SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MANAGING PRODUCT CATALOGS

• US 20140108206A1
• Filed: 10/15/2012
• Published: 04/17/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/15/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CNET Media Incorporated (Red Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: CBS Interactive Inc. (ViacomCBS Incorporated)
• Inventors: CHECHUY, Dmitry
• Granted Patent: US 10,210,553 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/27.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0603 Catalogue ordering

Abstract

Product listings from a product catalog are organized by implementing programmatic processes that de-duplicate, cluster and/or group product listings.

Claims

1. A method for managing a product catalog, the method being implemented by one or more processors and comprising:

analyzing a collection of product listings that comprise at least a portion of the product catalog, each of the product listings of the collection corresponding to a product, and each of the product listings of the collection providing (i) a product identifier, and (ii) a product description;

grouping a first set of product listings in the collection that are duplicative; and

clustering a second set of product listings in the collection that have a common manufacturer and product name, but which differ from one another based on a set of one or more key characteristics.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a representative product listing from the first set of product listings, and providing the representative product listing for presentation of a product identified by each of the product listings of the first set.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein grouping the first set of product listings includes determining that two or more product listings in the first set are for an identical product, but that the two or more product listings record a product identifier of the identical product differently, so that a discrepancy exists between the product identifier of the two or more product listings.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein determining that two or more product listings in the first set are for the identical product includes determining that the product identifiers for each of the two or more product listings of the first set are different, but should be the same.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein determining that two or more product listings in the first set are for the identical product includes determining that the product identifiers for each of the two or more product listings of the first set are different as a result of a discrepancy in only a number of characters that comprise the product identifier of one or more of the product listings of the first set.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein determining that two or more product listings in the first set are for the identical product includes determining that the product identifiers for each of the two or more product listings of the first set are different as a result of a discrepancy in only a subset of characters that comprise the product identifier of the one or more of the product listings of the first set.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein grouping the first set of product listings in the collection that are duplicative includes determining that two or more product listings in the product catalog are logically duplicative as for referencing a product that has a different product identifier, but is otherwise substantially the same.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising organizing the product catalog by linking product listings of the first set to a single representative product listing that replaces other product listings in the first set when the product of the product listings of the first set are searched or queried.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising organizing the product catalog by consolidating elements of one or more product listings in the second set into a presentation that provides the product listings of the second set.

10. The method of claim 3, wherein the product identifier of the collection of product listings of the first set corresponds to a manufacturer part number (MPN).

11. The method of claim 3, wherein the product identifier of the collection of product listings of the first set corresponds to one of a Universal Product Code (“

UPC”

), International Standard Book Number (“

ISBN”

), European Article Number (“

EAN”

) or Japanese Article Number (“

JAN”

).

18. The method of claim 1, wherein programmatically determining the second set includes performing a comparative analysis on the product description for each of the product listings of the first set.

12. A method for managing a product catalog, the method being implemented by one or more processors and comprising:

analyzing a collection of product listings that comprise at least a portion of the product catalog, each of the product listings of the collection corresponding to a product, and each of the collection of product listings providing (i) a product identifier, and (ii) a product description;

programmatically determining that a first set of two or more product listings in the product catalog are for an identical product, and that a discrepancy between each of the product identifiers of the first set of two or more product listings is immaterial; and

programmatically determining that a second set of two or more product listings in the product catalog each identify a product that has a common manufacturer and product name, but which differ from one another based on a set of one or more key characteristics; and

organizing the product catalog by determining a representative product listing for each product listing of the first set and second set.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein programmatically determining that a first set of two or more product listings in the product catalog are for an identical product includes determining that the product identifiers for each of the two or more product listings of the first set are different, but should be the same.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the product identifiers for each of the two or more product listings of the first set are different as a result of a discrepancy in only one or two characters that comprise the product identifier of one or more of the product listings of the first set.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the product identifiers for each of the two or more product listings of the first set are different as a result of a discrepancy in only a subset of characters that comprise the product identifier of one or more of the product listings of the first set.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the product identifiers for each of the two or more product listings of the first set are different as a result of an omitted or incorrect character.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein programmatically determining that a first set of two or more product listings in the product catalog are for an identical product detecting one or more product listings of the first set based on a product identifier template for a particular source.

19. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

determining a cluster of product listings, the cluster of product listings including multiple product listings for a set of products, each product in the set of products sharing a set of product characteristics and a product source, but being distinguishable from other products in the set based on a variation of at least one product characteristic.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising using multiple product listings from the cluster of product listings on a single presentation in response to a request for a product or product listing of the cluster.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein using multiple product listings includes providing a portion of the product description of each product listing on a webpage for the products of the product listings of the cluster.

22. The method of claim 12, wherein the product identifier of the collection of product listings corresponds to a manufacturer part number (MPN).

23. The method of claim 12, wherein the product identifier of the collection of product listings corresponds to a Universal Product Code (“

UPC”

), International Standard Book Number (“

ISBN”

), European Article Number (“

EAN”

) or Japanese Article Number (“

JAN”

).

24. A computer system for managing a product catalog, the computer system comprising:

a memory that stores a set of instructions;

one or more processors that use instructions stored in the memory to;

analyze a collection of product listings that comprise at least a portion of the product catalog, each of the collection of product listings corresponding to a product, and each of the collection of product listings providing (i) a product identifier, and (ii) a product description;

group a first set of product listings in the collection that are duplicative; and

cluster a second set of product listings in the collection that have a common manufacturer and product name, but which differ from one another based on a set of one or more key characteristics.

25. The computer system of claim 24, wherein the one or more processors organize the product catalog by structuring data corresponding to the product catalog within a database.