WO2007134291A2

WO2007134291A2 - Products and processes for facilitating interaction between a merchant and a customer

Info

Publication number: WO2007134291A2
Application number: PCT/US2007/068883
Authority: WO
Inventors: Howard W. Lutnick
Original assignee: Lutnick Howard W
Priority date: 2006-05-13
Filing date: 2007-05-14
Publication date: 2007-11-22
Also published as: AU2007216734B2; CA2590895A1; AU2007216734A1; WO2007134291A3

Abstract

The present disclosure includes a method comprising selecting a merchant from a plurality of merchants, enabling a trial mode for the merchant, during the trial mode, receiving an indication of a first order for the merchant, forwarding the indication of the first order to the merchant, allocating a first payment for the first order to the merchant, requesting an acceptance of a membership status from the merchant, and receiving an indication of the payment for the first order.

Description

PRODUCTS AND PROCESSES FOR FACILITATING INTERACTION BETWEEN A MERCHANT AND A CUSTOMER

This application claims the benefit of priority of the following U.S. Patent Applications:

U.S. Patent Application No. 60/799,898, filed May 13, 2006, entitled "PRODUCTS AND PROCESSES FOR FACILITATING INTERACTION BETWEEN A MERCHANT AND A CUSTOMER";

U.S. Patent Application No. 11/616,688, filed December 27, 2006, entitled "METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR GROUP FILTERED REPORTS";

U.S. Patent Application No. 11/616,735, filed December 27, 2006, entitled "METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR GROUP FILTERED REPORTS BASED ON AT LEAST ONE SECOND REPRESENTATION";

U.S. Patent Application No. 11/616,748, filed December 27, 2006, entitled "METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR GROUP FILTERED REPORTS THAT INCLUDES AN ORIGINATOR OF THE REPORTS";

U.S. Patent Application No. 11/616,756, filed December 27, 2006, entitled "APPARATUS FOR GROUP FILTERED REPORTS";

U.S. Patent Application No. 11/673,446, filed February 9, 2007, entitled "PAYMENT DURING TRIAL PERIOD OF REFERRAL SERVICE";

U.S. Patent Application No. 11/673,451 , filed February 9, 2007, entitled "CHANGING TRIAL STATUS IN A REFERRAL SERVICE";

U.S. Patent Application No. 11/673,458, filed February 9, 2007, entitled "EXPANSION OF A REFERRAL SERVICE";

U.S. Patent Application No. 11/673,461, filed February 9, 2007, entitled "FREE TRIAL PERIOD OF REFERRAL SERVICE";

U.S. Patent Application No. 11/673,464, filed February 9, 2007, entitled "DELIVERY AND REFERRAL SERVICE TRIAL PERIOD". The entirety of each of the above applications is incorporated by reference herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[1] Figure 1 illustrates a computer system architecture that may be used to perform one or more acts in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention;

[2] Figure 2 illustrates an example diagram of a referral service in which the referral service provides order referral and delivery services;

[3] Figure 3 illustrates an example process that may be performed by a referral service according to one embodiment of the present invention;

[4] Figure 4 illustrates an example process that may be performed by some embodiments of the present invention to provide a free trial period to a merchant; and

[5] Figure 5 illustrates an example process that may be performed by some embodiments of the present invention to provide a merchant period to a merchant.

[6] Figure 6 illustrates a process that may be performed in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention;

[7] Figures 7A - 7C illustrate a set of database tables that may be used in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention; and

[8] Figure 8 illustrates a process for filtering representations of reports that may be performed in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention.

SUMMARY OF CERTAIN EMBODIMENTS

[9] Disclosure includes selecting a merchant from a plurality of merchants, enabling a trial mode for the merchant, during the trial mode, receiving an indication of a first order for the merchant, forwarding the indication of the first order to the merchant, allocating a first payment for the first order to the merchant, requesting an acceptance of a membership status from the merchant, and receiving an indication of the payment for the first order.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[10] The sections I - VII below provide guidelines to interpreting the present application. I. Terms

[11] The term "product" means any machine, manufacture and / or composition of matter, unless expressly specified otherwise.

[12] The term "process" means any process, algorithm, method or the like, unless expressly specified otherwise.

[13] Each process (whether called a method, algorithm or otherwise) inherently includes one or more steps, and therefore all references to a "step" or "steps" of a process have an inherent antecedent basis in the mere recitation of the term 'process' or a like term. Accordingly, any reference in a claim to a 'step' or 'steps' of a process has sufficient antecedent basis.

[14] The terms "an embodiment", "embodiment", "embodiments", "the embodiment", "the embodiments", "one or more embodiments", "some embodiments", "certain embodiments", "one embodiment", "another embodiment" and the like mean "one or more (but not all) embodiments of the disclosed invention(s)", unless expressly specified otherwise.

[15] The term "variation" of an invention means an embodiment of the invention, unless expressly specified otherwise.

[16] A reference to "another embodiment" in describing an embodiment does not imply that the referenced embodiment is mutually exclusive with another embodiment (e.g., an embodiment described before the referenced embodiment), unless expressly specified otherwise.

[17] The terms "including", "comprising" and variations thereof mean

"including but not limited to", unless expressly specified otherwise.

[18] The terms "a", "an" and "the" mean "one or more", unless expressly specified otherwise.

[19] The term "plurality" means "two or more", unless expressly specified otherwise.

[20] The term "herein" means "in the present application, including anything which may be incorporated by reference", unless expressly specified otherwise. [21] The phrase "at least one of, when such phrase modifies a plurality of things (such as an enumerated list of things) means any combination of one or more of those things, unless expressly specified otherwise. For example, the phrase "at least one of a widget, a car and a wheel" means either (i) a widget, (ii) a car, (iii) a wheel, (iv) a widget and a car, (v) a widget and a wheel, (vi) a car and a wheel, or (vii) a widget, a car and a wheel.

[22] Numerical terms such as "one", "two", etc. when used as cardinal numbers to indicate quantity of something (e.g., one widget, two widgets), mean the quantity indicated by that numerical term, but do not mean at least the quantity indicated by that numerical term. For example, the phrase "one widget" does not mean "at least one widget", and therefore the phrase "one widget" does not cover, e.g., two widgets.

[23] The phrase "based on" does not mean "based only on", unless expressly specified otherwise. In other words, the phrase "based on" describes both "based only on" and "based at least on".

[24] The term "represent" and like terms are not exclusive, unless expressly specified otherwise. For example, the term "represents" do not mean "represents only", unless expressly specified otherwise. In other words, the phrase "the data represents a credit card number" describes both "the data represents only a credit card number" and "the data represents a credit card number and the data also represents something else".

[25] The term "whereby" is used herein only to precede a clause or other set of words that express only the intended result, objective or consequence of something that is previously and explicitly recited. Thus, when the term "whereby" is used in a claim, the clause or other words that the term "whereby" modifies do not establish specific further limitations of the claim or otherwise restricts the meaning or scope of the claim.

[26] The term "e.g." and like terms means "for example", and thus does not limit the term or phrase it explains. For example, in the sentence "the computer sends data (e.g., instructions, a data structure) over the Internet", the term "e.g." explains that "instructions" are an example of "data" that the computer may send over the Internet, and also explains that "a data structure" is an example of "data" that the computer may send over the Internet. However, both "instructions" and "a data structure" are merely examples of "data", and other things besides "instructions" and "a data structure" can be "data".

[27] The term "i.e." and like terms means "that is", and thus limits the term or phrase it explains. For example, in the sentence "the computer sends data (i.e., instructions) over the Internet", the term "i.e." explains that "instructions" are the "data" that the computer sends over the Internet.

II. Determining

[28] The term "determining" and grammatical variants thereof (e.g., to determine a price, determining a value, determine an object which meets a certain criterion) is used in an extremely broad sense. The term "determining" encompasses a wide variety of actions and therefore "determining" can include calculating, computing, processing, deriving, investigating, looking up (e.g., looking up in a table, a database or another data structure), ascertaining and the like. Also, "determining" can include receiving (e.g., receiving information), accessing (e.g., accessing data in a memory) and the like. Also, "determining" can include resolving, selecting, choosing, establishing, and the like.

[29] The term "determining" does not imply certainty or absolute precision, and therefore "determining" can include estimating, predicting, guessing and the like.

[30] The term "determining" does not imply that mathematical processing must be performed, and does not imply that numerical methods must be used, and does not imply that an algorithm or process is used.

[31] The term "determining" does not imply that any particular device must be used. For example, a computer need not necessarily perform the determining. III. Forms of Sentences

[32] Where a limitation of a first claim would cover one of a feature as well as more than one of a feature (e.g., a limitation such as "at least one widget" covers one widget as well as more than one widget), and where in a second claim that depends on the first claim, the second claim uses a definite article "the" to refer to the limitation (e.g., "the widget"), this does not imply that the first claim covers only one of the feature, and this does not imply that the second claim covers only one of the feature (e.g., "the widget" can cover both one widget and more than one widget).

[33] When an ordinal number (such as "first", "second", "third" and so on) is used as an adjective before a term, that ordinal number is used (unless expressly specified otherwise) merely to indicate a particular feature, such as to distinguish that particular feature from another feature that is described by the same term or by a similar term. For example, a "first widget" may be so named merely to distinguish it from, e.g., a "second widget". Thus, the mere usage of the ordinal numbers "first" and "second" before the term "widget" does not indicate any other relationship between the two widgets, and likewise does not indicate any other characteristics of either or both widgets. For example, the mere usage of the ordinal numbers "first" and "second" before the term "widget" (1) does not indicate that either widget comes before or after any other in order or location; (2) does not indicate that either widget occurs or acts before or after any other in time; and (3) does not indicate that either widget ranks above or below any other, as in importance or quality. In addition, the mere usage of ordinal numbers does not define a numerical limit to the features identified with the ordinal numbers. For example, the mere usage of the ordinal numbers "first" and "second" before the term "widget" does not indicate that there must be no more than two widgets.

[34] When a single device or article is described herein, more than one device / article (whether or not they cooperate) may alternatively be used in place of the single device / article that is described. Accordingly, the functionality that is described as being possessed by a device may alternatively be possessed by more than one device / article (whether or not they cooperate). [35] Similarly, where more than one device or article is described herein

(whether or not they cooperate), a single device / article may alternatively be used in place of the more than one device or article that is described. For example, a plurality of computer-based devices may be substituted with a single computer- based device. Accordingly, the various functionality that is described as being possessed by more than one device or article may alternatively be possessed by a single device / article.

[36] The functionality and / or the features of a single device that is described may be alternatively embodied by one or more other devices which are described but are not explicitly described as having such functionality / features. Thus, other embodiments need not include the described device itself, but rather can include the one or more other devices which would, in those other embodiments, have such functionality / features.

IV. Disclosed Examples and Terminology Are Not Limiting [37] Numerous embodiments are described in the present application, and are presented for illustrative purposes only. The described embodiments are not, and are not intended to be, limiting in any sense. The presently disclosed invention(s) are widely applicable to numerous embodiments, as is readily apparent from the disclosure. One of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the disclosed invention(s) may be practiced with various modifications and alterations, such as structural, logical, software, and electrical modifications. Although particular features of the disclosed invention(s) may be described with reference to one or more particular embodiments and / or drawings, it should be understood that such features are not limited to usage in the one or more particular embodiments or drawings with reference to which they are described, unless expressly specified otherwise.

[38] The present disclosure is neither a literal description of all embodiments of the invention nor a listing of features of the invention which must be present in all embodiments. [39] Neither the Title (set forth at the beginning of the first page of the present application) nor the Abstract (set forth at the end of the present application) is to be taken as limiting in any way as the scope of the disclosed invention(s). An Abstract has been included in this application merely because an Abstract of not more than 150 words is required under 37 CF. R. § 1.72(b).

[40] The title of the present application and headings of sections provided in the present application are for convenience only, and are not to be taken as limiting the disclosure in any way.

[41] Devices that are described as in communication with each other need not be in continuous communication with each other, unless expressly specified otherwise. On the contrary, such devices need only transmit to each other as necessary or desirable, and may actually refrain from exchanging data most of the time. For example, a machine in communication with another machine via the Internet may not transmit data to the other machine for long period of time (e.g. weeks at a time). In addition, devices that are in communication with each other may communicate directly or indirectly through one or more intermediaries.

[42] A description of an embodiment with several components or features does not imply that all or even any of such components / features are required. On the contrary, a variety of optional components are described to illustrate the wide variety of possible embodiments of the present invention(s). Unless otherwise specified explicitly, no component / feature is essential or required.

[43] Although process steps, algorithms or the like may be described in a sequential order, such processes may be configured to work in different orders. In other words, any sequence or order of steps that may be explicitly described does not necessarily indicate a requirement that the steps be performed in that order. The steps of processes described herein may be performed in any order practical. Further, some steps may be performed simultaneously despite being described or implied as occurring non-simultaneously (e.g., because one step is described after the other step). Moreover, the illustration of a process by its depiction in a drawing does not imply that the illustrated process is exclusive of other variations and modifications thereto, does not imply that the illustrated process or any of its steps are necessary to the invention, and does not imply that the illustrated process is preferred.

[44] Although a process may be described as including a plurality of steps, that does not imply that all or any of the steps are essential or required. Various other embodiments within the scope of the described invention(s) include other processes that omit some or all of the described steps. Unless otherwise specified explicitly, no step is essential or required.

[45] Although a product may be described as including a plurality of components, aspects, qualities, characteristics and / or features, that does not indicate that all of the plurality are essential or required. Various other embodiments within the scope of the described invention(s) include other products that omit some or all of the described plurality.

[46] An enumerated list of items (which may or may not be numbered) does not imply that any or all of the items are mutually exclusive, unless expressly specified otherwise. Likewise, an enumerated list of items (which may or may not be numbered) does not imply that any or all of the items are comprehensive of any category, unless expressly specified otherwise. For example, the enumerated list "a computer, a laptop, a PDA" does not imply that any or all of the three items of that list are mutually exclusive and does not imply that any or all of the three items of that list are comprehensive of any category

V. Computing

[47] It should be appreciated that the various processes described herein may be implemented by, e.g., appropriately programmed computer systems, e.g., general purpose computers 101 and / or computing devices 103, such as those illustrated in Figure 1. A computing device 103 may include a specialized or general purpose computing device such as a cellular phone, a personal digital assistant, and / or any other portable or non-portable computing system that is not a general purpose computer.

[48] A "processor" 105 means one or more microprocessors, central processing units (CPUs), computing devices, microcontrollers, digital signal processors, application specific integrated circuits, or like devices or any combination thereof. A processor may include an Intel® Pentium®, Centrino®, and / or Core® processor. Typically, a processor 105 will receive instructions (e.g., from a memory or like device), and execute those instructions, thereby performing one or more processes defined by those instructions.

[49] Thus a description of a process is likewise a description of an apparatus for performing the process. The apparatus that performs the process may include, e.g., a processor 105 and those input devices and / or output devices (e.g., a keyboard 107, mouse, trackball, microphone, touch screen, printing device, display screen 109, speaker, network interface 111) that are appropriate to perform the process.

[50] Further, programs (i.e., collections of instructions) that implement such methods (as well as other types of data) may be stored and transmitted using a variety of media (e.g., machine-readable media) in a number of manners. In some embodiments, hard-wired circuitry or custom hardware may be used in place of, or in combination with, some or all of the software instructions that can implement the processes of various embodiments. Thus, various combinations of hardware and software may be used instead of software only.

[51] In some embodiments, processor 105 may execute an operating system which may include, for example, the Windows-based operating systems (e.g., Windows NT, Windows 2000 (Windows ME), Windows XP, Windows Vista) available from the Microsoft Corporation, MAC OS System X operating system available from Apple Computer, one or more of the Linux-based operating system distributions (e.g., the Enterprise Linux operating system available from Red Hat, Inc.), the Solaris operating system available from Sun Microsystems, or UNIX operating systems available from various sources. Many other operating systems may be used, and the invention is not limited to any particular operating system.

[52] The processor and operating system together may define a computer platform for which programs stored on a machine -readable medium may be written in various programming languages, including an object-oriented programming language, such as SmallTalk, Java, C++, Ada, Python, or C# (C-Sharp), functional programming languages, scripting programming languages such as JavaScript, and / or logical programming languages. Various aspects of the invention may be implemented in a non-programmed environment (e.g., documents created in HTML, XML or other format that, when viewed in a window of a browser program, render aspects of a GUI or perform other functions). Some implementations of the present invention may be implemented using a plurality of programming languages and techniques known collectively as AJAX to provide a user with an interactive web-based user interface.

[53] Various embodiments of the present invention may include a network environment including one or more computing systems (e.g., general purpose computers 101, other computing devices 103) in communication through one or more communication networks (e.g., a LAN 119, the Internet 121). The computer systems may communicate directly or indirectly, via any wired or wireless medium (e.g., the Internet 121, LAN 119, WAN or Ethernet, Token Ring, a telephone line, a cable line, a radio channel, an optical communications line, commercial on-line service providers, bulletin board systems, a satellite communications link, cellular telephone networks, a WI-FI network, a Bluetooth communication link, a combination of any of the above).

[54] Various aspects of the invention (e.g., program elements stored on machine-readable media and executable by one or more processors) may be distributed among one or more computer systems configured to provide a service to one or more client computer systems. For example, in some embodiments, a plurality of computing systems may be organized as a central authority connected to a LAN or other communication network. These computing systems may receive requests and other information from remote computing systems through the Internet 121.

[55] In some embodiments of the present invention, one or more computer systems may act as a database server that stores information regarding merchants, orders, and / or any other desired information. The database server may respond to database requests such as structured query language (SQL) queries by providing access to a database (e.g., searching of the database, writing to the database). [56] In some embodiments, one or more computer systems may act as a web server. A web server may be configured to respond to network requests (e.g., HTTP messages, XMLHTTP requests) from web browsers executed by remote computer systems. For example, a web browser 123 executed by a computing system may direct an HTTP message through the Internet 121 to an edge routing device 125 connected to the LAN 119. The edge routing device 125 may be configured to direct the HTTP message to the web server through the LAN 119. The web server may provide a response (e.g., an HTML document) to the web browser 123 through the edge routing device 125 and Internet 121. The web server may be configured to communicate with other computer systems (e.g., a database server) to generate responses to such a received request.

[57] In some embodiments, a server computer / centralized authority may not be necessary or desirable. For example, the present invention may, in an embodiment, be practiced on one or more computing devices without a central authority. In such an embodiment, any functions described herein as performed by a server or data described as stored on a general purpose computer may instead be performed by or stored on one or more such computing devices.

[58] The term "machine-readable medium" refers to any medium that participates in providing data (e.g., instructions, data structures) which may be read by a computer, a processor or a like device. Such a medium may take many forms, including but not limited to, non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmission media. Non- volatile media include, for example, optical or magnetic disks 113 and other persistent memory. Volatile media include dynamic random access memory 115 (DRAM), which typically constitutes the main memory of a computer system. Transmission media include coaxial cables, copper wire and fiber optics, including the wires that comprise a system bus 117 coupled to the processor. Transmission media may include or convey acoustic waves, light waves and electromagnetic emissions, such as those generated during radio frequency (RF) and infrared (IR) data communications. Common forms of machine-readable media include, for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape, any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, a DVD, any other optical medium, punch cards, a paper tape, any other physical medium with patterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM, an EPROM, a FLASH-EEPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, a carrier wave, or any other medium from which a computer can read.

[59] Various forms of machine-readable media may be involved in carrying data (e.g., sequences of instructions) to a processor. For example, data may be (i) delivered from RAM to a processor; (ii) carried over a wireless transmission medium; (iii) formatted and / or transmitted according to numerous formats, standards or protocols, such as Ethernet (or IEEE 802.3), SAP, ATP, Bluetooth™, and TCP/IP, TDMA, CDMA, and 3G; and / or (iv) encrypted to ensure privacy or prevent fraud in any of a variety of ways well known in the art.

[60] Thus a description of a process is likewise a description of a machine- readable medium storing a program for performing the process. The machine- readable medium can store (in any appropriate format) those program elements that are appropriate to perform the process.

[61] Where a process is described, in some embodiments the process may operate without any user intervention. In other embodiments, the process includes some human intervention (e.g., an act is performed by or with the assistance of a human).

[62] Just as the description of various acts in a process does not indicate that all the described acts are required, embodiments of an apparatus may include one or more computer systems operable to perform some (but not necessarily all) of the described process.

[63] Likewise, just as the description of various acts in a process does not indicate that all the described acts are required, embodiments of a machine- readable medium storing a program or data structure include a machine-readable medium storing a program that, when executed, can cause one or more processors to perform some (but not necessarily all) of the described process.

[64] Where databases are described, it will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that (i) alternative database structures to those described may be readily employed, and (ii) other memory structures besides databases may be readily employed. Any descriptions of any sample databases presented herein are illustrative arrangements for stored representations of information. Any number of other arrangements may be employed besides those suggested herein. Further, any database format (including relational databases, object-based models and / or distributed databases) may be used to store and manipulate the data types described herein. Likewise, object methods or behaviors of a database may be used to implement processes described herein. In addition, the databases may, in a known manner, be stored locally or remotely from a device which accesses data in such a database.

[65] Various embodiments can be configured to work in a network environment including a computer that is in communication (e.g., via a communications network) with one or more devices. The computer may communicate with the devices directly or indirectly, via any wired or wireless medium (e.g. the Internet, LAN, WAN or Ethernet, Token Ring, a telephone line, a cable line, a radio channel, an optical communications line, commercial on-line service providers, bulletin board systems, a satellite communications link, a combination of any of the above). Each of the devices may themselves comprise computers or other computing devices, such as those based on the Intel® Pentium® or Centrino™ processor, that are adapted to communicate with the computer. Any number and type of devices may be in communication with the computer.

[66] In an embodiment, a server computer or centralized authority may not be necessary or desirable. For example, the present invention may, in an embodiment, be practiced on one or more devices without a central authority. In such an embodiment, any functions described herein as performed by the server computer or data described as stored on the server computer may instead be performed by or stored on one or more such devices.

VI. Continuing Applications

[67] The present disclosure provides, to one of ordinary skill in the art, an enabling description of several embodiments and / or inventions. Some of these embodiments and / or inventions may not be claimed in the present application, but may nevertheless be claimed in one or more continuing applications that claim the benefit of priority of the present application. Applicants intend to file additional applications to pursue patents for subject matter that has been disclosed and enabled but not claimed in the present application.

VII. 35 U.S.C. S 112. paragraph 6

[68] In a claim, a limitation of the claim which includes the phrase "means for" or the phrase "step for" means that 35 U.S. C. § 112, paragraph 6, applies to that limitation.

[69] In a claim, a limitation of the claim which does not include the phrase

"means for" or the phrase "step for" means that 35 U.S. C. § 112, paragraph 6 does not apply to that limitation, regardless of whether that limitation recites a function without recitation of structure, material or acts for performing that function. For example, in a claim, the mere use of the phrase "step of or the phrase "steps of in referring to one or more steps of the claim or of another claim does not mean that 35 U.S. C. § 112, paragraph 6, applies to that step(s).

[70] With respect to a means or a step for performing a specified function in accordance with 35 U.S. C. § 112, paragraph 6, the corresponding structure, material or acts described in the specification, and equivalents thereof, may perform additional functions as well as the specified function.

[71] Computers, processors, computing devices and like products are structures that can perform a wide variety of functions. Such products can be operable to perform a specified function by executing one or more programs, such as a program stored in a memory device of that product or in a memory device which that product accesses. Unless expressly specified otherwise, such a program need not be based on any particular algorithm, such as any particular algorithm that might be disclosed in the present application. It is well known to one of ordinary skill in the art that a specified function may be implemented via different algorithms, and any of a number of different algorithms would be a mere design choice for carrying out the specified function. [72] Therefore, with respect to a means or a step for performing a specified function in accordance with 35 U.S. C. § 112, paragraph 6, structure corresponding to a specified function includes any product programmed to perform the specified function. Such structure includes programmed products which perform the function, regardless of whether such product is programmed with (i) a disclosed algorithm for performing the function, (ii) an algorithm that is similar to a disclosed algorithm, or (iii) a different algorithm for performing the function.

VIII. Overview

[73] In general, various embodiments are directed to a portal which permits merchants to communicate with customers and potential customers. Such merchants can provide products (goods and services) to customers via various distribution mechanisms. In an embodiment, such merchants can provide products via a delivery service (e.g., delivery of an ordered product from the merchant's location to the customer's location).

[74] An entity (e.g., an individual, a search engine company, a news or data feed such as Reuters or Bloomberg) can be provided with an incentive to facilitate the communication between a merchant and a customer. In an embodiment, in exchange for the entity prompting a particular merchant to register with the portal (and therefore be able to serve customers who access the portal), the entity can be provided with a portion of all revenue that the merchant receives through the portal (e.g., forever, for a predetermined period of time). For example, in exchange for the entity registering the merchant with the portal, the entity can be provided with fifty percent of the revenue of that merchant's orders via the portal. Similarly, in exchange for the entity prompting a particular customer to register with the portal, the entity can be provided with a portion of all revenue that the customer provides through the portal (e.g., forever, for a predetermined period of time). Such an extended revenue stream allows the entity to monetize a portion of the value the entity created by registering customers and / or merchants. In turn, the revenue stream itself can be transferred or assigned (in whole or in part) to another, in exchange for a fixed amount, an amount based on the historical value of the revenue stream, an amount of equity in a company, and any other consideration. [75] In an embodiment, the entity can be the merchant itself. In other words, the merchant registers itself. Likewise the merchant can advertise its own products through the portal or other medium. In an embodiment where a plurality of merchants advertise via the portal or other medium, advertising revenues provided from such plurality of merchants can be shared amongst the merchants.

[76] The registration by the entity of the merchant and / or customers can be stored and tracked (e.g., each entity can be identified by a unique code which is provided during the registration of the merchant), so that subsequent orders via the portal to that merchant can not only be tracked but can trigger an accounting of revenue to be shared with the entity. Such an accounting can be performed substantially simultaneously (e.g., when a customer pays) or periodically (e.g., every month).

[77] Registration can include the storing of information which is useful in completing or facilitating the orders that may ensue between merchants and customers and delivery providers. For example, stored customer information can include payment information (e.g., credit card number, billing address), customer address (street name and number, photos of the address and nearby points of navigation), and preferences (stored manually by the customer or automatically by the portal system). Stored delivery provider information includes can include payment information (e.g., for guaranteeing the safe delivery of products), geographic area of service.

[78] In an embodiment, merchants can agree to provide a discount on its normal prices to account for some or all of the additional revenue provided to the entity. In an embodiment, a merchant can be provided with a free trial (e.g., the merchant provides no discount at all) for a period of time (e.g., for one month after registering).

[79] Such compensation of entities can provide various advantages. For example, an entity generally has a reliable way to measure advertisings efforts since merchants and customers could, e.g., be directed to a web site of that entity and be registered through that web site. Thus the entity has an incentive to perform effective advertising. A number of such entities can each individually advertise their web sites, with the most effective adverting most probably yielding the largest number of registrations.

[80] Thus the entities serve as advertisers for the merchants, which provide inventory. In an embodiment, a distribution function, such as delivery to the customer, can be a service that is provided by yet another party different than the merchant or the entity.

[81] An entity can allocate a portion of its revenue amounts that are receives or is due to receive (e.g., from registering customers and / or merchants) to others, such as a charity or a group which divides the allocated portion amongst itself in some manner.

[82] Additional advantages can be yielded by providing, via an online interface or other means:

[83] Substantially standard contracts (e.g., for merchants, customers, delivery service providers, entities)

[84] Substantially standard web interface (e.g., for registration, data entry of any sort)

[85] Substantially standard menu (e.g., to a menu or other product selection mechanism of a merchant, to manners of accessing, sorting searching and filtering menu items)

[86] Substantially standard entity interface (for determining the total revenue sources to the entity and their values, for determining the allocations of revenue to other parties where desirable)

IX. Delivery

[87] Delivery can be provided by a different entity, and even by different entities at different times for the same customer ordering from the same merchant. The delivery provider can be paid directly by any of the customer, merchant, portal or any combination thereof. For example, the merchant, when charging a customer, can also charge the customer for delivery, and provide payment to the delivery provider separately (e.g., after confirmation of delivery). The price charged by the delivery service can be biddable (e.g., by various delivery providers).

[88] The customer can select from amongst a set of people willing and able to deliver, e.g., at that time, to that customer, from that merchant. Such delivery providers can indicate via a web site when they are available, when they are not, what locations they deliver to and from, and the like. Such data can be used by the customer to filter (manually or automatically) the delivery service providers.

[89] After delivery, the customer and / or the merchant can provide a rating of the delivery provider (e.g., via the portal). Likewise the speed of deliver can be measured and recorded (e.g., by the merchant indicating the start time and the customer indicating the delivery time). Further, the customer and / or merchant can provide additional information on the delivery service (e.g., via text).

[90] Note that delivery of merchants' products encompasses any product that may be provided to a customer, including parcel and package delivery.

[91] In an embodiment, upon registration a delivery provider is required to provide proof of insurance (e.g., motor vehicle insurance, business insurance), proof of identity (e.g., an image or copy of a driver's license, a fingerprint, a license plate number). The delivery provider can also be certified via an online test of information that is required or useful in providing delivery services.

[92] In an embodiment, upon registration a delivery provider is provided with access to mapping / navigation software to allow customer locations and merchant locations to be easily determined by the delivery provider.

X. "Menu" Creation

[93] A menu for a merchant (as well as components of menus such as photos or item descriptions) may be created automatically and / or manually. A menu encompasses not just a menu of food items, but any list of products a merchant is willing to provide customers.

[94] Automatic menu creation may include, e.g., a web crawler or similar mechanism that locates merchant information (e.g., menus and associated menu components, merchant address) that is accessible via the World Wide Web. Such a crawler can automatically select and categorize menu data in a database for the merchant.

[95] In an embodiment, a merchant manually creates a menu, but this data from such a menu may be used by other merchants. For example, the first grocery store to develop a web site for the portal could provide pictures of their grocery items, and then subsequent grocery stores could also use those pictures for those items they have in common (in other words, subsequent merchants would benefit from the work done for / by other merchants in putting data online). This can provide the benefit of allowing a consistent interface to goods / services to be provided to customers.

[96] There can be a variety of interfaces to particular categories of products, e.g., a wine interface, a pizza interface, a sandwich / deli interface, a flowers interface, a pharmacy interface, a movie (e.g., DVD) rental interface.

XI. Recommendations

[97] The information of the orders of other customers (from the same merchant, same type of merchant) can be employed to provide a recommendation to a customer. For example, a product that a customer orders or views can be used to provide a recommendation for another product to that customer. In one embodiment, the product that the customer orders or views can be matched with other orders of other customers, in which the other orders also include that product. These other orders thus indicate other products that might be comparable to that product, useful with that product or in another way of potential interest to the customer.

[98] Similarly, the recommended product can be based on what other customers have ordered from that merchant (e.g., without consideration of what the customer is ordering / viewing).

[99] Similarly, the recommended product can be based on common (or the most common) orders from that merchant (e.g., without consideration of what the customer is ordering / viewing). [100] The common order may be assessed based on a particular time period (e.g., most common this week, this month, since records were kept).

[101] Similarly, a recommendation may be provided by a third party (e.g., a chef, another customer). The third party may be associated with the merchant (e.g., an employee or agent of the customer), associated with a product (e.g., a product the customer is ordering / viewing), or associated with or similar to the customer (e.g., both the customer and the third party have the same job, reside in the same general geographic area, have the same interests).

[102] The common order may be assessed based on the merchant, the product or the customer. For example, the most common order for all customers who have the same job as the customer may be presented.

[103] In another embodiment, a merchant may be recommended to a customer. For example, a new merchant (e.g., that has registered within the last month, last day) may be recommended to various customers. For example, all customers in the geographic area of the new merchant may receive a recommendation for the new merchant. In another embodiment, all customers who have ordered from merchants that are similar to the new merchant may receive a recommendation for the new merchant. Recommendations for customers can be based on other customer preferences.

[104] Likewise, a customer may be recommended to a merchant in manners comparable to those described herein for recommending merchants. For example, a new customer (e.g., that has registered within the last month, last day) may be recommended to various merchants.

[105] Recommendations can likewise be based on the customer's own past orders. For example, the customer's own most frequently ordered products, or most frequently frequented merchant, can be recommended to the customer.

[106] Some examples of recommendation systems may be found in U.S. Patent No. 6,317,722 to Amazon.com, Inc., and U.S. Patent No. 6,912,505 to Amazon.com, Inc., both of which are incorporated by reference herein as part of the present disclosure. [107] Recommendations may be provided at various times and in various forms. For example, a recommendation may be presented to a customer via a web site (e.g., the web site from which the customer orders / views products). A recommendation may be presented to a customer via email (e.g., sent to an email account the customer provides upon registration).

[108] Recommendations can combined with various ordering mechanisms. For example, a recommended product can be accompanied by a control (e.g., a button) of a graphical user interface. The control can allow the customer to place an order for the product (e.g., by pressing the button).

XII. Tracking

[109] A database or other mechanism can be operable to record various data and statistics. For example, the aggregate number of orders provided to a particular merchant through the portal can be recorded, and such information is of potential interest to that particular merchant. Similarly, the aggregate number of orders provided through the portal to a particular merchant as compared to other merchants (e.g., in the same are, in the same product category) can be recorded, and such information is of potential interest to that particular merchant.

[110] Likewise, the aggregate number of orders provided by a particular customer through the portal, and the number of orders provided by a particular customer to a particular merchant through the portal, can be recorded, and such information is of potential interest to that particular merchant as well as to that particular customer.

[I l l] Likewise, the products ordered by a particular customer through the portal, and the products ordered by a particular customer from a particular merchant through the portal, can be recorded, and such information is of potential interest to that particular merchant as well as to that particular customer. For example, a merchant can determine how much revenue the merchant received from a particular customer, or from customers in a defined category. Similarly, a customer can determine how much money the customer spent at a particular customer, or at merchants in a defined category. [112] All of the above types of information can be ordered, filtered and reported in various ways. For example, a report showing historical (e.g., month-to-month) revenues a merchant received via the portal, or via certain types of customers (e.g., customers in a geographic area, newly-registered customers) can be generated. Reports can be displayed in any manner (e.g., text, spreadsheet, bar charts, pie charts)

XIII. FURTHER EMBODIMENTS

[113] Methods and apparatus related to various payments made when using a referral service are described herein. Payments may originate from various sources, such as banks, individuals, and / or money transferors. Payments may be distributed among merchants, referral service providers, and any other desired entity. In various embodiments, payments or indications of payments may be made from / received from various sources during a free trial period of a referral service. Embodiments of the referral service may receive indication of payments that may include a promise by an individual or other entity to make a payment upon receipt of a good or performance of a service. Some embodiments of the present invention relate to providing a free trial period of an order referral service to at least one merchant. Some embodiments of such a service may receive an indication of an order for a specific merchant from a user of the service and may forward the indication of the order to the merchant. In some embodiments, the referral service may collect a fee associated with providing / maintaining the referral service. In some embodiments, the referral service may waive collection of the fee during the free trial period. In some embodiments, the referral service may include a delivery service that not only refers orders to the merchant, but also delivers products from the merchant to the user.

[114] It is recognized, in one aspect of the present invention, that attracting merchants to use a referral service may be difficult. For example, merchant's may be unaware that a referral service exists, may be afraid that a referral service may require too high a level of technical sophistication, or may not recognize the financial advantages of receiving outside referrals in addition to traditional orders. A referral service that provides free trial periods to merchants as a method of advertising the referral service to the merchants may attract merchants to the referral service that would otherwise not use the service. Particularly, a referral service that unilaterally selects merchants without a request from the merchants may provide merchants with an opportunity to test a referral service that the merchants may not have otherwise experienced.

[115] Figure 2 illustrates an example diagram of a referral service implemented on referral system 205 (e.g., a computer system as described above), in which the referral service provides order referral and delivery services. In this example embodiment, user 201 transmits an indication of an order for at least one product from merchant 203 to referral system 205 through communication link 207. Referral system 205 may then receive the indication of the order (e.g., from the communication link 207). Referral system 205 then forwards the indication of the order to merchant 203 over communication link 209. In this example embodiment, referral system 205 also transmits a request to deliver the at least one product to delivery agent 211 through a communication link 213. Delivery agent 211 obtains the at least one product from merchant 203 and delivers the at least one product to user 201 in response to the delivery request. In other implementations, however, the delivery may be performed by the merchant directly or merchant 203 may include a service provider rather than a product provider and so delivery of a product may not be needed and a service may be performed instead.

[116] In various implementations, merchant 203 may include, for example, a seller of products and / or a provider of services. For example, in some implementations, the merchant may include a restaurant and / or a retail store. In some implementations, the merchant may include multiple merchants of the same or different types. For example, in one implementation, the order may include an order for a plurality of products from the multiple merchants. Delivery agent 211 may, in such an implementation, retrieve the products from all the multiple merchants and deliver the products to user 201.

[117] In various implementations, referral system 205 may include one or more computing systems, as discussed above. In some implementations referral system 205 may include one or more people performing one or more acts of referral system 205 (e.g., receiving indications of orders, forwarding indications of orders, etc.). In some implementations, referral system 205 may provide the user with a user interface through which the user may place the order. For example, in some implementations, the user interface may include a website or mobile device interface. In some implementations, the user interface may include a list or other representation of products and / or services that the user may order from the merchant 203. In some implementations, the list or other representation may include a price of each product and / or service.

[118] In one implementation, communication links 207, 209, and / or 213 may include electronic network links that include the Internet and / or one or more local area networks. In one implementation, communication links 207, 209 and / or 213 may include a telephone line through which facsimile transmission may be made. In other examples, communication links 207, 209, and / or 213 may include cable lines, DSL lines, face-to-face communication, and/or any other medium through which communication may be made. Each communication link may be separate or may be shared.

[119] In one implementation, delivery agent 211 may include a person who travels from merchant 203 to user 201. In some implementations, delivery agent 211 may deliver to another location rather than to the user if the user 201 desires such delivery (e.g., if the order indicates such delivery). In some implementations, delivery agent 211 may include a person traveling by an automobile, bicycle, or any other means. In some implementations, communications link 213 used to communicate with delivery agent 211 may include a telephone line and / or another means of electronic communication. For example, in some implementations a cellular telephone may communicate information regarding the delivery to the delivery agent 211, e.g., through a telephone call or text message. In other implementations, an electronic message such as an SMS, MMS, or email message may communicate the information, for example to another mobile device carried by delivery agent 211 or to a central dispatcher that then relays the information to delivery agent 211. [120] In some embodiments, a payment may be exchanged among merchant 203, user 201, and referral system 205. In some implementations, for example, the user may provide a payment to delivery agent 211. Delivery agent 211 may provide the payment to referral system 205. Referral system 205 may then provide the payment or a portion of the payment to merchant 203. In some implementations, delivery agent 211 may provide the payment to merchant 203 rather than referral system 205. In such implementations, merchant 203 may, in some circumstances, provide a portion of the payment to referral system 205 for providing referral services. In some implementations, the user may provide merchant 203 and / or referral system 205 with payment directly rather than paying delivery agent 211. In such implementations, the referral system 205 and merchant 203 may distribute portions of the payment as is appropriate (e.g., distribute the payment between merchant 203 and referral system 211 according to a prearranged agreement). In some implementations, a portion of payment distributed to referral system 205 may be provided to delivery agent 211 to pay for delivery services.

[121] In some embodiments, as a condition for using (e.g., becoming a customer of) a referral service, a merchant may be required to provide a lower than standard price to users of the referral service. The standard price, for example may be a normal price paid for products and / or services by traditional customers of the merchant (e.g., walk-in customers). In some implementations, the standard price may be a normal price paid for delivery and / or take-out customers (e.g., in the case of a restaurant), which may sometimes be different (higher or lower) from a normal price paid by traditional customers (e.g., dine -in customers). In some implementations, the reduction in the standard price may be used to pay for the referral service. For example, the referral service may charge users the standard price despite the price reduction by the merchant. The referral service may then collect the difference between the standard price and the lowered price as a fee for providing the referral service. A lowered price charged by a merchant may be referred to as a merchant portion of a total payment for a product and / or service. The markup by the referral service to raise the lowered price back to the standard price (or some other price) may be referred to as a fee portion of the total payment for the product or service. As discussed in more detail below, the condition for lowering the standard price and the collection of a fee portion may be waived during a free trial period.

[122] In some implementations, a percentage or amount that the standard price may reflect the cost of providing the service along with a reasonable profit for the referral service. In some implementations, the percentage may be based, at least in part, on a number of orders received for the merchant (e.g., if the merchant receives more orders, the percentage may be decreased). In some implementations, the percentage may be based, at least in part, on a type of service provided (e.g., referral only, delivery and referral). In some implementations, the percentage may be based, at least in part, on a type of product and / or service ordered.

[123] Figure 3 illustrates an example process 300 according to one embodiment of the present invention that begins at block 301. Process 300 may be performed, for example, by referral system 205.

[124] As indicated at block 303, process 300 may include an act of selecting at least one merchant (e.g., 203) for a free trial period. In some embodiments, the merchant may be selected, for example, from a plurality of merchants in a geographic area, such as a city, zip code, etc.

[125] In some embodiments, the merchant may be selected based, at least in part, on a request received from the merchant. In some embodiments, the request may include a completed request form distributed by an agent of the referral service to the merchant or accessed through a user interface of the referral service. The completed request form may indicate the merchant's desire for a free trial period. In some implementations, the request form, for example, may be submitted by facsimile, email, and / or through a website. Such embodiments allow a free trial period to act as an advertisement for a referral service to those merchants that are aware of the service and curious to try the service. For example, merchants that are interested in the service may try the service for free (e.g., without being required to provide the fee portion of payments received for orders, as described below) for a period (e.g., a period of time, a number of orders). [126] In some embodiments, the merchant may be assigned a free trial period without any submitted request. In such embodiments, the free trial period may act as an advertising tool allowing the merchant to try a referral service even if the merchant is unaware that the service exists.

[127] In some embodiments, the merchant may be specifically targeted based on one or more desired characteristic according to an expansion plan. The merchant may be targeted from a set of available merchants. In some implementations, the set of available merchants may include all merchants in an area (e.g., a city, zip code). In some implementations, the set of available merchants may include all merchants of a particular type (e.g., restaurants). In some implementations, a referral service may determine a set of available merchants by referencing one or more external sources (e.g., telephone books, collections of menus, websites). In some implementations, a person may determine a set of available merchants. In some implementations, an automated system (e.g., a computer system as discussed above) may determine a set of available merchants.

[128] For example, in some implementations, the merchant may be selected based on the location of the merchant. For example, the merchant may be selected because there are few or no other merchants using the referral service in a particular geographic region near the location of the merchant. In such an implementation, a plurality of merchants may be chosen in this manner to direct advertising at a set of merchants that, if some or all of the merchants become customers of the referral service (e.g., after the free trail period), may result in a desired geographic distribution (e.g., wide, even) of merchants that are customers of the referral service.

[129] In some implementations, the merchant may be selected based on a type of the merchant. For example, the merchant may be selected because there are few or no merchants using the referral service of a particular type of the merchant. In such an implementation, a plurality of merchants may be chosen in this manner to direct advertising at a set of merchants that may result in a desired distribution (e.g., wide, focused) of merchant types using the referral service if some or all of the merchants become customers of the referral service. Implementations of the present invention are not limited to a level of merchant type. For example, in one implementation, the merchants may include restaurants and the types of merchants may include cuisine types (e.g., Chinese, Italian, Indian, etc.) of the restaurants, and in another implementation, the types may include a broader type of merchant (e.g., hardware store, grocery store, restaurant, etc.). In some implementations, types may be divided into a set of categories and any number of levels of subcategories to improve targeting specificity.

[130] In some implementations, the merchant may be selected based on a capacity or market share of the merchant. For example, the merchant may be selected because the merchant is one of the largest, most popular, and / or well stocked merchants. In one implementation, a plurality of merchants may be selected in this manner to direct advertising at a set of merchants that may result in an ability to fulfill a large capacity of orders if some or all of the merchants become customers of the referral service. In another implementation, a plurality of merchants may also be selected in this fashion to direct advertising at a set of merchants that may result in the largest or most popular merchants using the referral service if some or all of the merchants become customers of the referral service. In one implementation, for example, the merchants may include restaurants, and a restaurant having one of the largest capacities to fulfill orders may be selected. In another implementation, one or more of the most popular restaurants may be selected.

[131] It should be understood that any of the described selection plans may be modified or combined. In one implementation, a merchant may be selected based on a combination of location, type, and capacity. For example, the largest Chinese restaurant in a geographic area in which no other Chinese restaurants use the referral service may be selected. Furthermore, it should be recognized that the present invention is not limited to any particular selection plan and that the above plans are described as examples only. Other example selection plans may include selecting merchants based on cost, name, reputation, age, targeted market / demographic and / or any other desired characteristic. [132] As indicated in block 305 of Figure 3, process 300 may include providing a free trial period to the selected merchant. Figure 4 illustrates an example process 400 that may be performed by some embodiments to provide a free trial period to the selected merchant. Process 400 begins at block 401.

[133] As indicated in block 403, process 400 may include enabling a free trial mode for the selected merchant. Enabling the free trial period may include, for example, making a database entry or some other storage of information regarding the merchant. In some implementations, the information may include contact information (e.g., telephone number, mailing address, facsimile number, and / or email address), order transmission information (e.g., a preference as to how orders should be transmitted to the merchant), and / or a merchant identifier (e.g., a name and / or unique ID number). In some implementations, the information may include further information regarding details of the merchant such as type of merchant (e.g., cuisine type of a restaurant), capacity of a merchant (e.g., number of orders accepted over a period of time), hours of a merchant (e.g., hours that the merchant accepts orders), pick-up information for the merchant (e.g., a pick up address for a delivery agent to pick up products for delivery to customers if different than mailing address), payment information (e.g., information identifying a money account, and / or an address to send checks or other payments for delivered products), and / or any information that may be useful to refer a user to the merchant (e.g., a menu, a list of products or services, a logo, a website address, advertising for the merchant, etc.).

[134] In some implementations, the information may include an indication (e.g., a flag, a database table entry) that the merchant is in a trial mode. This indication may, for example, differentiate the merchant from being in a membership mode. In another implementation, separate databases (e.g., a trial database and a membership database) or other storage locations may be used to store information regarding merchants in trail modes and merchants in membership modes so a separate indicator need not be stored, but rather reference to a particular database may indicate trial mode or merchant mode. [135] In some implementation, at least a portion of the information that is stored in the database may be obtained from the merchant. For example, the information may be obtained from a trial period request form received from the merchant, as discussed above. In some implementations, at least a portion of the information may be received from public sources of information, such as telephone books, advertisements from the merchant, and / or web pages (e.g., the merchant's web page or other web pages with information regarding the merchant). For example, in one implementation, a web crawler may search web pages (e.g., YellowPages.com, CitySearch.com) and collect information regarding the merchant to store in the database. In some implementations, a person may collect at least a portion of the information (e.g., a person may review documents or web pages, or may call the merchant and enter the information into a user interface) to store in the database.

[136] As indicated in block 405, process 400 may include determining if the end of a free trial period has been reach. If the end of the free trial period has not been reached, the referral service may await an indication of an order. If such an indication is received before the end of the free trial period process 400 may continue to block 409, discussed below.

[137] If, however, the end of the free trial period is reached, or is reached before an indication of an order is received, process 400 may branch to block 407 and end. In some embodiments, the end of a trial period may be reached after a period of time passes from the start of the trial period. In some embodiments, the end of the trial period may be reached after a predetermined number of indications of orders are forwarded to the merchant. In some embodiments, the end of the trial period may be reached after a predetermined total dollar value of orders is forwarded to the merchant. In some embodiments, a combination of the above methods may be used to determine the end of the free trial period. For example, in one implementation, the end of a free trial period may occur after a predetermined amount of time or after a predetermined number of indications of orders are forwarded to the merchant, whichever event occurs first. It should be understood that these processes of determining when a trial period ends are examples only and that embodiments of the present invention may employ any process to determine when a trial period ends.

[138] As indicated in block 409, process 400 may include receiving an indication of an order for the merchant. The indication of the order, for example, may indicate at least one ordered product or service from the merchant. In some implementations, the received indication of the order may include one or more electronic messages.

[139] In some implementations, an indication of an order may also include one or more of a delivery location (e.g., an address), a user indicator (e.g., a name), a delivery time (e.g., immediately, or some desired time in the future), and special instructions for the merchant and / or delivery agent (e.g., deliver to the back, include extra napkins).

[140] In some implementations, an indication of the merchant may also be received. The indication of at least one merchant may include an electronic message received from a user of a user interface and may identify the merchant to a referral service. In some implementations, an indication of an order may include an indication of the merchant.

[141] In some embodiments, the indication of the order may be received from at least one user of the referral service. The user may include a user of a user interface, for example, a website or mobile device interface, such as a cellular telephone interface. In some implementations, the user interface may be provided to the user from, for example, a web server of the referral service. The user interface may allow the user to select one or more products or services (e.g., from a menu or list of products and / or services) and to submit the indication of the order to the referral service.

[142] In some embodiments, the indication of the order may be received from one or more order collectors. An order collector may include, for example, another referral service, and / or a remote website or computer system (e.g., a computer system that uses an API of the referral service to transmit orders to the referral service). [143] In some embodiments, the indication of the order may be received by a facsimile machine. In some embodiments, the indication of the order may be received by telephone (e.g., by a person, by an automated system).

[144] It should be understood that the present invention is not limited to any particular manner of receiving indications of orders.

[145] As indicated in block 411, some embodiments of process 400 may include forwarding the indication of the order to the merchant. In some implementations, forwarding the indication of the order may include transmitting the received indication to the merchant. In some implementations, forwarding the indication of the order may include adding or removing some information from the received indication of the order. In some implementations, the transmitted indication of the order may include one or more electronic messages. For example, in some implementations, the indication of the order may be forwarded by transmitting a facsimile and/or emailing the indication of the order to the merchant.

[146] In some embodiments, an indication of an order may include an order for products and / or services from multiple merchants. In some implementations, the indication of the order may be forwarded to each merchant of the multiple merchants. In some implementations, such an indication of an order may be divided into sub-indications of the order. Each sub-indication may indicate a portion of the order that for a particular merchant. The sub-indication may be forwarded to the respective merchants.

[147] As indicated in block 413, some embodiments of process 400 may include allocating a fee portion and a merchant portion of a payment for the order to the merchant. In some embodiments, the combined fee portion and merchant portion may encompass a total payment for the order (excluding possible gratuity to delivery providers or other service providers in some embodiments). The merchant portion may include a portion that is allocated to the merchant in both a trial mode and a membership mode. The fee portion may include a portion that is allocated to the merchant during the free trial period and is otherwise allocated to the referral service, as a fee for the referral service. As discussed above, the fee portion and merchant portion may sum to a standard price charged be the merchant.

[148] Some embodiments may further include receiving an indication of the payment for the order (not indicated). An indication of a payment may include, for example, one or more of an indication that a payment has been made, an indication that a payment has been authorized, and / or an indication of a promise to make a payment in the future. In some implementations, an indication of a payment may include an indication that a payment has been made to a desired money account. In some implementations, the indication may be received from an entity making a payment to the desired money account (e.g., a bank, a credit card company, a money transferor). In some implementations, the indication may be received from an entity receiving the money (e.g., a bank, a credit card company, a money transferor). In some implementations, the indication may be received after the money is authorized to be transferred into the desired account but before the money is transferred / received. In some implementations, the indication may be received after the money is transferred into / received at the desired account.

[149] In some embodiments, the indication may be received from the user of the referral service. In some implementations, the indication may include a promise to make a payment to the merchant or a delivery agent in the future (e.g., upon delivery of a product or performance of a service). In some implementations the indication may include payment authorization information such as a credit card number and expiration date (e.g., entered through a user interface such as a website). In some embodiments, the indication of a payment may be received with the indication of the order.

[150] Some embodiments may include collection of the payment. For example, in some embodiments, a delivery agent may collect a promised payment upon delivery of a service, or a credit card may be charged an authorized amount. Such embodiments may further include distributing the collected merchant and fee portion of the collected payment to the merchant.

[151] In some embodiments, the merchant may collect the payment rather than the referral service or delivery agent. In such embodiments, during the trial mode, the referral service may not collect either the fee or merchant portion from the merchant, but, as discussed below, the referral service may collect the fee portion from the merchant during the membership mode.

[152] In some embodiments, process 400 may further include collecting information regarding orders placed during the trial period. For example, the referral service may collect information regarding a number of orders, a type of order, a dollar value of orders, a time at which orders are received, or any other information desired regarding the orders.

[153] In some implementations of process 400, after block 413 or any additional and / or alternative act, process 400 may loop back to block 405. This may continue until an end of a free trial period as described above.

[154] After the free trial period, some embodiments of process 300, as illustrated in Figure 3, may continue at block 307. In some embodiments, as indicated by block 307, process 300 may include inquiring with the merchant regarding becoming a customer of the referral service. For example, in some embodiments, a phone call may be made, by a person or an automated system, to ask the merchant if the merchant desires to become a customer of the referral service. In some implementations, a facsimile, email, or other electronic message may be sent to the merchant to inquire regarding becoming a customer. In some implementations a merchant may become a customer of the referral service by completing a form included in the inquiry (e.g., the facsimile, email, or other message), by requesting membership using a telephone (e.g., by communicating with a person and / or an automated system), and / or by submitting a request through a user interface of the referral service (e.g., a website).

[155] In some embodiments, a referral service may provide the merchant with information recorded during the trial period. As discussed above with respect to collecting information during the trial period, such information may include any desired information regarding the received indications of orders. In some implementations, the information may include, for example, an indication of the total sales made through the referral service. This information may also act as an advertising mechanism to the merchant that allows the merchant to review the benefits received by using the referral service during the free trial period.

[156] In some embodiments, as indicated by block 309, process 300 may include determining whether the merchant desires to become a customer of the referral service, e.g., based on a response to the inquiry described above. For example, a response to an inquiry may be analyzed to determine if the merchant desires to become a customer. In some implementations, for example, a particular telephone tone entered by a merchant in response to an automated may be used to indicate a desire to become a customer and a second tone may indicate a desire not to become a customer. In some implementations, for another example, a form transmitted by facsimile or otherwise transmitted to the merchant may include a check box or other indicator identifying a desire to become a customer. Such tone or indicator may be examined (e.g., by a person or automated system) to determine a merchant's desire to become a customer. It should be understood that the present invention is not limited to any particular manner of determining a merchant's desire to become a customer of a referral service.

[157] In some embodiments, if no response is received, it may be assumed that the merchant does not desire to become a customer. In some embodiment, if no response is received, a predetermined number of repeated inquiries may be made before it is assumed that the merchant does not desire membership.

[158] As indicated at block 311 , if the merchant does not desire to become a customer, the trial mode may be ended. It should be understood that the order of acts, including the order of the ending of the free trial mode with respect to the inquiry regarding membership may be varied in some embodiments. In some implementations, for example, the free trial mode may be ended before the inquiry is made.

[159] In some implementations, ending the free trial mode may include deleting stored information regarding the merchant and / or altering a recorded indication that the merchant is in a free trial mode. If a membership mode is not enabled (e.g., because the user does not desire to become a customer of the referral service), future indication of orders for the merchant received by the referral service may not be forwarded to the merchant. In some embodiments, process 300 may end at block 313 after ending the free trial period.

[160] In other embodiments, if the merchant does not desire to become a customer of the referral service after the free trial period, an inquiry may be made regarding the reason that the merchant does not desire to become a customer. In some implementations, the inquiry may include asking if an additional trial period may change the merchant's decision. In some embodiments, the inquiry may include a transmission of a questionnaire (e.g., by email, facsimile and / or other electronic message). In some embodiments, the inquiry may include contacting the merchant by telephone. For example, a merchant may be called and one or more questions regarding the merchant's reasons may be asked. In some implementations, the merchant may be called by a person. The person may read a script of questions and record the merchant's answers. In some implementations the merchant may be called by an automated system. The automated system may play a recorded script and record the merchant's answers (e.g., an audio record of responses). In some implementations, the automated system may play a recorded script that includes a list of answer choices coded to telephone tones and may record the merchant's responses by recording the telephone tone entered by the merchant and / or information corresponding to the tones as is well known.

[161] In some embodiments, the inquiry may include a question regarding how a referral service may be changed to improve the referral service and / or what may be changed that may convince the merchant to become a customer of the referral service. In some implementations, a changed may be made to the referral service based, at least in part, on a response to such an inquiry. For example, if a merchant identifies a preference for a different method of forwarding orders (e.g., email rather than facsimile), then such a change may be made to the service and the merchant may be given an additional free trial period to test the service with the changed feature (e.g., in which orders are emailed rather than transmitted by facsimile). In various implementations, the types of changes may be related to delivery methods, hours of delivery, information recording, order transmission, language, and / or any other desired feature of a referral service. [162] In some embodiments, if a merchant does not desire to become a customer, the merchant may be given an additional trial period. For example, process 300 may loop back to block 305. The process may loop a limited number of times corresponding to a limited number of free trial periods. Providing additional free trial periods may allow a merchant a greater amount of time to try the referral service and decide on membership.

[163] In some implementations, an additional trial period may be given in limited situations. For example, in some implementations, an additional trial period may be given if a merchant requests such an additional period. In some implementations, the merchant may be given an additional trial period if the merchant responds to an inquiry regarding becoming a customer. In some implementations, an additional trial period may be given if the merchant indicates, in response to an inquiry regarding becoming a customer, that an additional trial period may affect the merchant's decision. In some implementations, a merchant may be provided with an additional free trial period if the merchant identifies a reason for not becoming a customer of the merchant after the prior free trial period that may be changed during the additional free trail period. In some implementations, the merchant may be provided with an additional free trial period if the merchant possesses a targeted characteristic at the time the trial period ends (e.g., a type, volume, location characteristic as discussed above with respect to initially choosing the merchant).

[164] As indicated in block 315, if the merchant desires to become a customer of the referral service, the free trial period may be ended, a membership period may be provided and process 300 may then end at block 317. Process 500 illustrated in Figure 5, and which begins at block 501, illustrates an example process for providing a membership period to a merchant.

[165] As indicated in block 503, the process 500 may include enabling a membership mode for the merchant. Enabling the membership mode may be substantially similar to enabling the trial mode, discussed above. For example, in some embodiments, information regarding the merchant may be entered into one or more database tables. In some implementations, the information may already be entered from the trial mode and an indication may be made or changed to identify that the merchant is in a membership mode rather than a trial mode. In some implementations, information may be transferred from one database (e.g., a trial database) to another database (e.g., a membership database).

[166] As indicated in block 505, process 500 may include receiving an indication of an order for the merchant. The receipt of the indication for the order during the membership mode may be substantially similar to the receipt of the indication of the order described above with respect to the trial mode.

[167] As indicated in block 507, process 500 may include forwarding the indication of the order to the merchant. Forwarding the indication to the merchant may be substantially similar in the merchant mode as forwarding the indication to the merchant described above with respect to the trial mode.

[168] As indicated in block 509, process 500 may include allocating a merchant portion of a payment for the order to the merchant and allocating a fee portion of the payment to the referral service. As described above, the fee portion may include a payment to the referral service for providing the referral. In some implementations in which the referral service acts as a delivery service of products (e.g., food from a restaurant), the fee portion may also act as a payment for the delivery service provided (e.g., a portion of the fee portion may be provided to a delivery agent).

[169] As described above with respect to the trail mode, the merchant mode may include receiving an indication of a payment for the order. In some implementations, process 500 may also include collecting at least the fee portion of the payment. In some implementations, the fee portion may be collected from a financial institution associated with the user. In some implementations, the fee portion may be collected from the merchant. In some implementations, the fee portion may be collected from the user (e.g., by a delivery agent). In some implementations, the entire payment may be collected rather than the fee potion only. In such implementations in which the entire payment is collected, the merchant portion may be provided to the merchant and the fee portion may be kept by the referral service. [170] In some embodiments, after block 509 or any alternative and / or additional acts, process 500 may loop back to block 503. Process 500 may continue in such a loop until the merchant or referral service desired to end the merchant period, at which point, process 500 may end at block 511.

User Interface Description

[171] In some implementations, as described above, the referral service may provide a user with a user interface (e.g., a website, mobile device interface). The user interface may allow the user to select a particular merchant or merchants and products and / or services from the particular merchant or merchants. In such implementations, for example, the user interface may display a representation of available merchants (e.g., a list of merchants that may be in an identified geographical location associated with the user and / or merchants that are open at the time) to which the user may submit orders.

[172] In some implementations, a user may select a particular merchant from the list or other representation of merchants through the user interface. The user interface may then display a list or other representation of products and / or services available to the user from the selected merchant. The list or other representation of products and / or service may include a price of each product and / or service. The user may select desired products and / or service from the merchant (e.g., through the list or other representation by clicking links, checking boxes, or otherwise selecting items). The selected products and / or services may be transmitted to the referral service as an indication of an order for forwarding to the merchant. In some implementations, such transmission may occur after the user has finished selecting products and / or services, for example after the user has proceeded to a checkout interface through which the user may authorize payment for the products and / or services and / or after the user has authorized/submitted/promised to make such payment.

[173] In some implementations, if the user selects one or more generic products and / or services (i.e., products and / or services that are available from more than one merchant using the service) from a list or other representation of products available from a selected merchant, the referral service may advise the user that other merchants also may provide the selected product and / or service. In some implementations, the user may only be advised of another merchant able to supply a generic product if the other merchant is in a trial mode and the otherwise-selected merchant is not in a trial mode. The referral service may determine if other merchants may supply the product and / or service to the user, for example, by querying a database that contains merchant information such as menus or lists of products and / or service, hours of operations and / or geographic area to which referrals and/ or delivery may be provided.

[174] Advising merchants that other merchants may be able to supply a desired product and / or service may encourage users to try products and / or service from a wider set of merchants. In some implementations in which only merchants in a trail period are suggested to a user, such suggestion may act to develop a set of referral business for the merchant. The referral business generated may help to encourage the merchant to become a customer of the referral service after the free trial period ends.

[175] In some implementations, rather than or in addition to first presenting a list of merchants, the referral service may provide a user interface including a representation of available products or services that may be selected without regard for the merchant supplying the product or services. An embodiment of the referral service, for example, may request or otherwise determine a location of the user and then determine which merchants service the location (e.g., by querying a database of merchant information). In some implementations, the referral service may determine the currently open merchants and the products and / or services that those merchants provide (e.g., by querying a database of merchant information). The referral service may then display a list or other representation of those products and /or services through the user interface for the user to select from. In some implementations, the user may select a product and / or service and an indication of an order for the product may be transmitted to the referral service for forwarding to the merchant. In some implementations, the selected products and / or service may be stored in a "shopping cart" of a website and the order may be submitted to the referral service after the user has finished selecting products and / or services, for example, after the user has proceeded to a checkout interface through which the user may authorize payment for the products and / or services, as is known in the art, and / or after the user has authorized/submitted/promised to make such payment..

[176] In some such implementations, at least one particular ordered product or service may be available from multiple merchants. In such situations, one of the multiple merchants may be selected to provide the ordered product or service. In such implementations, the one merchant may be selected in, for example, a round robin fashion so that each merchant that sells a particular product or service may receive a fair portion of orders for that product or service. In some such implementations, merchants in a trial mode may be given preference to merchants in a membership mode is such situation.

[177] It should be understood that the present invention is not limited to any particular user interface. Particularly, the present invention is not limited to a computer-based user interface. Rather, some implementations of the present invention may include a telephone interface (e.g., person to person communication over a telephone) and / or a facsimile interface (e.g., complete a form and transmit a facsimile of the form to a designated telephone number).

Example of referral service providing restaurant deliveries

[178] In one particular embodiment, the present invention may include a referral and delivery service for restaurants. For example, a restaurant may be selected from a plurality of restaurants in a geographic location based on some desired characteristic of the restaurant, e.g., cuisine type, market share, etc. A free trial mode may be enabled for the restaurant (e.g., by making appropriate database entries with information identifying the restaurant) to provide the restaurant with a free trial period.

[179] During the free trail period, a user may access a website of the referral service, e.g., using a standard web browser. The website may display a list of available restaurants, including the selected restaurant. If the user chooses the selected restaurant, the interface may display a menu of food available from the restaurant. The menu may list a price associated with each food item and the interface may allow the user to select any number of food items. When the user has selected desired food items, the user may indicate that the user has finished selecting food items (e.g., by clicking a check-out, submit, or similar button). The user may then be provided with a checkout interface through which the use may enter payment information, such as credit card information, and submit an indication of the order and a delivery location to the referral service.

[180] Upon receiving the indication of the order and indication of a payment for the order, the referral service may forward the indication of the order to the merchant through a predefined forwarding method, such as by transmitting a facsimile of the order to the merchant's facsimile machine. The referral service may record the items ordered and the dollar value of the order. The referral service may arrange for payment to be collected from a credit card company, if the user chose to pay with a credit card.

[181] As discussed above, during the trial period, the referral service may allocate both a merchant and a fee portion of the payment to the merchant.

[182] Furthermore, the referral service may send a delivery agent an indication that the food items should be picked up from the merchant and delivered to the user / delivery location. As discussed above, the delivery agent may retrieve the food items from the restaurant and then deliver the food items to the delivery location. In some implementations the delivery agent may also collect a payment from the user.

[183] After the payment has been collected, either by the referral service or the delivery agent, both the fee portion and the merchant portion may be provided to the restaurant.

[184] At the end of the free trial period, the referral service may inquire with the restaurant to determine if the restaurant (e.g., owners and / or managers) desires to continue using the referral service and may provide the restaurant with collected information regarding the type and amount of orders placed through the referral service during the free trial period. If the restaurant desires to continue using the referral service, the free trial mode may be ended and a membership mode may be enabled. As discussed above, in the membership mode, the referral service may collect the fee portion of payments received rather than providing the fee portion to the merchant.

[185] If the restaurant does not desire to continue using the referral service, the restaurant may be questioned regarding its reasons and / or suggestions. In some implementations, the restaurant's comments and / or suggestions may be used to modify the referral service. In some implementations, the restaurant may be given a number of free trial periods.

[186] Systems and corresponding methods are provided that, in at least one embodiment, includes the act or acts of receiving a plurality of first representations; receiving a second representation of a first user; determining at least one group to which the first user belongs; determining at least one set of members of the at least one group; and filtering the plurality of first representations based, at least in part, on the at least one set of members. Each first representation represents a respective report.

[187] In one embodiment, each of the plurality of first representations further represents a respective originator of the report represented by the respective first representation. The filtering the plurality of first representations may include excluding from the plurality of first representations at least one first representation that represents a report that was not originated by at least one member of the at least one set of members. The filtering the plurality of first representations also may include excluding from the plurality of first representations at least one first representation that represents a negative report that was originated by at least one member of the at least one set of members.

[188] In another embodiment, each of the plurality of first representations further represents at least one of a target and a target type and filtering includes excluding from the plurality of first representations at least one first representation that represents at least one of an undesired target and an undesired target type.

[189] In yet another embodiment, at least one report represented by at least one first representation of the plurality of first representations includes at least one report on a service of a service provider. The service may include a delivery service.

[190] Still another embodiment has at least one report represented by at least one first representation of the plurality of first representations includes at least one report on a product of a merchant.

[191] In another embodiment, the at least one group includes a social network of the first user and the set of members includes the first user and at least one other member of the social network. The first user may include a customer of at least one of a merchant and a service provider. The first user also may include at least one of a merchant and a service provider.

[192] In yet another embodiment, at least one member of the at least one group includes a reporter chosen by the first user. Still another embodiment has at least one group that includes at least one member having at least one desired characteristic. The at least one desired characteristic may include at least one of a profession, membership in an organization, and a geographic area.

[193] In another embodiment, the system and methods further provide that, in at least one embodiment, includes the act or acts of transmitting at least one third representation of the filtered plurality of first representations.

[194] In yet another embodiment, the system and methods further provide that, in at least one embodiment, includes the act or acts of presenting the filtered plurality of first representations to the first user. The act of presenting may include displaying the filtered plurality of first representations through a video display.

[195] In an embodiment, the at least one second representation may include at least one of a name, an email address, a login name, a mailing address, a telephone number, and a user identifier.

[196] In another embodiment, the system and methods further provide that, in at least one embodiment, includes the act or acts of making at least one recommendation to the first user based, at least in part, on the filtered plurality of first representations.

[197] In another embodiment, the system and methods further provide that, in at least one embodiment, includes the act or acts of choosing at least one of a chosen product of a merchant and a chosen service of a service provider based, at least in part, on the filtered plurality of first representations.

[198] In one embodiment, an apparatus includes a machine readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of machine instructions for controlling at least one computer system to perform a method provides that, in at least one embodiment, includes the act or acts of receiving a plurality of first representations; receiving a second representation of a first user; determining at least one group to which the first user belongs; determining at least one set of members of the at least one group; and filtering the plurality of first representations based, at least in part, on the at least one set of members. Each first representation represents a respective report. The apparatus may include a processor configured to execute at least one instruction of the plurality of machine instructions.

[199] The term "report" and variations thereof used herein mean any information concerning one or more products, services, merchants and / or service providers. In some example implementations, a report may include a written or oral review and / or a quantitative or qualitative assessment (e.g., four stars, thumbs up, 98%). In some example implementations, a report may include a positive or negative recommendation. In some example implementations, a report may include an indication of a fact, for example, a photograph of a product, a recording of speed (e.g., delivery time), a measurement of weight, a recording of color, etc. In some further example implementations, a report may include an indication of a purchase of a good from a merchant and / or a service from a service provider.

[200] The term "electronic message" and variations thereof used herein should be understood to mean any electronic representation of information. For example an HTTP message, an SMS message, a database message, an MMS message, a database message (e.g., SQL message) or any other series of electrical signals that represent information may be considered an electronic message. An electronic message does not include information identifying a source and / or destination such as the information typically present in a TCP/IP header. Rather, the electronic message should be considered the body/content of the TCP/IP packet. [201] The term "representation" and variations thereof used herein in reference to a thing should be understood to refer to any indication of at least a portion of the thing. A representation of a report, for example, may include any indication of at least a portion of the report. In some embodiments, the thing may be determined by a person or computing device from the representation of the thing. In some example implementations, a representation may include a copy of a thing in any of a variety of formats, compressions, and / or encryptions. In another example implementation, a representation may include an index or other identifier of a thing, such as a position in a list, an ID number, or a database key. A representation of a thing may be in the same or different medium as an original thing. For example, a number "1" may represent a sound, a color, a rating, or any other thing depending, e.g., on the configuration of a computing system configured to interpret the number. A representation may be divided into a plurality of portions, such as a plurality of electronic messages being transmitted from one location to another.

[202] The term "collector of reports" and variations thereof used herein should be understood to mean any component or individual or set of components or individuals that collect / store at least one representation of a report. A collector of reports, for example, may include a database server on which a database of reports is stored, the database stored on the server, and a website (i.e., a web server and / or other components used to operate a website such as executed programs) through which a user may enter a report that is stored on the database server.

[203] The term "monitor" and variations thereof should be understood to mean any component or individual or set of components or individual configured to monitor one or more events and generate a report based, at least in part, on the one or more events. A monitor may include an executed computer program. A monitor (e.g., a program executed by one or more computer systems), for example, may monitor the time needed to perform a delivery service and generate a report indicating that time with the customer of the delivery service identified as the originator of the report. For a second example, a monitor (e.g., a website) may monitor purchases of products by a customer and generate reports indicating the purchases with the customer identified as the originator. [204] The term "source" and variations thereof used herein should be understood to mean any intermediate and / or original provider of a report. For example, in some implementations, a source may include a person that originally generates a report (e.g., by entering the report into a user interface). In some implementations, a source may include a monitor. In some implementations, a source may include a collector of reports that may have collected reports from another collector of reports, an originator, or a monitor. A source of a report may be the same or different from an originator of a report.

[205] The term "originator" and variations thereof used herein should be understood to mean an individual or organization responsible for the creation of a report. An originator of a report may be but is not required to be different from a source of a report. For example, in some embodiments, an originator of a report may be an individual who creates the report by entering it into a user interface. In some embodiments, an originator of a report may be an individual whose actions result in the report being created (e.g., an individual that makes a purchase resulting in the report being generated by a monitor, an individual that places an order for service to be performed, such as delivery of a product, that results in a report being generated by a monitor).

[206] The term "social network" and variations thereof used herein should be understood to mean a set of individuals, in which each individual of the set socially relates to the other members of the set through some social contact, either directly or indirectly. A social network of a particular individual refers to a social network in which each member of the set is socially related to the individual either directly or through other members of the set. In some embodiments, the members may be friends, family, neighbors, colleagues, and/or acquaintances. In some embodiments, a social network of a particular individual may be limited to members that are directly socially related to the individual or related through a maximum number of other members of the set.

[207] A "user" of an embodiment of the present invention may include individuals, organizations and / or computer systems that receive from or transmit to any component of an embodiment of the present invention either directly or indirectly. For example, a user may include a visitor to a website configured in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. A user may also include an originator of a report collected by a collector of reports.

[208] Methods and apparatus related to filtering reports based on groups are described herein. For example, some embodiments of the present invention relate to filtering a plurality of reports to exclude those reports that are not originated by members of a desired group (e.g., a social network). By filtering reports in this way, a viewer of the reports easily focus on those reports originated by preferred sources, such as friends and relatives, and ignore those reports originated by untrusted or unknown sources.

[209] Figure 6 illustrates a process 600, beginning at block 601, in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention (e.g., may be performed by a computing system as described above, may be stored on a machine-readable medium as described above). Process 600 includes receiving a plurality of representations, wherein each representation represents at least one respective report (indicated at block 603); receiving at least one representation of a group (indicated at block 605); receiving a request to filter the plurality of representations (indicated at block 607); filtering the plurality of representations based, at least in part, on the group (indicated at block 609); and providing a representation of the filtered plurality of representations to at least one user (indicated at block 611).

[210] As indicated at block 603, process 600 may include receiving a plurality of representations, wherein each representation of the plurality of representations representing a respective report. The plurality of representations may be received from a plurality of sources. In some embodiments, the sources may include individuals (e.g., users of a website may enter the report through a web browser), a monitor of an event (e.g., a website configured to transmit a representation of a report upon a purchase of a product through the website) and / or collectors of reports (e.g., websites or database that may collect reports). In some embodiments, a webcrawler may search a plurality of collectors or reports to obtain one or more representations of the plurality of representations. It should be recognized that some embodiments of process 600 may not receive any representations of reports, but rather may begin a process already in possession of a representations of reports.

[211] In some embodiments, each representation of the plurality of representations may include one or more electronic messages. The electronic messages may be in any format including standard machine readable formats such as SQL or other database messages, MMS messages, SMS messages, email messages, and HTTP messages. Individuals may send the representations in any format and through any means including through a user interface such as a website accessible through the Internet by a standard web browser, through a mobile device interface, such as a cellular phone, and / or through an email client. In some embodiments, a report may be transmitted from a collector of reports or a monitor through a database message, e.g., in response to a database query sent to the collector of reports or as a write request to the database from the monitor.

[212] In some embodiments, a report may be received from a monitor after an occurrence of a trigger event (e.g., a purchase of a product, a delivery of a good). For example, in one embodiment, a time when an order is received from a user (e.g., entered through a user interface by the user) and a time when the order is fulfilled (e.g., when a product is deliver, when a service is completed) may be monitored. A report may be generated by the monitor indicating the time needed to fill the order. In some embodiments, the monitor may then transmit a representation of the report to one or more computer systems performing process 600. For a second example, a purchase of a product or service (e.g., though a user interface by a user) may trigger a transmission of a representation of a report indicating the occurrence of the purchase. It should be understood that in some embodiments, the same computer system or systems may act as a monitor and perform part or all of process 600.

[213] In some embodiments, a representation of a report may also represent an originator of the report. By connecting originators to reports in such a way, a report may be attributed to an individual who is most responsible for the report and who may verify the report, and reports may be tracked and / or filtered based on the originators. [214] In some embodiments, a representation of a report may also represent a target of the report. A target of the report may include a product, service, service provide, and / or merchant which the report is about. For example, a target of a report indicating a purchase of a product may include a representation of the product.

[215] After receiving each representation of a respective report, at least a portion of the content of the report may be stored, for example, on a machine-readable medium. In some embodiments, the at least a portion of the report may be stored in a database table on a database server. One example of a database table in which the at least a portion of the report may be stored according to some embodiments of the present invention is illustrated in Figure 7 A. As illustrated for examples only, the at least a portion of the report may include phrases (e.g., "I like this product"), facts describing the target (e.g., 7 pounds), ratings (e.g., ratingl), or an indication of whether or not a target is recommended. In some embodiments, the at least a portion of the content may be limited to one type of information (e.g., only ratings, only facts, only written phrases). As illustrated, each at least a portion of a report may be stored in a database table along with a unique ID that may be used to identify the report, an identification of an originator of the report, and / or an identification of a target of the report. It should be understood that this table is an example only and that other embodiments may include more or fewer database columns.

[216] As indicated in block 605, process 600 may include receiving at least one representation of a group. As discussed with respect to the plurality of representations of the plurality of reports, the at least on representation of a group may include one or more electronic messages. The electronic messages may be in any format including standard machine readable formats such as SQL or other database messages, MMS messages, SMS messages, email messages, and HTTP messages. It should be recognized that some embodiments of process 600 may not receive any representations of a group, but rather may begin a process already in possession of the representation of the group. [217] In some embodiments, the group may include a social network. For example, in some embodiments, the group may include a social network of a user of a website or computing device. The social network may be the social network of a customer (e.g., an individual choosing to purchase a product or service from a merchant or service provider) or a social network of a merchant or service provider. In some embodiments, a representation of the social network or other group associated with the user may include a representation of the user.

[218] Some embodiments of the present invention may be configured to maintain one or more groups. For example, Figure 7B illustrates a database table that may be used by some embodiments of the present invention to maintain a group and / or track users. As illustrated, each row of the table is associated with one user. Each row includes elements indicating a unique identifier for the user that may be used to identify the user, a name of the user, and login information, such as a login name and password that may be used to log the user into and / or securely identify the user to a computer system on which some portion of the process 600 may be performed (e.g., through a website or other user interface). In some embodiments, alternative or additional information may be included in such a database table, including identification information such as an email address, a telephone number, a mailing address, and / or any other information that may identify the user. In some embodiments, user information may be obtained from one or more collectors of reports and / or monitors. A database table may be configured to store a set of information that is compatible with user information collected by the one or more collectors of reports and / or monitors. For example, if a first collector of reports associates reports only with email addresses and a second collector of reports associates reports only with names, some embodiments of the present invention may include a database that can associate each user with either a name or an email address.

[219] As illustrated in the table of Figure 7B, an entry for a user may include an element identifying at least some of the other users in the user's social network. For example, Userl in the illustrated table is networked to both User4 and User3, and likewise, User3 and User4 are each networked to Userl. A social network of a user may be generated by determining the other users to which the user is networked. A social network may also include any number of successive levels of network users (e.g., the users to which the other users are network). In some embodiments, the number of successive levels may be determined by a system administrator. In some embodiments, an indication of the number of successive levels may be included in the representation of the group.

[220] In some embodiments, a social network of a user may be expanded unilaterally by the user. For example, a first user may request that a second user be added to the first user's social network. When the request is received, the second user may be added to the first user's social network, for example by adding the second user to the first user's networked users list in the table of Figure 7 A. In some embodiments, the first user may also be added to the second user's networked users list.

[221] In some embodiments, a social network of a user may be expanded bilaterally. For example, a first user may request a second user be added to the first user's social network. After receiving that request, an embodiment of the present invention may request acceptance from the second user (e.g., transmit a request for agreement to being added to the first user's social network). If the second user agrees to join the first user's social network, such an embodiment may then add the second user to the first user's social network (e.g., by adding the second user to the first user's networked users list). In some embodiments, the first user may also be added to the second user's social network.

[222] In some embodiments, a second user may request to be added to a first user's social network. As described above, some embodiments may add such a user unilaterally. As described above, some embodiments may add such a user bilaterally.

[223] Limiting the expansion of a social network to bilateral expansion may help ensure that each member of a social network is, in fact, socially related to another member of the social network. The social relationships between members may include, for example, one or more of friends, family, contacts, acquaintances, neighbors and colleagues. In some embodiments, the social relationships may be limited to one or more of these or other categories (e.g., a family social network, a neighborhood social network, etc.).

[224] In some embodiments that maintain a database table similar to the one illustrated in Figure 7B, a representation of a group (e.g., social network) may include a representation of a user. As discussed above, the social network associated with that user may be derived from the identity of the user by searching the networked users column of the table of Figure 7B. The representation of the user may include any information from which the user's identity may be derived, including, in various embodiments, a name, an email address, a login name, a user identifier (e.g., id number), a telephone number, a mailing address, and / or any other information that may identify the user.

[225] In some embodiments, other ways of maintaining and / or generating a social network may be additionally or alternatively employed. For example, in some embodiments, a contact list (e.g., an email contact list such as the one used by Microsoft® Outlook®, a telephone number list maintained on a cellular telephone) may be used to maintain and identify a user's social network. In such embodiments, the contact list may be maintained either on a user's personal computing device (e.g., a personal computer, a cellular phone) and / or on a server computer. In some embodiments, filtering of reports based on the group, as discussed below, may occur by the user's personal computing device and / or by the server computer.

[226] In some embodiments, a group may additionally or alternatively include one or more chosen reporters. A chosen reporter may include any individual or origination that originates a report regardless of whether that chosen reporter is socially related to any other user. In some embodiments, a chosen reporter may include a celebrity, a professional reporter, and / or a reporting organization (e.g., Consumer Reports®). By allowing such chosen reporters outside of a user's social network to be added to a group, such embodiments may allow representations of reports from originators that may not be socially related to a user to be included in a representation of a filtered plurality of representations of reports if the reports are nonetheless originated by a trusted originator. [227] The representation of the group received by some embodiments may include a representation of a chosen reporter. In some embodiments, a reporter of the embodiment may choose such reporters through a user interface. In some embodiments, choosing a user may be similar to unilaterally adding a member to a social network. For example, a user may choose one or more reporters, submit a request to add those chosen reporters to a group of chosen reporters, an embodiment of the invention may receive that request and add the chosen reporters to a group of chosen reporters associated with the user. In some embodiments, for example, as illustrated in the table of Figure 7B, such users may be added to a list of chosen users in a database table.

[228] As another example of a method of maintaining a group, some embodiments may maintain a group based on one or more desired characteristics. For example, a group may include only members having one or more desired characteristics. In such embodiments, a representation of a group may include a representation of the one or more desired characteristics. In some embodiments the desired characteristics may include a geographic location such as a place of business or a place in which a user lives, a profession such as a profession in which a user who transmits the representation of the desired characteristic works, a membership in an organization such as an organization (e.g., company club, etc.) in which a user who transmits the representations of the desired characteristic is a member, and / or any other desired characteristics, including demographic information such as gender, income, marital status, etc.

[229] As illustrated in the table of Figure 7B, characteristics associated with each user may be recorded in a database table. In some embodiments, for example, a user of such a computer system (e.g., a user of a website or other user interface) may be asked to provide such characteristics upon signing up with the computer system through a user interface (e.g., a website). The table of Figure 7B may be searched to find users having desired characteristics by searching this list of characteristics for the desired characteristics.

[230] As indicated in block 607, process 600 may include receiving a request to filter the plurality of representations from a user. In some embodiments, a user may transmit such a request through a user interface, for example, by clicking on a button or link on a website or a button of a portable computing device. In some embodiments, receiving the request and the representation of the group may be part of a single act rather than separate acts. For example, the request may include the representation of the group.

[231] As indicated in block 609, process 600 may include filtering the plurality of representations based, at lease in part, on the group. In some embodiments, filtering the plurality of representations may include excluding representations that represent reports not originated by a member of the group from a new representation of reports. Figure 8 illustrates a process 800 that begins at block 801 and may be performed to filter the plurality of representations in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention. Process 800 includes determining members of the group (indicated at block 803), determining which representations of the plurality of representations represent a respective report originated by at least one of the members of the group (indicated at block 805), and generating a representation of the determined respective reports or representations of reports (indicated at block 807).

[232] As indicated in block 803, process 800 may include determining members of the group. As described above, members of a group may be determined in some embodiments by reference to a database table such as the table illustrated in Figure 7B (e.g., through a database query). In other embodiments, members of the group may be determined in any method from any information, for example, from a different database table, from a contact list, etc. These determined members make up a set of members.

[233] As indicated in block 805, process 800 may include determining which representations of the plurality of representations of reports represent reports originated by any of the members of the set of members. For example, this may be performed by comparing the originator of each report (e.g., from the database table of Figure 7A) to the set of members. In some embodiments, this may be performed through one or more database queries. [234] As indicated in block 807, process 800 may include generating a representation of these determined (i.e., filtered) respective reports or representations of reports. In some embodiments, the representation may include a representation of each of the plurality of representations having an originator that is a member of the group. The representation may be comprised of one or more electronic messages. The electronic messages may be in any format including standard machine readable formats such as SQL or other database messages, MMS messages, SMS messages, email messages, and HTTP messages. Process 800 may end at block 809.

[235] In some embodiments, a process of filtering the representations may include filtering representations of negative reports. Such embodiments may include additional acts of determining if a report is positive (e.g., a high rating, a recommendation for a thing, etc.) or negative (a low rating, a recommendation against a thing, etc.). The representations of the negative reports may be excluded from the representation of the determined plurality of representations (e.g., at block 807).

[236] Returning to Figure 6, as indicated in block 611, process 600 may include providing the representation of the filtered plurality of representations to the at least one user. In some embodiments, the representation may be provided by transmitting one or more electronic messages to one or more computing systems. In some embodiments, the representation may include or be provided through a user interface, such as a user interface transmitted through the Internet or another communication network. For example, the user interface may include a website, a mobile device interface, and / or an email message. In some embodiments, the representation may be provided to the user by presenting the representation through a video display screen (e.g., a computer monitor, a portable device display) Process 600 may end at block 613.

[237] Some embodiments of the invention may include an act of making a recommendation to the user based on the filtered plurality of representations. The recommendation may be provided to the user instead of or in addition to the representation of the filtered plurality of representations. The recommendation may include a recommendation for a product, merchant, service and / or service provider. The product, merchant, service, and / or service provider may be a target of at least one report represented by at least one representation of the filtered plurality of representations. The at least one report may be a positive report (e.g., a recommendation for a product, a high rating). In some embodiments, the recommendation may be for a target associated with the largest number of positive reports represented by the filtered plurality of representations. The recommendation may be for a target associated with a highest rating or highest aggregate rating of all the targets associated with the filtered plurality of representations.

[238] Some embodiments of the present invention may include an act of choosing a product, service, merchant, and / or service provider based, at least in part, on the filtered plurality of representations. The product, service, merchant, and/or service provider may be chosen instead of or in addition to the making of a recommendation and/or the transmission/presentation of the filtered plurality of representations. The chosen product, merchant, service, and / or service provider may be a target of at least one report represented by at least one representation of the filtered plurality of representations. The target, for example, may be purchased from a merchant or service provider automatically, or a service or product may be purchased from a target automatically. In some embodiments, a user, after receiving a recommendation and / or a representation of the filtered plurality of representations may choose one or more of the targets represented by the filtered plurality of representations through a user interface, such as a website. In some embodiments, the chosen target may be associated with the largest number of positive reports represented by the filtered plurality of representations. The target may be associated with a highest rating or highest aggregate rating of all the targets associated with the filtered plurality of representations.

[239] Some embodiments of the present invention may include an act of sorting the filtered plurality of representations. In some embodiments, for example, sorting may be performed, for example, based on a degree of a recommendation (e.g., the highest and / or lowest ratings may be placed first in a list of reports). In some embodiments, for example, sorting may be performed, for example, based on an originator's social distance from a user (e.g., reports generated by originators most closely related to the user in a social network may be listed before reports from other members of the social network).

[240] In some embodiments of the present invention, a representation of the filtered plurality of reports may include a representation of all of the plurality of reports (or all of the plurality of reports about a target or target type). In such embodiments, the representation of the filtered plurality of reports may include a group identifier for each report. The group identifier may indicate which reports were originated by member of the group (e.g., a star in a website representation of the reports may be placed next to each report originated by a member of the group.) In some embodiments, the group identifier may include a social distance identifier. The social distance identifier may indicate a social distance between a user of an embodiment and the originator of a respective report (e.g., five stars may be placed next to reports originated by the closes members of a social network, few stars may be placed next to further members of the social network, and no stars may be placed next to reports not originated by members of the social network). In some embodiments, a group identifier or social network identifier may include a change to a font (e.g., bolded, underlined, or larger fonts may indicate an originator that is a member of the group).

Example In The Delivery Domain

[241] As one example of the present invention in operation, consider choosing a delivery service provider (e.g., UPS) from a market website (e.g., eBay). The market website may allow a plurality of merchants to sell products to a plurality of customers over the Internet. A plurality of third-party delivery service providers may offer the service of delivering products from the merchants to the customers.

[242] In one example of such a website, a customer may choose which delivery service provider to use. After delivery is complete, the customer may be asked to provide a report regarding the delivery service (e.g., a rating, a written description, a recommendation for or against, etc.). Additionally or alternatively, the time when the order is placed with the delivery service provider and the time when the product is delivered to the customer may be monitored and a report (e.g., with the customer as the originator) may be generated indicating the time taken to provide the delivery service. In some implementations, the customer's own choice of using one delivery service provider may be monitored and a report may be generated indicating that choice with the customer identified as an originator.

[243] Customers using such a market website may be able to view previous customer reports before choosing which delivery service provider to choose. To narrow the reports to those that may be most relevant or important to these customers, the reports may be filtered based on some desired group (e.g., a social network) so that only those reports that are associated with originators in the group are viewed. In some implementations, the website may recommend one delivery service provider that has been used most by members of the group, recommended most by members of the group, and / or received a highest aggregate rating from members of the group. In some embodiments, the delivery service provider may be chosen automatically based on the reports of users in the group.

[244] In some embodiments, the market website may maintain a social network as described above by responding to user input, such a requests to add members to a social network. In some embodiments, the social network or other group may be determined from a contact list in an email program. In such embodiments, the reports stored by the system may be filtered to only those that are associated with an email address or other contact identifier in the contact list.

[245] In other embodiments, a merchant may choose the delivery service provider rather than the customer. The merchant may receive filtered reports or recommendations based on users in the merchant's social network, a customer's social network or some third individuals social network or group (e.g., people that live near the customer, prior customers of the merchant) to make the choice of which delivery service provider to use. In some implementations, the website may choose the delivery service provider automatically.

[246] Although the previous example was given in reference to reports regarding delivery service providers, it should be understood that the present invention is not limited to that set of reports. Rather, the present invention may be used with any product, merchant, service provider, and / or merchant.

[247] Furthermore, although the previous example was described in terms of a single type of target (e.g., a delivery service provider), some embodiments may include multiple types of targets. The targets may include any combination of product, service, service providers, and / or merchants. To accommodate multiple types of targets, some embodiments of the present invention may track a target type. For example, a table such as the table illustrated in Figure 7C illustrates one database table that may be used in tracking types of targets. In this example, two laptops and a delivery service provider are the types of targets that have been reported on.

[248] In such an embodiment, the types of targets may be determined by a system administrator or an originator of a report. For example, an administrator or originator may choose a target type through a user interface when generating or receiving a report. The database entries may then be generated to associate the reports with a target type. The available types of targets that may be chosen through the user interface may be determined by the administrator.

[249] In some embodiments, a request to filter the plurality of representations, as indicated in block 607 described above, may include a representation of a desired target type. The process of filtering reports, as indicated in block 609 and process 800, may exclude reports associated with target types that do not match the desired target type.

[250] In some embodiments, target types may be further divided into subtypes. For example, a main type may include computers, and a subtype may include laptop computers. In such embodiments, users may request reports at a desired level of specificity (e.g., reports for a specific product, reports for a specific subtype of product, or reports for a broad type of product). In some embodiments, any number of subtype levels may be included.

[251 ] Having thus described several aspects of at least one embodiment of this invention, it is to be appreciated various alterations, modifications, and improvements will readily occur to those skilled in the art. Such alterations, modifications, and improvements are intended to be part of this disclosure, and are intended to be within the scope of the invention. Accordingly, the foregoing description and drawings are by way of example only.

Claims

CLAIMSWhat is Claimed Is:

1. A method comprising: selecting a merchant from a plurality of merchants; enabling a trial mode for the merchant; during the trial mode, receiving an indication of a first order for the merchant; forwarding the indication of the first order to the merchant; allocating a first payment for the first order to the merchant; requesting an acceptance of a membership status from the merchant; and receiving an indication of the payment for the first order.

2. The method of claim 1 , in which receiving the indication of the payment for the first order includes receiving at least one electronic message.

3. The method of claim 1, in which the indication of the payment for the first order is received from a financial institution.

4. The method of claim 1, in which the indication of the first payment includes information identifying a transfer of money to a desired location.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising: receiving the money at the desired location.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving the first payment.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising: providing the first payment to the merchant.

8. An apparatus comprising: a first element configured to receive an indication of a first order for a merchant during a trial mode, forward the indication of the first order to the merchant, request an acceptance of a membership status from the merchant, and receive an indication of the payment for the first order; and a second element configured to select the merchant from a plurality of merchants, enable the trial mode for the merchant, and allocate a first payment for the first order to the merchant.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, in which the indication of the payment for the first order includes at least one electronic message.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, in which first element is configured to receive the indication of the payment for the first order from a financial institution.

11. A method comprising: receiving an indication of an order; receiving an indication of a payment for the order, the indication of the payment including information related to a transfer of money; transmitting the indication of the order to a merchant; and allocating at least a merchant portion of the payment to the merchant based, at least in part, on a trial status of the merchant.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising: receiving the payment; and providing the allocated at least the merchant portion to the merchant.

13. A method comprising : receiving an indication of an order for a merchant; determining a trial status of the merchant; determining an allocation of a payment for the order based, at least in part, on the trial status; and receiving an indication of the payment for the order.

14. The method of claim 13, in which the indication of the payment includes information identifying a transfer of money to a desired location.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising: receiving the payment.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising: providing an allocated merchant portion of the payment to the merchant.