Method and apparatus for integrating an e-commerce provider with third-party vendors

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10521841-B2
Application number	US-201313867636-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 22, 2013
Priority date	Apr 22, 2013
Publication date	Dec 31, 2019
Grant date	Dec 31, 2019

Abstract

A computer implemented method and apparatus for integrating e-commerce providers with third-party vendors. The method comprises receiving an order from one vendor of a plurality of vendors, wherein the order comprises a vendor identification, a fulfillment identification, and a vendor stock keeping unit (SKU), and wherein a plurality of the vendors each has a unique communication protocol; mapping the fulfillment identification to a user identification (userID) known to a provider; mapping the vendor SKU to a provider SKU; generating a provisioning call responsive to the mapping; and provisioning the SKU for the userID in a database of the provider in response to the provisioning call.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A computer implemented method comprising:
receiving, at a server operated by a software provider over a network and from a first third-party vendor of a software product of the software provider, a first order initiated by a first user for the software product of the software provider, the first order having a first format;
extracting, from the first order by the server operated by the software provider, a first vendor identification comprising an identifier of the first third-party vendor, a first fulfillment user identification comprising a vendor-unique-user identifier (userID) for the first user, and a first vendor-specific product identifier comprising an identifier of the first order;
receiving, at the server operated by the software provider over the network and from a second third-party vendor of the software product of the software provider, a second order initiated by a second user for the software product of the software provider, the second order having a second format different from the first format;
extracting, from the second order by the server operated by the software provider, a second vendor identification comprising an identifier of the second third-party vendor, a second fulfillment user identification comprising a vendor-unique userID for the second user, and a second vendor-specific product identifier comprising an identifier of the second order;
converting, by the server operated by the software provider, the first order to a uniform format, wherein converting the first order comprises mapping the first fulfillment user identification extracted by the server operated by the software provider to credentials of the first user for remotely accessing one or more software products from the software provider previously received by the software provider from the first user and mapping the first vendor-specific product identifier to a first provider-specific product identifier;
generating, by the server operated by the software provider, a first provisioning call for the first order based on the converted first order in the uniform format;
provisioning, by the server operated by the software provider, the software product corresponding to the first provider-specific product identifier for the first user in a database of the server by providing access to the software product to a first client device of the first user upon verifying the credentials of the first user from the converted first order;
converting, by the server operated by the software provider, the second order to the uniform format, wherein converting the second order comprises mapping the second fulfillment user identification extracted by the server operated by the software provider to credentials of the second user for remotely accessing one or more software products from the software provider previously received by the software provider from the second user and mapping the second vendor-specific product identifier to a second provider-specific product identifier;
generating, by the server operated by the software provider, a second provisioning call for the second order based on the converted second order in the uniform format; and
provisioning, by the server operated by the software provider, the software product corresponding to second provider-specific product identifier for the second user in the database of the server by providing access to the software product to a second client device of the second user upon verifying the credentials of the second user from the converted second order.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising generating a response regarding the success or failure of the first provisioning call and sending the response to the first third-party vendor.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the credentials of the first user are unique to the software provider regardless of an identity of the first third-party vendor.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the first provisioning call comprises the credentials of the first user and the first provider-specific product identifier; and
the second provisioning call comprises the credentials of the second user and the second provider-specific product identifier.

5. A system comprising:
a server operated by a software provider comprising at least one processor; and
at least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions thereon that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to:
receive, at the server operated by the software provider over a network and from a first third-party vendor of a software product of the software provider, a first order initiated by a first user for the software product of the software provider, the first order having a first format;
extract, from the first order by the server operated by the software provider, a first vendor identification comprising an identifier of the first third-party vendor, a first fulfillment user identification comprising a vendor-unique-user identifier (userID) for the first user, and a first vendor-specific product identifier comprising an identifier of the first order;
receive, at the server operated by the software provider over the network and from a second third-party vendor of the software product of the software provider, a second order initiated by a second user for the software product of the software provider, the second order having a second format different from the first format;
extract, from the second order by the server operated by the software provider, a second vendor identification comprising an identifier of the second third-party vendor, a second fulfillment user identification comprising a vendor-unique userID for the second user, and a second vendor-specific product identifier comprising an identifier of the second order;
convert the first order to a uniform format, wherein converting the first order comprises mapping the first fulfillment user identification extracted by the server operated by the software provider to credentials of the first user for remotely accessing one or more software products from the software provider previously received by the software provider from the first user and mapping the first vendor-specific product identifier to a first provider-specific product identifier;
generate a first provisioning call for the first order based on the converted first order in the uniform format;
provision the software product corresponding to the first provider-specific product identifier for the first user in a database of the server by providing access to the software product to a first client device of the first user upon verifying the credentials of the first user from the first converted order;
convert the second order to the uniform format, wherein converting the second order comprises mapping the second fulfillment user identification extracted by the server operated by the software provider to credentials of the second user for remotely accessing one or more software products from the software provider previously received by the software provider from the second user and mapping the second vendor-specific product identifier to a second provider-specific product identifier;
generate a second provisioning call for the second order based on the converted second order in the uniform format; and
provision the software product corresponding to the second provider-specific product identifier for the second user in the database of the server by providing access to the software product to a second client device of the second user upon verifying the credentials of the second user from the converted second order.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the first fulfillment user identification is unique to the software provider regardless of an identity of the first third-party vendor.

Assignees

• Adobe Inc

Inventors

• Biswas Sanjeev Kumar
• Brotsky Daniel Carl
• Padhi Shyama Prasad

Classifications

• G06Q10/087

  Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders · CPC title

• G06Q30/0617 Primary

  Representative agent · CPC title

• G06Q30/0613

  using intermediate agents · CPC title

• G06Q10/0874

  Inventory fulfillment (shipping G06Q10/083) · CPC title