Method and apparatus for generating prioritized search results including an expression of interest factor for a limited supply system

Abstract

The present invention provides for generation of prioritized search results in a limited supply system, which includes receiving a search request having search request parameters, which may be received through the Internet by a search portal and the search parameters may be the search terms submitted by the user. The present invention further includes determining one or more search result elements for the limited supply system based on the search request parameters, where each of the search result elements indicate a corresponding listing entity and calculating expression of interest (EOI) terms for each of the search result elements based on search result obligations between the limited supply system and the listing entities. Thereupon, the present invention includes prioritizing the search result terms based on the corresponding EOI terms, which may then be presented to the search requesting entity.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.