A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
The present invention relates generally to the field of computing. More particularly, the invention relates to a system and method for providing an integrated shopping service within an application program. One specific application of such an integrated shopping service is a service that allows users of a content-rendering application to shop for digital content at a dynamically-updatable set of retail web sites.
Certain software requires third parties to provide digital content in order to make the software valuable to users. A prime example is an application for rendering books, audio, video, etc. Such an application is useful only when digital content—e.g., text, audio, video, etc.—is available for use with the application or device, and such digital content is generally provided by third parties.
Typically, a user obtains the content by using a stand-alone web browser (e.g. Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator) to find and obtain content from Internet web sites that provide it. Sites that distribute content may be located with the aid of a search engine. This method, however, does not offer the user the convenience of shopping for content from within the rendering application.
As an alternative to the stand-alone browser, a browser may be integrated into the content-rendering application, and the application may be hard-coded to point the browser to one or more web sites that provide content. This approach, however, has drawbacks; if the universal record locators (URLs) of particular web sites are hard-coded into the browser, it is difficult to add or delete web sites to or from the list, or to customize the list for different instances of the application.
Branding is a term used for practices a merchant employs to distinguish his goods from similar goods or services sold by other merchants. Branding can be implemented through trademarks (i.e., a particular name or image identified with the source of the product), or trade dress (i.e., the overall look, feel or packaging that identifies a particular merchant).
Heretofore, it has been difficult for merchants to brand software because typically a software manufacturer distributes a given piece of software to a number of merchants, who sell that same piece of software. When software is sold on the Internet, the merchant may expose the consumer to branding information (e.g., the merchant's name on the web site), but only for a short time while the consumer completes the purchase or initiates a download. It may be desirable to “brand” the software by including a lasting mark in the software that indicates where the user purchased the software, or that otherwise causes the software to behave in a certain way based on the place where it was purchased.
The need for branding is particularly acute in the field of software that is given away for free in order to stimulate a market for another product, as in the case of a digital content retailer who gives away rendering software in the hope that users will purchase content compatible with the software. Such a retailer might like to brand the software in such a way that the user will be encouraged to return to the retailer's site to purchase content.
Conventionally, branding of software is achieved by creating different versions of the same software for each merchant who sells or distributes the software. This approach results in higher costs for a software producer because of time spent creating different versions of the software, testing it before release, and managing it thereafter. Furthermore, after the software is released, branding information is generally not changeable. Additionally, since each brand of the same software effectively represents a different version of the software, it is difficult to deploy a global upgrade of the software (i.e., replacement of every user's copy with an upgraded copy) without losing the branding information.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for a software branding system that overcomes the limitations and drawbacks of the prior art.
The present invention provides an infrastructure for a shopping service within a user application, such as a content-rendering application. An application in accordance with the invention includes a link to a retail directory server (e.g., the application may store the universal record locator or “URL” of such a server). Upon being contacted by the application, the retail directory server renders on the user's machine a web page containing a list of retail web sites. The web page rendered by the retail directory server offers the user the chance to add some or all of the listed sites to a private list of retailers that is stored on the client machine. The particular set of retail sites listed in the directory server can be modified at any time by the party who controls the directory server. An application in accordance with the invention also includes a retail shopping user interface, which displays to the user all retailers in his or her private list and allows the user to connect to any of the retailers on that list. A retail shopping service is thus “integrated” into the application.
In one embodiment of the invention, the application that incorporates an integrated shopping service is a content-rendering application, such as an eBooks reading application. In such an application, the integrated shopping service may take the form of an “integrated bookstore,” which displays a list of on-line bookstores that sell eBooks and allows the user to navigate to those bookstores directly through the list. The retail directory server whose URL is included in the application may provide a “bookstore directory,” which renders a list of on-line bookstores on the user's machine and offers the user the opportunity to add those bookstores to his or her private list. The actual list of bookstores displayed to the user as part of the application's “integrated bookstore” is the private list of bookstores chosen by the user from the bookstore directory page.
In another embodiment, the retail directory server may be configured to provide arbitrary data to the user's machine, rather than merely a list of retail web sites. For example, the directory server may download to the user's machine a set of off-line catalogues that the user can use to shop for content when not connected to the Internet. For example, if the user's machine is a palm-size computer, the user may be able to shop off-line for content, where off-line orders are stored for transmission to an appropriate web site when the device is cradled. The user's machine may store parameters (e.g., in the form of cookies) that allow customized content to be delivered to the user from the retail directory server. For example, the user may subscribe to an on-line newsletter (e.g., through a previous contact with the retail directory), and this newsletter may then be updated on the user's machine each time the bookstore directory server is contacted. In contrast to systems that merely hardcode a list of retail web sites into an application, the use of a bookstore directory server, whose information can be updated or modified at any time, supports extensibility of the directory function.
The present invention further provides a technique for branding. The particular brand that is associated with the software depends on branding criteria, e.g. the location from which the software was downloaded.
When downloading the software from the Internet, the branding criteria are captured on the client. For example, the site from which the software is downloaded may cause an indication of the download source to be deposited onto the client. Subsequently, the client may contact a branding server and transfer the captured information to the server. The server then provides branding instructions to the client software. These instructions may take the form of executable code and/or identifying indicators such as logos. The branding instructions and indicators can be updated in the future by re-contacting the branding server, thereby allowing brands to be changed or added.
As one non-limiting example, the software to be branded is a content-rendering program that is distributed for free from a web site, where a retailer or distributor sells content for use with that program from the web site. In this example, the retail site may, upon download of the software to a client machine, and initiate contact with a branding server that causes a cookie to be deposited onto the client, where the cookie specifies the identity of the distributor. At some point in the future, a triggering event on the client (e.g., on-line registration or “activation” of the program for use with high-security content) causes the cookie to be transmitted back to the branding server. In response to this contact, the branding server provides branding information to the client consistent with the information described in the cookie. This branding information may, for example, cause a link to the universal record locator (URL) of the retailer to be displayed (or, perhaps, more prominently displayed) in a “content-shopping” feature of the content-rendering software, thereby encouraging the user to shop for content at the retailer's site.
Other features of the invention are described below.
The foregoing summary, as well as the following detailed description of preferred embodiments, is better understood when read in conjunction with the appended drawings. For the purpose of illustrating the invention, there is shown in the drawings exemplary constructions of the invention; however, the invention is not limited to the specific methods and instrumentalities disclosed. In the drawings:
Overview
The Internet has provided consumers with opportunities to shop for numerous and varied products on line. Using a browser, a consumer can visit a seemingly limitless number of web sites and purchase nearly any type of good or service. Some types of goods, and services, however, are particularly adapted to be used with certain software applications. A case in point is digital content (e.g., books, audio, video, etc.) that comes delivered in a particular format for use with a certain type of rendering application (e.g., an electronic book reader, an audio player, a video player, etc.). It is particularly useful for a consumer to be able to purchase such content from within the rendering application itself. It is further useful to limit the universe of web sites that a consumer can access from within the rendering application to those web sites that distribute digital content adapted for the application. The present invention provides an architecture for a shopping service that allows a user to visit certain web sites (e.g., retail web sites) from within an application, and that allows a third party entity to control which web sites can be accessed from within the application.
The present invention further provides a technique for branding a software application, such as the rendering application that incorporates a shopping service discussed above. The particular brand that is associated with the software depends on branding criteria, such as the location from which the software was downloaded.
Exemplary Computing Environment
The invention is operational with numerous other general purpose or special purpose computing system environments or configurations. Examples of well known computing systems, environments, and/or configurations that may be suitable for use with the invention include, but are not limited to, personal computers, server computers, hand-held or laptop devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based systems, set top boxes, programmable consumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, distributed computing environments that include any of the above systems or devices, and the like.
The invention may be described in the general context of computer-executable instructions, such as program modules, being executed by a computer. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The invention may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network or other data transmission medium. In a distributed computing environment, program modules and other data may be located in both local and remote computer storage media including memory storage devices.
With reference to
Computer 110 typically includes a variety of computer readable media. Computer readable media can be any available media that can be accessed by computer 110 and includes both volatile and nonvolatile media, removable and non-removable media. By way of example, and not limitation, computer readable media may comprise computer storage media and communication media. Computer storage media includes both volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information such as computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data. Computer storage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CDROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to store the desired information and which can accessed by computer 110. Communication media typically embodies computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data in a modulated data signal such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism and includes any information delivery media. The term “modulated data signal” means a signal that has one or more of its characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal. By way of example, and not limitation, communication media includes wired media such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, RF, infrared and other wireless media. Combinations of any of the above should also be included within the scope of computer readable media.
The system memory 130 includes computer storage media in the form of volatile and/or nonvolatile memory such as read only memory (ROM) 131 and random access memory (RAM) 132. A basic input/output system 133 (BIOS), containing the basic routines that help to transfer information between elements within computer 110, such as during start-up, is typically stored in ROM 131. RAM 132 typically contains data and/or program modules that are immediately accessible to and/or presently being operated on by processing unit 120. By way of example, and not limitation,
The computer 110 may also include other removable/non-removable, volatile/nonvolatile computer storage media. By way of example only,
The drives and their associated computer storage media discussed above and illustrated in
The computer 110 may operate in a networked environment using logical connections to one or more remote computers, such as a remote computer 180. The remote computer 180 may be a personal computer, a server, a router, a network PC, a peer device or other common network node, and typically includes many or all of the elements described above relative to the computer 110, although only a memory storage device 181 has been illustrated in
When used in a LAN networking environment, the computer 110 is connected to the LAN 171 through a network interface or adapter 170. When used in a WAN networking environment, the computer 110 typically includes a modem 172 or other means for establishing communications over the WAN 173, such as the Internet. The modem 172, which may be internal or external, may be connected to the system bus 121 via the user input interface 160, or other appropriate mechanism. In a networked environment, program modules depicted relative to the computer 110, or portions thereof, may be stored in the remote memory storage device. By way of example, and not limitation,
Application with Integrated Shopping Feature
Referring now to
As noted above, in the example of
In a preferred embodiment, shopping service 300 comprises a form of web browser. For example, the web browser may be a standard web browser with a simplified user interface (that may include fewer user functions than the standard user interface when the browser is opened as a stand-alone). When shopping service 300 comprises a form of web browser, the logic that implements shopping service 300 is capable of displaying and following links to any web site, regardless of whether the web site is a retail web site, and regardless of whether the web site sells products that are related to the application 200 of which shopping service 300 is a part. The particular choice of links displayed (i.e., the fact that at least some of the links are to retail web sites) allows the web browser to function as a shopping service. It will be noted, however, that in the example of
Retail directory 400 preferably comprises a web page that lists one or more retail web sites. The exemplary retail directory 400 in
Structure of an Application Having an Integrated Shopping Service
Referring now to
Integrated shopping logic 502 may employ or provide web browser 504, in order to provide the UI and functionality that permits the visiting of retail web sites. For example, integrated shopping logic 502 may include instructions that starts web browser 504 whenever the user invokes integrated shopping service 300. Web browser 504 may be a web browsing module that is specially adapted to work with application 200. Alternatively, web browser 504 may be a general-purpose web browser such as the INTERNET EXPLORER browser, which can be invoked from within application 200. When web browser 504 is embodied as a general-purpose web browser, application 200 may invoke web browser 504 in such a way that it appears to a user as if it were included within application 200—e.g., integrated shopping logic 502 may invoke web browser 504 inside the window of application 200.
Integrated shopping logic 502 may also employ or provide a personal retail list 506. Personal retail list 506 includes the list of links that are to be displayed by web browser 504. For example, referring back to
Integrated shopping logic 502 may include the capability to add (or delete) items from personal retail list 506. In the example of
It should be observed that web browser 504 and personal retail list 506 are shown in
Exemplary Structure of a Retail Directory
Retail directory 406 lists various retail sites. Each retail site has an entry 602, 604.
Each entry in retail directory 400 is represented by various data fields. In the example of
The web page that a user's computer 110 downloads when viewing retail directory 400 includes: (a) the information in each entry 602, 604 (or at least a subset of that information), in a format suitable for rendering by a web browser; and (b) executable instructions that cause the information in each entry to be downloaded to the user's computer 110 when the user clicks an “add” button 410 (shown in
It should be noted that retail directory 400 may be stored by any means and in any manner that supports the storage of data. As one non-limiting example, all entries 602, 604 may be stored in a file. As a further example, the file that stores entries 602 and 604 may, in fact, be an HTML file that is downloaded to a user's machine for viewing as the retail directory web page. In this case, the retail directory page shown in
Exemplary Structure of a Personal Retail List
Entry 622 includes data fields for a site ID 622a, site name 622b, site description 622c, site URL 622d, site logo 622e, and site flags 622f. Entries 624 and 602 include like fields. As can be seen from a comparison between
It will further be observed that the first listed entry 622 in
It will be appreciated that the data structure shown in
Process of Using Retail Directory 400 to Select Retail Web Sites
At step 804, the retail directory page is rendered on the user's device. The rendering is performed either by a stand-alone browser (if the user uses a stand-alone browser to visit the web page), or by the web browser 504 (shown in
At step 806, the user selects web sites to add to personal retail list 506. As noted above in connection with
After a user has selected a web site from retail directory 400 and the appropriate entry has been inserted into personal retail list 506, the user may invoke the integrated shopping feature 300 in order to visit those sites in personal retail list 506 (including the sites that the user just added at steps 802–808). When integrated shopping service 300 is invoked, links to the web sites in the user's personal retail list 506 are rendered (step 810). (
Example: Use of Integrated Shopping Service to Purchase eBooks
As shown in
A user may navigate to bookstore directory 400—e.g., by using a stand-alone browser, or by using integrated shopping service 300 (which, as noted above, may include a browser). The user views the bookstore directory 400 and chooses web sites from bookstore directory 400 to add to his or her personal retail list 506 (shown in
From bookstore page 300, the user navigates to a “third-party web site.” The third-party web site is one of the sites displayed on the bookstore page. For example, and referring for the moment back to
Once the eBooks are downloaded to the user's computing device, a list of downloaded eBooks is displayed by the rendering application. For example, the purchased eBooks may be displayed on a “library page,” such as that shown in
Branding
Branding represents a business relationship between two or more parties, such as a software manufacturer and an electronic retailer, distributor or wholesaler. For example, the software manufacturer may create a content-rendering application (e.g. content-rendering application 200, described above), and may “brand” the application with information indicative of a retailer who sells content that can be rendered on such an application. The nature of this “branding” may take various forms, examples of which are described below.
The software is branded by depositing branding information on the computing device on which the software is installed. For example, if a user downloads content-rendering software from Amazon.com, the Amazon.com web site may cause information to be sent to the user's computing device. The information sent to the user's computing device may result in some type of branding of the software, such as that demonstrated in
The branding server 180a, in response sets a cookie on user's computing device 110 that indicates the site 180b from which the software was downloaded. Subsequently, the user's computing device 110 contacts the branding server 180a. When the user's computing device 110 contacts the branding server 180a, the cookie set by the branding server 180a is sent to the branding server 180a by the user's computing device 110. Based on the cookie, the branding server 180a provides branding instructions to the user's computing device 110. These instructions are stored on the user's computing device 110 and executed by the user's computing device 110. These instructions provide the branding of the software.
It should be noted that in a preferred embodiment, the brand cookie can only be set once. For example, if a user goes to Amazon.com and has a Barnes & Noble branding cookie already, the Barnes & Noble cookie will remain intact. Thus the brand should not change as a result of the user visiting another retail site or sites.
The web site 1300 is referred to as the downloading web site and, for the purposes of the exemplary embodiment discussed herein, the software is branded with respect to downloading site 1300, (i.e., the downloaded software will display branding information or characteristics that relate to downloading site 1300 when the downloaded branding instructions have been executed by the user's computing device). It should be understood, however that branding may be based on criteria other than the identity of the download site—e.g., the download site may have an agreement with a third-party entity to distribute software that is branded for that third-party entity. Additionally, at the time the download web site is viewed, or alternately at the time of download of the software, the instructions executed by the download web site 1300 may cause the deposit of branding information on the user's computing device 110. In one example (as discussed above in connection with
Referring now to
The web site to which the user has navigated may display a link from which content-rendering software can be downloaded (e.g., the “Download FREE Microsoft Reader Software” link 1304 shown in
A hidden image (e.g., hidden image 1306, shown in
A cookie is data created by a web server that is stored by the web browser (Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator) on a user's computer. The branding cookie may contain a site identifier that tells the branding server the site from which the content-rendering software was downloaded and may specify the server name. The cookie may also include an identifier that is unique for the cookie and may contain the URL for which the cookie is valid. Typically, whenever a browser encounters the URL specified in the cookie, it sends the cookie associated with that URL to the web server. Although in a preferred embodiment, a cookie is used to capture the download site, or other information on which branding is based, any suitable mechanism may be employed to capture this information on the client computer or on the server computer without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
In one embodiment, the branding step is executed after the software is downloaded. At some point subsequent to the download, at step 1424, the user's computer contacts the branding server. In one embodiment, the branding server also functions as an “activation” server, and branding is performed at the time of activation. An activation server and the process of “activating” a rendering application are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/604,564, titled “System and Method for Activating a Rendering Device In a Multi-Level Rights-Management Architecture” filed Jun. 27, 2000. It is convenient to perform branding at the time of activation because all users of the rendering application are encouraged to perform the activation process, so linking the branding and activation processes increases the likelihood that the branding operation will actually take place. However, it will be understood that all that is required is that the user contacts the branding server at some point, whether or not branding is linked with activation.
When branding and activation are linked as described above, the user may be prompted to activate the content-rendering application (e.g., with a yes/no dialog box that offers the user the option to activate the application at the time the application is started). If the user chooses to activate, the content-rendering application establishes a connection with the manufacturer's activation server (which in this example is also the branding server). If branding is not associated with the activation process, then contact with the branding server is initiated under other circumstances. For example, the initial start-up of the rendering application could initiate contact with the branding server.
At the time that the user's machine contacts the branding server, the user's machine uploads to the branding server the cookie that was deposited at step 1416. The branding server inspects the cookie and sends the client the appropriate branding instructions at step 1428. The particular instructions received are based on the information contained in the cookie. For example, in the case where the cookie indicates the web site from which the software download was initiated, the branding server sends the user's machine instructions based on the download site. (For example, if the software was downloaded from retail site A, the branding server may provide instructions to prominently feature site A in the software's integrated shopping feature, or to display a logo for retail site A, etc.). The branding server sends appropriate branding instructions to the user's computer at step 1428. The instructions are then executed by the user's machine at step 1432.
It should be noted that because the branding server is sent the branding cookie each time the client computer connects to the branding server, branding logic, logos, etc, can be updated at any time. For example, new participating distributors, retailers or wholesalers can be supported without modification or disabling current brand behaviors.
Order of Listing of Partners in the Retail Directory
One type of branding in a preferred embodiment is “premium placement” of a retailer in an integrated shopping service. For example, when an application (e.g., application 200, discussed above in connection with
In one embodiment, a two tiered list is maintained in which the first three characters of the site ID are “000” for premium bookstore partners and “100” for second tier bookstore partners. The list of bookstores displayed in Bookstore Directory is displayed in ascending order by site ID so that all premium bookstores appear in the list before any second tier bookstore partners. Within the list of premium bookstores the premium bookstores may appear alphabetically by name by having the next X characters of site ID be the name of the bookstore, or alternately be another code representing subcategories.
It is noted that the foregoing examples have been provided merely for the purpose of explanation and are in no way to be construed as limiting of the present invention. While the invention has been described with reference to various embodiments, it is understood that the words which have been used herein are words of description and illustration, rather than words of limitations. Further, although the invention has been described herein with reference to particular means, materials and embodiments, the invention is not intended to be limited to the particulars disclosed herein; rather, the invention extends to all functionally equivalent structures, methods and uses, such as are within the scope of the appended claims. Those skilled in the art, having the benefit of the teachings of this specification, may effect numerous modifications thereto and changes may be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention in its aspects.
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