Method and system for determining allied products

Abstract

The method comprises processing plural product information records from the product information sources into one or more groups based on which product information records are likely to correspond to the same product, correlating a unique product ID corresponding to the product associated with each of said groups to identify the product, comparing each identified product to categories of a taxonomy to determine a category for the identified products in the taxonomy, and determining attributes for each categorized product based on the product information records corresponding to each group, creating product specifications based on the determined attributes and storing the product specification in the corresponding determined categories of the taxonomy.

What is claimed: 
     
         1 . A method of effecting commerce in a networked computer environment comprising the steps of:
 receiving, by a shopping server having a database, identification a user of a client computer;   receiving a selection of plural products through an integrated shopping interface of the client computer, based on product information in the database, for purchase from plural merchant servers that are remote from the shopping server;   transmitting product information related to the selected products for presentation to the user for confirmation of a purchase; and   causing a buy procedure to be executed on the merchant servers for purchase of the selected products from the merchant servers if the user confirms the purchase.   
     
     
         2 . A method as recited in  claim 1 , further comprising verifying the product information by receiving updated product information from the merchant servers. 
     
     
         3 . A method as recited in  claim 2 , wherein said verifying step comprises verifying the product related to the selected products after said selecting step. 
     
     
         4 . A method as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the database comprises a product database having product information and a shopper database having shopper information. 
     
     
         5 . A method as recited in  claim 4 , further comprising the steps of:
 checking if there is account information in the shopper database related to the user for the merchant servers; and   establishing an account related to the user with the merchant servers if said checking step indicates that there is not account information in the shopper database related to the user for the merchant servers;   wherein the buy procedure is executed on the merchant computer in association with the account information related to the user for the merchant server.   
     
     
         6 . A method as recited in  claim 4 , further comprising displaying a buy form to the user containing information from the shopper database corresponding to the user and to be used in the buy procedure. 
     
     
         7 . A method as recited in  claim 4 , wherein said buy procedure is executed on the merchant servers through an interface of the merchant servers. 
     
     
         8 . A method as recited in  claim 7 , wherein said buy procedure further comprises filtering out form submissions sent by the merchant servers and filling in the filtered forms with information related to the user from the shopper database. 
     
     
         9 . A method as recited in  claim 1 , wherein a purchase procedure is executed on the shopping server, the buy procedure of the merchant servers being integrated into the purchase procedure. 
     
     
         10 . A method as recited in  claim 3 , wherein said verifying step comprises accessing a checkout page of each of the merchant servers and downloading the products information related to the selected product from the checkout pages. 
     
     
         11 . A method as recited in  claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:
 establishing a first cookie on the shopping server containing a merchant server session identification;   establishing a second cookie on the client computer identifying a user session between the client computer and the shopping server corresponding to the merchant serve identification; and   correlating the second cookie with a transaction record established in connection with the first cookie.   
     
     
         12 . A method as recited in  claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:
 spawning a buy process in the shopping server for accomplishing said selecting step; and   updating a transaction record based on the status of the buy process.   
     
     
         13 . A computer system for effecting commerce in a networked computer environment comprising:
 at least one processor:   a database;   at least one memory coupled to one or more of the at least one processors and having computer executable code stored therein which, when executed by said one or more of the at least one processors, causes the one or more of the at least one processors to:
 receive identification a user of a client computer; 
 receive a selection of plural products through an integrated shopping interface of the client computer, based on product information in the database, for purchase from plural merchant servers that are remote from the shopping server; 
 transmit product information related to the selected products for presentation to the user for confirmation of a purchase; and 
 causing a buy procedure to be executed on the merchant servers for purchase of the selected products from the merchant servers if the user confirms the purchase. 
   
     
     
         14 . A system as recited in  claim 13 , wherein the product information is verified by receiving updated product information from the merchant servers. 
     
     
         15 . A system as recited in claim  214  wherein the product information is verified by verifying the product related to the selected products after said selecting step. 
     
     
         16 . A system as recited in  claim 13 , wherein the database comprises a product database having product information and a shopper database having shopper information. 
     
     
         17 . A system as recited in  claim 16 , wherein the instructions further cause the one or more of the at least one processors to:
 check if there is account information in the shopper database related to the user for the merchant servers; and   establish an account related to the user with the merchant servers if there is not account information in the shopper database related to the user for the merchant servers;   wherein the buy procedure is executed on the merchant computer in association with the account information related to the user for the merchant server.   
     
     
         18 . A system as recited in  claim 16 , wherein the instructions further cause the one or more of the at least one processors to display a buy form to the user containing information from the shopper database corresponding to the user and to be used in the buy procedure. 
     
     
         19 . A system as recited in  claim 16 , wherein the buy procedure is executed on the merchant servers through an interface of the merchant servers. 
     
     
         20 . A system as recited in  claim 19 , wherein the buy procedure further comprises filtering out form submissions sent by the merchant servers and filling in the filtered forms with information related to the user from the shopper database. 
     
     
         22 . A system as recited in  claim 13 , wherein a purchase procedure is executed on the shopping server, the buy procedure of the merchant servers being integrated into the purchase procedure. 
     
     
         23 . A system as recited in  claim 16 , wherein the verifying comprises accessing a checkout page of each of the merchant servers and downloading the products information related to the selected product from the checkout pages. 
     
     
         24 . A system as recited in  claim 13 , wherein the instructions further cause the one or more of the at least one processors to:
 establish a first cookie on the shopping server containing a merchant server session identification;   establish a second cookie on the client computer identifying a user session between the client computer and the shopping server corresponding to the merchant serve identification; and   correlate the second cookie with a transaction record established in connection with the first cookie.   
     
     
         25 . A system as recited in  claim 13 , wherein the instructions further cause the one or more of the at least one processors to:
 spawn a buy process in the shopping server for accomplishing said selecting step; and   update a transaction record based on the status of the buy process.