Systems and Methods for Searching a Defined Area

• US 20090265251A1
• Filed: 11/30/2007
• Published: 10/22/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: NinthDecimal, Inc. (InMarket Media, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Nearbynow
• Inventors: Tran, Quyen, Howe, Paul, Chun, Wesley, Dunlap, Scott Howard, Schaefer, Josh, Steinman, Dan, Piper, Jeff, Erdfelt, Johannes
• Application Number:
  US11/948,884
• Publication Number:
  US 20090265251A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/26
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention include systems and methods for searching a defined area. In one embodiment, the present invention includes a method comprising receiving a plurality of product data, wherein the product data describes a plurality of products offered for sale by a plurality of businesses. Product data may be associated with a defined area, where the businesses each have a point-of-sale store located in the defined area. A user may enter a search request, and the system searches product data for a plurality of products in a plurality of point-of-sale stores in the defined area. The system outputs product data for point-of-sale stores located in said defined area matching said search request.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving a plurality of product data, wherein the product data describes a plurality of products offered for sale by a plurality of businesses;

storing the product data as a plurality of individual product data records, wherein each record describes an individual product;

associating a portion of the product data records with a defined physical area, wherein said businesses each have a point-of-sale store located in said defined physical area;

receiving a search request;

searching product data records for a plurality of products in a plurality of point-of-sale stores located in the defined physical area; and

outputting product data for said businesses with point-of-sale stores located in said defined physical area matching said search request.

2. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising receiving product inventory data from a point-of-sale store in said defined physical area, the portion of product data records associated with the defined physical area comprising product data for a first business matching the inventory data from said point-of-sale store for the first business.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein associating a portion of the product data records with a defined physical area comprises associating a point-of-sale store of each business with the defined physical area and associating product data records from each business with the point-of-sale store in the defined physical area.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the plurality of product data is received from a plurality of websites for said businesses.

5. The method of claim 4, the method further comprising:

configuring an automated web content extraction program with one or more mapping rules for specifying the location of product data in a website; and

extracting the product data from said website of said business.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the mapping rules mapping product data from a product web page on said website to fields of a product data record in a database.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein the defined physical area is represented by a unique identifier, and wherein associating a portion of the product data with the defined physical area comprises associating a portion of the product data with the unique identifier.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

storing the hours of operation for the first store;

specifying a response time window;

receiving a reservation pickup request;

calculating the pickup time based on the current time, the response time window, and the hours of operation of said store.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising associating a portion of the product data records with a map image of said defined physical area, and outputting said map image and the location of each point-of-sale store having product data responsive to said search request.

10. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

storing an electronic map of the defined physical area;

associating a plurality of stores with location information for specifying the location of the store on said electronic map; and

specifying the location of each point-of-sale store on the electronic map having product data matching said search request.

11. A computer-implemented method comprising:

storing an identifier in a first record, the identifier representing a defined area;

associating the identifier in the first record with a plurality of store records in a store table, wherein each store record corresponds to a point-of-sale-store in the defined area;

associating a first store record from the plurality of store records with a first retailer record in a retailer table, the first store record corresponding to a first store in the defined area;

programming a crawler with configuration information for retrieving information from a website of said retail business, the website comprising a plurality of products and corresponding product data, the configuration information comprising one or more rules for mapping product data from a product web page to fields of a product data record in a database;

associating a plurality of product data records populated with data from said website with the first retail record;

receiving inventory data corresponding to said first store record, the inventory data specifying products offered in said first store;

filtering the product data records using the inventory data, wherein the filtered product data records describe products from said website that are offered in said first store; and

associating the filtered product data records with said first store record, and in accordance therewith, associating the filtered product data records with the defined area.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising:

generating an index of the data in the database;

receiving a search request for information within said defined area;

accessing the product data associated with said defined area in response to the request; and

generating a plurality of web pages, the web pages comprising product data in said defined area responsive to the search request.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the search request comprises a search query and a specification of the defined area.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein the search request is a text message comprising a search query and a geocode, the method further comprising mapping the geocode to said identifier.

15. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

storing the hours of operation for the first store;

specifying a response time window;

receiving a reservation pickup request;

calculating the pickup time based on the current time, the response time window, and the hours of operation of said store.

16. The method of claim 11, the configuration information further comprising one or more rules for identifying product categories.

17. The method of claim 11, the configuration information further comprising one or more rules for identifying product web pages.

18. The method of claim 11 further comprising storing map of the defined area in the first record and storing a location of said first store in said defined area in said first data record.

19. The method of claim 11 further comprising storing map of the defined area in the first record and storing a location of said first store in said defined area in said first data record.

20. A computer-readable medium containing instructions for controlling a computer system to perform a method comprising:

receiving a plurality of product data, wherein the product data describes a plurality of products offered for sale by a plurality of businesses;

associating a portion of the product data with a defined physical area, wherein said businesses each have a point-of-sale store located in said defined physical area;

receiving a search request;

searching product data for a plurality of products in a plurality of point-of-sale stores associated with the defined physical area; and

outputting product data for said businesses with point-of-sale stores located in said defined physical area matching said search request.

21. The computer-readable medium of claim 20, the method further comprising receiving product inventory data from a point-of-sale store in said defined physical area, the portion of product data associated with the defined physical area comprising product data for a first business matching the inventory data from said point-of-sale store for the first business.

22. The computer-readable medium of claim 21 wherein associating a portion of the product data with a defined physical area comprises associating a point-of-sale store of each business with the defined physical area and associating product data from each business with the point-of-sale store in the defined physical area.

23. The computer-readable medium of claim 22 wherein the plurality of product data is received from a plurality of websites for said businesses.

24. The computer-readable medium of claim 23, the method further comprising:

configuring an automated web content extraction program with one or more mapping rules for specifying the location of product data in a website; and

extracting the product data from said website of said business.

25. The computer-readable medium of claim 24 wherein the defined physical area is represented by a unique identifier, and wherein associating a portion of the product data with the defined physical area comprises associating a portion of the product data with the unique identifier.

26. The computer-readable medium of claim 25, the method further comprising:

storing an electronic map of the defined physical area;

associating a plurality of stores with location information for specifying the location of the store on said electronic map; and

specifying the location of each point-of-sale store on the electronic map having product data matching said search request.