Patent ID: 7246110

Claim:
A method of ranking products of a plurality of different brands based upon data records stored in at least one computer readable storage medium and including data indicating product features and values corresponding to the product features, said method comprising: assigning a plurality of feature categories corresponding to a plurality of product features for at least one product category based on available data in the data records; assigning a weighted importance to the plurality of feature categories based on available data in the data records; assigning evaluative metrics to each feature in each feature category; ranking products of the plurality of different brands in the product category according to the weighted importance of the feature categories included in each item and based on each product's evaluative metrics; receiving a plurality of selections from a user indicating a plurality of feature categories of importance to the user for the product category; assigning an increased weighted importance of the selected feature categories; generating a customized ranking of products in the product category ranked based on the weighted importance of each feature categories, the increased weighted importance of the selected feature categories, and each product's evaluative metrics; providing to the user, the generated customized ranking of products in the product category; assigning a tag to each essential feature category of each product category based on available data; determining whether each product category includes all of the feature categories having the tag of another product category, and includes at least one feature category that the other product category does not have; assigning a relation type of kind to at least one product category based on said determination; labeling the at least one product category as a child category of the other product category; and labeling the other product category as a parent category of the child product category.