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US 8,571,946 B2Granted
Creation of export file to facilitate creating and updating of affiliate website
OwnerDavid Greaves, Thomas Creaveninventors
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present disclosure is directed to techniques for creating an export file comprised of product codes retrieved from a Vendor Website. A search of the Vendor Website is conducted based on a keyword list created by a registered affiliate and product codes are acquired including graphic data and descriptive text for products obtained in the search. A unique identification code is inserted into the product codes, which are stored in a products database and displayed along with manually activatable editing buttons which allow the registered affiliate to edit the products database. The edited products database forms the export file to be used in creating and/or updating an affiliate website.
Claims57
A method of creating an export file for use by a web developer to place product codes from one or more Vendor Websites, retrieved over a network, into an Affiliate Website, comprising:
- receiving a unique identification code from an operator associated with a Vendor Website;
- receiving a keyword list containing one or more keywords;
- establishing a connection to the Vendor Website over the network;
- searching the Vendor Website for products offered for sale relating to the one or more keywords;
- acquiring product codes, each including graphic data and descriptive text for products obtained in the search of the Vendor Website along with a link to the Vendor Website;
- inserting the unique identification code into the product codes;
- storing the product codes in a products database;
- displaying the product codes along with manually activatable editing buttons to allow a user to individually and globally select, de-select and update products to edit the products database;
- and
- creating the export file using the list of product codes stored in the edited products database.
7 more elements
A method of generating an export file having product codes retrieved from a plurality of vendor websites over a network to be inserted into an affiliate website of an affiliate, comprising:
- acquiring a unique identification code of the affiliate for each of the plurality of vendor websites;
- creating a single keyword list containing one or more keywords;
- storing the single keyword list;
- establishing over the network a connection to a selected one of the plurality of vendor websites;
- searching the selected vendor website for products offered for sale relating to the one or more keywords of the single keyword list;
- acquiring product codes including graphic data and descriptive text for products obtained in the search of the selected vendor website along with a link to the selected vendor website;
- inserting the affiliate's unique identification code into the acquired product codes;
- repeating the steps of establishing, searching, acquiring, and inserting for each remaining vendor website of the plurality of vendor websites;
- storing the product codes of the plurality of vendor websites in a products database;
- displaying the product codes of the plurality of vendor websites along with manually activatable editing buttons to allow a user to individually and globally select, de-select and update products to edit the products database;
- editing the products database based on user selections to create an edited products database;
- and
- creating the export file including the edited products database to be used in the creation or updating of the affiliate website.
10 more elements
A method of generating an export file having product codes retrieved from a plurality of vendor websites over a network to be inserted into an affiliate website of an affiliate, comprising:
- storing, on a computer, search routines for the respective vendor websites, the search routines being operable to conduct searches for products associated with the respective vendor websites;
- storing, on the computer, a unique tracking identification code of the affiliate for each of the vendor websites;
- storing, on the computer, at least one keyword list containing one or more keywords;
- searching selected ones of the vendor websites for commission earning products offered for sale relating to the stored at least one keyword list in response to execution of the stored search routines for the selected vendor websites;
- acquiring product codes including graphic data and descriptive text and a vendor website link for identified products obtained by the searching step for each selected vendor website;
- inserting the affiliate's unique tracking identification code for each selected vendor website into the product codes of the identified products associated with each selected vendor website;
- generating a products database of the identified products having the product codes into which the affiliate's unique tracking identification code of each selected vendor website has been inserted;
- displaying the product codes associated with the identified products along with manually activatable editing buttons to allow a user to individually and globally select, de-select and update products to edit the products database;
- editing the products database based on user selections to create an edited products database;
- and
- creating the export file including the edited products database to be used in the creation or updating of the affiliate website.
8 more elements
A method of generating an export file having product codes retrieved from a plurality of vendor product databases over a network to be inserted into an affiliate website of an affiliate, comprising:
- acquiring a unique identification code of the affiliate for each of the plurality of vendor product databases;
- creating a single category list containing one or more product categories;
- storing the single category list;
- searching the selected vendor product database for products offered for sale relating to the one or more product categories of the single category list;
- acquiring product codes including graphic data and descriptive text for products obtained in the search of the selected vendor product database;
- inserting the affiliate's unique identification code into the acquired product codes;
- repeating the steps of searching, acquiring, and inserting for each remaining vendor product database of the plurality of vendor product databases;
- storing the product codes of the plurality of vendor product databases in a products database;
- displaying the product codes of the plurality of vendor products databases along with manually activatable editing buttons to allow a user to individually and globally select, de-select and update products to edit the products database;
- editing the products database based on user selections to create an edited products database;
- and
- creating the export file including the edited products database to be used in the creation or updating of the affiliate website.
9 more elements
A method of generating an export file having product codes retrieved from a plurality of vendor product databases over a network to be inserted into an affiliate website of an affiliate, comprising:
- storing, on a computer, search routines for the respective vendor product databases, the search routines being operable to conduct searches for products associated with the respective vendor product databases;
- storing on the computer a unique tracking identification code of the affiliate for each of the vendor product databases;
- storing on the computer at least one category list containing one or more product categories;
- searching selected ones of the vendor product databases for commission earning products offered for sale relating to the stored at least one category list in response to execution of the stored search routines for the selected vendor product database;
- acquiring product codes including graphic data and descriptive text for identified products obtained by the searching step for each selected vendor product database;
- inserting the affiliate's unique tracking identification code for each selected vendor product database into the product codes of the identified products associated with each selected vendor product database;
- generating a products database of the identified products having the product codes into which the affiliate's unique tracking identification code of each selected vendor product database has been inserted;
- editing the products database based on user selections to create an edited products database;
- and
- creating the export file including the edited products database to be used in the creation or updating of the affiliate website.
7 more elements
A method of generating an export file including links to a plurality of commission earning items for insertion in an affiliate website, comprising:
- displaying a control panel interface for receiving user selections;
- receiving at the control panel interface at least one keyword to search a database of commission earning items available by at least one vendor;
- identifying a corresponding search routine associated with the at least one vendor;
- performing a search of the database of commission earning items using the keyword and the identified search routines to generate a plurality of commission earning items to be selected from;
- displaying a viewable window of a first subset of the plurality of commission earning items generated along with control functionality to enable user selection and de-selection;
- generating a further viewable window for each subsequent remaining subset of the plurality of commission earning items, until all of the plurality of commission earning items identified in the search have been viewed and selected or de-selected;
- adding a corresponding tracking ID in the code of each commission earning item to identify to the at least one vendor the entity to be awarded a commission when a visitor to the affiliate website links to the vendor from a commission earning item associated with that vendor;
- and
- creating the export file of all selected ones of the plurality of commission earning items to facilitate future placement of multiple commission earning items, by a website developer, across at least one or more pages of the affiliate website.
6 more elements
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium with an executable program stored thereon for creating by a computer an export file for use by a web developer to place product codes from one or more Vendor Websites, retrieved over a network, into an Affiliate Website, the executable program having instructions to:
- receive a unique identification code associated with a Vendor Website;
- receive a keyword list containing one or more keywords;
- establish a connection to the Vendor Website over the network;
- search the Vendor Website for products offered for sale relating to the one or more keywords;
- acquire product codes, each including graphic data and descriptive text for products obtained in the search of the Vendor Website along with a link to an associated vendor to facilitate the purchase of a product or service when linking therefrom;
- insert the unique identification code into the product codes;
- store the product codes in a products database;
- display the product codes along with manually activatable editing buttons which allow a user to individually and globally select, de-select and update products to edit the products database;
- and
- create the export file using the list of product codes stored in the edited products database.
7 more elements
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium with an executable program stored thereon for creating by a computer an export file to be used to retrieve product codes from a plurality of vendor websites over a network for insertion into an affiliate website of an affiliate, the executable program having instructions that configure the computer to:
- acquire a unique identification code of the affiliate for each of the plurality of vendor websites;
- create a single keyword list containing one or more keywords;
- store the single keyword list;
- establish over the network a connection to a selected one of the plurality of vendor websites;
- search the selected vendor website for products offered for sale relating to the one or more keywords of the single keyword list;
- acquire product codes including graphic data and descriptive text for products obtained in the search of the selected vendor website along with a link to the selected vendor website;
- insert the affiliate's unique identification code into the acquired product codes;
- repeat the steps of establishing, searching, acquiring, and inserting for each remaining vendor website of the plurality of vendor websites;
- store the product codes of the plurality of vendor websites in a products database;
- display the product codes of the plurality of vendor websites along with manually activatable editing buttons to allow a user to individually and globally select, de-select and update products to edit the products database;
- edit the products database based on user selections to create an edited products database;
- and
- create the export file including the edited products database to be used in the creation or updating of the affiliate website.
10 more elements
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium with an executable program stored thereon for creating by a computer an export file to be used to retrieve product codes from a plurality of vendor websites over a network for insertion into an affiliate website of an affiliate, the executable program having instructions that configure the computer to:
- store on a computer search routines for the respective vendor websites, the search routines being operable to conduct searches for products associated with the respective vendor websites;
- store on the computer a unique tracking identification code of the affiliate for each of the vendor websites;
- store on the computer at least one keyword list containing one or more keywords;
- search selected ones of the vendor websites for commission earning products offered for sale relating to the stored at least one keyword list in response to execution of the stored search routines for the selected vendor websites;
- acquire product codes including graphic data and descriptive text and a vendor website link for identified products obtained by the searching step for each selected vendor website;
- insert the affiliate's unique tracking identification code for each selected vendor website into the product codes of the identified products associated with each selected vendor website;
- generate a products database of the identified products having the product codes into which the affiliate's unique tracking identification code of each selected vendor website has been inserted;
- display the identified products having the product codes along with manually activatable editing buttons to allow a user to individually and globally select, de-select and update products to edit the products database;
- edit the products database based on user selections to create an edited products database;
- and
- create the export file including the edited products database to be used in the creation or updating of the affiliate website.
8 more elements
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium with an executable program stored thereon for creating by a computer an export file to be used to retrieve product codes from a plurality of vendor product databases over a network for insertion into an affiliate website of an affiliate, the executable program having instructions that configure the computer to:
- acquire a unique identification code of the affiliate for each of the plurality of vendor product databases;
- create a single category list containing one or more product categories;
- store the single category list;
- searching the selected vendor product database for products offered for sale relating to the one or more product categories of the single category list;
- acquire product codes including graphic data and descriptive text for products obtained in the search of the selected vendor product database;
- insert the affiliate's unique identification code into the acquired product codes;
- repeat the searching, acquiring, and inserting for each remaining vendor product database of the plurality of vendor product databases;
- store the product codes of the plurality of vendor product databases in a products database;
- display the product codes of the plurality of vendor products databases along with manually activatable editing buttons allow a user to individually and globally select, de-select and update products to edit the products database;
- edit the products database based on user selections to create an edited products database;
- and
- create the export file including the edited products database to be used in the creation or updating of the affiliate website.
9 more elements
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium with an executable program stored thereon for creating by a computer an export file to be used to retrieve product codes from a plurality of vendor product databases over a network for insertion into an affiliate website of an affiliate, the executable program having instructions that configure the computer to:
- store, on a computer, search routines for the respective vendor product databases, the search routines being operable to conduct searches for products associated with the respective vendor product databases;
- store on the computer a unique tracking identification code of the affiliate for each of the vendor product databases;
- store on the computer at least one category list containing one or more product categories;
- search selected ones of the vendor product databases for commission earning products offered for sale relating to the stored at least one category list in response to execution of the stored search routines for the selected vendor product database;
- acquire product codes including graphic data and descriptive text for identified products obtained by the searching step for each selected vendor product database;
- insert the affiliate's unique tracking identification code for each selected vendor product database into the product codes of the identified products associated with each selected vendor product database;
- generate a products database of the identified products having the product codes into which the affiliate's unique tracking identification code of each selected vendor product database has been inserted;
- edit the products database based on user selections to create an edited products database;
- and
- create the export file including the edited products database to be used in the creation or updating of the affiliate website.
7 more elements
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium with an executable program stored thereon for creating by a computer an export file to be used to retrieve product codes from a plurality of vendor product databases over a network for insertion into an affiliate website of an affiliate, the executable program having instructions that configure the computer to:
- display a control panel interface for receiving user selections;
- receive at the control panel interface at least one keyword to search a database of commission earning items available by at least one vendor;
- identify a corresponding search routine associated with the at least one vendor;
- perform a search of the database of commission earning items using the keyword and the identified search routines to generate a plurality of commission earning items to be selected from;
- display a viewable window of a first subset of the plurality of commission earning items generated along with control functionality to enable user selection and de-selection;
- generate a further viewable window for each subsequent remaining subset of the plurality of commission earning items, until all of the plurality of commission earning items identified in the search have been viewed and selected or de-selected;
- add a corresponding tracking ID in the code of each commission earning item to identify to the at least one vendor the entity to be awarded a commission when a visitor to the affiliate website links to the vendor from a commission earning item associated with that vendor;
- and
- create the export file of all selected ones of the plurality of commission earning items to facilitate future placement of multiple commission earning items, by a website developer, across at least one or more pages of the affiliate website.
6 more elements
An apparatus for creating an export file for use by a web developer to place product codes from one or more Vendor Websites, retrieved over a network, into an Affiliate Website, comprising:
- means for receiving a unique identification code associated with a Vendor Website;
- means for receiving a keyword list containing one or more keywords;
- means for establishing a connection to the Vendor Website over the network;
- means for searching the Vendor Website for products offered for sale relating to the one or more keywords;
- means for acquiring product codes, each including graphic data and descriptive text for products obtained in the search of the Vendor Website along with a link to an associated vendor to facilitate the purchase of a product or service when linking therefrom;
- means for inserting the unique identification code into the product codes;
- means for storing the product codes in a products database;
- means for displaying the product codes along with manually activatable editing buttons to allow a user to individually and globally select, de-select and update products to edit the products database;
- and
- means for creating the export file using the list of product codes stored in the edited products database.
7 more elements
An apparatus for creating an export file to be used to retrieve product codes from a plurality of vendor websites over a network for insertion into an affiliate website of an affiliate, comprising:
- means for acquiring a unique identification code of the affiliate for each of the plurality of vendor websites;
- means for creating a single keyword list containing one or more keywords;
- means for storing the single keyword list;
- means for establishing over the network a connection to a selected one of the plurality of vendor websites;
- means for searching the selected vendor website for products offered for sale relating to the one or more keywords of the single keyword list;
- means for acquiring product codes including graphic data and descriptive text for products obtained in the search of the selected vendor website along with a link to the selected vendor website;
- means for inserting the affiliate's unique identification code into the acquired product codes;
- means for repeating the establishing, searching, acquiring, and inserting for each remaining vendor website of the plurality of vendor websites;
- means for storing the product codes of the plurality of vendor websites in a products database;
- means for displaying the product codes of the plurality of vendor websites along with manually activatable editing buttons to allow a user to individually and globally select, de-select and update products to edit the products database;
- means for editing the products database based on user selections to create an edited products database;
- and
- means for creating the export file including the edited products database to be used in the creation or updating of the affiliate website.
10 more elements
An apparatus for creating an export file to be used to retrieve product codes from a plurality of vendor websites over a network for insertion into an affiliate website of an affiliate, comprising:
- means for storing on a computer search routines for the respective vendor websites, the search routines being operable to conduct searches for products associated with the respective vendor websites;
- means for storing on the computer a unique tracking identification code of the affiliate for each of the vendor websites;
- means for storing on the computer at least one keyword list containing one or more keywords;
- means for searching selected ones of the vendor websites for commission earning products offered for sale relating to the stored at least one keyword list in response to execution of the stored search routines for the selected vendor websites;
- means for acquiring product codes including graphic data and descriptive text and a vendor website link for identified products obtained by the searching step for each selected vendor website;
- means for inserting the affiliate's unique tracking identification code for each selected vendor website into the product codes of the identified products associated with each selected vendor website;
- means for generating a products database of the identified products having the product codes into which the affiliate's unique tracking identification code of each selected vendor website has been inserted;
- means for displaying the identified products having the product codes along with manually activatable editing buttons to allow a user to individually and globally select, de-select and update products to edit the products database;
- means for editing the products database based on user selections to create an edited products database;
- and
- means for creating the export file including the edited products database to be used in the creation or updating of the affiliate website.
8 more elements
An apparatus for creating an export file to be used to retrieve product codes from a plurality of vendor product databases over a network for insertion into an affiliate website of an affiliate, comprising:
- means for acquiring a unique identification code of the affiliate for each of the plurality of vendor product databases;
- means for creating a single category list containing one or more product categories;
- means for storing the single category list;
- searching the selected vendor product database for products offered for sale relating to the one or more product categories of the single category list;
- acquiring product codes including graphic data and descriptive text for products obtained in the search of the selected vendor product database;
- means for inserting the affiliate's unique identification code into the acquired product codes;
- means for repeating the searching, acquiring, and inserting for each remaining vendor product database of the plurality of vendor product databases;
- means for storing the product codes of the plurality of vendor product databases in a products database;
- means for displaying the product codes of the plurality of vendor products databases along with manually activatable editing buttons to allow a user to individually and globally select, de-select and update products to edit the products database;
- means for editing the products database based on user selections to create an edited products database;
- and
- means for creating the export file including the edited products database to be used in the creation or updating of the affiliate website.
9 more elements
An apparatus for creating an export file to be used to retrieve product codes from a plurality of vendor product databases over a network for insertion into an affiliate website of an affiliate, comprising:
- means for storing, on a computer, search routines for the respective vendor product databases, the search routines being operable to conduct searches for products associated with the respective vendor product databases;
- means for storing on the computer a unique tracking identification code of the affiliate for each of the vendor product databases;
- means for storing on the computer at least one category list containing one or more product categories;
- means for searching selected ones of the vendor product databases for commission earning products offered for sale relating to the stored at least one category list in response to execution of the stored search routines for the selected vendor product database;
- means for acquiring product codes including graphic data and descriptive text for identified products obtained by the searching step for each selected vendor product database;
- means for inserting the affiliate's unique tracking identification code for each selected vendor product database into the product codes of the identified products associated with each selected vendor product database;
- means for generating a products database of the identified products having the product codes into which the affiliate's unique tracking identification code of each selected vendor product database has been inserted;
- means for editing the products database based on user selections to create an edited products database;
- and
- means for creating the export file including the edited products database to be used in the creation or updating of the affiliate website.
7 more elements
An apparatus for creating an export file to be used to retrieve product codes from a plurality of vendors over a network for insertion into an affiliate website of an affiliate, comprising:
- means for displaying a control panel interface for receiving user selections;
- means for receiving at the control panel interface at least one keyword to search a database of commission earning items available by at least one vendor;
- means for identifying a corresponding search routine associated with the at least one vendor;
- means for performing a search of the database of commission earning items using the keyword and the identified search routines to generate a plurality of commission earning items to be selected from;
- means for displaying a viewable window of a first subset of the plurality of commission earning items generated along with control functionality to enable user selection and de-selection;
- means for generating a further viewable window for each subsequent remaining subset of the plurality of commission earning items, until all of the plurality of commission earning items identified in the search have been viewed and selected or de-selected;
- means for adding a corresponding tracking ID in the code of each commission earning item to identify to the at least one vendor the entity to be awarded a commission when a visitor to the affiliate website links to the vendor from a commission earning item associated with that vendor;
- and
- means for creating the export file of all selected ones of the plurality of commission earning items to facilitate future placement of multiple commission earning items, by a website developer, across at least one or more pages of the affiliate website.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.