Patent ID: 7809672

Claim:
A computer-implemented system for categorizing product data in an electronic commerce transaction, the system comprising: a global content directory server coupled with one or more seller databases over a network, the global content directory server comprising: a storage medium stored therein a data association module configured to: access a first product classification schema, the first schema comprising: a taxonomy comprising a hierarchy of classes categorizing one or more products; and ontology associated with one or more of the classes, each ontology comprising one or more product attributes, wherein each of the one or more products is associated with a global unique identifier; access target data associated with the first schema, the target data organized according to a second product classification schema; determine one or more classes of the first schema with which at least a portion of the target data is associated based on a comparison between the target data and the product attributes of the ontologies of the first schema or between the target data and values for one or more of the product attributes of the ontologies of the first schema, wherein determining one or more classes of the first schema with which the at least a portion of the target data is associated comprises using statistical correlation techniques to identify portions of the target data including values that correspond to values for a product attribute included in the ontologies of these one or more classes of the first schema; associate the at least a portion of the target data with one or more classes of the first schema in response to determining, based on the comparison, the one or more classes of the first schema with which the at least a portion of the target data is associated; and store the values for one or more of the product attributes of the ontologies of the first schema with which the target data is compared in the one or more seller databases.