Google Inc.

Benjamin Chan-Bin Ling

Georges R Harik

Adam Douglas Smith

John Piscitello

Arturo Crespo

Wendy Tobagus

Louis Perrochon

Thomas Alan Nielsen

Robert Brown

Eric Lange

A search engine communicates with a broker to identify search result content associated with merchants that support purchases through an electronic commerce system provided by the broker. The results of a search can include some content associated with merchants that support purchases through the broker, some content associated with merchants that do not support purchases through the broker, and some content not associated with any merchant. The search engine visually distinguishes content in the search results associated with merchants that support purchases through the broker by displaying a badge, such as a graphical icon, with the content. The search engine can use different types of badges to indicate different characteristics of the merchants.

Distinguishing search results associated with an electronic commerce system

Distinguishing search results associated with an electronic payment system

A micro-payment system has buyers, sellers, and a broker. The buyers establish accounts with the broker and provide payment information allowing the broker to invoice the buyers. The sellers establish accounts with the brokers and specify terms for accessing items, including electronic content, available from the sellers. The sellers also provide payment information that allows the broker to credit the sellers for sales of the items. The broker aggregates the buyers' micro-payment purchases and invoices the buyers. The broker also aggregates the sellers' micro-payment sales and credits the sellers.

Micro-payment system architecture

Growing community of inventors

San Jose, CA, United States of America

Benjamin Chan-Bin Ling