A consumer product information requesting (CPIR) enabling Servlet for execution
on the server-side of an information network such as the Internet. The CPIR-enabling
Servlet comprises a Universal Product Number (UPN) a uniquely associated with a
particular consumer product on which an information search is to be carried out
within a database management subsystem. One or more classes are loaded on a an
Internet-enabled information server. When the consumer selects a CPIR-enabling
Servlet tag embedded within the WWW and corresponding CPIR-enabling Servlet, a
UPN-directed-search is automatically carried out within the database management
subsystem, the a graphical user interface (GUI) is displayed within the Internet-enabled
browser program used by the consumer, and the results from the UPN-directed search
are displayed within the GUI in the form of a menu of categorized URLs pointing
to consumer product related information resources published on the WWW, without
disturbing the consumer's point of presence thereon. The CPIR-enabling Servlets
can be used to build various types of consumer product information systems for
operation on the WWW.