S027200
Reexamination Certificate
active
06714933
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to systems for purchasing goods and services over a communications network. The invention also relates to an automated purchase support method and apparatus for seamlessly integrating plural merchants into an on-line shopping system. More specifically, the invention is directed to a method and system for aggregating content for an on-line purchasing system.
2. Description of the Related Art
The Internet is a worldwide network of computers linked together by various hardware communication links all running a standard suite of protocols known as TCP/IP (transmission control protocol/Internet protocol). The growth of the Internet over the last several years has been explosive, fueled in the most part by the widespread use of software viewers known as browsers and HTTP (hypertext transfer protocol) which allow a simple GUI (graphical user interface) to be used to communicate over the Internet. Browsers generally reside on the computer used to access content on the Internet, i.e. the client computer. HTTP is a component of TCP/IP and provides users access to files of various formats using a standard page description language known as HTML (hypertext markup language), and more recently XML (extensible markup language) and XHTML (extensible hypertext markup language), a reformulation of HTML into XML. The collection of servers on the Internet using HTTP has become known as the “World Wide Web” or simply the “Web.”
Through HTML, XHTML, and interactive programming protocols, the author of a particular Web page is able to make information available to viewers of the Web page by placing the Web page on an Internet Web server. The network path to the server is identified by a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) and, generally, any client running a Web browser can access the Web server by using the URL. A client computer running a browser can request a display of a Web page stored on a Web server by issuing a URL request through the Internet to the Web in a known manner. A URL consistent with the present invention may be a simple URL of the form:
<protocol identifiers>://<server path>/<web page path>
A “protocol identifier” of “http” specifies the conventional hyper-text transfer protocol. A URL request for a secure Internet transaction typically utilizes the secure protocol identifier “https,” assuming that the browser running on the client and the Web server control program running on the Web server support and implement the secure sockets layer discussed below. The “server path” is typically of the form “prefix.domain,” where the prefix is typically “www” to designate a Web server and the “domain” is the standard Internet sub-domain.top-level-domain of the Web server. The optional “web page path” is provided to specifically identify a particular hyper-text page maintained on the Web server. In response to a received URL identifying an existing Web page, the Web server can return the Web page, subject to the HTTP protocol, to the client computer for display on the client computer. Such a Web page typically incorporates both textural and graphical information including embedded hyper-text links that permit the user of the client computer to readily select a next URL or send other data over the Internet. Further, a Web page can have embedded applets, written in Java TM or another programming language, to present animation and/or audio.
The URL issued from the client computer may also be of a complex form that identifies a CGI (common gateway interface) program (or script) on the Web server. The CGI program permits interactivity between the client computer and the Web server via HTTP. CGI is a standard for external gateway programs to interface with information servers, such as Web servers. A plain HTML document that the Web server delivers is substantially static. A CGI program, on the other hand, is executed in real-time so that it can process data or execute commands, such as executing a buy procedure which authorizes a purchase of products through a commerce Web server. A HTML form definition reference that identifies a CGI program is commonly of the form:
<form action-http://www.vendor.com/cgi-bin/buy.cgi method=post>
A hyper-text link of this form directs the execution of the buy.cgi program on the Web server in response to a command from the client computer. For example, buy.cgi can be a buy procedure of the Web server. The Web has become ubiquitous in businesses and homes because it has proven to be convenient for various applications, such as news and data delivery, conducting banking and investment transactions, and the like. The Web and its authoring, transmission, and display protocols, such as browsers, HTML, CGI, Active Server PagesTM, and JavaTM, have become a worldwide standard for information exchange.
As known and appreciated in the art, there are presently millions of Web pages with various content. Tools have been developed to allow the user to search these Web pages to obtain the various Web pages having the various content of interest. One way to locate the desired Web pages is to use a “search engine” which will search for Web pages having a particular keyword or key words. Search engines typically have three components: a crawler (such as a robot, bot or automated site searcher), an index, and a software program which presents the results of the search to the user. The crawler automatically “crawls” from Web server to Web server and the sites hosted therein to gather URLs and other information such as the text of the page that the search engine can use in the searches for keywords. When the information gathering by the crawler is completed, the information regarding the Web pages is stored in the search engine's databases and indexed. When a user seeking information from the Web types in a keyword(s) in a search field of the search engine, the search engine's software program then utilizes algorithmic functions and criteria to find keyword matches in the information stored in the databases. Some programs search all of the text of each page while other programs merely search the URLs and/or titles of the pages. The software program then sorts through the results of the search and provides a prioritized results to the user based on relevancy of the Web page. Various search engine software programs differ in their methods used for determining a Web page's relevancy. For example, the software may view the “meta tag” of the page, include a counter for counting the number of keyword occurrences on the text of the page, and/or consider the Web page's popularity as well as other factors such as whether the Webmaster of the Web page has made special arrangements to have the Web page displayed as a result of the search.
One of the primary applications of the Web has been shopping, i.e. the purchase of goods and services, i.e. products. Virtually every major commercial “bricks and mortar” merchant has established a Web site for the showcase and sale of their products. Further many manufacturers sell produces directly over the Web. Finally, a plethora of on-line merchants, not previously existing in the bricks and mortar world, have come into existence. As a result, virtually every product is available for purchase over the Web from a plurality of merchants. This situation has increased the efficiency of markets by permitting shoppers to readily compare products and terms of sale from plural merchants without the need to travel physically to the merchant locations.
However, in order to compare products and terms of different merchants, one must “visit” the various merchant web sites individually. First, this requires knowledge of the URLs for each merchant Web site or the use of a search engine which can be cumbersome and inaccurate. It is possible to open the various sites in different browser windows for better comparison. However, the various formats of each merchant Web site render it tedious to compare products and terms directly. When a purchase decisi
Musgrove Timothy Allen
Walsh Robin Hiroko
Choules Jack
CNET Networks, Inc.
Kaufman Marc S.
Nixon & Peabody LLP
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