METHODS, SYSTEMS AND DEVICES FOR PROVIDING IMAGES OF FEATURED ARTICLES AND FOR MERGING OF THE IMAGES
An e-commerce method involves on-line viewing of a first article through a linking node for virtual merging on another structure. A particular application of the invention is directed to on-line apparel shopping involving a color matching scheme using color codes provided with images to be merged. For example, on-line viewing of one article, such as clothing, on another structure, includes creating an item from image-data corresponding to a colored article selected by an on-line viewer from an on-line viewer site with an image of a colored structure selected by the on-line viewer, and indicating whether the colored article and the colored structure satisfy a color-matching criterion.
1 . A system comprising:
a host application server configured and arranged to
access image data for a plurality of clothing articles offered by one or more retailers;
receive configuration input to select featured ones of the clothing articles;
transmit, over the Internet, website data to a requesting device, the website data arranged to
provide fashion advice by highlighting the featured ones of the plurality of clothing articles as part of a visual display thereof; and
prompt users for selection of the featured ones of the plurality of clothing articles;
receive, over the Internet, clothing article selection inputs from a requesting device of the website data;
retrieve image data for one or more clothing articles indicated by the selection inputs;
merge the retrieved image data with image data representing a person thereby generating a merged image data of the clothing article on the person; and
transmit, over the Internet, the merged image to the requesting device.
2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the transmitted website data further includes information about discounts on one or more of the plurality of clothing articles offered by one or more retailers.
3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the host application server is further configured and arranged to track purchases made by a buyer and to provide suggested clothing articles to the buyer based upon the tracked purchases.
4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the host application server is further configured and arranged to track purchases made by buyers and to provide demographic information about the buyers to the one or more retailers.
5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the host application server is further configured and arranged to retrieve image data for a plurality of clothing articles from multiple retailer websites and to store the retrieved image data in a virtual closet for a potential buyer.
6 . The system of claim 5 , wherein the host application server is further configured and arranged to impose a maximum amount of virtual closet storage memory for the potential buyer.
7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the host application server is further configured and arranged to retrieve image data for a plurality of clothing articles from multiple retailer websites and to match colors of clothing articles from different retailer websites.
8 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the host application server is further configured and arranged to merge the retrieved image data with an image of a building.