US 2009/0119186 A1 · Apparatus and Method for Ordering

Abstract

The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for ordering an article from a plurality of articles. The apparatus or the method merely has a manageable set of identifiers. These identifiers are added to a given audio/video signal which advertises a particular article and is broadcast. If a person receiving the audio/video signal wishes to purchase the relevant article, this article can be identified by the identifier. Preferably, this identifier is a colored marker. Since the cardinality of the set of identifiers is kept relatively manageable, a plurality of articles is provided with the same identifier, that is to say the same color marker. The apparatus or the method is able to distinguish between articles with the same identifier by comparing the time at which the article was advertised with the time at which the order was received.

Claims22

Dependent claims

Apparatus for ordering at least one article from a plurality of articles, comprising

a signal server (40) for providing a plurality of audio/video signals;
an article database (42) for storing relations between the plurality of articles and the plurality of audio/video signals;
identifying equipment (50) designed such that it assigns an identifier from a defined set of identifiers to each audio/video signal and stores this assignment in an identification database (52);
publication equipment (90) designed such that it publishes the audio/video signal together with its assigned identifier and saves the publication period in a program database (92);
and
communications equipment (60) designed such that it receives from a recipient of the audio/video signal, more particularly from a television viewer, an identifier input and determines at least one article for ordering on the basis of the identifier input and the time of entry using data from the article database (42), the identification database (52) and the program database (92).

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Apparatus and Method for Ordering

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Apparatus and Method for Ordering

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims22