Suggested item category systems and methods

• US 7,870,031 B2
• Filed: 12/22/2005
• Issued: 01/11/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Original Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Inventors: Bolivar, Alvaro
• Primary Examiner(s): ZURITA, JAMES H
• Application Number:
  US11/316,183
• Publication Number:
  US 20070150365A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,846 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26, 705/37
• US Class Current: 705/26.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0623 Item investigation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

A method and a system that associate items offered by sellers and others with selected categories within a network-based system are provided. The method and system may operate to include receiving a request including an item identification having at least one token, parsing the item identification to identify the token, and assigning a token weight to the token based on a total number of items offered at a site and a number of items offered at the site and associated with the token.

Claims

1. A system, including:

an interface to receive a request including at least one seller item identification; and

a ranking module including a processor and a memory to calculate and display rank histograms corresponding to matching categories included in leaf categories and derived from at least one token weight corresponding to at least one token included in the seller item identification and a number of items for sale at a seller site,

wherein the at least one token weight is assigned as a ratio of a total number of items for sale at the seller site and the number of items for sale at the seller site including the at least one token.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the request further includes:

an identification of the seller site.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one token weight is derived from a number of items for sale having a title including the at least one token at the seller site.

4. The system of claim 1, further including:

a database component including a plurality of main categories, sub-categories, and a list of the leaf categories.

5. The system of claim 1, further including:

a search engine component to locate items in the matching categories included in the leaf categories.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the interface further includes:

a network communications interface to receive the seller item identification.

7. The system of claim 1, further including:

a server including a category listing tree including the leaf categories.

8. The system of claim 1, further including:

a first server including a category listing tree including the leaf categories; and

a second server including the interface.

9. A computer-implemented method, including:

receiving a request including a seller item identification having at least one token;

parsing the seller item identification to identify the at least one token; and

assigning a token weight by a token weight assignment module in an application server to the at least one token as a ratio of a total number of items for sale at a seller site and a number of items for sale at the seller site including the at least one token.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein receiving the request further includes:

receiving an identification of the seller site.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein parsing the item identification further includes:

removing non-alphanumeric characters from the item identification.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein assigning the token weight further includes:

calculating a logarithm of a ratio of the total number of items for sale at the seller site and the number of items for sale at the seller site associated with the at least one token.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, further including:

conducting a search to identify a plurality of items which have one or more tokens in common with the at least one token.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, further including:

ranking a plurality of items for sale using a token sum of corresponding item identifications; and

determining a number of categories associated with a highest-ranked preselected number of the plurality of items.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, further including:

constructing a rank histogram of the number of categories; and

communicating at least a portion of the rank histogram to a display.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, further including:

receiving a selection of a sales category to be associated with the seller identification, wherein the sales category is included in the number of categories.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, further including:

ranking a plurality of items using a token sum of corresponding item identifications; and

determining a number of attributes associated with a highest-ranked preselected number of the plurality of items.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 17, further including:

constructing a rank histogram of the number of attributes; and

communicating at least a portion of the rank histogram to a display.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 18, further including:

receiving a selection of at least one attribute to be associated with the seller identification, wherein said at least one attribute is included in the number of attributes.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, further including:

assigning a plurality of token weights including the at least one token weight to a corresponding plurality of tokens included in the item identification;

conducting an AND search query of the database to identify a plurality of items which have one or more tokens in common with the at least one token if there are less than a preselected number of token weights included in the plurality of token weights; and

otherwise conducting an OR search query of the database.

21. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the OR search query comprises a weighted search query based on the plurality of token weights.

22. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, further including:

conducting an on-line auction within a network-based commerce system with respect to a plurality of products including at least one item associated with the seller item identification.

23. A computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform:

receiving a request including a seller item identification having at least one token;

parsing the seller item identification to identify the at least one token; and

assigning a token weight by a token weight assignment module in an application server to the at least one token as a ratio of a total number of items for sale at a seller site and a number of items for sale at the seller site including the at least one token.

24. A system, including:

an item identification reception module in an application server to receive a request including a seller item identification having at least one token;

a parsing module in the application server to parse the seller item identification to identify the at least one token; and

a token weight assignment module in the application server to assign a token weight to the at least one token as a ratio of a total number of items for sale at a seller site and a number of items for sale at the seller site including the at least one token.

25. The system of claim 24, further including:

a database component including at least a portion of the number of items for sale at the seller site associated with the at least one token.

26. The system of claim 24, further including:

a search component to locate the number of items for sale at the seller site associated with the at least one token.

27. The system of claim 24, wherein the first means comprises:

a wireless network communications interface.