System and method for managing shared collections

• US 20070130207A1
• Filed: 09/20/2006
• Published: 06/07/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/22/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Original Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Inventors: Chatwani, Robert, Pate, Kenneth, Dickenson, Nancy
• Granted Patent: US 8,977,603 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0621 Item configuration or customization
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0627 using item specifications

Abstract

This document describes, among other things, systems and methods for managing shared collections. A method comprises receiving, by a network-based commerce system, an indication from a client device to create a collection; receiving, by the network-based commerce system, a textual description of the collection from the client computer; automatically classifying the textual description into one or more elements; and storing the collection as one or more classified elements in the network-based commerce system.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a network-based commerce system, an indication from a client device to create a collection;

receiving, by the network-based commerce system, a textual description of the collection from the client computer;

automatically classifying the textual description into one or more elements; and

storing the collection as one or more classified elements in the network-based commerce system.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing an initial classification of the textual description to the client device; and

receiving a revised classification of the textual description from the client device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the textual description includes zero or more delimiters and wherein automatically classifying the textual description into one or more elements includes using the delimiters.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically classifying the textual description includes:

parsing the textual description; and

organizing the parsed textual description into one or more name-value pairs.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein parsing the textual description includes using one or more delimiter characters in the textual description.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein parsing the textual description includes:

associating two or more character strings;

determining if the associated character strings are logically related; and

relating the associated character strings with a label in a name-value pairing if the strings are logically related.

7. A method to manage a community-editable collection, the method comprising:

receiving, by a network-based commerce system, an indication from a client device to create an entry in a collection;

receiving, by the network-based commerce system, a textual description of the entry from the client device;

classifying the textual description into one or more elements;

determining whether the entry already exists in the network-based commerce system; and

storing the entry in the network-based commerce system if the entry does not exist.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

providing an initial classification of the textual description to the client device; and

receiving a revised classification of the textual description from the client device.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the textual description includes zero or more delimiters and wherein the classifying the textual description into one or more elements includes using the delimiters.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein classifying the textual description includes:

parsing the textual description; and

organizing the parsed textual description into one or more name-value pairs.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein parsing the textual description includes using one or more delimiter characters in the textual description.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein parsing the textual description includes:

associating two or more character strings;

determining if the associated character strings are logically related; and

relating the associated character strings with a label in a name-value pairing if the strings are logically related.

13. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

when the entry does exist, providing a user with the ability to edit the entry.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the ability to edit the entry includes the ability to edit at least one of a title, a description, and an image.

15. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

determining whether the entry may be edited.

16. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

determining whether the user is authorized to edit the entry.

17. The method of claim 7, further comprising storing a provenance code, wherein the provenance code is associated with the entry and can be used to track the entry'"'"'s history of transactions, owners, or prices.

18. A method comprising:

receiving an indication that a user wants to edit at least a portion of an entry, wherein the entry is associated with a collectible item and is related to one or more collections;

determining whether the portion of the entry is editable;

determining whether the user is authorized to edit the portion of the entry;

receiving one or more edited portions of the entry; and

storing the edited entry.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the portion of the entry includes a title, a description, and an image.

20. A system for managing collections of collectible items, the system comprising:

a server;

a first database, communicatively coupled to the server, configured to store information describing a collection of collectible items;

a second database, communicatively coupled to the server, configured to store information describing a collection entry, wherein the collection entry is associated with at least one collection in the first database;

a third database, communicatively coupled to the server, configured to store information describing a listing, wherein the listing is associated with at least one collection entry in the second database; and

a client device, communicatively coupled to the server, wherein the client device can be used by a user to modify information in the first, second, or third databases.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the second database is further configured to store the information describing a collection entry as one or more name-value pairs derived from an unstructured input from the user.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein the server includes:

a user-interface module, configured to provide a graphical user-interface to the user;

a classification module, coupled to the user-interface module, configured to receive a textual description of one of more of a collection or a collection entry, and further configured to deconstruct the textual description to determine one or more name-value pairs; and

a database server module, coupled to the classification module, configured to store the deconstructed name-value pairs in one or more databases.

23. A method for searching and navigating through a collection of collectible items, the method comprising:

receiving an indication that a user wants to change the scope or content of a listing of collection entries, wherein the indication includes at least one search term;

determining if the user wants to add the search term as a constraint or refocus using the search term;

adding the search term to a set of one or more existing search terms and providing a revised list of collection entries using the augmented set of search terms if the user wants to add the search term as a constraint; and

providing one or more collections related to the search term if the user wants to refocus using the search term.

24. A method comprising:

receiving an indication of a collectible item entry in a collection;

determining whether one or more users of a network-based commerce system want to sell an instance of the collectible item entry;

determining whether one or more users of the network-based commerce system want to buy an instance of the collectible item entry; and

providing an indication of one or more sellers'"'"' terms if one or more users want to sell an instance of the collectible item entry and providing an indication of one or more buyers'"'"' terms if one or more users want to buy an instance of the collectible item entry.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

tracking a history of sales of instances of the collectible item entry; and

providing the history to the users of the network-based commerce system.