Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080228592 | SERVICES FOR GENERATION OF ELECTRONIC MARKETPLACE LISTINGS USING PERSONAL PURCHASE HISTORIES OR OTHER INDICIA OF PRODUCT OWNERSHIP - An electronic marketplace system provides various features for assisting users in listing products for sale, locating the listings for a product, and performing related actions. A user wishing to sell a product can browse to an existing description of the product in an electronic catalog and then select an option to create a corresponding listing. If the user previously purchased the product via the system, the user may alternatively select the product from a personal purchase history. The system may also proactively send product-specific listing requests to those who have purchased or otherwise indicated ownership of specific products. | 09-18-2008 |
20080243644 | MARKETPLACE SYSTEM IN WHICH USERS GENERATE USER-TO-USER PREORDER LISTINGS VIA A DEFINITIVE PRODUCT CATALOG - An electronic marketplace system provides various features for assisting users in listing products for sale, locating the listings for a product, and performing related actions. A user wishing to sell a product can browse to an existing description of the product in an electronic catalog and then select an option to create a corresponding listing. The pending listings for a product are preferably displayed or summarized on the product's detail page in the catalog. When no such listings exist, an option to preorder the product from an unspecified seller may be provided, and information regarding the resulting preorders may be displayed on the associated product detail pages to entice potential sellers. In one embodiment, the electronic catalog also serves as a retail sales catalog of a merchant. | 10-02-2008 |
20080262964 | NETWORK BASED USER-TO-USER PAYMENT SERVICE - A network-based payment service and site provides various features for facilitating user-to-user payments. One such feature enables users of the payment service to create pay boxes, or other types of payment objects, that can be incorporated into externally hosted web pages and used to make payments. In some embodiments, the payment objects enable users to make payments directly from the externally hosted web pages. | 10-23-2008 |
20090138380 | MARKETPLACE SYSTEM THAT SUPPORTS USER-TO-USER SALES VIA A DEFINITIVE PRODUCT CATALOG - An electronic marketplace system embodies various inventions for assisting users in listing products for sale, locating the listings for a product, and performing related actions. A user wishing to sell a product can browse to an existing description of the product in an electronic catalog and then select an option to create a corresponding listing. To create the listing for the selected product, the user preferably specifies the product's condition and a selling price. The pending listings for a product are preferably displayed or summarized on the product's detail page in the catalog. When no such listings exist, an option to preorder the product from an unspecified seller may be provided. In one embodiment, the electronic catalog also serves as a retail sales catalog of a merchant. | 05-28-2009 |
20090281877 | IDENTIFYING ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN ITEMS AND EMAIL-ADDRESS-BASED USER COMMUNITIES - A computer-implemented service analyzes collected data reflective of actions of users of an interactive system to identify items that are significantly more popular in specific user communities than in a general user population. The communities may, for example, include email-based communities (e.g., all users with email addresses associated with a particular company or other organization), shipping address based communities (e.g., all users with shipping addresses in Seattle), and/or communities based on other types of user attributes. The results of the analysis may be exposed to users to assist users in making item selection decisions, and/or may be used to provide item recommendations to users. | 11-12-2009 |
20090287532 | PROVIDING AN ELECTRONIC MARKETPLACE TO FACILITATE HUMAN PERFORMANCE OF PROGRAMMATICALLY SUBMITTED TASKS - A method, system, and computer-readable medium is described for facilitating interactions between task requesters who have tasks that are available to be performed and task performers who are available to perform tasks. In some situations, the tasks to be performed are human performance tasks that use cognitive and other mental skills of human task performers, such as to employ judgment, perception and/or reasoning skills of the human task performers. In addition, in some situations the available tasks are submitted by human task requesters via application programs that programmatically invoke one or more application program interfaces of an electronic marketplace in order to request that the tasks be performed and to receive corresponding results of task performance in a programmatic manner, so that an ensemble of unrelated human agents can interact with the electronic marketplace to collectively perform a wide variety and large number of tasks. | 11-19-2009 |
20090307106 | PERFORMING AUTOMATICALLY AUTHORIZED PROGRAMMATIC TRANSACTIONS - Techniques are described for facilitating interactions between computing systems, such as by performing transactions between parties that are automatically authorized via a third-party transaction authorization system. In some situations, the transactions are programmatic transactions involving the use of fee-based Web services by executing application programs, with the transaction authorization system authorizing and/or providing payments in accordance with private authorization instructions previously specified by the parties. The authorization instructions may include predefined instruction rule sets that regulate conditions under which a potential transaction can be authorized, with the instruction rule sets each referenced by an associated reference token. After one or more of the parties to a potential transaction supply reference tokens for the parties, the transaction authorization system can determine whether to authorize the transaction based on whether the instruction rule sets associated with the reference tokens are compatible or otherwise satisfied. | 12-10-2009 |
20090307107 | PERFORMING AUTOMATICALLY AUTHORIZED PROGRAMMATIC TRANSACTIONS - Techniques are described for facilitating interactions between computing systems, such as by performing transactions between parties that are automatically authorized via a third-party transaction authorization system. In some situations, the transactions are programmatic transactions involving the use of fee-based Web services by executing application programs, with the transaction authorization system authorizing and/or providing payments in accordance with private authorization instructions previously specified by the parties. The authorization instructions may include predefined instruction rule sets that regulate conditions under which a potential transaction can be authorized, with the instruction rule sets each referenced by an associated reference token. After one or more of the parties to a potential transaction supply reference tokens for the parties, the transaction authorization system can determine whether to authorize the transaction based on whether the instruction rule sets associated with the reference tokens are compatible or otherwise satisfied. | 12-10-2009 |
20090307134 | PERFORMING AUTOMATICALLY AUTHORIZED PROGRAMMATIC TRANSACTIONS - Techniques are described for facilitating interactions between computing systems, such as by performing transactions between parties that are automatically authorized via a third-party transaction authorization system. In some situations, the transactions are programmatic transactions involving the use of fee-based Web services by executing application programs, with the transaction authorization system authorizing and/or providing payments in accordance with private authorization instructions previously specified by the parties. The authorization instructions may include predefined instruction rule sets that regulate conditions under which a potential transaction can be authorized, with the instruction rule sets each referenced by an associated reference token. After one or more of the parties to a potential transaction supply reference tokens for the parties, the transaction authorization system can determine whether to authorize the transaction based on whether the instruction rule sets associated with the reference tokens are compatible or otherwise satisfied. | 12-10-2009 |
20090307135 | PERFORMING AUTOMATICALLY AUTHORIZED PROGRAMMATIC TRANSACTIONS - Techniques are described for facilitating interactions between computing systems, such as by performing transactions between parties that are automatically authorized via a third-party transaction authorization system. In some situations, the transactions are programmatic transactions involving the use of fee-based Web services by executing application programs, with the transaction authorization system authorizing and/or providing payments in accordance with private authorization instructions previously specified by the parties. The authorization instructions may include predefined instruction rule sets that regulate conditions under which a potential transaction can be authorized, with the instruction rule sets each referenced by an associated reference token. After one or more of the parties to a potential transaction supply reference tokens for the parties, the transaction authorization system can determine whether to authorize the transaction based on whether the instruction rule sets associated with the reference tokens are compatible or otherwise satisfied. | 12-10-2009 |
20100274732 | PROCESSES FOR VERIFYING CREATORS OF WORKS REPRESENTED IN AN ELECTRONIC CATALOG - An electronic catalog system provides an interface for users to author and post content for viewing by other users. Users who are verified as creators of works represented in the electronic catalog (e.g., authors of books) are additionally given the option to post content that is displayed on the catalog pages of such works with attribution to the works' creators. In one embodiment, the system is capable of verifying a user's claim to be a creator of a particular work through automated communications with a third party verifier designated by the user. The third party verifier may, for example, be a publisher (in the case of books), a recording company (in the case of musical works), or a motion picture studio (in the case movies). | 10-28-2010 |
20110017872 | SEA LANDING OF SPACE LAUNCH VEHICLES AND ASSOCIATED SYSTEMS AND METHODS - Launch vehicle systems and methods for landing and recovering a booster stage and/or other portions thereof on a platform at sea or on another body of water are disclosed. In one embodiment, a reusable space launch vehicle is launched from a coastal launch site in a trajectory over water. After booster engine cutoff and upper stage separation, the booster stage reenters the earth's atmosphere in a tail-first orientation. The booster engines are then restarted and the booster stage performs a vertical powered landing on the deck of a pre-positioned sea-going platform. In one embodiment, bidirectional aerodynamic control surfaces control the trajectory of the booster stage as it glides through the earth's atmosphere toward the sea-going platform. The sea-going platform can broadcast its real-time position to the booster stage so that the booster stage can compensate for errors in the position of the sea-going platform due to current drift and/or other factors. After landing, the sea-going platform can be towed by, e.g., a tug, or it can use its own propulsion system, to transport the booster stage back to the coastal launch site or other site for reconditioning and reuse. In another embodiment, the booster stage can be transferred to another vessel for transport. In still further embodiments, the booster can be refurbished while in transit from a sea-based or other landing site. | 01-27-2011 |
20110194230 | PROTECTING DEVICES FROM IMPACT DAMAGE - A system and method for protecting devices from impact damage is provided. Prior to impact between a surface and a device, a determination of a risk of damage to the device is made. If the risk of damage to the device exceeds a threshold, a protection system is activated to reduce or substantially eliminate damage to the device. | 08-11-2011 |
20110288930 | SERVICE FOR ACCEPTING AND SELECTIVELY EXPOSING USER-GENERATED LISTS - An interactive system enables users to generate and submit lists of items (e.g., products) for viewing by other users. The user-generated lists are selectively suggested to users of the system based on their respective behaviors, such as their item viewing activities, searches, and/or item purchases. The system may monitor the behaviors of users who access particular user-generated lists, and based on the monitored behaviors, generate measures of the effectiveness of particular lists (e.g., effectiveness at driving item purchases). The measures of effectiveness may be considered in selecting particular lists to suggest. | 11-24-2011 |
20120016768 | CONTEXTUAL PRESENTATION ON ELECTRONIC CATALOG PAGES OF INFORMATION REFLECTIVE OF PRIOR ORDERS - An interactive system personalizes pages of an electronic catalog with information reflective of related orders placed by the user. In one embodiment, when a user requests a category page (such as a browse node page, author page, or artist page) of an electronic catalog, the system determines whether the user previously ordered any items falling within the associated category. If any such orders are identified, information regarding the prior order(s) is incorporated into the requested category page. This information may include, for example, an indication of the particular item(s) ordered, and the order date and/or status of each such order. The system may also personalize item detail pages with information regarding any orders placed for the corresponding items and/or similar items. | 01-19-2012 |
20120246003 | Advertisement Service - An advertisement service allows advertisers to obtain a right to provide an advertisement to a mobile device that is located within or nearby a particular geographic region. For instance, the advertisement service may map one or more entities (e.g., retailers, schools, museums, etc.) to a geographic region at which these entities are located. The advertisement service provides an offer to one or more advertisers to provide an advertisement to a mobile device located within or nearby one of these geographic regions. Based on responses received to the offer, the advertisement service provides information to the mobile device for display of an advertisement. | 09-27-2012 |
20120296827 | PERFORMING AUTOMATICALLY AUTHORIZED PROGRAMMATIC TRANSACTIONS - Techniques are described for facilitating interactions between computing systems, such as by performing transactions between parties that are automatically authorized via a third-party transaction authorization system. In some situations, the transactions are programmatic transactions involving the use of fee-based Web services by executing application programs, with the transaction authorization system authorizing and/or providing payments in accordance with private authorization instructions previously specified by the parties. The authorization instructions may include predefined instruction rule sets that regulate conditions under which a potential transaction can be authorized, with the instruction rule sets each referenced by an associated reference token. After one or more of the parties to a potential transaction supply reference tokens for the parties, the transaction authorization system can determine whether to authorize the transaction based on whether the instruction rule sets associated with the reference tokens are compatible or otherwise satisfied. | 11-22-2012 |
20130081036 | PROVIDING AN ELECTRONIC MARKETPLACE TO FACILITATE HUMAN PERFORMANCE OF PROGRAMMATICALLY SUBMITTED TASKS - A method, system, and computer-readable medium is described for facilitating interactions between task requesters who have tasks that are available to be performed and task performers who are available to perform tasks. In some situations, the tasks to be performed are human performance tasks that use cognitive and other mental skills of human task performers, such as to employ judgment, perception and/or reasoning skills of the human task performers. In addition, in some situations the available tasks are submitted by human task requesters via application programs that programmatically invoke one or more application program interfaces of an electronic marketplace in order to request that the tasks be performed and to receive corresponding results of task performance in a programmatic manner, so that an ensemble of unrelated human agents can interact with the electronic marketplace to collectively perform a wide variety and large number of tasks. | 03-28-2013 |
20130151370 | SERVICE FOR ACCEPTING AND SELECTIVELY EXPOSING USER-GENERATED LISTS - An interactive system enables users to generate and submit lists of items (e.g., products selected from an electronic catalog) for viewing by other users. The user-generated lists are selectively suggested to users of the system based (or based in part) on ratings of the user-generated lists. These ratings may, for example, be based on explicit ratings of the lists by users, and/or measures of how effective the respective lists are at driving purchases of items. In some contexts, the system may select one or more user-generated lists to present to a user based on a set of items purchased, viewed, or otherwise selected by the user, or based on the results of a search query submitted by the user. | 06-13-2013 |
20130198084 | UTILIZING PHRASE TOKENS IN TRANSACTIONS - A system and method for facilitating transactions utilizing phrase tokens are provided. Individual entities can be associated with unambiguous transaction phrase tokens, such as multiple word phrases. The transaction phrase tokens are associated with transaction accounts by a service provider such that the entities can complete a transaction without having to exchange transaction account information. In a transaction, a transaction phrase token is offered to an accepting party, which tenders the offered transaction phrase token to the service provider. The service provider processes the offered transaction phrase token according to configuration information specified for the transaction phrase token. The service provider can automatically process the transaction request or request additional information. | 08-01-2013 |
20130204789 | UTILIZING PHRASE TOKENS IN TRANSACTIONS - A system and method for facilitating transactions utilizing phrase tokens are provided. Individual entities can be associated with unambiguous transaction phrase tokens, such as multiple word phrases. The transaction phrase tokens are associated with transaction accounts by a service provider such that the entities can complete a transaction without having to exchange transaction account information. In a transaction, a transaction phrase token is offered to an accepting party, which tenders the offered transaction phrase token to the service provider. The service provider processes the offered transaction phrase token according to configuration information specified for the transaction phrase token. The service provider can automatically process the transaction request or request additional information. | 08-08-2013 |
20130204790 | UTILIZING PHRASE TOKENS IN TRANSACTIONS - A system and method for facilitating transactions utilizing phrase tokens are provided. Individual entities can be associated with unambiguous transaction phrase tokens, such as multiple word phrases. The transaction phrase tokens are associated with transaction accounts by a service provider such that the entities can complete a transaction without having to exchange transaction account information. In a transaction, a transaction phrase token is offered to an accepting party, which tenders the offered transaction phrase token to the service provider. The service provider processes the offered transaction phrase token according to configuration information specified for the transaction phrase token. The service provider can automatically process the transaction request or request additional information. | 08-08-2013 |
20130238504 | PERFORMING AUTOMATICALLY AUTHORIZED PROGRAMMATIC TRANSACTIONS - Techniques are described for facilitating interactions between computing systems, such as by performing transactions between parties that are automatically authorized via a third-party transaction authorization system. In some situations, the transactions are programmatic transactions involving the use of fee-based Web services by executing application programs, with the transaction authorization system authorizing and/or providing payments in accordance with private authorization instructions previously specified by the parties. The authorization instructions may include predefined instruction rule sets that regulate conditions under which a potential transaction can be authorized, with the instruction rule sets each referenced by an associated reference token. After one or more of the parties to a potential transaction supply reference tokens for the parties, the transaction authorization system can determine whether to authorize the transaction based on whether the instruction rule sets associated with the reference tokens are compatible or otherwise satisfied. | 09-12-2013 |
20140201094 | UNAUTHORIZED PRODUCT DETECTION TECHNIQUES - An unauthorized-product detection system may compare data representing various authentication markers of items presumed to have been produced or sourced by a particular entity with stored data representing valid authentication markers of items produced or sourced by the particular entity. The authentication markers may represent inherent physical characteristics of the items or their packaging, or may be generated and applied to the items or their packaging to facilitate counterfeit detection and/or for other purposes. The data (some of which may be encrypted) may be captured using high-resolution cameras, scanners, or other devices, and then communicated to the unauthorized-product detection system for analysis. The system may maintain a data store of data representing captured or valid authentication markers and may store tracking information reflecting the use of various authentication markers. The system may provide various unauthorized product detection services to consumers, retailers, or members of a supply-chain. | 07-17-2014 |