Service for accepting and selectively exposing user-created lists of items

• US 8,060,466 B1
• Filed: 11/05/2010
• Issued: 11/15/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/24/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Nix Nutraceutical LLC
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Bezos, Jeffrey P., Dicker, Russell A., York, Jeremy C., Round, Matthew J., Snodgrass, Ryan J., Power, Joanna L.
• Primary Examiner(s): ALAM, SHAHID AL
• Application Number:
  US12/940,896
• Time in Patent Office: 375 Days
• Field of Search: 707/705, 707/709, 707/758, 707/769, 707/944, 707/609, 707/723, 707/748, 705/26.1
• US Class Current: 707/609
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/245 Query processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9536 Search customisation based on social or collaborative filtering
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/972 Access to data in other repository systems, e.g. legacy data or dynamic Web page generation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0246 Traffic
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0257 User requested
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0631 Item recommendations

Abstract

Information retrieval systems and methods are disclosed for presenting items of interest to a user of a computer-based data repository, where the items are presented in the form of lists generated by other users. Users of a data repository may generate lists of items from the repository that are accessible by other users. In various embodiments, users generating lists may add supplemental commentary about the items and other personalizing information. The information retrieval systems and methods store the user-generated lists for future presentation to other users. When a user of the data repository submits a search query, items returned in the query'"'"'s results are interpreted to be items of interest to the user, and in response, one or more lists determined to be similar to the items of interest are presented to the user.

Claims

1. A method of receiving and exposing user-generated lists of items, the method comprising:

providing, in association with an electronic catalog of items, a user interface that includes functionality for users to interactively create lists of items selected from the electronic catalog, and to submit the lists for viewing by other users;

receiving user-created lists of items, said user-created lists created and submitted by users via the user interface;

ranking, with one or more computer processors, at least one user-created list relative to other user-created lists based at least partly on effectiveness levels of the user-created lists as measured based on monitored user behaviors of users that access such user-created lists;

receiving a search query submitted by a user to conduct a search of the electronic catalog; and

selecting, with one or more computer processors, at least one user-created list to expose to the user with results of the search query, said selecting based at least partly on the search query and the ranking of the user-created lists.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the effectiveness levels of the user-created lists are based at least partly on an observed tendency of users who view the user-created lists to subsequently purchase items.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein ranking the user-created lists comprises collecting and analyzing data reflective of a tendency of users who access particular user-created lists to thereafter select an item for purchase.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting at least one user-created list to expose comprises:

identifying, by execution of the search query, a set of search result items; and

selecting the at least user-created list to expose based at least partly on the set of search result items.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein selecting at least one user-created list to expose comprises searching for user-created lists that include one or more of the search result items listed thereon.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein selecting at least one user-created list to expose comprises calculating degrees of similarity between the set of search result items and individual user-created lists.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein selecting at least one user-created list to expose comprises using item similarity data to identify user-created lists whose items are similar to one or more of the search result items.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating, in response to the search query, a search results page that lists (1) catalog items that are responsive to the search query, and (2) the at least one user-created list selected to expose.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the search results page includes, for each selected user-created list, a link for accessing the list and a textual description supplied by a creator of the list.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the items include musical works.

11. Physical computer storage that stores executable code modules that direct an interactive computing system to perform a process that comprises:

providing, in association with an electronic catalog of items, a user interface that includes functionality for users to interactively create lists of items selected from the electronic catalog, and to submit the lists for viewing by other users;

receiving user-created lists of items, said user-created lists created and submitted by users via the user interface;

ranking at least one user-created list relative to other user-created lists based at least partly on effectiveness levels of the user-created lists as measured based on monitored user behaviors of users that access such user-created lists;

receiving a search query submitted by a user to conduct a search of the electronic catalog; and

selecting at least one user-created list to expose to the user with results of the search query, said selecting based at least partly on the search query and the ranking of the user-created lists.

12. An interactive system comprising one or more physical computers, said one or more computers configured to provide:

a user interface that includes functionality for users to interactively create lists of items selected from an electronic catalog, and to submit the lists for viewing by other users;

a data repository that stores user-created lists submitted by users via the user interface; and

a list selection system configured to select, from the data repository, one or more user-created lists to expose to a user based at least partly on

(1) a search query submitted by the user, and

(2) rankings of the user-created lists, said rankings based at least partly on effectiveness data reflective of effectiveness levels of particular user-created lists, as measured based on monitored behaviors of users that access such user-created lists.

13. The interactive system of claim 12, wherein the user interface provides at least one field for a list creator to enter a textual description of a list, and the interactive system is configured to expose the textual description to other users in conjunction with the list.

14. The interactive system of claim 13, wherein the one or more computers are additionally configured to expose to other users, in association with the list, creator-supplied information about the creator of the list.

15. The interactive system of claim 12, wherein the user interface provides item-specific fields for a list creator to enter textual comments regarding individual items on a list, and the interactive system is configured to expose the textual comments to users who access the list.

16. The interactive system of claim 12, wherein the effectiveness data is based at least partly on an observed tendency of users who access the user-created lists to subsequently acquire an item.

17. The interactive system of claim 12, wherein the list selection system is configured to rank the user-created lists based at least partly on the effectiveness data.

18. The interactive system of claim 12, wherein the list selection system is configured to select the one or more user-created lists to expose based at least partly on a set of search results items resulting from execution of the search query.

19. The interactive system of claim 18, wherein the list selection system is configured to use item similarity data to identify user-created lists that list at least one item that is similar to a search results item.

20. The interactive system of claim 18, wherein the list selection system is configured to measure degrees of similarity between the set of search result items and individual user-created lists.

21. The interactive system of claim 12, further comprising a server configured to generate, in response to the search query, a search results page that lists (1) items that are responsive to the search query, and (2) the one or more selected user-created lists.

22. The interactive system of claim 21, wherein the search results page includes, for each selected user-created list, a link for accessing the list and a textual description supplied by a creator of the list.

23. The interactive system of claim 12, wherein the list selection system is additionally configured to select, from the data repository, user-created lists to expose on item detail pages of the electronic catalog.