Collecting and valuating used items for sale
First Claim
1. A method of aggregating a database of used items for sale, comprising:
- collecting a plurality of data records corresponding to said used items from a plurality of different network sites;
validating each of said plurality of data records to confirm that it is a used item of the desired type for sale; and
normalizing each of said plurality of data records with one of a pre-defined list of identification units.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Data is collected and aggregated regarding a particular used item for sale, e.g., automobiles, which is in turn validated and normalized with respect to pre-determined identification models. A historical report may be generated to provide an assessment of value based on qualitative information such as mileage and/or location, and may be presented in a multi-axis graphic format. Data records are collected from a plurality of sources over the Internet, and are validated by comparing data field entries in the aggregate data records with data field entries in an established validation database. The validated data records are normalized with respect to a predetermined set or sets of fields by assigning an identification unit to each validated data record. A web crawler to seek out suitable data records relating to the used items that are sought, a search engine is queried to derive a list of suitable high probability target URLs.
-
Citations
44 Claims
-
1. A method of aggregating a database of used items for sale, comprising:
-
collecting a plurality of data records corresponding to said used items from a plurality of different network sites;
validating each of said plurality of data records to confirm that it is a used item of the desired type for sale; and
normalizing each of said plurality of data records with one of a pre-defined list of identification units. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
-
-
21. Apparatus for aggregating a database of used items for sale, comprising:
-
means for collecting a plurality of data records corresponding to said used items from a plurality of different network sites;
means for validating each of said plurality of data records to confirm that it is a used item of the desired type for sale; and
means for normalizing each of said plurality of data records with one of a pre-defined list of identification units. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38)
-
-
39. A method of normalizing disparate data records to a pre-defined set of identification units, comprising:
-
matching a plurality of fields of a data record to a unique identification unit represented by a plurality of different representations of a common set of features; and
storing said data record in a database in a way that associates said data record with said unique identification unit. - View Dependent Claims (40, 41)
-
-
42. Apparatus for normalizing disparate data records to a pre-defined set of identification units, comprising:
-
means for matching a plurality of fields of a data record to a unique identification unit represented by a plurality of different representations of a common set of features; and
means for storing said data record in a database in a way that associates said data record with said unique identification unit. - View Dependent Claims (43, 44)
-
Specification