Methods and systems to communicate information

• US 8,055,641 B2
• Filed: 11/17/2009
• Issued: 11/08/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/09/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Original Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Inventors: Ansari, Suhail, Foster, Benjamin David, Nash, Adam, Stonestreet, Xavier, Subramaniam, Srikanth, Leon, Jean-Michel, Gupta, Raghav, Arora, Aditya, Shah, Seema, Raman, Vijay
• Primary Examiner(s): DANG, THANH HA T
• Application Number:
  US12/620,213
• Publication Number:
  US 20100145928A1
• Time in Patent Office: 721 Days
• Field of Search: 707/706, 707/711, 707/741, 707/791, 707/798
• US Class Current: 707/706
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9038 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99935 Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99936 Pattern matching access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

There is provided a method and system to communicate information. The system receives a first query that contains at least one constraint and retrieves a first plurality of data items from a database based on the first query. Next the system generating a first distribution based on the first plurality of data items, the first distribution utilizing a first plurality of domains used to identify data items. Next the system generates a second distribution based on a plurality of requests to view a second plurality of data items. Next the system generates a third distribution based on the first distribution and the second distribution. Finally the system generates interface information, to be communicated to a user, based on the third distribution.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

one or more processors to implement components comprising;

an aspect-extractor module to identify first aspect-value pairs from a query submitted by a user;

a scrubber module to identify second aspect-value pairs from data items;

a classification service engine to associate the first aspect-value pairs and the second aspect-value pairs with one or more product domains;

a search index engine to generate at least one supply histogram associated with at least one of the product domains, based on the second aspect-value pairs; and

a coverage module to determine that a demand histogram of the first aspect-value pairs corresponds to a peak or a hill of a product histogram of the product domains and to generate product interface information for a first product domain that corresponds to the peak of the product histogram or cross-product interface information for a second product domain that corresponds to the hill of the product histogram.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the coverage module is further configured to determine that the demand histogram of the first aspect-value pairs corresponds to a peak or a hill of an aisle histogram of a plurality of aisle domains.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the classification service engine is further configured to generate the demand histogram across the plurality of aisle domains.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the coverage module is further configured to determine that the demand histogram of the first aspect-value pairs corresponds to a peak or a hill of a department histogram of a plurality of department domains.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the classification service engine is further configured to generate the demand histogram across the plurality of department domains.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the classification service engine is further configured to generate the demand histogram across the product domains.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the first aspect-value pairs comprise buy-side aspect-value pairs.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the second aspect-value pairs comprise sell-side aspect-value pairs.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the classification service engine is to access a domain structure that indicates a correspondence between each of the products within the product domains and one or more categories.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the aspect-extractor module is configured to identify the first aspect-value pairs based on domain rules and aspect rules.

11. A method comprising:

identifying first aspect-value pairs from a query submitted by a user;

identifying second aspect-value pairs from data items;

associating the first aspect-value pairs and the second aspect-value pairs with one or more product domains;

generating at least one supply histogram associated with at least one of the product domains based on the second aspect-value pairs;

determining, using one or more processors, that a demand histogram of the first aspect-value pairs corresponds to a peak or a hill of a product histogram of the product domains; and

generating product interface information for a first product domain that corresponds to the peak of the product histogram or cross-product interface information for a second product domain that corresponds to the hill of the product histogram.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising generating the demand histogram across the product domains.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising determining that the demand histogram of the first aspect-value pairs corresponds to a peak or a hill of an aisle histogram of a plurality of aisle domains.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising generating the demand histogram across the plurality of aisle domains.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising determining that the demand histogram of the first aspect-value pairs corresponds to a peak or a hill of a department histogram of a plurality of department domains.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising generating the demand histogram across the plurality of department domains.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the first aspect-value pairs comprise buy-side aspect-value pairs.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the second aspect-value pairs comprise sell-side aspect-value pairs.

19. The method of claim 11, further comprising accessing a domain structure that indicates a correspondence between each of the products within the product domains and one or more categories.

20. The method of claim 11, further comprising identifying the first aspect-value pairs based on domain rules and aspect rules.

21. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instruction embodied thereon, the instructions executable by a processor to perform a method for generating a user interface, the method comprising:

identifying first aspect-value pairs from a query submitted by a user;

identifying second aspect-value pairs from data items;

associating the first aspect-value pairs and the second aspect-value pairs with one or more product domains;

generating at least one supply histogram associated with at least one of the product domains based on the second aspect-value pairs;

determining that a demand histogram of the first aspect-value pairs corresponds to a peak or a hill of a product histogram of the product domains; and

generating product interface information for a first product domain that corresponds to the peak of the product histogram or cross-product interface information for a second product domain that corresponds to the hill of the product histogram.