Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 19
Claim 1
Independent Claim
130 words
A computer-implemented method for facilitating identification of popular items within an electronic catalog of an online store, comprising: providing a browse tree which contains a plurality of nodes arranged in a plurality of levels, wherein leaf nodes represent items of the catalog and non-leaf nodes represent categories of items, said browse tree being browsable by users to locate items according to item categories and subcategories; processing at least the purchase history data to generate node popularity data; and based at least in-part on the node popularity data, automatically elevating selected items for display to expose popular items to users during viewing of corresponding non-leaf categories of the browse tree; whereby popular items are brought to the attention of users during browsing of non-leaf categories to which such popular items correspond.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
130 words
A computer-implemented method for facilitating identification of popular items within an electronic catalog of an online store, comprising: providing a browse tree which contains a plurality of nodes arranged in a plurality of levels, wherein leaf nodes represent items of the catalog and non-leaf nodes represent categories of items, said browse tree being browsable by users to locate items according to item categories and subcategories; processing at least the purchase history data to generate node popularity data; and based at least in-part on the node popularity data, automatically elevating selected items for display to expose popular items to users during viewing of corresponding non-leaf categories of the browse tree; whereby popular items are brought to the attention of users during browsing of non-leaf categories to which such popular items correspond.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
36 words
The method of claim 1 , wherein processing at least the purchase history data comprises applying a sliding window to collected purchase history data to periodically generate item popularity data that reflects current interests of users.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
32 words
The method of claim 1 , wherein processing at least the purchase history data comprises processing at least one additional type of user activity data that indicates user affinities for particular items.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
40 words
The method of claim 1 , wherein the node popularity data includes user-specific node popularity data, and elevating leaf nodes comprises elevating leaf nodes based on the user-specific node popularity data to customize the browse tree on a user-specific basis.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
15 words
The method of claim 1 , wherein the browse tree is a directed acyclic graph.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
22 words
The method of claim 1 , wherein elevating comprises featuring popular items on a Web page that corresponds to a non-leaf category.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
28 words
The method of claim 1 , wherein processing at least the purchase history data comprises processing user activity data on a community-specific basis for a plurality of communities.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
25 words
The method of claim 1 , wherein automatically elevating selected items for display comprises elevating the selected items along parent-child paths of the browse tree.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
35 words
The method of claim 1 , wherein automatically elevating selected items for display comprises generating item scores that are reflective of the node popularity data, and using the item scores to select items to elevate.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
22 words
The method of claim 9 , wherein generating item scores comprises applying a recommendation algorithm to data collected for a particular user.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
23 words
The method of claim 1 , wherein automatically elevating selected items for display comprises selecting items to be elevated on a user-specific basis.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
24 words
The method of claim 1 , wherein automatically elevating selected items for display comprises recursively selecting items to be elevated on a node-by-node basis.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
31 words
The method of claim 1 , wherein elevating selected items for display comprises displaying the selected items at a browse tree level at which the selected items ordinarily are not displayed.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
25 words
The method of claim 1 , further comprising elevating selected leaf categories for display based at least in-part on popularity levels of such leaf categories.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
26 words
The method of claim 1 , wherein the items elevated within the browse tree change over time in response to changes in the node popularity levels.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
11 words
A computer system which embodies the method of claim 1 .
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
16 words
A computer program which, when executed by a computer, performs the method of claim 1 .
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
12 words
A web page generated according to the method of claim 1 .