Supplier proxy store to virtulize an external business entity
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsStanislav Bliakhman, Howard Borenstein, Victor S. Chan, Robert M. H. Dunn, Nelson Jean, Lev Mirlas
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A commerce site for exchanging commerce information with a plurality of remote store sites and shopper clients over a network, the commerce site including a marketplace store for exchanging information with shopper clients and remote store sites through the network; and a plurality of proxy stores, each proxy store associated with one of the remote store sites for communicating therewith over the network and acting as an intermediary for information exchanged between the associated remote store site and the marketplace store.
Claims18
A computer system hosting an executable commerce site for exchanging commerce information with a plurality of remote store sites and shopper clients over a computer network, the executable commerce site comprising:
- a marketplace store for exchanging information with shopper clients and remote store sites through the computer network;
- and
- a plurality of proxy stores, each proxy store corresponding with one of the remote store sites for communicating therewith over the computer network and acting as an intermediary for information exchanged between the corresponding remote store site and the marketplace store;
- a catalog identifying an aggregation of assets offered through a plurality of remote store sites connected to the computer network;
- wherein
- the marketplace store has access to the catalog for creating a parent list identifying assets selected from the catalog by one of the shopper clients over the network;
- and
- each proxy store is configured for reading the parent list and creating a first request identifying at least some of the assets in the parent list and sending the first request over the computer network to the remote store site associated therewith.
A method of processing information through a network connected to a marketplace commerce site, a plurality of remote store sites, and a shopper client, the method comprising the steps of:
- a) providing at the commerce site a catalog identifying an aggregation of assets available through the remote store sites;
- b) providing at the commerce site a marketplace store interface through which a shopper at the shopper client can select assets from the catalog;
- c) providing at the commerce site a plurality of proxy stores, each proxy store representing an associated remote store site;
- d) generating and storing at the marketplace commerce site, a parent order object that includes a parent list of parent items, each parent item identifying an associated asset selected by the shopper from the catalog;
- and
- e) generating first requests at selected proxy stores that are associated with remote store sites specified by the shopper first request, each of the selected proxy stores sending the first request generated thereby to its associated remote store over the network, the first requests each identifying assets identified in the parent list.
A computer program product having a computer-readable medium tangibly embodying computer executable instructions for a marketplace site that communicates with a plurality of remote store sites and a shopper client over a network, the computer executable instructions comprising:
- (a) computer executable instructions for implementing a catalog identifying an aggregation of assets available through the remote store sites;
- (b) computer executable instructions for implementing a marketplace store interface through which a shopper at the shopper client can select assets from the catalog, the marketplace store interface configured for generating and storing at the marketplace site, a parent order object that includes a parent list of parent items, each parent item identifying an associated asset selected by the shopper from the catalog;
- and
- c) computer executable instructions for implementing a plurality of proxy stores, each proxy store representing an associated remote store site, the proxy stores configured for generating associated first requests and sending the generated first requests to the remote store sites associated therewith, the first requests each identifying assets identified in the parent list.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.