WO2001001310A2 - Method and apparatus for standardizing transaction systems - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention is directed toward a method and apparatus for enabling users to engage in streamlined transactions, utilize various commerce functions, and manage their commerce activities through a Commerce Platform that abstracts Internet applications, integrates application functionality, and automates the communication with such applications on behalf of a user. The present invention operates by abstracting Internet applications, such as web sites, to create a set of rules that govern how the Commerce Platform should interact with each application, generating transaction objects that translate the subject matter of transactions into objects that can be manipulated, providing an underlying architecture through which varied transaction functionality can be incorporated to uniformly operate on a transaction object, communicating with certain Internet applications on behalf of a user in accordance with the previously created set of rules, and providing a user with simplified graphical user interfaces to control the Commerce Platform.

Description

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR STANDARDIZING TRANSACTION

SYSTEMS

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

This patent document contains material subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner, Tomorrow Factory, Inc. has no objection to the reproduction of this patent document or any related materials, as they appear in the files of the Patent and

Trademark Office of the United States or any other country, but otherwise reserves all rights whatsoever.

CROSS REFERENCE The present application references for priority purposes TJ. S. Provisional

Patent Application No. 60/141,383, filed June 28, 1999 entitled "Method and Apparatus for Standardizing Transaction Systems".

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention is related to computers and computer systems, more specifically to a method, system, and apparatus for facilitating transactions between parties over networks, specifically the Internet and World Wide Web, and for managing commerce activities engaged in by users over networks. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The Internet is a massive interconnection of various computer networks that began in the late 1970s with ARPANET, a wide-area network (WAN) created by the U.S. Department of Defense. With use by the National Science Foundation, research institutions, and scientists, it grew rapidly and began to find broader applications. By the late 1980s, users, particularly the scientists at CERN, the European high-energy physics center, were actively developing better ways to create, find, and organize information. From this effort, the World Wide Web (the "Web"), a subset of the Internet, was born. The Web provided a new form for interfacing with the Internet and enabled simplified searching and viewing of documents. In the 1990s, private commercial use of the Internet, primarily through the Web, has exploded.

The Internet functions as a distributed network of systems which is neither controlled nor managed by any one entity. The networks are connected to each other by physical and logical pathways that facilitate the exchange of information. The individual networks can be of any type, including but not limited to token-ring networks, Ethernet networks, and star networks. The various networks are connected by routers which direct data traffic on the Internet by examining data packets, determining where the data is headed, and routing the data to the destination through the most efficient pathway possible. This packet switched network functionality is enabled by the use of two protocols that route data packets from origin to destination (Internet Protocol) and break transmitted data into packets and then reconstruct the packets into its original data structure (Transmission Control Protocol).

The Web provides users with a simplified method of creating a presence on the Internet (a web site) and accessing the web sites of third parties. Through the use of Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), users can create web sites at specific addresses, defined by Universal Resource Locators (URLs), and access the web sites of third parties by typing in a specific URL (i.e., http://www.uspto.gov) or by clicking on a HTML link that references a specific URL. Users most commonly interact with the Web through a software interface (a "browser") that runs on an Internet access device. Browsers enable the user's easy navigation through the Internet and simplifies access to third party sites. The Hypertext Transfer Protocol defines the method by which a browser requests an entity, i.e. a file or other information, from a source, i.e. a Web server.

The Internet and the Web have evolved rapidly as a medium by which parties can conduct a wide variety of transactions, i.e. participate in electronic commerce (e- commerce). One common manifestation of e-commerce is the selling of products and services by sellers to buyers. Other manifestations include the exchange of information or the processing of information requests. For example, a transaction may comprise a user providing personal information, such as annual income, long term debts, and other data, to a third party and that third party processing the personal information, and, in turn, delivering home loan information to the user. While much of the discussion provided herein is in the context of the sale of products and services, the issues raised are generally applicable to the other types of transactions and e- commerce in general. By using an Internet access device, i.e. a modified television, personal computer, or personal data assistant, to connect to the Internet, a user can access and interact with third party web sites which are hosted on servers connected to the Internet. A typical user interaction with Internet sites on the Web today includes the following steps: first, the user activates an Internet access device which links to the Internet and establishes a connection with the Web. Once connected, the user uses an interface his browser to request a specific web site to view and/or interact with. The user accesses a site by inputting a URL which specifies where the specific web site can be found on the Web, i.e. the address. By inputting that URL the browser is instructed to link with and download the web site corresponding to that address.

In product purchasing scenario, the user (the "buyer") selects the web site address of an on-line retailer, downloads that page, and searches for products or services that the buyer can purchase. To purchase a product or service, a buyer often has to manually input information into specified forms on the web page, providing personal and product information, and submit that information to the on-line retailer in order to complete a transaction. The use of forms to facilitate a transaction is almost universal among retailers who are encountering a buyer for the first time. Also common is a requirement by retailers for users to navigate through multiple pages of forms, sometimes in non-sequential fashion. Some retailers have streamlined their transaction system by recording the consumer information of regular consumers and/or members. However, for retailers without a significant membership base or individuals who do not regularly and frequently purchase over the Internet, filling out forms is a common and expected chore in completing a transaction.

The need for buyers to manually input information in order to conduct a transaction with a seller and the use of many different types of transaction systems are major barriers to streamlined transactions and result in a number of negative consequences. For example, requiring manual information input discourages buyers from making impulse purchases, thereby limiting sales opportunities for sellers of inexpensive and commodity items. Similarly, buyers are often discouraged from making product purchases because they are frequently confronted with numerous different transaction forms and systems which may be confusing or frustrating for the ordinary user. Additionally, the need to fill out extensive forms restricts sellers from easily extending their retail reach outside the confines of a web site that contains those forms. Specifically, retailers can only achieve sales by luring buyers into their site through advertisements on third party sites and affiliate programs conducted with third party sites. The advertisements and affiliate programs are merely links from the third party site to the web site of the retailer. Therefore, if enticed by a retailer advertisement in a third party site, the buyer must leave the third party site, go to the retailer site, fill out forms, and confirm the transaction. This extensive process limits the reach of retailers and prevents them from translating advertisements into sales. Retailers are hindered from making hassle-free, impulse sales to buyers who view an ad, would like to make a purchase, but are unwilling to leave the content site which they are at and fill out a series of forms. This problem is exacerbated for small retailers who have fewer resources to attract consumers to their sites and own limited amounts of consumer information, thereby requiring almost every buyer to manually input large amounts of information to complete a transaction.

While some companies have attempted to deal with aspects of the information barrier problem, no one has developed an efficient, easy to use method of minimizing the information barrier problem by streamlining a substantial portion of the transaction process and standardizing the transaction process for users. For example, companies have developed "form filling" software, also known as "wallets", and customized banner advertising capable of performing transactions. Each concept, however, is limited in its ability to streamline the flow of information and the transaction process.

Form filling software operates on the client side, in conjunction with a browser, to fill in forms with prerecorded information. The form filler stores information typically requested by forms, i.e. name, address, phone number, in a file, typically a "cookie" file located on the user's local hard drive. The recorded information is labeled with the associated HTML form labels. When the user encounters a web site having a form, the software parses the form, recognizes the HTML headers associated with the text boxes, and, if so desired by the user, inputs the stored information associated with those headers into the appropriate text boxes. While useful, form fillers suffer from significant drawbacks. First, they do not facilitate transactions outside a web site. Users must still go to the web site having the forms and monitor the submission of information. Second, they can easily be fooled into supplying sensitive personal information by pages that use the appropriate text boxes to draw out the desired data. Third, they will not effectively work if the HTML form labels used by the web site in its forms do not correspond to the form labels used by the form filler software.

While widely known and, in various forms, used to streamline transactions, wallets are generally proprietary transaction management systems that cannot be used outside their proprietary environment. For example, wallets which locate user personal data on the user's local hard drive can provide personal information to a retailer site, fill in the requisite forms, and, upon a user's confirmation, complete the transaction. To function, these hard drive resident wallets require, however, the retailer to use server software compatible with the hard drive wallet. Without such server software, the wallet cannot function. Additionally, transactions outside the retailer site cannot be facilitated by such wallets.

Similarly, individual sites have created their own wallets that can be used by a member of the site whenever that member visits the site. The site wallets are highly proprietary and are designed to streamline transactions only for its members within that particular site. Such wallets are employed by retailers who have a large customer base and wish to simplify product purchasing by its customers. They can not be used by the member outside that web site. Finally, wallets that locate user data on a third party server and use that third party to facilitate transactions are often clumsy, require the retailer to have complementary software, and are unable to facilitate transactions outside the specific web site environment. Altogether, these proprietary systems are often frustrating for users who find themselves unable to use their wallets because the other party does not have the appropriate software.

Some companies, such as Thinking Media, Inc., have created banner advertisements that are specifically designed to enable a retailer to conduct transactions through the banner and outside its web site. The banner requires, however, an extensive amount of customization and integration with retailer servers and can not be easily deployed. Further, the specialized banners are often so large and cumbersome that content sites discourage retailers from using them. Specifically, the content sites often find their users experience undesirable delays in downloading their pages because of the large customized banners. A further problem faced by buyers is the ability to manage multiple types of commerce functionality being provided by separate and independent commerce service providers. Commerce service providers deliver services to buyers and/or retailers that improve, augment, or enhance the electronic commerce experience for buyers and/or the electronic commerce service offerings of retailers. Currently, these commerce service providers deliver numerous vertical applications for conducting very specific commerce functions. Such functions, however, are not integrated and must be operated as separate applications.

For example, certain companies offer a loyalty points service where users are provided points or rewards for certain actions and may thereafter redeem the points or rewards for products or other benefits from third party sites. In United States Patent No. 5,774,870, there is disclosed a process by which customers, once they gain access, are able to browse through a merchandise catalog, view an award catalog, view the bonus points available for redemption in the customer's award bonus account, get information about the products for purchase, the program, and the customer's account, and, subsequently, order merchandise on-line, order prizes on-line and redeem awarded points on-line. The disclosed system comprises a first memory area for storing product catalog, said product catalog including product descriptions and product prices for each product available for purchase, a second memory area for storing an awards catalog, said awards catalog including an award description and award points value for each award; and, a frequency database storing account information for each enrolled user of said incentive award program. Other companies may offer a coupon delivery program where a discount is selected by and/or delivered to a user. For example, in United States Patent No. 5,855,077, there is disclosed an electronic coupon communication system, comprising a network node for selecting, receiving and printing electronic coupons over the Internet. Such systems suffer, however, from a disconnection between the product display, the awards display or coupon delivery, and an entire transaction system that permits a user to integrate the generation or redeeming of bonus points with the rest of the user's e-commerce activities.

One skilled in the art would appreciate that numerous other commerce services exist, including price comparison services, shopping cart systems where consumers are able to select multiple products prior to completing a single transaction covering the purchase of all selected products, such as those disclosed in United States Patent No. 5,745,681, and targeted advertising.

To deliver targeted advertising, some systems provide an advertising server process as a node on the network. Various advertisements are stored on the network of the server and preferably on the server. When a user using a web browser accesses a web page that is affiliated with the advertising server process, the affiliated page's encoding includes an embedded reference to an object provided by the advertising server process, causing the user's browser to contact the advertising server process to provide the advertising image or information that will appear on the accessed web page as displayed by the user's browser. Using the address information and/or other information passed by the browser for the user, including the page being accessed by the user, the advertising server process determines an appropriate advertisement to select for the particular user. In addition, the advertising server process will use information such as the number of times the user has seen various advertisements, how often the advertisement has been seen by any user and the start and stop date for the various advertisements to select which advertisement to transmit to the user's web page for display. If the user decides to respond to the advertisement selected by the web server by clicking on the advertisement, the advertising server process logs that fact to have more information about the given user. By compiling the information on networks and user selections, the advertising server process is able to compile information that can be used for targeting advertising. These present systems are limited, however, in their ability to deliver suitable advertising to a client device, in a form and manner that permits the user to take action on the advertisement and that takes into account not just a user's browsing habits but actual purchase history.

Another example of a commerce activity that should be integrated with the rest of a user's commerce experience is the use of affiliates to sell the products and/or services of a particular Web site. Currently, if a web site enrolls in the affiliate program of a merchant web site, every time a user of the affiliate web site clicks on a link from the affiliate web site to the merchant web site and purchases a product at the merchant web site, the affiliate web site receives compensation from the merchant web site. It would be preferred, however, if a single platform, integrated with the rest of a user's commerce activities, could be used to refer users to merchant web sites from a single directory organized by the user.

In sum, a method, system, and apparatus is required that would streamline transactions between parties, not require extensive customization, not require extensive integration with web sites, be easily extensible across most e-commerce platforms, and, for users, standardize the transaction process. This method, system, and apparatus would essentially act as a bridge between two or more parties, enabling, for example, retailers to achieve simple, efficient sales from anywhere on the Web and assisting buyers in making quick purchases without extensive manual data input. Furthermore, a method, system, and apparatus is required that would act as a central platform to integrate disparate commerce services into a single solution for buyers to use. The platform would preferably enable users to search for products, determine whether certain products should be purchased, receive promotions, coupons, rewards, or other retailer provided benefits, tag products for future purchase or consideration, make purchases, manage receipts and manage benefits. The platform should further preferably allow buyers to treat products, services, and other commerce offerings as traditional files that can be moved, transmitted, acted upon, and managed like any standard file, while honoring existing web protocols. It is further preferred to enable buyers to engage in commerce activities on any Internet access device and to be able to access those activities from any other device.

Additionally, a method, system, and apparatus is required that would facilitate a transaction process automatically without requiring users to activate a transaction program separately from the initiation of the transaction process. It is further desired that a method, system, and apparatus enables users to conduct purchases across many web sites with a minimal number of actions or data inputs and using any type of client device, including computers, wireless devices, and televisions.

Another need, currently unmet in the marketplace, is access to accurate data describing the electronic commerce activities of persons using the Internet. Specifically, companies today estimate the number of purchases being made on the Internet, the type of purchases, the total value of such purchases, and the places from where the purchases are made through crude, inexact methods that fail to properly capture the true commerce activity being engaged in by Internet users. Methods of estimation include surveying a statistically representative sample of the population to determine where they went, what they purchased, and how much they spent, surveying Internet retailers, or compiling actual sales information published by Internet retailers. It is clear, however, that such methods are prone to significant error and that it would be more preferable to directly monitor, and therefore quantify, the commerce activity being engaged in by Internet users.

Yet another problem existent in the Internet marketplace today is how to deliver free Internet service to persons interested in accessing the Internet in a fiscally practical manner without requiring the use of advertising. Currently, numerous companies are delivering Internet access to individuals through various business models, including pay-per-use (payment in accordance with how many minutes used by a person), fixed fee (periodic payment regardless of how much actual time used by a person), and free service in exchange for the viewing or receiving of advertising. The provision of free Internet service to a person is conventionally contingent upon that person agreeing to view advertisements, streamed to the person's Internet access device, from the Internet service provider. If the person wishes not to view such advertisements and terminates the streaming ads, the Internet service provider concurrently terminates the person's access to the Internet. It is more desirable to have a method of providing Internet access to persons that is not contingent upon, or require, such persons to view advertisements. It is most preferable to have a method of providing Internet access that does not constrict a person's ability to control his viewing environment.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is directed toward a method and apparatus for enabling users to engage in streamlined transactions, utilize various commerce functions, and manage their commerce activities through a novel Commerce Platform that abstracts Internet applications, integrates application functionality, and automates the communication with such applications on behalf of a user. The present invention operates by abstracting Internet applications, such as web sites, to create a set of rules that govern how the Commerce Platform should interact with each application, generating transaction objects that translate the subject matter of transactions into objects that can be manipulated, providing an underlying architecture through which varied transaction functionality can be incorporated to uniformly operate on a transaction object, communicating with certain Internet applications on behalf of a user in accordance with the previously created set of rules, and providing a user with simplified graphical user interfaces to control the Commerce Platform. By operating in the aforementioned manner, the present invention is capable of streamlining a consumer's e-commerce activities and gathering transaction data that enables the realization of novel business methods, including, the provision of electronic commerce data reports that directly measure the commerce activity engaged in by users, free Internet service that does not require users to view advertising but merely to use the Commerce Platform when engaging in commerce, and the delivery of targeted advertising tailored to the user's tastes in accordance with their historical purchases.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts a schematic diagram of a network having the present invention connected thereto;

FIG. 2 depicts a schematic diagram of components comprising the STO software;

FIG. 3 depicts a more detailed schematic diagram of components comprising the STO software;

FIG. 4A is a process flow diagram of a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4B is a schematic diagram of transactionable space;

FIG. 5 A is a process flow diagram of a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5B is a continuation of the process flow diagram shown in FIG. 5 A; FIG. 6 is a process flow diagram of the transaction detection process;

FIG. 7 is a process flow diagram of the product/service capture process;

FIG. 8 is schematic diagram of an exemplary user interface used within the second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a process flow diagram of the use of varied commerce services; FIG. 10 is a process flow diagram for the generation of revenue via use of second embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 11 is a process flow diagram for performing commerce management via use of second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a process flow diagram for the rewarding of users via use of second embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 13 is a process flow diagram for the collection and storage of transaction information via use of second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 14 is a process flow diagram for the use of a promotion analysis system based upon transaction information collected via use of second embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram of a novel method for generating and maintaining rule sets;

FIG. 16 is a schematic diagram of the site analysis subsystem of the method for generating and maintaining rule sets;

FIG. 17A is a schematic diagram of the page analysis subsystem of the method for generating and maintaining rule sets;

FIG. 17B is a schematic diagram of the representation of a web page in a document object model format;

FIG. 18 is a schematic diagram of the post analysis subsystem of the method for generating and maintaining rule sets.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention comprises a method, system, and apparatus for standardizing and facilitating streamlined fransactions between two or more parties and for enabling the effective management of commerce activities conducted by a user over computer networks, most preferably the Internet. The present invention is also directed to a novel method of gathering transaction specific information, delivering electronic commerce data reports, generating targeted advertising, and providing users with free Internet service. The detailed description provided herein is made with reference to the figures and is done so in connection with the description of preferred embodiments. It is intended that modifications and changes can be made to the described embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the claims. Specifically, for ease of explanation, the present invention is described in terms of facilitating transactions between buyers and sellers. The present invention is not, however, limited to facilitating transactions between buyers and sellers and is intended to be used in other contexts, including but not limited to streamlining responses by one party to queries from another party and otherwise facilitating the flow of information between two or more parties.

Referring now to FIG. 1, a network 110 is employed having a computer 120 connected to the network 110 via a link 130 through which a user 105 can access the network 110. The link 130 can be any type of conventional link, including dial-up links from personal computers via modems, active links from televisions via cable, or wireless links from handheld devices. Also connected to the network 110 are a variety of servers 140 that host the web sites of third parties [not shown], such as the sellers of products and services. A type of server, a transaction server, 150 is also connected to the network 110. The network 110 can be any type of network, including token-ring, star, or Ethernet, that supports the Hypertext Transfer Protocol. In a preferred embodiment, the network uses HTTP on top of a TCP/IP layer.

An exemplary computer 120 contains, inter alia, a microprocessor 125, memory 127 for storing data, a means for communicating with the network 110, such as a modem, 123 and a means for displaying information to a user, such as a television or monitor, 129. It is intended that the term "computer" refer to any device that enables a user to establish a connection with a network and communicate via the network with third parties who are also connected to the network. Therefore, the computer 120 can be a television attached to an Internet access device, such as the WebTV™ system, a personal data assistant that accesses the Internet via a wireless link, a personal computer with a modem that accesses the Internet through an Internet Service Provider, and/or terminals connected to a private network.

As shown in FIG. 2, the computer [not shown] locally stores, has access to, or operates Smart Transaction Object (STO) software, to be described, 200 that enables and facilitates the conducting of transactions over the network [not shown]. The STO software 200 comprises a transaction component 240 and a client software interface component 260. When the computer is a personal computer that interfaces with a network through a browser, the client interface component 260 is preferably capable of integrating with the browser as, for example, a plug-in to Netscape's browser software or Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser software. Optionally, the present invention can act independent of a pre-existing browser wherein the client interface component 260 is capable of working and communicating with the underlying operating system of the computer. Referring now to FIG. 3, the transaction component 340 comprises a set of modules directed at the managing of various functions including general servicing, managing the preferences of a user, maintaining security, searching for and storing user information, facilitating the gathering, organizing, and flow of transaction-related information, generating user interfaces, communicating with the Internet and computer, and facilitating the gathering, organizing, and flow of product information. Functionally, as will be described in further detail, the transaction component 340 acts as a platform for conducting and managing the electronic commerce activities of a user primarily through use of the communication engine 343 that facilitates communication between the transaction component and network, i.e. plurality of universal resource locators, accessed by a user, a plurality of interfaces 341 , 342, through which a user can input commerce related information, a commerce engine 344 that manages a plurality of exchanges of information between users and web sites within the network by reference to rule sets tailored to each web site, and a platform architecture 356 capable of communicating with a plurality of commerce services. In a preferred embodiment, the transaction component comprises modules directed toward the generation of a shopping organizer interface 341, a buying interface 342, a commerce engine (abstracts the e-commerce behavior of web sites) 344, a hypertext markup language (HTML) parser (capable of parsing HTML) and document object model (maps HTML to a programmatically accessible form) 345, a HTML rendering engine (for presenting HTML in visual form) 346, a script engine (for extracting downloadable scripts) 347, a logger (for logging purchase data to the server) 348, compression engine (for compressing transmitted data) 349, encryption engine [not shown] (capable of encrypting a portion of data captured through the interfaces 341, 342 and a portion data captured through the commerce engine 344), communication engine 343 and, optionally, drivers 352 for browser software existent on the computer. Further preferred the transaction component 340 is architected to be modular and extensible, such as by using a cross platform component object model (XPCOM) platform 356. To enable the continued updating of functionality, the present invention preferably includes a communications engine 343 with an updater module capable of managing the communication between a server having updated information or application components and the present invention. Additionally, in a preferred embodiment, the transaction component includes filters 355 capable of facilitating the access to third party software and otherwise enabling the export and/or import of data to or from third party software applications, such as personal organizers, financial managers, or spreadsheet programs. Also shown in FIG. 3, the client software interface component 360 facilitates the communication between the transaction component 340 and the computer [not shown]. The client interface component 360 is optional to the extent that the computer does not have, independent of the STO software 330, a built-in method of communicating with the transaction component 340. The present invention contemplates the adoption of the transaction component 340 by third parties as a method of standardizing transactions and therefore the inclusion of a method to communicate with the transaction component 340 by third party software and hardware developers. If the user's computer does not have software to facilitate that communication, the client interface component 360 may be necessary.

Referring now to FIG. 4A, in one embodiment of the present invention, to use the transaction system, a user connects to the network through a computer having the STO software 410 and accesses a transactionable space 415, 417, 419, 421. As shown in FIG. 4B, transactionable space 400b is any area, whether defined physically or logically, which contains the Smart Transaction Protocol (STP) 410b and, therefore, when activated by a user, is capable of performing the transaction process described herein.

Typically, the transactionable space 400b will be located on a web page 420b that is resident on a third party server. The transactionable space 400b could be incorporated into any electronic format, including electronic documents, such as a Microsoft Word 8.0 document, emails, and other types of files. The transactionable space 400b could be associated with visual images, as displayed by a television, or integrated into the vertical blanking intervals of a television data transmission to render displayed areas transactionable. While the transactionable space 400b can take any form, the present invention envisions the transactionable space 400b to be a modified banner advertisement or other icon, as is conventionally used to advertise on the Internet, wherein the banner/icon has been modified to include the STP. The web page itself 420b can be posted in a variety of different computer languages, including but not limited to HTML and Extensible Markup Language (XML).

In an exemplary use of the present invention, when a user connects to a network 410 and accesses a web page 415 designed to display a banner/icon on the web page, the web page partially downloads 417 with a reference to the banner/icon, the reference often being among the first pieces of data downloaded to the computer. The reference instructs the browser to access another address 419, often hosted by the advertising broker responsible for placing the banner/icon on the web page or the advertiser itself, to obtain the actual code which, when interpreted by the computer, will result in the visible display of the banner/icon.

Once both the web page and banner/icon are loaded and visible to the user 421 on the display of the user's computer, the user can interact with the banner/icon 423 by, for example, manipulating a cursor over the banner/icon and clicking on the area defined by the banner/icon. The preferred method of interaction is for a user to click on a specific part of the banner/icon, such as a button labeled "Buy" or "Click Here to Purchase". When a user clicks on the banner/icon 423, the transaction process initiates

425. Embedded within the banner/icon is the STP. The STP initiates, and later guides, the transaction by first alerting the computer 427 that, to process the STP, a specific type of program, namely the STO software, is required. In a preferred embodiment, the STP uses a Multimedia Internet Message Extension (MIME) that, when activated by a user by, for example, placing a cursor in that transactionable space and clicking on a button, is read by the browser. MIME types are conventionally used to identify the type of program necessary to process the file to which that MIME type is attached. For example, text files that are processable in Microsoft Word may carry a MIME type "msword". The browser recognizes the MIME and searches for a helper application that is associated with that MIME type to process the file. The STP contains a reference to the appropriate version of the STO software with which the STP is intended to operate. The browser checks the computer 429 to determine if the referenced version of the STO software is accessible. If not, the browser is instructed, by the STP, to access the transaction server 431 wherein the referenced version can be downloaded into the computer and made available for use. Typically, the user will be asked for permission to conduct and complete an installation 433 of the STO software on the computer.

Referring to FIG. 4B, located in the transactionable space 400b and in conjunction with the standard elements of a banner advertisement, such as a governing protocol, 401b one or more references to graphic elements 402b, often in the form of a GIF file, and a URL reference to the advertiser's web site 403b is the STP 410b which incorporates into the banner advertisement a set of parameters, references, and/or instructions 413b which, depending on the application of the banner advertisement, could vary greatly. In the banner advertisement embodiment, the STP 410b may include the following parameters and references 413b: a description of the advertiser, a description of the advertising broker responsible for placing the banner advertisement in the web site, a description of the party responsible for the web site which hosts the banner advertisement, a description of the item being advertised, including pricing, shipping, and other identifying information, and a reference to the latest version of the STO software [not shown] with which the STP 410b is intended to operate. While it is preferred that the STP 410b remain a reasonable size to permit rapid downloads by users, the STP 410b can have an unlimited number of parameters including demographic information for loan processing and preferences for airline tickets.

The STP 410b also includes a reference 413b to the most recent Rule Set available for the advertiser. Referring back to FIG. 4A, the STP instructs the browser to search for the Rule Set 435 referenced by the STP, first by searching the computer itself for the referenced Rule Set 437 and, if not present, then by accessing the transaction server and downloading the referenced Rule Set 439. The transaction server has, inter alia, a microprocessor, memory for storing data, and a means for communicating with the network. The transaction server facilitates the transaction process by, inter alia, storing and maintaining versions of the STO software and generating, storing, and updating Rule Sets. Preferably, once downloaded, the Rule Set is stored in a database located in the computer for later access. As described in greater detail below, a Rule Set provides a set of rules that dictate how the transaction system should interact with a third party, i.e. the retailer. For example, the Rule Set describes how information, collected and organized by the STO software, should be submitted to a third party to properly deliver that information to the third party and what extraneous information the third party may require to complete a transaction.

Once the referenced version of the STO software is made accessible to the computer, the user can view a plurality of interfaces 441 generated by the transaction component and interact to establish personal preferences 443, obtain further information 445, or actually engage in a transaction 444 in accordance with the processes defined by the Rule Set. Specifically, interfaces preferably have buttons which, when activated, allow a user to specify certain information that may be required from a user to complete a transaction or control, organize or manage transaction-related information. For example, through "Ship To", "Bill To", "Payment", "Privacy", "Profile", "Confirmation", and "Record" buttons, a user may specify information pertinent to where the object of the transaction (i.e. a product) should be shipped, to whom a bill for a transaction should be sent, the method of payment being used by a user, how transaction information should be handled by recipients of such information, the user's personal profile, and how transactions should be confirmed and recorded. The interfaces are highly versatile and can be used to accept, process, organize, or maintain other types of information.

While the functional capabilities of the transaction interface have been described in the context of a user activating the interface by interacting with a transactionable space, a user could activate the interface independently, once the STO software is made accessible to the computer, by accessing the STO software directly. Further, the present invention is not limited to an interface having the specific functions listed above but rather contemplates any embodiment which enables a user to specify preferences, information, or other data relevant to facilitating or completing a transaction. The transaction interfaces can also include additional functions, such as HTML links to third party sites or controls for facilitating any interaction with the computer itself. Referring now to FIG. 5A, a second embodiment of the present invention is described. Using a computer having the STO software already operating on the computer, a user accesses the Internet 510 and, more specifically, a particular web site 516 having a plurality of products available for purchase. While this embodiment is being described in terms of purchasing products, it applies equally to the accessing of any site through which any type of transaction can occur.

Running concurrent with the user's browsing session, the STO software monitors the movement of a user 517 through the Internet, specifically observing which universal resource locators (URLs) the user is accessing. As the user accesses each new URL, the STO software observes the identity of the accessed URL 519 and searches for a Rule Set 521 that defines how the STO software, for that particular URL, should detect the initiation of a transaction process, extract the product or service being transacted upon, and conduct a transaction with the web site associated with the URL being accessed. The Rule Set can either be stored locally or on a transaction server having, inter alia, a microprocessor, memory for storing data, and a means for communicating with the network. Preferably, the STO software first searches for the Rule Sets locally 523 to determine whether the required Rule Set is already in memory and currently active. If not, the STO software accesses the local cache 525 for the Rule Set. If found, the STO software determines whether the Rule Set in the local cache is the most recently generated version of the Rule Set specific to that URL 527. Determining whether the Rule Set in the local cache is the most recently generated version of the Rule Set specific to that URL can be performed through a number of methods, including, for example, having version identifiers or time stamps associated with each Rule Set, such that when searched for and found by the STO software in the local cache, the STO software can contact a specified transaction server and compare the version identifier or time stamp of the locally stored Rule Set to the version identifier or time stamp of the server stored Rule Set. If same, the STO software can do nothing and operate on the locally stored Rule Set by loading it into memory for action. If different, the STO software can assume the server-stored Rule Set is newer and, therefore, should be downloaded and used in place of the first Rule Set.

Assuming the Rule Set in the local cache is not the most recent version or a Rule Set for the specified URL does not exist in the local cache, the present invention searches to find whether any Rule Set for the specified URL exists on a server 529. Assuming such a Rule Set is found, the Rule Set is downloaded into the computer 531 and loaded into memory for action 532. If no such Rule Set is found, the STO software permits the user to continue his conventional browsing without interference or action 533.

With the Rule Set loaded into memory and while the user continues browsing 534, the STO software, based in part upon instructions from the Rule Set, observes the user's actions to determine when the user attempts to initiate a transaction process 535 at the identified URL. Typically, a user initiates a fransaction process 537 when, having found a specific product/service that he wishes to obtain, the user selects that product/service by clicking on a proprietary icon situated proximate to that product/service. Conventionally, web sites use an icon or other indicator to signal to a user that, if he wishes to buy the described product, he may do so by clicking on the icon or indicator provided. One of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate that any number of methods can be used to initiate a transaction process and that each of such methods may be unique to a specific web site.

The fransaction detection 535 process differs from site to site. One preferred method 600 of determining whether a user has initiated a fransaction is to monitor the POST data 620 being generated by the browser after the user selects on such an icon, as shown in FIG. 6. In the process of interacting with a site, a user may initiate the generation of a set of data strings, i.e. post data, 615 by the browser after selecting one or more items, icons, or buttons or inputting information at the site. The POST data communicates to the server of the web site what action to take next in response to the user's actions and, therefore, frequently contains a string, unique to that URL, indicating that the next server action should be to return a web page which is the beginning of a transaction process. With a Rule Set unique to the web site being accessed, the STO software can monitor 620 the generated set of data strings and subject the data strings to an analytical function 630, i.e. ONREQUEST, that analyzes the POST for the unique data string, i.e. an "Add to Cart" call, that would, if received by the web site server, return a web page which is the beginning of a fransaction process. The ONREQUEST function is driven by the Rule Set that describes a set of functions, unique to each web site, which, if applied to the data strings, would determine whether a transaction has been initiated. One of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate that such a function could simply require the search for a particular phrase, a particular combination of variables, a link to a particular server, or some other indicator. When such a data string is found, the STO software has detected the initiation of a transaction 650 and can then decide a further action. Conversely, if no such data string is found, the present invention permits the user to continue his conventional browsing without interference or action 670, with on-going monitoring by the STO software 680. It is preferred that the user's history of prior navigations be tracked and maintained to generate a log of user activity. In certain cases, the POST data generated by a user becomes meaningful, i.e. indicates the beginning of a transaction, only when analyzed in light of prior POST data generated by the user.

Returning to FIG. 5A, if the STO software does not find that a transaction process has been initiated, the user is permitted to continue his conventional browsing without interference or action. If, however, the STO software determines that a transaction process has been initiated, the STO software intercepts the data string indicative of fransaction initiation 543, generates an interface to guide the user through the balance of the transaction 545, and takes over, from the browser, communication with the web site 547, thereby canceling browser navigation. By taking over the transaction process at the point when the transaction is being initiated by the user and generating a common interface, the present invention can create a uniform transaction experience across the Internet without first requiring the user to navigate to a particular web site or force the user to shop at only selected locations.

With the transaction process being directed by the STO software, the STO software executes, based upon the Rule Set specific to the accessed web site, a product/service capture process 549 designed to capture relevant information on, or information requests related to, the subject of the transaction. The product/service capture process 549 differs from site to site. One preferred method of capturing the subject of a transaction 700 is shown in FIG. 7. Because the STO software intercepts the data string indicative of transaction initiation, it can analyze the data string 710 and use the information in the data string to access the page 720 on the web site where the transaction object has been placed into a form for purchase by a user, often referred to as the web site's shopping cart or a transaction page.

Because web sites vary in the manner, form, and extent of information presented to users and requested from users, the ability to access information needed to conduct a fransaction may require the governing Rule Set to instruct the STO software to search for the information in a plurality of places. For example, in some sites, all the requisite information on the subject of the transaction is provided in the data string indicative of transaction initiation. As such the entire product/service capture process 700 may be performed by appropriately parsing the data string indicative of transaction information. Other sites may only provide the requisite information in response to the data string indicative of transaction initiation. Preferably, then, the STO software performs a set of regular analyses, including but not limited to regular expressions, 730 on the web site page returned in response in order to the submission of the data string indicative of transaction initiation. By doing so, the present invention can extract the product/service information necessary to conduct a purchase. Such regular expressions could be a string of hard coded variable expressions, defined by the Rule Set, that search for tags precedent to the desired information and, when found, extract the information that follows the tags. More preferred, however, is the use of document object models (DOMs) uniquely tailored to each transaction page. Rather than develop a hard coded set of regular expressions dependent upon tags that may be regularly modified by a web site, a DOM of the transaction page is developed that models how the page is structured and, based upon that structure, searches for the appropriate information in the appropriate location 740, as pre-determined by the DOM. For example, a Rule Set for a particular site might require that, in order to identify the name of the fransaction object, the STO software may have to use a regular expression to search for the transaction object name after the word "Product". This regular expression is subject, however, to frequent errors because sites often change the look and feel of web pages and, therefore, may change the preceding word to "Gift" in place of "Product". It is therefore preferred for a Rule Set to require that, in order to identify the name of a transaction object, the STO software should look to a particular place on the transaction page, relative to its forms or other structural elements that do not frequently change. The use of a DOM provides a structural map, rather than a textual one, through which the requisite information can be better identified and extracted 760.

Because web sites often use cookies to track products/services selected by users such that, when a user selects yet another product and reaches a transaction page, the web site can list, by reading the cookie file on the user's Internet access device, all the products/services historically selected by a user, the STO software may work with, and preserve such cookies. Because each site has unique variations to how each of the aforementioned processes is performed, the Rule Sets which provide instruction to the STO software on how to perform such processes should be uniquely tailored to the individual site and should include this information, along with tailored information on transaction initiation, transaction page structure and definition, and transaction object extraction.

While termed a product/service capture process, the process is also designed to capture information requests and options associated with key parameters that must be provided by the user in order to conduct and complete a fransaction. For example, in order to conduct and complete a purchase, a user must not only select the specific type of product to be purchased but also the method of shipping. The request to input a method of shipping, together with all options provided by the web site owner associated with the method of shipping, are therefore preferably captured. One of ordinary skill in the art would understand that such a capture process can be performed on any number of parameters in order to abstract and obtain all options associated with required transaction parameters for future presentation to the user, including, but not limited to, specific user identification information, special packaging information, or the use of gift certificates, coupons, or other forms of unique payment.

Referring again to FIG. 5B, once the product/service information is extracted and captured, the STO software displays that information 551 through a user interface for review by the user 553. Preferably, in conjunction with the display of this information, the STO software also displays any other information relevant to conducting and completing a transaction. Specifically, referring now to FIG. 8, when purchasing a product, in addition to the product information 810, there is often required further information such as where to ship the product (an address) 815 or how to pay for the product (a method of payment) 820, along with how to ship the product (next day air, standard shipping) 830 gathered through the product/service capture process. FIG. 8 depicts an exemplary embodiment of a user interface 800 that can be used in the case of purchasing products, combining information specific to the product and information specific to conducting and completing the purchase of that product. The interface 800 is populated with information that is preferably gathered through the aforementioned product/service capture process. Information not gathered through the product/service capture process can be obtained either by asking the user to input such information directly into the user interface, by accessing a database in which the additional information was previously stored, or by accessing third party software, such as personal organizers or financial management software, through STO software filters.

It is preferable to allow users to change certain parameters in the interface 800. For example, when buying a product, users should be able to modify the quantity of the product being purchased 807, where to ship the product (an address) 815, how to pay for the product (a method of payment) 820, and how to ship the product (next day air, standard shipping) 830 by merely clicking on the area containing that information. It is also preferable to display the base price of the product 823, captured through the product/service capture process, and a total price 853, captured through the transaction process logic, to be discussed. Further preferred are buttons on the interface that permit a user to execute the transaction 859, save it for later 861, or bypass the use of the product altogether [not shown]. One of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate that it is preferable to provide users with a method of inputting information through the interface and that such an input can occur through a number of methods, including, but not limited to, pull down menus, forms, dialog boxes, and the like.

Referring again to FIG. 5B, having had the opportunity to review the captured product/service information and other information required to conduct and complete a transaction, a user can choose to execute a transaction 555 by pressing on a button located on the interface, shown as the "Execute Transaction" button 859 in FIG. 8. One of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate that any conventional method can be used to accept an input from a user and, based upon that input, execute a transaction. Upon initiating the execution of a transaction 555, the STO software, based upon the Rule Set particular to that web site, executes the fransaction process logic 557 to input the requisite data to conduct and complete the ttansaction 558. The ttansaction process logic, pre-defined by a Rule Set tailored to that web site, establishes the methodology by which the STO software communicates with the web site in order to provide that web site requested information in a manner acceptable to that web site. More specifically, an exemplary web site has a complex, intricate interrelationship between disparate pages, each page requiring the input of specific information into forms tied to a back-end server applications. Once information is inputted by a user into one page, that page sends the user to subsequent pages for the further input of information, once again into forms tied to back-end server applications. Currently, this process is human mediated, requiring users to input information into each page, or use a form filler application to do so, submit that information, and then proceed to the next page to repeat the process. By using transaction process logic, the process becomes automated with the user responsible for initiating the STO software that then inputs specific information into forms tied to a back-end server applications without any further human mediation. Transaction process logic, while described in terms of conducting a product/service transaction, can be universally applied to any Internet application that requires a user to navigate through multiple pages and, in each page, input information, such as loan applications or travel.

Referring back to FIGS. 5 A and 5B, rather than choose to execute a ttansaction 555, a user can decide to save the subject of the ttansaction in the form of a ttansaction object 559, either locally or on a remote server. A transaction object is generated by conducting the transaction process logic 561, pursuant to the unique Rule Set for that web site, utilizing information gathered through the product/service capture process 549 and any other information relevant to conducting and completing a transaction, such as preferred ship to address or method of payment, without engaging in the final ttansaction authorization or confirmation. By engaging in the ttansaction process logic 561 up to the final point of ttansaction completion, one can generate a seller approved ttansaction record 563, complete with product definition, total price calculation, and transaction authorization from the seller's end, that is uniquely tailored to the information parameters specified by the user. This ttansaction record can be wrapped into a ttansaction object file 565 that can be saved, transmitted, or otherwise manipulated like any other file type 567. By creating a seller approved complete ttansaction record, it is possible to provide, through a user interface, an upfront total price calculation that can be presented to the user upon his specification of information relevant to conducting and completing a ttansaction. The generation of a seller approved complete ttansaction record conventionally includes the calculation of a total price that accounts for the price of the item identified by the user plus costs accompanying a ttansaction, such as shipping, taxes, and other fees. By engaging the ttansaction process logic, such a calculation is made on behalf of the user without requiring the user to actively facilitate that calculation. As such, the present invention can act as a point of sale cost reporting system that generates a total cost for a plurality of products upon a user's selection of the products. The point of sale cost reporting system can be used to generate modified upfront price calculations by repeating the transaction process logic, pursuant to the unique Rule Set for that web site, utilizing modified information relevant to conducting and completing a transaction, such as preferred ship to address or method of payment and engaging the ttansaction process logic up to the final point of ttansaction completion, thereby generating a new total price calculation that is uniquely tailored to the modified information parameters specified by the user.

Throughout the interaction between the STO software and a web site, mediated through the use of tailored Rule Sets, it is possible that the web site may not just passively receive information from the STO software but may also actively return messages that may have to be displayed to the user. As such, it is preferred that the STO software incorporate a method of displaying messages sent by the web site in connection with the transaction process, including but not limited to confirmations, financial data, and other transaction-specific information, and further incorporate a method of storing such information. As shown in FIG. 9, varied functionality is made possible through the creation of a ttansaction object in relation to an underlying architecture capable of abstracting and integrating web applications. For example, in practice, a user would preferably visit a site 907, identify a product at that site 910, provide the requisite transaction information 915 needed to generate a ttansaction object, and initiate the transaction process logic 920 to create that transaction object 930. Upon generation of a transaction object 930, a user can perform a number of tasks. One such task is to save such an object 935 to into a file structure 940, such as a shopping cart. If the user chooses to visit other sites, at each site the user can identify a product, generate a ttansaction object and save it into a shopping cart that can be used to store and organize pending transactions until the user determines that he would like to actually transact on the ttansaction object. At that time, the user can select the ttansaction object 942, now stored in the STO software, initiate the transaction process logic by clicking on a "buy" button 944, and complete the ttansaction 946. The present invention can therefore effectively act as as a method for organizing electronic commerce transactions.

Similarly, rather than just save the ttansaction object as a file, a user can perform other commerce activities, including emailing the transaction object or performing price comparison, merchant reviews, product reviews, and product searches. The generation of a ttansaction object 930 creates a file having information that can be transmitted or parsed and submitted to services capable of performing the aforementioned functions. For example, a user can incorporate the ttansaction object into an email as an attachment 952 and then send the email, together with the attachment, 954 to a recipient who, in turn, can transact on the ttansaction object provided he has the STO software available. The user can perform any activity associated with a normal file, including moving or copying the file.

A user can submit the transaction object to a search engine that can perform a search on the object by first parsing the transaction object information to identify the object name 994, then submitting that object name into a search engine to perform a conventional search 996 or submitting that object name into a database of products to search for an associated match 998 and generating a search result 999. Comparable processes can be deployed to obtain product reviews, price comparisons, and merchant reviews. A user submits the ttansaction object to a price comparison service, merchant review service, or product review service that can search on the object by first parsing the ttansaction object information to identify the object name and cost 964, the merchant offering the object 974, or just the object name and description 984, then searching a database to find an appropriate match 966, 976, 986, and, finally, returning the matched information 968, 978, 988 to the user.

Optionally, the present invention can be used to generate revenue by having a web site agree that, whenever a user submits a ttansaction object to the web site stored by (or even identified by) the STO software onto a data storage medium, the web site will pay money to the entity operating the present invention. As shown in FIG. 10, a user would visit a site 1002, identify a product at that site 1003, provide the requisite ttansaction information needed to generate a transaction object 1004, and initiate the ttansaction process logic to create that transaction object 1007. Upon creation of that ttansaction object 1007, the user may choose to save it to a data storage medium 1015 and submit it to a web site 1020. The submission can be facilitated in a number of ways, including, for example, by deconstructing the transaction object 1030 into its constituent informational components, such as product name, cost, merchant, etc., using the communication engine to access the requested web site 1040, accessing the rule set 1050 associated with the requested web site, and submitting the constituent informational components 1060 in accordance with the accessed rule set.

One of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate that user transactions can be associated with the entity operating the present invention through a number of methods, including having the STO software provide web sites with a unique identifier to indicate a user's use of the STO software to conduct a transaction, by having the STO software route to the web site through the entity's servers, thereby crediting the entity for sourcing the user, or by having the STO software actively insert the entity's IP address into select posts used by web sites to track which companies are delivering purchasers to their web site.

Because the present invention enables the creation of fransaction objects and the streamlined transaction of such objects, the present invention concurrently captures transaction information generated by each user. As a result, users can freely perform a number of tasks, including commerce management and order tracking. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 11, a user preferably visits a site 1102, identifies a product at that site 1103, provides the requisite ttansaction information needed to generate a transaction object 1104, initiates the ttansaction process logic 1107 to create that transaction object, and, whether at that point or later after having saved the transaction object to the STO software, actually completes a ttansaction based upon that transaction object 1109. The present invention, having previously extracted the relevant object information and ttansaction specific information, can then save that object/transaction information 1111 into a file and parse that object/transaction information 1113 to allow a user to track historical purchases 1115, to submit ttansaction data to financial management applications 1117, or to track the status of an order or the status of a shipment 1119 by submitting parsed shipping information to the appropriate web site, based upon Rule Sets tailored to that site. It is preferred that relevant object information and ttansaction specific information, whether transacted upon or simply saved into the STO software be logged into a server database in order to permit users to access their pending and historical transactions from a variety of Internet access devices without requiring the physical synchronization of data separately collected in each device. By providing a common server-side storage process, users can utilize many Internet access devices and still maintain a common database of pending and historical transactions that can be used to update and synchronize each individual device. Further, by virtue of having collected such data, it would be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art that it would be possible, then, to actually measure the total number of purchases being made on the Internet, the type of purchases, the total value of such purchases, and the places from where the purchases are made in a manner that accurately captures the true commerce activity being engaged in by a variety of Internet users.

Further, the present invention can be used to reward users for using the software. As shown in FIG. 12, a user preferably visits a site 1202, identifies a product at that site 1203, provides the requisite ttansaction information needed to generate a transaction object 1204, initiates the ttansaction process logic 1207 to create that ttansaction object, and, whether at that point or later after having saved the ttansaction object to the STO software, actually completes a ttansaction based upon that transaction object 1209. The present invention, having previously extracted the relevant object information and ttansaction specific information, can then save that object/transaction information 1211 into a file and determine, based upon any variable included in the ttansaction information, such as product type or quantity, a plurality of points 1220 and maintains the points in a value database 1230. One of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate that, upon determining the number of points that should be awarded a user, the user can be rewarded in any number of ways 1235, including, for example, by permitting the user to exchange the points for a specific product or by transforming the points into other forms of currency. Upon the user's selection of an incentive 1235, the present invention subtracts from the value database a number of points corresponding to the value of the selected user incentive 1240. Preferably, the user is permitted to track outstanding points through an interface capable of accessing the data storage medium having the points stored thereon. As shown in FIG. 13, the present invention preferably uses a network 1310 having a plurality of computers 1320 operating with STO software and connected to the network 1310 via links 1330 through which users 1305 can access the network 1310. A type of server, a ttansaction server, 1350 is also connected to the network 1310. When users 1305 conduct transactions utilizing the STO software, ttansaction object and transaction-specific information 1340 is generated which is communicated between the user's computer 1320 and the site with which the transaction is occurring [not shown]. In the course of such communications, by operation of the STO software, the ttansaction server 1350 receives and stores such information into databases 1365, 1375, 1385 for future reference and analysis. Preferably, the information is separated into ttansaction object information, ttansaction specific information, and user information and subsequently stored in transaction object databases 1365, ttansaction specific databases 1375, and user databases 1385. With the collection and storage of transaction specific information, the present invention can generate a database of product names and descriptions, i.e. articles, that can, upon request from a user, be displayed, searched, or otherwise manipulated.

By integrating these databases with conventional data analyses tools, the present invention can provide market intelligence in the form of accurate analyses that relate the demographic profile of users, preferably gathered through an initial registration process to use the STO software, with specific sites from which purchases were made with the products purchased at those sites with the amount spent. An exemplary report provides the name of the merchant site visited by the collective user base and lists merchants in accordance with the number of visitors. The average amount of money spent per visitor may be provided along with a demographic profile of the average visitor. One of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate that other data can be provided in place of, or concurrent with, the described variable set.

Rather than have a user unilaterally control and manage commerce activities, it is possible, and at times preferable, to drive offers, advertising, or other communications directly to the user in accordance with the user's demonstrated preferences. More specifically, because the present invention enables the capture and organization of product service information and related transaction information into searchable databases, it is possible to associate a specific user with the set of transaction objects, products, that user had previously selected or purchased and, therefore, to understand what products/services interest the user. With that knowledge, the present invention enables one to selectively direct tailored advertisements, offers, or other materials to the user.

Referring now to FIG. 14, when users 1405 conduct fransactions utilizing the STO software, transaction object and transaction-specific information 1440 is generated which is communicated between the user's computer 1420 and the site with which the transaction is occurring [not shown] through a network 1407. In the course of such communications, a fransaction server 1450 receives and stores such information, by operation of the STO software, into databases 1465, 1475, 1485 for future reference and analysis. Preferably, the information is separated into transaction object information, transaction specific information, and user information and subsequently stored in ttansaction object databases 1465, ttansaction specific databases 1475, and user databases 1485. The collected information 1440 is stored such that all related information remains cross-referenceable across all databases 1465, 1475, 1485.

A promotion analysis system 1430 is provided that analyzes the historical data stored in the databases 1465, 1475, 1485 and generates a set of recommended promotion types 1431 that, based upon historical data, would appeal to the user 1405. Referencing these recommended promotion types 1431, a promotion delivery server 1410 selects one or more promotions 1411 to transmit to the user 1405. One of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate that the chosen promotion 1411 could take any form, including a product image or a text message, and could be delivered to the user 1405 through any number of methods, including as an email or as an HTML page rendered by the rendering engine of the STO software. It is preferable that any promotion 1411 incorporate the ttansaction object being promoted and, therefore, enable the recipient of the promotion 141 1 to conduct a transaction of the ttansaction object, provided he has access to STO software.

The present invention therefore allows for the creation of a commerce channel between a user and a company for the delivery of tailored promotions and advertising and generation of user incentives. The commerce channel can be made proprietary to the company by including graphical identifiers of the company on the interfaces provided for in the STO software. With a plurality of STO software, i.e. commerce platforms, distributed among users, it is possible, therefore, to create a commerce network comprising a plurality of commerce platforms capable of accessing a network, a plurality of servers capable of receiving and storing the plurality of exchanges of information that includes user specific information, ttansaction specific information, and web site specific information, and a means for analyzing the user specific information, transaction specific information, and web site specific information.

Beyond gathering data and providing targeted promotions and user incentives, the present invention enables the delivery of free Internet service to persons interested in accessing the Internet without requiring the use of persistent, on-screen advertising. The provision of free Internet service to a person is conventionally contingent upon that person agreeing to view advertisements, streamed to the person's Internet access device, from the Internet service provider. If the person wishes not to view such advertisements and terminates the streaming ads, the Internet service provider concurrently terminates the person's access to the Internet. The present invention permits a user to have Internet access for free provided that, in the course of conducting purchases on the Internet, the user utilizes the present invention.

Specifically, referring now to FIGS. 12 and 13, the present invention is able to generate accurate analyses that relate the demographic profile of users, preferably gathered through an initial registration process to use the STO software, with specific sites from which purchases were made with the products purchased at those sites with the amount spent and, therefore, deliver to the marketplace the most complete, accurate and reliable overview of on-going electronic commerce activity. As a result, through the use of the present invention, a data storehouse is developed that, on an aggregate level, is intrinsically valuable and saleable to a large market. Similarly, referring now to FIG. 14, the present invention is capable of delivering highly tailored promotions to users, based upon their historical purchases, which, if sent in the form of ttansaction objects, could be purchased immediately by the promotion recipient, provided he has access to STO software. In sum, the data gathering and promotional delivery capabilities of the present invention enable the provision of free Internet service without requiring persistent advertising and only premised upon the user's use of the present invention.

Underlying the operation of the embodiments described herein are Rule Sets. Rule Sets define what information is required from a user in order to conduct a ttansaction with a third party web site, i.e. a retailer, and how information from the user should be provided to that third party. Rule Sets will typically be unique to each third party web site and will provide the parameters which guide a single transaction interface to properly elicit the required information from a user in a form which can be submitted to the third party. The Rule Set can consist of any set of commands, fields, or other instructions, or in XML format. For example, the Rule Set could instruct the STO software to query the consumer preference information such as the size, color, or quantity of the product being purchased by proffering such questions in a transaction interface. Rule Sets, once obtained and acted upon by the STO software, may provide for a specific interaction sequence with the user, in order to elicit specific information for input to a third party site, in which case specific information will be requested or prompted from the user by the STO software. Rule Sets can be created through a variety of methods. A Rule Set dictating how information should be submitted to a specific web site can be generated by accessing the web site and, if the web site is written in HTML, parsing the site to generate a set of data input fields or defining parameters for interacting with that web site, i.e. the Rule Set. Any method of HTML parsing known to those skilled in the art can be used. One HTML parsing method has been commercialized by WebMethods, a company that will parse a web site and, by field references, enable other parties to extract information from that web site into a separate and distinct web site. The Rule Set created by the WebMethods parsing method is maintained in XML format. If the site is written in XML or in some commonly adopted protocol or standard, the data input fields can be extracted from the site itself. By creating a specific Rule Set that dictates what information should be gathered and how information should be submitted to a specific third party site, the transaction process avoids using a generic form filling approach that can be fooled by certain methods. The Rule Sets are stored in a database in the transaction server. To insure the Rule Sets are up to date and properly reflect the method of interacting with the third party site, it is preferred that error tests are periodically run to check if the Rule Sets do, in fact, guide the proper method of interacting with the third party site.

More complicated web sites require sophisticated Rule Sets that are not easily generated by existing methods. As previously disclosed, the STO software accesses functions dictated by Rule Sets tailored to specific web sites in order to detect ttansaction processes, capture a product/service, and conduct ttansaction logic, among other functions. Preferably, the Rule Set is capable of providing a stable set of functions that effectively script how to perform the aforementioned tasks. Even more preferably, the Rule Set can be generated efficiently with a minimal investment of human labor.

A novel method of generating and maintaining such Rule Sets is shown in FIG. 15. A web site 1510 that requires support is subjected to a Rule Set generation and maintenance system 1500 that comprises a site analysis subsystem 1520, a page analysis subsystem 1530, a post analysis subsystem 1540, a Rule Set compiler 1550, a validation subsystem 1560, a monitoring subsystem 1570, and a database 1580 for storing the Rule Sets. The site analysis subsystem 1520 is designed to generate a series of generalized descriptors of the structure of the web site 1510 being analyzed. The subsystem 1520 operates by providing a site reviewer with a series of pre-designated elements that the reviewer searches for in the web site 1510. For example, as shown in FIG. 16, the site analysis subsystem 1620 may comprise an interface 1630 through which a series of elements 1640 are displayed. A site reviewer peruses through the web site and, in doing so, searches for each of the displayed elements 1640, such as the presence of a shopping cart, gift certificate functionality, or order tracking functionality. Upon finding a displayed element 1640, the site reviewer interacts with the interface 1630 to check the found element 1645 and indicating to the site analysis subsystem 1620 the presence of the checked element 1645 in the web site. One of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate that any number of elements can be pre- designated in the site analysis subsystem. Upon completing the review of the web site, the site reviewer submits the site analysis results 1670, among other elements, to the Rule Set compiler 1680.

The page analysis subsystem 1700, shown in FIG. 17A, generates a meaningful data structure of the web site being analyzed by associating a document object model with a graphical representation of the site. Coded in a language such as HTML, the site comprises a stream of data 1710 that has a certain visual representation when presented through a browser 1720 and a certain internal representation 1730 that represents the actual data structure of the page. The page analysis subsystem 1700 takes the internal representation and displays it visually 1735 in a manner that assigns a graphical representation to each element of the data structure. A site reviewer can then review each element 1740 and assign meaning to that element 1750. For example, referring now to FIG. 17B, a web site page 1700b viewed through a conventional browser 1703b is shown having a product image 1710b, product identification information 1720b, an associated price 1730b, and a buy button 1740b, along with other graphical elements 1750b and, although not typically viewed, also having an internal data representation 1717b. Using the page analysis subsystem, the web site page 1700b can be re-represented in the form of a document object model 1760b that places the data structure underlying the graphical elements into a hierarchal representation. A site reviewer can then associate meaning to each of the data structure elements in the hierarchal representation, thereby enabling one to know that, if product information is required, it can be found at a certain place in the document object model representing the page's underlying data structure. This enables any Rule Set to apply functions to a web page that can locate and extract information from the analyzed web site page and understand what functions are associated with what elements in the analyzed web site page. Upon completing the review of a web page, the site reviewer submits the page analysis results, among other elements, to the Rule Set compiler. As shown in FIG. 18, the post analysis subsystem analyzes the post data generated from various user actions and associates that post data with a specific user action. A site reviewer addresses a web site 1810 and navigates through the web site 1820 by pressing on the various buttons, icons, and other navigational tools provided by that web site. In doing so, the site reviewer, through the browser, generates post data 1840 that is sent to the web site 1810 in response to the user's actions. The post analysis subsystem monitors and records such post data 1850 and the web site response 1860 to the submitted post data. By recording the post data generated 1850, the web site response 1860, and user actions 1820 that caused the post data to be generated, the post analysis subsystem can determine the navigational structure of the web site 1870 and understand what user actions cause what type of response from the web site 1880. Further, the post analysis subsystem can parse the post data generated and web site response 1890 and identify what information is embedded in the data 1895. This enables a Rule Set to emulate the post data that a user action would generate on behalf of a user, and predict what web site response would be made in reaction to the post data. Upon completing the post analysis, the site reviewer submits the post analysis results, among other elements, to the Rule Set compiler 1899.

Referring again to FIG. 15, the Rule Set compiler 1550 receives the site analysis results, page analysis results and post analysis results for a specific web site and compiles the results to generate a single Rule Set tailored to the analyzed web site. Through the site analysis process, the realm of web site functions possible via the analyzed web site is defined. Through the page analysis process, the data structure of pages is created and location of information is generated. Through the post analysis, the information output associated with each element of a page is obtained. By integrating these elements, the compiled Rule Set comprises a set of functions that can define where certain information can be obtained from a web site, how to obtain such information, and how to conduct transactions with that web site, in accordance with the procedures unique to that web site. The tailored Rule Set can then be submitted to the validation subsystem 1560 for testing and for on-going monitoring by the monitoring subsystem 1570.

Because the Rule Set generation and maintenance system results in a database of Rule Sets that define how a specific set of web sites operate, the Rule Set generation and maintenance system can also be used to integrate a plurality of web sites together, provide improved interaction between web sites, and deliver customer care assistance for persons interacting with web sites. Specifically, a Rule Set can be used to submit information from a first web site to a second web site by driving the submission process in accordance with the Rule Set unique to that second web site. A Rule Set can also be used to take over processes being conducted by users and, therefore, assist a user in completing an action that he or she may have difficulty completing, such as buying a product or searching for information. Rule Sets can be created by the user to automate processes engaged in by the user. For example, the user can formulate a set of commands to instruct the STO software to perform a particular function automatically, such as logging in to a favorite site or responding to advertising offers. In such cases, the Rule Set is not derived from a third party site, but rather, developed internally by the user utilizing STO software.

In sum, the present invention comprises a method, system, and apparatus for standardizing and facilitating streamlined transactions between two or more parties and for enabling the effective management of commerce activities conducted by a user over computer networks, most preferably the Internet. The present invention is also directed to a novel method of gathering ttansaction specific information, delivering electronic commerce data reports, generating targeted advertising, and providing users with free Internet service. The detailed description provided herein is made with reference to the figures and is done so in connection with the description of preferred embodiments. It is intended that modifications and changes can be made to the described embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the claims.

Claims

CLAIMS What is claimed is:

1. A method of performing streamlined transactions over a network, comprising the steps of: providing a transactionable space to a plurality of users who have accessed the ttansactionable space by connecting to a network wherein said transactionable space contains a ttansaction protocol; providing to each of said users a visible means to initiate a ttansaction process; accessing a rule set tailored to said transactionable space; and utilizing said rule set to guide the transaction process.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the transactionable space is embedded in a web site.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the transactionable space is associated with the purchase of a product.

4. The method of claim 2 further comprising the steps of enabling each of said plurality of users to view information requested by said web site and providing an input means for each of said users to input said requested information.

5. A computer readable substrate having a computer program saved thereupon for performing streamlined transactions over a network, said computer program comprising: a means for interacting with a web site wherein a ttansactionable space containing a ttansaction protocol is embedded into said web site; a means for accessing a rule set tailored to said ttansactionable space; a means for utilizing said rule set to guide a ttansaction process; a means for enabling a user to view information requested by said web site; and a means for enabling said user to input the requested information.

6. A method of performing streamlined ttansactions over a network, comprising the steps of: detecting the initiation of a transaction by a user wherein said user has identified a transaction item and initiated a ttansaction of that ttansaction item; extracting ttansaction information concerning that transaction item; receiving user information; and submitting said ttansaction information and user information to the web site.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein said detection occurs by monitoring a plurality of universal resource locators accessed by the user through a browser, accessing a rule set tailored to a web site specified by a universal resource locator, monitoring information transmitted by the browser to said web site, and identifying ttansaction initiation information wherein ttansaction initiation information indicates a user's initiation of a ttansaction process and wherein said identification occurs by reference to a rule set.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein said extraction occurs by accessing a rule set tailored to a web site specified by a universal resource locator, receiving response information from the web site in reaction to the initiation of a ttansaction by a user, and extracting from the response information transaction information wherein said extraction occurs by reference to the rule set.

9. The method of claim 6 further comprising generating a transaction object by combining said transaction information and said user information.

10. A method of enabling the purchase of products over a network by a user, comprising the steps of: accessing a rule set tailored to a web site specified by a universal resource locator; identifying transaction initiation information wherein said identification occurs by reference to the rule set; receiving response information from the web site in reaction to the transaction initiation information; extracting from the response information and the transaction initiation information product information wherein said exfraction occurs by reference to the rule set; receiving the user's information; generating a ttansaction object based upon the product information and user information; and submitting said ttansaction object information to the web site wherein the submission occurs by reference to the rule set.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the user's information includes a shipping destination address and a method of payment.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising the step of allowing the user to select a method of shipping.

13. A method of performing streamlined transactions over a network, comprising the steps of: monitoring a plurality of universal resource locators accessed by a user communicating with a network utilizing a browser; accessing a rule set tailored to a web site specified by a universal resource locator; monitoring information transmitted by the browser to said web site; identifying ttansaction initiation information wherein ttansaction initiation information indicates a user's initiation of a transaction process through said user's interaction with a ttansaction initiator embedded in the web site, said ttansaction initiator being associated with a ttansaction item and wherein said identification occurs by reference to the rule set; receiving response information from the web site in reaction to the ttansaction initiation information; extracting from the response information and the ttansaction initiation information transaction object information wherein transaction object information is descriptive of the fransaction item and wherein said exttaction occurs by reference to the rule set; receiving user information relevant to conducting the ttansaction process; generating a transaction object by combining said ttansaction object information and said user information; submitting said ttansaction object information and said user information to the web site wherein the submission occurs by reference to the rule set; receiving ttansaction confirmation information from said web site; and storing said ttansaction confirmation information.

14. A method of enabling the purchase of products over a network by a user, comprising the steps of: monitoring a plurality of universal resource locators accessed by the user communicating with a network utilizing a browser; accessing a rule set tailored to a web site specified by a universal resource locator; monitoring information transmitted by the browser to said web site; identifying ttansaction initiation information wherein ttansaction initiation information indicates the user's initiation of a ttansaction process through said user's interaction with a ttansaction initiator embedded in the web site, said ttansaction initiator being associated with a product and wherein said identification occurs by reference to the rule set; receiving user information; submitting ttansaction initiation information to the web site; receiving response information from the web site in reaction to the ttansaction initiation information; extracting from the response information and the ttansaction initiation information product information wherein said exttaction occurs by reference to the rule set; generating a ttansaction object based upon the product information and user information; and submitting said ttansaction object to the web site wherein the submission occurs by reference to the rule set.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the user information includes a shipping destination address, a method of payment, and a preferred method of shipping.

16. The method of claim 14 furthering comprising the step of enabling the user to modify user information.

17. The method of claim 15 further comprising the step of providing a total price number by extracting a total price figure from the web site generated by the submission of said transaction object to the web site wherein the submission occurs by reference to the rule set.

18. A computer readable medium comprising a plurality of instructions, which when executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform the steps of: detecting the initiation of a transaction by a user wherein said user has identified a transaction item and initiated a ttansaction of that transaction item; extracting transaction information concerning that ttansaction item; receiving user information; and submitting said transaction information and user information to the web site.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein said detection occurs by monitoring a plurality of universal resource locators accessed by the user through a browser, accessing a rule set tailored to a web site specified by a universal resource locator, monitoring information transmitted by the browser to said web site, and identifying ttansaction initiation information wherein ttansaction initiation information indicates a user's initiation of a ttansaction process and wherein said identification occurs by reference to a rule set.

20. The method of claim 18 wherein said extraction occurs by accessing a rule set tailored to a web site specified by a universal resource locator, receiving response information from the web site in reaction to the initiation of a ttansaction by a user, and extracting from the response information transaction information wherein said extraction occurs by reference to the rule set.

21. The method of claim 18 further comprising generating a transaction object by combining said ttansaction information and said user information.

22. A point of sale cost reporting system wherein the point of sale cost reporting system generates a total cost for a plurality of products upon a consumer's selection of said products, the point of sale cost reporting system comprising: monitoring a plurality of universal resource locators accessed by the user communicating with a network utilizing a browser; accessing a rule set tailored to a web site specified by a universal resource locator; monitoring information transmitted by the browser to said web site; receiving response information from the web site in reaction to an initiation of a ttansaction by the consumer; extracting from the response information product information wherein said extraction occurs by reference to the rule set; receiving user information; submitting said product information and user information to the web site wherein the submission occurs by reference to the rule set; and providing a point of sale cost by extracting a plurality of price figures from the web site generated by the submission of said product information and user information to the web site wherein the submission occurs by reference to the rule set.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein the user information includes a shipping destination address, a method of payment, and a preferred method of shipping.

24. The method of claim 22 further comprising the steps of enabling the user to modify user information, submitting said product information and modified user information to the web site wherein the submission occurs by reference to the rule set, and providing a new point of sale cost by extracting a plurality of price figures from the web site generated by the submission of said product information and modified user information to the web site wherein the submission occurs by reference to the rule set.

25. A method for organizing electronic commerce transactions comprising: monitoring a plurality of universal resource locators accessed by a user communicating with a network utilizing a browser; accessing a rule set tailored to a web site specified by a universal resource locator; monitoring information transmitted by the browser to said web site; receiving response information from the web site; extracting from the response information ttansaction object information wherein transaction object information is descriptive of the transaction item and wherein said extraction occurs by reference to the rule set; and saving the ttansaction object information in a form of a transaction object onto a data storage medium.

26. The method of claim 25 further comprising permitting the user to form a plurality of file structures wherein each of said file structures is capable of holding a plurality of transaction objects and allowing the user to move each of said ttansaction objects between each of said file structures.

27. The method of claim 25 wherein the data storage medium is remotely located from the user and the ttansaction object is transmitted to said data storage medium through wireless communication.

28. The method of claim 25 further comprising: permitting the user to select a ttansaction object; retrieving said transaction object information from the ttansaction object; receiving user information relevant to conducting a transaction concerning the transaction object; submitting said ttansaction object information and said user information to the web site wherein the submission occurs by reference to the rule set; receiving ttansaction confirmation information from said web site; and storing said ttansaction confirmation information.

29. The method of claim 26 further comprising parsing the ttansaction confirmation information into a plurality of variables and permitting the user to perform analyses on the plurality of variables.

30. A platform for conducting and managing the electronic commerce activities of a user, comprising: a communication engine wherein the communication engine is capable of communicating with a plurality of universal resource locators accessed by the user through a network; a plurality of interfaces through which the user can input commerce related information; a commerce engine wherein said commerce engine manages a plurality of exchanges of information between a user and a web site by use of a rule set tailored to a web site specified by a universal resource locator; and a platform architecture capable of communicating with a plurality of commerce services.

31. The platform of claim 30 further comprising a parsing component capable of parsing hypertext markup language.

32. The platform of claim 30 further comprising a hypertext markup language rendering engine and an encryption engine capable of encrypting a portion of data captured through the plurality of interfaces and capable of encrypting a portion of data captured through the commerce engine.

33. The platform of claim 30 further comprising a data storage medium capable of storing a plurality of transaction objects wherein each of said transaction objects is generated based upon commerce related information inputted through said plurality of interfaces and based upon ttansaction information extracted from the web site.

34. The platform of claim 33 further comprising a means of receiving and displaying an advertisement wherein said advertisement is designed with reference to the plurality of transaction objects.

35. The platform of claim 33 wherein one of said commerce services comprises a price comparison service capable of receiving a portion of the ttansaction information, said ttansaction information including a transaction subject and a web site identifier, and, in response, providing a plurality of references to similar ttansaction subjects from other web sites.

36. The platform of claim 33 wherein one of said commerce services comprises a product review service capable of receiving a portion of the ttansaction information, said ttansaction information including a transaction subject, and, in response, providing a plurality of reviews of the ttansaction subject.

37. The platform of claim 33 wherein one of said commerce services comprises a web site review service capable of receiving a portion of the ttansaction information, said ttansaction information including a web site identifier, and, in response, providing a plurality of reviews of the web site.

38. The platform of claim 33 wherein one of said commerce services comprises a user incentive system wherein said user incentive system determines a plurality of points based upon said transaction information, maintains the points in a value database, provides access to a plurality of user incentives, each of said incentives having an assigned value, enables the user to select a plurality of user incentives, and subtracts from the value database a number of points coπesponding to the value of the selected user incentive.

39. The platform of claim 30 further comprising a directory having references to a plurality of universal resource locator addresses.

40. The platform of claim 30 wherein the rule set used by the commerce engine facilitates the identification of transaction initiation information wherein ttansaction initiation information indicates the user's initiation of a ttansaction process through said user's interaction with a ttansaction initiator embedded in the web site.

41. The platform of claim 40 wherein the communication engine facilitates the submission of transaction initiation information to the web site and is capable of receiving response information from the web site in reaction to the transaction initiation information.

42. The platform of claim 41 wherein the rule set used by the commerce engine facilitates the exttaction of ttansaction information from the response information and the ttansaction initiation information.

43. The platform of claim 42 wherein the commerce engine is capable of generating a ttansaction object based upon the ttansaction information and the commerce related information inputted through said plurality of interfaces.

44. The platform of claim 43 further comprising a data storage medium capable of storing a plurality of ttansaction objects.

45. A platform for conducting and managing the electronic commerce activities of a user, comprising: a communication engine wherein the communication engine is capable of communicating with a plurality of universal resource locators accessed by the user through a network; a plurality of interfaces through which the user can input commerce related information; a commerce engine wherein said commerce engine manages a plurality of exchanges of information between a user and a web site by use of a rule set tailored to a web site specified by a universal resource locator; and a platform architecture having integrated therein a plurality of commerce services.

46. A method for conducting and managing electronic commerce activities by a user comprising the steps of: communicating with a plurality of web sites accessed by the user interacting with a network; receiving user information related to the user's commerce activities; conducting a plurality of information exchanges between the user and said web sites in accordance with a plurality of rule sets, each of said rule sets tailored to a single web site; capturing transaction information wherein a portion of said transaction information is generated in response to said plurality of information exchanges; and submitting said ttansaction information to a plurality of commerce services.

47. The method of claim 46 further comprising the step of displaying an advertisement wherein said advertisement is designed with reference to a portion of the ttansaction information.

48. The method of claim 46 wherein one of said commerce services comprises a price comparison service capable of receiving a portion of the ttansaction information, said ttansaction information including a ttansaction subject and a web site identifier, and, in response, providing a plurality of references to similar ttansaction subjects from other web sites.

49. The method of claim 46 wherein one of said commerce services comprises a product review service capable of receiving a portion of the transaction information, said ttansaction information including a transaction subject, and, in response, providing a plurality of reviews of the ttansaction subject.

50. The method of claim 46 wherein one of said commerce services comprises a web site review service capable of receiving a portion of the ttansaction information, said ttansaction information including a web site identifier, and, in response, providing a plurality of reviews of the web site.

51. The method of claim 46 wherein one of said commerce services comprises a user incentive system wherein said user incentive system determines a plurality of points based upon said transaction information, maintains the points in a value database, provides access to a plurality of user incentives, each of said incentives having an assigned value, enables the user to select a plurality of user incentives, and subtracts from the value database a number of points coπesponding to the value of the selected user incentive.

52. A method for the delivery of targeted information to a user that has engaged in commerce activities over a network comprising the steps of designing an advertisement tailored to the user, wherein said design occurs by reference to transaction information, said transaction information being generated in response to a plurality of information exchanges between the user and a plurality of web sites in accordance with a plurality of rule sets, each of said rule sets tailored to a single web site, and transmitting the advertisement to the user.

53. A method of collecting, storing and displaying a database of articles comprising the steps of enabling a plurality of users to generate transaction information wherein said ttansaction information is generated in response to a plurality of information exchanges between the plurality of users and a plurality of web sites in accordance with rule sets, each of said rule sets tailored to a web site and wherein the ttansaction information includes information descriptive of articles, storing the transaction information, and displaying portions of the ttansaction information in response to a request by a user.

54. A method for generating refeπal fee, comprising the steps of: communicating with a first web site accessed by a user interacting with a network; conducting a plurality of information exchanges between the user and said first web site in accordance with a rule set tailored to the first web site; capturing ttansaction information wherein a portion of said ttansaction information is generated in response to said plurality of information exchanges; submitting a portion of said ttansaction information to a second web site in order to initiate a second ttansaction; conducting a plurality of information exchanges between the user and said second web site in accordance with a rule set tailored to said second web site; and receiving a referral fee after completion of said second transaction.

55. A commerce network comprising: a plurality of commerce platforms distributed among a plurality of devices capable of accessing a network, each of said platforms having a communication engine wherein the communication engine is capable of communicating with a plurality of universal resource locators accessed by a user through the network, a plurality of interfaces through which the user can input commerce related information, and a commerce engine wherein said commerce engine manages a plurality of exchanges of information between a user and a web site; a plurality of servers capable of receiving and storing said plurality of exchanges of information; and a plurality of commerce servers capable of transmitting information to each of said commerce platforms.

56. A market intelligence system comprising a plurality of commerce platforms capable of accessing a network, each of said platforms having a plurality of interfaces through which the user can input commerce related information and a commerce engine wherein said commerce engine manages a plurality of exchanges of information between a user and web sites in accordance with a rule set tailored to each web site; a plurality of servers capable of receiving and storing said plurality of exchanges of information wherein said information includes user specific information, ttansaction specific information, and web site specific information; and a means for analyzing the user specific information, transaction specific information, and web site specific information.

57. A system for providing market intelligence comprising gathering information from a plurality of users by distributing among said users commerce platforms capable of accessing a network, each of said platforms having a plurality of interfaces through which each user can input commerce related information and a commerce engine wherein said commerce engine manages a plurality of exchanges of fransaction information between the user and web sites in accordance with a rule set tailored to each web site and by storing said transaction information and commerce related information; providing a means to analyze said ttansaction information and said commerce related information; and providing a means to display the results of said analyses.

58. A method of providing subsidized internet service, comprising the steps of: providing a user with internet access without receiving a direct payment from the user for said internet access; and providing the user with a commerce platform.

59. The method of claim 58 further comprising the step of delivering to the user targeted information by designing an advertisement tailored to the user, wherein said design occurs by reference to transaction information, said transaction information being generated in response to a plurality of information exchanges between the user and a plurality of web sites in accordance with a plurality of rule sets, each of said rule sets tailored to a single web site, and transmitting the advertisement to the user.

60. A method for generating a commerce channel between a company and a consumer, comprising the steps of: distributing to the consumer a commerce platform having a graphical identifier tailored to the company, said platform having a communication engine wherein the communication engine is capable of communicating with a plurality of universal resource locators accessed by a user, a plurality of interfaces through which the user can input commerce related information, and a commerce engine wherein said commerce engine manages a plurality of exchanges of information between a user and web sites in accordance with rule sets tailored to the web sites; and receiving and storing said plurality of exchanges of information.

61. The method of claim 60 further comprising the step of delivering to the user targeted information by designing an advertisement tailored to the user, wherein said design occurs by reference to ttansaction information, said ttansaction information being generated in response to the plurality of information exchanges and transmitting the advertisement to the user.

62. A method for generating a set of rules for interacting with a web site having data elements, comprising the steps of: accessing a plurality of pages comprising the web site; representing data elements in each of said pages in a hierarchal data structure; associating meaning with said data elements to create a plurality of page analyses; navigating the web site; monitoring and recording post data generated through said navigation and monitoring and recording web site responses to said post data to create a plurality of post analyses; and compiling said page analyses and post analyses.

63. The method of claim 62 further comprising the step of identifying a plurality of pre-designated elements in the web site.

64. A rule set generation system for generating a set of rules governing the interaction with a web site having data elements comprising: a page analysis subsystem capable of accessing a plurality of pages comprising the web site, representing data elements in each of said pages in a hierarchal data structure, and associating meaning with said data elements to create a plurality of page analyses; a post analysis subsystem capable of navigating the web site, monitoring and recording post data generated through said navigation and monitoring and recording web site responses to said post data to create a plurality of post analyses; and a compiler to compile said page analyses and post analyses into an executable script.