Method and System for Aggregating Reviews and Searching Within Reviews for a Product

• US 20110208669A1
• Filed: 05/05/2011
• Published: 08/25/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Jan Matthias Ruhl, Mayur D. Datar
• Inventors: Ruhl, Jan Matthias, Datar, Mayur D.
• Granted Patent: US 8,161,030 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/347
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0278 Product appraisal
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0282 Rating or review of business operators or products

Abstract

The embodiments disclosed herein include new, more efficient ways to collect product reviews from the Internet, aggregate reviews for the same product, and provide an aggregated review to end users in a searchable format. One aspect of the invention is a graphical user interface on a computer that includes a plurality of portions of reviews for a product and a search input area for entering search terms to search for reviews of the product that contain the search terms.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

at a client having one or more processors and memory storing one or more programs for execution by the one or more processors,

sending a request for an aggregated review of a product,

receiving the aggregated review of the product, and

displaying the aggregated review of the product,

wherein the aggregated review of the product includes

portions of multiple reviews of the product,

a search input area for entering search terms for a second request which requests only search results that are within reviews for the product, and

a list of search terms related to the product, wherein the search terms are automatically selected from a plurality of reviews of the product in accordance with their respective weighted occurrences in the reviews.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further including displaying, after sending the second request, at least portions of reviews of the product matching the search terms of the second request.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the aggregated review of the product includes a first aggregate rating for the product, and the method further includes displaying, after sending the second request, a second aggregate rating of reviews matching the search terms of the second request.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the aggregated review of the product includes a first number of reviews of the product, and the method further includes displaying, after sending the second request, a second number of reviews matching the search terms of the second request.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the aggregated review of the product includes a first list of review sources that link back to source web sites or to reviews corresponding to the product, and the method further includes displaying, after sending the second request, a second list of review sources that link back to source web sites or to reviews matching the search terms of the second request.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the aggregated review of the product is displayed in a single Web page.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the request is sent in response to a user initiated activity.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein the user initiated activity comprises activating a hyperlink.

9. A computer-implemented method comprising:

at a server having one or more processors and memory storing one or more programs for execution by the one or more processors,

receiving a request for an aggregated review of a product from a client computer,

obtaining the aggregated review of the product, and

sending the aggregated review of the product to the client computer for display,

wherein the aggregated review of the product includes;

portions of multiple reviews of the product,

information for displaying a search input area for entering search terms for a second request that requests only search results that are within reviews for the product, and

information for displaying a list of search terms related to the product, wherein the search terms are automatically selected from a plurality of reviews of the product in accordance with their respective weighted occurrences in the reviews.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, further comprising:

indexing individual and aggregated product reviews to produce a reviews index, wherein the reviews index maps search terms to reviews; and

storing the reviews index.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, further including, after receiving the second request, sending to the client computer information for displaying at least portions of reviews of the product matching the search terms of the second request.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein the aggregated review of the product includes a first aggregate rating for the product, and the method further includes, after receiving the second request, sending to the client computer information for displaying a second aggregate rating of reviews matching the search terms of the second request.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein the aggregated review of the product includes a first number of reviews of the product, and the method further includes, after receiving the second request, sending to the client computer information for displaying a second number of reviews matching the search terms of the second request.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein the aggregated review of the product includes a first list of review sources that link back to source web sites or to reviews corresponding to the product, and the method further includes, after receiving the second request, sending to the client computer information for displaying a second list of review sources that link back to source web sites or to reviews matching the search terms of the second request.

15. A system comprising at least one server, the system comprising:

one or more processors; and

memory;

wherein said at least one server is configured to;

receive a request from a client for an aggregated review of a product;

search a database of reviews to obtain the aggregated review of the product, wherein the aggregated review of the product is generated from review information extracted from crawled Web pages; and

send the aggregated review of the product to the client,

wherein the aggregated review of the product includes;

portions of multiple reviews associated with the product,

identification information for each review,

information for displaying a search input area for entering search terms for a second request that requests only search results that are within reviews for the product, and

information for displaying a list of search terms related to the product, wherein the search terms are automatically selected from a plurality of reviews of the product in accordance with their respective weighted occurrences in the reviews.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein said at least one server is configured to:

index individual and aggregated product reviews to produce a reviews index, wherein the reviews index maps search terms to reviews; and

store the reviews index.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein said at least one server is configured to, after receiving the second request, send to the client information for displaying at least portions of reviews of the product matching the search terms of the second request.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the aggregated review of the product includes a first aggregate rating for the product, and said at least one server is configured to, after receiving the second request, send to the client information for displaying a second aggregate rating of reviews matching the search terms of the second request.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the aggregated review of the product includes a first number of reviews of the product, and said at least one server is configured to, after receiving the second request, send to the client information for displaying a second number of reviews matching the search terms of the second request.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the aggregated review of the product includes a first list of review sources that link back to source web sites or to reviews corresponding to the product, and said at least one server is configured to, after receiving the second request, send to the client information for displaying a second list of review sources that link back to source web sites or to reviews matching the search terms of the second request.

21. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored thereon data representing sequences of instructions, which when executed by a server system having one or more processors and memory storing one or more programs for execution by the one or more processors, cause the server system to:

receive a request from a client for an aggregated review of a product;

search a database of reviews to obtain the aggregated review of the product, wherein the aggregated review of the product is generated from review information extracted from crawled Web pages; and

send the aggregated review of the product to the client,

wherein the aggregated review of the product includes;

portions of multiple reviews associated with the product,

identification information for each review,

information for displaying a search input area for entering search terms for a second request that requests only search results that are within reviews for the product, and

information for displaying a list of search terms related to the product, wherein the search terms are automatically selected from a plurality of reviews of the product in accordance with their respective weighted occurrences in the reviews.

22. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein said at least one server is configured to, after receiving the second request, send to the client information for displaying at least portions of reviews of the product matching the search terms of the second request.

23. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the aggregated review of the product includes a first aggregate rating for the product, and said at least one server is configured to, after receiving the second request, send to the client information for displaying a second aggregate rating of reviews matching the search terms of the second request.

24. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the aggregated review of the product includes a first number of reviews of the product, and said at least one server is configured to, after receiving the second request, send to the client information for displaying a second number of reviews matching the search terms of the second request.

25. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the aggregated review of the product includes a first list of review sources that link back to source web sites or to reviews corresponding to the product, and said at least one server is configured to, after receiving the second request, send to the client information for displaying a second list of review sources that link back to source web sites or to reviews matching the search terms of the second request.