Facilitating electronic commerce transactions using buyer profiles
First Claim
1. A system for sorting search results according to a buyer profile during the matching phase of an electronic commerce transaction, comprising:
- a database containing a buyer profile associated with a buyer, the buyer profile comprising a record of the number of times each of a plurality of sort criteria has appeared in at least some previous events involving the buyer; and
a server operable to;
receive a plurality of search results communicated from one or more seller databases in response to an under-constrained search query in which exact attribute values are not specified for one or more attributes;
access the buyer profile to determine an order of display based on the number of times one or more sort criteria in the buyer profile applicable to the search results have appeared in the previous events involving the buyer;
sort the search results according to the determined order of display; and
communicate the sorted search results to the buyer.
19 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system (10) for sorting search results according to a buyer profile (47) during the matching phase of an electronic commerce transaction includes a database containing a buyer profile (47) associated with a buyer (20), the buyer profile (47) comprising a record of the number of times each of multiple sort criteria has appeared in at least some previous events involving the buyer (20). A server (40) receives multiple search results communicated from one or more seller databases (32) in response to an under-constrained search query in which exact attribute values are not specified for one or more attributes. The server (40) accesses the buyer profile (47) to determine an order of display based on the number of times one or more sort criteria in the buyer profile (47) applicable to the search results have appeared in the previous events involving the buyer (20). The server (40) sorts the search results according to the determined order of display and communicates the sorted search results to the buyer (20).
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Citations
36 Claims
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1. A system for sorting search results according to a buyer profile during the matching phase of an electronic commerce transaction, comprising:
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a database containing a buyer profile associated with a buyer, the buyer profile comprising a record of the number of times each of a plurality of sort criteria has appeared in at least some previous events involving the buyer; and
a server operable to;
receive a plurality of search results communicated from one or more seller databases in response to an under-constrained search query in which exact attribute values are not specified for one or more attributes;
access the buyer profile to determine an order of display based on the number of times one or more sort criteria in the buyer profile applicable to the search results have appeared in the previous events involving the buyer;
sort the search results according to the determined order of display; and
communicate the sorted search results to the buyer. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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12. A method of sorting search results according to a buyer profile during the matching phase of an electronic commerce transaction, comprising:
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receiving a plurality of search results communicated from one or more seller databases in response to an under-constrained search query in which exact attribute values are not specified for one or more attributes;
accessing a buyer profile associated with a buyer, the buyer profile comprising a record of the number of times each of a plurality of sort criteria has appeared in at least some previous events involving the buyer;
determining an order of display based on the number of times one or more sort criteria in the buyer profile applicable to the search results have appeared in the previous events involving the buyer;
sorting the search results according to the determined order of display; and
communicating the sorted search results to the buyer.
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23. Software for sorting search results according to a buyer profile during the matching phase of an electronic commerce transaction, the software embodied in a computer-readable medium and when executed operable to:
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receive a plurality of search results communicated from one or more seller databases in response to an under-constrained search query in which exact attribute values are not specified for one or more attributes;
access a buyer profile associated with a buyer, the buyer profile comprising a record of the number of times each of a plurality of sort criteria has appeared in at least some previous events involving the buyer;
determine an order of display based on the number of times one or more sort criteria in the buyer profile applicable to the search results have appeared in the previous events involving the buyer;
sort the search results according to the determined order of display; and
communicate the sorted search results to the buyer.
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34. A system for sorting search results according to a buyer profile during the matching phase of an electronic commerce transaction, comprising:
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a database containing a buyer profile associated with a buyer, the buyer profile comprising a record of the number of times each of a plurality of attribute values has been specified in at least some previous search queries received from the buyer, each attribute value being a product attribute value or a seller attribute value; and
a server operable to;
receive a plurality of search results communicated from one or more seller databases in response to an under-constrained search query in which exact attribute values are not specified for one or more attributes;
access the buyer profile to determine an order of display of the search results based on the number of times one or more of the attribute values in the buyer profile that correspond to the attribute values left unspecified in the search query have been specified in the previous search queries received from the buyer, such that a first search result comprising a first attribute value that has been specified in a first number of previous search queries received from the buyer will be displayed within an ordered list ahead of a second search result comprising a second attribute value that has been specified in a second number of previous search queries received from the buyer if the first number is greater than the second number;
sort the search results according to the determined order of display; and
communicate the sorted search results to the buyer.
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35. A method of sorting search results according to a buyer profile during the matching phase of an electronic commerce transaction, comprising:
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receiving a plurality of search results communicated from one or more seller databases in response to a an under-constrained search query in which exact attribute values are not specified for one or more attributes;
accessing a buyer profile associated with a buyer, the buyer profile comprising a record of the number of times each of a plurality of attribute values has been specified in at least some previous search queries received from the buyer, each attribute value being a product attribute value or a seller attribute value;
determining an order of display of the search results based on the number of times one or more of the attribute values in the buyer profile that correspond to the attribute values left unspecified in the search query have been specified in the previous search queries received from the buyer, such that a first search result comprising a first attribute value that has been specified in a first number of previous search queries received from the buyer will be displayed within an ordered list ahead of a second search result comprising a second attribute value that has been specified in a second number of previous search queries received from the buyer if the first number is greater than the second number;
sorting the search results according to the determined order of display; and
communicating the sorted search results to the buyer.
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36. Software for sorting search results according to a buyer profile during the matching phase of an electronic commerce transaction, the software embodied in a computer-readable medium and when executed operable to:
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receive a plurality of search results communicated from one or more seller databases in response to a an under-constrained search query in which exact attribute values are not specified for one or more attributes;
access a buyer profile associated with a buyer, the buyer profile comprising a record of the number of times each of a plurality of attribute values has been specified in at least some previous search queries received from the buyer, each attribute value being a product attribute value or a seller attribute value;
determine an order of display of the search results based on the number of times one or more of the attribute values in the buyer profile that correspond to the attribute values left unspecified in the search query have been specified in the previous search queries received from the buyer, such that a first search result comprising a first attribute value that has been specified in a first number of previous search queries received from the buyer will be displayed within an ordered list ahead of a second search result comprising a second attribute value that has been specified in a second number of previous search queries received from the buyer if the first number is greater than the second number;
sort the search results according to the determined order of display; and
communicate the sorted search results to the buyer.
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Specification