Systems, methods, and devices for identifying and presenting identifications of significant attributes of unique items

• US 10,572,555 B1
• Filed: 11/05/2018
• Issued: 02/25/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 03/07/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vast.com, Inc. (Vroom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Vast.com, Inc. (Vroom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Franke, David Wayne, Wilbur, Thomas Wyatt
• Primary Examiner(s): Miller, Alan S
• Application Number:
  US16/181,108
• Time in Patent Office: 477 Days
• Field of Search: 705 711- 742
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0206 Price or cost determination based on market factors
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0625 Directed, with specific intent or strategy

Abstract

The disclosure herein provides systems, methods, and devices for identifying and presenting identifications of significant attributes of unique items. A significant attributes system for identifying and presenting identifications of significant attributes of unique items comprises an item analysis engine, at least one driver models database, and a model building engine, wherein the item analysis engine comprises an item description receiver and one or more driver calculators.

Claims

1. A significant attributes system for identifying and presenting identifications of significant attributes of unique items, the significant attributes system comprising:

an item analysis engine configured to determine which of a plurality of attributes of a selected item are driver attributes, the item analysis engine comprising;

an item description receiver configured to electronically receive item data, the item data being related to the plurality of attributes of the selected item; and

one or more driver calculators configured to apply one or more driver models to the plurality of attributes to identify which of the plurality of attributes of the selected item are driver attributes;

wherein the item analysis engine is configured to electronically present the identification of which of the plurality of attributes of the selected item are driver attributes;

at least one driver models database configured to electronically store information relating to the one or more driver models and to electronically communicate with the item analysis engine;

a model building engine configured to generate the one or more driver models by applying one or more model specifications to data relating to user activity, wherein the data relating to user activity comprises logged interactions of users with a plurality of unique items;

one or more computers configured to operate the item analysis engine, wherein the one or more computers comprises a computer processor and an electronic storage medium; and

a data collection engine configured to electronically monitor, substantially in real time, user interactions with the plurality of unique items to generate the data relating to user activity.

2. The significant attributes system of claim 1, wherein the item data comprises the plurality of attributes of the selected item.

3. The significant attributes system of claim 1, further comprising an item attributes database configured to store attribute data relating to attributes of a plurality of selectable items and to associate each of the plurality of selectable items with a unique identifier;

wherein the item data comprises a unique identifier of the selected item, the unique identifier of the selected item configured to enable the item attributes receiver to retrieve attribute data from the items attribute database.

4. The significant attributes system of claim 1, wherein the selected item and plurality of unique items comprise one of the following types of items:

used automobiles, existing homes, real estate, household goods, customized electronics, customized goods.

5. The significant attributes system of claim 1, wherein the model building engine is further configured to apply at least one position bias model to the logged interactions of users to reduce any position bias present in the logged interactions of users.

6. The significant attributes system of claim 1, wherein the one or more driver models comprises at least one price driver model and at least one demand driver model, the at least one price driver model configured to enable identification of which of the plurality of attributes of the selected item are price driver attributes, the at least one demand driver model configured to enable identification of which of the plurality of attributes of the selected item are demand driver attributes.

7. The significant attributes system of claim 1, wherein the one or more driver calculators are further configured to identify a relative significance of each of the driver attributes.

8. The significant attributes system of claim 7, wherein the relative significance describes at least one of the following:

an estimated price contribution of the driver attribute to an overall price of the selected item, a perceived value of the driver attribute, a level of desirability of the driver attribute.

9. The significant attributes system of claim 1, wherein the item analysis engine is configured to electronically present the identification of which of the plurality of attributes of the selected item are driver attributes by doing at least one of the following:

transmitting data comprising the identification through a network, causing an electronic display to display a representation of the identification.

10. The significant attributes system of claim 1, wherein the item analysis engine is further configured to electronically present an identification of which of the plurality of attributes of the selected item are not driver attributes.

11. The significant attributes system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of attributes of the selected item comprises a geographic location, a price, a condition, a description, a make, a model, a year, a trim, an option, a mileage.

12. The significant attributes system of claim 1, wherein the logged interactions comprises at least one of the following:

a number of clicks on a hyperlink related to a specific unique item, a number of views of a webpage comprising information related to a specific unique item, a position of a specific unique item in a list of a plurality of specific unique items when a user interacts with the specific unique item, an amount of time a user spends viewing a webpage comprising information related to a specific unique item, a purchase by a user of a specific unique item, information submitted by a user to an advertiser relating to a specific unique item.

13. The significant attributes system of claim 1, wherein the logged interactions comprises at least 1,000 logged interactions.

14. The significant attributes system of claim 1, wherein the model building engine is further configured to update the one or more driver models substantially in real time based on additional logged interactions of users.

15. The significant attributes system of claim 1, wherein the one or more model specifications comprise instructions to generate a driver model using one or more of the following methods:

linear regression, non-linear regression, model trees, nearest neighbor analysis.

16. The significant attributes system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of unique items comprises items offered for sale through one or more websites.

17. The significant attributes system of claim 1, wherein the data collection engine being configured to electronically monitor, substantially in real time, user interactions, comprises being configured to electronically monitor a plurality of item listing services.