Abstract: Disclosed herein are technologies for providing recommendations as to particular products and/or services that are customer specific and general, based on customer preference and inquiry. The recommendations are provided as part of an online shopping system. In accordance with one aspect, an item query is received from a customer, and analyzed by a query analyzer to determine if the query is a general item query or a specific item query. A search may be performed for items based on the item query in an items database listing items offered for purchase. If the query is the general item query, customer preference is determined from results of the search. If the query is the specific item query, the items from the results of the search are grouped based on cost performance. The items of the search result are ranked and provided to the customer.

Abstract: A computer-implemented method of providing a brand sponsorship environment includes providing a computer-implemented platform establishing a sponsorship junction involving, in case 1, a set of trigger-monitorable activities defined by a set of sponsoring brands or, in case 2, a subset of the trigger-monitorable activities defined by the set of sponsoring brands.

Abstract: For each product category offered by an on-line retailer, the most popular or biggest selling products are identified. The on-line retailer competes with a bricks-and-mortar store in the sale of the identified products. A dedicated area is provided within the store. In this area, the store provides, for each identified product, both: 1) a physical purchasable unit of the product, and 2) descriptive information about the product. The descriptive information includes: 1) an identification of the product, 2) an identification of the on-line retailer, 3) a price at which the product is offered on-line by the on-line retailer, and 4) a price at which the product is offered at the store. The customer can use the descriptive information to confirm the prices, and can then purchase a physical unit of the product, and can immediately take the unit from the store without having to wait for, and pay for, shipment.

Abstract: A system for receiving, at a server with one or more processors, a request for a respective product page from a first client system. The system then sends the respective product page to the first client system for display, wherein the respective product page includes a send SMS message link. The system receives, from the first client system, a first SMS message, wherein the first SMS message is generated by user selection of the send SMS message link. The system transmits the first SMS message to a second client system associated with a seller of the respective product.

Abstract: A system is provided to output audio data sets at a venue. The system includes an audio catalog that stores a plurality of audio data sets available for display at the venue and which is remotely located from the venue. The system also includes a server system in electronic communication with the audio catalog and remotely located from the venue. The server system receives association requests from mobile devices of users which are used to associate the respective mobile devices with the venue. The venue has one or more venue controllers communicatively coupled to the server system. The mobile devices are remotely located from the server system. The server system transmits a listing of the plurality of audio data sets to the associated mobile devices and receives selections of one or more of the plurality of audio data sets to be played at the venue.

Abstract: One embodiment of the system and method described herein provides a computer system configured to provide an interface for operation by a user at a remote computing device, receive a request from the user for a vehicle history report of a vehicle. The computer system is further configured to prompt the user for interest in a prequalification for a financing offer. The computer system is further configured to receive the indication of the user's interest in the prequalification. The system also includes a data storage module, accessible by the computer system, configured to retrieve data corresponding to the vehicle, store the retrieved data, retrieve data corresponding to a determination regarding the prequalification for the financing offer, and store the retrieved determination. The computer system is further configured to convey the vehicle history report to the user and convey the prequalification determination to the user.

Abstract: A social networking system for integrated electronic commerce includes an electronic commerce social network host company having a central office with a central computer and an instruction set stored on the central computer. At least one consumer and at least one business subscribe to the electronic commerce social network host. A first network terminal is accessible by the consumer for posting personal data and property inventories and a second network terminal is accessible by the business for posting product and service data descriptive of the product and service inventories. The terminals and the central computer are interconnected by an electronic network. The instruction set operates to receive and store the consumer posted data and the business posted product and service data and integrates the information data to match an individual consumer with an individual business for the sale of at least one of said products and services of the business.

Abstract: A method of receiving a recommendation of Point of Interest (POI) information from a place recommending apparatus is provided. The method includes sending a POI information recommendation request to the place recommending apparatus using sensor data and receiving a recommendation response to the POI information recommendation request from the place recommending apparatus based on user-desired environment information.

Abstract: A system for facilitating virtual gifting of goods or services over a communications network includes: a) a first client module configured for purchasing a virtual gift for a recipient, b) a second client module configured for receiving and viewing the purchased virtual gift from the server, over the communications network; c) a third client module configured for receiving a wireless signal for the recipient from the second client module and viewing the purchased virtual gift, and d) a web server module configured for processing electronic payment for the purchased virtual gift with a payment gateway, transmitting the purchased virtual gift to the second client module, and transmitting a confirmation of payment for the purchased virtual gift to a brick and mortar outlet, wherein the purchased virtual gift is configured for redemption at said brick and mortar outlet.

Abstract: The present disclosure provides computer-implemented systems and processes for augmenting user ratings of items, such as a rating of a song playing on a user device, by analyzing contextual information, such as user and/or device activity data associated with the device. The contextual information may be used to determine an associated intensity of the rating or feedback. The determined intensity levels can be used to weigh the associated rating events and improve the quality of item recommendations that are based on such ratings. Contextual information may indicate whether the user transitioned from another application to rate an item, device status information, and so on. In one embodiment, contextual information can be used to assess how intensely the user feels about a music item and to provide improved music recommendations, such as songs to provide in a playlist or radio station, based on the intensity.

Abstract: A payment interchange for use in a global shopping cart and a method for its use are provided. Also, provide is management of data relationships between a global online shopping cart and various manager components that encompass data management access. The global shopping cart includes a storage medium having thereon computer instructions for implementing one or more functions of the global shopping cart, and a processor for executing the computer instructions to provide functions including a payment function for paying for an item to be purchased. The global shopping cart has a flexible application programming interface (API) framework sufficient to support the payment interchange including the payment function for paying for an item to be purchased by one or more users of the global shopping cart and by one or more payment modes or sources.

Abstract: Systems and method are disclosed for processing information related to a database implemented via unique database identifiers and constructs as well as performing associated data processing related to automated handling of products corresponding to the database identifiers, such as experiences as a function of Boolean variables and/or associated database constructs. In one exemplary implementation, there is provided a method for automatically processing information and computer-implemented routines involving such experiences. Moreover, illustrative methods may include platform creation, fully-automated performance of various processing as a function of product and/or experience data stored in the database, processing data regarding display of user-interactive GUI fields of at least some of the product-related data, and/or automatically processing computer-executable routines associated with a selected experience.

Abstract: Techniques for generated and presenting images of items within user selected context images are presented herein. In an example embodiment, an access module can be configured to receive a first environment model and a first wearable item model. A simulation module coupled to the access module may process the environment model to identify placement volumes within the environment model and to place a clothed body model within the placement volume to generate a context model. A rendering module may then generate a context image from the context model. In various embodiments, the environment model used for the context, the wearable item positioned within the environment model, and rendering values used to generate context images may be changed in response to user inputs to generate new context images that are displayed to a user.

Abstract: There are provided systems and methods for tokenized data having split payment instruction for multiple accounts in a chain transaction. A user may provide a payment to a merchant that sells one or more items to the user. In order to sell items, the merchant may utilize a partner service that provides resources for the merchant to sell the items, such as an online marketplace. The partner service may require a payment for each transaction by the merchant using the partner service. Thus, when a payment request is generated to the merchant for items sold to the user, the partner service may attach to the payment request and provide a split payment request for a split payment from the payment request. The payment between the user and merchant may be processed, and a separate transaction may provide the split payment automatically to the partner service from the merchant.

Abstract: A query handling system includes a product information database and a linguistic pipeline module. The pipeline module receives a query, determines that the query includes a first query term associated with a first product, wherein the first product is identified by a first product code, substitutes the first product code for the first query term in a first intermediate query, and searches the product information database based upon the first product code.

Abstract: The embodiments provide a system for matching orders with incoming shipments. The system may include a product shipment handler configured to receive product shipment information specifying incoming products, a product order handler configured to receive product order information specifying a plurality of product orders and input parameter information associated with each product order, a job dispatcher configured to create a plurality of jobs based on the product shipment information and the product order information, a modeling tool configured to model each job as a separate constrained linear optimization problem, and a linear solver configured to solve each constrained linear optimization problem based on the input parameter information and the product shipment information including generating a delivery plan for each product order within a respective job that matches at least one incoming product with a corresponding product order over a period of time.

Abstract: A commerce system includes an EC server connecting to a user terminal and executes E-commerce, a customs clearance authentication server that administers pre-customs clearance information, and an administration server connected to the customs clearance authentication server and the EC server. The administration server receives a registration request including product information regarding a product, transmits the registration request to the customs clearance authentication server, receives pre-customs clearance information regarding the product from the customs clearance authentication server, and notifies the pre-customs clearance information to the EC server. The customs clearance authentication server generates pre-customs clearance information based on product information, in response to a request from the EC server, and transmits generated pre-customs clearance information to the administration server.

Abstract: A packing service for packing objects into containers is disclosed. An image-capture device may capture an image of a container and the image may be used to determine the volume of the container. Contextual information associated with the container may be determined, such as objects already in the container, a destination for the container, or objects to be placed into the container, for example. The contextual information may be obtained from the image or from any of various services or systems. Items to be placed into the container are determined, based on the contextual information, for example. Recommendations to purchase items to pack into the container may be made. Recommendations of how to pack or arrange the items into the container may also be made. Additional images of the container may be captured and analyzed to determine whether the packing recommendations were followed or to determine additional recommendations.

Abstract: Method and system to enhance the presentation of a pinned resource is provided. Users may be provided with an option to enhance the presentation of a shared (or pinned) resource by attaching to it a visual control that indicates that the resource can represent an item of merchandise and that the resource is associated with functionality that would allow a user to purchase an item depicted in the pinned resource.

Abstract: A system for receiving, at a server with one or more processors, a request for a respective product page from a first client system. The system then sends the respective product page to the first client system for display, wherein the respective product page includes a send SMS message link. The system receives, from the first client system, a first SMS message, wherein the first SMS message is generated by user selection of the send SMS message link. The system transmits the first SMS message to a second client system associated with a seller of the respective product.