SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR INTERACTING WITH ITEM CATALOGS

• US 20080109327A1
• Filed: 10/31/2007
• Published: 05/08/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dotted Pair Inc.
• Original Assignee: Dotted Pair Inc.
• Inventors: Mayle, Neil, Rose, David, Steele, Oliver
• Granted Patent: US 8,180,690 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/27
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0603 Catalogue ordering
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces

Abstract

The present invention comprises a system and method for presenting large numbers of items on a display screen. According to one aspect of the present invention, information is harvested from a plurality of sites and over a plurality of times and aggregated into a single item set. According to another aspect of the present invention, this information is supplemented by data derived from sorting and classification tasks performed by humans. According to another aspect of present invention, this information is used to derive similarities between items and to derive a heterarchical classification of items into a hierarchical set of categories. According to another aspect of the present invention, one or more series of catalog displays are created which display these items arranged by different criteria and at different scales. According to another aspect of the present invention, these catalog displays are divided into a set of image and data files that can be sent to a client node incrementally during a session. According to another aspect of the present invention, the user may interact with the catalog display to change its scale factor and spatial offset relative to the display surface, to select different catalog displays or portions thereof, and to display additional information. According to another aspect of the present invention, the user may select items for display in a separate area or set of areas that can be manipulated independently of the virtual catalog display. The system and method are particularly useful for assisting users in locating products within a catalog of an online merchant, but may be used in connection with other collections of items.

Claims

1. a computer system for generating a catalog display for a screen having a viewing area, the catalog:

having a plurality of products with substantially all products having associated images, with all images being substantially more than viewable within the screen viewing area, comprising;

an information categorization module for generating an information relationship between the plurality of products;

an image generation module for generating a set of information tiles based upon the plurality of products, the set of information tiles composing the catalog display, the information tiles containing at least a portion of one of the associated images; and

.

a display module for displaying the catalog display on the screen and adapted to allow panning of the catalog display through the screen viewing area.

2. The computer system of claim 1 wherein the information relationship is based upon a similarity between the plurality of products, and the image generation module generates the information tiles based upon the relationship.

3. The computer system of claim 2 wherein the each of the plurality of products has associated set of characteristics, and the similarity is based upon at least a portion of such characteristics.

4. The computer system of claim 2 wherein the image generation module generates the information tiles based upon the information relationship so that the catalog display has similar products of the plurality of products closer.

5. The computer system of claim 1 wherein the display module for displaying the catalog display on the screen is further adapted to allow zooming or panning of the catalog display through the screen viewing area.

6. A computer system for generating a two dimensional catalog display, the catalog having a plurality of entries and an image associated with each of the entries, comprising:

a catalog storage module for storing the catalog entries and associated images;

a display generation module adapted to retrieve the catalog entries and associated images from the catalog storage module, generate the two dimensional catalog display representing a layout of the images associated with each of the entries, the display generation module further adapted to not have a dimensional preference and to scale the images so that the two dimensional catalog display substantially fits within a predetermined boundary; and

a display module for displaying the catalog display on a screen.

7. The computer system of claim 6 wherein the display generation module is further adapted to place the plurality of entries according to a relationship between the plurality of entries and the display module is further adapted to allow zooming or panning of the catalog display.

8. The computer system of claim 7 wherein each of the plurality of entries has an associated set of characteristics, and the relationship is based upon at least a portion of such characteristics.

9. The computer system of claim 8 wherein the display generation module generates the two dimensional display based upon the relationship so that the catalog display has similar entries placed closer in proximity.

10. The computer system of claim 9 wherein the display generation module is further adapted to generate a plurality of catalog displays, each of such plurality of catalog displays varying according to display modifier.

11. A system for generating information tiles for a tile-based display system for a plurality of items comprising:

an information categorization module for generating an information relationship between the plurality of items containing a collection of descriptive information of the plurality of items, the information relationship being base on at least a portion of the descriptive information;

a tile generation module for generating a set of information tiles based upon the plurality of items, where the quantity of information tiles does not equal the quantity of the plurality of items;

a tile storage module for storing the information tiles; and

a data storage for storing the relationship between the information tiles and the plurality of items.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the information categorization module retrieves at least a portion of the descriptive information from at least one source separate from the system.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the information tiles represent products and at least a portion of the descriptive information comprises information descriptive of the products.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the portion of the descriptive information contains at least one data item selected from a set consisting of size, style, product category, color, weight, manufacturer, price, materials, popularity and discount.

15. A method for creating a display of a set of items in a catalog containing item information, the item information consisting of at least item image data and item description, the display having a display geometry, comprising the steps of:

generating the set of items based upon a first relationship and storing them into a set of ordered items;

selecting a first item from the set of generated items, and storing it in a set of placed items;

placing the image data for the first item in the display;

for each of the remaining items in the set of generated items;

selecting a next item from the set of generated items;

placing the next item image data in the display in a position according to a second relationship between the description of the next item with the descriptions of the set of placed items, the next item thus becoming part of the set of placed items;

whereby the display contains image data for the set of items.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the item description contains information selected from the set containing price, color, size, manufacturer, availability, location, and material.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the first relationship is a function that maximizes similarity.

18. The method of claim 15 wherein the second relationship is a function that maximizes similarity based upon the position relative to the set of placed items.

19. The method of claim 15 wherein the second relationship is further weighted by locational information.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the weighted by locational information maximizes the display geometry to a preferred geometry.

21. In a client server environment, a method of creating a catalog display on the client running a browser comprising the steps of:

on the server, performing the steps of

generating a top level view, the top level view adapted to display subcategories of the catalog;

generating a bottom level view, the bottom level view adapted to display the items in the catalog;

generating one or more intermediate level views, the intermediate level views adapted to display a scaled portion of the subcategories, a scaled portion of the items, or a combination;

transmitting to the client a first portion of a selected view, the selected view being chosen from the set including the top level view, the bottom level view or the one or more intermediate level views based upon user interactions received from the client;

on the client, in the browser, performing the steps of

displaying the first portion of the selected view on the computer display;

capturing the user interactions, the user interactions controlling a zoom operation; and

transmitting the user interactions to the server.

22. The method of claim 21 further including the steps of:

generating a set of item popup information;

capturing a selection user interaction upon display of a chosen level view, the selection user interaction controlling a selection operation for at least one item; and

displaying at least one item popup information in response to the selection operation for the at least one item.

23. The method of claim 21 further including the step of capturing user panning interactions, the user panning interactions controlling a panning operation.

24. The method of claim 21 further including the step of capturing user zooming interactions, the user zooming interactions controlling a zooming operation.

25. The method of claim 21, with the top level view, the bottom level view and the one or more intermediate level views having a picture layout, each of the picture layouts comprising a set of pictures spatially arranged, further including the steps of:

on the server performing the steps of

generating sets of structured images, the sets of structured images representing a decomposition of the picture layouts;

creating image data files, the image data files containing spatial information relating to the relationship of the spatial layout of the sets of pictures layouts and the structured images;

transmitting to the client a first portion of the structured images and a portion of the image date files associated with the structured images;

on the client, performing the steps of

generating the display on the client based upon the portion of the structured images; and

capturing user interactions via the display so as to interact with the portion of the image date files.