Managing items in a networked environment

• US 8,429,539 B1
• Filed: 06/29/2010
• Issued: 04/23/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Landry, Stephenie, Donsbach, Aaron M., Varadhan, Devraj, Todaro, Julie, Rao, Ganesh, Grandinetti, Russell C., Joshi, Smita, Callies, Daniel J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hong, Stephen
• Assistant Examiner(s): POHLMAN, JAMES GREGORY
• Application Number:
  US12/826,421
• Time in Patent Office: 1,029 Days
• Field of Search: 715/745
• US Class Current: 715/745
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]

Abstract

A system, methods and interfaces are provided for managing items in a networked environment. A set of items, such as publications or other works, can be embodied in tangible media that are mutually exclusive. In response to a selection of an item, a prioritized order of the tangible media corresponding to the selected item is provided. Each tangible media can be further subdivided into a prioritized order of physical attributes of the respective tangible media.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented system for managing items, the system comprising:

a data store for storing information corresponding to one or more items; and

a computing device in communication with said data store that is operative to;

obtain, from a user, a selection of at least one item, wherein the at least one item corresponds to a work embodied in at least two tangible media, wherein the at least two tangible media are mutually exclusive and wherein each of the tangible media are subdivided into physical attributes of the respective tangible medium;

based, at least in part, on prioritization criteria related to the at least two tangible media, determine a prioritized order for the at least two tangible media responsive to the selection of the at least one item;

filter the prioritized order of the at least two tangible media based on user profile information associated with the user;

cause the display of selectable representations corresponding to the filtered prioritized order of the at least two tangible media;

obtain a selection of a selectable representation corresponding to the filtered prioritized order of the at least two tangible media; and

cause the display of selectable representations of the at least one physical attribute of the selected representation corresponding to the filtered prioritized order of the at least two tangible media.

2. The system for managing items as recited in claim 1, wherein the at least two tangible media are selected from a group consisting of hardback publications, paperback publications, electronic reader representations and audio representations.

3. The system for managing items as recited in claim 1, wherein at least one of the at least two tangible media corresponds to a binding type associated with the work.

4. The system for managing items as recited in claim 1, wherein at least one of the at least two tangible media corresponds to an audio publication and wherein the physical attributes corresponding to the audio publication correspond to a recorded medium.

5. The system for managing items as recited in claim 1, wherein the prioritization criteria relate to a seller of the tangible media.

6. The system for managing items as recited in claim 1, wherein the prioritization criteria relate to a measurement of relative popularity of the tangible media.

7. The system for managing items as recited in claim 1, wherein the prioritization criteria relate to a release date of the tangible media.

8. The system for managing items as recited in claim 1, wherein the prioritization criteria relate to shipping information associated with the delivery of the tangible media.

9. The system for managing items as recited in claim 1, wherein the prioritization criteria relate to a classification of the tangible media.

10. The system for managing items as recited in claim 9, wherein the classification of the tangible media is at least one of a new or used tangible media.

11. The system for managing items as recited in claim 1, wherein the prioritization criteria relate to a retail price associated with the tangible media.

12. The system for managing items as recited in claim 1, wherein filtering the prioritized order of the at least two media based on user profile information includes filtering based on geographic information associated with the user.

13. The system for managing items as recited in claim 12, wherein filtering based on geographic information associated with the user includes removing tangible media not supported in a geographic region.

14. The system for managing items as recited in claim 1, wherein filtering the prioritized order of the at least two tangible media based on user profile information includes filtering tangible media not previously purchased by the user.

15. The system for managing items as recited in claim 1, wherein the selected representation corresponding to the filtered prioritized order corresponds to a plurality of physical attributes and wherein causing the display of selectable representations corresponding to at least one physical attribute of the selected representation corresponding to the filtered prioritized order of the at least two tangible media includes:

prioritizing the plurality of physical attributes; and

causing the display of selectable representations corresponding to the prioritized order of the plurality of physical attributes.

16. The system for managing items as recited in claim 15, wherein prioritizing the plurality of physical attributes includes prioritizing the plurality of physical attributes based on a retail price associated with each of the plurality of physical attributes.

17. A computer-implemented method for managing items comprising:

obtaining, from a user, a selection of at least one item, wherein the at least one item corresponds to two or more mutually exclusive instance types and wherein each of the mutually exclusive instance types are associated with one or more physical attributes of the respective instance type;

obtaining a prioritized order for the two or more mutually exclusive instance types responsive to the selection of the at least one item, the prioritized order being based, at least in part, on prioritization criteria; and

causing the display of selectable representations corresponding to the prioritized order of the two or more mutually exclusive instance types;

wherein the method is implemented in a computer system.

18. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 17, wherein the prioritization criteria relate to a seller of the instance type.

19. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 17, wherein the prioritization criteria relate to customer reviews associated with specific instance types.

20. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 17, wherein the prioritization criteria relate to profits attributed to specific instance types.

21. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 17, wherein the prioritization criteria relate to a context associated with the selection of the item.

22. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 21, wherein the context associated with the selection of the item corresponds to the user'"'"'s selection of the item in a network resource.

23. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 17, wherein the item corresponds to a work and wherein the two or more instance types correspond to two or more tangible media embodying the work.

24. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 23, wherein the tangible media correspond to binding type.

25. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 17 further comprising filtering the prioritized order for the two or more mutually exclusive instance types responsive to the selection of the at least one item based on user information associated with the user.

26. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 25, wherein the user information corresponds to user profile information.

27. A computer-implemented method for managing items comprising:

determining instance types for a plurality of items, wherein the instance types are mutually exclusive and wherein each of the mutually exclusive instance types each are associated with one or more attributes of the respective instance type;

determining a prioritized order for the two or more mutually exclusive instance types responsive to a selection of an item; and

providing the prioritized order of the two or more mutually exclusive instance types responsive to the selection of the item;

wherein the method is implemented in a computer system.

28. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 27 further comprising filtering the prioritized order for the two or more mutually exclusive instance types based, at least in part, on user information.

29. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 28, wherein the user information corresponds to geographic information associated with a user.

30. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 27 further comprising determining a prioritized order for the one or more attributes associated with each of the respective instance types.

31. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 30 further comprising providing the prioritized order of the attributes responsive to a selection of an instance type.

32. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 27, wherein the one or more attributes correspond to physical attributes of the respective instance types.

33. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 27, wherein the plurality of items correspond to works and wherein the mutually exclusive instance types correspond to tangible media embodying the work.

34. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 27, wherein determining a prioritized order for the two or more mutually exclusive instance types responsive to a selection of an item includes dynamically determining a prioritized order for the two or more mutually exclusive instance types responsive to a selection of an item.

35. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 27, wherein at least two mutually exclusive instance types have a common attribute.