Generating, updating, and managing multi-taxonomy environments

• US 7,412,404 B1
• Filed: 10/19/2001
• Issued: 08/12/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Blue Yonder Group, Inc. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: i2 Technologies US Incorporated (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Tenorio, Manoel
• Primary Examiner(s): Trammell; James P.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Badii; Behrang
• Application Number:
  US10/032,903
• Time in Patent Office: 2,489 Days
• Field of Search: 707/104, 707 1- 6, 707100-103, 707/8, 705 2- 10, 705 26- 29, 705/35, 715/505, 715/236
• US Class Current: 715/236
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99938 Concurrency, e.g. lock management in shared database

Abstract

An electronic commerce system includes one or more databases operable to store product data for one or more products. The system also includes a master global content directory that includes a plurality of product classes organized in a hierarchy, the product class categorizing the products and associated with one or more attributes of the products. At least one of the product classes has one or more associated product pointers that identify one or more of the databases. The system further includes one or more secondary content directories including one or more classes mapping back to the product classes in the master global content directory and the classes having associated class pointers that identify product classes in the master global content directory. The system also includes a search interface that communicates a search query to one or more of the databases to search product data.

Claims

1. An electronic commerce system for generating, updating, and managing multi-taxonomy environments, the system comprising:

one or more sellers'"'"' databases operable to store product data for one or more products;

a master global content directory coupled with the one or more sellers'"'"' databases including a plurality of product classes organized in a hierarchy according to a first classification system, each product class categorizing a plurality of products and associated with one or more attributes of the products categorized in the product class, at least one of the product classes having one or more associated product pointers that identify one or more of the sellers'"'"' databases;

one or more secondary content directories coupled with the master global content directory including one or more product classes organized in a hierarchy according to a second classification system that is distinct from the first classification system of the master global content directory, each product class being mapped to one or more product classes in the master global content directory and having one or more associated class pointers that identify the one or more product classes in the master global content directory to which the product class is mapped; and

a search interface operable to;

receive a selection of a product class of a secondary content directory from a user, the selected product class having at least one class pointer identifying at least one product class in the master global content directory; and

communicate, in response to selection of the product class by the user, a search query to one or more of the sellers'"'"' databases to search product data stored in the sellers'"'"' databases identified by one or more of the product pointers to facilitate a commercial transaction involving one or more products.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the secondary content directories are personal to one or more users and are organized in a hierarchy satisfying one or more requirements for the users.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein a class pointer identifying a product class in the master global content directory also inherently identifies all product classes under the product classes in the hierarchy of the master global content directory.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the search interface is further operable to:

receive the selection of a product class of a secondary content directory from a user of the secondary content directory;

receive one or more search parameters for a product from the user;

determine the product classes in the master global content directory identified by the class pointers in the selected product class;

determine the sellers'"'"' databases identified by product pointers in the determined product classes of the master global content directory; and

communicate a search query having the search parameters to the determined databases.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein access to the master global content directory is determined by which product classes in the master global content directory are identified by class pointers associated with the product classes in a secondary content directory.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein one or more of the product pointers identify particular product data in one or more of the databases.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the search query comprises desired values, specified by the user of one of the secondary content directories, for one or more of the product attributes associated with a selected product class.

8. A method for generating, updating, and managing multi-taxonomy environments in an electronic commerce transaction, the method comprising:

storing product data for one or more products in one or more sellers'"'"' databases;

categorizing the products in a master global content directory, the master global content directory coupled with the one or more sellers'"'"' databases and comprising a directory structure including a plurality of product classes organized in a hierarchy according to a first classification system, each product class categorizing a plurality of products and associated with one or more attributes of the products categorized in the product class, one or more of the product classes having one or more associated product pointers that identify one or more of the sellers'"'"' databases;

providing a plurality of users access to the master global content directory through one or more secondary content directories, the secondary content directories coupled with the master global content directory and comprising one or more product classes organized in a hierarchy according to a second classification system that is distinct from the first classification system of the master global content directory, each product class being mapped to one or more product classes in the master global content directory and having one or more associated class pointers that identify the one or more product classes in the master global content directory to which the product class is mapped;

receiving a selection of a product class of a secondary content directory from a user, the selected product class having at least one class pointer identifying at least one product class in the master global content directory; and

in response to the selection of the product class by the user, communicating a search query to one or more sellers'"'"' databases to search product data stored in the sellers'"'"' databases identified by one or more of the pointers to facilitate a commercial transaction involving one or more products.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising:

receiving the selection of a product class of a secondary content directory from a user of the secondary content directory;

receiving one or more search parameters for a product from the user;

determining the product classes in the master global content directory identified by the class pointers in the selected product class;

determining the sellers'"'"' databases identified by product pointers in the determined product classes of the master global content directory; and

communicating a search query having the search parameters to the determined databases.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein the secondary content directories are personal to one or more users and are organized in a hierarchy satisfying one or more requirements for the users.

11. The method of claim 8 wherein a class pointer identifying a product class in the master global content directory also inherently identifies all product classes under the product classes in the hierarchy of the master global content directory.

12. The method of claim 8 wherein providing a plurality of users access to the master global content directory through one or more secondary content directories comprises determining access to the master global content directory by which product classes in the master global content directory are identified by class pointers associated with the product classes in a secondary content directory.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein one or more of the product pointers identifies particular product data in one or more of the databases.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the search query comprises desired values, specified by the user of one of the secondary content directories, for one or more of the product attributes associated with a selected product class.

15. Software for generating, updating, and managing multi-taxonomy environments in an electronic commerce transaction, the software embodied in a computer-readable medium and operable to:

store product data for one or more products in one or more sellers'"'"' databases;

categorize the products in a master global content directory, the master global content directory coupled with the one or more sellers'"'"' databases and comprising a directory structure including a plurality of product classes organized in a hierarchy according to a first classification system, each product class categorizing a plurality of products and associated with one or more attributes of the products categorized in the product class, one or more of the product classes having one or more associated product pointers that identify one or more of the sellers'"'"' databases;

provide a plurality of users access to the master global content directory through one or more secondary content directories, the secondary content directories coupled with the master global content directory and comprising one or more product classes organized in a hierarchy according to a second classification system that is distinct from the first classification system of the master global content directory, each product class being mapped to one or more product classes in the master global content directory and having one or more associated class pointers that identify the one or more product classes in the master global content directory to which the product class is mapped;

receive a selection of a product class of a secondary content directory from a user, the selected product class having at least one class pointer identifying at least one product class in the master global content directory; and

in response to the selection of the product class by the user, communicate a search query to one or more sellers'"'"' databases to search product data stored in the sellers'"'"' databases identified by one or more of the product pointers to facilitate a commercial transaction involving one or more products.

16. The software of claim 15 further comprising:

receiving the selection of a product class of a secondary content directory from a user of the secondary content directory;

receiving one or more search parameters for a product from the user;

determining the product classes in the master global content directory identified by the class pointers in the selected product class;

determining the sellers'"'"' databases identified by product pointers in the determined product classes of the master global content directory; and

communicating a search query having the search parameters to the determined databases.

17. The software of claim 15 wherein the secondary content directories are personal to one or more users and are organized in a hierarchy satisfying one or more requirements for the users.

18. The software of claim 15 wherein a class pointer identifying a product class in the master global content directory also inherently identifies all product classes under the product classes in the hierarchy of the master global content directory.

19. The software of claim 15 wherein providing a plurality of users access to the master global content directory through one or more secondary content directories comprises determining access to the master global content directory by which product classes in the master global content directory are identified by class pointers associated with the product classes in a secondary content directory.

20. The software of claim 15, wherein one or more of the product pointers identify particular product data in one or more of the databases.

21. The software of claim 15, wherein the search query comprises desired values, specified by the user of one of the secondary content directories, for one or more of the product attributes associated with a selected product class.

22. A system for generating, updating, and managing multi-taxonomy environments in an electronic commerce transaction, the method comprising:

means for storing product data for one or more products;

means for categorizing the products in a master global content directory, the master global content directory coupled with the one or more sellers'"'"' databases and comprising a directory structure including a plurality of product classes organized in a hierarchy according to a first classification system, each product class categorizing a plurality of products and associated with one or more attributes of the products categorized in the product class, one or more of the product classes having one or more associated product pointers that identify one or more of the sellers'"'"' databases;

means for providing a plurality of users access to the master global content directory through one or more secondary content directories, the secondary content directories coupled with the master global content directory and comprising one or more product classes organized in a hierarchy according to a second classification system that is distinct from the first classification system of the master global content directory, each product class being mapped to one or more product classes in the master global content directory and having one or more associated class pointers that identify the one or more product classes in the master global content directory to which the product class is mapped;

means for receiving a selection of a product class of a secondary content directory from a user, the selected product class having at least one class pointer identifying at least one product class in the master global content directory; and

in response to the selection of the product class by the user, means for communicating a search query to one or more sellers'"'"' databases to search product data stored in the sellers'"'"' databases identified by one or more of the product pointers to facilitate a commercial transaction involving one or more products.