US 2007/0185783 A1Published application

System and Method for locating product data within an electronic catalog

AssigneeW.W. Grainger, Inc.

InventorGeoffry Westphal

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Abstract

A hierarchical menu structure having a plurality of submenus is navigable to a node selectable to request retrieval of a data file containing data related to a product within an electronic catalog. The plurality of submenus includes a plurality of levels of stock number submenus which are to be navigated using the stock keeping unit number for the product, a plurality of levels of product descriptor submenus which are to be navigated using a descriptor associated with the product, and a plurality of levels of brand name submenus which are to be navigated using a brand name of the product. The nodes within navigated to submenus function to indicate at least one alphanumeric character within a sequence of alphanumeric characters which forms stock keeping unit numbers for products, product descriptors associated with products, or brand names of products. The hierarchical menu structure is advantageously used to locate information for products within an electronic catalog stored within the memory of a device that fails to include a physical “qwerty” keyboard, such as an iPod brand portable media player.

Claims17

Dependent claims

A system for locating information relevant to a product within an electronic catalog, comprising:

a device having a display and a means for accepting user input;
and
programming for displaying a hierarchical menu structure within the display and for accepting user input received via the means for accepting user input provided to navigate the hierarchical menu structure and to request retrieval of one or more data files containing data related to the product;
wherein the hierarchical menu structure comprises a plurality of submenus navigable to one or more nodes selectable to request retrieval of the one or more data files containing data related to the product wherein the plurality of submenus include a plurality of levels of stock number submenus which are to be navigated using the stock keeping unit number for the product, a plurality of levels of product descriptor submenus which are to be navigated using a descriptor associated with the product, and a plurality of levels of brand name submenus which are to be navigated using a brand name of the product and wherein nodes within the plurality of levels of stock number submenus function to indicate an alphanumeric character within a sequence of alphanumeric characters which forms stock keeping unit numbers for products within the electronic catalog, nodes within the plurality of levels of product descriptor submenus function to indicate an alphanumeric character within a sequence of alphanumeric characters which forms product descriptors associated with products with the electronic catalog, and nodes within the plurality of levels of brand name submenus function to indicate an alphanumeric character within a sequence of alphanumeric characters which forms brand names of products with the electronic catalog.

1 more element

A method for locating information relevant to a product within an electronic catalog, comprising:

displaying in a display of a device having a means for accepting user input a hierarchical menu structure comprised of a plurality of submenus navigable to one or more nodes selectable to request retrieval of the one or more data files containing data related to the product wherein the plurality of submenus include a plurality of levels of stock number submenus which are to be navigated using the stock keeping unit number for the product, a plurality of levels of product descriptor submenus which are to be navigated using a descriptor associated with the product, and a plurality of levels of brand name submenus which are to be navigated using a brand name of the product and wherein nodes within the plurality of levels of stock number submenus function to indicate an alphanumeric character within a sequence of alphanumeric characters which forms stock keeping unit numbers for products within the electronic catalog, nodes within the plurality of levels of product descriptor submenus function to indicate an alphanumeric character within a sequence of alphanumeric characters which forms product descriptors associated with products with the electronic catalog, and nodes within the plurality of levels of brand name submenus function to indicate an alphanumeric character within a sequence of alphanumeric characters which forms brand names of products with the electronic catalog;
accepting input via the means for accepting user input while changing which submenus of the hierarchical menu structure are displayed within the display as the means for accepting user input is used to navigate the hierarchical menu structure to the one or more nodes selectable to request retrieval of the one or more data files containing data related to the product;
and
causing the one or more data files containing data related to the product to be retrieved in response to the means for accepting user input being used to select the one or more nodes.

1 more element

A computer readable media having computer readable instructions for use in locating information relevant to a product within an electronic catalog, the computer readable instructions being used to display within a display of a device a hierarchical menu structure comprised of a plurality of submenus navigable to one or more nodes selectable to request retrieval of the one or more data files containing data related to the product wherein the plurality of submenus include a plurality of levels of stock number submenus which are to be navigated using the stock keeping unit number for the product, a plurality of levels of product descriptor submenus which are to be navigated using a descriptor associated with the product, and a plurality of levels of brand name submenus which are to be navigated using a brand name of the product and wherein nodes within the plurality of levels of stock number submenus function to indicate an alphanumeric character within a sequence of alphanumeric characters which forms stock keeping unit numbers for products within the electronic catalog, nodes within the plurality of levels of product descriptor submenus function to indicate an alphanumeric character within a sequence of alphanumeric characters which forms product descriptors associated with products with the electronic catalog, and nodes within the plurality of levels of brand name submenus function to indicate an alphanumeric character within a sequence of alphanumeric characters which forms brand names of products with the electronic catalog.

A method for locating information relevant to a product within an electronic catalog, comprising:

displaying in a display of a device having a means for accepting user input a hierarchical menu structure comprised of a plurality of submenus navigable to one or more nodes selectable to request retrieval of the one or more data files containing data related to the product wherein the plurality of submenus include a plurality of levels of stock number submenus which are to be navigated using the stock keeping unit number for the product, a plurality of levels of product descriptor submenus which are to be navigated using a descriptor associated with the product, and a plurality of levels of brand name submenus which are to be navigated using a brand name of the product and wherein nodes within the plurality of levels of stock number submenus function to indicate an alphanumeric character within a sequence of alphanumeric characters which forms stock keeping unit numbers for products within the electronic catalog, nodes within the plurality of levels of product descriptor submenus function to indicate an alphanumeric character within a sequence of alphanumeric characters which forms product descriptors associated with products with the electronic catalog, and nodes within the plurality of levels of brand name submenus function to indicate an alphanumeric character within a sequence of alphanumeric characters which forms brand names of products with the electronic catalog;
accepting input via the means for accepting user input while changing which submenus of the hierarchical menu structure are displayed within the display as the means for accepting user input is used to navigate the hierarchical menu structure to the one or more nodes selectable to request retrieval of the one or more data files containing data related to the product;
causing the one or more data files to be retrieved from a remotely located database server in response to the means for accepting user input being used to select the one or more nodes;
and
causing the data related to product in the retrieved one or more data files to be displayed in the display of the device.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.