Method and apparatus for managing electronic commerce

Abstract

A method for managing electronic commerce includes storing consumer information. Transactional information is sent to a user. A request made by the consumer to make a transaction and the consumer information are securely forwarded to a party of the transaction.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A method comprising: 
 sending transactional information to consumers;    receiving a transaction request from a consumer in response to the sent transactional information;    verifying the consumer from which the transaction request has been received against a first library of consumer information;    verifying a business with respect to which the transaction request has been received against a second library of business information;    sending the verified transaction request to a server system of the business with respect to which the transaction request has been received.    
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the transactional information comprises information about a product or service that is for sale.  
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein sending transactional information comprises sending the transactional information along with broadcast data for viewing by the user.  
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3  wherein sending the transactional information along with the broadcast data comprises sending using at least one of cable broadcast, satellite broadcast, very high frequency (VHF) radio frequency communication of broadcast networks, ultra high frequency (UHF) radio frequency communication of broadcast networks and a telephone/computer network interface.  
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  wherein receiving a transaction request comprise receiving a transaction request over an insecure internet connection.  
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  wherein receiving a transaction request includes receiving an identification of the consumer, an identification of a business and an identification of a product or service sold by the business.  
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1  wherein receiving a transaction request includes receiving a consumer identifier identifying the consumer from which the transaction request was received and wherein verifying consumers comprises comparing the consumer identifier to a list of consumers in the first library.  
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1  wherein receiving a transaction request includes receiving a transaction identifier identifying the transactional information to which the transaction request is directed and wherein verifying businesses comprises comparing the transaction identifier to a list of transaction identifiers in the second library.  
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the first library includes credit information regarding consumers listed in the library and wherein sending the verified transaction request includes sending an identification of the consumer and credit information regarding the consumer.  
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising verifying information for use in the second library by at least one of checking the history of the business and checking whether any complaints have been filed against the business.  
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the second library contains at least one of the name of the business, the physical address of the business, the Internet address of the business, the phone and fax numbers of the business and products sold by the business.  
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1  wherein sending the verified transaction request comprises forwarding transaction requests to a server interface to be sent to a server system of a business corresponding to the transaction request.  
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1  wherein sending the verified transaction request comprises sending the verified transaction request using an encrypted internet connection.  
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1  wherein sending the verified transaction request comprises sending the verified transaction request using a telephone connection.  
     
     
         15 . A machine readable medium having stored thereon data representing sequences of instructions which, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising: 
 sending transactional information to consumers;    receiving a transaction request from a consumer in response to the sent transactional information;    verifying the consumer from which the transaction request has been received against a first library of consumer information;    verifying a businesses with respect to which the transaction request has been received against a second library of business information;    sending the verified transaction request to a server system of the business with respect to which the transaction request has been received.    
     
     
         16 . The medium of  claim 15  wherein the transactional information comprises information about a product or service that is for sale.  
     
     
         17 . The medium of  claim 15  wherein sending transactional information comprises sending the transactional information along with broadcast data for viewing by the user.  
     
     
         18 . The medium of  claim 17  wherein sending the transactional information along with the broadcast data comprises sending using at least one of cable broadcast, satellite broadcast, very high frequency (VHF) radio frequency communication of broadcast networks, ultra high frequency (UHF) radio frequency communication of broadcast networks and a telephone/computer network interface.  
     
     
         19 . The medium of  claim 15  wherein receiving a transaction request includes receiving an identification of the consumer, an identification of a business and an identification of a product or service sold by the business.  
     
     
         20 . The medium of  claim 15  wherein receiving a transaction request includes receiving a consumer identifier identifying the consumer from which the transaction request was received and wherein verifying consumers comprises comparing the consumer identifier to a list of consumers in the first library.  
     
     
         21 . The medium of  claim 15  wherein receiving a transaction request includes receiving a transaction identifier identifying the transactional information to which the transaction request is directed and wherein verifying businesses comprises comparing the transaction identifier to a list of transaction identifiers in the second library.  
     
     
         22 . The medium of  claim 15  wherein the first library includes credit information regarding consumers listed in the library and wherein sending the verified transaction request includes sending an identification of the consumer and credit information regarding the consumer.  
     
     
         23 . The medium of  claim 15  wherein the second library contains at least one of the name of the business, the physical address of the business, the Internet address of the business, the phone and fax numbers of the business and products sold by the business.  
     
     
         24 . The medium of  claim 15  wherein sending the verified transaction request comprises sending the verified transaction request using an encrypted internet connection.  
     
     
         25 . The medium of  claim 15  wherein sending the verified transaction request comprises sending the verified transaction request using a telephone connection.  
     
     
         26 . An electronic commerce system comprising: 
 an information distributor to send transactional information to consumers;    a first library having information related to consumers;    a second library having information related to businesses;    a client interface to receive transaction requests from consumers for which related information is stored in the first library, the transaction requests being received in response to the sent transactional information;    a server interface to send transaction requests to server systems corresponding to businesses for which related information is stored in the second library; and    a transaction processor to verify consumers from which a transaction request has been received through the client interface against the first library and to verify businesses with respect to which a transaction request has been received against the second library and, after verification, to forward the verified transaction request to the server interface.    
     
     
         27 . The system of  claim 26  wherein the transactional information comprises information about a product or service that is for sale.  
     
     
         28 . The system of  claim 26  wherein the information distributor sends transactional information along with broadcast data for viewing by the user.  
     
     
         29 . The system of  claim 26  wherein the information distributor comprises at least one of a network interface, a telephone interface, a vertical blanking interval encoder, a cable link encoder and a satellite link encoder  
     
     
         30 . The system of  claim 26  wherein the consumer information includes at least an identifier corresponding to each consumer and wherein the transaction request includes the respective identifier.  
     
     
         31 . The system of  claim 26  wherein the transaction request includes an identification of the consumer, an identification of a business and an identification of a product or service sold by the business.  
     
     
         32 . The system of  claim 26  wherein the transaction request includes a consumer identifier identifying the consumer from which the transaction request was received and the transaction processor verifies consumers by comparing the consumer identifier to a list of consumers in the first library.  
     
     
         33 . The system of  claim 26  wherein the client interface receives transaction requests over an unsecured internet connection.  
     
     
         34 . The system of  claim 26  further comprising a transaction manager, the transaction manager comprising the client interface, the server interface, the transaction processor and a storage medium interface to couple the transaction processor to the storage medium.  
     
     
         35 . The system of  claim 26  further comprising a storage medium, wherein the storage medium comprises the first and second libraries.  
     
     
         36 . The system of  claim 26  wherein the first library includes credit information regarding consumers listed in the library and wherein the verified transaction request includes an identification of the consumer and credit information regarding the consumer.  
     
     
         37 . The system of  claim 26  wherein the transaction request includes a transaction identifier identifying the transactional information to which the transaction request is directed and wherein the transaction processor verifies businesses by comparing the transaction identifier to a list of transaction identifiers in the second library.  
     
     
         38 . The system of  claim 26  wherein the second library contains at least one of the name of the business, the physical address of the business, the Internet address of the business, the phone and fax numbers of the business and products sold by the business.  
     
     
         39 . The system of  claim 26  wherein the server interface forwards the consumer information to the respective server system using encryption.