System, method and computer program product for analyzing e-commerce competition of an entity by utilizing predetermined entity-specific metrics and analyzed statistics from web pages

• US 6,983,320 B1
• Filed: 05/23/2000
• Issued: 01/03/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/23/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: ZeroFOX, Inc. (ZeroFox Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cyveillance, Inc. (ZeroFox Holdings, Inc.)
• Inventors: Biro, Ross A., Bildner, Mark J., Pemberton, Alissa S., Young, Christopher D., Moore, Richard P., Thomas, Jason B., Thomas, Brandy M., Perlman, Diane B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Barot, Bharat
• Assistant Examiner(s): Duong, Oanh
• Application Number:
  US09/576,895
• Time in Patent Office: 2,051 Days
• Field of Search: 709/218, 709223-224, 709/203, 709/217, 709/219, 707/1, 707/3, 707/5, 707/10, 702/2
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99935 Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access

Abstract

A system, method and computer program product for analyzing e-commerce competition is disclosed. The method involves collecting pages that are commonly transmitted over a computer network (e.g., the Internet, an institutional intranet, etc.), collecting external data, which may or may not be available on the computer network, processing the collected pages and content, and scoring the pages based on all the information collected to determine statistics. The statistics are analyzed for providing benchmarks that compare an entity'"'"'s presence on the computer network and compares it to the presence of other entities.

Claims

1. A method for analyzing a e-commerce competition of an entity, comprising the steps of:

(1) collecting pages that are commonly transmitted over a computer network;

(2) collecting external data not directly retrievable from said pages;

(3) classifying said pages using said external data and said pages according to a series of predetermined entity-specific metrics defining information relevant to the entity;

(4) measuring a number of occurrences that each of said pages falls within each of said series of predetermined entity-specific metrics, wherein said measuring step comprises;

parsing content of said pages using predetermined categories of key words;

searching for at least one key word in the predetermined categories; and

scoring a subset of said pages utilizing at least one key word and analyzed statistics based on an amount of key words found on a page;

(5) comparing said number of occurrences that each of said pages falls within each of said series of predetermined entity-specific metrics to a predetermined n-list of values for each of said series of predetermined entity-specific metrics;

wherein said n-list represents a selective sampling in order to compare the entity;

(6) delivering a benchmark for the entity based on (5);

(7) repeating steps (1)–

(6) to obtain a list of benchmarks for other entities; and

(8) generating a report comparing said benchmark with said list of benchmarks, wherein said report compiles the analyzed statistics from said pages and prioritizes said pages utilizing the predetermined entity-specific metrics to combine said analyzed statistics and said external data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said computer network is the global Internet.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said computer network is an intranet.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said computer network is an extranet.

5. A system for analyzing a e-commerce competition of an entity, comprising:

a downloader for searching a computer network, wherein said computer network contains content commonly transmitted over a computer network;

a page processing module coupled to said downloader for receiving pages downloaded from a search on said computer network, said page processing module identifying a subset of downloaded pages;

an archive module coupled to said page processing module for storing said subset'"'"',

a processing module for collecting external data not directly retrievable from said pages;

an archive for storing data from the page processing module, the archive module, and the processing module;

a scoring module for classifying said pages using said external data and said pages according to a series of predetermined entity-specific metrics defining information relevant to the entity, which are a result of;

parsing content of said pages using predetermined categories of key words;

searching for at least one key word in said predetermined categories; and

scoring said subset utilizing at least one key word and analyzed statistics based on an amount of key words found on a page; and

a database for allowing said scoring module to measure a number of occurrences and compare the number of occurrences that each of said pages falls within each of said series of predetermined entity-specific metrics to a predetermined n-list of values for each of said series of predetermined entity-specific metrics;

wherein said n-list represents a selective sampling in order to compare the entity in order to produce a report;

wherein said report delivers a benchmark for each entity and compares benchmarks by compiling said analyzed statistics from said pages prioritized utilizing metrics defining information relevant to the entity; and

prioritizing said pages utilizing said metrics to combine said analyzed statistics and said external data;

wherein said report is utilized to compare an entity'"'"'s presence to at least one competitor'"'"'s presence on said computer network.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein said computer network is the global Internet.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein said computer network is an intranet.

8. The system of claim 5, wherein said computer network is an extranet.

9. The system of claim 6, further comprising:

a plurality of Web clients that provide a graphical user interface for a user to enter search criteria and communicate with said downloader, thereby controlling said page processing module.

10. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied in said medium for causing an application program to execute on a computer that develops and interprets e-commerce metrics of an entity, said computer readable program code means comprising:

first computer readable program code means for causing the computer to collect pages that are commonly transmitted over a computer network;

second computer readable program code means for causing the computer to collect external data not directly retrievable from said pages;

third computer readable program code means for causing the computer to classify said pages using said external data and said pages according to a series of predetermined entity-specific metrics defining information relevant to the entity;

fourth computer readable program code means for causing the computer to measure a number of occurrences that each of said pages falls within each of said series of predetermined entity-specific metrics, wherein said measuring step comprises;

fifth computer readable program code means for parsing content of said pages using predetermined categories of key words;

searching for at least one key word in the predetermined categories; and

scoring a subset of said pages utilizing at least one key word and analyzed statistics based on an amount of key words found on a page;

sixth computer readable program code means for causing the computer to compare said number of occurrences that each of said pages falls within each of said series of predetermined entity-specific metrics to a predetermined n-list of values for each of said series of predetermined entity-specific metrics;

wherein said n-list represents a selective sampling in order to compare the entity,

seventh computer readable program code means for causing the computer to deliver a benchmark for the entity based on the fifth computer readable program code means;

eighth computer readable program code means for repeating steps performed by said first to said seventh computer readable program code means to obtain a list of benchmarks for other entities; and

ninth computer readable program code means for generating a report comparing said benchmark with said list of benchmarks, wherein said report compiles the analyzed statistics from said pages and prioritizes said pages utilizing the predetermined entity-specific metrics to combine said analyzed statistics and said external data.

11. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein said computer network is the global Internet.