SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SYNCHRONIZED WEB SCRAPING

• US 20140351091A1
• Filed: 05/24/2013
• Published: 11/27/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/24/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ficstar Software, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Ficstar Software, Inc.
• Inventors: He, Wei
• Granted Patent: US 9,836,775 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/26.62
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0625 Directed, with specific intent or strategy

Abstract

A method includes obtaining information associated with a product, service, or event. The method also includes scraping data based on the obtained information substantially concurrently from two or more web pages associated with websites that list a same product, service, or event to produce scraped data for the same product, service, or event from each corresponding web page at substantially a same time.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

obtaining, by least one processing device, information associated with a product, service, or event; and

scraping, by the at least one processing device, data based on the obtained information substantially concurrently from two or more web pages associated with websites that list a same product, service, or event to produce scraped data for the same product, service, or event from each corresponding web page at substantially a same time.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining information includes obtaining a uniform resource locator (URL) associated with the product, service, or event.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising categorizing the obtained information in accordance with identifiers.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising comparing the obtained information based on the identifiers to determine whether the websites list the same product, service, or event.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the identifiers include a book title or an international standard book number (ISBN).

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the identifiers include price and wherein the scraped data includes real-time price data.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving search inquiries for the product, service, or event in a graphical user interface, and displaying the scraped data in the graphical user interface.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising producing a comparison result based on a comparison of the scraped data for the same product, service, or event from each corresponding web page.

9. An apparatus comprising:

at least one processing device configured to;

obtain information associated with a product, service, or event; and

scrape data based on the obtained information substantially concurrently from two or more web pages associated with websites that list a same product, service, or event to produce scraped data for the same product, service, or event from each corresponding web page at substantially a same time.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein obtaining information includes obtaining a uniform resource locator (URL) associated with the product, service, or event.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the at least one processing device is further configured to categorize the obtained information in accordance with identifiers.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the at least one processing device is further configured to compare the obtained information based on the identifiers to determine whether the websites list the same product, service, or event.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the identifiers include a book title or an international standard book number (ISBN).

14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the identifiers include price and wherein the scraped data includes real-time price data.

15. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the at least one processing device is further configured to:

receive search inquiries for the product, service, or event in a graphical user interface; and

display the scraped data in the graphical user interface.

16. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the at least one processing device is further configured to produce a comparison result based on a comparison of the scraped data for the same product, service, or event from each corresponding web page.

17. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by at least one processing device, cause the at least one processing device to:

obtain information associated with a product, service, or event; and

scrape data based on the obtained information substantially concurrently from two or more web pages associated with websites that list a same product, service, or event to produce scraped data for the same product, service, or event from each corresponding web page at substantially a same time.

18. The computer readable storage medium of claim 17, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processing device, cause the at least one processing device to obtain a uniform resource locator (URL) associated with the product, service, or event.

19. The computer readable storage medium of claim 17, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processing device, cause the at least one processing device to:

receive search inquiries for the product, service, or event in a graphical user interface; and

display the scraped data in the graphical user interface.

20. The computer readable storage medium of claim 17, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processing device, cause the at least one processing device to produce a comparison result based on a comparison of the scraped data for the same product, service, or event from each corresponding web page.