Searching for goods and services based on keywords and proximity

• US 9,092,815 B2
• Filed: 11/16/2011
• Issued: 07/28/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/16/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Markus Foerster
• Original Assignee: Markus Foerster
• Inventors: Foerster, Markus
• Primary Examiner(s): Rosen, Nicholas D
• Application Number:
  US13/297,948
• Publication Number:
  US 20120123904A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,350 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26.61, 705/26.62, 705/26.63, 705/26.9
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0623 Item investigation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0625 Directed, with specific intent or strategy
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0627 using item specifications
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0639 Item locations

Abstract

Techniques for keyword-based searching are described. Some embodiments provide a Merchant Information Search System (“MISS”) that allows a potential customer to search for information about proximately located merchants that provide goods and/or services that match one or more keywords provided by the customer. In some embodiments, multiple keywords are associated with individual goods and/or services provided by a merchant. By associating keywords with individual goods and/or services, rather than a category or type of goods, the MISS may provide fine-grained search results that identify merchants that would not have been otherwise identified by category-based approaches to searching. Some embodiments employ other or additional techniques, including proximity-based searching and keyword feedback to improve search performance.

Claims

1. A method in a computing system, comprising:

providing a computer-implemented search facility configured to provide information about a plurality of merchants that each sell a plurality of goods and/or services, wherein each merchant of the plurality of merchants does not have an online presence via web sites or web pages specific to each merchant, by;

for each of the plurality of merchants,

receiving a plurality of keywords that describe goods or services sold by the merchant, wherein the plurality of keywords comprises thousands of keywords, descriptors, classification, or advertisement words; and

associating each of the plurality of keywords with at least one of the goods and/or services sold by the merchant;

receiving a search request that includes a keyword and an indication of a location;

automatically determining, by a computer processor of the computing system, one or more of the plurality of merchants that is proximately located to the indicated location and that sells a good and/or service that has an associated keyword that matches the keyword included in the search request, wherein the one or more of the determined plurality of merchants is classified in an off-line directory service only under business classifications that do not deal in the good and/or service, such that the merchant would not be identified by in the off-line directory as dealing in the good and/or service were the off-line directory to be searched under business classifications associated with the good and/or service, thereby enabling the determining of one or more of the plurality of merchants proximately located to the indicated location that would not be otherwise found by searching the off-line directory service; and

transmitting information about the determined one or more merchants;

receiving feedback regarding one of the plurality of merchants, the feedback indicating a user'"'"'s positive or negative experience with respect to the one merchant and/or one or more keywords associated with the one merchant and automatically adjusting the accuracy of received feedback associated with the one merchant by;

automatically determining, by the computer processor of the computing system, whether the feedback is likely false or spurious by determining that the feedback was at least one of;

received from an unauthorized user, received along with multiple feedback from a single user in a short amount of time, or received from an automated computer program;

upon determining that the feedback is likely false or spurious, not presenting or associating the received feedback with the one merchant; and

otherwise, presenting and associating the received feedback with the one merchant; and

automatically adjusting, by the computer processor of the computing system, the accuracy of the received plurality of keywords with the associated good and/or services of one of the plurality of merchants by;

automatically determining whether the received plurality of keywords are provided by an entity authorized to provide the keywords on behalf of the one of the plurality of merchants; and

if it is determined that the received plurality of keywords are not provided by an authorized entity, automatically disassociating the associated plurality of keywords with the one of the goods and/or services sold by the one of the plurality of merchants.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein each of the plurality of merchants has an associated primary business classification that includes one or more goods and/or services, and wherein determining the one or more of the plurality of merchants includes determining one or more merchants that each have a primary business classification that does not include the good and/or service that has an associated keyword that matches the keyword included in the search request.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from a sales representative, information about a merchant, the information including a name of the merchant, a location of the merchant, contact information for the merchant, and one or more keywords that describe goods and/or services sold by the merchant,

wherein the sales representative is not affiliated with the merchant.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

providing compensation to the sales representative in exchange for the information about the merchant.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

ordering the information about the determined one or more merchants, based at least in part on proximity between each of the one or more merchants and the indicated location.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the one or more merchants includes determining one or more merchants that have a location within a specified radius of the indicated location.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

upon determining that the feedback is not likely false or spurious, transmitting an indication of a rating of the one merchant, the rating based at least in part on the user'"'"'s positive or negative experience.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein transmitting the indication of the rating includes transmitting a directional indicator that is oriented in an upwards or downwards direction, the upwards direction indicating a positive rating and the downwards direction indicating a negative rating.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the directional indicator includes a color having a level of darkness that indicates a magnitude of the rating automatically calculated by the computing system, such that the magnitude of the rating increases as the level of darkness increases.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the directional indicator is a thumb icon, wherein the thumb icon is red when the rating is negative, and wherein the thumb is green when the rating is positive.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the automatically disassociating the associated plurality of keywords with the one of the goods and/or services sold by the one of the plurality of merchants further comprises:

removing the location of the one of the plurality of merchants in the case of faulty or false address or geographical information having been provided.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

upon determining that the received plurality of keywords are provided by an unauthorized entity, transmitting an indication to the one of the plurality of merchants that the unauthorized entity has attempted to provide keywords without authority.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

upon determining that the received plurality of keywords are provided by an unauthorized entity, prohibiting the unauthorized entity from providing further keywords for the plurality of merchants.

14. A computing system, comprising:

a non-transitory memory;

a module stored on the memory that is configured, when executed by a computer processor, to provide a search facility configured to provide information about a plurality of merchants that each sell goods and/or services, wherein each merchant of the plurality of merchants does not have an online presence via web sites or web pages specific to each merchant, by;

for each of the plurality of merchants,

receiving a plurality of keywords that describe goods or services sold by the merchant, wherein the plurality of keywords comprises hundreds of keywords, descriptors, classification, or advertisement words; and

associating each of the plurality of keywords with at least one of the goods and/or services sold by the merchant;

receiving a search request that includes a keyword and an indication of a location;

automatically determining one or more of the plurality of merchants that is proximately located to the indicated location and that sells a good and/or service that has an associated keyword that matches the keyword included in the search request, wherein the one or more of the determined plurality of merchants is classified in an off-line directory service only under business classifications that do not deal in the good and/or service, such that the merchant would not be identified in the off-line directory as dealing in the good and/or service were the off-line directory to be searched under business classifications associated with the good and/or service, thereby enabling the determining of one or more of the plurality of merchants proximately located to the indicated location that would not be otherwise found by searching the off-line directory service;

transmitting information about the determined one or more merchants;

receiving feedback regarding one of the plurality of merchants, the feedback indicating a user'"'"'s positive or negative experience with respect to the one merchant and/or one or more keywords associated with the one merchant and automatically adjusting the accuracy of received feedback associated with the one merchant by automatically determining and not associating false and/or spurious feedback with the one merchant; and

automatically adjusting the accuracy of the received plurality of keywords with the associated good and/or services of one of the plurality of merchants by only associating the received plurality of keywords with the associated good and/or services of the one of the plurality of merchants when received from an authorized user.

15. The computing system of claim 14 wherein at least a thousand keywords are associated with goods and/or services sold by each merchant.

16. The computing system of claim 14 wherein the module is a merchant information search system.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having contents that, when executed, cause a computing system to provide information about a plurality of merchants that each sell goods and/or services, by:

for each of the plurality of merchants, wherein each merchant does not have an online presence via web sites or web pages specific to each merchant,

receiving a plurality of keywords that describe goods or services sold by the merchant, wherein the plurality of keywords comprises hundreds of keywords, descriptors, classification, or advertisement words; and

associating each of the plurality of keywords with the merchant and/or with at least one of the goods and/or services sold by the merchant;

receiving a search request that includes a keyword and an indication of a location;

automatically determining one or more of the plurality of merchants that sells a good and/or service that has an associated keyword that matches the keyword included in the search request, wherein the one or more of the determined plurality of merchants is classified in an off-line directory service only under business classifications that do not deal in the good and/or service, such that the merchant would not be identified in the off-line directory as dealing in the good and/or service were the off-line directory to be searched under business classifications associated with the good and/or service, thereby enabling the determining of one or more of the plurality of merchants proximately located to the indicated location that would not be otherwise found by searching the off-line directory service;

transmitting information about the determined one or more merchants; and

automatically adjusting the accuracy of the received plurality of keywords with the associated good and/or services of one of the plurality of merchants by only associating the received plurality of keywords with the associated good and/or services of the one of the plurality of merchants when received from an authorized user.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17 wherein the computer-readable medium is a memory in the computing system, and wherein the contents are instructions that, when executed, cause the computing system to perform the method.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 17 wherein at least a thousand keywords are associated with goods and/or services sold by each merchant.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 17 wherein the off-line directory is a yellow pages service.