Electronic catalog system and method

An electronic catalog apparatus for displaying product information data related to at least one product on a monitor coupled to a remote computer using variable data and constant data related to the at least one product stored and maintained in a memory of a main computer and using constant data related to the at least one product stored in a memory of the remote computer, the constant data being a subset of the product information data related to the at least one product, the apparatus comprising:

• means for transmitting a data request from the remote computer to the main computer;
• means for transmitting the variable data and display information from the main computer to the remote computer, the display information indicating a format of the variable data and a display location of the constant data relative to the variable data;
• means for transmitting updated constant data from the main computer to the remote computer if the constant data stored in the memory of the remote computer is different from the constant data stored in the memory of the main computer;
• means for storing the updated constant data in the memory of the remote computer;
• means for integrating constant data stored in the memory of the remote computer with the variable data received from the main computer using the display information received from the main computer to format the constant data and the variable data to generate the product information data related to the at least one product;
• and
• means for displaying the product information data generated by the remote computer during the integrating step on the monitor coupled to the remote computer.