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`Page 1 of 44
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`TRADING TECH EXHIBIT 2028
`IBG ET AL. v. TRADING TECH
`CBM2015-00179
`
`

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`Page 2 0f 44
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`Page 2 of 44
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`U.S. Patent
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`Jan. 31, 2006
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`Sheet 1 of 24
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`US 6,993,572 B2
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`Page 3 of 44
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`Page 3 of 44
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`U.S. Patent
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`Jan. 31, 2006
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`Sheet 2 of 24
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`US 6,993,572 B2
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`Page 4 of 44
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`Page 4 of 44
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`

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`U.S. Patent
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`Jan. 31, 2006
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`Sheet 3 of 24
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`US 6,993,572 B2
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`Jan. 31, 2006
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`U.S. Patent
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`Jan. 31, 2006
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`Jan. 31, 2006
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`US 6,993,572 B2
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`U.S. Patent
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`Jan. 31, 2006
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`Sheet 8 of 24
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`US 6,993,572 B2
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`U.S. Patent
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`Jan. 31, 2006
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`Sheet 9 of 24
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`U.S. Patent
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`Jan. 31, 2006
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`Sheet 10 of 24
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`US 6,993,572 B2
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`U.S. Patent
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`Jan. 31, 2006
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`Sheet 12 of 24
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`US 6,993,572 B2
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`Page 14 of 44
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`U.S. Patent
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`Jan. 31, 2006
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`Sheet 13 of 24
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`US 6,993,572 B2
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`U.S. Patent
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`Jan. 31, 2006
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`Sheet 14 of 24
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`US 6,993,572 B2
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`U.S. Patent
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`Jan. 31, 2006
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`Sheet 15 of 24
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`US 6,993,572 B2
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`Page 17 of 44
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`U.S. Patent
`
`Jan. 31, 2006
`
`Sheet 16 of 24
`
`US 6,993,572 B2
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`Page 19 of 44
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`

`

`U.S. Patent
`
`Jan. 31, 2006
`
`Sheet 18 of 24
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`US 6,993,572 B2
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`Page 20 of 44
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`

`U.S. Patent
`
`Jan. 31, 2006
`
`Sheet 19 of 24
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`US 6,993,572 B2
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`2120
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`SUMMARY
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`Page 21 of 44
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`

`U.S. Patent
`
`Jan. 31, 2006
`
`Sheet 21 of 24
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`US 6,993,572 B2
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`U.S. Patent
`
`Jan. 31, 2006
`
`Sheet 22 of 24
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`US 6,993,572 B2
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`U.S. Patent
`
`Jan. 31, 2006
`
`Sheet 23 of 24
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`US 6,993,572 B2
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`2300
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`CRITERIA
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`Page 25 of 44
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`Page 25 of 44
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`U.S. Patent
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`Jan. 31, 2006
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`Sheet 24 of 24
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`US 6,993,572 B2
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`2300
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`
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`MERCHANT HOST RELATIONSHIP
`MerchuntNIunugeHosI.osp
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`SELECT A HOST
`SHOW CATALOG IN
`HOST
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`Page 26 of 44
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`Page 26 of 44
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`

`US 6,993,572 B2
`
`1
`SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR
`FACILITATING INTERNET COMMERCE
`WITH OUTSOURCED WEBSITES
`
`CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED
`APPLICATIONS
`
`This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09/398,268,
`filed Sep. 17, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,629,135, which
`claims the benefit of application Ser. No. 60/100,697, filed
`Sep. 17, 1998, which applications are hereby incorporated
`by reference.
`
`BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
`
`1. Field of Invention
`
`The invention relates to a system and method supporting
`commerce syndication. More specifically,
`the invention
`relates to a system and method for computer based infor-
`mation providers to receive outsourced electronic commerce
`facilities in a context sensitive, transparent manner.
`2. Description of Prior Art
`The World Wide Web began as a simple interface to the
`Internet using HTML (hypertext markup language) as a
`means of linking documents together. This allowed a
`researcher, for example, to embed “active” references in his
`or her documents that, if selected, would enable the reader
`to review the source of the reference first-hand. Program-
`mers quickly capitalized on this technology, creating “web
`sites” which reflected less staid purposes, laying the ground-
`work for the literal “web” of content and interactive appli-
`cations that exists today. In the early stages, website pro-
`grammers increased visitor traffic by placing “links” within
`their websites to other websites, usually related in content or
`function,
`in exchange for a reciprocal link. Additionally,
`directories of websites, such as Yahoo, and search engines,
`such as WebCrawler, began to appear in an attempt
`to
`organize the content of the Internet so that its users could
`create “custom links pages” related to specific topics.
`In these early days, the Web was mostly trafficked by
`programmers and “techies,” and a commune-type “share and
`share alike” mindset prevailed. As a result, people were
`happy to litter their sites with links, knowing that, odds
`were, others would do the same for them and the traffic
`gain/loss would probably balance out. So, despite the fact
`that by including and promoting a “links” page, website
`operators were effectively encouraging people to leave their
`website, link sharing developed into a standard practice.
`Then, entrepreneurs and other business-oriented individu-
`als came along and introduced capitalism to the Internet.
`Profit-oriented website operators began to seek visitors
`wherever they could find them, and opportunistic owners of
`popular sites began to realize that they had an increasingly
`scarce resource—visitors. Such website owners began to sell
`the links they had previously offered for free in the form of
`paid advertisements. Search engines and directories became
`increasingly popular for two main reasons. First, the number
`of websites was growing astronomically, so it was becoming
`harder for users to find what they wanted. Second, since
`reciprocal
`links were either going away or were being
`replaced by links exclusively to non-competing websites,
`search engines and directories were the only way to find
`multiple resources for a single topic.
`Amid frantic efforts on the part of corporate websites to
`get noticed, the sale of banner ads blossomed into a large
`industry called Internet advertising. Thousands of websites
`created space for banner ads and called the space “inven-
`
`10
`
`15
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`20
`
`25
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`2
`tory.” At first, they priced ads as a print ad might be priced:
`by CPM, or cost per thousand “impressions” each ad made
`on website visitors. Over time this pricing model gave way
`to arrangements more favorable to advertisers such as Cost
`Per Click-through and Cost Per Inquiry (meaning the adver-
`tiser only needs to pay when a visitor sees a banner ad and
`clicks on it and completes an information request form on
`the advertiser’s site).
`Some of the most successful Internet commerce websites,
`led by online bookseller Amazon.com, have begun to take an
`even more results-driven approach to the purchase of banner
`ads. They have offered to pay only for ads that, when
`clicked, result
`in a product sale. To provide a stronger
`incentive than a simple banner ad,
`these companies let
`third-party website owners list a subset of their goods (e.g.,
`10 of Amazon.com’s millions of books, selected by the
`website owner) and promote them as they choose within
`their websites. Initiatives such as these have come to be
`
`described as “affiliate programs”, “associate programs” or
`“commission based advertising programs”.
`The benefits of affiliate programs are significant. To the
`website owner, they constitute revenue-generating web con-
`tent without requiring an investment in product inventory or
`additional
`infrastructure. They also create new revenues
`without necessarily reducing the website’s available ad
`inventory. However,
`the greater benefit almost always
`accrues not to the affiliate, but to Amazon.com and other
`online stores. Not only do these sites benefit from the
`marketing resources of the affiliate operators, they are also
`able to lure the visitor traffic away from the affiliate. Once
`a visitor clicks on an affiliate ad and enters an online store,
`that visitor has left the affiliate’s site and is gone. At best,
`affiliates are able to use “frames” to keep a shell of their own
`website around the vendor’s site, but this is only a margin-
`ally effective solution. No alternatives have been able to
`address a fundamental drawback of the affiliate programs
`—the loss of the visitor to the vendor. At best, some Internet
`affiliate sales vendors have begun placing “return to refer-
`ring website” links on their order confirmation screens, an
`approach that is largely ineffective. This limitation of an
`affiliate program restricts participation to less trafficked
`websites that are unconcerned about losing visitors. Mean-
`while, search engines and directories continue to increase in
`their usefulness and popularity, while banner ads and old-
`style links continue their rapid loss of effectiveness and
`popular usage.
`invention overcomes these limitation of
`The present
`present affiliate commerce systems and provides other ben-
`efits as will become clearer to those skilled in the art from
`
`the foregoing description.
`
`SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
`
`The affiliate commerce system and method of the present
`invention represents a new paradigm of co-marketing on the
`Internet. Not only does the present invention provide its
`Hosts with the added value and incremental revenues of
`
`traditional affiliate programs, but the company also enables
`Hosts to control the customer experience before, during, and
`after the purchase transaction. At the same time, Merchants
`receive the same benefits as with older affiliate programs,
`i.e., increased marketing potential, incremental sales, and
`new customer relationships, but without the restrictive limi-
`tations of affiliate programs—the loss of hard-won visitor
`traffic.
`
`Additionally, the present invention can actually obviate
`the need for some merchants to invest in their own unique
`
`Page 27 of 44
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`Page 27 of 44
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`

`

`US 6,993,572 B2
`
`3
`Internet presence. By using the present invention as their
`primary online sales channel, these Merchants can focus on
`product development, production, and order fulfillment and
`leave the exploration of the Internet to experts. The resulting
`ongoing cost savings and operational efficiencies magnify
`the potential benefits of the Internet while reducing the
`initial costs.
`
`According to the present invention the look and feel of
`each participating Host is captured and stored. Hosts may
`include links to selected products or product categories
`within pages residing on the Hosts’ website. Upon actuation
`of such a link by a visitor of the Host website, a page is
`presented to the visitor incorporating a replica of the Host’s
`look and feel directed to the sale of the selected products or
`product categories.
`The look and feel of a host is captured and stored by
`receiving an identification of an example page of a target
`host. The identified page is retrieved. The look and feel
`elements of the page are identified, and these elements are
`stored for future use in generating outsourced transparent
`pages, pages served by a server other than the host but with
`the host’s look and feel. Such pages give the viewer of the
`page the impression that she is viewing pages served by the
`host.
`
`The links included by the host directed to the outsource
`provider need not be statically linked to a particular product
`or