Patent ID: 7958016

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for specifying characteristics of a desired item using items different from the desired item comprising: receiving, by a computer system, a specification comprising a plurality of items, each of which possess at least one but not all characteristics of the desired item; outputting, by the computer system, a plurality of candidate assertions for each of the plurality of items, wherein the candidate assertions correspond to the characteristics of the plurality of items; receiving, by the computer system, a selection of the candidate assertions for each of the plurality of items of the specification, the selection corresponding to a subset of characteristics, wherein the subset of characteristics includes at least one characteristic of each of said plurality of items; combining, by the computer system, the subset of characteristics selected from the candidate assertions for each of the plurality of items of the specification into a characterization of the desired item, wherein the desired item is not an item in the specification comprising the plurality of items; determining, by the computer system, whether the desired item is available for purchase based on the characterization.