Method and apparatus for supporting multiple alternative graphical user interfaces in computer-moderated electronic commerce

Claim 1

A system for communicating commercial transaction information between a Seller and a plurality of Buyers over a distributed data processing system, comprising: a single database for maintaining a plurality of user interface metadata elements including at least component identifications and component properties; a visual rule model for configuring a plurality of graphical user interface dialog pages utilizing the metadata and a plurality of dialog rules; a plurality of rendering engines each adapted to respond to commands from the visual rule model and each further operable to construct a plurality of graphical user interface screens in a different language; and a dialog manager operable to select one of the plurality of rendering engines for each Buyer based on a bandwidth of the Buyer's communication channel and further operable to pass at least the metadata elements to the selected rendering engine in order to dynamically construct a plurality of graphical user interface screens in the distributed data processing systems in order to allow the communication of information between the Seller and the plurality of Buyers necessary related to a potential commercial transaction.

Claim 2

A system for communicating commercial transaction information between a Seller and a plurality of Buyers over a distributed data processing system, comprising: a single database for maintaining a plurality of user interface metadata elements including at least component identifications and component properties; a visual rule model for configuring a plurality of graphical user interface dialog pages utilizing the metadata and a plurality of dialog rules; a plurality of rendering engines each adapted to respond to commands from the visual rule model and each further operable to construct a plurality of graphical user interface screens in a different language; and a dialog manager operable to select one of the plurality of rendering engines for each Buyer based on a bandwidth of the Buyer's communication channel and further operable to pass at least the metadata elements to the selected rendering engine in order to dynamically construct a plurality of graphical user interface screens in the distributed data processing systems in order to allow the communication of information between the Seller and the plurality of Buyers necessary related to a potential commercial transaction.

Claim 6

A method of conducting computer-moderated commercial transactions, comprising: providing a single database which contains product metadata relating to objects of computer-moderated commerce; providing a plurality of alternative rendering engines for constructing a plurality of graphical user interface screens relating to the objects of computer-moderated commerce; providing a dialog manager which can be utilized to provide commands to the plurality of alternative rendering engines; establishing a relatively low bandwidth communication channel with a customer; selecting one of the plurality of rendering engines based on the bandwidth of the customer's communication channel; and during interaction with the customer in a computer-moderated commercial transaction, utilizing the dialog manager to pass the product metadata from the single database to the selected rendering engine to dynamically construct a series of graphical user interface screens which include active and passive portions for presenting a plurality of product options to the customer and to record the customer's selection.

Claim 7

A method of conducting computer-moderated commercial transactions, comprising: providing a single database which contains product metadata relating to objects of computer-moderated commerce; providing a plurality of alternative rendering engines for constructing a plurality of graphical user interface screens relating to the objects of computer-moderated commerce; providing a dialog manager which can be utilized to provide commands to the plurality of alternative rendering engines; establishing a relatively low bandwidth communication channel with a customer; selecting one of the plurality of rendering engines based on the bandwidth of the customer's communication channel; and during interaction with the customer in a computer-moderated commercial transaction, utilizing the dialog manager to pass the product metadata from the single database to the selected rendering engine to dynamically construct a series of graphical user interface screens which include active and passive portions for presenting a plurality of product options to the customer and to record the customer's selection.

Claim 10

A method of conducting a computer-moderated commercial transaction between a Seller and a Buyer, comprising: providing a distributed data processing system including a relatively low-bandwidth communication channel between the Seller and Buyer; providing a single database under the control of the Seller which contains metadata related to the subject of the commercial transaction; providing a plurality of alternative rendering engines each of which is responsive to rendering commands which is in a different programming language; providing a dialog manager program under the control of the Seller which moderates the passing of metadata and rendered objects over the distributed data processing system to the Buyer in the form of graphical user interface screens; selecting one of the plurality of rendering engines based on the bandwidth of the communications channel; passing transaction information to the Buyer over the relatively low-bandwidth communication channel of the distributed data processing system in the form of graphical user interface screens which confine particular relevant portions of the metadata and the output of the selected rendering engine; and receiving transaction selections from the Buyer over the relatively low-bandwidth communication channel of the distributed data processing system through monitoring of interaction between the Buyer and the graphical user interface screens.

Claim 11

A method of conducting a computer-moderated commercial transaction between a Seller and a Buyer, comprising: providing a distributed data processing system including a relatively low-bandwidth communication channel between the Seller and Buyer; providing a single database under the control of the Seller which contains metadata related to the subject of the commercial transaction; providing a plurality of alternative rendering engines each of which is responsive to rendering commands which is in a different programming language; providing a dialog manager program under the control of the Seller which moderates the passing of metadata and rendered objects over the distributed data processing system to the Buyer in the form of graphical user interface screens; selecting one of the plurality of rendering engines based on the bandwidth of the communications channel; passing transaction information to the Buyer over the relatively low-bandwidth communication channel of the distributed data processing system in the form of graphical user interface screens which confine particular relevant portions of the metadata and the output of the selected rendering engine; and receiving transaction selections from the Buyer over the relatively low-bandwidth communication channel of the distributed data processing system through monitoring of interaction between the Buyer and the graphical user interface screens.

Claim 18

A system for computer-moderated commercial transactions, comprising: means for providing a single database which contains product metadata relating to objects of computer-moderated commerce; means for providing a plurality of alternative rendering engines for constructing a plurality of graphical user interface screens relating to the objects of computer-moderated commerce; means for providing a dialog manager which can be utilized to provide commands to the plurality of alternative rendering engines; means for establishing a relatively low bandwidth communication channel with a customer; means for selecting one of the plurality of rendering engines based on the bandwidth of the customer's communication channel; and means for, during interaction with the customer in a computer-moderated commercial transaction, utilizing the dialog manager to pass the product metadata from the single database to the selected rendering engine to dynamically construct a series of graphical user interface screens which include active and passive portions for presenting a plurality of product options to the customer and to record the customer's selection.

Claim 19

A system for computer-moderated commercial transactions, comprising: means for providing a single database which contains product metadata relating to objects of computer-moderated commerce; means for providing a plurality of alternative rendering engines for constructing a plurality of graphical user interface screens relating to the objects of computer-moderated commerce; means for providing a dialog manager which can be utilized to provide commands to the plurality of alternative rendering engines; means for establishing a relatively low bandwidth communication channel with a customer; means for selecting one of the plurality of rendering engines based on the bandwidth of the customer's communication channel; and means for, during interaction with the customer in a computer-moderated commercial transaction, utilizing the dialog manager to pass the product metadata from the single database to the selected rendering engine to dynamically construct a series of graphical user interface screens which include active and passive portions for presenting a plurality of product options to the customer and to record the customer's selection.