Patent ID: 7437306

Claim:
A method of performing customer management relationship processing in a computer, comprising: (a) specifying both a focal product set and an analysis product set, prior to performing a pattern detection function, based on one or more user-specified attributes, wherein the focal product set includes products that trigger a sequence of customer purchasing behavior for a specified time interval and the analysis product set includes products that describe the customer purchasing behavior; (b) selecting a segment of customers from a database managed by the computer based on one or more user-specified attributes; (c) accessing customer transaction data from the database managed by the computer, to be used in the pattern detection function, using the selected segment of customers; and (d) performing the pattern detection function in the computer using the customer transaction data accessed from the database managed by the computer, wherein the pattern detection function finds patterns in the customer purchasing behavior, as evidenced by the customer transaction data, related to a sequence of when purchases occur, by comparing the customer transaction data related to the focal product set to the customer transaction data related to the analysis product set using a time frame for an initial focal product set purchase, and a number of time intervals for one or more analysis product set purchases before and after the initial focal product set purchase.