Providing automated gift registry functionality to assist a user in purchasing an item for a recipient
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
- tracking, by one or more programmed computer systems, information about a plurality of item acquisitions performed by multiple users for multiple recipients;
after a user initiates at a first time an acquisition for a first recipient of an item that is specified by the user, identifying, by the one or more programmed computer systems, from the tracked information that the item has previously been acquired for the first recipient;
determining, by the one or more programmed computer systems, that the initiated acquisition of the item is not appropriate, the determining being based on the identifying from the tracked information and being performed without consideration of any manually specified indication from anyone at any time prior to the first time of whether the item is appropriate to be acquired for the first recipient; and
indicating to the user, by the one or more programmed computer systems, not to complete the initiated acquisition based on the determining that the initiated acquisition of the item is not appropriate.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method, system, and computer-readable medium is described that provides automated gift registry functionality to assist a user in purchasing an item for a recipient. In particular, the system may track various information about a series of item purchases from one or more services through which items can be purchased. When such information about past item purchases is available, the system can then use the information to provide various automated gift registry functionality for users that want to purchase items for various recipients. Types of automated gift registry functionality provided by the system include making recommendations of items that are appropriate to be purchased for a specified recipient, assisting in preventing recipients from receiving inappropriate gift items by monitoring item gift purchases and item self-purchases, and responding to user requests to determine whether a specified gift would be appropriate for a recipient. In addition to information about past item purchases (e.g., whether a recipient has already received a copy of an item), the system can also use other information when determining whether a purchase of an item for the recipient is appropriate such as demographic information about the recipient or explicitly specified recipient preferences. Thus, for each type of gift registry functionality provided by the AGR system, a variety of types of tracked or retrieved information can be used when determining whether an item is appropriate for a recipient.
31 Citations
21 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
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tracking, by one or more programmed computer systems, information about a plurality of item acquisitions performed by multiple users for multiple recipients; after a user initiates at a first time an acquisition for a first recipient of an item that is specified by the user, identifying, by the one or more programmed computer systems, from the tracked information that the item has previously been acquired for the first recipient; determining, by the one or more programmed computer systems, that the initiated acquisition of the item is not appropriate, the determining being based on the identifying from the tracked information and being performed without consideration of any manually specified indication from anyone at any time prior to the first time of whether the item is appropriate to be acquired for the first recipient; and indicating to the user, by the one or more programmed computer systems, not to complete the initiated acquisition based on the determining that the initiated acquisition of the item is not appropriate. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium whose contents configure a computer system to perform a method, the method comprising:
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tracking, by the configured computer system, information about a plurality of item acquisitions that are each performed by a user for a recipient; after a first user initiates at a first time a potential acquisition for a first recipient of a first item specified by the first user, determining, by the configured computer system, whether the initiated acquisition of the first item is appropriate based on whether the tracked information identifies that the first item has previously been acquired for the first recipient without consideration of any manually specified indication from anyone at any time prior to the first time of whether the item is appropriate to be acquired for the first recipient; and if the determining is that the initiated acquisition of the first item is not appropriate, providing an indication to the first user not to complete the initiated acquisition, and otherwise not providing the indication to the first user not to complete the initiated acquisition. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17)
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18. A computer system, comprising:
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one or more processors; an item acquisition analysis component that is configured to, when executed by at least one of the one or more processors, and based on an indication of a potential acquisition of a first item for a first recipient by a first user, determine whether the indicated acquisition of the first item is appropriate based at least in part on whether the first item has previously been acquired for the first recipient, the determining being based on information that is tracked about prior item acquisitions for one or more recipients and being performed without consideration of any manually specified indication from anyone of whether the indicated acquisition of the first item for the first recipient is appropriate; and an item acquisition appropriateness indicator component that is configured to, if the indicated acquisition of the first item is determined not to be appropriate, provide an indication to the first user not to complete the indicated acquisition, and to, if the indicated acquisition of the first item is determined to be appropriate, enable the indicated acquisition of the first item for the first recipient to proceed. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21)
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Specification