System and method for visual communication between buyers and sellers

Abstract

A visual communications (VC) tool enables visual communication over a data communications network. An email is sent to a recipient containing a link to a first visual arrangement generated by a sender. The first visual arrangement may include images of various products. The first visual arrangement is displayed via a web browser in a first display area of the VC tool in response to actuation of the link in the email message. The recipient then selects a first image in the first display area. The selection may include dragging and dropping the first image into a second display area of the VC tool. The selection triggers the generating of a second visual arrangement which includes a copy of the first image. The copy of the first image is displayed in a second display area concurrently with the display of the first image in the first display area.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 12 / 012,279 (attorney docket 61332), filed on Feb. 1, 2008, which is a continuation of U.S. Pat. No. 7,426,693 which claims priority to and the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application 60 / 635,808, filed on Dec. 13, 2004 and is a continuation-in-part of International Application No. PCT / US2003 / 024695, filed on Aug. 7, 2003 (attorney docket 50897.PCT), which in turn claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60 / 401,806, filed on Aug. 7, 2002, the content of all of which is incorporated herein by reference.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]People in the fashion and lifestyle-driven industries often struggle to communicate their ideas with each other in an efficient and safe manner. The increase in the usage of electronic communication, such as, for example, electronic mail (e-mail) has somewhat helped their communication efforts. However, traditional e-mail is n...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0022]These and other features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will be more fully understood when considered with respect to the foll

Problems solved by technology

People in the fashion and lifestyle-driven industries often struggle to communicate their ideas with each other in an efficient and safe manner.

However, traditional e-mail is not catered to the fashion and lifestyle-driven industries where a lot of the information transmitted is visual information, such as pictures.

The use of e-mails with attachments is undesirable for various reasons.

First, any comment in the body of the e-mail about an attached image is separate from the attachment itself This makes it difficult to maintain multiple comments received about the image correlated and organized with the image.

Furthermore, people receiving an image attachment and responding with a comment on the image may not reattach the image to the responding e-mail, leaving it to the recipient to figure out which images go with which e-mails.

Second, some company networks do not allow employees to receive e-mails that contain attachments.

During a development phase where there may be constant feedback and modification to the presentation, such retransmission of attachments puts a strain on a company's bandwidth.

Finally, there is currently no mechanism to prevent a person receiving a picture in the form of an attachment from reproducing and forwarding the attachment to others.

Thus, the author of the picture runs a risk that this or her copyright rights for the picture may be violated by providing the picture in an attachment.

Current e-mail technology, even without attachments, also does not provide an efficient way to track comments about a given topic.

Traditional electronic mail, therefore, is difficult and frustrating to use for designers, suppliers, and retailers in the fashion and lifestyle-driven industries.

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