CUSTOMIZABLE ELECTRONIC COMMERCE COMPARISON SYSTEM AND METHOD

• US 20080033841A1
• Filed: 10/11/2007
• Published: 02/07/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/11/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: William Wanker
• Original Assignee: William Wanker
• Inventors: Wanker, William
• Granted Patent: US 8,204,797 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/27
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0203 Market surveys; Market polls
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0623 Item investigation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0625 Directed, with specific intent or strategy
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0627 using item specifications
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0629 for generating comparisons
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99932 Access augmentation or optimizing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99934 Query formulation, input preparation, or translation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99935 Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99936 Pattern matching access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99937 Sorting

Abstract

In a consumer information system, a method of comparing products and services including providing product specific information, providing merchant specific information on the specified product, providing merchant specific business information, providing product specific information collected by third parties, providing merchant specific information collected by third parties, applying weighting factors to the information provided, producing an aggregate value for each merchant based on the weighting factors as applied to the information provided, and producing a ranking of the merchants offering the specified product based on the aggregate value for each merchant. The system provides for consumers to select a set of standardized weighting factors or to modify the standardized weighting factors or to create their own weighting factors. The system provides detailed information to consumers on the breakdown of factors influencing the rating.

Claims

1. A machine-implemented method of providing a comparison between products, the method comprising:

receiving a search query for a product;

in response to the query, retrieving comparison data relating to the product from a database;

applying a set of weighting factors to the comparison data;

calculating an aggregate value from a result of applying the weighting factors to the retrieved comparison data;

ranking the products based on the aggregate value to produce a ranking result; and

providing the ranking result to a consumer.

2. A method as recited in claim 1,

wherein at least one weighting factor of the set of weighting factors has been input by the consumer prior to execution of the query.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the weighting factors are category weighting factors representing weights of categories of the comparison data.

4. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the comparison data includes objective, non-opinion data on the product.

5. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein calculating the aggregate value comprises multiplying the weighting factors against corresponding comparison data.

6. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

presenting the weighting factors to the consumer;

providing the consumer with the ability to specify weights associated with items of merchant and product information; and

using the weights in generating the ranking.

7. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

calculating a rating of the merchants'"'"' offerings of the specified product; and

displaying the rating of the merchants'"'"' offerings.

8. A method as recited in claim 7, wherein the rating is based on the relative difference between the aggregate scores of different products.

9. A machine-implemented method of ranking products in an online comparison system, the method comprising:

receiving, from a consumer using a computing device, a set of weighting factors pertaining to a query related to a potential consumer purchase, the weighting factors corresponding to categories of stored product comparison data, wherein at least one weighting factor of the set of weighting factors has been input by the consumer prior to execution of the query;

receiving the query;

accessing the stored product comparison data for a plurality of products, the product comparison data organized into a plurality of categories;

calculating a score for each of the products, based on the set of weighting factors and the product comparison data, to produce a plurality of scores;

ranking the products based on the scores to produce a result indicating a ranking of the products; and

returning the result to the consumer as a response to the query.

10. A method as recited in claim 9, wherein the product comparison data includes non-opinion data.

11. A method as recited in claim 9, wherein calculating a score for each of the products comprises:

calculating a plurality of respective product data weight resultant values for each product of the plurality of products, by applying each weighting factor from the set of weighting factors to a data value of the product comparison data from a corresponding product data category; and

calculating an aggregate score for each product of the plurality of products based on the corresponding plurality of calculated product data weight resultant values.

12. A method as recited in claim 9, further comprising:

requesting information from the consumer relating to a potential consumer purchase.

13. A method as recited in claim 9, further comprising:

providing the ranking result to the consumer in response to the consumer'"'"'s response to the request for information relating to a potential consumer purchase.

14. A method as recited in claim 13, further comprising:

excluding a product from the ranking result when the product receives a aggregate score below a specified threshold.

15. A method as recited in claim 9, further comprising:

requesting weighting factor information from a consumer; and

using the consumer entered weighting factor information in the calculation of the respective product data weight resultant value.

16. A method as recited in claim 9, wherein the weighting factors sum to a predetermined value.

17. A method as recited in claim 9, wherein the weighting factors are category weighting factors representing weights of categories of the product comparison data.

18. A machine-implemented method of ranking products in an online comparison system, the method comprising:

receiving, from a consumer using a computing device, a set of weighting factors pertaining to a query related to a potential consumer purchase, the weighting factors corresponding to categories of product comparison data, wherein at least one weighting factor of the set of weighting factors has been input by the consumer prior to execution of the query;

receiving the query;

accessing product comparison data for a plurality of products, the product comparison data organized into a plurality of categories and including non-opinion data;

calculating a plurality of respective product data weight resultant values for each product of the plurality of products, by multiplying each weighting factor from the set of weighting factors by a data value of the product comparison data from a corresponding product data category;

calculating an aggregate score for each product of the plurality of products by summing the corresponding plurality of calculated product data weight resultant values;

ranking the products based on the product aggregate scores to produce a ranking result; and

causing the ranking result to be output to the consumer at a computing device as a response to the query.

19. A method as recited in claim 18, further comprising:

requesting information from the consumer relating to a potential consumer purchase.

20. A method as recited in claim 19, further comprising:

providing the ranking result to the consumer in response to the consumer'"'"'s response to the request for information relating to a potential consumer purchase.

21. A method as recited in claim 20, further comprising:

excluding a product from the ranking result when the product receives a aggregate score below a specified threshold.

22. A method as recited in claim 18, further comprising:

requesting weighting factor information from a consumer; and

using the consumer entered weighting factor information in the calculation of the respective product data weight resultant value.

23. A method as recited in claim 18, wherein the weighting factors sum to a predetermined value.

24. A method as recited in claim 18, wherein the weighting factors are category weighting factors representing weights of categories of the product comparison data.

25. A machine-implemented method of ranking products in an online comparison system, the method comprising:

receiving, from a consumer using a computing device, a set of category weighting factors pertaining to a query related to a potential consumer purchase, the category weighting factors relating to product comparison data organized into a plurality of categories, the category weighting factors representing weights of categories of stored product comparison data, wherein at least one category weighting factor of the set of category weighting factors has been input by the consumer prior to execution of the query;

receiving the query;

accessing the stored product comparison data for a plurality of products;

calculating a score for each of the products, based on the set of weighting factors and the product comparison data, to produce a plurality of scores;

ranking the products based on the scores to produce a result indicating a ranking of the products; and

returning the result to the consumer as a response to the query.

26. A machine-implemented method of ranking products, the method comprising:

receiving, from a consumer using a data processing device, a set of weighting factors pertaining to a query related to a product, at least one of the weighting factors having been input by the consumer prior to execution of the query, the weighting factors corresponding to stored comparison data related to a plurality of products;

receiving the query;

accessing the stored comparison data in response to the query;

generating a ranking of the plurality of products based on the set of weighting factors and the comparison data; and

returning the ranking to the consumer as a response to the query.

27. A method as recited in claim 26, wherein the comparison data includes non-opinion data.

28. A method as recited in claim 26, wherein generating the ranking comprises:

calculating a score for each of the products, based on the set of weighting factors and the comparison data, to produce a plurality of scores, wherein the ranking is based on the scores.

29. A method as recited in claim 26, further comprising:

prior to receiving the set of weighting factors, outputting a set of suggested weighting factors to the consumer, for use as said set of weighting factors corresponding to stored comparison data.

30. A method as recited in claim 29, further comprising:

enabling the consumer to accept or modify any of the set of suggested weighting factors before using the set of suggested weighting factors.

31. A method as recited in claim 26, further comprising:

prior to receiving the set of weighting factors, outputting to the consumer data identifying a plurality of suggested weighting factor paradigms, each said paradigm representing a plurality of suggested weighting factors for possible use as said set of weighting factors corresponding to stored comparison data, each said paradigm representing a different preference set.

32. A method as recited in claim 26, wherein at least one of the weighting factors corresponds to a predefined category of stored comparison data, the predefined category including a plurality of comparison data items each of which also has a separate individual weighting factor.

33. A method as recited in claim 26, wherein the ranking comprises a list of products and returning the ranking to the consumer comprises causing the list of products to be output to the consumer;

and wherein the method further comprises;

for each product in the list, causing a plurality of category indicators to be output to the consumer in association with the corresponding product, each category indicator representing a different category of comparison data; and

causing a corresponding category score or rank to be output to the consumer in association with each said category indicator.

34. A method as recited in claim 33, further comprising:

receiving from the consumer a user input selecting one of the category indicators; and

in response to the user input selecting one of the category indicators, causing information representing a detailed breakdown of the corresponding category score or rank of the category to be output to the consumer, wherein said information representing a detailed breakdown of the corresponding category score or ranking includes a plurality of comparison data items for the category and a plurality of corresponding scores or ranks for the data items.

35. A method as recited in claim 33, further comprising:

receiving from the consumer a user input selecting one of the category indicators; and

in response to the user input selecting one of the category indicators, resorting the list based on the category corresponding to the selected indicator.

36. A method as recited in claim 26, wherein the query specifies a group of products, and wherein the ranking is generated by applying the set of weighting factors to the comparison data, relative to the group of products as a whole.