COMPUTER PROCESSES FOR ADAPTIVELY SELECTING AND/OR RANKING ITEMS FOR DISPLAY IN PARTICULAR CONTEXTS

• US 20080040341A1
• Filed: 10/19/2007
• Published: 02/14/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Brent Smith, Jeremy York, Robert Cottrell
• Original Assignee: Brent Smith, Jeremy York, Robert Cottrell
• Inventors: York, Jeremy, Smith, Brent, Cottrell, Robert
• Granted Patent: US 7,779,014 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/5
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/948 Product or catalog
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• 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

Abstract

A computer-implemented system and method are disclosed that are capable of refining the order and/or content of a list of items. In one embodiment, user activity associated with each item displayed to users in a given context is monitored, and is used together with item exposure data to generate context-specific item weights. The weights for the same item in different contexts may be different. The selection of items included in a list presented to users, and/or the order in which the items in the list are displayed, may be adjusted over time based upon the relative weights associated with the items.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving a request from a browser, said request corresponding to a particular context of a plurality of contexts;

identifying a plurality of items that are responsive to the request, at least some of said items capable of being displayed in more than one of said contexts;

determining context-specific weights for each of the items, each context-specific weight corresponding to a respective item of said plurality of items and being specific to said context, each context-specific weight being dependent upon context-specific exposure of the respective item, and context-specific user activity resulting from said exposure, in said context, wherein the context-specific weights are dependent upon item selection actions of a plurality of users;

generating a ranked list of said plurality of items such that positions of said items in the ranked list are dependent upon said context-specific item weights; and

generating and outputting a web page in response to the request, said web page including at least a portion of the ranked list.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

recording at least one item selection action performed by a user on said web page; and

adjusting at least one of said weights by an amount that is dependent upon the at least one item selection action.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the method comprises selecting a subset of the items in the ranked list to display on the web page, such that less than all of said plurality of items are included on said web page.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

recording exposure data for said page request, said exposure data identifying the subset of items selected to include on the web page; and

adjusting at least one of the weights by an amount that is dependent upon the exposure data.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying said plurality of items comprises identifying items that are responsive to criteria specified in the request.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the weights are non-user-specific.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the web page comprises user-selectable display elements for initiating a display of additional items that are similar to, but different from, the items on the web page, and the method further comprises monitoring users selections of said display elements and resulting user selections of the additional items, and based thereon, causing an additional item to be added to a list of items associated with the context.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the context-specific exposure data reflects a number of times the item has been included in web pages generated by a server system, and the context-specific user activity data reflects a number of times the item has been selected by users from said web pages.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the context-specific item weights comprises applying a time-based decay function to the exposure data and the user activity data to cause greater weight to be given to recent exposure and user activity data than to older exposure and user activity data.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein tracking the context-specific exposure of the item comprises separately maintaining, for each of said contexts, a count of a number of times the item has been selected for inclusion in web pages served to users.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein each context-specific item weight is dependent upon tracked activity of a plurality of users.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the contexts corresponds to a respective list of items

14. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the contexts corresponds to a respective task capable of being performed by users.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the context-specific item weights comprises adjusting a current value of a context-specific item weight to reflect the context-specific exposure data and context-specific user activity data resulting from said value.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a page request from a browser, said page request corresponding to a first context of said plurality of contexts; and

in response to the page request, generating a web page in which a display position of the item, relative to other items on the page, is dependent upon the context-specific item weight corresponding to the first context.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the item is a catalog item in an electronic catalog.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is performed to control a display of the item on web pages of a web site, and the item is a link to another web site.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

causing the item to be displayed, in a first context of said plurality of contexts, together with a user-selectable option for initiating a display of additional items that are similar to said item;

monitoring user selections of said option, and resulting user selections of the additional items; and

when said user selections of additional items reveal a threshold degree of association between an additional item and said first context, causing the additional item to be added to a list of items associated with the first context.

8. A computer-implemented method of adaptively controlling the display of an item, the method comprising:

for each of a plurality of contexts in which the item is capable of being displayed, tracking both context-specific exposure of the item and context-specific user activity resulting from said exposure, wherein said tracking comprises storing context-specific exposure data and context-specific user activity data in computer storage for each of the plurality of contexts;

for each of the plurality of contexts, generating a respective context-specific item weight for the item, said context-specific item weight being dependent upon the context-specific exposure data and the context-specific user activity data corresponding to the respective context, and not being specific to any particular user; and

using the context-specific item weights to at least rank the item for display to users in the respective contexts to which such item weights correspond.

20. A computer-implemented method of adaptively adjusting a presentation order of a list of items, the method comprising:

tracking an exposure of each item in the list within a selected context of a plurality of contexts, wherein the exposure of an item reflects the number of times the item has been presented to a user within the selected context;

tracking user activity associated with each item on the list of items within the selected context, said user activity comprising users selections of items from a computerized display of said list;

generating a context-specific weight for each item in the list based at least upon the tracked exposure of the item within the selected context and the tracked user activity within the selected context; and

adjusting a presentation order of the items in the list according to the context-specific weights of the items.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein each of said context-specific weights is dependent on actions of a plurality of users.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein each of said contexts-specific weights is non-user-specific.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein each context corresponds to a respective list of items, and at least some of the items are included in multiple ones of said lists.

24. The method of claim 20, wherein the items include products represented in an electronic catalog.

25. The method of claim 20, wherein the method comprises adjusting the presentation order of the items on a web site, and the items include links to other web sites.