IP Library Granted Patent US 8,234,147
Granted Patent B2
US 8,234,147 · App. 12/466,560 · Granted Jul 31, 2012

Multi-variable product rank

Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 8,234,147
App. No.
12/466,560
Granted
Jul 31, 2012
Kind
B2
Abstract

Methods, systems, and computer-readable media for ranking products using multiple data sources are provided. A computerized ranking system includes a ranking engine, loaders, and a presentation component. The ranking engine calculates a score for each product based on multiple counts logged by data sources. Loaders communicatively connected to the ranking engine provide the counts to the data sources. The presentation component generates a ranked product list for display on client devices in response to requests for a list of popular products.

Claims (31)

1. One or more computer-readable media storing computer-usable instructions that cause one or more processors to perform a method that ranks products, the method comprising:

retrieving counts associated with each product from disparate data sources;

normalizing counts based on all products included in the database; and

assigning a rank to each product based on a score calculated from the normalized counts, wherein the score is calculated by summing the normalized counts in accordance with the following: Score=αP+βC+δR+ζS, where P is a normalized number for page view for each product, C is a normalized number of clicks, R is a normalized revenue, S is a number of appearances in search results, α is a weighting factor for P, β is a weighting factor for C, δ is a weighting factor for R, and ζ; is a weighting factor for S.

2. The media of claim 1 , further comprising: generating for display a list of products based on the assigned rank.

3. The media of claim 2 , further comprising: formatting the list of products as one of a HTML list, a XML list, or a RSS list.

4. A computer-implemented method to rank products, the method comprising:

receiving multiple counts for products from a plurality of data sources;

normalizing, by a processor of a computer, the counts for each product within each data source;

assigning, by a processor of a computer, a weight to each data source, wherein weight is used to calculate the score;

summing, by a processor of a computer, the normalized and weighted counts to calculate a score for each product, wherein the score is calculated using the following: Score=αP+βC+δR+ζS, where P is a normalized number for page view for each product, C is a normalized number of clicks, R is a normalized revenue, S is a number of appearances in search results, α is a weighting factor for P, β is a weighting factor for C, δ is a weighting factor for R, and ζ; is a weighting factor for S; and

generating, by a processor of a computer, a list based on the calculated score for each product.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the counts are periodically received from the data sources.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the product's rank across discrete ranges of time is comparable based on the normalizations applied to counts.

7. The method of claim 4 , wherein the normalized counts range from 0 to 1.

8. The method of claim 4 , wherein the list includes categories and the ranks for products in each category are normalized.

9. A computerized ranking system, the ranking system comprising:

a computer processor coupled to a memory, wherein the computer processor is programmed to execute:

a ranking engine to calculate a score for each product stored in product databases, wherein the score is based on multiple counts logged by a plurality of data sources and is derived by summing normalized multiple counts in accordance with the following: Score=αP+βC+δR+ζS, where P is a normalized number for page view for each product, C is a normalized number of clicks, R is a normalized revenue, S is a number of appearances in search results, α is a weighting factor for P, β is a weighting factor for C, δ is a weighting factor for R, and ζ; is a weighting factor for S;

a plurality of loaders communicatively connected to the ranking engine, the loaders receive the counts for each product from the plurality of data sources; and

a presentation component to format a list of products, based on the scores calculated by the ranking engine, for display on client devices in response to requests for a list of popular products, wherein the display includes a graphical summary of score differences for the list of products over a period of time.

10. The computerized ranking system of claim 9 , wherein the score is based on normalized counts logged by the plurality of data sources.

11. The computerized ranking system of claim 9 , wherein the counts include number of page views, number of clicks, amount of revenue, number of entries in a search log.

12. The computerized ranking system of claim 9 , wherein the counts include offline store transaction data.

13. The computerized ranking system of claim 9 , wherein the counts include number of sales generates, number of seconds a user dwells on a product displayed on the computer.

14. The computerized ranking system of claim 9 , wherein the loader is a device that accesses a data source to obtain the counts.

15. The computerized ranking system of claim 9 , wherein the data sources are relational databases that store counts.

16. The computerized ranking system of claim 9 , wherein the loaders periodically retrieves the counts from the multiple data source.

17. The computerized ranking system of claim 9 , wherein each data source is associated with a specific loader.

18. The computerized ranking system of claim 9 , wherein the ranking engine normalizes the scores based on categories selected by a user of client device to rank products based on score within the selected category.

19. The computerized ranking system of claim 9 , wherein the presentation component is configured to output a ranked list in one of HTML format, RSS format, or XML format.

Assignments (2)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Dec 9, 2014
From: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
To: MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING, LLC
Reel/Frame 034564/0001 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded May 15, 2009
From: OLEJNICZAK, NICHOLAS JON; MOINUDDIN, MOHAMMED; PUETZ, JOSHUA JOHN; BURKE, KEITH MCCLELLAND
To: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 022688/0950 →
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20100293034A1 · Nov 18, 2010