Identifying tasks for task performers based on task subscriptions

• US 7,881,957 B1
• Filed: 09/29/2006
• Issued: 02/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/16/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Bradley, Adam D., Cohen, Peter D., Bravenec, John B., Locke, Jessica C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Jeanty; Romain
• Application Number:
  US11/537,508
• Time in Patent Office: 1,586 Days
• Field of Search: 705/7, 705/9, 705/11
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions

Abstract

Techniques are described for facilitating interactions between task requesters who have tasks that are available to be performed and task performers who are available to perform tasks, such as by an intermediary electronic marketplace or other task fulfillment facilitator system. In some situations, task performer users and/or other users may create task subscriptions for use in automatically identifying tasks of interest to the users about which the users desire to receive notification. The users may be notified of the identified tasks in various ways, such as by sending electronic messages of various types to the users that include indications of the tasks identified for those users based on their subscriptions. Tasks of interest may be identified in various ways, such as based on task attributes of interest specified for a subscription that are later matched against tasks that are available at the time of the matching.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for providing a task fulfillment system that acts as an intermediary to facilitate performance by task performer users of tasks submitted by task requesters, the method comprising:

receiving indications of multiple available tasks submitted by task requesters for performance by task performer users, each task having attributes that include multiple of a category of the task, a type of the task, a keyword associated with the task, a qualification associated with the task, a task requester who submitted that task, a time period for performance of the task, and a price associated with the task; and

for each of multiple task performer users, receiving one or more instructions from the task performer user to create a subscription for the task performer user to use in providing information to the task performer user about tasks of interest, the one or more instructions indicating multiple task attributes of interest to the task performer user to use with the created subscription, the indicated multiple task attributes being based at least in part on an indication to use one or more task attributes of a collection of tasks as at least some of the indicated multiple task attributes for the subscription, the collection of tasks being identified by the task performer user while browsing one of multiple browsing locations made available via a user interface provided by the task fulfillment system, the one browsing location corresponding to one or more categories of tasks; and

after creating the subscription for the task performer user, repeatedly using the created subscription at multiple distinct times to provide information to the task performer user about available tasks of interest, by automatically identifying one or more available tasks for the task performer user based on each of the identified tasks having attributes that match the multiple task attributes of the created subscription, the automatic identifying of the one or more available tasks being performed by one or more computer processors configured to provide the task fulfillment system; and

notifying the task performer user that one or more of the identified tasks match the created subscription and are available for performance, the notifying being automatically performed by the one or more configured computer processors.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein, for each of at least one of the task performer users, the received instructions from the task performer user to create the subscription indicates a type of notification to use in the providing of the information to the task performer user about the tasks of interest, and wherein the notifying of the task performer user is performed using the indicated type of notification.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein, for one of the at least one task performer users, the indicated notification type includes an indication of a type of electronic message and of an electronic address to which electronic messages of the indicated type are to be sent, the indicated electronic message type being at least one of email, instant message, Short Message Service (“

SMS”

) message, text message, Really Simple Syndication (“

RSS”

) communication feed message, and automated phone message, and wherein the notifying of the one task performer user includes automatically sending one or more electronic messages of the indicated type to the indicated electronic address such that the electronic messages indicate information about the one or more tasks identified for the one task performer user.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein, for one of the at least one task performer users, the indicated notification type includes an indication to display information in an indicated manner via the user interface provided by the task fulfillment system, the user interface being provided by a Web site of the task fulfillment system, and wherein the notifying of the one task performer user includes displaying information via the Web site to the one task performer user about the one or more tasks identified for the one task performer user.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein, for one of the at least one task performer users, the received instructions from the one task performer user to create the subscription indicates an agreement by the one task performer user to perform at least some tasks of interest about which the one task performer user is notified by using the subscription, and wherein the notifying of the one task performer user includes indicating to the task performer user that at least one identified task is automatically assigned to the task performer user to be performed before an indicated deadline.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein, for each of at least one of the task performer users, the received instructions from the task performer user further indicate one or more attributes of the task performer user that include at least one of one or more qualifications held by the task performer user, a geographic location of the task performer user, one or more properties of a computing device utilized by the task performer user, an age of the task performer user, and a period of time during which the task performer user is available to perform tasks, such that the automatic identifying of available tasks for the task performer user is further based on each of the identified tasks having attributes that match the indicated one or more attributes of the task performer user.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein, for each of the multiple available tasks, the attributes of the task include each of a category of the task, a type of the task, a keyword associated with the task, a qualification associated with the task, a task requester who submitted the task, a time period for performance of the task, a price associated with the task, a time of day for performance of the task, a total time for performance of the task, and a quality of performance of the task, and wherein the multiple task attributes indicated for at least one of the subscriptions include each of a category of the task, a type of the task, a keyword associated with the task, a qualification associated with the task, a task requester who submitted the task, a time period for performance of the task, a price associated with the task, a time of day for performance of the task, a total time for performance of the task, and a quality of performance of the task.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising, for each of at least one of the task performer users, after the creating of the subscription for the task performer user, receiving instructions from the task performer user to temporarily suspend use of the created subscription such that the task performer user is not notified of identified tasks that match the created subscription while the use of the created subscription is temporarily suspended.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising, for each of at least one of the task performer users, receiving results of performance by the task performer user of at least one of the tasks about which the task performer user was notified using the created subscription for the task performer user, providing payment to the task performer user for performing the at least one tasks, and providing the received results to one or more task requesters who submitted the tasks.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein, for each of one or more of the multiple task performer users, the using of the created subscription to provide information to the task performer user about available tasks of interest is performed in exchange for payment from the task performer user and/or from at least one of the task requesters that submitted the identified available tasks.

11. A computer-implemented method for facilitating performance by task performers of tasks from task requesters, the method comprising:

receiving indications of multiple tasks submitted by task requesters to a task fulfillment system as being available for performance by task performers, the task fulfillment system acting as an intermediary to facilitate performance by the task performers of the tasks submitted by the task requesters, the task fulfillment system having a user interface for use by the task performers in identifying tasks, at least some of the multiple submitted tasks each having one or more attributes;

for each of one or more of the task performers, creating a subscription for the task performer that is based on one or more instructions received from the task performer and that specifies one or more attributes of tasks that are of interest to the task performer, the received one or more instructions indicating to use one or more task attributes of a collection of tasks as at least some of the specified attributes of tasks for the subscription, the collection of tasks being identified based on interactions of the task performer with the user interface that correspond to one or more categories of tasks; and

for each of at least one of the one or more task performers, providing information to the task performer about one or more tasks of interest by, receiving an indication of the created subscription for the task performer;

using the created subscription to automatically select one or more of the multiple submitted tasks for the task performer based at least in part on matching attributes for the selected tasks to the specified attributes of the subscription, the automatic selecting of the one or more tasks using the created subscription being performed by one or more configured computer processors; and

notifying the task performer of at least one of the selected tasks, the notifying being performed by the one or more configured computer processors, and wherein the providing of the information to the task performer about one or more tasks of interest is performed repeatedly at multiple distinct times by using the created subscription to select tasks available at those times.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising, for each of one or more of the at least one task performers, receiving results of performance by the task performer of one or more of the at least one selected tasks about which the task performer is notified, and providing the received results to one or more task requesters that submitted those one or more selected tasks.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein, for each of the one or more task performers, at least one of the one or more attributes of tasks specified by the subscription for the task performer are supplied for the subscription by the task performer.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein, for each of the one or more task performers, at least one of the one or more attributes of tasks specified by the subscription for the task performer are automatically determined based at least in part on one or more prior activities of the task performer.

15. The method of claim 11 wherein, for each of the one or more task performers, the one or more instructions received from the task performer include an indication to use one or more task attributes included in search criteria specified by the task performer as at least some of the specified attributes of tasks for the subscription.

16. The method of claim 11 wherein, for each of the one or more task performers, the collection of tasks whose one or more task attributes are used for the subscription for the task performer is identified by the task performer while browsing one of multiple browsing locations made available via the user interface provided by the task fulfillment system.

17. The method of claim 11 wherein, for each of the one or more task performers, the one or more instructions received from the task performer include an indication of at least one task such that at least some attributes of the at least one task are for use as at least some of the specified attributes of tasks for the subscription.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein, for one of the one or more task performers, the one or more instructions received from the task performer include indications of multiple distinct tasks, such that attributes that are common to the multiple distinct tasks are used as at least some of the specified attributes of tasks for the subscription.

19. The method of claim 11 wherein, for each of one or more of the at least one task performers, the subscription created by the task performer further includes an indication of a notification mechanism specified by the task performer, and the notifying of the task performer is performed using the specified notification mechanism.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein, for each of the one or more task performers, the specified notification mechanism includes using one or more indicated electronic message types that include at least one of email messages, instant messages, text messages, Short Message Service (“

SMS”

) messages, Really Simple Syndication (“

RSS”

) feed communications, and automated telephone messages, and wherein the notifying of the task performer includes automatically sending one or more electronic messages of the indicated electronic message types that include information about the at least one selected tasks.

21. The method of claim 11 wherein, for one of the at least one task performers, the notifying of the task performer of the at least one selected tasks includes providing the one task performer with a user-selectable option to select to perform one or more of the at least one selected tasks.

22. The method of claim 11 wherein, for one of the at least one task performers, the notifying of the one task performer of the at least one selected tasks includes sending one or more electronic messages and is performed in accordance with one or more conditions specified in the subscription for the one task performer, the one or more conditions indicating at least one of a frequency of sending the electronic messages, one or more time periods during which to send the electronic messages, a number of tasks whose information is to be indicated in each of the electronic messages, and an amount of information to include about each task in the electronic messages.

23. The method of claim 11 wherein, for each of one or more of the at least one task performers, the notifying of the task performer of the at least one selected tasks is performed in response to a request received from the task performer for information about tasks.

24. The method of claim 11 wherein, for each of one or more of the at least one task performers, the notifying of the task performer of the at least one selected tasks is performed automatically after the selecting of the tasks and without a request from the task performer for information about tasks.

25. The method of claim 11 wherein, for each of one or more of the at least one task performers, the matching of the attributes for the selected tasks to the specified attributes of the subscription for the task performer includes identifying at least one attribute of each of the selected tasks that is similar to and/or identical to at least one of the specified attributes of the subscription.

26. The method of claim 11 wherein, for each of one or more of the at least one task performers, the tasks selected using the created subscription for the task performer include multiple tasks, the selecting of those multiple tasks includes automatically determining a degree of match for each of those multiple tasks to the subscription, and the notifying of the task performer of the at least one selected tasks includes presenting those multiple selected tasks in a manner that reflects the determined degrees of match.

27. The method of claim 11 wherein, for each of one or more of the at least one task performers, the one or more attributes of tasks specified by the subscription for the task performer include multiple of a keyword associated with a task, a price of a task, a qualification associated with a task, a task requester that submitted a task for performance, a category for a task, a type of a task, a time of day at which a task is made available for performance, and a time period for performance of a task.

28. The method of claim 11 further comprising, for each of one or more of the at least one task performers, obtaining payment from the task performer for at least one of creating the subscription for the task performer and of notifying the task performer of tasks selected using the created subscription.

29. The method of claim 11 further comprising, for each of one or more of the at least one task performers, receiving indications of one or more additional distinct subscriptions for the task performer, and wherein the using of the created subscription to automatically select one or more tasks for the task performer is further performed for each of the one or more additional subscriptions.

30. The method of claim 11 wherein, for each of one or more of the at least one task performers, the subscription for the task performer further specifies that at least some tasks selected by using the subscription are to be automatically assigned to the task performer for performance, and the notifying of the task performer of the at least one selected tasks includes notifying the task performer that one or more of the at least one selected tasks are automatically assigned to the task performer for performance.

31. The method of claim 11 further comprising, for each of one or more of the at least one task performers, the notifying of the task performer of the at least one selected tasks includes reserving one or more of the at least one selected tasks for the task performer for a limited time such that other task performers are not allowed to select the reserved tasks for performance.

32. The method of claim 11 further comprising, for each of one or more of the at least one task performers, receiving an indication from the task performer to temporarily suspend use of the subscription for the task performer, such that the notifying of the task performer is not performed while the temporary suspension of the use of the subscription persists.

33. The method of claim 11 further comprising, for each of one or more of the at least one task performers, providing information about the created subscription of the task performer to other task performers.

34. The method of claim 33 wherein the providing of the information about the created subscriptions of the one or more task performers to other task performers is performed in such a manner as to allow each of the other task performers to subscribe to use one or more of those created subscriptions.

35. The method of claim 33 wherein the providing of the information about the created subscriptions of the one or more task performers to other task performers includes rating each of the created subscriptions using one or more measures of usefulness, and presenting information about the created subscriptions in a manner that reflects the ratings of the created subscriptions.

36. The method of claim 33 wherein the providing of the information about the created subscriptions of the one or more task performers to other task performers is performed in exchange for compensation provided to the one or more task performers.

37. A non-transitory computer-readable medium whose stored contents configure a computing device to facilitate performance by task performers of tasks from task requesters, by performing a method comprising:

receiving indications of multiple tasks submitted by task requesters as being available for performance by multiple task performers, at least some of the tasks each having one or more attributes;

for each of at least one of the multiple task performers, creating a subscription for the task performer based on one or more instructions received from the task performer, the created subscription specifying one or more attributes of tasks that are of interest to the task performer, the creating of the subscription being performed by a task fulfillment system that acts as an intermediary to facilitate performance by the multiple task performer users of the multiple tasks submitted by the task requesters, the one or more instructions being received based on one or more interactions of the task performer with a user interface of the task fulfillment system and indicating a collection of tasks that correspond to one or more categories and that have one or more task attributes to be used as at least some of the specified attributes of tasks for the subscription; and

for each of the at least one task performers, providing information to the task performer about one or more tasks of interest by,

receiving an indication of the created subscription for the task performer;

using the created subscription to automatically select one or more of the multiple tasks for the task performer based at least in part on matching attributes for the selected tasks to the specified attributes of the subscription, the automatic selecting of the one or more tasks using the created subscription being performed by the configured computing device; and

notifying the task performer of at least one of the selected tasks,

wherein the providing of the information to the task performer is performed repeatedly at multiple distinct times by using the created subscription to select tasks available at those times.

38. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 37 wherein the method further comprises, for each of one or more of the at least one task performers, receiving results of performance by the task performer of one or more of the at least one selected tasks about which the task performer is notified, and providing the received results to one or more task requesters that submitted those one or more selected tasks.

39. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 37 wherein, for each of the one or more task performers, at least one of the one or more attributes of tasks specified by the subscription for the task performer are automatically determined based at least in part on one or more prior activities of the task performer.

40. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 37 wherein, for each of one or more of the at least one task performers, the subscription created by the task performer further includes an indication of a notification mechanism specified by the task performer, and the notifying of the task performer is performed using the specified notification mechanism.

41. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 37 wherein, for one of the at least one task performers, the notifying of the task performer of the at least one selected tasks includes providing the one task performer with a user-selectable option to select to perform one or more of the at least one selected tasks.

42. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 37 wherein, for each of one or more of the at least one task performers, the one or more attributes of tasks specified by the subscription for the task performer include one or more of a keyword associated with a task, a price of a task, a qualification associated with a task, a task requester that submitted a task for performance, a category for a task, a type of a task, a time of day at which a task is made available for performance, and a time period for performance of a task.

43. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 37 wherein, for each of one or more of the at least one task performers, the subscription for the task performer further specifies that at least some tasks selected by using the subscription are to be automatically assigned to the task performer for performance, and the notifying of the task performer of the at least one selected tasks includes notifying the task performer that one or more of the at least one selected tasks are automatically assigned to the task performer for performance.

44. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 37 wherein the computer-readable medium is a memory of the configured computing device, and wherein the contents are instructions that when executed program the computing device to perform the method.

45. A computing device configured to facilitate performance by task performers of tasks from task requesters, comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more modules configured to, when executed by the one or more processors,

receive indications of multiple tasks submitted by task requesters as being available for performance by multiple task performers, at least some of the tasks each having one or more attributes;

for each of at least one of the multiple task performers, create a subscription for the task performer based on one or more instructions received from the task performer, the created subscription specifying one or more attributes of tasks that are of interest to the task performer, the creating of the subscription being performed by a task fulfillment system that acts as an intermediary to facilitate performance by the multiple task performer users of the multiple tasks submitted by the task requesters, the one or more instructions being received based on one or more interactions of the task performer with a user interface of the task fulfillment system and indicating one or more task attributes of a collection of tasks corresponding to one or more categories, the indicated one or more tasks attributes being used as at least some of the specified attributes of tasks for the subscription; and

for each of the at least one task performers, provide information to the task performer about one or more tasks of interest by,

receiving an indication of the created subscription for the task performer;

using the created subscription to automatically select one or more of the multiple tasks for the task performer based at least in part on matching attributes for the selected tasks to the specified attributes of the subscription, the automatic selecting of the one or more tasks using the created subscription being performed by the configured computing device; and

notifying the task performer of at least one of the selected tasks,

and wherein the providing of the information to the task performer is performed repeatedly at multiple distinct times by using the created subscription to select tasks available at those times.

46. The computing device of claim 45 wherein the one or modules are further configured to, for each of one or more of the at least one task performers, receive results of performance by the task performer of one or more of the at least one selected tasks about which the task performer is notified, and provide the received results to one or more task requesters that submitted those one or more selected tasks.

47. The computing device of claim 45 wherein, for each of the one or more task performers, at least one of the one or more attributes of tasks specified by the subscription for the task performer are automatically determined based at least in part on one or more prior activities of the task performer.

48. The computing device of claim 45 wherein, for each of one or more of the at least one task performers, the subscription created by the task performer further includes an indication of a notification mechanism specified by the task performer, and the notifying of the task performer is performed using the specified notification mechanism.

49. The computing device of claim 45 wherein, for one of the at least one task performers, the notifying of the task performer of the at least one selected tasks includes providing the one task performer with a user-selectable option to select to perform one or more of the at least one selected tasks.

50. The computing device of claim 45 wherein, for each of one or more of the at least one task performers, the one or more attributes of tasks specified by the subscription for the task performer include one or more of a keyword associated with a task, a price of a task, a qualification associated with a task, a task requester that submitted a task for performance, a category for a task, a type of a task, a time of day at which a task is made available for performance, and a time period for performance of a task.

51. The computing device of claim 45 wherein, for each of one or more of the at least one task performers, the subscription for the task performer further specifies that at least some tasks selected by using the subscription are to be automatically assigned to the task performer for performance, and the notifying of the task performer of the at least one selected tasks includes notifying the task performer that one or more of the at least one selected tasks are automatically assigned to the task performer for performance.

52. The computing device of claim 45 wherein the one or more modules each includes software instructions for execution by at least one of the one or more processors.

53. The computing device of claim 45 wherein the one or more modules consists of a means for receiving indications of multiple tasks submitted by task requesters as being available for performance by task performers, at least some of the tasks each having one or more attributes, and for providing information to each of at least one of the multiple task performers about one or more tasks of interest by receiving an indication of a subscription for the task performer that is created by the task performer and that specifies one or more attributes of tasks that are of interest to the task performer, by using the created subscription to automatically select one or more of the multiple tasks for the task performer based at least in part on matching attributes for the selected tasks to the specified attributes of the subscription, the automatic selecting of the one or more tasks using the created subscription being performed by the configured computing device, and by notifying the task performer of at least one of the selected tasks.

54. A computer-implemented method for facilitating performance by task performers of tasks from task requesters, the method comprising:

receiving indications of multiple tasks submitted by task requesters as being available for performance by task performers, at least some of the tasks each having one or more attributes; and

for each of at least one of the multiple task performers, providing information to the task performer about one or more tasks of interest by,

creating a subscription for the task performer based on one or more instructions received from the task performer, the created subscription specifying one or more attributes of tasks that are of interest to the task performer and further specifying that at least some tasks selected by using the subscription are to be automatically assigned to the task performer for performance;

receiving an indication of the created subscription for the task performer;

using the created subscription to automatically select one or more of the multiple tasks for the task performer based at least in part on matching attributes for the selected tasks to the specified attributes of the subscription, the automatic selecting of the one or more tasks using the created subscription being performed by the configured computing device; and

notifying the task performer of at least one of the selected tasks and that one or more of the at least one selected tasks are automatically assigned to the task performer for performance, and wherein the providing of the information to the task performer is performed repeatedly at multiple distinct times by using the created subscription to select tasks available at those times.

55. The method of claim 54 further comprising, for each of one or more of the at least one task performers, receiving results of performance by the task performer of one or more of the at least one selected tasks about which the task performer is notified, and providing the received results to one or more task requesters that submitted those one or more selected tasks.

56. The method of claim 54 wherein, for each of the one or more task performers, at least one of the one or more attributes of tasks specified by the subscription for the task performer are automatically determined based at least in part on one or more prior activities of the task performer.

57. The method of claim 54 wherein, for each of one or more of the at least one task performers, the subscription created by the task performer further includes an indication of a notification mechanism specified by the task performer, and the notifying of the task performer is performed using the specified notification mechanism.

58. The method of claim 54 wherein, for one of the at least one task performers, the one or more tasks selected using the created subscription of the one task performer include a plurality of tasks, and the notifying of the one task performer of at least one of the selected tasks includes providing the one task performer with a user-selectable option to select to perform one or more other of the selected tasks that are distinct from the one or more selected tasks automatically assigned to the task performer for performance.

59. The method of claim 54 wherein, for each of one or more of the at least one task performers, the one or more attributes of tasks specified by the subscription for the task performer include one or more of a keyword associated with a task, a price of a task, a qualification associated with a task, a task requester that submitted a task for performance, a category for a task, a type of a task, a time of day at which a task is made available for performance, and a time period for performance of a task.