Selecting prospective bidders to whom to promote an online auction based upon bidding history
AssigneeAmazon.com, Inc.
InventorPaul Kotas
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A facility for identifying users to whom to promote a selected auction is described. The facility maintains a representation of bidding histories of a plurality of users. At a point at which certain users have already bid in the selected auction, the facility identifies users that have not already bid in the selected auction that have bidding histories that are similar to those of users that have already bid in the selected auction. The facility then promotes the selected auction to the identified users.
Claims30
A method in a computer system for identifying users to whom to promote a selected auction, the selected auction having users that have already bid in the selected auction, the method comprising:
- for each of a plurality of examined auctions other than the selected auction,
- distinguishing the examined auction if the number of users that have bid in the selected auction that also bid in the examined auction exceeds a minimum threshold;
- and
- for each of the distinguished auctions, identifying users that bid in the distinguished auction and did not bid in the selected auction.
A computer-readable medium whose contents cause a computer system to identify users to whom to promote a selected auction, the selected auction having users that have already bid in the selected auction, by:
- for an examined auction other than the selected auction, distinguishing the examined auction if the number of users that have bid in the selected auction that also bid in the examined auction exceeds a minimum threshold;
- and
- if the examined auction is distinguished, identifying users that bid in the distinguished auction and did not bid in the selected auction.
A method in a computer system for identifying users to whom to promote a selected auction among a set of users, where a proper subset of the clustered users have already bid in the selected auction, the method comprising:
- applying clustering techniques to identify clusters of users among the set of users;
- and
- in response to a bid by a selected user in the selected auction,
- identifying any cluster of which the selected user is a member, more than a threshold number of whose members have bid in the selected auction, and
- identifying users of the identified clusters who have not bid in the selected auction.
A computer-readable medium whose contents cause a computer system to identify users to whom to promote a selected auction among a set of users, where a proper subset of the clustered users have already bid in the selected auction, by:
- applying clustering techniques to identify a cluster of users among the set of users;
- and
- in response to a bid in the selected auction by a selected user that is a member of the cluster, identifying users of the cluster who have not bid in the selected auction.
A method in a computer system for identifying users to whom to promote a selected auction, the selected auction having users that have already bid in the selected auction, the method comprising:
- maintaining a representation of bidding histories of a plurality of users that is a superset of the users that have already bid in the selected auction;
- and
- identifying users that have not already bid in the selected auction that have bidding histories that are similar to those of users that have already bid in the selected auction.
A computer-readable medium whose contents cause a computer system to identify users to whom to identify users to whom to promote a selected auction, the selected auction having users that have already bid in the selected auction, by:
- maintaining a representation of bidding histories of a plurality of users that is a superset of the users that have already bid in the selected auction;
- and
- identifying users that have not already bid in the selected auction that have bidding histories that are similar to those of users that have already bid in the selected auction.
A method in a computer system for promoting a first auction in which a first user has bid, comprising:
- identifying a second user that has not bid in the first auction and that has bid in a second auction in which the first user has bid;
- and
- promoting the first auction to the second user.
A computer system for promoting a first auction in which a first user has bid, comprising:
- a user identification subsystem adapted to identify a second user that has not bid in the first auction and that has bid in a second auction in which the first user has bid;
- and
- an auction promotion subsystem adapted to promote the first auction to the second user.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.