WO2001006424A2 - Method and apparatus for generating a sale offer to selected individuals over electronic network systems - Google Patents

Abstract

A method of making a sale offer over an electronic network system, comprising the steps of randomly generating an offer to puschase a product or service on the electronic network system; communicating the randomly generated offer through the electronic network system for a predetermined period of time to one or more selected potential buyers connected to the electronic network system; completing the sale of the product of service through the electronic network system in response to an acceptance of the offer by a buyer within the predetermined period of time; and removing the offer from the electronic network system should the buyer not accept the offer within the predetermined period of time.

Description

TITLE OF THE INVENTION

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR GENERATING A SALE OFFER TO SELECTED INDIVIDUALS OVER ELECTRONIC NETWORK SYSTEMS

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is related to and claims priority from U.S. Provisional

Patent Application No. 60/141 ,284, entitled "Method and Apparatus for

Generating a Sale Offer Over an Electronic Network System," and filed on

June 30, 1999. The disclosure of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.

60/141 ,284 is expressly incorporated herein by reference in its entirety and

relied upon.

This application is being filed concurrently with U.S. Patent Application

Serial No. , entitled "Method and Apparatus for Generating a Sale Offer Over

an Electronic Network System" of Luigi Forlai, the entire contents of which are

hereby incorporated by reference and relied upon.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

I. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to electronic sale systems and related

methods. More particularly, the invention relates to electronic sale systems

and methods in which a sale offer is communicated from a seller to selected

individuals through an electronic network system or environment in which a

number of sellers provide sale offers.

II. Description of the Related Art

The development of the Internet has brought about a profound effect

on price competition for goods and services in the global marketplace. Web sites on the Internet, such as Amazon.com and CDNow.com, sell goods at

prices substantially less than conventional distributors who typically employ

printed advertisements to attract customers. These sites have been able to

do so by utilizing the global reach of the Internet to expand the relevant sales

market beyond the local market reached by printed advertising methods.

Moreover, the start up costs of setting up an Web site are either less than or

at least comparable to the start up costs associated with conventional sales

methods. Accordingly, Web sites have been able to transfer cost savings to

the consumer in the form of substantially reduced prices.

Other Web sites have also attempted to further reduces prices. For

example, Buy.com has been able to sell software and other goods at below

cost prices by recouping the losses through advertising revenue generated

over the site itself. Moreover, FreePC.com has allowed consumers to

receive free personal computers on the condition that the consumers provide

personal data, which could be sold to advertisers. However, many of these

endeavors collapse when the cost of procuring such goods outweighs the

advertising revenue generated.

In general, conventional buyer-seller transactions are seller-driven in

the sense that they focus on the methods or processes available to the seller.

Typically, electronic sales systems involve sellers utilizing various electronic

advertising media in order to attract potential buyers and, in some cases, to

complete sales transactions. With an electronic sales system it is possible to

reach more potential buyers than with other conventional sale methods (e.g., printed advertising). Electronic sales systems, however, suffer from the same

drawbacks of conventional sales methods in that the seller normally absorbs

the risk and cost of advertising. That is, the advertising cost associated with

the transaction and the attendant risk that such advertising will be

unsuccessful fall directly upon the seller. As a result, the offered cost of a

product will normally include not only the cost of manufacturing the product

and the seller's anticipated profit, but also the cost of advertising the product.

Similar problems and associated risk exist when a seller offers services.

Accordingly, there is a need for an improved method and apparatus for

offering goods and services, including within electronic sales systems, to

reduce the risk placed on a seller. There is also a need for an improved

method and apparatus for advertising goods and services, and reaching more

buyers in a fast and economical fashion. Still further, there is a need to

provide an improved method and apparatus for automatically and intelligently

directing sale offers to a group of selected individuals who have registered as

potential buyers from among a larger number of other visitors connected to

an electronic sales system in order to increase the likelihood of acceptance of

the sale offer.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In concurrently-filed U.S. Patent Application Serial No.

, entitled "Method and Apparatus for Generating a

Sale Offer Over an Electronic Network System" of Luigi Forlai, electronic sale

systems and methods are disclosed in which a sale offer is communicated from a seller to a buyer through an electronic network system or environment.

A sale offer is electronically presented to a buyer through a Web site or

electronic network at a substantially discounted price or for "free" (i.e., for free

or at a price near zero, plus delivery charges-if applicable) for a very limited

amount of time. In the embodiment disclosed therein, any persons who

happen to be visiting a particular Web site at a certain point in time - the

"minute" - will receive an offer for a virtually free good. This minute (referred

to hereinafter as a "Happy Minute^®") will appear on a random basis during the

day, so that the consumer does not know when the Happy Minute^® starts. As

a result, consumers have an incentive to stay on that particular Web site.

The present patent application is directed to an embodiment in which

the concept of offering consumers an opportunity or offer to receive a product

or service at virtually no cost is preserved. However, in the embodiment

described herein, interested Web surfers are provided with the opportunity to

register with a central Web site (referred to herein as the "administrator").

Registration allows users to receive offers not just from the particular Web

site they are visiting at a certain point in time, but from any other site which is

associated with the administrator site. Registrants who happen to be visiting

any one of the associated Web sites during issuance of a Happy Minute^® will

receive an offer on condition that they be visiting a Web site belonging to the

Happy Minute Network

Such registrants have a advantage because they are aware of all the

sites that offer a Happy Minute opportunity and they can choose which among all the sites better suits their needs. For example, let's say a surfer is

interested in winning a CD Player and only 3 sites offer them. The surfer

knows which sites are offering CD Players and they will browse among those

sites. In other words, potential buyers receive a sale offer only if they are

currently visiting the site that is emitting the sale offer itself. They register

with the Happy Minute Network to inform the administrator that they want to

receive sale offers and to obtain the support software - the plug-in - which

allows them to be informed about what sites offers what and other kind of

information about the Happy Minute Network).

Accordingly, the opportunity for a Web surfer to receive an offer is

greatly enhanced by means of the plug-in which continually informs them

about which sites will be offering what goods or services; without the plug-in

they would only receive sale offers from the site that they are currently

surfing. Obviously, the plug-in doesn't inform them about when sale offers

are to be generated.

The present invention breaks the traditional structural barriers normally

existing between the marketing function and the selling function of an

industrial or commercial enterprise. The invention also breaks the division

between advertising (i.e., contacts, impressions, etc.) and selling goods (i.e.

video cameras, shoes, plants, etc.) or services (i.e., airline tickets, telephone

service, etc.). Further, with the present invention, the risk placed on a seller

is substantially reduced. A feature of the invention is a sale offer that is electronically presented

to one or more selected individuals who have registered themselves at the

Central Web site or administrator. The sale offer is for a good having

substantial value at a substantially discounted price or for "free" (i.e., for free

or a price near zero plus delivery charges-if applicable) for a very limited

amount of time.

An individual may become eligible to receive sale offers upon

registering with the administrator or the Central Web Site by providing a

request to sign-up and then obtaining and installing a program or software

modules that operates in conjunction with their Web browser, the plug-in .

Such registered individuals are also referred to herein as "selected" or

"prequalified" visitors or buyers. The program will permit sale offers to be

communicated to registered individuals who are browsing any of a number of

web sites that are associated, in the sense that they are sites from which sale

offers will be generated and presented to registered visitors. A registered

consumer surfing a particular Web site which is associated with an

administrator or central Web site at a certain point in time c the "minute" - will

receive an offer for a "free" good. The Happy Minute^® will appear on a

random basis during the day, so that the consumer does not know when the

Happy Minute ^® starts. Consequently, consumers have an incentive to

browse in one of the web sites that form of the Happy Minute network sites

about which he/she is informed by the means of the plug-in. Using the exemplary principles of the present invention, a substantial

cost is created for the enterprise or seller. However, one should consider that

the invention itself creates an ever increasing buyer traffic to the Web site

which is highly marketable. The potential high revenues whose amount will

often be larger or above the seller's cost are obtained by selling the

associated buyer traffic to advertisers (i.e., through banner sales, etc.). As a

result, the high costs of selling at a price zero or near to zero is covered by

the sale of an increasing buyer traffic to an advertising space buyer.

A main distinction between the strategy of the present invention and

the economic strategies of prior techniques for selling discounted goods or

services, such as Web sites as Buy.com, is the fact that the latter is

continuously selling goods or services with a discount (such as a 10%

discount) while, under the present invention, the goods or services are, from

a buyer's perspective, randomly offered solely to a registered user for zero or

a sum near to zero and for a very limited period of time.

Under the operative point of view, the present invention allows sellers

of goods and services to communicate a binding sale offer only to potential

buyers who have preregistered, to positively respond to such an offer,

immediately concluding a sales contract. In a preferred embodiment, the

apparatus of the present invention includes a central controller which

transmits a binding sale offer from one or more associated Web sites or

electronic networks, making such an offer visible and available only to the

buyers preregistered with the central or administrator Web site. Only preregistered buyers have the opportunity to accept an offer because only

they will receive it. In particularly only those preregistered users that keep

their plug-in active, that are currently surfing the specified page of the Web

site during the Happy Minute moment will be aware of an offer, because the

plug-in allows sale offers to be seen. Such Buyers then have the possibility

to accept the sale offer, and thus bind the corresponding seller to a contract.

As indicated above, the method and apparatus of the present invention may

be implemented through the Internet, as well as any other type of electronic

network system or environment.

With the present invention, the risk placed on a seller is substantially

reduced. An embodiment of the invention is a sale offer that is electronically

presented to a registered buyer who is visiting a site and if they are actually

viewing the specified page. The plug-in is capable of detecting which

browser session is currently active and determining if the session pointing to

the Happy Minute Web page is actually that one. If a user activates multiple

sessions of its browser and doesn't keep active the window pointing to the

correct site, the plug in won't display the sale offer, since the user isn't

currently viewing the Web site page on which the Happy Minute is happening.

The sale offer allows the preregistered user to obtain a good or service

substantially discounted price or for "free" (i.e., for free or a price near zero

plus delivery charges-if applicable) for a very limited amount of time. The

cost of such a sale offer is very high for the owner or co-owner of the Web

site, who is - economically speaking - the seller or a party who has entered into an agreement with a seller. However, because of the very unique nature

of the sale offer of the present invention, a large number of registered buyers

will crowd the Web site. Such a number of potential registered buyers is

highly marketable, thus generating a substantial revenue for the owner or co-

owner of the Web site.

In a preferred embodiment, the present invention provides a method

and apparatus for owners of a network of associated Web sites who wish to

acquire a seller's marketable traffic on such sites through a particular sale

offer. The sale offer is in itself highly valuable since it serves as an

advertising tool for the offered product or service or the site itself and

provides a valid technique for communicating a binding purchase offer

globally to many potential buyers.

In one embodiment of this invention, communication between sellers

and registered buyers is conducted using an electronic network and central

controller. The Web site owner or co-owner who wishes to make an offer

accesses the central controller located at a remote server. An administrator

of the Web site will create a sale offer ("SO") by specifying the time limit

within which a registered buyer can accept the offer, the subject of the good

or service to put on sale, the good's or service's price, an acceptance form,

and finally a payment identifier. A sale offer is announced by the

administrator on behalf of those web sites upon which the Happy Minute will

be issued. The plug-in allows the administrator to be aware of which users

are currently surfing that particular web site. Once a pre-registered buyer has seen the announcement of the sale

offer and wishes to accept it, the potential buyer registers to accept the sale

offer. At the same time, the controller "records" that a buyer is going to

complete the acceptance form and prevents the successive acceptance

form(s) from disappearing within the previously stated time limit.

The central controller automatically sends the preregistered buyers a

unique tracking number and an acceptance form to complete with personal

data while the preregistered buyer is online with the central controller allowing

them the ability to accept the sale offer straight away. Alternatively, the

buyers will later receive an e-mail confirming the sale offer.

After providing all the required statements of acceptance, the buyer

transmits to the central controller the acceptance form. In accordance with

the present invention, the acceptance form from the buyer can be transmitted

via a World-Wide-Web (WWW) interface, electronic mail or voice mail, not

excluding futures evolutions of the communications media which can provide

"instant" or real-time communications between a seller and a buyer.

As soon as the central controller receives the filled out acceptance

form, the controller will transmit to the potential registered buyer a payment

identifier together with a final statement of acceptance to be electronically

signed by the buyer and filled out with credit card data or description of the

cash or payment on delivery form. After acceptance of this final form, the

buyer transmits it online to the seller. The buyer and seller then become

parties to a legally binding contract. In accordance with an aspect of the invention, the central controller

manages the payment system between the seller and the buyer by

communicating and transmitting, for example, credit card data to the buyer's

bank, for confirming the availability of necessary funds or credit and the

validity of the credit card used. Finally, the central controller stores the

payment, keeps track of it, and sends a reply to the buyer to notify the buyer

of the payment receipt.

The present invention also allows a seller to reach a large number of

remotely located registered buyers who are visiting multiple associated Web

sites and who would be interested in the seller's goods or services, those

being related to the site's content and/or offered for a disproportionate price in

comparison to their real market value.

It is a goal of the present invention to provide Web site owners with a

robust method and system to improve the capacity of traffic to the Happy

Minute Network sites which is highly marketable. In accordance with another

embodiment of the invention, an industrial or commercial enterprise, owner or

co-owner of an Web site, begins to input into its site a sale offer of goods

and/or services of high quality priced at zero or nearly zero. The Web site's

owner is not necessarily the producer or provider of such goods and services.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the price for the good is zero plus

delivery expenses or trivial cost (e.g., one cent) plus delivery expenses (e.g.,

$52 dollars), the delivery cost being determined by the buyer's location. The offer is transmitted only to the pre-registered buyers through the

Internet over a number of associated Web sites. Unpredictably, from the

standpoint of the buyer, the offer will appear on the plug-in screen of those

users who are currently viewing the page of the Web site upon which the offer

is made. The central controller, which generates the sale offer can also be

programmed via a random function, so that nobody can predict when the sale

offer will appear. This unpredictability also creates a heightened level of

expectation because the availability of such an offer is extremely short in

terms of time. That is to say, if the potential registered buyer does not enter

the agreement process within a predetermined period of time (e.g., within a

selected number of seconds, minutes, hours, weeks, etc.), the sale offer form

disappears and is no longer available until a new sale offer appears. The

potential buyer who starts to complete an acceptance form associated with

the offer can be safeguarded from the disappearance of the same

acceptance form. It is only necessary that t he potential buyer does not leave

the form. However, the acceptance form and the offer may be withdrawn if

the potential buyer fails to complete the acceptance form within a

predetermined period of time (e.g., within a selected number of seconds,

minutes, hours, weeks, etc.).

It is easily understandable that, just because of the simple fact of

offering goods or services of high quality (i.e., a video camera, a digital tape

recorder, an airline ticket, telecommunication services or other goods and

services) at a price near to zero, there should be a substantial traffic increase into the Web site which adopts the present invention. As a result of this traffic

increase, revenue from advertising over the side itself will also increase. The

increase in revenue can not only fully recover the cost for the above sale, but

may render the web site largely profitable, as well.

The seller can also decide to repeat the offer during the day, the week,

month or year, but this does not substantially change the basic mechanism or

features of the invention. In addition, it is not necessary that goods or

services offered be produced or provided by the offeror. Under the present

invention, the offered items can serve as a support or stimulus for the

purchase of the site's own different goods and services, and for the web site's

economic life cycle.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further

understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part

of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the invention,

and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the

invention. In the drawings,

Fig. 1 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a network environment

for implementing the features of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a central

controller, consistent with the principles of the invention;

Fig. 3 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a seller interface,

consistent with the principles of the invention; Fig. 4 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a buyer interface,

consistent with the principles of the invention;

Fig. 5 illustrates an embodiment of a Web site's homepage before a

sale offer is transmitted from the central controller, consistent with the

principles of the invention;

Fig. 6 illustrates an embodiment of a Web site's information page

about a sale offer;

Fig. 6a illustrates an exemplary embodiment for a user registration

entry form to be completed by a potential registrant;

Fig. 6b illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a personal data entry

form to be completed by a potential buyer;

Fig. 7A illustrates one aspect of the features of an administrator page

for use by the Web site's administrator;

Fig. 7B illustrates another aspect of the features of an administrator

page for use by the Web site's administrator;

Fig. 7C illustrates yet another aspect of the features of an

administrator page for use by the Web site's administrator;

Fig. 8 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a sale offer

announcement appearing in the associated Web sites' pages for viewing by

potential buyers;

Fig. 9 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of an administrator page

showing that the central controller has received a buyer "sign-in," automatically assigned a tracking number, and having sent an acceptance

form.

Fig. 10 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a sale offer information

page received by a potential buyer;

Fig. 11 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of an administrator page

showing that the central controller has received data from a personal entry

data form and automatically having sent an acceptance form to the buyer;

Fig. 12 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of an acceptance form

received and completed by the buyer;

Fig. 13 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a credit card data entry

form to be completed by the buyer;

Fig. 14 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of an administrator page

showing money transfer response data;

Fig. 15 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a successfully

completed transaction page received by a buyer;

Fig. 16 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of an administrator page \

showing data for a successfully completed transaction;

Fig. 17 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a unsuccessfully

completed transaction page received by a buyer;

Fig. 18 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of an administrator page

showing data for an unsuccessfully completed transaction; Fig. 19 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a warning message on

the Web site's page, notifying a buyer that a sale offer is no longer available

and the transaction is considered null and void;

Fig. 20 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a sale cancellation

announcement received by a potential buyer in response to clicking the

"leave" il button indicating that a sale offer is no longer available;

Fig. 21 is an exemplary flow chart illustrating how a potential buyer

interacts with a seller to view and accept sale offers;

Fig. 22 is an exemplary flow chart illustrating how a seller or site

administrator inputs sale offer parameters to generate sale offers, receives

buyer tracking and contract data, and completes a sale offer transaction with

a buyer; and

Fig. 23 is an exemplary flow chart illustrating the processes and

operations for generating and accepting a buyer's response to sale offers,

consistent with the pπnciples of the present invention.

Figs. 24a-c show an exemplary flow chart illustrating the processes

and operations for registration of users, obtaining and installing a browser

plug-in used in conjunction with the receipt of sale offers.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention described herein may be implemented as logical

operations in a network environment (such as, for example, the Internet)

including computing systems, thin clients, low-end network stations and/or

other types of terminals. The logical operations of the invention may be implemented through any suitable combination of hardware, software and/or

firmware. For example, the features of the invention may be implemented: (1 )

as a sequence of computer implemented steps running on a computing

system; or (2) as interconnected machine modules within a computing

system. The implementation is a matter of choice that is dependent on the

performance requirements of the computing system implementing the various

features and aspects of the invention. Accordingly, the logical operations

making up the aspects and embodiments of the invention described herein

are referred to variously as operations, steps or modules.

In addition, the present invention relates to computer readable media

that include program instructions for performing various computer-

implemented operations. The media and programming instructions may be

those specially designed and constructed for the purposes of the present

invention, or may be of a kind well known and available to those having skill

in the computer software arts. Examples of computer readable media

include, but are not limited to, magnetic media, such as hard disks, floppy

disks and magnetic tape; optical media such as CD-ROM disks; magneto-

optical media, such as optical disks; and hardware devices that are specially

configured to store and perform program instructions, such as read-only

memory (ROM) and random access memory (RAM). Examples of program

instructions include both machine code that can be produced by a compiler,

and files containing higher level code that can be executed by a computer

using an interpreter. Generally, the present invention provides a method and apparatus for

offering goods and services in an electronic network environment, such as,

for example, the Internet. According to the various features and aspects of

the invention, a number of sellers who own, co-own or enter into an

agreement with an owner of an administrator or central Web site, generates

sales offers for one or more goods or services to visitors of any number of

associated Web sites, whereby such a visitor may accept and receive the

goods or services at a deeply discounted price or at virtually no cost.

As used herein, the term "associated" Web site is intended to refer to

one of a number of Web sites that have arranged with a central, or

administrator, Web site to permit sale offers to be communicated to registered

buyers who are visiting or browsing any one of the so-associated sites.

Therefore, a visitor who is visiting one associated Web site that features one

type of good or service may, nevertheless, receive a sale offer from a seller of

a totally different good or service, the only requirement being that both sellers

have Web sites that have thus associated with the Central Web site or

administrator.

It is within the scope of the invention that a sale offer is typically

communicated only on one Web site at a time to a user having installed the

plug-in. It is, nevertheless, possible for the central controller to send more

than one sale offer on behalf of more than a single Web site at the same

moment. In the context of goods offered by a seller, a visitor who accepts a sale

offer (i.e., the buyer) may only be required, for example, to pay 0 - 1 cent,

with or without delivery charges. Services offered by a seller may also be

offered at a deeply discounted price or on virtually "free" basis. Since the

goods or services are offered on a heavily discounted or free basis, each

Web site hosting the sale offer will experience increased traffic or "hits" from

visitors connected to the Internet. The sale offer, therefore, has value to Web

site owners by providing a means for increasing traffic or hits to the Web

sites, thereby increasing the value of the Web sites and/or increasing e-

commerce conducted through the sites. The sale offer also provides value to

the seller in the form of an effective means for advertising goods or services

over the Internet.

In order to increase and/or maintain the number of visitors to

associated Web sites, the goods or services that are offered over such Web

sites may be offered at unpredictable or random times. For example, a

system administrator may select one or more times during a specific date on

which the sale offer is to be made on the associated Web sites. The time(s)

at which the sale offer is selected by the system administrator may be kept

secret from Web site visitors so as to make the offer "unpredictable".

Alternatively, a system administrator may program a central controller

module, such that a sale offer is provided on one or more of the associated

Web sites, the central controller will send more than one kind of sale offer at

the same time, as a result of the sale offer generation mechanism. In this case, multiple sets of sales offers transmitted to two sets of users, each one

visiting one web site on behalf of which the sale offers are generated. The

central controller may also be programmed for "randomness" of the sale offer

which will also increase and peak interest in the Web sites, as visitors link to

and/or browse the Web sites in anticipation of the sale offer being displayed

or communicated through a visited Web site.

When providing a sale offer, each sale offer may be made available to

all registered buyers that are presently visiting the associated Web sites and

exchanging information with the Web server or central controller. In some

cases, the capacity of the Web server or central controller may be limited so

that only a predetermined number of buyers (e.g., 200 buyers) can receive

the sale offer at any given instant. Alternatively, a limited number of sale

offers (not necessarily restricted by the capacity of the server or controller)

may be provided to registered buyers visiting and exchanging information

with the associated Web sites when the offer is to be made. In such a case,

the sale offer may expire prior to the duration or period of the offer, if all of the

predetermined sale offers have been accepted by buyers who received the

offer through the Web sites. It is also possible to select one or more

individual Web sites from all the Web sites that are associated, so that only

those Web sites that fit a particular marketing or other business objective of

the seller will be used to present a sale offer to prospective registered buyers.

It is also possible to target particular buyers from among all those who are

registered, so that only buyers who have a certain profile or other type of identifier that matches a predetermined profile or identifier selected by the

seller can actually receive a sale offer. Taken to the extreme, it would also be

feasible to so target a small group-or even a single individual— in this manner.

Finally, both features may be combined so that only selected

associated Web sites and/or targeted registered (selected or prequalified)

buyers may be chosen as of the sale offer to be conveyed on, and made to,

respectively. With such targeted approaches, the seller may target such

specific Web sites and/or types of buyers with the sale offer.

In one embodiment of the present invention, communication between

sellers and buyers is conducted using an electronic network and central

controller. In a preferred embodiment, the electronic network comprises the

Internet. Potential buyers can access the Internet through a variety of

devices, such as through a personal computer, an interactive TV device, a

wireless phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA) or any other

communication device. Associated Web site owners or sellers who wish to

make offers may access a central controller, which may be implemented

through a server, computing system or module connected to the Internet,

through a direct dial-up connection or over the Internet though an Internet

service provider, for example. Through the central controller, a system

administrator for the seller will create a sale offer ("SO") by specifying the

subject of the good or service to be placed on sale, the good's or service's

price, the limited time period during which a registered buyer can accept the

offer, an acceptance form, and finally a payment identifier. The sale offer is then conveyed over the Internet to each of the Web servers that are

associated Consequently, Web surfers who are registered and who visit any

of the Web sites that are so associated will be provided the opportunity to

view, and respond to, the sale offer, provided that their visit to the Web site

coincides with the time interval during which the sale offer is made.

Once the potential buyer has seen the announcement of the sale offer

and wishes to accept it, the buyer may, through the Web site, accept the sale

offer. At the same time, the central controller "records" that a buyer is going

to complete an acceptance form and prevents the acceptance form from

disappearing within the predetermined time limit or period.

According to an aspect of the invention, the central controller may

automatically send the potential buyer a unique tracking number and an

acceptance form to fill out with personal data while the buyer is online with

the central controller. After filling all the required statements of acceptance,

the buyer transmits, via the plug-in and through a web page on the central

controller the acceptance form. Under the present invention, the acceptance

form can be transmitted via a World-Wide-Web (WWW) interface, electronic

mail or voice mail, not excluding further or future evolutions of

communications technology and media, which will provide "instant" or real-

time communication between the buyer and the seller.

As soon the controller receives all the transmitted buyer data, together

with the filled out acceptance form, the central controller transmits the

potential buyer a payment identifier together with a final statement of acceptance to be electronically signed by the buyer and filled out with credit

or debit card data or a description of a cash delivery form. After acceptance

of this last form, the buyer transmits it, via plug-in and through a web page on

the central controller in the acceptance form,- online to the seller. The buyer

and seller are now parties to a legally binding contract.

The central controller manages the payment system between the seller

and the buyer and transmits the credit or debit card data to the buyer's bank,

for confirmation of fund availability and/or card validity. Finally, the central

controller stores the payment, keeps track of it, and sends a reply to the

buyer to ensure him/her of receipt of the payment receipt.

The present invention also allows sellers to reach a large number of

remotely located registered buyers who normally reach Web sites and who

would likely be interested in goods and services, those being related to the

site's content and offered for a disproportionately low price in comparison to

their real market value. The present invention also provides each associated

Web site owner with a robust system to improve the capacity of traffic in the

site, which is highly marketable.

As discussed above, the operating environment in which the present

invention can be used encompasses network environments (such as the

Internet), wherein general purpose computers, workstations, personal

computers, network computers, thin clients, low-end network stations,

interactive TV devices, wireless phones, personal digital assistants (PDA) and

other types of terminals or devices are connected through communication links of various types, and wherein information objects (including applications,

programs, data, images, etc.) are made available by and through various

associated members of the network environment.

Exemplary interfaces and a system architecture for implementing the

various features and aspects of the invention, in accordance with a preferred

embodiment, will now be described with reference to Figs. 1-4.

As illustrated in the exemplary network environment of Fig. 1 , the

present invention may include one or more Web servers 300, which are

"associated", as described above, a central controller 200 and one or more

registered users 400. (The servers, controller and users are referred to

herein as "nodes.") Direct connections or links may be provided between

these nodes or communication between the nodes may be facilitated by an

electronic network 100. In the later case, each node may be connected to the

Internet or another suitable network environment using, for example, a

modem and a public switched phone network, such as those provided by a

local or regional telephone operating company. Other type of network

connections are also feasible, such as those facilitated by cable, satellite

links, and other types of wired or wireless links. Each registered user 400

may communicate with central controller 200 over the Internet using

conventional messaging protocols, for example, the TCP/IP protocol. In

actuality, when a registered user visits a Web site using a conventional Web

browser, such as Netscape Navigator, Netscape Communicator, or a

Microsoft Internet Explorer Web browser, that user is connected to a Web server which hosts the Web page being observed by that user. By virtue of

the TCP/IP-based connection, exchanges of messages may be enabled

between the registered user and the Web server. Such messages may

include, for example, registration information supplied by a user, a sale offer,

acceptance forms, and similar data, as is more fully described hereinafter. It

is to be understood that the term "messages" is intended to encompass all

manner of written or graphical information, such as, for instance, plaintext,

windows, icons, banners, e-mails, applets, plug-ins, cookies, programs,

scripts (e.g. Java scripts), downloadable files, blank forms which can be filled

in or completed by the viewer, and the like.

Referring to Fig. 2, central controller 200 is connected to a data

storage device 250 which may include hard disk magnetic or optical storage

units, as well as CD-ROM drives or flash memory. Data storage device 250

may contain a number of databases used in the processing of transactions in

the present invention, including buyer database 255 and registered user

database 258.

Buyer database 255 maintains data on buyers, by providing a number

of fields, such as name, address, credit card number, phone number, ID

number, social security number, electronic mail address, credit history, past

system usage, public/private key information, etc. This information is

obtained from buyers when they first register with the system. An additional

database which may be included in data store 250 is database 258 which

may be utilized to store information about registered users or buyers, such as the particular sites they have visited, the nature and amount of any purchases

they made, personal preferences and additional demographic-type data.

Database 258 may also be used to enable recognition of the fact that one or

more particular individuals is currently browsing a Web site that is part of the

network of associated sites. In a preferred embodiment, database software,

such as Oracle7, manufactured by Oracle Corporation, is used to create and

manage these databases. Using the above-noted components, the present

invention provides a method and apparatus to transmit a sale offer available

to all potential registered buyers who are connected to a member site forming

a network of associated Web sites adopting the features of the invention, and

allow each such buyer to accept the offer to form a legally binding contract

with the seller.

As shown in Fig. 2, central controller 200 may include a central

processor (CPU) 205, a cryptographic processor 210 (e.g., alternatively

referred to as an encryption processor), a RAM 215, a ROM 220, a payment

processor 230, a clock 235, an operating system 240, a network interface

245, and data storage device 250. A conventional personal computer,

computer workstation and/or server with sufficient memory and processing

capability may be used to implement the various components of central

controller 200. In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, central

controller 200 operates as a Web server or host of the Web site incorporating

the features of the invention, both transmitting sale offers generated by the

seller and receiving acceptance forms completed by each buyer. Central controller 200 must be capable of reasonable speed for high volume

transaction processing, performing a significant number of mathematical

calculations in processing communications and database storage. A Pentium

processor or higher generation of processor manufactured by Intel may be

used for CPU 205, that employs, for example, a 32-bit architecture.

Comparable processors include Motorola 120 MHz Power PC 604 or Sun

Microsystem 1660 MHz Ultra SPARC-I, for example. In addition, a

microcontroller, such as a MC68HC16 currently manufactured by Motorola

may be used as encryption processor 210. This type of microcontroller uses

a 16-bit multiply-and-accumulate instruction in the 16 MHz configuration and

requires less than one second to perform a 512-bit RSA private key

operation. Equivalent microprocessors or more powerful microprocessors

may also be used. Cryptographer processor 210 supports the authentication

of communications between the seller and one or more buyers.

Referring again to Fig. 2, payment processor 230 comprises one or

more conventional microprocessors (such as an Intel Pentium) supporting the

transfer and exchange of payments, charges or debits, attendant to the

features of the invention.

Payment processor 230 may also be configured as part of CPU 205.

Processing of, for example, credit card transactions by payment processor

230 may be supported with commercially available software, such as the

Secure Web server manufactured by Open Market Inc. This server software

transmits credit card numbers electronically over the Internet to servers located at the Open Market headquarters where card verification and

processing is handled. The Integrated Commerce Service of Open Market

provides back-office services necessary to run Web-based businesses.

Services include on-line account statements, order-taking and credit card

payment authorization, credit card settlement, automated sales tax

calculations, digital receipt generation, account-based purchase tracking, and

payment aggregation for low-priced goods or services. Other types of credit

card transaction processing systems, services, software and/or networks may

also be used in conjunction with the present invention.

Data storage device 250 may include hard disk magnetic or optical

storage units, as well as CD-ROM drives or flash memory. Data storage

device 250 contains databases used in the processing of transactions in the

present invention, including buyer database 255, seller database 260, sale

offer (SO) database 265, seller response database 270, purchase

confirmation database 275, contract detail database 280, payment database

285, cryptographic key database 290, and audit database 295. In a preferred

embodiment database software, such as Oracle7, manufactured by Oracle

Corporation, is used to create and manage these databases. Data storage

device 250 also stores information pertaining to buyer account 297 and seller

account 298.

Buyer database 255 maintains data on buyers, by providing a number

of fields, such as name, address, credit card number, phone number, ID

number, social security number, electronic mail address, credit history, past system usage, public/private key information, etc. This information is

obtained when a buyer first registers with the system, completing the

acceptance form for the sale offer, referred to as "SO." Buyer database 255

also contains the tracking number of each acceptance form filled out by the

buyer, and the tracking number for the sale offer. Seller database 260

maintains data on sellers with fields, such as name, contact information,

public/private key information, payment preferences, type of business, and

goods or services sold. Contact information comprises a phone number, Web

page URL, bulletin board address, pager number, telephone number,

electronic mail address, voice mail address, facsimile number, or any other

way to contact the seller.

Database 258 stores information about registered users, such as the

particular sites they have visited, the nature and amount of any purchases

they may have made, personal preferences and additional demographic-type

data. Database 258 may also be used to enable recognition of the fact that

one or more particular registered individuals is currently browsing a Web site

that is part of the network of associated sites.

SO database 265 tracks all sales offers fields, such as status, tracking

number, date, time, article, price, expiration date, conditions, and buyer

identification number. This database is valuable in the event of disputes

between buyers and sellers regarding payment, because details of the

contract can be produced. SO database 265 may also store bond certificate

and other related information. Seller response database 270 tracks all sales offer and/or seller

responses with various fields, such as seller name, seller ID number, date,

time, seller response tracking number, and associated sales offer tracking

number.

Purchase confirmation database 275 tracks messages sent between

the buyer and seller confirming completed transactions (bound contracts).

Fields include buyer name, buyer ID number, seller name, seller ID number,

purchase confirmation tracking number, and associated sale offer tracking

number.

Payment database 285 tracks all payments made by buyers by means

of fields, such as buyer name, buyer ID number, amount of payment, and

associated sale offer tracking number. This database may also store credit

card numbers of buyers.

Cryptographic or encryption key database 290 facilitates cryptographic

functions, storing both symmetric and asymmetric keys. These keys are used

by cryptographic processor 210 for encrypting and decrypting buyer credit

card number and date of expiration.

Audit database 295 stores transactional information relating to the

transmission of each sale offer, allowing it to be retrieved for later analysis.

Buyer account 297 tracks all information pertaining to the buyer's

account with fields, such as buyer's name, bank and credit account numbers,

and debit transactions. Seller account 298 tracks all information pertaining to the seller's

account with fields such as sellers name, bank and credit account numbers,

and debit or credit transactions. Buyer payments for a sale offer may be sent

to this account database.

Network interface 245 is the gateway to permit central controller 200 to

communicate with buyers and sellers through respective buyer interface 400

and seller interface 300. Conventional internal or external modems may

serve as network interface 245. Network interface 245 supports modems at a

range of baud rates from 1200 upward, but may combine such inputs into a

T1 or T3 line if more bandwidth is required. In a preferred embodiment,

network interface 245 is connected with the Internet and/or any commercial

on-line service such as America Online, CompuServe, or Prodigy, allowing

buyers and sellers to have access from a wide range of on-line connections.

Several commercial electronic mail servers also include the above

functionality. Network interface 245 may be configured as a voice mail

interface, Web site interface, BBS, or electronic mail address.

While the above embodiment describes a single platform acting as

central controller 200, those skilled in the art will realize that the functionality

can be distributed over a plurality of computers or platforms. In one

embodiment, central controller 200 is configured in a distributed architecture,

wherein the databases and processors are housed in separate units or

locations. Some controllers perform the primary processing functions and

contain at a minimum RAM, ROM, and a general processor. Each of these controllers is attached to a WAN hub which serves as the primary

communication link with the other controllers and interface devices. The

WAN hub may have minimal processing capability itself, serving primarily as

a communications router. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that an

almost unlimited number of controllers may be supported. This arrangement

yields a more dynamic and flexible system, less prone to catastrophic

hardware failures affecting the entire system. Such a trusted server

embodiment provides a distributed environment, including a server, a trusted

server and a bonding agency. The hardware of these servers would be

configured similarly to that described for central controller 200.

Fig. 3 illustrates the features of an exemplary seller interface 300 and

Fig. 4 illustrates the features of an exemplary buyer interface 400. In an

exemplary embodiment, seller interface 300 and buyer interface 400 are both

conventional personal computers having an input device, such as a keyboard,

mouse, or conventional voice recognition software package; a display device,

such as a video monitor; a processing device such as a CPU; and a network

interface such as a modem. These devices interface with central controller

200, either directly or through a network environment (such as the Internet).

As shown in Fig. 3, seller interface 300 includes a central processor

unit (CPU) 305, a RAM 315, a ROM 320, a clock 335, a video driver 325, a

video monitor 330, a communication port 340, an operating system 390, an

input device 345, a modem 350, and a data storage device 360. A Pentium

microprocessor, such as the 100 MHz P54C described above, may be used for CPU 305. Clock 335 is a standard chip-based clock which can serve to

timestamp a seller response or communication produced by seller interface

300. Modem 350 does not necessarily require high-speed data transfer

because most seller responses or communications are text-based and not

long.

As further shown in Fig. 3, seller interface 300 also includes a data

storage device 360. Data storage device 360 includes a message database

370 and audit database 380 and may be configured with a conventional

magnetic-based hard disk storage unit, such as those manufactured by

Conner Peripherals. Message database 370 may be used for archiving seller

responses or communications, while audit database 380 may be used for

recording payment records and communications with central controller 200 or

buyer interface 400.

As shown in Fig. 4, buyer interface 400 includes a central processor

unit (CPU) 405, a RAM 415, a ROM 420, a clock 435, a video driver 425, a

video monitor 430, a communication port 440, an operating system 490, an

input device 445, a modem 450, and a data storage device 460. A Pentium

microprocessor, such as the 100 MHz P54C described above, may be used

for CPU 405. Clock 435 is a standard chip-based clock which can serve to

timestamp a buyer response or communication produced with buyer interface

400. Modem 450 may not require high-speed data transfer because most

buyer responses or communications are text-based and not long. Data

storage device 460 includes a message database 470 and an audit database 480, and may be configured with a conventional magnetic-based hard disk

storage unit, such as those manufactured by Conner Peripherals. Message

database 470 may be used for archiving messages or other communications,

and audit database 480 may be used for recording payment records and

communication with central controller 200 or seller interface 300.

There are many commercial software applications that can enable the

communications required by seller interface 300 or buyer interface 400, the

primary functionality being message creation and transmission. Eudora Pro

manufactured by Qualcomm incorporated, for example, provides editing tools

for the creation of messages as well as the communications tools for routing

a message to the appropriate electronic address. When central controller

200 is configured as a Web server, conventional communications software,

such as the Netscape Navigator Web browser from Netscape Corporation,

may also be used. For example, the buyer and seller may use the Netscape

Navigator browser or another type of browser to transmit or accept sale

offers, seller responses, buyer response or counteroffers (if applicable).

Moreover, the buyer and seller may be required to use proprietary software to

generate or receive such sale offers.

In general, communications relating to the sale offers take place via an

electronic network such as the Internet, the web sites themselves act as

normal web sites. The plug-in allows the sites to be part of the Happy Minute

Network. Each plug-in "talks" peπodically with the central controller to receive

lists of the web sites that form the Happy Minute Network. During user navigation, the plug-in keeps track of the event of going into and out of an

associated Web site and sends information of the event to the central

controller. So the central controller is aware about the users currently visiting

the associated web sites. To send the sale offer the central controller simply

"talks back" to the plug-in to display the acceptance form. Each Web site

may be owned by, or operated for, the benefit of a particular seller of goods

or services. Web sites may also be provided that are owned by or operated

for the benefit of a third party. In such cases, the Web site may provide

information related to the goods or services of the seller and/or routinely offer

the goods or services of the seller. As indicated above, the sale offers of the

present invention are electronically presented on one or more associated

Web sites for viewing and acceptance by a buyer visiting such site when the

sale offer is made. The generation of the sale offers may be controlled by the

central controller 200 so that the offers appear at unpredictable times during

the day on the Web site. The quantity and type of goods or services that are

offered may be set according to communications or instructions received from

the seller. The seller may also designate the frequency and period of time

during which each sale offer is presented. Responses from buyers and/or the

results of the sale offers may be collected by the central controller 200 and

communicated to the seller. Communications between the buyer and seller

may also be supported through the electronic network environment of the

invention to facilitate the completion of the sale of the goods or services and/or to permit additional promotions or offers to be communicated from the

seller to the buyer.

Described next, with reference to Figs. 24a-c, is a process for a Web

site visitor to become a registered user and thus become eligible to receive

sale offers while the registered user visits member Web sites that are

associated with the Happy Minute Network, or the home page of the Happy

Minute Network administrator itself.

Typically, a user will first establish a dial-up connection with an Internet

Service Provider (ISP) and launch a Web browser (S.400). Next, the user will

either "surf" the Internet, or select a bookmarked or favorite home page to

browse. Upon visiting the Happy Minute Network administrator home page,

or a Web page of a Happy Minute Network member (i.e., an associated

Happy Minute Network Web site) (S.410), an introductory or explanatory Web

page describing the Happy Minute Network concept and features, such as

shown in Fig. 6, will be presented (S.420). If the visitor is interested in

participating, he or she may click on the "sign-up" icon or button which will

result in a registration window or frame popping up, an example of which is

depicted in Fig. 6a (S.430). The viewer may click the "Leave" button in the

registration window (S.440) in which case the registration process is aborted

(S.450). The registration window includes a form with a number of fields that

may be completed by the registrant (S.460). These include the registrant's

first and last name, street address, city, state/country and e-mail address.

Other appropriate registrant-related data may also be requested by providing additional fields in the registration form. Once the visitor has provided the

requested data (S.460), an "OK" button may be clicked (S.470) which permits

all of the collected data to be transmitted to the central controller 200 (S.490)

and stored in the registered user database 258 of data storage device 250

(S.500). After completing the registration process, each registered user will

be assigned a unique personal ID number which is also stored in database

258 and which is transmitted to the user as confirmation that he or she has

been duly registered (S.510). Alternatively, a visitor may entirely abort the

registration process by clicking a "leave" button which is also provided on the

registration frame or window (S.480).

The registration process additionally includes furnishing of a plug-in to

the registered user's computer system. After being supplied with a personal

ID number (S.51 0), the Happy Minute Network administrator Web site

automatically downloads the plug-in (S.520) and installs the same in a

predefined system directory (S.540). The user will then be able to monitor

the progress of the download through a "Saving Location" window which

typically shows a progress bar. The window disappears once the download is

complete. The downloaded file is an executable program which is run by the

user by opening or running the program which will then install the plug-in to

thereby become part of the Web browser functionality (S.540). Meanwhile,

the administrator Web site notes the user having proceeded with the plug-in

download step and records this in the registered user database 258 as part of

that user's profile (S.530). Certain browsers and operating systems require a system reboot before a plug-in will be recognized (S.550). After any

necessary reboot, the user may launch the browser (S.560).

A plug-in is a software module designed to work in cooperation with an

Internet browser or other means to access associated Web sites (also

referred to as "content sites") connected to the electronic network (e.g. BBS,

Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) servers). When the browser starts, the

plug-in will automatically wake up and initialize itself, giving information to the

user, opening, for example, a frame or window on a visible area of the screen

(S.570). After such wake up, the plug-in will automatically connect to the

central controller and download the list of the content sites belonging to the

Happy Minute Network (S.580). The list of the content sites then appears in a

frame or window in the browser (S.590). While a user surfs the net, the plug-

in will acquire from the browser (or other kind of software used to access the

electronic network) information about the content sites being visited (S.600).

When a user visits a content site belonging to the Happy Minute Network, a

message will be sent to the central controller containing the name of the site

and the pages the user currently is viewing (S.610). The central controller will

store this information into the user tracking database for use during the sale

offer event. Whenever a user leaves the Happy Minute Network Content

Site, the plug-in sends another message to the central controller, so that the

tracking database can record the duration of the user's visit to each site, as

well as be updated to reflect that the user is no longer browsing a Happy

Minute Network Content Site. When users gain access to the plug-in frame or window, they can access directly the content sites by clicking on the active

links listed in the frame or window.

At this point, when the Happy Minute Network releases a sale offer, it

is sent to the plug-in having communicated its being on the web site upon

which the sale offer is to be made.

Referring to Figs. 5 through 21 , exemplary graphical user interfaces

will be described to demonstrate the principles of the invention. Moreover,

reference will be made to the exemplary flow charts of Figs. 22-23 to describe

how sale offers are generated, accepted and completed. Although the

embodiments of Figs. 5-23 illustrate the manner in which a sale offer may be

generated and accepted for particular types of goods, the present invention is

not limited to the presentation of the goods shown or to sale offers for goods

in general. Instead, the invention also relates to sale offers for services and

may be readily adapted for generating sale offers for any type of service

offered by a seller.

Fig. 23 is an exemplary flow chart illustrating the features and

operations for generating and accepting sale offers, in accordance with the

principles of the present invention. Generally, as shown in Fig. 23, the

process begins by the central controller monitoring the parameters that define

when and how the sale otter is generated on the Web site (S.210). As

disclosed herein, these parameters may include the frequency and duration

during which the sale offer is to be presented on the Web site during a given

day. For example the sale offer generation parameters may define the specific time(s) when the sale offer is to be presented, or they may simply

indicate the number of offers to be presented per day, with the exact time for

generating each offer being randomly selected by the central controller. The

sale offer generation parameters may also indicate how long each sale offer

is to be presented on the Web site and whether to terminate the sale offer if a

potential buyer does not provide sufficient data or does not confirm

acceptance of the sale offer within a predetermined time period. Other

parameters concerning each sale offer may also be stored and monitored by

the central controller, including the quantity and/or type of goods to be

offered, and the price (if any) and sale terms for the offer.

While monitoring the sale offer generation parameters, the central

controller determines when it is time to present the sale offer on the Web site

(S.220). If the central controller determines that it is time to present the sale

offer (S.220;Yes), then the sale offer is electronically presented on the Web

site according to the parameters (S.230). As indicated above, the time to

generate the sale offer may be predefined by the sale offer generation

parameters or randomly triggered by, for example, an internal clock of the

central controller. When it is time to present a sale offer, the central controller

causes the sale offer to be displayed. If, however, the central controller

determines that it is not time to present the sale offer (S.220;No), then the

sale offer is not generated and the central controller continues to monitor the

sale offer generation parameters (S.210). After presenting the sale offer on the Web site (S.220), the central

controller will monitor which users that are connected to the Web site have

responded to the sale offer and requested to sign-in for more information on

the offer. In other words, the central controller will determine when a potential

buyer has decided to sign-in for the sale offer (S.240). When there is a sign-

in by a potential buyer (S.240;Yes), the central controller will then request

contract and payment data from the potential buyer (S.250). The contract

data may include the name and address of the potential buyer. The payment

data may include payment terms or instructions, such as credit card

information or confirmation of cash payment on delivery. The request for the

contract and payment data may be displayed through one or more windows

or pop-up screens on the Web site. These windows or screens may also

include more detail concerning the goods or services offered, as well as the

specific terms of the sale offer. In addition, these windows or screens may

request the potential buyer to confirm acceptance of the sale offer and, thus,

form a legally binding contract with the seller.

In response to the request from the central controller, the potential

buyer may provide the requested data and confirm acceptance of the sale

offer through their interface to the electronic network environment. The

central controller will then receive the requested data and confirmation from

the buyer (S.260). This information may be stored and/or verified by the

central controller in order to complete the sale offer transaction with the buyer

(S.270). For example, the central controller may verify that all of the necessary data (such as name, address, etc.) and the confirmation of the

acceptance was collected by the buyer. The central controller may also verify

the payment terms or instructions (such as a valid credit card number) before

completing the transaction with the buyer. If all necessary data is verified by

the central controller, then the confirmation may be sent to the buyer with, for

example, a tracking or reference number in order to complete the transaction.

The central controller may also post or issue a purchase and delivery order

containing the buyer's data, so that the purchased goods are delivered in a

timely fashion by one or more agents.

In the event that the potential buyer does not accept the terms of the

sale offer or fails to provide the requested data and confirmation to the central

controller, then the sign-in process with the potential buyer may be

terminated. For this purpose, the potential buyer may be given the option to

leave the sign-in process by entering an appropriate response (e.g., clicking a

designated icon or button on the screen). The exemplary process described

in the flow chart of Fig. 23 may also be modified to permit termination of the

sign-in process with the potential buyer if other conditions are present. For

example, the sign-in process may be terminated if improper data is entered

by the potential buyer or if the data entered by the buyer can not be verified

(such as an unconfirmed credit card number).

Referring again to Fig. 23, the central controller monitors and responds

to each potential buyer that has decided to sign-in for the sale offer (S.240).

Since the sale offer of the present invention is preferably displayed for only a limited time, the central controller may also monitor and determine when to

terminate the sale offer (S.280). This determination may be performed by the

central controller based on the stored sale offer parameters. A sale offer may

be terminated or removed from the Web site when, for example, the defined

time duration for the offer has expired. A sale offer may also be terminated if

the quantity of goods to be offered has been depleted (i.e., all of the inventory

of available goods has been purchased by buyers).

If the central controller determines that sale offer should be terminated

(S.280;Yes), then the sale offer is removed from the plug-in by central

controller (S.290). During this step, the central controller may update the

content on the plug-in to replace or redisplay content (such as banner ads or

other portions of the plug-in that were displaced by the sale offer. After

removing the sale offer, the central controller may analyze the results of the

sale offer and communicate the same to the seller or Web site owner (S.300).

These results may indicate, for example, the response level to the sale offer

and general information about the buyers that responded to the offer.

In accordance with the principles of the invention, Fig. 22 is an

exemplary flow chart that illustrates how a potential buyer interacts with the

central controller or seller to view and accept sale offers. In particular, as

shown in Fig. 22, potential registered buyers may visit a particular associated

Web site and browse the site. The Web site may be owned by the seller or

may be owned by a third-party that provides information or regularly offers the

goods or services of the seller. In either case, the Web site (such as that shown in Fig. 5) may contain any number of buttons or icons in the form of

letters or symbols displayed on the buyer interface. Some icons can

represent a particular type of room or page that displays a particular category

of information. For example, as shown in the embodiment of Fig. 5, icons,

here depicted as "rooms" involving different categories of information may

include a Kidsroom TV, a Garage TV, a Kitchen TV or a Gym TV. Although

the illustrated embodiment of Fig. 5 is shown with a finite number of particular

content based rooms, any number of different types of rooms may be utilized.

Other icons, such as an icon labeled "Happy Minute®," can be included to

provide information about the sale offer system. It will be further noted that

the Web page shown in Fig. 5 is divided into frames, here shown by way of

example, two. The right-hand frame is an exemplary depiction of the home or

main page of the Happy Minute Network administrator frames, as opened by

the plug-in. The left-hand frame contains a listing of other Web sites (in

Uniform (or Universal) Resource Locator ("URL") format) that are associated,

thereby constituting the sites that are associated with, and thereby form, the

Happy Minute Network. A user who clicks on the URL of a Happy Minute

Network member, is taken directly to that member's Web site, through the

well-known feature of "linking" which is enabled in virtually all currently used

Web browsers.

In order to find out how the sale offer system operates, a potential

buyer may simply click on a predetermined icon (such as the "Happy

Minute®" or "Info" icon) site, by linking to Happy Minute Network member's site, to visit a sale offer information page. As illustrated in the embodiment of

Fig. 6, for example, the sale offer information page may include general

information and describe a number of important aspects of the sale offer

system. For instance, the sale offer information page may indicate that

conditional purchase offers (i.e., sale offers) can be made at any time and at

any location of the Web site. Moreover, the sale offer information page

provides important terms of the sale offer. In particular, as illustrated in the

embodiment of Fig. 6, a sale offer includes an offer to sell a product or

service at a price of "zero," so long as the buyer pays the cost of delivery

and/or associated fees. Other purchase price information and/or terms of

sale may also be displayed to potential buyers, such as the requirement that

the buyer must accept a sale offer within a limited period of time.

Additionally, the sale offer information page may include links or display any

other kind of information, such as a visual or audio display of the types of

products that will be offered and the number of products that have yet to be

offered.

Referring again to Fig. 21 , while the buyer is browsing the Web site of

a Happy Minute Network associate, a sale offer may be randomly generated

and received by the buyer (S.20). As illustrated in the example of Fig. 8, the

sale offer may appear as a pop-up window and include basic information

concerning the sale offer (e.g., the particular product or service being offered,

basic terms of the offer, etc.). The pop-up screen containing the sale offer

may also include icons to permit the buyer to "Sign-in" and accept the offer, or "Leave," thereby rejecting the offer. If the buyer rejects the offer, then a

notice (such as that shown in Fig. 20) may be provided to the buyer to

provide notification of the canceled sale offer (S.90). Thereafter, the buyer

may continue to further browse the Web site (S.10), go to another Web site,

or terminate the current browser session.

As further shown in Fig. 21 , if the buyer decides to accept the offer and

sign-in, then another pop-up screen may be provided (such as that shown in

Fig. 10) to provide more detailed information concerning the sale offer (S.30).

After reviewing and further considering the sale offer, the buyer may be given

another opportunity to accept or reject the sale offer. If the buyer rejects the

offer, then a notice (such as that shown in Fig. 20) may be provided to give

notification of the canceled sale offer (S.90). Otherwise, if the buyer decides

to continue with the sign-in process, then an electronic request form (such as

that shown in Fig. 16) may be displayed to request basic contract data,

including the name and address of the buyer (S.40). At this point, the buyer

may again be given the opportunity to continue with the sign-in process

(S.50) or to reject the offer and receive a notice of the canceled sale offer

(S.90).

If the buyer enters all of the requested contract data and continues

with the sign-in process, then an acceptance form (such as that shown in Fig.

12) may be displayed to the buyer (S.50). The acceptance form preferably

displays a tracking number that is generated for each transaction with the

buyer. The tracking number can be used by the buyer in the future when contacting the site administrator or seller with questions regarding, for

example, the contract or delivery of goods. As illustrated in Fig. 12, the

acceptance form may also include or display the type of product or service to

be accepted, and the cost of the transaction including, for example, the

delivery, or other cost to be paid by the buyer. Moreover, the acceptance

form may indicate, in unambiguous terms, that the buyer accepts each and

every one of the terms of the transaction. In order to accept the displayed

terms of the offer, the buyer may be requested to confirm acceptance of the

terms by selecting a predetermined icon (such as an icon labeled "Accept" or

"I ACCEPT"). Alternatively, the acceptance form could include an icon

automatically labeled with the buyer's entered name that must be selected by

the buyer to accept the offer. On the other hand, the buyer could still decline

to accept the offer by selecting another predetermined icon (such as an icon

labeled "Leave" or "I DECLINE").

As shown in Fig. 21 , if the buyer continues with the sign-in process

and confirms acceptance, then the process continues and the buyer is

provided with a payment request form (S.60). The payment request form

displayed to the buyer may be a credit card data entry form, such as that

illustrated in Fig. 13. With such a form, each buyer who pays by credit or

debit card can enter payment data, such as the credit card account number,

account limit, name of issuing institution and expiration date. Alternatively,

any other payment method and request form may be utilized. The payment information received from the buyer may be analyzed by

the central controller before the sale is completed. For example, the central

controller may contact a payment source, such as a bank or a credit card

issuer, to confirm that the payment information is valid and that the

appropriate amount of credit funds is available. If the payment information

provided by the buyer is valid, then the central controller may establish a

buyer account with a record of the money transferred from the buyer. The

central controller also notifies the buyer of the successful completion of the

money transfer (S.70) by generating a confirmation screen on the Web site

(such as the illustrated embodiment of Fig. 15). Thereafter, the central

controller completes the sale offer transaction with the buyer by delivering or

shipping the agreed upon product to the buyer's address (S.80). If, however,

the payment information provided by the buyer is invalid, the central controller

will automatically notify the buyer of the unsuccessful completion of the

payment process (S.65). Preferably, a message screen is displayed on the

Web site (such as that illustrated in the embodiment of Fig. 17) to inform the

buyer that the payment process has not been completed. This message

screen may indicate the cause of the incomplete payment process (such as

exceeding the amount of available credit, a shortage of funds or an invalid

credit card number) and provide the buyer with the option to make payment (if

any) upon receipt of the product or service (S.75). Other alternative payment

methods may also be displayed. In the event that the buyer is given an option to use an alternative

payment method (S.75), the buyer may indicate their selection to continue or

terminate the sale offer transaction. For example, in order to select a

particular payment option (such as payment upon delivery or "C.O.D."), the

buyer need only select a predetermined icon (such as an icon labeled "Yes")

in response to the inquiry. In response to the buyers decision to accept the

alternative payment method, the sale offer transaction may be completed as

normal (S.80). If, however, the buyer does not select an alternative payment

method and decides to reject the sale offer (by selecting an icon labeled "No"

or "Leave"), then the central controller terminates the sale offer transaction

with the buyer. In such a case, the buyer may receive a warning message

(such as that illustrated in Fig. 20) of the cancellation of the sale offer or, if the

time period for the sale offer has expired, the buyer may receive a message

(such as that illustrated on Fig. 19) that the sale offer was terminated. Either

the warning message or the cancellation announcement informs the

unsuccessful buyer that the transaction has been interrupted and the

conditional sale offer is no longer available and will not be repeated. At this

point, the transaction is considered null and void, with the conditional offer

being rescinded by the seller.

Various modifications may be made to the embodiment shown in Fig.

21. For example, alternative warning messages or information screens, that

provide other types of helpful information to the user or potential buyer may

also be displayed by the central controller. For example, a buyer may be informed that the offer is not rescinded unless a particular payment option is

selected within a stated amount of time. The buyer may also b_^ made aware

of the time remaining to accept a sale offer. Moreover, the amount of

remaining products or services (if applicable) may also be displayed to the

buyer. Additionally, information about successful buyer transactions may be

displayed to the unsuccessful buyer.

Fig. 22 is an exemplary flow chart that illustrates the various features

and operations that are performed by the seller or Happy Minute Network

Content Web site owner (herein referred to as the "Happy Minute Network

administrator") for generating and completing sale offer transactions with

buyers. As illustrated in Fig. 22, the Happy Minute Network Web site

administrator may log on to the central controller (step S.110) to access one

or more administrator pages during any stage of a sale offer transaction. The

administrator pages may be displayed on the site administrator's interface

and be used to control the operation of the sale offer system and the features

of the sale offer. To access the administrator pages, the site administrator

may log on to the central controller through a local connection or over the

network system from a remote location (such as the seller interface). With

the administrator pages, such as that shown in Figs. 7A-7C, the site

administrator may manually program or select the number of people that will

receive a sale offer during any period of time. Moreover, the site

administrator may select the type or number of products or services to be

offered, the amount of the purchase price of the product or service, and the duration of the conditional offer or sale offer. The Happy Minute Network site

administrator may also determine the kind of data needed to be received from

the buyer in order to consummate the sale.

The administrator pages of the present invention may also be used to

provide information to the buyer or site administrator. For example, as further

described herein, the central controller may be automatically or manually

programmed by the site administrator to provide the buyer with information

about the Web site and/or the sale offer. The administrator pages may also

receive and display information from the central controller and inform the site

administrator of various operational characteristics related to the sale offer

system, such as the number of people visiting the Web site or the number of

It people that can receive the sale offer at any given point in time.

Referring again to Fig. 22, after the Happy Minute Network site

administrator has accessed the central controller and administrator pages

(S.110), various tasks maybe performed by the site administrator. For

example, the site administrator may manually program one or more of the

features of the sale offer by entering general or detailed sale offer parameters

(S.120; S.130). For example, if an administrator page such as that shown in

Fig. 7A is provided, the site administrator may manually enter and program

general parameters relating to the sale offer (S.120), such as the type of

product or service to be provided, the image to be displayed with the offer

and the pricing or purchasing terms for the goods or services (e.g., "0 cent +

delivering fees" or "1 cent + delivering fees"). Other general parameters related to the sale offer may also be entered by the site administrator, such

the time or manner in which the sale offer is generated. For instance, an

automatic or manual programming option may be selected (see Fig. 7A) to

indicate the time period (e.g., between a start date and an ending date)

during which the generation of the sale offers is to be automatically or

manually programmed.

The Happy Minute Network site administrator may also manually enter

and program detailed parameters relating to the sale offer (S.130). For

example, if an administrator page such as that illustrated in Fig. 7B is

provided, the site administrator may enter the specific location and timing for

generating the sale offers. Since sale offers may be displayed on any page

or room of the Web site, the site administrator may specify a particular room

location for generating the sale offers or program the central controller to

generate the sale offer in any randomly selected number of room locations.

The site administrator may also program the central controller so that the sale

offers are generated at randomly selected times or a predetermined

frequency over a defined time period.

Access to the central controller and administrator pages can also

permit the Happy Minute Network site administrator to input or receive user

access control data (S.140). For example, with an administrator page, such

as the embodiment illustrated in Fig. 7C, the site administrator may receive a

report on the status of the Web site at any given moment, including the

number of registered users connected to the site, the number of available products or services to provide through the sale offers, whether a buyer

tracking function status is active or nonactive, and the number of active

tracking functions. The information provided to the site administrator could

also indicate the number of people who are eligible to receive a conditional

offer (as described hereinbelow) or sale offer. Preferably, the information

provided to the site administrator is updated and displayed in real time.

However, other embodiments may include displaying various types of

statistical data, based on data collected for selected time periods or any other

type of variable such as the number of Web site "hits" during a particular

pattern of sale offers. In addition, information provided to the site

administrator may indicate the amount of remaining time each potential

buyers has to respond to a particular sale offer, or the particular room in

which particular users are visiting. Moreover, the information displayed could

allow the administrator to profile particular Web site registered users and

match suitable types of sale offers accordingly. For example, a product or

service for use in the kitchen could be conditionally offered to a registered

user who is visiting, has visited, and/or will likely visit a particular Happy

Minute Network Web site. In general, the present invention may involve

conditionally offering products that are specifically related to the content of

the Web site.

In accordance with the invention, each conditional offer or sale offer

may be made available to all registered buyers that are currently visiting the

Happy Minute Network Web site or are in any way exchanging information with the Web server or central controller. Thus, buyers (even though

registered) who are viewing information from the Web site in an off-line

browsing or cached browsing mode will not receive or be able to view the sale

offer. Further, in some cases the capacity of the Web server or central

controller may be limited so that only a predetermined number of buyers (e.g.,

200 buyers) can receive the sale offer at any given time. Alternatively, a

limited number of sale offers (not necessarily restricted by the capacity of the

server or controller but selected by the seller) may be provided to buyers

visiting and exchanging information with the Web site when the offer is to be

made. In such a case, the sale offer may expire prior to the duration or

period of the offer, if all of the predetermined sale offers have been accepted

by buyers who received the offer through the Web site.

It is also possible to target particular registered buyers, so that only

those buyers who have a certain profile or other type of identifier that

matches a predetermined profile, characteristic, or identifier selected by the

seller can actually receive the sale offer. It is possible to target buyers by any

demographically-related indicia, and it is further possible to target one or

more individuals by name, for example, to reward frequent buyers, or

recognize those who have performed a noteworthy public service. This type

of targeting can be accomplished by means of setting additional parameters

associated with the generation of sale offers. With such a targeted approach,

the seller or site administrator may target specific types of buyers with the

sale offer. The profile of each buyer may be determined by the central controller based on historical and/or statistical data of visitations to the Web

site (or other Web sites) by the buyer or a related buyer group. Alternatively,

the profile of a buyer may be determined by the central controller by

searching and gathering information from one or more internal or external

databases, such as databases 255 and 258 stored in data storage device

250.

According to the sale offer parameters entered by the site

administrator, the central controller will generate the sale offer at one or more

locations in the Happy Minute Network Web sites. As discussed above, a

pop-up screen or window may be generated (see, e.g., Fig. 8) to notify

potential buyers visiting such Web sites of the sale offer. In essence, each

Web site visitor will be given a choice between accepting the offer (subject to

certain conditions) or rejecting the offer. As shown in Fig. 8, to preliminarily

accept the offer, the potential buyer must select an icon labeled "Sign-in." To

decline the offer, the potential buyer may select an icon labeled "Leave" or fail

to accept the offer within the predetermined period of time set by the site

administrator. For all potential buyers that sign-in, tracking data may be

collected by the central controller and provided to the site administrator

(S.145). The tracking data for each buyer, which can be presented to the site

administrator though an additional administrator page (see, for example, Fig.

9), may include a log of the actions performed by the potential buyer (for

example, "potential buyer signed") and the tracking number assigned by the

central controller (for example, "12345uuyrt8954"). In operation, the central controller may automatically assign a unique tracking number for each sale

offer transaction with a buyer. In addition, the central controller may time-

stamp the preliminarily accepted offer from the buyer, and then store the

time-stamped data for purposes of record keeping.

When a potential registered buyer decides to sign-in, the central

controller causes a sale offer information page to be served up and displayed

to the buyer. The information page (see, e.g., Fig. 10) may provide more

detailed and helpful information regarding the sale offer, such as the type of

product or service offered, as well as the terms of the offer. If a potential

buyer decides to continue with the sign-in process, one or more contract data

entry forms and acceptance forms may be displayed to request contract data

(such as name, address etc.) and confirmation of the acceptance of the sale

offer by the buyer. The data entry forms preferably comply with relevant

contract law principles and, as such, constitutes an electronic contract with a

number of particular blanks to be intentionally filled out or completed by the

buyer. This information may be provided to the potential buyer to indicate the

purpose of the forms and confirmation. Additionally, the potential buyer may

be informed that such information could be treated adequately and in

accordance with relevant privacy guidelines, such as set forth in the

European Data Directive or other applicable law.

As further shown in Fig. 22, any contract data or confirmation entered

by the potential buyer may be received and viewed by the Happy Minute

Network site administrator (S.150). For this purpose, an administrator page may be provided (such as shown in the embodiment illustrated in Fig. 11) to

indicate to the administrator the contract data and confirmation that was

received by the central controller from the potential buyer. During the sign-in

transaction, the potential buyer may decline to accept the offer simply by

pressing a predetermined icon (such as an icon labeled "Leave"). If the

potential buyer leaves the sign-in process before providing all of the

requested contract data, then the central processor registers the leave

selection and informs the potential buyer that the transaction has been closed

and that the offer is no longer available. In such cases, the site administrator

is also informed whenever a potential buyer user has terminated the sign-in

process or declined to accept the offer (S.155).

If the potential buyer provides all of the necessary contract data and

confirms acceptance of the contract terms, then the central controller receives

and communicates the buyer's acceptance of the sale offer to the seller or

administrator viewing through another administrator page. Next, a credit card

data entry form is served up by the central controller and displayed on the

buyer interface. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the payment

process begins when the buyer completes the credit card data entry form and

selects the icon labeled "Send." The buyer who pays by credit card,

preferably enters payment data such as the credit card account number,

account limit, name of issuing institution and expiration date. Alternatively,

any other payment method may be utilized. When the requested payment

information is to be sent from the buyer, the central controller may perform an encryption operation by using any known encrypting protocol on the entered

payment data. Such encryption protocols not only enhance the ability to

authenticate the sender of a message, but also serve to verify the integrity of

the message itself, proving that it has not been altered during transmission.

Such techniques are referred to herein generally as cryptographic assurance

methods, and will include the use of both symmetric and asymmetric keys as

well as digital signatures and hash algorithms. The practice of using

cryptographic protocols to ensure the authenticity of senders as well as the

integrity of messages is well known in the art and need not be described here

in detail. For reference, one of ordinary skill in the art may refer to Bruce

Schneier, Applied Cryptography, Protocols, Algorithms, And Source Code In

C, (2d Ed, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1996).

In order to verify the payment information received from the buyer, the

central controller may contact a payment source, such as a bank or a credit

card issuer, to confirm that the payment information is valid and that the credit

amount or appropriate funds are available. Accordingly, a buyer is prevented

from using a credit card with an exceeded credit limit, or a debit card with

insufficient funds to establish a buyer account. During this verification

process, the central controller may generate and display money transfer

response data for viewing by the Happy Minute Network site administrator

(S160). Through an administrator page (see, e.g., the embodiment of

Fig. 14), the site administrator may monitor the progress and status of the

money transfer attempted by the central controller. If the money transfer is successful, then the central controller may automatically establish a buyer

account and notify the buyer of the successful transaction. In addition, a

notification of the transaction may be provided to the site administrator

through an administrator page (S.170). Thereafter, the central controller

completes the sale transaction by generating a delivery request so that the

purchased goods or services will be timely delivered to the buyer. The

delivery request may be automatically generated and sent by the central

controller, or each delivery request from the central controller may be

reviewed and confirmed by the site administrator before it is sent to an agent

of the seller for processing. For this purpose, each delivery request may be

received and viewed by the site administrator through an administrator page

(see, e.g., the embodiment of Fig. 16) before the delivery request is sent

(S.180). Any completed sale offer tracking data may also be provided and

viewed by the site administrator (S.190). This may be performed after the

limited period for the sale offer has terminated, so that the site administrator

can review the results of the sale offer and the number of sale transactions

that were successfully completed.

Referring again to Fig. 22, if the attempt to transfer money fails (e.g.,

due to an invalid credit card number, exceeded credit limit, or insufficient

funds), then the buyer is informed of the failed transaction. The central

controller may also provide notice of the failed money transaction to the site

administrator (S.165). Once again, an administrator page may be provided to

provide such information to the site administrator. Preferably, the notification to the buyer informs the buyer of the cause of the incomplete payment

process and provides the buyer with the option of choosing one or more

alternative payment methods, such as cash payment upon delivery. If the

buyer refuses to select an alternative payment method within a

predetermined period of time, then the central controller may display a

warning or sale cancellation message to indicate to the buyer that the

conditional offer is no longer available and has been rescinded.

Other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in

the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the invention

disclosed herein. For example, sale offers may be made to registered users

who are browsing any Web page, including those outside the associated sites

or Happy Minute Network® sites. Furthermore, although the process of

downloading and installing a plug-in has been described, it is also possible for

construct a web browser so that it inherently includes the same functionality

as that provided by a separate plug-in. In addition, a special room or page

may be provided indicating the group of goods or services from which sale

offers will be made, and/or the day, week or month when such sale offers can

be expected to be offered. Such an arrangement will permit buyers to view

the types of goods or services that will be made available and, optionally, to

anticipate or know the day, week or month or other general time period during

which such goods and services will be offered through the Web site. Additional alterations and modifications of the present invention will be

comprehended by a person skilled in the art after having read the foregoing

description.

Thus, it is intended that the specification and examples be considered

as exemplary only and it should be understood that the invention is not limited

to the illustrative examples in this specification. Rather, the invention is

intended to cover all modifications and variations that come within the scope

of the following claims and their equivalents.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. A method of making a sale offer over an electronic network system, comprising the steps of: randomly generating an offer to purchase a product or service on the electronic network system; communicating the randomly generated offer through the electronic network system for a predetermined period of time to one or more selected potential buyers connected to the electronic network system; completing the sale of the product or service through the electronic network system in response to an acceptance of the offer by a buyer within the predetermined period of time; and removing the offer from the electronic network system should the buyer not accept the offer within the predetermined period of time.

2. A method for using an electronic network system to facilitate a transaction between a seller and a buyer, said method comprising the steps of: inputting a sale offer parameter for randomly generating at least one sale offer to purchase a product or service; randomly displaying, through the electronic network system, the at least one sale offer to a selected buyer at an unexpected period of time; and withdrawing the display of the randomly generated sale offer in response to an absence of tin indication of acceptance of the randomly generated sale offer by the buyer within a predetermined period of time after the step of displaying the randomly generated sale offer.

3. An apparatus for facilitating a transaction between a buyer and a seller, comprising: a storage device; and a processor connected to the storage device, wherein said storage device stores a program for controlling the processor, and said processor is operative with the program for: providing, on a Web site, to one or more selected buyers, a notice of a randomly generated sale offer and an acceptance form; receiving the acceptance form completed by the buyer, the completed acceptance form being received in response to the sale offer; receiving a payment identifier from the buyer specifying a credit card account, the payment identifier being associated with the sale offer; and providing payment to the seller by using the payment identifier.

4. An apparatus for facilitating a sale offer transaction between a seller and a buyer, comprising: a random sale offer generating device configured for randomly generating an offer to purchase a product or service on an electronic network system; a communication device configured for communicating the randomly generated offer through the electronic network system for a predetermined period of time to at least one selected buyer; and a processing system configured for completing the sale of the product or service through the electronic network system in response to an acceptance of the offer by the buyer within the predetermined period of time, wherein the processing system is configured for removing the offer from the electronic network system when the at least one buyer does not indicate acceptance of the offer within the predetermined period of time.

5. An apparatus for facilitating a transaction between a seller and a buyer, comprising: a processing system for receiving a sale offer parameter from the seller and randomly generating at least one sale offer to at least one selected buyer to purchase a product or service based on the sale offer parameter inputted from the seller; and a random generation device configured for randomly displaying the at least one sale offer to a buyer at an unexpected period of time, wherein the processing system is configured for withdrawing the randomly generated sale offer in the event the buyer does not indicate acceptance of the randomly generated sale offer within a predetermined period of time after the random generation device has displayed the randomly generated sale offer.

6. A method of making a sale offer from a seller to at least one buyer visiting a Internet web site, comprising the steps of: displaying, on the web site, a sale offer of a product or service to the at least one selected buyer at a random point in time unknown to the buyer; and withdrawing the displayed sale offer from the Internet website when the at least one buyer does not indicate acceptance of the sale offer within a predetermined period of time.

7. A system for providing an electronic sale offer from a seller to at least one selected buyer visiting an Internet web site, comprising: a generating device for generating an electronic sale offer of a product or service based on at least one parameter defined by the seller; means for displaying the electronic sale offer of the product or service to the at least one selected buyer visiting the Internet web site at a point in time unknown to the buyer; and a timing device in communication with the generating device and the display means for withdrawing the displayed sale offer from the Internet web site if the at least one buyer does not indicate acceptance of the offer within a predetermined period of time.

8. A method as set forth in claim 1 , wherein: said electronic network comprises a plurality of nodes each configured for generating one or more sale offers.

9. A method as set forth in claim 1 , wherein:

Selection of buyers is based on the presence of a software module operating in conjunction with means for connecting to the electronic network system.

10. A method as set forth in claim 9 wherein: said electronic network comprises the Internet.

11. A method as set forth in claim 10, wherein: said software module operates in conjunction with Internet browser software.

12. A method as set forth in claim 11 , wherein: said software module comprises a plug-in operating in conjunction with said browser.

13. A method as set forth in claim 10, wherein: said software module monitors the particular Internet World Wide Web ("Web") sites visited by a buyer.

14. A method as set forth in claim 13, wherein: said monitoring includes communicating information about a visited Web site through the Internet to an offeror.

15. A method as set forth in claim 14, wherein: the offer to purchase is communicated to a buyer via said software module.

16. A method as set forth in claim 15, wherein: said offer is displayed on the browser only if a buyer is browsing a Web site associated with the source of the offer.

17. A method as set forth in claim 2, wherein: the at least one sale offer is randomly displayed to a selected buyer only on condition that said buyer is connected to a portion of the electronic network system which is linked to the seller.

18. An apparatus as set forth in claim 3, wherein: said notice of sale offer is viewable in conjunction with a program operating on a system used by the one or more selected buyers to view the Web site.

19. An apparatus as set forth in claim 18, wherein: said program comprises a Web browser program.

20. An apparatus as set forth in claim 17, wherein: said program further includes a software module operating in conjunction with said browser.

21. An apparatus as set forth in claim 20, wherein:

Said module comprises a plug-in module operation.

22. An apparatus as set forth in claim 21 , wherein: said plug-in module monitors the particular Web sites visited by a buyer;

23. An apparatus as set forth in claim 22, wherein: said plug-in module communicates information about a visited Web site to an offeror.

24. An apparatus as set forth in claim 23, wherein: the offer to purchase is communicated to a buyer via said software module.

25. An apparatus as set forth in claim 24, wherein: said offer is displayed on the browser only if a buyer is browsing a Web site associated with the source of the offer.