System and method for providing a gift exchange

• US 10,580,056 B2
• Filed: 03/30/2015
• Issued: 03/03/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 05/17/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Walmart Apollo, LLC (WalMart Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Walmart Apollo, LLC (WalMart Inc.)
• Inventors: Stoll, Nathan, Stensmo, Jan Magnus, Ellerhorst, Andrew Mark, Banerjee, Abhishek
• Primary Examiner(s): Dunham, Jason B
• Assistant Examiner(s): Loharikar, Anand R
• Application Number:
  US14/673,499
• Publication Number:
  US 20150206225A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,800 Days
• Field of Search: 705 261- 272
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0609 Buyer or seller confidence or verification
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0631 Item recommendations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

In some embodiments, a method comprises receiving at least two parameters for a gift exchange from an organizer of the gift exchange. The at least two parameters can comprise a set of participants and a budget. The method further comprises identifying a gift exchange recipient for a respective participant in the set of participants, determining one or more gifts for the gift exchange recipient based at least in part on the budget and a first trust graph, and arranging for display the one or more determined gifts to the respective participant. In many embodiments, the first trust comprises levels of trust associated with the gift exchange recipient. Other embodiments also are disclosed herein.

Claims

1. A method being implemented via execution of computing instructions configured to run at one or more processors and stored at one or more non-transitory computer-readable media, the method comprising:

providing a gift exchange software application (“

app”

) configured to initiate a gift exchange among a set of participants comprising a menu and first trust graph information of a first respective participant of the set of participants, wherein the menu is configured to allow the first respective participant access to the first trust graph information of a first trust graph of the first respective participant from a server, without launching the first trust graph information on a mobile computing device of the first respective participant, and to select a gift exchange recipient from one or more trusted users of the first trust graph of the first respective participant for the gift exchange based at least in part on a level of trust the first respective participant has for the gift exchange recipient;

receiving the first trust graph information from the mobile computing device of the first respective participant;

transforming the first trust graph information into the first trust graph of the first respective participant to be retrieved from a trust database;

receiving at least two parameters for the gift exchange from an organizer of the gift exchange, wherein the at least two parameters comprise the set of participants and a budget;

displaying the menu on a user interface of the mobile computing device of the first respective participant, wherein a particular gift exchange recipient is selected from the one or more trusted users of the first trust graph of the first respective participant while the first trust graph information remains in an un-launched state;

identifying the particular gift exchange recipient for the first respective participant in the set of participants;

upon selection of the particular gift exchange recipient, accessing a second trust graph of the particular gift exchange recipient to determine one or more gifts for the particular gift exchange recipient, as identified, based at least in part on the budget and the second trust graph of the particular gift exchange recipient; and

arranging for display on the user interface of the mobile computing device of the first respective participant the one or more gifts, as determined, for the particular gift exchange recipient;

wherein;

the first trust graph of the first respective participant comprises at least one level of trust associated with the particular gift exchange recipient.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the particular gift exchange recipient is identified based at least in part on a second trust graph of another respective participant of the set of participants; and

the second trust graph comprises at least one level of trust associated with the first respective participant.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein:

the at least two parameters for the gift exchange further comprise a gift exchange theme; and

to determine the one or more gifts for the particular gift exchange recipient comprises to determine the one or more gifts for the particular gift exchange recipient based at least in part on the budget, the gift exchange theme, and the first trust graph of the first respective participant.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the particular gift exchange recipient is selected at random from the set of participants and the one or more trusted users of the first trust graph of the first respective participant.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the at least two parameters for the gift exchange further comprise a gift exchange theme; and

to determine the one or more gifts for the particular gift exchange recipient comprises to determine the one or more gifts for the particular gift exchange recipient based at least in part on the budget, the gift exchange theme, and the first trust graph of the first respective participant.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

receiving a notification from the first respective participant selecting at least one of the one or more gifts.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a notification from the first respective participant selecting at least one of the one or more gifts.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

causing the at least one of the one or more gifts selected by the first respective participant to be purchased for the particular gift exchange recipient.

9. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

after receiving the notification, causing the at least one of the one or more gifts selected by the first respective participant to be purchased for the particular gift exchange recipient without further involvement from the first respective participant.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the budget comprises a target budget range.

11. A method being implemented via execution of computing instructions configured to run at one or more processors and stored at one or more non-transitory computer-readable media, the method comprising:

providing a gift exchange software application (“

app”

) configured to initiate a gift exchange among a set of participants comprising a menu and first trust graph information of a first respective participant of the set of participants, wherein the menu is configured to allow the first respective participant access to the first trust graph information of a first trust graph of the first respective participant from a server, without launching the first trust graph information from a mobile computing device of the first respective participant, and to select a gift exchange recipient from one or more trusted users of the first trust graph of the first respective participant for the gift exchange based at least in part on a level of trust the first respective participant has for the gift exchange recipient;

receiving the first trust graph information from the mobile computing device of the first respective participant;

transforming the first trust graph information into the first trust graph of the first respective participant to be retrieved from a trust database;

receiving two or more gift exchange parameters from an organizer of the gift exchange, wherein the two or more gift exchange parameters comprise the set of participants and a budget;

displaying the menu on a user interface of the mobile computing device of the first respective participant, wherein a particular gift exchange recipient is selected from the one or more trusted users of the first trust graph of the first respective participant while the first trust graph information remains in an un-launched state;

identifying the particular gift exchange recipient for the first respective participant in the set of participants;

upon selection of the particular gift exchange recipient, accessing a second trust graph of the particular gift exchange recipient to determine one or more gifts for the particular gift exchange recipient, as identified, based at least in part on the budget and the second trust graph of the particular gift exchange recipient; and

arranging for display on the user interface of the mobile computing device of the first respective participant the one or more gifts, as determined, for the particular gift exchange recipient;

wherein;

identifying the particular gift exchange recipient for the first respective participant in the set of participants comprises identifying the particular gift exchange recipient based at least in part on the first trust graph of the first respective participant;

the particular gift exchange recipient is selected at random from the set of participants; and

to determine the one or more gifts for the particular gift exchange recipient comprises to determine the one or more gifts based at least in part on a budget and the second trust graph of the particular gift exchange recipient.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving a notification from the first respective participant selecting one or more of the one or more gifts; and

causing the one or more of the one or more gifts selected by the first respective participant to be purchased for the particular gift exchange recipient.

13. A system, comprising:

one or more processors; and

memory storing one or more programs to be executed by the one or more processors;

wherein;

the one or more programs comprise instructions for;

providing a gift exchange software application (“

app”

) configured to initiate a gift exchange among a set of participants comprising a menu and first trust graph information of a first respective participant of the set of participants, wherein the menu is configured to allow the first respective participant access to the first trust graph information of the first respective participant from a server, without launching the first trust graph information from a mobile computing device of the first respective participant, and to select a gift exchange recipient from one or more trusted users of a first trust graph of the first respective participant for the gift exchange based at least in part on a level of trust the first respective participant has for the gift exchange recipient;

receiving the first trust graph information from the mobile computing device of the first respective participant;

transforming the first trust graph information into the first trust graph of the first respective participant to be retrieved from a trust database;

receiving at least two gift exchange parameters from an organizer of the gift exchange, the at least two gift exchange parameters comprise the set of participants and a budget;

displaying the menu on a user interface of the mobile computing device of the first respective participant, wherein a particular gift exchange recipient is selected from the one or more trusted users of the first trust graph of the first respective participant while the first trust graph information remains in an un-launched state;

identifying the particular gift exchange recipient for the first respective participant in the set of participants; and

upon selection of the particular gift exchange recipient, accessing a second trust graph of the particular gift exchange recipient to determine one or more gifts for the particular gift exchange recipient, as identified, based at least in part on the budget and the second trust graph of the particular gift exchange recipient; and

arranging for display on the user interface of the mobile computing device of the first respective participant the one or more gifts, as determined, for the particular gift exchange recipient;

wherein;

the first trust graph of the first respective participant comprises at least one level of trust associated with the particular gift exchange recipient.

14. The system of claim 13, further comprising:

an input; and

a display;

wherein;

the display outputs to the first respective participant the one or more gifts determined for the particular gift exchange recipient; and

the input receives a selection from the first respective participant of one or more gifts from the one or more gifts.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein:

the particular gift exchange recipient is identified based at least in part on the second trust graph; and

the second trust graph comprises levels of trust associated with the first respective participant.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein:

the at least two gift exchange parameters further comprise a gift exchange theme; and

to determine the one or more gifts for the particular gift exchange recipient based at least in part on the budget, the gift exchange theme, and the first trust graph of the first respective participant.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein:

the particular gift exchange recipient is identified at random from the set of participants and the one or more trusted users of the first trust graph of the first respective participant.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein:

the one or more programs further comprise instructions for;

receiving a notification from the first respective participant selecting at least one of the one or more gifts.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein:

the one or more programs further comprise instructions for;

causing the at least one of the one or more gifts selected by the first respective participant to be purchased for the particular gift exchange recipient.

20. The system of claim 13, wherein:

the one or more programs further comprise instructions for;

after receiving a notification, causing at least one of the one or more gifts selected by the first respective participant to be purchased for the particular gift exchange recipient without further involvement from the first respective participant.