Method and system for determining allied products

• US 9,177,059 B2
• Filed: 09/09/2011
• Issued: 11/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/09/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: CNET Media Incorporated (Red Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: CBS Interactive Inc. (Paramount Global (f/k/a ViacomCBS Inc.))
• Inventors: Walsh, Robin Hiroko, Musgrove, Timothy Allen
• Primary Examiner(s): SYED, FARHAN M
• Application Number:
  US13/229,217
• Publication Number:
  US 20120233170A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,516 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2455 Query execution
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24575 using context
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/285 Clustering or classification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/04 Payment circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/12 specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0603 Catalogue ordering
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0605 Supply or demand aggregation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0609 Buyer or seller confidence or verification
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0625 Directed, with specific intent or strategy
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0637 Approvals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

The method comprises processing plural product information records from the product information sources into one or more groups based on which product information records are likely to correspond to the same product, correlating a unique product ID corresponding to the product associated with each of said groups to identify the product, comparing each identified product to categories of a taxonomy to determine a category for the identified products in the taxonomy, and determining attributes for each categorized product based on the product information records corresponding to each group, creating product specifications based on the determined attributes and storing the product specification in the corresponding determined categories of the taxonomy.

Claims

1. A method executed by one or more computing devices for determining allied product information for products corresponding to product records stored in a computer-readable catalog structure including categories, the product records having attributes associated therewith, the method comprising:

identifying, by at least one of the one or more computing devices, at least one first attribute of at least one first product record in a first category;

identifying, by at least one of the one or more computing devices, at least one second attribute of at least one second product record in a second category;

comparing, by at least one of the one or more computing devices, the at least one first attribute with the at least one second attribute by counting a threshold number of the at least one first attribute and the at least one second attribute that are common;

resolving, by at least one of the one or more computing devices, a relationship in the catalog between the at least one first product record and the at least one second product record; and

determining, by at least one of the one or more computing devices, whether the at least one first product record and the at least one second product record correspond to allied products based on the said comparing step and said resolving step, wherein determining comprises setting at least one product corresponding to the at least one first product record in the first category as allied with at least one product corresponding to the at least one second product record in the second category based at least in part on a determination that the threshold number exceeds a predetermined value; and

saving, by at least one of the one or more computing devices, allied product data to a computer-readable record in the computer-readable catalog structure.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining step comprises determining that products corresponding to product records in the same category are not allied products.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one first product record is a set of product records in the first category and wherein the at least one second product record is a set of product records in the second category.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one first attribute and the at least one second attribute comprise non-intrinsic attributes.

5. A method executed by one or more computing devices for creating a database of allied product information from at least one information source having a data structure, said method comprising:

receiving, by at least one of the one or more computing devices, data from the at least one information source;

identifying, by at least one of the one or more computing devices, product information for multiple products within the data based on computational linguistics;

determining, by at least one of the one or more computing devices, a level of one or more relationship scores between two or more products in the multiple products based at least in part on one or more of;

manufacturer information within the product information, descriptive text within the product information, category information within the product information, group concept information within the product information, or price information within the product information;

setting, by at least one of the one or more computing devices, the two or more products as allied products based at least in part on a determination that the one or more relationship scores correspond to a predetermined score threshold; and

saving, by at least one of the one or more computing devices, allied product data to a computer readable table.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the at least one information source is a web site, wherein the data is parsed from a web page, and wherein said determining step further comprises determining links between portions of the data.

7. A computer system for determining allied product information for products corresponding to product records stored in a computer:

readable catalog structure including categories, the product records having attributes associated therewith, the system comprising;

one or more processors; and

one or more memories operatively coupled to at least one of the one or more processors and having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by at least one of the one or more processors, cause at least one of the one or more processors to;

identify at least one first attribute of at least one first product record in a first category;

identify at least one second attribute of at least one second product record in a second category;

compare the at least one first attribute with the at least one second attribute by counting a threshold number of the at least one first attribute and the at least one second attribute that are common;

resolve a relationship in the catalog between the at least one first product record and the at least one second product record; and

determine whether the at least one first product record and the at least one second product record correspond to allied products based on the said comparing step and said resolving step, wherein determining comprises setting at least one product corresponding to the at least one first product record in the first category as allied with at least one product corresponding to the at least one second product record in the second category based at least in part on a determination that the threshold number exceeds a predetermined value; and

save allied product data to a computer-readable record in the computer-readable catalog structure.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein said determining step comprises determining that products corresponding to product records in the same category are not allied products.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the at least one first product record is a set of product records in the first category and wherein the at least one second product record is a set of product records in the second category.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the at least one first attribute and the at least one second attribute comprise non-intrinsic attributes.

11. A computer system for creating a database of allied product information from at least one information source having a data structure, said system comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more memories operatively coupled to at least one of the one or more processors and having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by at least one of the one or more processors, cause at least one of the one or more processors to;

receive data from the at least one information source;

identify product information for multiple products within the data based on computational linguistics;

determine one or more relationship scores between two or more products in the multiple products based at least in part on one or more of;

manufacturer information within the product information, descriptive text within the product information, category information within the product information, group concept information within the product information, or price information within the product information;

set the two or more products as allied products based at least in part on a determination that if the one or more relationship scores correspond to a predetermined score threshold; and

save allied product data to a computer-readable table.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the at least one information source is a web site, wherein the data is parsed from a web page, and wherein said determining step further comprises determining links between portions of the data.