Item recommendation

• US 9,466,083 B1
• Filed: 11/25/2015
• Issued: 10/11/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/06/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Sanders, Adam Callahan
• Primary Examiner(s): Lai, Michael C
• Application Number:
  US14/952,846
• Time in Patent Office: 321 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0631 Item recommendations
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/046 Interoperability with other network applications or services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services

Abstract

A technology is described for making a recommendation for an item. An example method may include identifying a user interest in an item and identifying individuals that may have an interest in the item. The individuals may be presented to a user via a recommendation interface control that allows a name of the item to be added to a recommendation list for an individual selected from the individuals. An individual selected from the individual list to receive the recommendation may be identified and the name of the item may be added to the recommendation list for the individual.

Claims

1. A non-transitory machine readable storage medium having instructions embodied thereon, the instructions when executed by a processor:

identify an item for which a user has indicated an interest;

identify a consumption pattern for the user;

analyze the consumption pattern for a preference for items associated with an item category of the item;

identify a group of individuals that are available to receive an item recommendation who have consumption patterns that have the preference for items associated with the item category of the item;

present a recommendation interface control that includes the group of individuals, wherein the recommendation interface control allows a name of the item to be added to a recommendation list for an individual selected from the group of individuals;

identify the individual that is selected from the group of individuals to receive the recommendation;

prompt the user to enter a user text comment associated with the item, via the recommendation interface control; and

add the name of the item, a description of the item, and the user text comment to the recommendation list for the individual, thereby recommending the item to the individual.

2. A non-transitory machine readable storage medium as in claim 1, wherein the instructions that when executed by the processor further identify the group of individuals using in part a relationship of the individual to a user.

3. A non-transitory machine readable storage medium as in claim 1, wherein the instructions that when executed by the processor further add the name of the item to a social queue that is accessible to the group of individuals.

4. A non-transitory machine readable storage medium as in claim 1, wherein the instructions that when executed by the processor further add the name of the item to a plurality of social queues for the group of individuals.

5. A computer implemented method, comprising:

identifying an item for which a user has indicated an interest, using a processor;

identifying a topical category for the item, using the processor;

identifying a group of individuals having an interest in the topical category who are available to receive an item recommendation for the item, using the processor;

presenting a recommendation interface control that includes the group of individuals, wherein the recommendation interface control allows a name of the item to be added to a recommendation list for an individual selected from the group of individuals;

identifying the individual selected from the group of individuals to receive the recommendation, using the processor;

prompting the user to enter an user text comment associated with the item, via the recommendation interface control, using the processor; and

adding the name of the item, a description of the item, and the user text comment to the recommendation list for the individual, using the processor.

6. A method as in claim 5, further comprising identifying the group of individuals using in part a relationship of the individuals included in the group of individuals to a user.

7. A method as in claim 5, further comprising assigning a success rate to a user according to a success rate that is determined by a number of recommendations that are accepted by the individual.

8. The method as in claim 5, wherein adding the name of the item to the recommendation list for the individual further comprises adding the name of the item to a recommendation list that is accessible to the group of individuals.

9. The method as in claim 5, wherein adding the name of the item to the recommendation list for the individual further comprises adding the name of the item to a plurality of recommendation lists for the group of individuals.

10. The method as in claim 5, wherein identifying the group of individuals further comprises identifying a group of individuals that subscribe to a recommendation list maintained by a user.

11. A method as in claim 5, further comprising receiving an acceptance of a recommendation from the individual that results in adding the name of the item to a watch list for the individual.

12. A method as in claim 5, further comprising presenting the recommendation list with the name of the item when the recommendation list is accessed by the individual.

13. The method as in claim 5, wherein identifying the item for which the user has indicated the interest further comprises determining that the user has purchased the item.

14. The method as in claim 5, wherein identifying the item for which the user has indicated the interest further comprises determining that the user has viewed the item.

15. A system comprising:

a processor;

a memory device including instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the system to;

identify an item for which a user has indicated an interest;

identify a group of individuals that are available to receive an item recommendation;

present a recommendation interface control that includes the group of individuals and allows a name of the item to be added to a recommendation list for an individual selected from the group of individuals;

identify the individual that is selected from the group of individuals to receive the recommendation;

prompt the user to enter an user text comment associated with the item, via the recommendation interface control; and

add the name of the item, a description of the item, and the user text comment to the recommendation list for the individual.

16. A system as in claim 15, wherein the memory device includes instructions that, when executed by the processor, causes the system to obtain a text comment entered by a user via the recommendation interface control.

17. A system as in claim 15, wherein the memory device includes instructions that, when executed by the processor, causes the system to display the name of the item and the text comment in a social queue for the individual.

18. A system as in claim 15, wherein the memory device includes instructions that, when executed by the processor, causes the system to execute an acceptance interface control that enables the individual to accept a recommendation added to the recommendation list for the individual, wherein acceptance of the recommendation adds the name of the item to a watch list associated with the individual.