Information presentation and management in an online trading environment
US6058417A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Oct 23, 1998 |
| Grant date | May 2, 2000 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Oct 23, 2018 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY10S707/99948
- WIPO fieldIT methods for management
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A method and apparatus for information presentation and management in an online trading environment are provided. According to one aspect of the present invention, person-to-person commerce over the Internet is facilitated by providing prospective buyers the ability to quickly preview items for sale. Images are harvested from a plurality of sites based upon user-supplied information. The user-supplied information includes descriptions of items for sale and locations from which images that are to be associated with the items can be retrieved. Thumbnail images are created corresponding to the harvested images and are aggregated onto a web page for presentation at a remote site. According to another aspect of the present invention, a user may submit a query to preview items for sale. After receiving the query, thumbnail images corresponding to items that satisfy the user query are displayed, each of the thumbnail images previously having been created based upon a user-specified image.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.