Patent ID: 8046248

Claim:
A method for identifying items that have experienced interest bursts, comprising the computer-implemented steps of: for each item of a plurality of items, one or more computing devices performing the steps of: during a particular window of time, maintaining an interest value based on how many interest-actions are performed on said item by a plurality of users during said particular window of time; and determining whether the item has experienced an interest burst for the particular window based, at least in part, on the interest value and a historical indication of interest for the item; wherein the plurality of items includes: at least one item, for which multiple interest-actions were performed during the particular window, that experienced an interest burst during the particular window; and at least one item, for which multiple interest-actions were performed during the particular window, that did not experience an interest burst during the particular window; wherein the particular window is one of a plurality of windows of time; wherein the historical indication of interest is based on at least some interest values maintained for windows, of the plurality of windows, that began prior to the particular window; wherein the at least one item that experienced an interest burst had fewer interest-actions performed on the at least one item during at least some windows, of the plurality of windows, that began prior to the particular window.