Patent ID: 8538894

Claim:
A system to add one or more attributes to a vehicle data record associated with a vehicle in an inventory, the vehicle data record being accessible to a plurality of venues for providing vehicle information, comprising: a vehicle style database comprising a computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon a plurality of vehicle styles, each vehicle style comprising a plurality of reference attribute values shared by vehicles of a particular vehicle style; a computing device comprising a network interface to receive a vehicle data record comprising one or more attributes of the vehicle in the inventory; and a processing manager operable on the computing device and configured to select one of the vehicle styles in the vehicle style database using attributes in the vehicle data record by, generating a candidate list comprising vehicle styles in the vehicle style database that match one of a model code, and a year, make, model, and trim attribute of the vehicle data record, refining the candidate list by removing vehicle styles from the candidate list that do not match one of a body style, drivetrain, and transmission attribute of the vehicle data record, and augmenting the vehicle data record, by adding one or more of the reference attribute values of the vehicle styles in the refined candidate list to the vehicle data record, the one or more reference attribute values comprising attribute values describing the vehicle in the inventory not previously in the vehicle data record, wherein augmenting the vehicle data record further comprises associating each of the one or more reference attribute values a respective identifier indicating a source of the reference attribute value, and wherein the processing manager is configured to provide the augmented vehicle data record to one or more of the venues in accordance with the source identifiers of the attribute values and one or more availability rules.