Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CA 02313283 2000-06-30
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CUSTOM ADVERTISING AND TRADE FACILITATION SYSTEM
FOR INTERNET OR E-MAIL IMPLEMENTATION
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a custom trade facilitation system and
associated custom advertising and notification systems for
Internet or e-mail implementation.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Someone looking to buy a particular type of product or
service is usually searching for up-to-date detailed information
on a variety of such items in order to make an informed purchase.
Equally, someone looking to sell a particular product or service
is usually seeking information on customer preferences and on the
sources of prospective customers and exposure to a variety of
potential customers in order to optimize sales opportunities, and
also, especially in the case of custom-designed products, to
optimize the characteristics of goods or services that are likely
to have maximum appeal to customers.
Many Internet websites offer a posting board service to help
prospective buyers and sellers to connect with or at least learn
about one another via the Internet. These websites allow users
to post a notice of an offer to buy or sell a particular product
or service and also allow users to browse through various posted
notices to obtain information regarding products or services
offered for sale or offered to buy. However, previously known
websites offer few services beyond an on-line database of posted
notices. Consequently, these websites offer little to help
buyers and sellers to engage in business.
Furthermore, previously known websites tend to be somewhat
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primitive in design, and typically do not afford an automated
means to update information in databases, nor do they provide an
automated means to establish suitable linked websites or cross-
updating of data in such linked websites.
Some websites offer various types of watch-and-alert
services. Users who have subscribed to these services can
arrange to have certain on-line "buy" or "sell" postings or other
activities monitored. The user might further stipulate specified
criteria such that when a certain on-line posting or other
activity (an "event") meet specified criteria, the user will be
notified of the event. Usually the subscriber will be notified
of the event via e-mail. Possibly, a copy of the event will be
included in the e-mail message sent to the subscriber.
Often, websites combine advertising messages with data
messages requested by users. Furthermore, these advertisements
may be correlated in various ways to suit the user. For example,
the selected advertisement may be correlated to the type of data
requested by the user. For example, when operating a search
engine, advertisements are commonly correlated with a keyword
from the search query.
Linking of websites is also commonplace. A website operator
who operates a series of linked websites connected to a single
database provides various access addresses or gates whereby a
user can gain access to a single website from each of these
access addresses. In such arrangements, a user accesses a given
website only to be transferred to some linked website either
automatically, or by way of user selection if the user is given
a choice.
What is needed is an e-commerce facilitator system that both
integrates and improves many of the aforementioned
characteristics of a trade/advertising Internet-based system.
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The system should be comprehensive, dynamic, readily adaptable,
easy to use and should be tailored to the individual needs of the
user.
SU1~1ARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the present invention, a method and system are
provided that enable users to post notices of products or
services that they wish to buy or sell, find others' posted
notices of a particular type of product or service that they wish
to buy or sell, and view notices (sometimes herein referred to
as "trade lead notices") of products or services that they wish
to buy or sell. In addition to categorizing and managing such
trade lead notices, the system includes other characteristics
that help prospective buyers and sellers engage in interactive
trade, such as notifying a given user (a prospective buyer or
seller) when a particular type of product or service requested
by the user has becomes available. The system and method of the
present invention can be used by businesses seeking new
suppliers, businesses seeking to buy or sell products or
services, businesses that are testing new markets, businesses
looking for competitive prices or performance from suppliers,
businesses looking for the latest trade leads, businesses who
wish to monitor their competitors' offers, and entrepreneurs
marketing their products or services for the first time.
According to the present invention, an e-commerce
facilitator (hereinafter "facilitator") operating a website
permits a user to post, view, or receive a discrete notice
(viewable on the website) of an offer to buy or an offer to sell,
a specified product or service. In general, the facilitator
comprises a general-purpose digital computer (or linked set of
digital computers) and associated peripherals, including
communications links and suitable interfaces, and one or more
databases with which the computer interacts. The computer is
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programmed to provide the set of operations discussed in this
specification.
Various related services that may optionally be provided
through the facilitator's website or a linked associate website
help the user to manage trade leads efficiently. Procedures for
providing each of these related services are described in detail
below. An underlying premise of the invention is an updatable
database and an infrastructure including a suitable electronic
means for relaying signals, the latter preferably comprising the
Internet, although aspects of the present invention could be
implemented in conjunction with smaller networks. While
alternative embodiments of the invention include the possible use
of wireless and voice interfaces, in the preferred embodiment of
the invention, users interact with the system by means of one or
more of the facilitator's websites; consequently, users need to
have website access.
The websites operated by the facilitator may be dynamic in
that every time a user makes a request to access a website, the
HTML (HyperText Markup Language) source code for the website
display and/or associated object code is automatically generated
by the facilitator; that is, the facilitator runs a program that
automatically generates the HTML source and object code which is
used by a browser to display the website for a user. In essence,
the presentation to a person accessing the website operated by
the facilitator is governed by a software program that may be
interfaced by the user by means of the user's browser. In this
specification, it should be understood that the term "website"
includes a website whose presentation and interaction with the
person accessing the website is dynamic in character in the sense
described.
The websites operated by the facilitator present a range of
options to the user.
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Users may take full advantage of the system by registering
with the facilitator. Users may register during an on-line
Internet session by supplying specified useful information to be
entered into a database maintained and managed by the
facilitator. This information is used to generate user profiles
and is stored in the database. After a user has registered, a
user is permitted to post notices of offers, view others' posted
notices of offers, receive notification of offers via e-mail, and
may optionally direct the facilitator to perform various other
functions as discussed below.
To post a trade lead notice that includes either an offer
to buy or an offer to sell a specified product or service, a user
first selects an appropriate category relating to the subject-
matter of the offer. Various categories and sub-categories are
defined by the facilitator, preferably at least in part in
response to user demand. For example, two or more new categories
may be defined or created by the operator when the number of
notices posted to a previously existing category exceeds some
fixed number set by the facilitator. Next, the user submits
various notice details to the facilitator by means of the
facilitator's website. This information is processed by the
facilitator and may optionally be subject to scrutiny by the
operator of the system as to category and content. The notice
might then be translated into different languages and posted to
one or more linked associate websites maintained by the
facilitator. Such associate websites may be specialized by
category, by language, or otherwise to meet user demand.
To view a notice, in a preferred implementation of the
method according to the invention, a user who has accessed a
website of the facilitator must first select a specific service
(e.g., post notice to sell, post notice to buy, view notices to
sell, view notices to buy, view auction notices, etc.) and within
such service selection, select also an appropriate category
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relating to the subject-matter of the notice. In response to
this selection, the facilitator's website displays a list of
notices maintained in a database, which notices correspond to
that service selection and selected category. A user may select
a particular notice heading from a displayed list to view a
screen displaying more details of that notice.
Other aspects of preferred embodiments of the system of the
invention include:
(a) A comprehensive monitoring and alert service;
(b) A customized advertising system;
(c) Subsystems and associated methodology to establish and
update content, interface, and functionality of
associated websites;
(d) Information linking service.
Aspect (a) comprises a notification service for users
interested in a particular type of information or event; a user
is notified when relevant data become available. Trade lead
information or event criteria specified by the user may include
a particular field of use, particular location of source of
supply, bidding status of an auction, trade news or other such
information. For example, a buyer may choose to receive an e-
mail notice every time a notice is posted that relates to a
specific category of product or service that the buyer is
interested in buying.
Specifically, in a preferred embodiment of the invention,
every time a notice is posted, a bid is placed, or other such
event occurs that corresponds to user-specified criteria, an e-
mail message is generated that includes notification of this
event and is sent to the user. A copy of the notice, or bidding
history or the like, may be included with the e-mail message.
Furthermore, notification to the user may also include other data
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deemed relevant by the facilitator, such as one or more selected
advertisements correlated to suit the user or the user-specified
criteria, pursuant to aspect (b).
Aspect (b) permits selection of advertisements for users of
the system who are most likely to buy, use, or otherwise benefit
from the products or services offered in the advertisements.
Selected advertising content accompanies information content
directed to a particular on-line user. In a preferred embodiment
of the invention, the associative coupling is based upon
correlating target group data of that advertisement with user
profile data compiled by the facilitator. User profiles are
formed at least in part by information directly supplied by the
user during an on-line registration session but also may be
supplemented by statistics related to how a user utilizes the
system. For example, if the user put in a query about the
availability of cocoa beans for sale, then the advertising
content to accompany the delivery of relevant data would be
directed to food goods, and perhaps chocolate, in particular.
Note that this associative coupling is done automatically by the
applicable website software, and does not require any direct
human intervention on the part of the website operator.
Aspect (c) relates to an architecture for managing many
different websites tied to a common database. Specifically,
although each associated website remains independent, and each
can be independently accessed, the information content of any
given website in a preferred embodiment of the system is tied to
the information content of at least a master website and possibly
other related websites. The trade lead data carried by associated
websites may be restricted to subject-matter from particular
categories or may include an interface translated into another
language, or may be restricted to trade opportunities within a
defined territory, etc..
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For example, suppose that a user in France wants to purchase
1000 kilograms of cocoa beans. Such user would access an
associated "FR" website for France and probably would interact
on-line with such website in the French language; the user could
post a French-language bid for cocoa beans. The "purchase"
notice for this bid for cocoa beans would immediately become
transposed to the master database and also would appear in an
associated website related to food goods.
Expansion, modification and refinement of the bid posting
service are possible and may be desirable. For example, the
facilitator may provide a translation service for translating the
notice into different languages. In this way, the bid notice
could be translated into English in the master website and could,
depending upon any constraints imposed by the bid, be translated
into other languages for posting on websites associated with
other languages. The notice may be translated either by a
translation service operated by partners of the facilitator, or
the translation of the notice may be done automatically by means
of software. Translation software for automatic translation is
previously known and in any event its development is
straightforward for simple repetitive data; the coupling of
website data of one sort to related data (possibly in another
language) at a linked website is not per se inventive. The
operator of the system may choose to extract a translation fee
from the registered user if the user wishes to have details of
a notice translated into another language.
Note that no human intervention is required to generate and
tie associate websites together; both are done automatically.
Note also that the master database can provide data selectively
by category and other constraints for display at associate
websites; it is not necessary for each website operated by the
facilitator to have associated with it a discrete database for
that website.
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The foregoing aspect of the invention also relates to a
method according to the invention for automatically creating new
associate websites and updating associated website interfaces and
functionality. Specifically, according to a preferred embodiment
of the invention, each associate website is generated (in the
sense that the display and interaction modes are generated, not
in the sense that the website address or domain name is
generated) by website-generation software using the same
essential source code. Various "tags" can be inserted around
either functional or non-functional elements of the source code.
These tags indicate which elements are to be included, excluded,
substituted, or translated for other elements in each of the
associate websites. This source code is then fed (as object code
or as software that generates object code) though a program that
recognizes the tags, and that generates as many different
associate websites as are identified and defined by the tags.
Aspect (d) permits the gathering of supplemental information
relevant to the needs of the user. To help users obtain useful
information from the range of services offered by the system, the
facilitator according to a preferred embodiment of the system
provides an information linking service. Specifically, each of
a group of services offered by the facilitator deals with a range
of categories. When a user requests information from a
particular service relating to specific subject-matter, the
facilitator may (automatically) search for similar subject-matter
from other services. This second source of information is
determined by means of a suitable "fuzzy logic" association. The
facilitator may link this secondary information with information
originally requested by the user. Both primary and secondary
information are transmitted to the user in response to the user's
request for the primary information. The facilitator's software
can of course couple the primary information with several types
of secondary information, optionally in a hierarchy of apparent
relevance, and can couple the data provided with associated
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advertisements.
In this way, buyers and sellers can learn of trade leads
efficiently and avoid the time required for searching through
multiple websites. Other refinements and expansions included in
the present invention may be readily apparent to those skilled
in the art.
SUMMARY OF THE DIAGRAMS
Figure 1 is a block diagram representing a system according
to an embodiment of the invention for gathering notices.
Figure 2 is a block diagram/flowchart of an advertising
system according to an embodiment of the invention for coupling
to the notice display and delivery system according to an
embodiment of the invention.
Figure 3 is a block diagram/flowchart representing the
coupling and integration of services offered by affiliate service
providers into the website operated by the facilitator, according
to an embodiment of the invention.
Figure 4 is a block diagram representing a variety of
different types of associate websites each sharing a common
database, in conformity with an embodiment of the invention.
Figure 5 is a block diagram/flowchart representing the
process of building associate websites, in conformity with a
method according to the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS AND METHODS WITH
REFERENCE TO THE DIAGRAMS
Introduction
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As mentioned in general terms above, according to the
present invention, a method and system are provided that enable
users to post notices of given types for products or services
they wish to buy or sell or otherwise deal with, find particular
categories of product or services they wish to buy or sell, view
notices of products or services available for purchase or sale
(or the like; auction-related data and data relating to other
possible transactions may also be included), and receive e-mail
notification of a particular type of product or service offered
in a notice. Other associated services help a user manage trade
leads efficiently.
The e-commerce facilitator according to a preferred
embodiment of the invention maintains a database and operates a
website. Furthermore, the facilitator may also maintain various
'horizontal' and 'vertical' associate websites as described
below; however, a single database may conveniently store all the
data associated with the system regardless of how many websites
are operated by the facilitator. According to the preferred
embodiment of the invention, all services provided by the
facilitator are available to the user by means of the Internet.
Registration
Using the Internet, members of the general public can access
a website maintained by the facilitator. The website may allow
limited access to aspects of the system for users who have not
registered, or users who have not logged-in; only certain choices
might be available for members of the general public. Among
these choices for example, a member of the general public might
be permitted to view details of notices relating to products or
services offered for sale or offered to buy which have been
supplied by businesses which offer these products or services.
However, a user who has not registered may not be provided with
an opportunity to respond to such a notice. If a user chooses
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to view such notices, the facilitator directs a user to choose
a particular category among a list of categories relating to the
subject-matter of the product or service offered in the notice.
The user is then permitted to view certain details of notices
which relate to this category. A user may note that certain
articles are offered for sale, and may be permitted to view
certain details of that sale; nevertheless, members of the public
cannot, without becoming registered users, learn the details of
any particular offer of sale or any particular bid. A member of
the general public must register with facilitator in order to
become a registered user and obtain additional information. A
principal purpose of the registration requirement is to enable
the facilitator to obtain a user profile that enables the
facilitator to select for such user related data and
advertisements that may be of interest to such user.
In order to become a registered user of the system, a user
may be obliged to supply certain useful information during
registration that enables the facilitator to generate user
profiles. For example, when a user chooses to register, the
facilitator may instruct that user to complete a number of data
fields relating to certain registration information which may
include the following:
1. E-mail address
2. User defined password
3. Company name
4. Type of business
5. Location of company
6. Number of employees
7. Contact name and phone number
8. Preferred language
The facilitator may request other types of information that
relate to the future and direction of the user's company.
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Specifically, the facilitator might also request details about
the size of the company, the type of the business of the company,
the growth rate of the company, and the sales projections for the
company.
The user then submits this information to the facilitator.
The facilitator uses this information to create a user profile
and then stores this user profile information in a database.
Although not included in the preferred embodiment of the
invention, additionally, to become a registered user, a member
of the public might also be a charged a registration fee. Such
a fee could be payed to the facilitator by means of an on-line
credit card payment, or some other Internet payment scheme
currently under development.
When a user has successfully registered with the
facilitator, a user can log-in as a registered user by supplying
a user log-in name and a password. A registered user gains
access to the following aspects of a preferred embodiment of the
system which are described in detail below:
1. Posting notice service
2. Viewing notices service
3. E-mail notification service
4. On-line auctions
5. Catalogue hosting service
6. Services offered by affiliate websites
7. Document storage and transfer service
8. Integrated shipping arrangemen t service
9. Integrated payment service
10. Company websites hosted by the facilitator
11. Company "catalogues" hosted the facilitator
by
12. Order and payment service for ordering from a
company's catalogue
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13. E-mail service for registered users
These services may be available to the user via various
'vertical' and 'horizontal' associated websites as described
below. The services mentioned above may be supplemented by other
trade-related services at the discretion of the operator of the
facilitator.
Posting a Notice
Referring to Figure l, the system allows notices to be
gathered from a number of sources. Notices may be posted by
registered users either by means of the facilitator's main
website, or by means of an associate website also operated by the
facilitator. Additionally, as shown in Figure l, notices may be
incorporated into the facilitator's database from other sources
as well. Web spiders may be programmed to search the Internet
for tenders, whereupon the data may be classified and
incorporated into the data bank. Notices may also be
automatically transferred from various affiliated organizations
to the facilitator. Periodically, organizations that offer a
continual supply of notices may electronically transfer notice
data to the facilitator for immediate posting.
Important to note in Figure 1 is that all notices submitted
to the facilitator from any one of a number of sources is stored
in a central database maintained by the facilitator. Each notice
received by the facilitator may be subject to scrutiny by the
operator of the system before the notice is incorporated into the
website and viewable by users.
The subject-matter of the notice should relate to a
particular item either offered for sale or offered for purchase.
To post a notice, a user must be logged-in as a registered user.
When a registered user chooses to post a notice, a registered
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user is first directed to choose a category pertaining to the
subject-matter of the posting. Various categories are defined
by the facilitator; categories may be supplemented and/or divided
into sub-categories in response to demand and the choice of the
operator. A registered user may search for the appropriate
category using various search mechanisms or protocols; suitable
Internet searching tools ("search engines") of various sorts are
previously known. The display screen for some of these search
mechanisms could include a drop bar of various category choices,
a category keyword search, or a category code search using either
SIC code, harmonizing code, or NAICS code, for example.
The list of categories is defined by the facilitator and may
be re-defined from time to time to suit the needs of users of the
system. For example, if too many notices are being posted in a
single category, the operator of the system may split that
category into various sub-categories that subdivide that
category. The operator of the system may choose a certain
threshold level whereby when the number of notices to a
particular category exceeds that threshold level, various sub-
categories are defined. As such, the list of categories is
dependent upon the types and numbers of notices that are
submitted.
Once the appropriate category has been selected, the
registered user may then be directed to provide details of the
notice. The facilitator prompts the registered user to complete
a number of data fields related to the content of the notice.
These fields may include the following:
1. Indication of whether notice is of an offer to buy or
an offer to sell;
2. Title/ keywords of product or service;
3. Description of product or service;
4. The user identification number.
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The user then submits this information to the facilitator.
This data is stored in a database maintained by the facilitator
for processing. Part of this process may require that notice
data be reviewed by the operator of the system. Notices might
need to adhere to certain criteria for approval:
1. A notice be posted to the correct category.
should
2. Notice content should be of a business-to-business
nature and should
include
specifics
on items
offered
or soug ht.
3. Notices should include adequate contact information.
4. Notices should not include abusive, derogatory or
obscene matter.
Approved notices are posted to a website maintained by the
facilitator. With each notice, the facilitator automatically
generates a date and a unique identifier number. The facilitator
maintains a database of all such notices.
Viewing a Notice
A website maintained by the facilitator allows registered
users to view notices that have been posted. When a registered
user chooses to view complete details of a notice, a user must
first have been logged-in as a registered user. The registered
user must also indicate whether it wishes to view notices of
offers to buy or offers to sell. Next, the facilitator directs
the registered user to choose a category relating to the subject-
matter of the notice. The facilitator provides a list of various
categories. Using various search mechanisms as described above,
a registered user chooses the appropriate category. Further, the
registered user may specify additional limiting criteria; for
example, both geographic origin and goods or services categories
would be major limiting criteria, and subordinate limiting
criteria may be offered to customers from time to time.
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Additionally, the facilitator may provide a rating service
for user companies who use the system. In this way, a user may
limit the search subject to the company rating. The company
rating may be based on a credit rating or other indicators of a
desirable potential trading company. The facilitator could also
divide users into "small business" and "large business"
categories, for example, to further refine the primary and
secondary data supplied in response to a user's request, or to
establish a hierarchy of provision of such data. Such a
hierarchy can be devised based upon feedback obtained from users
of the system.
The user submits the category and other possible limiting
criteria to the facilitator. The facilitator then provides the
registered user with a list of the notices related to that
category and other criteria. The list includes the name of the
item as well as a short description. Accompanying this list, the
facilitator may also display an advertisement for the user which
is selected as described below.
By choosing a particular notice heading from this list, a
registered user can view all details of the notice which may
include the title, the date posted, the complete description of
the object, the company name, contact name, and a telephone
number and other similar related data. Along with this
information, the facilitator provides the user with an option to
obtain shipping information and an option to download bid
documents relating to the notice. The notice may also be
accompanied by an advertisement selected as described below.
Registered users who wish to buy or sell a product or
service described in a notice can do so directly by means of a
responding service provided by the facilitator. To respond to
a particular notice, the user chooses the respond option which
is linked with the appropriate notice. The user is then provided
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with a blank text area to write a response. The user submits
this text to the facilitator which generates an e-mail message
that is sent to the appropriate author of the notice. No user,
whether registered or not, is permitted to see the actual e-mail
address of the author of the notice. The facilitator withholds
the e-mail address for a number of reasons primarily relating to
security. Primarily, however, by not displaying a user's e-mail
address, competitors cannot readily use notice data obtained from
the website operated by the facilitator. That means robot
spiders are kept off the website, thereby decreasing the server
load significantly. Furthermore, the facilitator may wish to
have transactions proceed via the facilitator so as to be able
to control associated advertising and possibly so as to exact a
transaction fee. In the preferred embodiment of the invention,
registered users make their own deal with the supplier of goods
or services, or the bidder of goods or services, as the case may
be.
Receiving a Notice along with Targeted Advertising
In addition to notice posting and notice viewing, the
facilitator also may also provide various associated optional
services for the registered user such as e-mail notification
whereby the facilitator supplies e-mail messages to those
registered users who have expressed an interest in learning about
notices of offers to buy or offers to sell products or services
relating to specific types of goods or services.
Referring to Figure 2, a registered user may choose to
receive notification of a particular type of notice by submitting
to the facilitator notification request data relating to
categories or other criteria associated with the requested
notice.
With this data, the facilitator performs a monitoring
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service relative to the certain categories of products or
services, and within such categories for various subcategories
and so forth as indicated by the user. Whenever a posted notice
fits the specified criteria, a copy of the notice may be sent to
the registered user via e-mail. Important to note in Figure 2
is that the posting of a notice initiates the comparison between
notice data and notification request data submitted by users to
determine whether a notice should be forwarded to a user.
By way of example, a registered user might express an
interest in any offer to sell raw cotton. Optionally, the user
might further stipulate an interest in such offers but only if
the offer is made by an enterprise operating in the Southeast
United States. The information sought by such customer can be
sent to that customer's e-mail address each and every time data
relating to the category of goods or services in question is
posted on the website.
Also shown in Figure 2, additionally included in the e-mail
message, the facilitator may incorporate one or more
advertisements. The facilitator maintains a selection of
advertisements as well as data relating to the desired target
group of each advertisement so that on an automated basis, the
facilitator is able to provide advertisements selectively,
depending upon the user profile. As indicated in Figure 2, a
given advertisement may be correlated to the registered user
profile of the sort of person who would be looking for
information of the kind being delivered, and may be correlated
with the category of goods and services and type of query
selected by the user. For example, suitable information included
in a user profile used for correlating an advertisement with the
user could include both the type or the size of the user's
business. As shown in Figure 2, when a notice and an
advertisement have been matched by the facilitator for
transmission to a particular user, both the notice and the
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advertisement are formatted into an e-mail message that is sent
to the user.
To receive notices of offers to buy or offers to sell, the
user needs to be logged-in as a registered user. A user chooses
to receive notices either related to offers to buy or offers to
sell, or conceivably both. For each type of offer, the user then
selects a category and possibly other limiting criteria or
preference as to desirable notices in the manner as defined
above. The user may choose to instruct the facilitator to
perform several different notice-monitoring services relative to
a range of specified criteria. The user submits this information
to the facilitator. The facilitator stores this information in
a database. Certain particulars of every notice subsequently
posted are compared with the criteria specified by the user.
When a notice is posted that fits the criteria specified by the
user, the facilitator automatically associates with the provision
of the data requested a correlated advertisement to accompany the
e-mail message.
Specifically, a selection of advertisements is stored in a
database maintained by the facilitator. With each advertisement,
selected particulars related to the target group of that
advertisement are also stored in the database. Target group data
are based on user-profile information; for each advertisement,
an advertiser may specify the target group of that advertisement
by choosing targeted user profiles. For each type of information
included in a user profile, the advertiser may select appropriate
ranges and particulars indicative of the target group. Target
group data for each advertisement are correlated with user
profile data.
In addition to the user information provided directly by the
user to the facilitator during registration, user profiles may
be further developed by noting various choices a user makes while
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using the website; as a user selects information concerning
certain categories of product or service, or other types of
limiting criteria, this 'information can also be recorded in the
user profile as such information could perhaps also pertain to
the character (in a commercial sense) of the customer. Other
types of user statistics may also be noted, such as how
frequently a user uses the system, and which services a user uses
most.
From the various types of information included in a user
profile, advertising companies may select any number of
particulars included in a user profile to define target group
data. In this way, advertisers can specify any combination of
target groups ranging from no users to the entire population of
registered users. For each advertisement, advertisers will
generally choose a range of selected particulars of users
profiles which are indicative of consumers who are most likely
to buy, use, or otherwise benefit from the products or services
offered in the advertisement. The operator of the facilitator
communicates with prospective advertisers to optimize the
implementation of this aspect of the system and its operation.
When the facilitator is required to correlate an
advertisement with a particular user, the facilitator will
compare the user profile with target group data from a range of
advertisements and select the advertisement which corresponds
best.
Once an appropriate advertisement has been selected to
accompany an e-mail notification, the facilitator generates an
e-mail message to send to the registered user. E-mail
notifications may include the relevant notice of offer to buy or
offer to sell, a correlated advertisement, and perhaps other
information either deemed appropriate by the facilitator or
requested by the user. This e-mail is then sent to the
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registered user.
Auction
Through the data maintained by the facilitator and the
selection of customers who use the system, the facilitator can
arrange not only the posting of tenders, but also on-line
auctions. A registered user may both place a bid on an existing
auction or create a new auction.
A user who wishes to make a bid on a particular type of
product or service may post a bid through the website. First a
user must be registered with the facilitator. The user then
selects a category relating to the subject-matter of the product
or service on which the user wishes to bid. The user can then
obtain a list of the items included in that auction. The
facilitator provides several ways to list the items in an
auction. For example, the user may select to view a list of the
auction items which are sorted by the start date of the auction,
by the end date of the auction, or by the amount of bidding in
the auction for an item. For each item in the list, the user may
be provided with a view of the following:
1. The name of the item
2. The current bid on the price
3. The number of bids on that item
4. Time remaining to make a bid on that item
5. Details about the owner of the that item
6. Details about each of the bidders on that item
7. The bid history of that item
8. Any comments or feedback from the owner of the item
When a user chooses a particular item from that list, the
facilitator provides a complete bid history of that item. If a
user chooses to make a bid, the user must submit the following:
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1. bid per unit; and
2. unit quantity.
The facilitator stores this information with other bid history.
To create an auction, a user selects a category as described
above. The user then must complete a range of information which
may include:
1. Indication whether auction is to buy or sell
2. Title
3. Description
4. Opening bid
5. Reserve price
6. Number of units
7. Website address
8. Payment terms
9. Shipping terms
10. Item location
11. Auction length
This information is then submitted to the facilitator for
processing. The operator of the system may choose to review the
new auction notice before posting it on the website.
Website and Catalogue Hosting
The term "catalogue" in this context means an organized
compilation of goods (or conceivably services) established by a
user or by the facilitator. The facilitator may in accordance
with an optional aspect of the invention offer an on-line
catalogue hosting service. Such catalogue service allows a user
to create and post the user's own on-line catalogue of items that
the user wishes to sell or buy. The facilitator stores each item
listed in a catalogue separately. Consequently, these items may
be categorized in a variety of ways and listed amongst items from
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other catalogues as well. The facilitator can display the
catalogue listings from a single user-generated catalogue or may
compile items from various catalogues together to enable both the
facilitator and users to create custom catalogues including items
from many sources.
To create a catalogue, the facilitator first requires that
the user acquire or identify a web page. The facilitator
provides a web page hosting service which may require the
following information:
1. A profile of the organization.
2. Complete contact information.
3. A logo.
With this information, the facilitator automatically
generates the user's web page and a web page link incorporated
in the website operated by the facilitator. To post a catalogue
to this web page, the facilitator provides a blank form for the
user to supply catalogue information. Once the user has typed
in appropriate product information, the user submits the
completed form back to the facilitator. Each item in the
catalogue may be stored in the database maintained by the
facilitator as a discrete item. The facilitator posts the items
listed in the catalogue on the user's web page.
A user may view the catalogue of buy/sell data broken down
by categories, either created by the facilitator or possibly,
according to the user's own custom catalogue design. Users may
be able to define their own custom-made catalogues that will
incorporate data from the total data bank maintained by the
facilitator that correspond to the user's selection criteria.
Furthermore, once the user's web page and on-line catalogue
have been established, the facilitator may provide various
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automated marketing services for the user. For example, the user
can choose to have the facilitator automatically submit the
user's web page to various Internet search engines. Or, the user
can choose to advertise its product on the website maintained by
the facilitator in the manner described above. Such an
advertisement can be automatically linked to the user's web page.
Affiliate services
Referring to Figure 3, also integrated into the website
operated by the facilitator are various affiliate services. The
operator of the system may form strategic relationships with
operators of other websites offering various complementary on-
line services such as on-line escrow services or on-line shipping
arrangement services as indicated in Figure 3. Important to note
in Figure 3 is that these affiliate services offered by other
companies are provided through the website operated by the
facilitator and are preferably branded as the facilitator's own
services or otherwise suitably identified as services that the
facilitator is able to provide. The facilitator electronically
provides necessary data and instructions for the affiliate
services on behalf of the registered user. The affiliate
services process the data and return a result to the facilitator,
which in turn is presented or transmitted to the user. Because
the facilitator maintains a database of user information, these
auxiliary services may be customized by the facilitator for each
user. Specifically, information requested from these auxiliary
services may be partially of entirely supplied by the facilitator
without the need to have the user enter the same data many times
over.
Information Linking
The facilitator offers several services for the user (notice
posting, e-mail notification, on-line auction, business
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directory, catalogue hosting). Each of these services deals with
subject-matter from a variety of categories. Of the many
services provided by the facilitator, the facilitator also offers
a service to relate subject-matter from different services to a
particular user; information from different services dealing with
similar categories may be connected together and supplied to the
registered user. For example, accompanying an e-mail
notification may be a notice of pertinent auctions or
accompanying a catalogue listing may be notices of offers to sell
similar items. The facilitator might send the registered user
associated data that the registered user may not have
specifically identified in the registered user's request for
data, but that is in some pre-selected way, considered to be
pertinent to the kind of information that the registered user
selects. This associative selection of additional data for the
benefit of the registered user is made pursuant to a "fuzzy-
logic" association or connection. Ideally, the user will be able
to benefit from this additional information by using more
features of the invention.
Furthermore, if the user makes use of two or more services
offered by the facilitator where each service relates to the same
product, information about this product stored in the database
can be shared between services; information about the product
stored in various data fields may be linked between two or more
services so that any modifications to a data field incurred as
a result of using one service is reflected in other services
automatically. For example, if a product is both listed in a
posted notice relating to an offer to sell and as an auction item
receiving bids, the data fields relating to the price of the item
may be linked together. In this way, the price of the product
posted as a notice item can be automatically updated when a new
bid is placed for the product as an auction item.
Associate Websites
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Referring to Figure 4, according to the preferred embodiment
of the invention, the facilitator maintains a central database
and processing engine tied to several associated websites which
share that database. These websites are tied in that any data
submitted from an associate website is submitted directly to the
central database common to all associated websites. Likewise,
all data provided to the associate websites is also supplied by
the central database.
The associate websites operated by the facilitator are
dynamic; every time a user makes a request to access an associate
website, the source code for the website display and interaction,
or an object code counterpart, is readable by a browser software
program is automatically generated by the facilitator from a
program using 'parent' website generating source code. In this
way, associate websites are readily adaptable and updatable with
current information.
Associated websites operated by the facilitator may differ
by content, by interface, by functionality, or by the language
presented on the display of the website. As indicated by Figure
4, the facilitator operates two different general types of
associate websites: vertical websites and horizontal websites.
The content of websites may be "vertical" in the sense that these
websites identify different specialized categories of goods or
services; an associated website in a "vertical" website
relationship may be restricted to subject-matter of certain broad
categories such as, by way of example, communication products,
fashion products, chemical products, construction products, etc.
as indicated in Figure 4. Websites that are "horizontal" are not
restricted by subject matter but may require a special user
interface; the website may be territorial by country and thus
require an interface using text which has been translated into
another language. A horizontal website thus presents a different
~~front end" or access, a different user interface, for the entire
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content of the central database. Specifically, that means the
facilitator operates a variety of associate horizontal websites,
each sharing a central database and operating with similar
functionality, but differing in the language of text used in the
interface of each website. Of course, the facilitator may also
choose to operate various combinations of horizontal and vertical
websites. For example, some horizontal websites may exclude
certain services offered by other associated websites or may be
restricted to certain categories of goods or services.
Although the various associate websites may be different
from one another, and may operate to some limited extent
independently (in the sense that a user can independently access
any one of them), each website can be generated automatically
using common source code. Figure 5 represents the general method
used to generate each associate website. Notice that many
different types of horizontal and vertical websites may be
generated using this method. Specifically, as shown in Figure
5, the facilitator maintains an attribute table for all
associated websites operated by the facilitator. Included in
this table are a few particulars relating to the website such as
the location of these sites on the server.
The websites listed in the attribute table may be
automatically generated or updated through the use of "tagging"
the source code and by means of "build" software . Different
types of "tags" are inserted in the source code used to create
a master website. These tags can be placed on either side of the
text relating to certain elements of the source code. These
elements may be non-functional text elements such as words and
phrases displayed by the website interface, or they may be
functional elements such as source code relating to the auction
service. Indicated in Figure 5 are three types of tags: text
tags for translation, functional tags, and format tags. These
tags indicate instructions for including, excluding or
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substituting these elements of the source code with other
elements. The source code with the tags is fed through a build
software program which recognizes the tags and generates various
associate websites according to the tags.
For example, tags may be included around all interface text
elements of the source code. This text relates to words or
phrases displayed on the website for the user. These tags
indicate the text which needs to be swapped for translated text
when generating a website in another language. In that way,
associate websites may be easily translated from one language to
another.
Alternatively, tags might also be used to include, exclude
or substitute functional elements. If a particular associate
website requires a registration fee, tags are included around
every part of the source code that refers to the registration
fee. For a particular website, these tags will indicate that the
registration fee tags should be enabled.
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