METHOD OF AND SYSTEM FOR ENABLING THE ACCESS OF CONSUMER PRODUCT RELATED INFORMATION AND THE PURCHASE OF CONSUMER PRODUCTS AT POINTS OF CONSUMER PRESENCE ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB (WWW) AT WHICH CONSUMER PRODUCT INFORMATION REQUEST (CPIR) ENABLING SERVLET TAGS ARE EMBEDDED WITHIN HTML-ENCODED DOCUMENTS

摘要

Method of and system for delivering consumer product related information to consumers over the Internet. The system and method involves creating an UPN-encoded Consumer Product Information (CPIR) enabling Applet for each consumer product registered within a manufacturer-managed UPN/URL database management system. Each CPIR-enabling Applet is encapsulated within an executable file and then stored in the UPN/URL database management system. Each CPIR-enabling Applet is searchable and downloadable by, for example, (1) retailers purchasing products from an electronic-commerce enabled product catalog, (2) advertisers desiring to link consumer product information to Web-based product advertisements, or (3) anyone having a legitimate purpose of disseminating such information within the stream of electronic commerce. After downloading and extraction from its encapsulating file, the CPIR-enabling Applet is embedded within an HTML-encoded document associated with, for example, an EC-enabled store, on-line auction site, product advertisement, Internet search engine or directory, and the like. Upon encountering such an Applet-encoded HTML document on the WWW, the consumer need only perform a single mouse-clicking operation to automatically execute the underlying CPIR-enabling Applet (on either the client or server side of the network), causing a UPN-directed search to be performed against the manufacturer-defined UPN/URL Database, and the results thereof displayed in an independent Java GUI, without disturbing the consumer's point of presence on the WWW. Preferably, the CPIR-enabling Applets are realized using Java technology, although it is understood that alternative technologies can be used to practice the system and methods of the present invention.