Patent ID: 8639686

Claim:
A system for identifying sources to provide items, the system comprising: a data store that maintains information regarding one or more items provided by one or more sources; and one or more computing devices in communication with the data store, the computing devices configured to: obtain search results from a search of the data store for an item of interest, wherein the search results comprise at least one detailed information listing for the item of interest, wherein the at least one listing identifies a number of sources that provide the item of interest; determine one or more of: the popularity of the item of interest based upon retrieval of the at least one detailed information listing for the item of interest by one or more users; and the number of sources identified by the search results for the item of interest; identify the item of interest as benefitting from additional sources if the popularity of the item of interest is greater than a first selected threshold value or if the number of sources that provide the item of interest and are identified by the search results is less than a second threshold value; and add additional information to the data store for the item of interest if the item of interest is identified as benefitting from additional sources, the additional information identifying one or more additional sources that provide the item of interest.