SHARING ITEM IMAGES BASED ON A SIMILARITY SCORE

• US 20140229494A1
• Filed: 04/16/2014
• Published: 08/14/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Original Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Inventors: Wu, Xiaoyuan, Bolivar, Alvaro, Wang, Qiang
• Granted Patent: US 9,229,954 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/749
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24575 using context
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/583 using metadata automatically derived from the content
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0643 Graphical representation of items or shoppers

Abstract

Techniques for sharing item images based on a similarity score are described. For example, a machine receives an item listing for an item from a user device. The machine generates a similarity score for an existing image corresponding to one or more existing item listings by comparing the item listing received from the user device with the one or more existing item listings. The similarity score may indicate a degree of similarity between the item listing received from the user device and the one or more existing item listings corresponding to the existing image. The machine selects one or more existing images corresponding to the one or more existing item listings based on the one or more existing images having corresponding similarity scores that exceed a threshold value. The machine transmits a communication to the user device in response to the receiving of the item listing from the user device. The communication may include the one or more existing images.

Claims

1. (canceled)

2. A system comprising:

a hardware processor;

a receiving engine configured to receive an item listing for an item from a user device;

a generating engine executable by the hardware processor and configured to generate a similarity score for an existing image corresponding to one or more existing item listings by comparing the item listing received from the user device with the one or more existing item listings, the similarity score indicating a degree of similarity between the item listing received from the user device and the one or more existing item listings corresponding to the existing image;

a proposing engine configured to select one or more existing images corresponding to the one or more existing item listings based on the one or more existing images having corresponding similarity scores that exceed a threshold value; and

a presenting engine configured to transmitting a communication to the user device in response to the receiving of the item listing from the user device, the communication including the one or more existing images.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the item listing includes a tag for the item, the tag including a pair of an attribute of the item and a value for the attribute, and

wherein the generating of the similarity score includes calculating a tag similarity score by counting a number of tags of each of the one or more existing item listings that match a respective tag of the item listing received from the user device.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the calculating of the tag similarity score comprises determining a percentage value that indicates the number of tags of each of the one or more existing listings that match the respective tag of the item listing.

5. The system of claim 2, further comprising:

a receiving engine configured to receive, from the user device, an acceptance of a particular existing image of the one or more existing images; and

an associating engine configured to associate the item listing received from the user device with the accepted particular existing image based on the received acceptance.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the associating engine is further configured to store the item listing associated with the accepted particular existing image, in a database, as a new item listing for the accepted particular existing image.

7. The system of claim 2, wherein the generating engine is further configured to:

select, based on a listing selection rule, the one or more existing item listings for comparison with the item listing received from the user device; and

identify, based on one or more data structures of the one or more existing item listings, the existing image that corresponds to the one or more existing item listings selected for the comparison, for which to generate the corresponding similarity score.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the listing selection rule specifies a temporal range that identifies a time period during which the one or more existing item listing selected for the comparison are received from one or more user devices.

9. The system of claim 2, further comprising an uploading engine configured to upload an image corresponding to the item listing received from the user device, the image being provided by the user device in response to the transmitting of the communication to the user device, and

wherein the associating engine is further configured to associate the item listing received from the user device with the image provided by the user device.

10. A method comprising:

receiving an item listing for an item from a user device;

generating, using a hardware processor, a similarity score for an existing image corresponding to one or more existing item listings by comparing the item listing received from the user device with the one or more existing item listings, the similarity score indicating a degree of similarity between the item listing received from the user device and the one or more existing item listings corresponding to the existing image;

selecting one or more existing images corresponding to the one or more existing item listings based on the one or more existing images having corresponding similarity scores that exceed a threshold value; and

transmitting a communication to the user device in response to the receiving of the item listing from the user device, the communication including the one or more existing images.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the item listing includes a tag for the item, the tag including a pair of an attribute of the item and a value for the attribute, and

wherein the generating of the similarity score includes calculating a tag similarity score by counting a number of tags of each of the one or more existing item listings that match a respective tag of the item listing received from the user device.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the calculating of the tag similarity score comprises determining a percentage value that indicates the number of tags of each of the one or more existing listings that match the respective tag of the item listing.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving, from the user device, an acceptance of a particular existing image of the one or more existing images; and

associating the item listing received from the user device with the accepted particular existing image based on the received acceptance.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising storing the item listing associated with the accepted particular existing image, in a database, as a new item listing for the accepted particular existing image.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

selecting, based on a listing selection rule, the one or more existing item listings for comparison with the item listing received from the user device; and

identifying, based on one or more data structures of the one or more existing item listings, the existing image that corresponds to the one or more existing item listings selected for the comparison, for which to generate the corresponding similarity score.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the listing selection rule specifies a temporal range that identifies a time period during which the one or more existing item listing selected for the comparison are received from one or more user devices.

17. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

uploading an image corresponding to the item listing received from the user device, the image being provided by the user device in response to the transmitting of the communication to the user device; and

associating the item listing received from the user device with the image provided by the user device.

18. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium comprising instructions that when executed by one or more hardware processors of a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

receiving an item listing for an item from a user device;

generating a similarity score for an existing image corresponding to one or more existing item listings by comparing the item listing received from the user device with the one or more existing item listings, the similarity score indicating a degree of similarity between the item listing received from the user device and the one or more existing item listings corresponding to the existing image;

selecting one or more existing images corresponding to the one or more existing item listings based on the one or more existing images having corresponding similarity scores that exceed a threshold value; and

transmitting a communication to the user device in response to the receiving of the item listing from the user device, the communication including the one or more existing images.

19. The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the item listing includes a tag for the item, the tag including a pair of an attribute of the item and a value for the attribute, and

wherein the generating of the similarity score includes calculating a tag similarity score by counting a number of tags of each of the one or more existing item listings that match a respective tag of the item listing received from the user device.

20. The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the calculating of the tag similarity score is based on determining a percentage value that indicates the number of tags of each of the one or more existing listings that match the respective tag of the item listing.

21. The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving an acceptance of a particular existing image of the one or more existing images, from the user device; and

associating the item listing received from the user device with the accepted particular existing image based on the received acceptance.