Automated selection of images for web pages

• US 9,116,868 B2
• Filed: 12/17/2012
• Issued: 08/25/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/07/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Original Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Inventors: Pearson, Jennifer, Wang, Hsiaozhang Bill
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Maikhanh
• Application Number:
  US13/717,394
• Publication Number:
  US 20130111314A1
• Time in Patent Office: 981 Days
• Field of Search: 715/200, 715/205, 715/210, 715/234, 715/237, 715/760
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/5866 using information manually generated, e.g. tags, keywords, comments, manually generated location and time information
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/986 Document structures and storage, e.g. HTML extensions
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/117 Tagging; Marking up details of markup languages G06F40/143; Designating a block; Setting of attributes style sheets, e.g. eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transformation [XSLT], G06F40/154
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/166 Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions

Abstract

In various embodiments, a method, a system, and a computer-readable medium are disclosed for creating a pool of images available for display, such as in one or more web pages. In one embodiment, a method is disclosed that includes generating a pre-determined number N of numbers and encoding an instruction in a markup language document. The instruction includes the N numbers and is executed by one or more processors to select N images for insertion into the markup language document. The N images are selected from all available images using the N numbers, and the N images are placed in the markup language document at one or more respective locations defined in the instruction with the N images to be displayed on one or more web pages. Other embodiments are also disclosed.

Claims

1. A method of creating a pool of images available for display, the method comprising:

generating a pre-determined number N of numbers;

encoding an instruction in a markup language document, the instruction identifying a utility program to include the pre-determined N numbers and be executed by one or more hardware-based processors to dynamically select N images for insertion into the markup language document;

automatically invoking the utility program when the instruction is processed;

automatically selecting the N images from all available images using the N numbers, each selected image having at least one predefined data parameter associated with an item represented in that selected image; and

placing the N images in the markup language document at one or more respective locations defined in the instruction, the N images to be displayed on one or more web pages.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined number N of numbers are random numbers.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting the N images for the pool of images includes:

obtaining filtering criteria;

identifying an image from the all available images based on the filtering criteria; and

adding the identified image to the pool of images.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising selecting the group of images from a gallery containing images available for display, the gallery being a subset of the all available images.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

examining information associated with an identified image of the N images against a set of standards; and

based on a determination that the information does not meet at least a portion of the set of standards, discarding the identified image.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising deleting a selected one of the N images from the pool of images.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the markup language document is a web page and the instruction is a tag in a proprietary format.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the utility program is executed, using at least one of the one or more processors, when the tag in the proprietary format is processed during a compile of the web page.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the proprietary format comprises a widget identifier, the N images, and one or more display parameters.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the one or more display parameters comprise a size parameter and a location parameter.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the proprietary format comprises a widget identifier, a category identifier, the pre-determined number of N images, and one or more display parameters.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

validating the N images against validation criteria; and

based on a determination that an image fails the validation criteria, substituting a different image for the failed image.

18. The system of claim 11, further comprising a means for validating the N images against validation criteria, and based on a determination that an image fails the validation criteria, substituting a different image for the failed image.

13. A system including at least one computer processor for creating a pool of images for display, the system comprising:

means for generating a pre-determined number N of numbers;

means for encoding an instruction in a markup language document and for identifying a utility program to include the N numbers and be executed for selecting N images for insertion into the markup language document;

means for automatically invoking the utility program when the instruction is processed;

means for automatically selecting the N images from all available images using the N numbers with each selected image having at least one predefined data parameter associated with an item represented in that selected image; and

means for placing the N images in the markup language document at one or more respective locations defined in the instruction, the N images to be displayed on one or more web pages.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the predetermined number N of numbers are random numbers.

15. The system of claim 13, further comprising an administration tool to select the N images for the pool of images from a gallery containing images available for display, the administration tool including:

a means for obtaining filtering criteria;

a means for identifying an image from the all available images based on the filtering criteria; and

a means for adding the identified image to the pool of images.

16. The system of claim 13, further comprising a means for selecting the group of images from a gallery containing images available for display, the gallery being a subset of the all available images.

17. The system of claim 13, further comprising a means for examining information associated with an identified image against a set of standards, and based on a determination that the information does not meet at least a portion of the set of standards, discarding the identified image.

19. A tangible machine-readable storage medium not having any transitory signals and storing a set of instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to perform operations to select a pool of images for a markup language document, the operations comprising:

generating a pre-determined number N of numbers;

encoding an instruction in a markup language document, the instruction identifying a utility program to include the pre-determined N numbers and be executed by one or more hardware-based processors to dynamically select N images for insertion into the markup language document;

automatically invoking the utility program when the instruction is processed;

automatically selecting the N images from all available images using the N numbers, each selected image having at least one predefined data parameter associated with an item represented in that selected image; and

placing the N images in the markup language document at one or more respective locations defined in the instruction, the N images to be displayed on one or more web pages.

20. The tangible machine-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the selecting the N images for the pool of images includes:

obtaining filtering criteria;

identifying an image from the gallery based on the filtering criteria; and

adding the identified image to the pool of images.

21. The tangible machine-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the operations further comprise:

examining information associated with the N images against a set of standards; and

based on a determination that the information does not meet at least a portion of the set of standards, discarding at least one of the N images.

22. The tangible machine-readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein the method further comprises validating the N images against validation criteria;

and

based on a determination that an image fails the validation criteria, substituting a different image for the failed image.