System, method and apparatus for electronically searching for an item

• US 20060195428A1
• Filed: 12/28/2005
• Published: 08/31/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Your Command LLC
• Original Assignee: DT Labs LLC
• Inventors: Peckover, Douglas
• Granted Patent: US 8,364,670 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3322 using system suggestions G06F16/3325 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3338 Query expansion
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results

Abstract

The present invention provides provides a system, method and apparatus for electronically searching for an item by receiving a search request comprising a requested category and one or more requested attributes of the item and storing the search request in a search index based on the requested category and the requested attribute(s). The search index includes one or more categories and each category is defined by a taxonomy of attributes. The search index is then searched for any previously stored search requests that match the requested category and the requested attribute(s), a result of the search is determined and a search response that includes the result of the search is sent.

Claims

1. A method for electronically searching for an item, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a search request comprising a requested category and one or more requested attributes of the item;

storing the search request in a search index based on the requested category and the requested attribute(s), wherein the search index comprises one or more categories and each category is defined by a taxonomy of attributes;

searching the search index for any previously stored search requests that match the requested category and the requested attribute(s);

determining a result of the search; and

sending a search response comprising the result of the search.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising the step of creating the search request by selecting the requested category from the one or more categories and selecting the requested attributes from the taxonomy of attributes for the requested category.

3. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the requested attributes are selected using one or more drop down boxes, one or more check boxes, one or more radio buttons, one or more thumbnail pictures or videos, voice recognition, a fuzzy logic algorithm, a neural network or a combination thereof.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the search request is initiated from a presentation layer, a persistence layer, a brand layer or a combination thereof.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the taxonomy differs based on a language, a culture or a region associated with the search request.

6. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein the search index is capable of providing matches regardless of the language, the culture or the region associated with the search request.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the search request further comprises a price, a price range, a description, one or more comments, one or more keywords, a minimum feedback score for a user associated with any found stored search request or a combination thereof.

8. The method as recited in claim 7, further comprising the step of storing the price, the price range, the description, the comments, the keywords, the minimum feedback score or the combination thereof in the search index or in a data storage.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the item comprises a product, a service, a topic, a classified-type advertisement, a personal-type advertisement or a combination thereof.

10. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein each stored search request comprises:

an item posted for advertisement, exchange, lease, sale, trade or transfer by a user;

an item sought by a user for advertisement, exchange, lease, sale, trade or transfer;

information posted about an item provided by a user;

or

information about an item sought by a user.

11. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the received search request comprises:

an item posted for advertisement, exchange, lease, sale, trade or transfer by a user;

an item sought by a user for advertisement, exchange, lease, sale, trade or transfer;

information posted about an item provided-by a user;

information about an item sought by a user;

a search for posted items that satisfy one or more criteria;

a search for sought items that satisfy one or more criteria;

a search for sought attributes;

a search for sought information;

a bulk search;

a search for close hits that satisfy one or more criteria;

a search for lost sales that satisfy one or more criteria;

or

a combination thereof.

12. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the search request is submitted by a buyer, a seller, a buyer/seller, a “

window shopper”

, a researcher, an interested user or a combination thereof.

13. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein each attribute is defined by a question and one or more answers to the question.

14. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the categories are grouped into one or more subject areas.

15. The method as recited in claim 14, wherein:

the subject areas comprise real estate, motor vehicles, employment, financial services, residential services, professional services, travel, vacation, computers, entertainment, dining, dating, hobbies, electronics, furniture, tools, home improvement, office supplies, household items, sporting goods, sporting events, recreation, event tickets or a combination thereof;

the categories within the real estate subject area comprise houses, apartments, land, farms, commercial, insurance, finance or moving/storage;

the categories within the motor vehicles subject area comprise cars, trucks, recreational, repairs, insurance or finance;

the categories within employment comprise administrative, professional, education, healthcare, retail or manufacturing;

the categories within financial services comprise mortgages, loans, brokerage accounts, mutual funds, small business or bill pay;

the categories within residential services comprise plumber, electrician, lawn &

garden, appliance repair, remodeling or cleaning;

or

the categories within professional service comprise attorneys, accountants or computer services.

16. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the search request is persistent.

17. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

detecting a trigger event;

whenever the trigger event is detected, searching the search index for any stored search results that match the requested category and the requested attributes, and determining a new result of the search; and

whenever the new result differs from the result, sending an updated search response comprising the new result of the search.

18. The method as recited in claim 17, wherein the trigger event is a newly received search request, a change in the search request, a specified time period, receipt of an update request, a change to the search index that would change the result of the search, a deletion of a stored search request or a combination thereof.

19. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the steps are repeated until a specified time period has elapsed, a specified number of searches are performed, the search request is changed, deleted or terminated by the user, the search request is changed, deleted or terminated by a system, the search request is replaced or a combination thereof.

20. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the search response is sent to a user specified device comprising a computer, a laptop, a handheld computer, an e-mail address, a personal data assistant, a telephone, a mobile telephone, a portable media player, a portable communications device, a facsimile device, a Web-enabled device or a combination thereof.

21. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the stored search request does not contain any personal information or only contains personal information added by the user.

22. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising the step of removing any personal information from the received search request or providing a warning to the user before the received search request is stored in the search index.

23. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the stored search requests match the requested category and the requested attribute(s) whenever:

the attributes of the stored search requests are equal to or exceed the requested attributes;

the attributes of the stored search requests are substantially similar to the requested attributes;

the attributes of the stored search requests are within a range of the requested attributes;

or

a relevancy score for the stored search requests is not satisfied.

24. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the step of searching the search index is halted after a specified number of matches have been found.

25. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising the step of updating the search index whenever a stored search request is added, changed or deleted.

26. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising the step of determining a relevancy score for each found stored search request.

27. The method as recited in claim 26, further comprising the step of displaying the relevancy score graphically.

28. The method as recited in claim 26, wherein the determination of the relevancy score is based on one or more user preferences, a closeness of the requested attributes in the search request to the attributes of the stored search request, a distance between an item associated with a stored search request and a location of the user, a user specified budget or a combination thereof.

29. The method as recited in claim 26, wherein the determination of the relevancy score comprises a sum of relevancy scores for each requested attribute in the search request divided by the number of requested attributes in the search request, wherein the relevancy score for each requested attribute comprises a first value whenever the requested attribute is not specified in the stored search request, a second value whenever the requested attribute matches the attribute of the stored search request and the requested attribute is Must Have, a third value whenever the requested attribute that matches the attribute of the stored search request and the requested attribute is not Must Have, a fourth value whenever the requested attribute that does not match the attribute of the stored search request and the requested attribute is Must Have, and a fifth value whenever the requested attribute does not match the attribute of the stored search request and the requested attribute is not Must Have.

30. The method as recited in claim 26, further comprising the step of providing the relevancy score to the user associated with the stored search request, another interested user or a combination thereof.

31. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising the step of receiving one or more preferences associated with a user or the search request.

32. The method as recited in claim 31, wherein the one or more preferences comprise an urgency, a results per screen, an minimum required relevancy limit, a minimum required rating associated with the stored search request, one or more user devices that are to be used for communications, one or more messaging limits or a combination thereof.

33. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising the step of sending a notification to a user whenever:

the requested attributes of a received search request matches a stored search request associated with the user;

a received search request is changed that previously matched the stored search request associated with the user;

a received search request is changed that now matches the stored search request associated with the user;

an item associated with a stored search request is located within a specified distance from a location of the user;

the result of the search request by the user has changed;

the result of the search request by the user has not changed;

or

a relevancy score for the stored search requests is not satisfied.

34. The method as recited in claim 33, wherein the notification comprises a request to return to the stored search request or the result of the search, a link to return to the stored search request or the result of the search, a description of a reason for the notification, a message, a new search request or a combination thereof.

35. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising the step of providing a messaging system between a user that submitted the search request and each user associated with the stored search requests that matched the requested attributes.

36. The method as recited in claim 35, wherein the messages within the messaging system are private between the user that submitted the search request and each user associated with the stored search requests that matched the requested attributes and cannot be accessed by third parties.

37. The method as recited in claim 35, wherein the messages within the messaging system do not contain any personal information about the user that submitted the search request and each user associated with the stored search requests that matched the requested attributes unless such personal information is added by one of the users.

38. The method as recited in claim 35, wherein the messages within the messaging system are not tied to a mail server or an e-mail address.

39. The method as recited in claim 35, wherein the messages are logged and tied to the search request.

40. The method as recited in claim 35, wherein the user that submitted the search request and each user associated with the stored search requests that matched the requested attributes can specify a limit on the number of messages that another user can send to them.

41. The method as recited in claim 35, wherein a user can add an attachment or additional content to the messages within the messaging system if the attachment satisfies one or more criteria.

42. The method as recited in claim 35, wherein a user can accept unsolicited offers, unsolicited messages, questionnaires, advertisements or a combination thereof if such offers, messages, questionnaires or advertisements satisfy one or more criteria.

43. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

receiving feedback or comments regarding a user, a stored search request or a combination thereof; and

associating the feedback or comments with the user or the stored search request or the combination thereof.

44. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising the step of authenticating the received search request.

45. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the steps of storing the search request, searching the search index, determining the result of the search and sending the search response are performed at a level of functionality associated with a user associated with the received search request.

46. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising the step of resubmitting a previously submitted search request.

47. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising the step of linking information contained in a legacy database to the search index.

48. The method as recited in claim 47, wherein the information is linked via an XML or EDI index, loaded into the search index, loaded and indexed into a data storage or a combination thereof.

49. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising the step of deleting a stored search request.

50. A computer program embodied on a computer readable medium for electronically searching for an item comprising:

a code segment for receiving a search request comprising a requested category and one or more requested attributes of the item;

a code segment for storing the search request in a search index based on the requested category and the requested attribute(s), wherein the search index comprises one or more categories defined by a taxonomy of attributes;

a code segment for searching the search index for any previously stored search requests that match the requested category and the requested attribute(s);

a code segment for determining a result of the search; and

a code segment for sending a search response comprising the result of the search.

51. An apparatus for electronically searching for an item comprising:

a search index comprising one or more categories defined by a taxonomy of attributes;

a search engine communicably coupled to the search index wherein the search engine receives a search request comprising a requested category and one or more requested attributes of the item, stores the search request in the search index based on the requested category and the requested attribute(s), searches the search index for any previously stored search requests that match the requested category and the requested attribute(s), determines a result of the search and sends the result of the search.

52. The apparatus as recited in claim 51, further comprising a user interface for entering the search request and receiving the result of the search.

53. The apparatus as recited in claim 51, further comprising a data storage communicably coupled to the search engine.

54. The apparatus as recited in claim 51, further comprising a brand layer communicably coupled to the search engine.

55. The apparatus as recited in claim 51, wherein the search index is bi-directional between a buyer and a seller, the buyer and another buyer, the seller and the buyer, or the seller and another seller.

56. The apparatus as recited in claim 51, further comprising a private messaging system communicably coupled to the search engine.

57. A system for electronically searching for an item comprising:

a network;

one or more user devices communicably coupled to the network;

a user interface communicably coupled to the network for entering a search request comprising a requested category and one or more requested attributes of the item and receiving a result of the search;

a search index comprising one or more categories defined by a taxonomy of attributes; and

a search engine communicably coupled to the user interface and the search index wherein the search engine receives the search request, stores the search request in the search index based on the requested category and the requested attribute(s), searches the search index for any previously stored search requests that match the requested category and the requested attribute(s), determines the result of the search and sends the result of the search.

58. The system as recited in claim 57, wherein the user interface is resident on the one or more user devices.

59. The system as recited in claim 57, further comprising a data storage communicably coupled to the search engine.

60. The system as recited in claim 57, further comprising a brand layer communicably coupled to the search engine.

61. The system as recited in claim 57, wherein the search index is bi-directional between a buyer and a seller, the buyer and another buyer, the seller and the buyer, or the seller and another seller.

62. The system as recited in claim 57, further comprising a private messaging system communicably coupled to the search engine.