SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CREATING TOPIC NEIGHBORHOOD VISUALIZATIONS IN A NETWORKED SYSTEM

• US 20090089678A1
• Filed: 12/20/2007
• Published: 04/02/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Original Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Inventors: Melcher, Ryan, Sacco, Nathan
• Granted Patent: US 8,862,690 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/733
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/285 Clustering or classification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• 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 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46

Abstract

A computer-implemented system and method for creating topic neighborhoods and a visualization for related topic neighborhoods in a networked system are disclosed. The apparatus in an example embodiment includes a neighborhood generator configured to receive an explicit identification of a topic for association with a neighborhood; create a neighborhood in association with the explicitly identified topic; gather neighborhood information related to the neighborhood from sources related to the topic; and provide access to the neighborhood via a neighborhood visualization on a webpage.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving an explicit identification of a topic for association with a neighborhood;

creating a neighborhood in association with the explicitly identified topic;

gathering neighborhood information related to the neighborhood from sources related to the topic; and

providing access to the neighborhood via a neighborhood visualization on a webpage.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the neighborhood information sources include at least one item of the group:

merchandising, blogs, guides, reviews, people, and photos.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1 including inviting users to join the neighborhood.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1 including inviting users to suggest additional neighborhood content sources for the neighborhood.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1 including inviting users to vote for a favored neighborhood.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the neighborhood visualization includes displaying the neighborhood as a large flower-shaped image with leaves that show data elements related to the neighborhood.

7. A method comprising:

obtaining user behavior or interest information;

correlating the user behavior or interest information with a dynamically detected topic;

creating a neighborhood in association with the dynamically detected topic;

gathering neighborhood information related to the neighborhood from sources related to the topic; and

providing access to the neighborhood via a neighborhood visualization on a webpage.

8. The method as claimed in claim 7 wherein the neighborhood information sources include at least one item of the group:

merchandising, blogs, guides, reviews, people, and photos.

9. The method as claimed in claim 7 including inviting users to join the neighborhood.

10. The method as claimed in claim 7 including inviting users to suggest additional neighborhood content sources for the neighborhood.

11. The method as claimed in claim 7 including inviting users to vote for a favored neighborhood.

12. The method as claimed in claim 7 wherein the neighborhood visualization includes displaying the neighborhood as a large flower-shaped image with leaves that show data elements related to the neighborhood.

13. An apparatus comprising:

a neighborhood generator configured to;

receive an explicit identification of a topic for association with a neighborhood;

create a neighborhood in association with the explicitly identified topic;

gather neighborhood information related to the neighborhood from sources related to the topic; and

provide access to the neighborhood via a neighborhood visualization on a webpage.

14. The apparatus as claimed in claim 13 wherein the neighborhood information sources include at least one item of the group:

merchandising, blogs, guides, reviews, people, and photos.

15. The apparatus as claimed in claim 13 being further configured to invite users to join the neighborhood.

16. The apparatus as claimed in claim 13 being further configured to invite users to suggest additional neighborhood content sources for the neighborhood.

17. The apparatus as claimed in claim 13 being further configured to invite users to vote for a favored neighborhood.

18. The apparatus as claimed in claim 13 wherein the neighborhood visualization being further configured to display the neighborhood as a large flower-shaped image with leaves that show data elements related to the neighborhood.

19. An apparatus comprising:

a neighborhood generator configured to;

obtain user behavior or interest information;

correlate the user behavior or interest information with a dynamically detected topic;

create a neighborhood in association with the dynamically detected topic;

gather neighborhood information related to the neighborhood from sources related to the topic; and

provide access to the neighborhood via a neighborhood visualization on a webpage.

20. The apparatus as claimed in claim 19 wherein the neighborhood information sources include at least one item of the group:

merchandising, blogs, guides, reviews, people, and photos.

21. The apparatus as claimed in claim 19 being further configured to invite users to join the neighborhood.

22. The apparatus as claimed in claim 19 being further configured to invite users to suggest additional neighborhood content sources for the neighborhood.

23. The apparatus as claimed in claim 19 being further configured to invite users to vote for a favored neighborhood.

24. The apparatus as claimed in claim 19 wherein the neighborhood visualization being further configured to display the neighborhood as a large flower-shaped image with leaves that show data elements related to the neighborhood.

25. An article of manufacture comprising a machine-readable storage medium having machine executable instructions embedded thereon, which when executed by a machine, cause the machine to:

receive an explicit identification of a topic for association with a neighborhood;

create a neighborhood in association with the explicitly identified topic;

gather neighborhood information related to the neighborhood from sources related to the topic; and

provide access to the neighborhood via a neighborhood visualization on a webpage.

26. An article of manufacture comprising a machine-readable storage medium having machine executable instructions embedded thereon, which when executed by a machine, cause the machine to:

obtain user behavior or interest information;

correlate the user behavior or interest information with a dynamically detected topic;

create a neighborhood in association with the dynamically detected topic;

gather neighborhood information related to the neighborhood from sources related to the topic; and

provide access to the neighborhood via a neighborhood visualization on a webpage.