Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US8762244B2/en
Timestamp: 2019-09-15 06:23:55
Document Index: 424960222

Matched Legal Cases: ['Application No. 60', 'Application No. 60', 'Application No. 60', 'art 920', 'art 920', 'art 920']

US8762244B2 - Method and apparatus for deploying high-volume listings in a network trading platform - Google Patents
US8762244B2
US8762244B2 US13/886,802 US201313886802A US8762244B2 US 8762244 B2 US8762244 B2 US 8762244B2 US 201313886802 A US201313886802 A US 201313886802A US 8762244 B2 US8762244 B2 US 8762244B2
US13/886,802
US20130332298A1 (en
2013-05-03 Application filed by eBay Inc filed Critical eBay Inc
2013-05-03 Priority to US13/886,802 priority patent/US8762244B2/en
2013-05-03 Assigned to EBAY INC. reassignment EBAY INC. ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: ERICKSON, ROBERT, SACCO, NATHAN, WONG, SONIA
2013-12-12 Publication of US20130332298A1 publication Critical patent/US20130332298A1/en
2014-06-24 Publication of US8762244B2 publication Critical patent/US8762244B2/en
239000000047 products Substances 0 Description 129
A method and system for deploying high volume listings in a network based commerce system are described. The system uploads listing data that includes a first listing. Next, the system creates a first profile and a second profile based on the listing data. Finally, the system automatically generates a second listing based on the first and second profiles.
This application is a continuation application that claims the benefit of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/912,637, filed on Aug. 4, 2004, which claims the priority benefits of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/492,717, filed on Aug. 4, 2003, U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/492,770, filed on Aug. 4, 2003, and U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/493,930, filed on Aug. 8, 2003—all of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to the technical field of commerce automation and, in one exemplary embodiment, to methods and systems to automate the creation of a listing for a network-based commerce system.
A method and system for managing listings within a network-based trading environment are provided.
In accordance with one aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a method to automate the creation of a listing for a network-based commerce system, the method including: identifying user selection of a first profile relating to a first aspect of a listing; identifying user selection of a second profile relating to a second aspect of the listing; storing the user selections of the first and second profiles; and automatically generating the listing utilizing the first and second profiles.
In accordance with another aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a system for managing listings within a network-based trading environment, the system including: a merchant tool module to automatically associate a plurality of defined characteristics with a listing; and a timing module to automatically generate a listing based on a schedule.
In accordance with a further aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a system for managing listings within a network-based trading environment, the system including: means for automatically associating a plurality of defined characteristics with a listing; and means for generating a listing based on a schedule.
In accordance with a further aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a method to automatically process listings in a network-based trading system, the method including: automatically associating a plurality of defined characteristics with a proposed listing within the network-based trading system; and automatically generating a listing based on the proposed listing.
At least one of the plurality of defined characteristics may be a predefined product attribute stored in a product module. At least one of the predefined characteristics may be a price level selected by a user, the price level specifying a price at which a listing is released on the network-based trading system. The method may include automatically notifying sellers that at least one of the plurality of characteristics cannot be associated with the proposed listing because of an error in associating the characteristic to the listing. Still further in accordance with the disclosure, there is provided a method of managing listings of a high-volume seller, the method including: consolidating product attribute data pertaining to a high volume seller in a database, the product attribute data being organized into categories based on a plurality of defined characteristics; and generating at least one report based on the characteristics, the reports being accessible to the seller through a dashboard view.
In accordance with a further aspect of the disclosure, there is provided an apparatus in a network-based trading platform, the apparatus including: a bulk uploader having an integrity check algorithm that receives input regarding product information by automatically retrieves product information from at least one database at a seller and automatically applying at least one password access algorithm; and a pre-listing management module having a plurality of defined characteristics that include at least some information for a new listing.
Still further in accordance with the disclosure, there is provided a method for managing proposed listings for subsequent listing in a network-based trading system, the method including: aggregating a set of external inventory tables into a multiplexed table based on indexed time identifiers applied to each of the set of external inventory tables; separating the multiplexed table into individual products; receiving input of a plurality of predefined characteristics from a user input module; and associating chosen characteristics to individual products by applying a jitter algorithm.
The disclosure extends to a machine-readable medium storing a set of instructions that, when executed by the machine, cause the machine to perform any one or more of the methods described herein.
FIGS. 11-15 illustrate exemplary user interfaces (UIs) presented to a user of the network-based trading system, according to various exemplary embodiments.
A method and system to automate the creation and/or management of a listing for a network-based commerce system is provided. In one embodiment, the method and system creates and/or manages high-volume listings within a network-based trading environment. The method and system may include a logic module to automatically associate a plurality of defined characteristics to a listing and a timing module to automatically generate a staged listing based on an operation period defined, for example, by a schedule. In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present disclosure. It will be evident, however, to one skilled in the art that the present disclosure may be practiced without these specific details.
Further, while the system 10 shown in FIG. 1 employs client-server architecture, the present disclosure is of course not limited to such an architecture, and could equally well find application in a distributed, or peer-to-peer, architecture system. The various marketplace and payment applications 30 and 32 could also be implemented as standalone software programs, which do not necessarily have networking capabilities.
One or more post-listing management applications 64 may also assist sellers with a number of activities that typically occur post-listing. For example, upon completion of an auction facilitated by one or more of the auction applications 44, a seller may wish to leave feedback regarding a particular buyer. To this end, the post-listing management application 64 may provide an interface to one or more of the reputation applications 50, so as to allow the seller conveniently to provide feedback regarding multiple buyers to the reputation applications 50. In addition, the post-listing management application 64 may provide for measuring and monitoring post-sales conditions within a network-based trading module by interacting with the auction application 44 and the store application 48 according to one embodiment of the disclosure.
The network-based marketplace 12 itself, or one or more parties that transact via the marketplace 12, may operate loyalty programs that are supported by one or more loyalty/promotions applications 74. For example, a buyer may earn loyalty or promotions points for each transaction established and/or concluded with a particular seller, and be offered a reward for which accumulated loyalty points can be redeemed. It is to be appreciated that different embodiments of the disclosure may include additional applications, exclude one or more of the exemplary applications, or include different combinations of applications.
FIG. 5 illustrates one exemplary embodiment of the merchant tool module 120 in a functional view. The merchant tool module 120 includes a display module 522, a product module 524, a schedule module 526, a price module 528, and a quantity module 530 as well as a bulk uploader 504, a demux 506, a logic module 508, a non-volatile memory 514, a state machine 512, and a timing module 510. In one embodiment the display module 522 includes the display table 119 as described by way of example in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4. Similarly, in other embodiments, the product module 524, the schedule module 526, the price module 528, and the quantity module 530 might include the various exemplary tables as shown in FIG. 4. For example, the product module 524 may include the product attribute table 118, the schedule module 526 might include the schedule attribute table 116, the price module 528 might include the price attribute table 114, and the quantity module 530 might include the quantity attribute table 112.
In another embodiment, the bulk uploader 504 may receive input regarding product information by automatically spidering or retrieving product information from at least one database at a seller and automatically applying at least one password access algorithm. For example, the bulk uploader 504 may automatically access and input password information to gain access to a plurality of databases at a high-volume seller, and may periodically “spider”, or search to determine whether there have been new databases added by a particular high-volume seller that need to be indexed and periodically monitored for uploading product information into the merchant tool module 120 through the bulk uploader 504. In one embodiment, a user through a user input module 520 may set one or more characteristics by manually inputting the data through an input device. In another embodiment, the user input module 520 may receive input regarding at least one of the defined characteristics and may track metrics from a group including profit, loss, revenue, seasonal preference, and listing effectiveness, as described with reference to FIG. 14. Once the demux 506 receives data from the bulk uploader 504, the demux 506 parses a single file that may be uploaded from the ERP system 518 into the merchant tool module 120 into individual products 507 that can be interpreted by the logic module 508. These individual products 507 may be transmitted from the demux 506 to the logic module 508 for processing. It should be noted that the demux 506 is merely illustrative, and implementations of the present disclosure may or may not require the use of demux 506. Alternatively, any operation that can separate a table having multiple products into individual products may be used in place of demux 506.
Exemplary detail of the logic module 508 is shown in FIG. 6. The logic module 508 in FIG. 6 includes a multiplexer 600, a plan module 606, an arrange module 602, and a selection module 610. The multiplexer 600 may, for example, receive characteristic information from the display module 522, from the project module 524, from the schedule module 526, from the price module 528, and from the quantity module 530, or any other modules that may be included in other embodiments. For example, characteristics may be stored within tables as previously described in FIG. 3. The multiplexer 600 may then pass the information onto an exemplary arrange module 602 after aggregating all the different combinations of characteristic information that can be applied to a particular listing on a network-based marketplace 12. It should be noted that the multiplexer 600 (and all other demultiplexers and multiplexers shown in FIGS. 1-16) are merely illustrative, and implementations of the present disclosure may or may not require the use of multiplexer 600. Alternatively, any operation that can combine characteristics received from a plurality of modules into a table for use by the arrange module 602 may be used instead of multiplexer 600.
FIG. 9 illustrates a match grid or table 900. In the match table 900 including, a product identifier 910 and exemplary listing criteria. The listing criteria includes a time start 920, a time end 930, a duration 940, a display type 950, a schedule type 960, a price type 970, a quantity type 980, and a product attribute 990. Any one or more listing criteria may be associated with any one or more products A0 through An and B0 through Bn. using the match table 900. For example, product A0 through An may be different physical units of a first product, whereas products B0 through Bn may be different physical units of a second product. In one embodiment, any number of products can be listed under the product identifier 910. In one embodiment of the disclosure, the match table 900 is located within the arrange module 602 within the logic module 508 as illustrated in FIG. 6. Time start 920 may indicate when a particular product listing is to begin. The time end 930 may indicate when a particular product listing is to end. In one embodiment, the time start 920 and time end 930 are generated by the timing module 510.
While the Machine-Readable Medium 1022 is shown in an exemplary embodiment to be a single medium, the term “machine-readable medium” should be taken to include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and/or associated caches and servers) that store the one or more sets of instructions. The term “machine-readable medium” shall also be taken to include any medium that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying a set of instructions for execution by the machine and that cause the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologies of the present disclosure. The term “machine-readable medium” shall accordingly be taken to include, but not be limited to, solid-state memories, optical and magnetic media, and carrier wave signals.
A method and system to managing high-volume listings within a network-based trading environment have been described. Although the present disclosure 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 disclosure. Accordingly, the specification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.
a bulk uploader that is configured to upload listing data for a network-based commerce system, the listing data including a first listing, the bulk uploader is configured to create a first profile and a second profile based on the listing data; and
a timing module that is configured to automatically generate a second listing based on the first profile and the second profile.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein the first profile is included in a first set of profiles.
3. The system of claim 1, wherein the first profile relates to a first aspect including a price.
4. The system of claim 1, further including a web-based user input module that is configured to receive input from a user that changes the contents of the first profile.
5. The system of claim 4, wherein the web-based user input module is configured to receive input from a user to create a third profile.
6. The system of claim 5, wherein the timing module is configured to automatically generate a third listing based on the third profile.
7. The system of claim 1, wherein the first profile is selected by the user, the first profile relating to a first aspect of the first listing.
8. The system of claim 1, wherein the timing module is configured to automatically generate the second listing based on a schedule.
9. The system of claim 8, wherein the second listing describes an item and wherein the schedule includes information that identifies a day of the week the item described by the second listing is listed on the network-based commerce system.
uploading listing data including a first listing for a network-based commerce system, the uploading done at least in part by one or more processors;
creating a first profile and a second profile based on the listing data, the creating done at least in part by one or more processors; and
automatically generating a second listing utilizing the first and second profiles, the generating done at least in part by one or more processors.
11. The method of claim 10, wherein the first profile is included in a first set of profiles.
12. The method of claim 10, wherein the first profile relates to a first aspect including a price.
13. The method of claim 10, further including receiving input from a user to change the contents of the first profile.
14. The method of claim 10, further including receiving input from a user to create a third profile.
15. The method of claim 14, further including automatically generating a third listing based on the third profile.
16. The method of claim 10, further including identifying a user selection of the first profile relating to a first aspect of the first listing.
17. The method of claim 10, wherein the automatically generating the second listing includes automatically generating the second listing based on a schedule.
18. The method of claim 17, wherein the second listing describes an item and wherein the schedule identifies a day of the week and the item described by the second listing is listed on the network-based commerce system.
19. A non-transitory machine-readable tangible medium storing a set of instructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to execute actions comprising:
uploading listing data for a network-based commerce system, the listing data includes a first listing;
creating a first profile and a second profile based on the listing data; and
automatically generating a second listing based on the first profile and the second profile.
US13/886,802 2003-08-04 2013-05-03 Method and apparatus for deploying high-volume listings in a network trading platform Active US8762244B2 (en)
US14/300,112 US20140289063A1 (en) 2003-08-04 2014-06-09 Methods and systems for deploying high-volume listings in a network trading platform
US10/912,637 Continuation US8473381B2 (en) 2003-08-04 2004-08-04 Method and apparatus for deploying high-volume listings in a network trading platform
US14/300,112 Continuation US20140289063A1 (en) 2003-08-04 2014-06-09 Methods and systems for deploying high-volume listings in a network trading platform
US20130332298A1 US20130332298A1 (en) 2013-12-12
US8762244B2 true US8762244B2 (en) 2014-06-24
US14/300,112 Pending US20140289063A1 (en) 2003-08-04 2014-06-09 Methods and systems for deploying high-volume listings in a network trading platform
US (3) US8473381B2 (en)
2014-06-09 US US14/300,112 patent/US20140289063A1/en active Pending
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Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:SACCO, NATHAN;WONG, SONIA;ERICKSON, ROBERT;SIGNING DATES FROM 20040802 TO 20040803;REEL/FRAME:030347/0667