Patent ID: 7505921

Claim:
A method of optimizing a product said product including a base product, the method comprising the steps of: (a) obtaining an identification of a user and a preliminary designation of said product; said identification identifying a user profile that is uniquely associated with said user, the user profile being persistent across multiple optimization sessions and comprising a plurality of characteristics of said user, said plurality of characteristics comprising: (1) a preferred social interaction type; (2) a plurality of domain familiarity indications, each of said domain familiarity indications reflecting said user's knowledge about a specific product domain; and (3) a price sensitivity for said user; (b) providing a formatted display that includes a set of content related to said product and a format, the set of content determined at least in part by a characteristic selected from the group consisting of: (1) the preferred social interaction type; (2) the plurality of domain familiarity indications; and (3) the price sensitivity for said user; (c) updating, based on a response by the user; (1) the plurality of characteristics to create an updated user profile, wherein updating the plurality of characteristics comprises updating at least one characteristic selected from the group consisting of: i) the preferred social interaction type; ii) the plurality of domain familiarity indications; and iii) the price sensitivity for said user; (2) a component associated with said base product when said response includes a selection of an option from a different set of options associated with said component; (d) storing said updated user profile to determine the set of content of the formatted display for a future presentation made to said user, wherein the set of content of the formatted display for the future presentation is determined at least in part by a characteristic selected from the group consisting of: (1) the preferred social interaction type; (2) the plurality of domain familiarity indications; and (3) the price sensitivity for said user; and (e) repeating steps (b) through (d) across one or more computer sessions at least once to optimize said product.