System and method for retrieving and normalizing product information

• US 9,171,056 B2
• Filed: 06/16/2014
• Issued: 10/27/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: PayPal, Inc. (PayPal Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: PayPal, Inc. (PayPal Holdings, Inc.)
• Inventors: Clendinning, Kerry, McCartney, Michael, Mengerink, Matthew, Robinette, Fred Garfield IV, Wilson, David J.
• Primary Examiner(s): AL HASHEMI, SANA A
• Application Number:
  US14/306,185
• Publication Number:
  US 20140304220A1
• Time in Patent Office: 498 Days
• Field of Search: 707/796, 707/748, 707/752, 707/791, 707/795, 707/802, 707/810
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/211 Schema design and management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2282 Tablespace storage structures; Management thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/283 Multi-dimensional databases or data warehouses, e.g. MOLAP or ROLAP
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/284 Relational databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/83 Querying
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/95 Retrieval from the web
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0629 for generating comparisons
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0631 Item recommendations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces

Abstract

A system and method for retrieving and normalizing product information is described. The system may collect product information from suppliers. The product information may relate to a product that is described differently by two or more of suppliers. The system may further provide a normalized representation of the product.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a data collector, implemented by one or more processors, that is configured to collect product information from a plurality of suppliers, the product information relates to a product that is described differently by two or more of the plurality of suppliers; and

a normalization engine that is configured to provide a normalized representation of the product.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the normalization engine provides a normalized attribute-value pair.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the normalization engine provides a normalized description of a product type.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the data collector is further configured to scrape sites associated with the two or more suppliers.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the data collector is further configured to store the product information in a database and identify the product as already described in the database.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the product information includes a stock keeping unit.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the normalized representation of the product includes a canonical representation of a plurality of domains.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the normalized representation of the product includes a canonical representation of a plurality of values.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the normalized representation of the product includes a canonical representation of a plurality of attributes.

10. A method, comprising:

collecting, by a computer system, product information from a plurality of suppliers, the product information relating to a product that is being described differently by two or more of the plurality of suppliers, the collecting being performed by at least one processor; and

providing a normalized representation of the product.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the providing the normalized representation of the product includes providing a normalized attribute-value pair.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the providing the normalized representation of the product includes providing a normalized description of a product type.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the collecting the product information from a plurality of suppliers includes scraping sites associated with the two or more suppliers.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising storing the product information in a database and identifying the product as already being described in the database.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the product information includes a stock keeping unit.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the normalized representation of the product includes a canonical representation of a plurality of domains.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein the normalized representation of the product includes a canonical representation of a plurality of values.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein the normalized representation of the product includes a canonical representation of a plurality of attributes.

19. One or more machine-readable hardware storage devices storing a set of instructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

collecting, by a computer system, product information from a plurality of suppliers, the product information relating to a product that is described differently by two or more of the plurality of suppliers; and

providing a normalized representation of the product.

20. The one or more machine-readable hardware storage devices of claim 19, wherein the normalized representation of the product includes a canonical representation of a plurality of attributes.