WO2001035315A2

WO2001035315A2 - An on-line business performance indication system

Info

Publication number: WO2001035315A2
Application number: PCT/US2000/042029
Authority: WO
Inventors: Travis A. Morgan; Scott Jones; Theodore R. Schenberg
Original assignee: Webassured.Com
Priority date: 1999-11-12
Filing date: 2000-11-09
Publication date: 2001-05-17
Also published as: AU3268401A; WO2001035315A3

Abstract

An e-commerce business record system that loads status information about the business record of a web-site into a cutomer's browser each time the customer browses a merchant's web-site. The status information is obtained by sending a query to an on-line database using the merchant's universal resource locator (URL) as a search term. The status or condition information indicates the merchant record with respect to completing e-commerce transactions. The information returned from the search also includes a hyperlink to additional business information about the site. The additional information indicates why the site has a particular status. The browser is provided with an icon or button which indicates the status and which can be used to hyperlink to the additional information about the merchant.

Description

An On-line Business Performance Indication System

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

The present invention is directed to a system for informing on-line purchasers concerning the business record of e-commerce merchants and, more particularly, to a system that immediately informs on-line buyers as to the business record status of an on-line vendor. Description of the Related Art

With the rise in commerce over the Internet and the opportunities for consumer fraud associated with e-commerce transactions, a need has arisen for consumer or buyer protection systems that provide assurance to consumers or purchasers that vendors are credible, reliable and trustworthy. This need is being satisfied by systems, such as, that provided by WebAssured.com, that give on-line consumers a voice as the watch-dogs of electronic commerce, and provide access to valuable background information on electronic merchants. Consumers no longer need to take a leap of faith when ordering from an on-line merchant about whom they may know very little. Such watch-dog systems allow consumers to get a feel for an on-line merchant's credibility by accessing an on-line database that includes business record information about the merchant. Some such systems will refund rrjoney directly to a consumer when a transaction is not consummated, if the on-line merchant is a member of the system's customer protection group. Even with the existence of such watch-dog systems, when browsing the Internet, it is difficult to obtain any timely and meaningful information about the background and legitimacy of the owner of any given web-site. The visual design of a web-site may or may not bear any reflection on the underlying company's (or person's) character, physical location, business experience, or intentions.

Accordingly, Internet users are not completely comfortable conducting business on-line. The distributed nature of the Internet removes the tangible cues that in the physical world are critical to making buying decisions. Until an alternative to these lost "consumer comfort factors" is found, the Internet will not become a pervasive system for the conduct of commerce.

What is needed is a system, independent of merchant websites, that will inform an on-line shopper of the status of a merchant's e- commerce business record when the shopper accesses the merchant's website.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide consumers browsing an e-commerce network, such as, the Internet, an indication of the integrity of a merchant's web-site. It is also an object of the present invention to provide integrity information substantially immediately upon accessing a web-site. It is another object of the present invention to allow a consumer to easily access detailed information about the vendor while at the vendor website.

A further object of the present invention is to persuade vendors using an e-commerce network, such as, the Internet, to employ the highest standards of ethics and customer service to maintain a favorable reliability rating.

The above objects can be attained by a system that loads independently provided status information about the business record of a web-site into a browser each time a customer browses a merchant's website. The status information is obtained by sending a query to an independent on-line database using the universal resource locator (URL) of the merchant as the search term. The status information returned based on the query indicates whether the merchant has a good record with respect to completing e-commerce transactions. The browser is provided with an icon or button which indicates the business record status and which can be used to link additional information about the merchant describing the bases for the status.

These together with other objects and advantages which will be subsequently apparent, reside in the details of construction and operation, as β re fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 illustrates a system according to the present invention.

Figure 2 depicts operations with a customer's browser. Figure 3 shows operations performed at a web assurance database site.

Figure 4 depicts button appearances based on site conditions.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention provides Internet users an immediate independent indication of a web-site's business record including it's authenticity, integrity and background. One part of the invention, which can be stored in and distributed using a computer readable storage or via the Internet, functions as an application plug-in (or applet) 8 (see figure 1) to a standard browser application 10 and is presented to the user as an integral part of the browser 10. When the plug-in is loaded it also includes a fixed query link which provides an Internet address of a web assurance company web site, as will be discussed in more detail below. The plug-in also includes a hyperlink which is initially set to a generic page of the web assurance company site but which dynamically changes as will also be discussed in more detail later. Another part of the invention, which can also be stored in a computer readable storage or distributed via the Internet, resides at an independent web assurance site and provides the applet 8 with information about the site being visited by the user. The present invention works as follows (see figure 1). Each time a vendor web-site 12 located on a merchant's computer 14 (or another computer on behalf of the merchant) is loaded over a network 16 by a user's browser 10 on a user's computer 20, a query is made using the website universal resource locator (URL) 22 via the network 16 to a merchant assurance database 24, on a web assurance company's computer 26, such as that maintained by WebAssured.com. The query is made to the site identified by the fixed query link loaded via the applet 8. The query is used to search the database 24 for data related to the web address (URL) of the site 12 being loaded. Based on the results of this query, one of a number of status conditions 28 is, returned to the user's browser 10, and a dynamic hyperlink 29 is established to a corresponding detailed information database entry 32 using a button or control icon 30 associated with the web assurance company. The button or control 30 appears in the browser's application's toolbar and immediately visually conveys the condition 28 to the user or customer, discussed in more detail below, as indicated by the database 24. For example, if the site 12 being viewed is on a watch-list (companies identified as being unscrupulous), the button 30 may appear as a red flag or other indicator, indicating that a high degree of caution should be used when purchasing from this vendor. The user can click directly on this icon or control 30 and, using the hyperlink 29, link to the detailed information 32 about the merchant, such as, a business background report, maintained by the on-line database 24 of the web assurance web-site 34. This report can detail or describe why the site 12 has been "red flagged. " If the site 12 in question is a member in good standing of the web assurance company, the flag of the icon 30 would preferably appear as green although another way of indicating the good standing status, such as text or a special seal could be used. If the site is not a member, the flag would preferably appear as white. Additional conditions also preferably include yellow, for a member with some outstanding complaints, or for an expired member, and so on. Green flags also can include a "valid through" date similar to the current certification seal provided by companies, such as WebAssured.com, along with an indication of the level of coverage offer by the web assurance company's on-line purchase protection program.

As noted above, the present invention includes business record conditions that can be provided from the database 24 to the browser 10 and change the appearance of the icon 30. These conditions preferably include: Condition Meaning Icon Appearance Hyperlink

Default (0) Not found Clear flag Generic page

1 Member in GS Green flag Specific BBR

2 Member with OC Yellow flag Specific BBR

3 Non-member White flag Specific BBR

4 Watch-listed Red flag Specific BBR

Etc. ... other Other flag Specific BBR

where GS indicates the vendor is a member in good standing, OC indicates that outstanding complaints exist for this merchant and BBR indicates that the link is to a business background report.

The end result is that consumers using a browser enabled with the present invention have a continuous independent verification of the character of the site they are viewing. The condition indicated by the icon 30 allows consumers to make immediate buying judgements aided by the "recommendation" of a trusted independent third party. A green flag, for example, tells the user that any purchase made from this site is guaranteed by the web assurance company, while a red flag indicates that the web assurance company has accumulated information which should deter the user from making a purchase from the site. The present invention will help increase acceptance of the

Internet as a medium for conducting commerce, and will further enhance the efficacy of web assurance services as a self-policing mechanism. Internet web-sites, whether members of a web assurance company or not, will be strongly motivated to maintain the highest possible standards of customer service when they know that any misconduct will be immediately recognized by all users of the present invention.

As illustrated in figure 2, the operations of the portion of the present invention application running within or under the browser 10 include detecting 42 that the user's computer 20 has loaded a page of a new web-site into the browser 8. When this occurs, the URL of the site is loaded into a buffer, ςommonly implemented as a file, that lists the most recent web-sites visited. The system obtains 44 the URL of the loaded site from the buffer and sends 46 a query to the database 24 using the URL as a search term where the address of the web assurance database site loaded with the applet 8 is used as the address of the query. When the query does not result 48 in a hit in the database 24, the system sets 50 the icon condition to the default value. When a positive hit on the database 24 occurs, the system sets 52 the icon condition to that returned by the query. In the assurance company computer 26, the query is received

62 (see figure 3) over the network 16 and a conventional database search is performed for an entry corresponding to the URL search term. The URL supplied with the query can be a number of characters long, many of which identify the particular page that the user is viewing. The computer 26 strips the unnecessary information from the query to identify the root of the merchant site and it is this root that is used to identify the status information for the site. A number of different techniques can be used to identify the root, such as deleting lower level descriptors of the URL until a match to a database entry occurs or nothing remains of the URL, which indicates that there is no match within the database. When the search does not discover

64 an entry corresponding to the merchant of the URL, a condition of "0" corresponding to the merchant not being found is returned 66 along with a hyperlink to a generic page of the web assurance company web-site 34. The generic page can describe the assurance company benefits provided to consumers when merchants are members and typically also indicates that the company has no information about the particular company having the URL. Otherwise, the condition corresponding to the URL is returned 68, along with a hyperlink corresponding to specific information about the merchant having that URL, When the hyperlink returned by a query is used to access the specific information about a merchant, that is, when the user "clicks on" the ^" button 30, the specific information is accessed, via a conventional browser page request which uses the hyperlink. The specific information, in addition to a business background report, includes; telephone numbers and/or addresses of the owners of the specific URL; credit ratings for B2B transactions, an indicator of the type of site content, a content rating like G, PG, R, or X; links to other similar "sites of interest" based on the context of the viewed site (for example, if the site being viewed is a gardening merchant site, the links could be to other gardening information sites); and other commerce related sites associated with the merchant, such as a bank that can issue a credit card to the user, a digital wallet provider, a virtual cash site where the user can obtain "cash" to use in e-commerce transactions with this merchant.

Figure 4 shows examples of what a browser 10 having the icon or button 30 would preferably look like, for the conditions particularly discussed above. The browser 10, in addition to displaying the icon 30, also displays the contents (not shown in this figure) of the web-site 12 being browsed by the customer. When the default condition "0" is returned, the icon 30 indicates that there is no information on the site being accessed by the user. When the condition " 1 " is returned, the icon indicates that the site is a member site and indicates that an amount ($200.00) in product coverage is provided for this site when an order is not consummated in accordance with the criteria promoted by the seller. Condition "2" indicates that the site is a member but caution is warranted. A non-member site receives a "3 " condition and a text indication of this non-member status. A "4" condition results in the icon text indicating that the site is watch listed. An alternative embodiment of the present invention uses standard browser frame technology whereby the icon or button 30 is located in a browser frame rather than appearing in the browser's toolbar. In this situation, users would set the home page of their browser to a frame URL maintained on the web assurance company's server 26 (or would surf to the frame site), and all merchant sites would be viewed through this frame.

Each time a vendor web-site 12 located on a merchant's computer 14 (or another computer on behalf of the merchant) is loaded over a network 16 by a user's browser 10 on a user's computer 20, it is loaded within the frame rather than in a new browser page. That is, the merchant's page passes through the server 26 of the web assurance company. The icon status is updated using the merchant URL and the database 24, as previously discussed. The specific information on the merchant is obtained by accessing the hyperlink using the icon.

The present invention has been described with respect to providing an icon or button that relates to the business performance of the merchant with respect to consummating transactions. The database of the assurance company can also include status information about other areas of interest to consumers. Buttons or icons can be provided, for example, that: convey whether a business had been reviewed by the EPA and deemed environmentally friendly; indicate whether a business uses animal testing or other product testing performed to develop it's products; disclose whether a companies privacy policy is adequate and/or satisfies a standard; indicate whether the site security and/or encryption protocols follow a standard; and provide the actual name of the business or individual who owned a particular URL. These icons are implemented by the query accessing the database for status information on each of the subjects and returning the status as well as hyperlink to specific database information about the merchant and the subject using the same logic as previously described. The present invention has been described with respect to notifying the user of the status of the site being visited using the icon and related additional information. It is possible to use other notification mechanisms such as a screen flash or color change or audio feedback that indicates the site is a watch listed site or with a screen notification or audio feedback that the business is one in good standing. The system provides the user access to the more specific information about the site being visited when the hyper link is used to access the information. The applet could instead open a side window in the browser where the more specific information could be displayed simultaneously with the surfing of the merchant web sites. The specific information could also include audio or video feedback of complaints received about a web site by the web assurance company that could be streamed to the user.

The many features and advantages of the invention are apparent from the detailed specification, and thus, it is intended by the appended claims to cover all such features and advantages of the invention which fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation illustrated and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A process, comprising: using an address of a site visited by a user to obtain business record status information about the site; and displaying the status to the user in a browser used by the user.

2. A process as recited in claim 1, wherein the status identifies information about the site and the process includes accessing the information using the status.

3. A system as recited in claim 2, wherein said information comprises a business background report.

4. A system as recited in claim 2, wherein said information comprises telephone numbers and/ or addresses of owners of the site.

5. A system as recited in claim 2, wherein said information comprises credit ratings.

6. A system as recited in claim 2, wherein said information comprises an indicator of a type of site content.

7. A system as recited in claim 2, wherein said information comprises a content rating.

8. A system as recited in claim 2, wherein said information comprises links to other similar sites of interest based on a context of the site.

9. A system as recited in claim 2, wherein said information comprises commerce related sites associated with the merchant.

10. A system as recited in claim ϊ, wherein the status relates to business performance.

11. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the status relates to environmental performance.

12. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the status relates to product testing.

13. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the status indicates an amount of product coverage.

14. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the status indicates the expiration date of the status.

15. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the status indicates a site privacy policy.

16. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the status indicates site security and encryption protocols used.

17. A process, comprising: using an address of a merchant site visited by a user over a packet switched network to obtain business record status information about the merchant site from a business record database site via the packet switched network; and displaying the status to the user in an icon on a browser page of a browser used by the user, where the status identifies information about the merchant site and the process includes accessing the information using the status, where said information comprises a business background report, telephone numbers and/or addresses of the owners of the merchant site, credit ratings, an indi.cator of a type of site content, content rating, links to other similar sites of interest based on a context of the merchant site and links to commerce related sites associated with the merchant, and where the status relates to business performance, environmental performance, product testing, privacy policy standard satisfaction, and security protocol standard satisfaction.

18. A process, comprising: accessing a merchant web-site from a personal computer over the Internet; saving a site address of the merchant web-site; sending a query including the address to a database of a business record web-site over the Internet; searching the database for a match to the merchant site address; sending business performance status information and a link address to the personal computer from the business record site over the Internet corresponding to the merchant site address when the searching of the database results in a match; displaying the status information as an icon control on a display of the personal computer; and obtaining business information about the merchant from the business record site over the Internet via the link address when the icon control is activated.

19. A process as recited in claim 18, wherein said status information indicates the merchant is: a member in good standing of an e- commerce transaction assurance company, a member of an e-commerce transaction assurance company having outstanding purchaser complaints, and a watch-listed merchant.

20. A display, comprising: a browser page showing contents of a site being browsed; and a status icon depicting a business record of the site.

21. A system, comprising: status storage storing a business record status of a site; and a system accessing the site over a network and, responsive to an address of the address, accessing the status from said status storage over the network.

22. A computer readable storage for controlling network coupled computers using an address of a site visited by a user to obtain business record status information about the site over the network, and displaying the status to the user in a browser used by the user.