METHODS OF PROVIDING AND OBTAINING INFORMATION, ITEMS, ORDERS, AND DIGITAL REPRESENTATIONS AND USING ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS

摘要

The present invention includes numerous different embodiments, many of which are particularly useful for providing and obtaining information and ordering promotional items using an electronic site. An electronic communication system allows a user many possibilities for obtaining information and ordering items. A user can navigate and "drill down" for information using an icon-rich display. Each of the icons may have a marking of an entity to better visualize the item with the marking. If desired, the user can get a digital representation of the item with the marking. The user can search using one or more attributes. Also, the user can get "real-time" pricing of items as attributes of the items are changed. The order can be split between suppliers, supplier locations, or shipping locations. Financial arrangements for paying for orders are highly flexible and include "mixed payments", customer access, or automatic authorization notification. After ordering, a hyperlink to a high-resolution file including the marking may be provided to the supplier. If the supplier has the file, transmission time is not wasted sending the high-resolution file. If the file is needed, the link can be activated to have the high-resolution file sent to the supplier. The system can be set up where the entities using the system are the user, distributor (who may control the electronic system), and supplier; or where the entities using the system can include the user, the distributor, an intermediary (who may control the electronic system), and the supplier. The distributor or supplier may have access to update information within the database for the electronic system. Various segments of the process have been automated to reduce human interfacing in the ordering process. Software or data processing system products can be made for performing many of the functions. The embodiments include details, many of which are not required for any or all of the claims.