Television commerce with displayed product listing
OwnerMatthew W. Kay, Matthew J. Laughlin +1inventors
InventorsMatthew W. Kay, Matthew J. Laughlin, Colin P. Campbell
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A commerce control network is accessible through an interactive television system, such as a cable television or satellite system. The network includes client applications that provide users with the ability to buy products or get product information through the television.
Claims28
A system for use with one or more interactive television networks for providing television programs to users having television set top boxes, the system comprising:
- a plurality of client applications, each running on a set top box with each application providing a user interface that allows users to receive information and to input information;
- a commerce transfer point in communication with a number of the client applications, the commerce transfer point receiving information entered by the user and providing product information to the client application for display to the user;
- and
- a commerce control point having memory and in communication with one or more commerce transfer points for maintaining product information and information about users.
A system for use with one or more interactive television networks for providing television programs to users having television set top boxes, the system comprising:
- a plurality of client applications, each running on a set top box with each application providing a user interface that allows users to receive and input information;
- a database;
- and
- a commerce transfer point in communication with the client applications and the database, the commerce transfer point providing product information from the database to the client application for display to the user, wherein the commerce transfer point
- receives requests from client applications, processes the requests, and provides messages to the client applications, the commerce transfer point including:
- a real-time queue for queuing requests with a higher response priority,
- a batch queue for queuing requests with a lower response priority, and
- a plurality of database programs for processing the requests first from the real-time queue and then from the batch queue.
A method for use with an interactive television commerce system, the method comprising:
- in response to user input, providing to the user a list of products;
- maintaining a database of users;
- and
- in response to a user selecting an item from the list, storing the item in the database and associating that item with the user, such that the user can later retrieve the saved items.
A method for commerce through an interactive television system comprising:
- providing product information to a user over an interactive television network separate from broadcast programming in response to a request from the user, the
- interactive television network being a widely available network available to a large number of households over a wide area;
- in response to an input by a user requesting to purchase a product, providing an input screen for the user to enter information;
- forwarding the information to a server to cause the purchase to be transacted.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.