AU724985B3 - Electronic commerce - Google Patents

Description

i I 1

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 Online Sales Limited

ORIGINAL

COMPLETE SPECIFICATION PETTY PATENT Invention Title: Electronic commerce The following statement is a full description of this invention including the best method of performing it known to us:- Title Electronic Commerce Technical Field The invention concerns an electronic commerce Internet site. Such sites are visited using browsers so that products can be selected and purchased. In another aspect the invention concerns a method of conducting electronic commerce.

Background Art Electronic commerce sites usually contain two key components.

Product information and a product order form. A user travels through product information pages to research product information. Then, once a product has been found the user travels to the order form to place an order.

Summary of the Invention The invention is an electronic commerce site, comprising two frames of information for simultaneous display to a user. The two frames are displayed on a single monitor. A first of the frames displays information about a selected topic, and a second of the frames displays information about a range of topics, including the selected topic. The second frame also contains user input points by operation of which the user is able to select topics in the range.

The first frame may display product or service information and the second frame may simultaneously display an order form for ordering the products and services displayed in the first frame. The products or services may be ordered by operation of an input point.

The order form may also display details of related products or services and respective input points. The related products or services may be ordered by operation of the respective input points.

The details of products and services appearing in the order form may be 'hot-linked' to related product information so that when the user selects one of the related products or services, information about that product or service is automatically displayed in the first frame.

PAT

In the event that an information frame is too large for the display, it may automatically appear with a scroll bar.

\'N PA CO LL, The first frame may also contain user input points by operation of which the user is able to select more details about the selected topic.

The electronic commerce site may be operated by the following steps: navigating to bring details of a desired topic to be displayed in the first frame; entering data into user input points of the second frame concerning a desired quantity of the desired topic to be ordered; and operating a user input point of the second frame to place an order for the desired quantity of the desired topic.

Operating the input points may cause details of respective related topics to be displayed in the first frame. Data may be entered into user input points of the second frame concerning a desired quantity of desired related topics to be ordered; and operating the user input point of the second frame may place an order for the desired quantity of all the desired topics.

Operating user input points in the first frame may select more details about the selected topic.

Operating user input points may change the information about the selected topic displayed in the first frame.

Use of the invention enables on-line ordering of products and allows easy viewing of information relating to those products.

In many industries there are complex relationships between products.

For example, as outlined above, if a user were to select a particular computer for purchase, a specific sub-set of software and peripherals would be appropriate for use with that computer. This creates a challenge in the order process because it means that when a user has selected a particular computer for ordering, that user should ideally be shown only those accessories that are compatible, and available, to the computer. This feature is provided by this invention and has the benefit of adding value to the customer by ensuring that appropriate accessories are purchased. For example, it prevents customers from buying batteries which do not work on a particular model of mobile phone. In instances where there are not complex product relationships, or where the whole list of products is being displayed, the invention still has the significant benefit of allowing the user to click on hotlinks in an order frame to view relevant product information in one or more information frames on the same screen, as discussed below.

The invention provides 'hotlinking' between the frames which has the benefit that the customer can easily obtain information on the product or related accessories without having to leave the order form (because this information is displayed in one or more separate information frames). From the viewpoint of the merchant, this has the benefit of increasing the likelihood of a user closing off an order and not getting lost within the site.

Brief Description of the Drawings Examples of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 illustrates a typical page displayed by the invention when a particular product is selected.

Figure 2 illustrates a typical page displayed when an accessory to the product is selected.

Figure 3 illustrates a typical page displayed when another accessory to the product is selected.

Figure 4 illustrates a typical page displayed when one item of the other accessory is ordered.

Figure 5 illustrates a typical page displayed when an order is placed.

Figure 6 illustrates a typical page displayed by the invention when a particular search has been entered at a web portal.

Figure 7 illustrates a typical page displayed by the invention when a news story has been selected at a web portal.

Figure 8 illustrates a typical page displayed by the invention when the full text of the news story has been selected.

Figure 9 illustrates a typical page displayed by the invention when a vendor wishes to update their details.

Figure 10 illustrates a typical page displayed by the invention when a vendor verifies product details.

Figure 11 illustrates a typical page displayed by the invention when a vendor updates product details.

Detailed Description of the Invention Referring to Figure, 1, the display 1 of a typical implementation has two frames 2 and 3. When a user selects a product, in this case the T18s mobile phone, an information frame 2 is used to show product and product-related information. In this case a picture and written description of the T18s are shown in the left frame. The other frame, the order frame 3, automatically displays an order form for the product on the right. The order frame 3 also automatically presents a list of all the accessories that work with that particular phone, for instance to help the user select a compatible battery.

All the order boxes 4 are set to zero. The two frames 2 and 3 can be scrolled independently.

Products listed in the order form 3 are 'hot-linked' so that, by clicking on a product in the order form, relevant product information is then displayed in one or more information frames. For instance, on viewing the list of available accessories in the order form of Figure 1, the user is contemplating buying a charger and is unsure whether to buy the travel charger of the vehicle power charger. By simply clicking on the hypertext link entitled "Travel Charger TC 6000", the relevant product information is shown in the left frame 6, as shown in Figure 2.

For comparison purposes, the user may decide to look at the details of the Vehicle Power Charger. By clicking on the hypertext link entitled "Vehicle Power Charger VP6000" on the right frame 3, the product information will be displayed in the left frame 7, as shown in Figure 3.

The user may then decide to order the Vehicle Power Charger, and does this by entering the quantity in the relevant order box 8, as shown in Figure 4. When this occurs the current total price box 5 is incremented to show a new total of $39 for the charger.

The user may then decide that no further items are required and therefore places the order by clicking on the place order button 9. This take the user to the screen shown in Figure 5, where the items 10 are verified, and payment and delivery information are entered.

The site may is arranged so that if the connection is lost during the order process, when the user returns to the site, they will by automatically presented with the option of completing the previous order, or starting a new order.

In another example a user of the "ITsource" web portal has entered a search for "consultant". This brings up the screen 20 shown in Figure 6, which displays relevant company names, and associated product names where relevant, in the frame 21 on the left. The user may then chose to click on the "Earth Resources" link, in which case the relevant information is automatically displayed in the frame 22, on the right.

In another example a user of the "ITsource" web portal has clicked on a news story related to "Lotus" on a home page, and this took the user to a special news area 30, as shown in Figure 7. The story related to "Lotus' is highlighted on the frame on the left 31. A synopsis of the story, which has already been parsed, is displayed in the frame 32 on the right. The user may preview other stories in the same way by clicking on the link in the left frame 31.

Alternatively, the user may decide to view the full text of a story by clicking on the "Full Text" link 33. In this case the full text is displayed in the frame on the right 34, as shown in Figure 8. In this example the story on the IDG news site is displayed, but it is possible to construct the same news story within the ITsource by prefetching the necessary text from the site in advance and then displaying it as required in the format determined by.

The navigation process makes it very easy for a user to select, compare and refine information.

In another example a vendor of ITsource needs to update the information on the ITsource portal site relating to their company or products.

By entering a valid user ID and password the vendor is presented with the screen 40, shown in Figure 9. A company profile is displayed in the frame 41 on the right, and an update menu for both the company profile and a product, Transcend Networking, in the frame 42 on the left.

If the vendor decides to update the Transcend Networking product, they activate the dropdown box 43 adjacent the product listing, and select the "Live Listing" option to verify the current entry. The result is shown in Figure 10, where the live listing is shown in the frame 44 on the right.

To update the product information, the vendor then selects "Edit Listing" from dropdown menu 43. This causes the relevant information to be presented in a form in the frame 45 on the right, as shown in Figure 11. The vendor then updates the information by typing new information into the form, and then clicking on an update box (not shown) at the bottom of the form. The changes are held in a special database 'interim' and can be previewed separately during the same or another session. When the vendor is happy with all the changes they click on the "Save All" button in the frame 42 on the left to update the live database with the changes.

Although the invention has been described with reference to particular examples it should be appreciated that it may be exemplified in many other ways. Any electronic commerce site where two or more frames of related information (the information frames) are used to enable a user to view product information while the product order form is displayed in a separate frame (the order frame) on the same screen will fall within the scope of the invention.

And any site that provides hotlinks in an order frame which allow a user to click on these hotlinks to view relevant product information without leaving the order form will also fall within the scope of the invention.

It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that numerous variations and/or modifications may be made to the invention as shown in the specific embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as broadly described. The present embodiments are, therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive.

Claims (3)

1. An electronic commerce site, comprising two frames of information for simultaneous display to a user, where the two frames are displayed on a single monitor and where a first of the frames displays information about a selected topic and a second of the frames displays information about a range of topics, including the selected topic, and contains user input points by operation of which the user is able to select topics in the range.

2. An electronic commerce site according to claim 1, where the first frame displays product or services information and the second frame simultaneously displays an order form for ordering the products and services in the first frame and related products, and where products or services are ordered by operation of an input point.

3. An electronic commerce site according to claim 2, where the details of products and services appearing in the order form are 'hot-linked' to related product information so that when the user selects one of the related products or services information about that product or service is automatically displayed in the first frame, and the first frame also contains user input points by operation of which the user is able to select more details about the selected topic. DATED this 7th day of August 2000 ONLINE SALES LIMITED Patent Attorneys for the Applicant: F.B. RICE CO (LL PAI 1\q) V~