Identifying tasks for task performers based on task subscriptions

• US 8,255,258 B1
• Filed: 12/22/2010
• Issued: 08/28/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/16/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Cohen, Peter D., Bravenec, John B., Bradley, Adam D., Locke, Jessica C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Jeanty, Romain
• Application Number:
  US12/976,809
• Time in Patent Office: 615 Days
• Field of Search: 705/7.14, 705/7.21
• US Class Current: 705/7.21
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions

Abstract

Techniques are described for facilitating interactions between task requesters who have tasks that are available to be performed and task performers who are available to perform tasks, such as by an intermediary electronic marketplace or other task fulfillment facilitator system. In some situations, task performer users and/or other users may create task subscriptions for use in automatically identifying tasks of interest to the users about which the users desire to receive notification. The users may be notified of the identified tasks in various ways, such as by sending electronic messages of various types to the users that include indications of the tasks identified for those users based on their subscriptions. Tasks of interest may be identified in various ways, such as based on task attributes of interest specified for a subscription that are later matched against tasks that are available at the time of the matching.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for facilitating performance by task performers of tasks from task requesters, the method comprising:

receiving indications of multiple tasks submitted by task requesters as being available for performance by task performers, at least some of the tasks each having one or more attributes; and

for each of at least one of the multiple task performers, providing information to the task performer about one or more tasks of interest by,

receiving an indication of a subscription for the task performer that is created by the task performer and that specifies one or more attributes of tasks that are of interest to the task performer;

using the created subscription to automatically select one or more of the multiple tasks for the task performer based at least in part on matching attributes for the selected tasks to the specified attributes of the subscription, the automatic selecting of the one or more tasks using the created subscription being performed by one or more configured computer processors; and

notifying the task performer of at least one of the selected tasks, the notifying being performed by the one or more configured computer processors.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising, for each of one or more of the at least one task performers, receiving results of performance by the task performer of one or more of the at least one selected tasks about which the task performer is notified, and providing the received results to one or more task requesters that submitted those one or more selected tasks.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising, for each of one or more of the at least one task performers, before the receiving of the indication of the subscription for the task performer, creating the subscription based on one or more instructions received from the task performer, and wherein the providing of the information to the task performer about one or more tasks of interest is performed repeatedly at multiple distinct times by using the created subscription to select tasks available at those times.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein, for each of the one or more task performers, at least one of the one or more attributes of tasks specified by the subscription for the task performer are supplied for the subscription by the task performer.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein, for each of the one or more task performers, at least one of the one or more attributes of tasks specified by the subscription for the task performer are automatically determined based at least in part on one or more prior activities of the task performer.

6. The method of claim 3 wherein, for each of the one or more task performers, the one or more instructions received from the task performer include an indication to use one or more task attributes included in search criteria specified by the task performer as at least some of the specified attributes of tasks for the subscription.

7. The method of claim 3 wherein, for each of the one or more task performers, the one or more instructions received from the task performer include an indication of at least one task such that at least some attributes of the at least one task are for use as at least some of the specified attributes of tasks for the subscription.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein, for one of the one or more task performers, the one or more instructions received from the task performer include indications of multiple distinct tasks, such that attributes that are common to the multiple distinct tasks are used as at least some of the specified attributes of tasks for the subscription.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein, for each of one or more of the at least one task performers, the subscription created by the task performer further includes an indication of a notification mechanism specified by the task performer, and the notifying of the task performer is performed using the specified notification mechanism.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein, for each of the one or more task performers, the specified notification mechanism includes using one or more indicated electronic message types that include at least one of email messages, instant messages, text messages, Short Message Service (“

SMS”

) messages, Really Simple Syndication (“

RSS”

) feed communications, and automated telephone messages, and wherein the notifying of the task performer includes automatically sending one or more electronic messages of the indicated electronic message types that include information about the at least one selected tasks.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein, for one of the at least one task performers, the notifying of the task performer of the at least one selected tasks includes providing the one task performer with a user-selectable option to select to perform one or more of the at least one selected tasks.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein, for one of the at least one task performers, the notifying of the one task performer of the at least one selected tasks includes sending one or more electronic messages and is performed in accordance with one or more conditions specified in the subscription for the one task performer, the one or more conditions indicating at least one of a frequency of sending the electronic messages, one or more time periods during which to send the electronic messages, a number of tasks whose information is to be indicated in each of the electronic messages, and an amount of information to include about each task in the electronic messages.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein, for each of one or more of the at least one task performers, the notifying of the task performer of the at least one selected tasks is performed in response to a request received from the task performer for information about tasks.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein, for each of one or more of the at least one task performers, the notifying of the task performer of the at least one of selected tasks is performed automatically after the selecting of the tasks and without a request from the task performer for information about tasks.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein, for each of one or more of the at least one task performers, the matching of the attributes for the selected tasks to the specified attributes of the subscription for the task performer includes identifying at least one attribute of each of the selected tasks that is similar to and/or identical to at least one of the specified attributes of the subscription.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein, for each of one or more of the at least one task performers, the tasks selected using the created subscription for the task performer include multiple tasks, the selecting of those multiple tasks includes automatically determining a degree of match for each of those multiple tasks to the subscription, and the notifying of the task performer of the at least one selected tasks includes presenting those multiple selected tasks in a manner that reflects the determined degrees of match.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein, for each of one or more of the at least one task performers, the one or more attributes of tasks specified by the subscription for the task performer include multiple of a keyword associated with a task, a price of a task, a qualification associated with a task, a task requester that submitted a task for performance, a category for a task, a type of a task, a time of day at which a task is made available for performance, and a time period for performance of a task.

18. The method of claim 1 further comprising, for each of one or more of the at least one task performers, obtaining payment from the task performer for at least one of creating the subscription for the task performer and of notifying the task performer of tasks selected using the created subscription.

19. The method of claim 1 further comprising, for each of one or more of the at least one task performers, receiving indications of one or more additional distinct subscriptions for the task performer, and wherein the using of the created subscription to automatically select one or more tasks for the task performer is further performed for each of the one or more additional subscriptions.

20. The method of claim 1 wherein, for each of one or more of the at least one task performers, the subscription for the task performer further specifies that at least some tasks selected by using the subscription are to be automatically assigned to the task performer for performance, and the notifying of the task performer of the at least one selected tasks includes notifying the task performer that one or more of the at least one selected tasks are automatically assigned to the task performer for performance.

21. The method of claim 1 further comprising, for each of one or more of the at least one task performers, the notifying of the task performer of the at least one selected tasks includes reserving one or more of the at least one selected tasks for the task performer for a limited time such that other task performers are not allowed to select the reserved tasks for performance.

22. The method of claim 1 further comprising, for each of one or more of the at least one task performers, receiving an indication from the task performer to temporarily suspend use of the subscription for the task performer, such that the notifying of the task performer is not performed while the temporary suspension of the use of the subscription persists.

23. The method of claim 1 further comprising, for each of one or more of the at least one task performers, providing information about the created subscription of the task performer to other task performers.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein the providing of the information about the created subscriptions of the one or more task performers to other task performers is performed in such a manner as to allow each of the other task performers to subscribe to use one or more of those created subscriptions.

25. The method of claim 23 wherein the providing of the information about the created subscriptions of the one or more task performers to other task performers includes rating each of the created subscriptions using one or more measures of usefulness, and presenting information about the created subscriptions in a manner that reflects the ratings of the created subscriptions.

26. The method of claim 23 wherein the providing of the information about the created subscriptions of the one or more task performers to other task performers is performed in exchange for compensation provided to the one or more task performers.

27. A non-transitory computer-readable medium whose contents configure a computing device to facilitate performance of tasks by task performers, by performing a method comprising:

receiving indications of multiple tasks available for performance by task performers, at least some of the multiple tasks each having one or more attributes;

receiving an indication of a task performer having one or more qualifications;

receiving instructions from the task performer to define a subscription for information about tasks that have indicated task attributes;

defining the subscription for the task performer based on the received instructions;

automatically determining, by the configured computing device based at least in part on the defined subscription, one or more tasks that each are available for task performers having at least one of the one or more qualifications and that each are likely to be of interest to the task performer; and

providing an indication to the task performer of the determined tasks.

28. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 27 wherein the automatic determining of the one or more tasks that each are likely to be of interest to the task performer includes selecting tasks whose attributes match the indicated task attributes.

29. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 27 wherein the computer-readable medium is a memory of the configured computing device.

30. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 27 wherein the contents are instructions that when executed program the computing device to perform the method.

31. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 27 wherein the contents include one or more data structures for use in storing information about task attributes of interest to one or more task performers, the data structure comprising multiple entries, each entry corresponding to a task performer and containing information that includes at least one task attribute of interest to the task performer.

32. A non-transitory computer-readable medium whose contents configure a computing device to facilitate performance of tasks by task performers, by performing a method comprising:

receiving indications of multiple tasks available for performance;

receiving an indication of a task performer having one or more qualifications;

automatically determining attributes of tasks that are likely to be of interest to the task performer based at least in part on analyzing multiple tasks previously identified by the task performer;

automatically determining, by the configured computing device in a manner specific to the task performer, one or more tasks that each are available for task performers having at least one of the one or more qualifications and that each are likely to be of interest to the task performer based on having one or more of the determined attributes; and

providing an indication to the task performer of the determined tasks.

33. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 32 wherein the multiple tasks previously identified by the task performer include at least one of one or more tasks previously performed by the task performer, one or more tasks previously viewed by the task performer, one or more tasks previously searched for by the task performer, and one or more tasks previously browsed by the task performer.

34. A non-transitory computer-readable medium whose contents configure a computing device to facilitate performance of tasks by task performers, by performing a method comprising:

receiving indications of multiple tasks available for performance;

receiving an indication of a task performer having one or more qualifications;

automatically determining attributes of tasks that are likely to be of interest to the task performer based at least in part on one or more preferences previously specified by the task performer;

automatically determining, by the configured computing device in a manner specific to the task performer, one or more tasks that each are available for task performers having at least one of the one or more qualifications and that each are likely to be of interest to the task performer based on having one or more of the determined attributes; and

providing an indication to the task performer of the determined tasks.

35. A computing device configured to facilitate performance of tasks, comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more modules configured to, when executed by at least one of the one or more processors, and for each of one or more users;

create a subscription for the user to enable automatically providing information to the user about tasks to be performed that are of interest to the user, the creating of the subscription including obtaining one or more conditions specified by the user for the subscription;

automatically select one or more tasks for the user from multiple submitted tasks based at least in part on matching the selected one or more tasks to the specified one or more conditions of the created subscription for the user, the multiple submitted tasks being supplied by task requesters as being available for performance by others; and

notify the user of at least one of the selected one or more tasks for the user.

36. The computing device of claim 35 wherein the multiple submitted tasks each have one or more attributes, wherein the one or more conditions specified by each of the one or more users include one or more specified task attributes, and wherein the matching of the selected tasks to the specified conditions of a subscription includes matching the attributes for the selected tasks to the specified task attributes of the subscription.

37. The computing device of claim 35 wherein the one or more conditions specified by each of the one or more users include one or more specified criteria related to task information and/or task requester information, and wherein the matching of the selected tasks to the specified conditions of a subscription includes automatically determining that each of the selected tasks satisfies the specified criteria for the subscription.

38. The computing device of claim 35 wherein the one or more users include multiple task performer users who perform tasks supplied by the task requesters, and wherein the computing device is part of a computing system for providing a task fulfillment system that acts as an intermediary to facilitate performance by the task performer users of the tasks supplied by the task requesters.

39. The computing device of claim 35 wherein each of the one or more users is a task performer user, and wherein the computing device is a client device used by the one or more task performer users to perform the tasks supplied by the task requesters, the performing of the tasks including interacting with a remote task fulfillment system to obtain information about the tasks, the task fulfillment system acting as an intermediary between the task performer users and the task requesters.

40. The computing device of claim 39 wherein the one or more users include a single user, wherein the creating of the subscription for the single user includes sending information about the subscription to the remote task fulfillment system and receiving information about matching tasks that satisfy the specified conditions of the subscription, and further comprising a second module configured to present the received information about the matching tasks to the single user.

41. The computing device of claim 39 wherein the one or more users include a single user, and wherein the computing device further comprises an additional module configured to present information about matching tasks to the single user.

42. The computing device of claim 35 wherein the one or more modules include software instructions for execution in memory of the computing device.