Rules-based identification of items represented on web pages

• US 20020143659A1
• Filed: 02/27/2001
• Published: 10/03/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 02/27/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alexa Internet (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Alexa Internet (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Keezer, Paula, Tofel, Brad
• Granted Patent: US 7,085,736 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/27
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces

Abstract

The Document Object Model (DOM) of a sampled web page is used to create a rule that extracts item-related data from web pages having a similar DOM structure to the sampled web page. In response to a user request for such a web page, the rule is retrieved from a data server based on the page'"'"'s URL, and is applied to the DOM of the web page to extract item-identifying data. The item is then identified—preferably by the data server—by matching the item-identifying data to an item in a database. Supplemental information about the item is then retrieved from the database and supplied to the user'"'"'s computer for viewing in conjunction with the requested page. In a preferred embodiment, the rule is retrieved from the data server and applied to the web page by a client application that runs in conjunction with a web browser.

Claims

1. A method of identifying a product represented on a web page, the method comprising:

(a) traversing a path through a structured graph representation of the web page to a node of the representation;

(b) obtaining an element of product-identifying data stored in association with the node; and

(c) identifying the product based at least upon the element of product-identifying data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein (c) comprises querying a database based at least upon the element of product-identifying data, wherein the database associates product-identifying data with products.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein (a) and (b) are performed on a user computer.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein (c) is performed on a server computer connected in communication with the user computer.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the structured graph representation is a document object model.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

(d) obtaining supplemental product information based at least upon the identity of the product; and

(e) providing the supplemental product information to a user viewing the web page.

7. A method of identifying an item represented on a web page, the method comprising:

(a) receiving an identification of a portion of a first web page, wherein the portion comprises item-identifying data descriptive of a first item represented on the first web page;

(b) identifying a first node of a structured graph representation of the first web page based at least upon the identified portion;

(c) creating a path through the structured graph representation of the first web page to the first node;

(d) traversing the path through a structured graph representation of a second web page to obtain access to a second node; and

(e) obtaining, based at least upon access to the second node, item-identifying data descriptive of a second item represented on the second web page.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising

(f) querying a database based at least upon the item-identifying data descriptive of the second item, wherein the database stores item-identifying data for a plurality of items.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein (a), (b) and (c) are performed on a computer under the control of an information provider.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein (d) and (e) are performed on a user computer.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein (d) and (e) are performed on a server computer connected in communication with the user computer.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein the structured graph representation is a document object model.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the path is a document object model path.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein (a) is performed on a first user computer under the control of a first user, and wherein (c) is performed on a second user computer under the control of a second user.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein (b) is performed on a data server.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the first rule and the second rule each comprise a path configured to be applied to a structured graph representation of a web page.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the structured graph representation is a document object model.

19. The method of claim 14, further comprising providing the information to a user viewing the second web page.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein the item is a product and wherein the information is a price.

14. A method of collecting and providing supplemental information about items represented on web pages, the method comprising:

(a) applying a first rule to a first web page to obtain information related to an item represented on the first web page;

(b) storing the information in association with data descriptive of the item;

(c) subsequent to (b), applying a second rule to a second web page to obtain item-identifying data, wherein the second web page comprises a representation of the item, and wherein the item-identifying data are descriptive of the item; and

(d) retrieving the stored information based at least upon the obtained item-identifying data.

21. A method of identifying an item represented on a web page, the method comprising, on a client computer:

providing a structural graph representation of the web page;

sending a request to a data server, wherein the request comprises at least a portion of a location from which the web page was retrieved;

receiving a rule in response to the request, wherein the rule comprises at least one path, wherein each path is configured to be applied to the structural graph representation;

for each path, traversing the path to obtain access to a node of the structural graph representation; and

for at least one of the nodes, obtaining, based at least upon access to the node, item-identifying data descriptive of the item.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

sending the item-identifying data to a data server; and

receiving information related to the item from the data server.

23. The method of claim 21, further comprising

for each path, determining whether the path leads to a single node.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising

for each single node, determining whether an attribute of the node is not blank.

25. The method of claim 21, wherein the rule comprises at least two paths.

26. The method of claim 21, wherein the rule comprises at least one additional path in addition to the at least one path.

27. The method of claim 21, wherein the location is a URL.

28. The method of claim 21, wherein the structured graph representation is a document object model.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the structured graph representation is a document object model.

31. The method of claim 29, wherein the location is a URL.

32. The method of claim 29, wherein the portion of the web page comprises text displayed on the web page.

33. The method of claim 29, wherein the portion of the web page comprises an image displayed on the web page.

34. The method of claim 29, wherein (a) comprises

detecting a selection, by a person creating the rule, of a portion of the web page.

36. The system of claim 35, wherein the second module is further configured to associate supplemental item information with each of the plurality of items.

37. The system of claim 36, further comprising

a seventh module configured to retrieve the supplemental item information associated with the identified item.

38. The system of claim 37, further comprising

an eighth module configured to provide the supplemental item information to a user.

39. The system of claim 35, further comprising an Internet-connected data server, wherein the data server comprises the first module and the second module.

40. The system of claim 39, wherein the data server further comprises the third module, the fourth module, and the fifth module.

41. The system of claim 39, further comprising a client application configured to execute in conjunction with a web browser on an Internet-connected user computer, wherein the client application comprises the fourth module.

42. The system of claim 41, wherein the client application further comprises the third module and the fifth module.

43. The system of claim 35, wherein the first module and the second module are the same module.

44. The system of claim 43, wherein the first module and the second module comprise at least one database.

45. The system of claim 35, wherein each structured graph representation is a document object model.

46. The system of claim 35, wherein each web location is a URL.

47. The system of claim 35, wherein each plurality of locations is a family of URLs.

29. A method of creating a rule for extracting item-identifying data from web pages, the method comprising:

(a) receiving an identification of a portion of a web page located at a location, wherein the portion comprises item-identifying data descriptive of an item represented on the web page;

(b) identifying a node of a structured graph representation of the web page based at least upon the identified portion;

(c) creating a path through the structured graph representation of the web page to the first node;

(d) creating a rule based at least upon the path; and

(e) associating the rule with at least a portion of the location of the web page.

35. A system for identifying items represented on web pages, the system comprising:

a first module configured to store a plurality of rules, wherein each rule comprises at least one structured graph representation path, and wherein each rule is associated with a plurality of web page locations;

a second module configured to store item-identifying data for each of a plurality of items;

a third module configured to retrieve at least one of the plurality of rules based at least upon a first web page location;

a fourth module configured to apply the at least one path of the retrieved rule to a structured graph representation of a web page located at the first web page location to extract item-identifying data from the web page;

a fifth module configured to provide the extracted item-identifying-data to the second module; and

a sixth module configured to match at least a portion of the extracted item-identifying data to item-identifying data stored by the second module to thereby identify an item.