Patent ID: 8250012

Claim:
A system comprising: a test recommendation engine for processing a selected item as a first input value and generating a first set of recommendations based on the processing of the first input value and a first set of additional input values, the first set of recommendations including a plurality of items distinct from the selected item; a control recommendation engine for processing the selected item as a second input value and generating a second set of recommendations based on the processing of the second input value and a second set of additional input values, the second set of recommendations including a plurality of items distinct from the selected item, wherein the first set of additional input values and the second set of additional input values are different sets of input values; and an analyzing module utilized for: determining a first set of end user actions, wherein each of the first set of end user actions corresponds to an action taken by a first set of end users as a response to being presented with the first set of recommendations; determining a performance value of the generated first set of recommendations based on the determined first set of end user actions, the performance value corresponding to an assessment of the desirability of each of the first set of end user actions, determining a second set of end user actions, wherein each of the second set of end user actions corresponds to an action taken by a second set of end users as a response to being presented with the second set of recommendations; determining a performance value of the generated second set of recommendations based on the determined second set of end user actions, the performance value corresponding to an assessment of the desirability of each of the second set of end user actions, comparing the determined performance values of the determined first and second sets of recommendations; and generating feedback based on said comparison, wherein the feedback identifies at least one of a recommendation engine or additional input values corresponding to the higher performance value as more desirable.