Disclosed is a distributed computer application that utilizes the Internet and Web browsers as the interface to the distributed computer application server. Users who are providers of data utilize Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) enabled HyperText Transport Protocol (HTTP) to encrypt communications between their Web browser and the distributed computer application Web server (HTTPS). A Java servlet on the external HTTPS distributed computer application Web server handles the file upload from the Web browser and re-POSTs the data to a processing Java servlet on an internal HTTPS distributed computer application application server. The processing Java servlet on the internal HTTPS distributed computer application server is used to handle the file upload from the collection Java servlet on the external HTTPS distributed computer application Web server and saves the file locally in a database on the internal HTTPS distributed computer application application server.

The present invention is for a system that allows images to be managed and manipulated on a server by using a web browser. Images may be scanned, printed, faxed, copied, viewed, merged, edited or electronically manipulated across a network, such as the Internet or an Intranet. The server has security that controls access to files, folders and functions.

The present invention provides a method and apparatus for creating and ordering customized branded merchandise over a computer network. A Internet site is provided that allows a consumer to create and order customized branded merchandise, such as bottles of soda. A customer may visit the WWW site utilizing a standard WWW browser executing on a computer. Once the customer has registered with the WWW site, the customer may place an order for an item of customized branded merchandise. The customer may also be asked to identify a graphic image for customizing the requested merchandise. The graphic image may be a digital photograph taken by the customer or other type of graphic image. Once the customer has identified a graphic image, the graphic image may be displayed for editing. The customer may be permitted to crop the graphic image or perform other types of image manipulations. A preview of the cropped or manipulated image may also be provided for the customer. Once the customer is satisfied with the graphic image, the graphic image may be transmitted to the WWW server. Once the customer has specified order details, the customer may be asked to provide a billing and shipping address. The customer may then be asked to identify a payment method, and provide a credit card or other billing number. The customer may then be provided with a summary of the order details and asked to verify that all of the information is correct. If the information is correct, the customized branded merchandise item ordered by the customer will be created and shipped to the customer at address they provided.

Disclosed are systems and methods for generating customized images for display to a user. In one example, a system may comprise a web server and one or more databases. A web server may generate one or more HTML pages in response to a user request. These web pages can be used to collect image customization information from the user and to display custom image designs based on the collected information. In addition, the collected image customization information and the generated custom image designs may be stored in a database.

In a merchandise order receiving system, an order controlling server receives an order of a merchandise from a user terminal; a charging and settlement server performs the charging and the settlement of the merchandise; an order receiving server receives an order of the delivery of a merchandise; a print-out apparatus prints image data from an image storing server to generate printed material such a as hologram or holographic stereogram; and a merchandise assembling apparatus generates an assembled merchandise by incorporating the printed matter in the merchandise and supplies the assembled merchandise to a shipping terminal.