# US 2006/0212361 A1 · Method of and system for accessing consumer product related information at points of consumer presence on the World Wide Web(WWW) at which UPN-encoded java-applets are embedded within HTML-encoded documents > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2006/0212361 A1 - Document ID: US20060212361A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 11/261,415 - Filed: 2005-10-28 - Published: 2006-09-21 - Earliest claimed: 1996-10-25 - Assignees: IPF, Inc. - Inventors: Thomas Perkowski - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20060212361A1 ## CPC - H04L 67/02: based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP] - G06F 16/9554: {by using bar codes} - G06Q 30/02: Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising - G06Q 30/0234: Rebates after completed purchase - G06Q 30/0239: {Online discounts or incentives} - G06Q 30/0277: {Online advertisement} - G06Q 30/0601: Electronic shopping [e-shopping] - G06Q 30/0611: {Request for offers or quotes} - G06Q 30/0625: {by formulating product or service queries, e.g. using keywords or predefined options} - G06Q 30/0641: {utilising user interfaces specially adapted for shopping} - G06Q 30/0643: {graphically representing goods, e.g. 3D product representation} - G07F 17/16: for devices exhibiting advertisements, announcements, pictures or the like - H04W 4/00: Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor - H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M) - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) - G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR - G07F: COIN-FREED OR LIKE APPARATUS (coin sorting G07D3/00; coin testing G07D5/00; {handling coins or paper currencies apart from payment activated apparatus G07D; payment architectures, schemes or protocols G06Q20/00}) - H04W: WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (broadcast communication H04H; communication systems using wireless links for non-selective communication, e.g. wireless extensions H04M1/72) ## Abstract Method of and system for delivering consumer product related information to consumers over the Internet. The system and method involves creating an UPN-encoded Consumer Product Information (CPIR) enabling Applet for each consumer product registered within a manufacturer-managed UPN/URL database management system. Each CPIR-enabling Applet is encapsulated within an executable file and then stored in the UPN/URL database management system. Each CPIR-enabling Applet is searchable and downloadable by, for example, (1) retailers purchasing products from an electronic-commerce enabled product catalog, (2) advertisers desiring to link consumer product information to Web-based product advertisements, or (3) anyone having a legitimate purpose of disseminating such information within the stream of electronic commerce. After downloading and extraction from its encapsulating file, the CPIR-enabling Applet is embedded within an HTML-encoded document associated with, for example, an EC-enabled store, on-line auction site, product advertisement, Internet search engine or directory, and the like. Upon encountering such an Applet-encoded HTML document on the WWW, the consumer need only perform a single mouse-clicking operation to automatically execute the underlying CPIR-enabling Applet (on either the client or server side of the network), causing a UPN-directed search to be performed against the manufacturer-defined UPN/URL Database, and the results thereof displayed in an independent Java GUI, without disturbing the consumer's point of presence on the WWW. Preferably, the CPIR-enabling Applets are realized using Java™ technology, although it is understood that alternative technologies can be used to practice the system and methods of the present invention. ## Claims ### Claim at position 1 1-33. (canceled) ### Claim 34 A consumer product information catalog system for operation on the World Wide Web (WWW), said consumer product information catalog system comprising: a database management subsystem including a relational database containing (i) a plurality of Universal Product Numbers (UPNs) uniquely associated with a plurality of consumer products offered for sale in a stream of commerce, and (ii) a plurality of Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) symbolically linked to each one of said plurality of UPNs, wherein each said categorized URL points to a consumer product related information resource published on the World Wide Web (WWW) supported by the infrastructure of the Internet; said database management subsystem providing means for manufacturers and/or their agents to dynamically update said relational database, a Consumer Product Information Request (CPIR) enabling tag containing information related to the location of a computer executable server-side component; a first Internet information server for publishing a collection of the CPIR-enabling tags on the Internet, said first Internet information server with means for providing to a consumer's Web browser, HTML-encoded documents publishable on the WWW with at least one of the CPIR enabling tags embedded within one of said HTML-encoded documents; a second Internet information server operably connected to said database management subsystem and the infrastructure of the Internet, with means for detecting when at least one of said CPIR-enabling tags embedded in one of said HTML-encoded documents has been selected by the consumer's Web browser, and means for activating said computer executable server-side component; wherein said means for activating activates said computer executable server-side component, automatically executing a method comprising: loading and running classes so as to perform a UPN-directed search on said database management subsystem, conducting a UPN-directed search carried out within said database management subsystem, and displaying within the consumer's Web browser, program results from said UPN-directed search, said displaying including a GUI in the form of a menu of URLs pointing to consumer product related information resources published on said WWW and symbolically linked to the UPN corresponding to the selected CPIR-enabling tag. ### Claim 35 (depends on 34) The consumer product information catalog system of claim 34, which further comprises: license-related information specifying the terms and conditions of use of the system and the conditions under which said computer executable servlet shall operate on domains of the Internet. ### Claim 36 (depends on 34) The consumer product information catalog system of claim 34, wherein said first Internet information server is a Java-enabled information server. ### Claim 37 (depends on 34) The consumer product information catalog system of claim 34, wherein said first Internet information server is an HTTP-type information server. ### Claim 38 (depends on 34) The consumer product information catalog system of claim 34, wherein said first Internet information server is implemented on a first computing system, and said second Internet information server is implemented on a second computing system. ### Claim 39 (depends on 34) The consumer product information catalog system of claim 34, wherein said classes and said method are expressed in the Java programming language. ### Claim 40 (depends on 34) The consumer product information catalog system of claim 34, wherein said GUI is implemented as a Web-based GUI. ### Claim 41 (depends on 34) The consumer product information catalog system of claim 34, wherein said GUI is implemented as a Java-based GUI. ### Claim 42 (depends on 34) The consumer product information catalog system of claim 34, wherein said HTML-encoded document contains a graphical image of the consumer product uniquely associated with the UPN corresponding to the selected CPIR-enabling tag. ### Claim 43 (depends on 34) The consumer product information catalog system of claim 34, wherein the said CPIR-enabling tag is selected by said consumer's Web browser by the consumer performing a mouse-clicking operation. ### Claim 44 (depends on 34) The consumer product information catalog system of claim 34, wherein the said CPIR-enabling tag is selected by said consumer's Web browser by the consumer performing a touch-screen operation. ### Claim 45 (depends on 34) The consumer product information catalog system of claim 34, wherein said second Internet information server is an HTTP-type information server. ### Claim 46 (depends on 34) The consumer product information catalog system of claim 34, wherein said plurality of URLs are categorized. ### Claim 47 (depends on 34) The consumer product information catalog system of claim 34, wherein said computer executable server-side component is a computer executable servlet. ### Claim 48 An Internet-based electronic commerce (EC) enabled shopping system comprising: a Web-enabled client subsystem connected to the infrastructure of the Internet; a Web-enabled information server for serving an EC-enabled WWW site comprising a plurality of interlinked HTML-encoded documents arranged and rendered to provide an electronic store environment for a consumer when served to said Web-enabled client subsystem, wherein said electronic store environment presenting a plurality of products for purchase and sale by an EC-enabled payment method supported over the Internet, wherein a consumer product information request (CPIR) enabling tag, associated with each said product, is embedded within at least one of said HTML-encoded documents displayed on said Web-enabled client subsystem, and each said CPIR-enabling tag being associated with an executable server-side component encoded with information related to the universal product number (UPN) assigned to one said product, and whereby, when the Web-enabled client subsystem encounters one said CPIR-enabling tag, the associated computer executable server-side component is automatically executed, enabling a search to be conducted against a product information database hosted on an Internet database server connected to the Internet, and the results from the search displayed in a GUI served to said Web-enabled client subsystem. ### Claim 49 (depends on 48) The Internet-based electronic commerce (EC) enabled shopping system of claim 48, wherein said computer executable server-side component is a computer executable servlet. ### Claim 50 A method of purchasing a consumer product over the Internet comprising the steps of: (a) storing on a first Internet-based information server connected to an information network, a Consumer Product Information Request (CPIR) enabling server-side component encoded with information related to a Universal Product Number (UPN) identifying a particular consumer product; (b) embedding a CPIR-enabling tag associated with said CPIR-enabling server-side component within the HTML code of a Web page served from a second Internet-based information server; (c) displaying said Web page with said CPIR-enabling tag embedded therein, on a Web-browser enabled graphical user interface (GUI) running on a client computer operably connected to said information network and accessible by a consumer; (d) said Web-browser selecting said CPIR-enabling tag embedded within said Web page, so as to automatically initiate said CPIR-enabling server-side component associated with said CPIR-enabling tag to execute on said information network, and request information on the consumer product identified by said UPN to be carried out against an Internet-enabled database server; and (e) in response to said request, automatically displaying on said Web-browser enabled GUI, information retrieved from said Internet-enabled database server for access and use by said consumer; wherein said displayed information comprises one or more Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) pointing to one or more EC-enabled stores or on-line catalogs on the World Wide Web (WWW) at which the consumer product identified by said encoded UPN can be purchased by the consumer. ### Claim 51 (depends on 50) The method of purchasing a consumer product over the Internet of claim 50, wherein said CPIR-enabling server-side component is a CPIR-enabling servlet. ### Claim 52 A cyber-kiosk launchable from a predefined point of presence along the HTML fabric of the World Wide Web (WWW), said cyber-kiosk comprising: a Consumer Product Information Request (CPIR) enabling server-side component stored on an Internet-enabled information server operably connected to an information network, and encoded with information related to a Universal Product Number (UPN) identifying a particular consumer product; and a CPIR-enabling tag associated with said CPIR-enabling server-side component, and being embedded within a Web-based document located at a predefined point of presence along the HTML fabric of the WWW; wherein said Web-based document is served from a Web-based information server operably connected to said information network; wherein said CPIR-enabling tag is selectable by a Web-browser of a consumer so that said CPIR-enabling server-side component is executed, and a search is conducted against an Internet-enabled database, and the information results from said search are automatically displayed in an independent graphical user interface (GUI) displayed on said Web-browser, and wherein said displayed information results comprise one or more Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) pointing to one or more information resources on the WWW, at which brand-related information about the consumer product identified by the encoded UPN can be accessed, displayed and reviewed by the consumer. ### Claim 53 (depends on 52) The cyber-kiosk of claim 52, wherein said CPIR-enabling server-side component is a CPIR-enabling servlet. ### Claim 54 An Internet-based method of electronic commerce (EC) enabled shopping comprising the steps of: (a) operating an Internet information server connected to the infrastructure of the Internet and supporting the hypertext transmission protocol (http); (b) operating a Web-enabled client subsystem connected to the infrastructure of the Internet; (c) serving from said Internet information server, an EC-enabled WWW site comprising a plurality of interlinked HTML-encoded documents arranged and rendered to provide an electronic store environment for a consumer when served to said Web-enabled client subsystem, wherein said electronic store environment presents a plurality of products for purchase and sale by an EC-enabled payment method supported over the Internet, and wherein a Consumer Product Information Request (CPIR) enabling tag, associated with each said product, is embedded within at least one of said HTML-encoded documents displayed on said Web-enabled client subsystem, and each said CPIR-enabling tag being associated with a CPIR-enabling server-side component encoded with a Universal Product Number (UPN) assigned to one said product; and (d) selecting one said CPIR-enabling Servlet tag in one of said HTML-encoded documents, and executing the associated CPIR-enabling server-side component so as to automatically enable a search to be conducted against a product information database hosted on an Internet database server connected to the Internet, and the results from the search displayed in a graphical user interface (GUI) served to said Web-enabled client subsystem. ### Claim 55 (depends on 54) The Internet-based method of claim 54, wherein said CPIR-enabling server-side component is a CPIR-enabling servlet.