Establishing communication based on item interest

• US 8,386,340 B1
• Filed: 12/21/2009
• Issued: 02/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Feinstein, Brian J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Rosen, Nicholas D
• Application Number:
  US12/643,224
• Time in Patent Office: 1,163 Days
• Field of Search: 705/27.1, 705/319, 705/26.1
• US Class Current: 705/27.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0623 Item investigation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

Interactions between an item and an online shopper may be used to determine interest in an item or a category of items. Once interest has been determined, the online shopper may be presented with an option to initiate communication with other users. This communication may be between a plurality of users including shoppers, owners, experts, item representatives, and so forth. Communication may include text chat, video chat, audio chat, telephone, and so forth. Rewards may be provided to some or all users to encourage communication.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

under control of one or more computer systems configured with executable instructions,

receiving a request from a first user to access information associated with an item in an electronic catalog or a category of items in the electronic catalog;

determining if the first user requesting the access to the information has met or exceeded a pre-determined interest threshold associated with the item or the category in the electronic catalog;

at least partly in response to determining that the first user has met or exceeded the pre-determined interest threshold, causing presentation of a control that facilitates an interactive chat between the first user and a second user, wherein the first user and the second user are shoppers interacting with the electronic catalog; and

at least partly in response to determining that the first user has not met or exceeded the pre-determined interest threshold, refraining from causing presentation of a control that facilitates an interactive chat between the first user and a second user, wherein the first user and the second user are shoppers interacting with the electronic catalog.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first user is shopping for the item or for an item in the category in the electronic catalog when the first user requests to access the information about the item.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising causing presentation of a control that allows the first user to view but not participate in an existing chat between a plurality of other users at least partly in response to determining that the first user has not met or exceeded the pre-determined interest threshold.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising presenting a control that facilitates inviting the second user to join the interactive chat at least partly in response to determining that the first user has met or exceeded the pre-determined interest threshold.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the pre-determined interest threshold comprises a pre-determined number of times that the first user has accessed information associated with the item or the category within a pre-determined span of time.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the pre-determined interest threshold further comprises the first user viewing the item or an item in the category when the first user has been determined to have previously purchased a related item.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the pre-determined interest threshold comprises a pre-determined number of times that the first user has accessed a review of the item or of an item in the category.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first user is determined to have met or exceeded the pre-determined interest threshold when the first user references the item or an item from the category in a list associated with the first user.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the list comprises a list of items that the first user desires, a shopping list of the first user, or a shopping cart associated with the first user.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing a reward to the second user after the second user participates in the interactive chat with the first user.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a selection of the control from the first user; and

at least partly in response to the receiving of the selection,

providing the interactive chat between at least the first user and the second user;

detecting a change in a status of the item or the category; and

populating the interactive chat with the change in the status of the item or the category at least partly in response to the detecting of the change.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a selection of the control from the first user; and

at least partly in response to the receiving of the selection, providing the interactive chat between at least the first user and the second user, wherein the interactive chat designates each user participating in the chat according to each respective user'"'"'s relationship to the item or the category.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising designating a user who owns or has previously purchased the item as an owner of the item.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising selecting participants for the interactive chat based at least in part on the designations of the participants.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the selecting comprises selecting participants having a plurality of different designations.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a selection of the control from the first user; and

at least partly in response to the receiving of the selection, providing the interactive chat between at least the first user and the second user and populating the interactive chat in response to actions taken by the first user, the second user, or both.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the actions taken comprise the first user or the second user navigating between items, placing an item into a shopping cart, or placing an item onto a list.

18. A system comprising:

one or more processors;

memory coupled to the one or more processors, and configured to store instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to;

determine if a first user is interested in a specific item stored in a database containing a plurality of items; and

at least partly in response to determining the first user is interested in the specific item, present a control to the first user on a user interface associated with the item that, when activated by the first user on the user interface, initiates a communication between the first user and a second user, wherein the first user and the second user are consumers interacting with the database containing the plurality of items.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the initiation of the communication between the first user and the second user comprises an invitation sent to the second user to join a chat with the first user.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the communication comprises a text chat, a voice chat, or a video chat.

21. The system of claim 18, wherein the determining of the interest comprises determining that interest of the first user in the specific item meets or exceeds a pre-determined threshold.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the determining that the interest of the first user meets or exceeds the pre-determined threshold occurs after access to the specific item.

23. The system of claim 18, wherein the determining of the interest comprises determining that the first user has modified a list associated with the first user to include a reference to the specific item.

24. The system of claim 18, wherein the determining of the interest comprises determining that the first user has accessed information associated with the specific item more than a pre-determined number of times.

25. The system of claim 18, wherein the determining of the interest comprises determining that the first user has accessed information associated with the specific item more than a pre-determined number of times within a pre-determined time period.

26. The system of claim 18, wherein the second user has also been determined to be interested in the specific item, and wherein the initiated communication comprises an interactive chat between the first user, the second user, and at least one other user that has also been determined to be interested in the specific item.

27. One or more computer-readable storage media storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform acts comprising:

setting an interest threshold associated with an item or a category of items;

monitoring access by a first user to information associated with the item or the category of items;

determining an interest of the first user in the item or the category of items based at least in part on the monitored access of the information;

comparing the determined interest of the first user to the interest threshold associated with the item or the category of items; and

presenting, at least partly in response to determining that the determined interest of the first user meets or exceeds the interest threshold, to the first user a control on a user interface associated with the item or the category of items, the control being configured to initiate communication between the first user and a second user, wherein the first user and the second user are consumers interacting with the item or the category of items.

28. The computer-readable storage media of claim 27, the instructions further comprising:

providing the control that facilitates an interactive chat between the first user and the second user when an override flag has been set, the override flag configured to provide access to the interactive chat regardless of whether the user has met or exceeded the pre-determined interest threshold.

29. The computer-readable storage media of claim 27, further comprising presenting a control on the user interface associated with the item or the category of items configured to allow the first user to search communications.

30. The computer-readable storage media of claim 27, wherein the interest threshold comprises the first user modifying a list associated with the first user to include the item or the category of items.

31. The computer-readable storage media of claim 27, wherein the interest threshold comprises the first user accessing product information associated with the item or the category of items a specified number of times within a specified time period.

32. The computer-readable storage media of claim 27, wherein the interest threshold comprises the first user associating the item or the category of items with an item previously purchased by the first user.

33. The computer-readable storage media of claim 27, wherein the interest threshold comprises the first user activating a deep link relating to the item or the category of items.

34. The computer-readable storage media of claim 27, wherein the interest threshold comprises the first user following a referral made to the first user relating to the item or the category of items.

35. The computer-readable storage media of claim 27, wherein the category of items comprises a plurality of works by a common author.

36. A computer-implemented method comprising:

under control of one or more computer systems configured with executable instructions,

receiving a request from a first user to access information associated with an item in an electronic catalog or a category of items in the electronic catalog;

determining if the first user requesting the access to the information has met or exceeded a pre-determined interest threshold associated with the item or the category in the electronic catalog;

at least partly in response to determining that the first user has met or exceeded the pre-determined interest threshold, causing presentation of a control that facilitates an interactive chat between the first user and a second user;

at least partly in response to determining that the first user has not met or exceeded the pre-determined interest threshold, refraining from causing presentation of a control that facilitates an interactive chat between the first user and a second user; and

at least partly in response to determining that the first user has not met or exceeded the pre-determined interest threshold, causing presentation of a control that allows the first user to view but not participate in an existing chat between a plurality of other users.