Establishing communication based on item interest

• US 9,117,236 B1
• Filed: 01/29/2013
• Issued: 08/25/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2009
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• 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:
  US13/753,282
• Time in Patent Office: 938 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26.1, 705/27.1, 705/319
• 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 30/0641 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 access to the information has met or exceeded a pre-determined interest threshold associated with the item or the category of items in the electronic catalog;

determining if a second user has previously purchased the item or purchased a second item in the category of items in the electronic catalog; and

at least partly in response to determining that the first user has met or exceeded the pre-determined interest threshold and at least partly in response to determining that the second user has previously purchased the item or purchased a second item in the category of items in the electronic catalog, causing presentation of a control that facilitates a communication between the first user and the second user.

2. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 1, wherein the item in the electronic catalog comprises a good or a service.

3. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 1, wherein the category of items in the electronic catalog comprises a category of goods, a category of services, or both in the electronic catalog.

4. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 1, wherein the communication between the first user and the one or more second users comprises a text communication, a voice communication, or a video communication.

5. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 1, further comprising providing a reward to one or more second users after the one or more second users participates in the communication with the first user.

6. The computer-implemented method as recited in 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, initiating the communication between at least the first user and the one or more second users.

7. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 6, wherein the communication designates each user participating in the communication according to each respective user'"'"'s relationship to the item or the category.

8. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 7, wherein each of the one or more second users are designated based on whether the one or more second users:

owns or has previously purchased the item;

owns or has previously purchased an item from the category of items;

has previously participated in a communication about the item or the category;

has been deemed an expert on the item or an item from the category of items;

or has been deemed a representative for the item.

9. 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 that a first user is interested in a specific item stored in a database containing a plurality of items;

determine that a second user interested in the specific item based at least partly upon a purchase history associated with the second user;

at least partly in response to determining the first user has met or exceeded a predetermined interest threshold in the specific item, present a control to the first user on a user surface; and

in response to a received selection of the control, initiate a communication between the first user and the second user.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the communication comprises a text communication, a voice communication, or a video communication.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the first user is determined to be interested in the specific item in response to one or more user events performed by the first user and associated with the specific item.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the one or more user events comprises at least one of:

including a reference to the specific item on a list associated with the first user;

placing the specific item into a shopping cart associated with the first user;

accessing information associated with the specific item more than a predetermined number of times;

following a link associated with the specific item;

or accessing information associated with the specific item more than a predetermined amount of time.

13. 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:

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

determining an interest of the first user and the second 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 and the second user to an interest threshold associated with the item or the category of items;

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; and

in response to a received selection of the control, initiating a communication between the first user and the second user.

14. The computer-readable storage media of claim 13, wherein the item or category of items comprises a good, a service, a category of goods or a category of services.

15. The computer-readable storage media of claim 13, the instructions further comprising:

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

16. The computer-readable storage media of claim 13, further comprising determining the interest of the second user in the item or the category of items based on the second user'"'"'s purchase of the item or an item within the category of items.

17. The computer-readable storage media of claim 13, wherein the second user has an associated user profile that indicates the second user is at least one of:

a shopper with a determined interest in the item or category of items that is similar to the first user'"'"'s determined interest;

a user that has been designated as an expert on the item or on the category of items;

a user that has been designated as an official representative of the item or in the category of items;

a user that has participated in one or more previous communications regarding the item or an item in the category of items;

a user that has written a review of the item or an item in the category of items;

a user that is a prior purchaser of the item or an item in the category of items;

or

a user that is an owner of the item or an item in the category of items.

18. The computer-readable storage media of claim 13, wherein the communication comprises one of a text communication, a video communication, a telephone communication, or an audio communication.