Wish list
An electronic item list system and method, such as a wish or gift list, for an electronic shopping mall/online shopping portal, or an item list system provided as a software service. The system and method provides a user with the ability to create a list of items that the user would like others to purchase for the user as a gift or as a list of items that the user would like to retain for a later purchase. A user interface is provided that allows the user to select items electronically to add to a user specific gift list. The items are not limited to specific products, but can include general product categories and/or products from a specific merchant or manufacturer. The user interface communicates through an interface component that extracts data from a number of databases. For example, the databases can include a merchant database, an offers database, a manufacturers database and a products database. The interface will extract data from one or all of the databases based on the amount of information in a gift list request and provide the best results. As records are removed from the databases, the interface allows for graceful degradation of the display, such that something is always displayed to the user.
1. A method that provides an electronic item list for items residing on the Internet comprising:
employing a processor executing computer executable instructions to perform the following acts:
providing at least one database that stores information with respect to items, the information that can be stored per item are at least, a product identification, a product class identification, a merchant identification, and a merchant model identification;
providing an item list database that stores at least one list of references to one or more of the items stored in the at least one database, a list has references to items that a user has added to the list based upon their desire for the items;
receiving a request from a requestor for a list from the item list database;
accessing the item list database to retrieve the list;
extracting data from the at least one database that corresponds to the references in the list; and
utilizing the extracted data to degrade and display the requested item list to the requestor, wherein for each item in the list:
determining if the item in the list has a valid product identification and a valid merchant identification;
upon determining that the item in the list has a valid product identification and a valid merchant identification, displaying the item with a link to the item at a merchant identified by the merchant identification;
upon determining that the item in the list does not have a valid product identification and a valid merchant identification, determining if the item in the list has a valid product identification;
upon determining that the item in the list has a valid product identification, displaying the item with link(s) to one or more merchants for buying the item represented by the product identification;
upon determining that the item in the list does not have a valid product identification, determining if the item in the list has a valid product class identification;
upon determining that the item in the list has a valid product class identification, displaying the product class with link(s) to one or more merchants that for buying items represented by the product class identification; and
upon determining that the item in the list does not have a valid product class identification, displaying nothing for the item.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising joining structured and unstructured data.
3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising inputting custom items into the item list database.
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising providing a link and a product description at a remote merchant site that allows a user to add items from a remote site to the item list database.
5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising linking the infrastructure of the item list to a remote site, the item list appears to reside on the remote site.
6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising providing links from selectable items on at least one HTML page, the links allow a user to select items from an electronic web-site to add to the item list.
7. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions that perform the steps of claim 1 .
8. A system that provides an electronic item list for items residing on the Internet comprising:
a processor:
a memory communicatively coupled to the processor, the memory having stored therein computer-executable instructions to implement the system, including:
at least one database that stores information with respect to items, the information that can be stored per item are at least, a product, a specific manufacturer and a specific merchant;
an item list database that stores lists of references to the items stored in the at least one database, a list has references to items that a user has added to the list based upon their desire for the items, wherein at least one item in the list is specified only as a specific manufacturer or a specific merchant;
a request received from a requestor for at least one item associated with the information in the at least one database;
a gift finder component that accesses the item list database for the references to the at least one item and extracts data from the at least one database that corresponds to the references; and
a user interface component that utilizes the extracted data to degrade and display the requested item list to the requestor wherein for each item in the list:
the user interface component displays determines if the item in the list has a valid product identification and a valid merchant identification;
upon determining that the item in the list has a valid product identification and a valid merchant identification, the user interface component displays the item with a link to the item at a merchant identified by the merchant identification;
upon determining that the item in the list does not have a valid product identification and a valid merchant identification, the user interface component displays determines if the item in the list has a valid product identification;
upon determining that the item in the list has a valid product identification, the user interface component displays the item with link(s) to one or more merchants for buying the item represented by the product identification;
upon determining that the item in the list does not have a valid product identification, the user interface component displays determines if the item in the list has a valid product class identification;
upon determining that the item in the list has a valid product class identification, the user interface component displays the product class with link(s) to one or more merchants that for buying items represented by the product class identification; and
upon determining that the item in the list does not have a valid product class identification, the user interface component displays nothing for the item.