Abstract:
A computer-implemented method includes receiving item data at a network-based transaction facility, the item data related to an item categorized in at least a first category of a plurality of categories of the network-based transaction facility and including an item price-based value associated with the item. A category-specific threshold price-based value, for the first category of the plurality of categories of the network-based transaction facility, is automatically determined. The item data is automatically determined to the irregular, based on the item price-based value associated with the item and the category-specific threshold price-based value for the first category of the plurality of categories of the network-based transaction facility. Responsive to the determination that the item data is irregular, an electronic message is automatically communicated to an entity associated with the item.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATION  
       [0001]     The present application is a Continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/661,168, filed Sep. 13, 2000, which application is incorporated herein by reference. 
     
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD  
       [0002]     The present application relates generally to the monitoring irregular activity in a computer-system.  
       BACKGROUND  
       [0003]     Network-based transaction facilities (e.g., business-to-business, business-to-consumer and consumer-to-consumer Internet marketplaces and retailers) provide convenience of access to users of such facilities and on-line communities. Information regarding sales made through network-based transaction facilities may be automatically extracted and reported for any desired time interval—hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, etc. This information is useful to the facilities for a variety of reasons including record keeping, generating statistics, calculating revenue, etc.  
         [0004]     For example, an Internet-based retailer may generate a report listing the items sold during the day and the revenue generated by the sales. An Internet-based bookstore may, for example, generate reports listing the number of books sold during the past month in a specific category or by a specific author. Such statistics are useful in assisting a purchaser with a buying decision or assisting the retailer with stocking decisions.  
         [0005]     For a network-based transaction facility, such as an Internet-based auction facility, and its users, information regarding sales is particularly important for setting fees and providing price guidance to users. Fees may be set based on volume or price of the items sold for individual users. The network-based auction facility may use sales information and statistics to determine how to set fees. The network-based auction facility may further use information generated on a periodic basis to guide sellers in setting prices at which to sell their items or buyers in bidding for items by indicating the average price or price range of the type of product being sold. Thus, there is a need for accurate reporting of information.  
       SUMMARY  
       [0006]     According to a first aspect, a computer-implemented method includes receiving item data at a network-based transaction facility, the item data related to an item categorized in at least a first category of a plurality of categories of the network-based transaction facility and including an item price-based value associated with the item. A category-specific threshold price-based value, for the first category of the plurality of categories of the network-based transaction facility, is automatically determined. The item data is automatically determined to the irregular, based on the item price-based value associated with the item and the category-specific threshold price-based value for the first category of the plurality of categories of the network-based transaction facility. Responsive to the determination that the item data is irregular, an electronic message is automatically communicated to an entity associated with the item. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0007]     The present invention is illustrated by way of example and not limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings, in which like references indicate similar elements and in which:  
         [0008]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary network-based transaction facility in the form of an Internet-based auction facility;  
         [0009]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary database that at least partially implements and supports the Internet-based auction facility of  FIG. 1 ;  
         [0010]      FIGS. 3   a  and  3   b  are diagrammatic representations of an exemplary embodiment of a transaction record table;  
         [0011]      FIG. 4  is a flow diagram of one embodiment of an irregular activity monitoring and automatic notification system;  
         [0012]      FIG. 5  is a flow diagram of a second embodiment of an irregular activity monitoring and automatic notification system;  
         [0013]      FIG. 6  is a flow diagram of a third embodiment of an irregular activity monitoring and automatic notification system;  
         [0014]      FIG. 7  is a flow diagram of a fourth embodiment of an irregular activity monitoring and automatic notification system;  
         [0015]      FIG. 8  is a flow diagram of a fifth embodiment of an irregular activity monitoring and automatic notification system;  
         [0016]      FIG. 9  is a block diagram of one embodiment of a computer system suitable for practicing the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0017]     A method and system for monitoring and automatically reporting irregular activity on a network-based transaction facility are described. In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be evident, however, to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details.  
       Terminology  
       [0018]     For the purposes of the present specification, the term “transaction” shall be taken to include any communications between two or more entities and shall be construed to include, but not be limited to, commercial transactions including sale and purchase transactions, auctions and the like. The term “suspect” shall be taken to indicate requiring further investigation or scrutiny. The term “irregular” shall be taken to indicate a derivation from a norm or an exceeding of boundaries or a range.  
       Transaction Facility  
       [0019]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary network-based transaction facility in the form of an Internet-based auction facility  10 . While an exemplary embodiment of the present invention is described within the context of an auction facility, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the invention will find application in many different types of computer-based, and network-based, commerce facilities.  
         [0020]     The auction facility  10  includes one or more of a number of types of front-end servers, namely page servers  12  that deliver web pages (e.g., markup language documents), picture servers  14  that dynamically deliver images to be displayed within Web pages, listing servers  16 , CGI servers  18  that provide an intelligent interface to the back-end of facility  10 , and search servers  20  that handle search requests to the facility  10 . E-mail servers  21  provide, inter alia, automated e-mail communications to users of the facility  10 .  
         [0021]     The back-end servers include a database engine server  22  including an irregular activity monitoring system  27 , a search index server  24  and a credit card database server  26 , each of which maintains and facilitates access to a respective database.  
         [0022]     The Internet-based auction facility  10  may be accessed by a client program  30 , such as a browser (e.g., the Internet Explorer distributed by Microsoft Corp. of Redmond, Washington) that executes on a client machine  32  and accesses the facility  10  via a network such as, for example, the Internet  34 . Other examples of networks that a client may utilize to access the auction facility  10  include a wide area network (WAN), a local area network (LAN), a wireless network (e.g., a cellular network), or the Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) network.  
       Database Structure  
       [0023]      FIG. 2  is a database diagram illustrating an exemplary database  23 , maintained by and accessed via the database engine server  22 , which at least partially implements and supports the auction facility  10 . Database engine server  22  includes an irregular activity monitoring system  27  which performs algorithms to remove irregular and suspect data items from data representations, as described below with reference to  FIGS. 4-8 .  
         [0024]     The database  23  may, in one embodiment, be implemented as a relational database, and includes a number of tables having entries, or records, that are linked by indices and keys. In an alternative embodiment, the database  23  may be implemented as collection of objects in an object-oriented database.  
         [0025]     Database  23  includes an item table  40 , which contains a record for each item being auctioned on the auction facility  10 . An item record in item table  40  may include, inter alia, an identification number, a marketplace indicator, sale type, title, location, seller, owner, category, quantity, bid count, sale start date, sale end date, highest bidder identification, billing currency, etc. The database  23  also includes an item ended table  42 , linked to the item table  40 , and an item archived table  44 , linked to the item ended table  42 . Each item from item table  40  is moved to the item ended table  42  two to three days after the end of the auction for that item. Each item from item ended table  42  is moved to item archived table  44  three months after the end of the auction for that item.  
         [0026]     The item table  40  is also linked to item description table  50  and item description ended  52 . Item description table  50 , item description ended table  52  and item description archived table  54  may each include, inter alia, a description of each item in the item table, an identification for the item and a marketplace indicator for the item. Each item description from item description table  50  is moved to the item description ended table  52  two to three days after the end of the auction for that item. Each item description from item description ended table  52  is moved to item description archived table  54  three months after the end of the auction for that item.  
         [0027]     A number of other tables are also shown to be linked to the item table  40 , namely a transaction record table  200 , a categories table  70  and an irregular item table  80 . The irregular item table  80  may also be linked (not shown) to the transaction record table  200 . Item information from item records in item table  40  is entered into transaction record table  200  upon the completion of a successful auction.  
         [0028]      FIGS. 3   a  and  3   b  are diagrammatic representations of an exemplary embodiment of the transaction record table  300  that is populated with records, or entries, for completed, or ended, transactions (e.g., auctions) that have been facilitated by the auction facility  10 . The table  300  includes an item identifier column  310  for each entry, and at least one price-based value column  320 ,  330  indicating, for example, the highest bid for the entry (or selling price)  320  or a fee, based on the highest bid  330 , charged the seller by the network-based auction site  10 . The item identifier entry may be an item number including a pointer to further item information in item table  40 . The item information in item table  40  may include a pointer to category information in categories table  70 .  
         [0029]     An irregular flag column  340  stores a value  301 - 304  indicating whether the entry is irregular. A seller id column  350  and a bidder id column  360  store a user identifier for each of the seller of an item and the highest bidder (or purchaser) for the item, the user identifier comprising a pointer to further user information stored in a user table (not shown).  
         [0030]     It should be noted that only one of the selling price column  320  or price-based fee column  330  is necessary for the operation of the present invention. Further, the irregular flag column  340 , seller id column  350  and bidder id column  360  are also not required for the operation of the irregular activity monitoring and automatic reporting system. In the embodiment shown in  FIGS. 3   a  and  3   b , monitoring of the irregular activity is done using the transaction record table  300 . In other embodiments, the irregular activity may be monitored and reported in any table that used by the auction site for reporting or representing data.  
         [0031]     In  FIGS. 3   a  and  3   b , items  1 - 4  in column  310  are linked to the same category. The selling prices of items  1 - 4  are $2500, $150,000, $1800 and $1950, respectively. If the category is computers, for example, the category may be assigned an irregular activity threshold of $15,000 or another amount that would indicate that the item or the bid is irregular (or outside the normal range). In  FIG. 3   a , all of the irregular flag values  301 - 304  in column  340  are initially assigned a value of 0 when the item information is first entered in the transaction record table  300 .  
         [0032]     In  FIG. 3   b , item  2 &#39;s irregular flag  302  has been changed from 0 to 1 to indicate that item  2  has some irregular activity associated with it. It should be noted that, in one embodiment, an entry is only created in the transaction record table  300  for transactions that have been established, for example, by the conclusion of an auction process, or by some other offer and acceptance mechanism between the purchaser and the seller. Thus, the irregular activity monitoring and automatic notification system, which may include changing the irregular flag value, may be triggered after information has been entered into a transaction record table  300 , for example, for each category for all auctions in that category ending at a specific time.  
         [0033]     The irregular flag may be implemented so that the irregular flag may be later changed back to 0, after further investigation. In another embodiment, the irregular flag may be implemented so that it may not be changed back to 0 once it has been changed to 1.  
         [0034]     When irregular activity has been found, an email may be sent to the seller and/or bidder at an address associated with the user identifier of the seller and/or bidder. The seller and/or bidder may further be banned from participation on the auction site by using the pointer linking to the user table to update a “irregular_user” or similar field in the user record of the seller and/or bidder.  
         [0035]     The irregular flag  301 - 304  in  FIGS. 3   a  and  3   b  may be updated based on another price-based value, such as a price-based fee  330 , for example. An auction site  10  may charge sellers fees based on the selling price of an item. Thus, the auction site may use the formula for determining fees to determine a threshold fee for monitoring irregular activity. In  FIGS. 3   a  and  3   b , the threshold fee for the category computers, for example, may be $200, based on a threshold price of $15,000. In another embodiment, the threshold fee may be simply the average fee plus a set amount, such as $300, for example. Thus, if the average fee for computers is $40, for example, then the threshold fee may be $340. Many other algorithms may be used to determine a threshold price-based value, such as a threshold price or threshold price-based fee.  
         [0036]     The threshold price-based value may also be determined based on the currency of the transaction, the category of the transaction, or the geographic location of the transaction. For example, a table may be used to determine threshold prices for items where the rows of the table represent the categories of the item and the columns represent the currency of the transaction. The threshold values may be listed in U.S. dollars for uniformity. Although the transaction is completed in Japanese yen, the threshold value will be listed in dollars and the highest bid will be converted from yen to dollars to compare whether the threshold value has been exceeded. Thus, a transaction completed in Japanese yen won&#39;t be limited to the threshold set for transactions in U.S. dollars and transactions in U.S. dollars won&#39;t be limited to thresholds set for Japanese yen.  
         [0037]      FIG. 4  is a flow diagram of one embodiment of an irregular activity monitoring and automatic notification system. At processing block  401 , data is received, for example in the transaction record table  300 , having at least one price-based value. Although the process is described with respect to transaction record table  300 , it will be appreciated that the following processes may performed with any set of data at any location at auction site  10 .  
         [0038]     At processing block  402 , a counter n is set to 0. At processing block  403 , the irregular activity monitoring system  27  checks to see if a price-based value of Item (n) of a set of items has a value greater than a predetermined value. As discussed above, the set of items may be items from the same category which had transactions established, by the ending of an auction, for example, at the same time. The predetermined value would depend on which price-based value is being examined, the currency, the geographic area, the category of the item or any other parameter that may indicate different threshold values to establish irregular activity.  
         [0039]     If the price-based value of item(n) is not greater than the predetermined value, the irregular activity monitoring system  27  skips to processing block  405 , as described below.  
         [0040]     If the price-based value of item(n) has a value greater than the predetermined value, at processing block  404 , the item(n) is removed from further representations of the data, which may include, for example, reports or statistics based on established transactions. The irregular activity monitoring system  27  then proceeds to processing block  405  which checks whether the end of the set of items has been reached by comparing n to End. If n equals End, the system concludes checking for irregular activity at processing block  407 .  
         [0041]     If n does not equal End, the counter is incremented by  1  and the irregular activity monitoring system  27  returns to processing block  403  to check then next item in the set of items.  
         [0042]     It will be appreciated that the irregular activity monitoring system  27  may be implemented as part of a larger application or may be implemented by itself.  
         [0043]      FIG. 5  is a flow diagram of a second embodiment of an irregular activity monitoring and automatic notification system. At processing block  501 , data is received including at least one item record having at least one price-based value associated with the item, as discussed above with respect to  FIG. 4 . At processing block  502 , a counter n is set to 0.  
         [0044]     At processing block  503 , the price-based value of item(n) of a set of items is compared to a predetermined price-based value. If the price-based value of item(n) is not greater than the predetermined value, the irregular activity monitoring system  27  goes on to processing block  505 .  
         [0045]     If the price-base value of item(n) is greater than the predetermined value, at processing block  504 , the value of an irregular_flag associated with item(n) is changed from 0 to 1. The system then proceeds to processing block  505  where the system checks to see if the end of the set of items has been reached. If the end of the set has not been reached, at processing block  506 , the counter n is incremented by 1 and the system proceeds to processing block  503  to check the price-based value of the next item. If the end of the set has been reached, the system proceeds to processing block  507  where a report or other data representation is generated where the data representation only includes items having an irregular flag value of 0.  
         [0046]      FIG. 6  is a flow diagram of a third embodiment of an irregular activity monitoring and automatic notification system. At processing block  601 , data is received including at least one item record having at least one price-based value associated with the item, as discussed above with respect to  FIG. 4 . At processing block  602 , a counter n is set to 0.  
         [0047]     At processing block  603 , the price-based value of item(n) of a set of items is compared to a predetermined price-based value. If the price-based value of item(n) is not greater than the predetermined value, the irregular activity monitoring system  27  goes on to processing block  605 .  
         [0048]     If the price-base value of item(n) is greater than the predetermined value, at processing block  604 , the value of an irregular_flag associated with item(n) is changed from 0 to 1. The system then proceeds to processing block  605  where the system checks to see if the end of the set of items has been reached. If the end of the set has not been reached, at processing block  606 , the counter n is incremented by 1 and the system proceeds to processing block  603  to check the price-based value of the next item.  
         [0049]     If the end of the set has been reached, the system proceeds to processing block  607  where each item having an irregular flag value of 1 is investigated. At processing block  608 , the irregular flag values of all the transactions that are found to be legitimate are reset to 0. At processing block  609 , a report or other data representation is generated where the data representation only includes items having an irregular flag value of 0.  
         [0050]      FIG. 7  is a flow diagram of a fourth embodiment of an irregular activity monitoring and automatic notification system. At processing block  701 , data is received including at least one item record having at least one price-based value associated with the item. At processing block  702 , a counter n is set to 0.  
         [0051]     At processing block  703 , the price-based value of item(n) of a set of items is compared to a predetermined price-based value. If the price-based value of item(n) is not greater than the predetermined value, the irregular activity monitoring system  27  goes on to processing block  705 .  
         [0052]     If the price-base value of item(n) is greater than the predetermined value, at processing block  704 , the value of an irregular_flag associated with item(n) is changed from 0 to 1. The system then proceeds to processing block  705  where the system checks to see if the end of the set of items has been reached. If the end of the set has not been reached, at processing block  706 , the counter n is incremented by 1 and the system proceeds to processing block  703  to check the price-based value of the next item.  
         [0053]     If the end of the set has been reached, the system proceeds to processing block  707  where a report or other data representation is generated where the data representation includes all items including items having an irregular flag value of 1. However, the records for all items having an irregular flag value of 1 are disabled so that the items are not used for any computations or statistics or other purposes, although the items appear in the data representations.  
         [0054]     At processing block  708 , all items having an irregular flag value of 1 are investigated. At processing block  709 , the irregular flag values of all the transactions that are found to be legitimate are reset to 0 so that the item records may be included in computations and statistics.  
         [0055]      FIG. 8  is a flow diagram of a fifth embodiment of an irregular activity monitoring and automatic notification system. At processing block  801 , data is received including at least one item record having at least one price-based value associated with the item. At processing block  802 , a counter n is set to 0.  
         [0056]     At processing block  803 , the price-based value of item(n) of a set of items is compared to a predetermined price-based value. If the price-based value of item(n) is not greater than the predetermined value, the irregular activity monitoring system  27  goes on to processing block  805 .  
         [0057]     If the price-base value of item(n) is greater than the predetermined value, at processing block  804 , the value of an irregular_flag associated with item(n) is changed from 0 to 1. The system then proceeds to processing block  805  where the system checks to see if the end of the set of items has been reached. If the end of the set has not been reached, at processing block  806 , the counter n is incremented by 1 and the system proceeds to processing block  803  to check the price-based value of the next item.  
         [0058]     If the end of the set has been reached, the system proceeds to processing block  807  where a report or other data representation is generated where the data representation only includes items having an irregular flag value of 1. At processing block  808 , all of the items in the report generated by processing block  807  are investigated. At processing block  809 , the irregular flag values of all the transactions that are found to be legitimate are reset to 0 so that the item records are available for all computations, statistics, etc.  
         [0059]     In summary, it will be appreciated that the above described interfaces, and underlying technologies, provide a convenient vehicle for the inputting of feedback, comments or opinions regarding multiple items, or transactions, via a single user interface.  
         [0060]      FIG. 9  shows a diagrammatic representation of machine in the exemplary form of a computer system  900  within which a set of instructions, for causing the machine to perform any one of the methodologies discussed above, may be executed. In alternative embodiments, the machine may comprise a network router, a network switch, a network bridge, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a cellular telephone, a web appliance or any machine capable of executing a sequence of instructions that specify actions to be taken by that machine.  
         [0061]     The computer system  900  includes a processor  902 , a main memory  904  and a static memory  906 , which communicate with each other via a bus  908 . The computer system  900  may further include a video display unit  910  (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD) or a cathode ray tube (CRT)). The computer system  900  also includes an alpha-numeric input device  912  (e.g. a keyboard), a cursor control device  914  (e.g. a mouse), a disk drive unit  916 , a signal generation device  920  (e.g. a speaker) and a network interface device  922   
         [0062]     The disk drive unit  916  includes a machine-readable medium  924  on which is stored a set of instructions (i.e., software)  926  embodying any one, or all, of the methodologies described above. The software  926  is also shown to reside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory  904  and/or within the processor  902 . The software  926  may further be transmitted or received via the network interface device  922 . For the purposes of this specification, the term “machine-readable medium” shall be taken to include any medium that is capable of storing or encoding a sequence of instructions for execution by the machine and that cause the machine to perform any one of the methodologies of the present invention. The term “machine-readable medium” shall accordingly be taken to include, but not be limited to, solid-state memories, optical and magnetic disks, and carrier wave signals.  
         [0063]     Thus, a method and system for harvesting feedback information, comments, and opinions regarding multiple items from users of a network-based transaction facility have been described. Although the present invention has been described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments, it will be evident that various modifications and changes may be made to these embodiments without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the specification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.