# US 10,120,849 B2 · Document generation based on referral

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- Number: US 10,120,849 B2
- Document ID: US10120849B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 15/497,566
- Filed: 2017-04-26
- Published: 2017-08-10
- Granted: 2018-11-06
- Earliest claimed: 2011-05-31
- Assignees: eBay Inc.
- Applicants: eBay Inc.
- Inventors: Dennis Goedegebuure
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10120849B2

## CPC

- G06F 16/9566: {URL specific, e.g. using aliases, detecting broken or misspelled links}
- G06F 16/93: Document management systems
- G06F 16/9536: Search customisation based on social or collaborative filtering
- G06F 40/197: Version control (for software G06F8/71)
- G06Q 30/0623: {by investigating goods or services}
- G06F 11/0757: {by exceeding a time limit, i.e. time-out, e.g. watchdogs}
- G06F 16/1873: {Versioning file systems, temporal file systems, e.g. file system supporting different historic versions of files}
- G06F 16/951: Indexing; Web crawling techniques
- G06F 16/9535: Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
- G06F 16/958: Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
- G06Q 30/02: Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
- G06Q 30/0203: Market surveys; Market polls
- G06Q 30/0214: Referral reward systems
- G06Q 30/06: Buying, selling or leasing transactions
- G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N)
- G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR

## Abstract

A document machine may detect a request for provision of a document while that document is available for provisioning. The document machine may update a count of referrals to the document and, based on the count of referrals transgressing a threshold value, generate a substitute document based on the original document. This substitute document may then be provided in response to further requests for the original document after the original document is no longer available for provision. The updating of the count of referrals is based on the identifier of a network that referred a request detected while the first document was still available for provision. The document machine may then provide the substitute document in lieu of the original document in response to a further request for provision of the first document.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method comprising:
detecting, by one or more processors of a machine, a request for provision of a first document that is available for provision;
updating a count of referrals based on determining the request was sent from a set of one or more networks, the count of referrals comprising a number of requests for provision of the first document received from the set of one or more networks;
retrieving a second document based on the first document and on the count of referrals transgressing a threshold value; and
providing the second document in response to a subsequent request for the first document, the subsequent request occurring after expiration of an availability of the first document.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising redirecting the subsequent request from the first document to the second document.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The method of claim 2, wherein redirecting the subsequent request further comprises:
identifying a first locator for the first document within the subsequent request;
substituting a second locator for the second document within the subsequent request; and
transmitting the subsequent request to the second locator.

### Claim 4 (depends on 2)

The method of claim 2, wherein redirecting the subsequent request further comprises:
determining the first document is unavailable for provision; and
determining the second document is a substitute for the first document.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising:
generating the second document from the first document and including at least a portion of the first document in the second document.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising:
identifying a plurality of references based on the first document, the plurality of references associated with documents that are similar to the first document; and
providing one or more of the plurality of references within the second document.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising:
determining a different request for provision of the first document is received from a web crawling operation of a search engine, the search engine excluded from the set of one or more networks; and
excluding the different request for provision from updating the count of referrals for the first document.

### Claim 8

A system comprising:
one or more processors; and
a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium coupled to the one or more processors, the non-transitory machine-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, implement operations comprising:
detecting a request for provision of a first document that is available for provision,
updating a count of referrals based on determining the request was sent from a set of one or more networks, the count of referrals comprising a number of requests for provision of the first document,
retrieving a second document based on the first document and on the count of referrals transgressing a threshold value, and
providing the second document in response to a subsequent request for the first document, the subsequent request occurring after expiration of an availability of the first document.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The system of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise redirecting the subsequent request from the first document to the second document.

### Claim 10 (depends on 9)

The system of claim 9, wherein redirecting the subsequent request further comprises:
identifying a first locator for the first document within the subsequent request;
substituting a second locator for the second document within the subsequent request; and
transmitting the subsequent request to the second locator.

### Claim 11 (depends on 9)

The system of claim 9, wherein redirecting the subsequent request further comprises:
determining the first document is unavailable for provision; and
determining the second document is a substitute for the first document.

### Claim 12 (depends on 8)

The system of claim 8 wherein the operations further comprise:
generating the second document from the first document and including at least a portion of the first document in the second document.

### Claim 13 (depends on 8)

The system of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise:
identifying a plurality of references based on the first document, the plurality of references associated with documents that are similar to the first document; and
providing one or more of the plurality of references within the second document.

### Claim 14 (depends on 8)

The system of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise:
determining a different request for provision of the first document is received from a web crawling operation of a search engine, the search engine excluded from the set of one or more networks; and
excluding the different request for provision from updating the count of referrals for the first document.

### Claim 15

A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:
detecting a request for provision of a first document that is available for provision;
updating a count of referrals based on determining the request was sent from a set of one or more networks, the count of referrals comprising a number of requests for provision of the first document;
retrieving a second document based on the first document and on the count of referrals transgressing a threshold value; and
providing the second document in response to a subsequent request for the first document, the subsequent request occurring after expiration of an availability of the first document.

### Claim 16 (depends on 15)

The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise redirecting the subsequent request from the first document to the second document.

### Claim 17 (depends on 16)

The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein redirecting the subsequent request for provision further comprises:
identifying a first locator for the first document within the subsequent request;
substituting a second locator for the second document within the subsequent request; and
transmitting the subsequent request to the second locator.

### Claim 18 (depends on 16)

The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein redirecting the request further comprises:
determining the first document is unavailable for provision; and
determining the second document is a substitute for the first document.

### Claim 19 (depends on 15)

The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise:
identifying a plurality of references based on the first document, the plurality of references associated with documents that are similar to the first document; and
providing one or more of the plurality of references within the second document.

### Claim 20 (depends on 15)

The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise:
determining a different request for provision of the first document is received from a web crawling operation of a search engine, the search engine excluded from the set of one or more networks; and
excluding the different request for provision from updating the count of referrals for the first document.