Method and system for producing item comparisons

A computer-implemented method for producing an item comparison, comprising:

• obtaining data based on prior user activity that is indicative of an item and other items likely to be comparable to the item;
• recording said data for later access;
• presenting an item of interest to a user;
• receiving a request for a comparison of one or more items to the item of interest;
• searching the recorded data to identify one or more items that are comparable to the item of interest that have previously been presented to the user;
• and
• producing an item comparison for the user that presents the item of interest to the user and the one or more comparable items for comparison to the item of interest, said item comparison comprising a comparison table in which each of a plurality of rows or columns corresponds to a respective attribute shared by a plurality of items included in the item comparison, said comparison table providing an attribute-by-attribute comparison of the plurality of items;
• said method performed by a computing system.

A computing system configured to prepare item comparisons, comprising:

• data storage having data recorded therein based on user activity with items, wherein said data is indicative of items that are comparable;
• an item selector in communication with the data storage, wherein the item selector is configured to identify, from the data in the data storage, for comparison to an item of interest to a user, at least one comparable item that has previously been presented to the user;
• and
• an item comparison manager in communication with the data storage and the item selector, wherein the item comparison manager is configured to prepare an item comparison that compares a plurality of items, including the item of interest and the at least one comparable item previously presented to the user, said item comparison comprising a comparison table in which each of a plurality of rows or columns corresponds to a respective attribute shared by the plurality of items, said comparison table providing an attribute-by-attribute comparison of the plurality of items.

A non-transitory computer-accessible medium having instructions recorded thereon that when executed by a computer system cause the computer system to:

• obtain data based on user activity that is indicative of an item and other items likely to be comparable to the item;
• record said data for later access;
• present an item of interest to a user;
• identify one or more items in the recorded data that are comparable to the item of interest that have previously been presented to the user;
• and
• produce an item comparison for the user that compares a plurality of items, including the item of interest and the one or more previously presented items identified from the recorded data, said item comparison comprising a comparison table in which each of a plurality of rows or columns corresponds to a respective attribute shared by the plurality of items, said comparison table providing an attribute-by-attribute comparison of the plurality of items.

A computer-implemented method for producing an item comparison, comprising:

• recording data reflecting items that previously have been presented to a user as being comparable items;
• receiving a request from the user for an item comparison that includes at least one item in the recorded data, wherein the at least one item is a first item;
• producing the item comparison in which a second item in the recorded data is identified and included in the item comparison for being comparable to the first item;
• and
• identifying a third item not in the recorded data, wherein the third item is identified based on a temporal attribute and is included in the item comparison;
• said method performed by a computing system.

A computer-implemented method for producing an item comparison, comprising:

• obtaining data based on user activity that is indicative of an item and other items likely to be comparable to the item;
• recording said data for later access;
• producing an item comparison for a user that presents an item of interest to the user and other items for comparison to the item of interest, said item comparison including at least one item that, based on the recorded data, has previously been presented to the user;
• and
• identifying an item not in the recorded data, wherein the item is identified based on a temporal attribute and is included in the item comparison;
• said method performed by a computing system that comprises one or more servers.