US 6,876,979 B2
Electronic commerce bridge systemGeneral
US 6,876,979 B2
Electronic commerce bridge system
Tech Center:
3600 Transportation, Construction, Electronic Commerce, Agriculture, National Security and License and Review
Examiner:
Richard Chilcot
Art Unit:
3627 Business Methods — Incentive Programs, Coupons; Operations Research; Electronic Shopping; Health Care; Point of Sale, Inventory, Accounting; Cost/Price, Reservations, Shipping and Transportation; Business Processing
Inventors:
Marvin T. Ling
Assignee:
PRAVATI INVESTMENT FUND IV, LP
Priority:
08/12/02
Filed:
08/12/02
Granted:
04/05/05
Expiration:
03/24/23
Abstract
Systems and methods are provided for supporting electronic commerce in an environment in which multiple service providers each have associated vendors and in which a user may maintain an account at a service provider that is different from the service provider associated with the vendor from which a user makes an on-line purchase. Both tangible products and electronic content products may be sold using the system. A bridge computer may be used to facilitate interactions between service providers. The bridge computer may be used to implement service charge fees, to reimburse service providers for credit card transaction fees, to reimburse service providers with appropriate referral fees, and to otherwise support operation of the system.
Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC)
G06G06Q30/0641G06Q