Method and system for selecting and displaying items

• US 7,996,282 B1
• Filed: 03/30/2007
• Issued: 08/09/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Hoofien, Nimrod, Irvine, Doug, Costa, Maren Marie, Bates, Amy, Sloan, J. Nathaniel, Manolis, Eva, Kanter, Max L, Weiss, Michael L., Heimes, Todd A, Puerini, Gianna Lise, Touloumtzis, Michael Paul, Gradt, Douglas J., Scott, Sean M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Rosen; Nicholas D
• Application Number:
  US11/694,675
• Time in Patent Office: 1,593 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26, 705/27, 705/26.1, 705/27.1, 705/27.2, 707/152, 707/752
• US Class Current: 705/27.2
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0603 Catalogue ordering
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0643 Graphical representation of items or shoppers

Abstract

Methods and systems for causing the display of items for the review and selection thereof by a potential purchaser has a plurality of search tools whereby a customer can select certain search criteria for displaying items corresponding to the search criteria for review and selection thereof and comparison therebetween. In one embodiment, the system provides a brand menu whereby a customer can select one or more brands of products for displaying the same in a common display window.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for causing the display of a plurality of products, the method comprising:

causing the display of a plurality of product selection tools on a computer display, wherein each product selection tool is adapted to accept a customer selection of two or more features of a plurality of available products, a second or subsequent feature not depending on a previously selected feature, thereby causing the display of images of a portion of said available products including at least one of said two or more features on a computer display;

causing the display of at least one sorting tool whereby a customer can select a sort preference for said displayed products on the computer display;

accepting a customer selection of said features or said sort preference for said portion of available products to be displayed;

identifying a portion of said available products based on said customer selection;

causing the display of said images of said portion of said available products arranged pursuant to said sort preference on the computer display; and

updating said display of said plurality of product selection tools including identifying said customer selections associated therewith.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein each of said plurality of product selection tools corresponds to a product characteristic selected from the group consisting of:

style, brand, color, size, width, category, heel height, and price.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein said customer selection includes selecting two or more features corresponding to one of said product characteristics.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein said two or more features includes a plurality of brand names and said sorting said portion of said available products includes sorting said products by said selected brand names.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising updating the display of at least one of said product selection tools according to the features of said portion of available products identified in response to a customer selection associated with another of said product selection tools.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising sorting said portion of available products based on one of said features.

7. A computer-implemented method for causing the display of a plurality of products for customer review and comparison on a computer display, the method comprising:

causing the display of a product selection tool, including the display of a group of features associated with at least a portion of a plurality of available products on the computer display;

accepting a customer selection of two or more of said features, a second or subsequent feature not depending on a previously selected feature;

identifying a portion of said available products based on said customer selection;

causing the display of an image of each of the products of said portion said available products on the computer display; and

updating said display of said product selection tool including identifying said customer selections associated therewith.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising causing the display of at least one sorting tool on the computer display, whereby a customer can select a sort preference for said displayed products.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein said features includes a plurality of brand names and said sort preference includes sorting said portion of available products by brand name.

10. The method of claim 7 wherein said product selection tool corresponds to one of a group of product characteristics selected from the group consisting of:

style, brand name, color, size, width, category, heel height, and price.

11. A computer system having a computer that has stored thereon a computer program, and executes said computer program, said computer program for displaying images of items available for purchase by a customer from a merchant, the computer program causing the computer system to perform a method, comprising:

causing the display of a product selection tool, including the display of a group of features associated with at least a portion of a plurality of available products;

accepting a customer selection of two or more of said features, a second or subsequent feature not depending on a previously selected feature;

identifying a portion of said available products based on said customer selection; and

causing the display of an image of each of the products of said portion of said available products.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the method includes causing the display of at least one sorting tool whereby a customer can select a sort preference for said displayed products.

13. The system of claim 11 wherein said product selection tool corresponds to one of a group of product characteristics selected from the group consisting of:

style, brand name, color, size, width, category, heel height, and price.

14. The system of claim 11 further comprising updating said display of said product selection tool based on a first of said features selected.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon sequences of instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the steps of:

causing the display of a product selection tool including displaying a group of features, each said feature associated with at least a portion of a plurality of available products;

accepting a customer selection of two or more of said features, a second or subsequent feature not depending on a previously selected feature;

identifying a portion of said available products based on said customer selection; and

causing the display of an image of each of the products of said portion of said available products.