Granted Patent B2

US 9,037,585 · App. 12/980,669 · Granted May 19, 2015

Abstract

Claims (67)

1. A computer-based method for determining information about an item from a database in response to an input uniform resource identifier (URI), comprising:

receiving, with a computer, one of a number of input URIs having the same domain that reference the same item on web pages of the domain;

determining a static portion of a prime URI from a database that associates a static portion with the domain of the input URI;

retrieving, with the computer, a pre-computed regular expression that is associated with the domain of the input URI and that operates to produce a dynamic portion of the prime URI;

applying, with the computer, the retrieved regular expression to the input URI to produce the dynamic portion of the prime URI;

joining, with the computer, the static and dynamic portions of the prime URI to complete the prime URI and using the completed prime URI as a key to access an entry associated with the item in a database that stores information for the item from multiple domains, wherein the information includes a product ID;

retrieving, with the computer, information about the item associated with the domain of the input URI using the prime URI and information about the item that is associated with one or more other domains using the product ID; and

presenting the retrieved information for the item.

2. The computer-based method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving, with the computer, input URIs that reference similar types of web pages from a domain;

minimizing each input URI;

determining, with the computer, a regular expression that logically defines each of the minimized URIs; and

storing the regular expression in a computer readable memory for use with URIs from the corresponding domain.

3. The computer-based method of claim 2 , further comprising:

updating the regular expression in response to receiving input URIs associated with the domain.

4. A computer system for presenting information about an item referenced by an input uniform resource identifier (URI), comprising:

processor electronics configured to perform operations of:

receiving an input URI of a set of URIs having the same domain from a requestor, wherein each URI of the set of URIs references the same item on web pages of the domain;

determining a static portion of a prime URI from a database that associates a static portion with the domain of the input URI;

retrieving a pre-computed regular expression that is associated with the domain of the input URI;

applying the retrieved regular expression to the input URI to produce a dynamic portion of the prime URI;

joining the static and dynamic portions of the prime URI to complete the prime URI;

using the completed prime URI as a key to an entry associated with the item in a database that stores information for the item from multiple domains, wherein the information includes a product ID;

retrieving information about the item associated with the domain of the input URI using the prime URI and information about the item associated with the product ID for one or more other domains using the product ID; and

supplying the retrieved information to the requestor.

5. The computer system of claim 4 , wherein the computer system includes a memory and the processor is configured to store the regular expression in the memory in association with a domain.

6. The computer system of claim 4 , wherein processor is configured to receive input URIs from browser programs associated with requestors.

7. The computer system of claim 4 , wherein the processor is configured to receive input URIs from external computer programs.

8. The computer system of claim 7 , wherein the external computer programs operate as web crawling robots.

9. A non-transitory, computer-readable media containing instructions that are executable by a computer to direct the computer to:

receive an input URI of a set of uniform resource identifiers (URIs) having the same domain and that reference the same item on web pages of the domain;

determine a static portion of a prime URI from a database that associates a static portion of a prime URI with the domain of the input URI;

retrieve a pre-computed regular expression that is associated with the domain of the input URI;

apply the retrieved regular expression to the input URI to produce a dynamic portion of the prime URI;

join the static portion of the prime URI and the dynamic portion of the URI to complete the prime URI;

use the completed prime URI as a key to an entry in a database that stores information about the item associated with the domain of the input URI, wherein the information includes a product ID;

retrieve information about the item that is stored in the database that is associated with the domain of the input URI using the prime URI and information about the item that is associated with one or more other domains using the product ID; and

present the retrieved information about the item.

10. The non-transitory, computer-readable media of claim 9 , further including instructions that are executable by the computer to:

receive, with the computer, input URIs that reference similar types of web pages from a domain;

minimize each input URI;

determine, with the computer, a regular expression that logically defines each of the minimized URIs; and

store the regular expression in a computer readable memory for use with URIs from the corresponding domain.

11. The non-transitory, computer-readable media of claim 9 , further including instructions that are executable by the computer to update the regular expression in response to receiving input URIs associated with the domain.

12. An Internet-based computer system for providing information about a product, comprising:

a database that stores information about items, each item being referenced by a prime URI that serves as a key to the database for the information about the item that is associated with a domain of an input URI, wherein the information for the item includes a product ID;

a processor programmed to:

receive an input URI of a set of URIs that reference the same item on web pages of a domain of the input URI;

retrieve a static portion of a prime URI based on the domain of the input URI;

retrieve a pre-computed regular expression associated with the domain of the input URI that determines a dynamic portion of the prime URI;

apply the pre-computed regular expression to the input URI to produce the dynamic portion of the prime URI;

join the static and dynamic portions of the prime URI to complete the prime URI;

use the completed prime URI as a key to the database to retrieve information for the item that is associated with the domain of the input URI and a product ID for the item to retrieve information for the item that is associated with one or more other domains; and

provide the retrieved item information to a requestor.

13. The Internet-based computer system of claim 12 , wherein the input URI is received from a browser program associated with a user.

14. The Internet-based computer system of claim 12 , wherein the input URI is received from a computer program that operates as a web crawling robot that scrapes web pages on the Internet.

15. The Internet-based computer system of claim 12 , wherein the processor is programmed to determine the regular expression from minimized URIs from the domain.

16. An Internet-based computer system for providing information about a product, comprising:

a database that stores information about items, each item being referenced by a prime URI that serves as a key to the database for the information about the item that is associated with a domain of an input URI, wherein the information for the item includes a product ID;

a processor programmed to:

receive an input URI that references an item on a web page of a domain of the input URI;

determine a domain of the input URI;

retrieve a pre-computed regular expression associated with the domain of the input URI;

apply the retrieved regular expression to the input URI to produce a prime URI, wherein the prime URI cannot be further reduced and still refer to the same item on a web page of the domain of the input URI;

use the prime URI as a key to the database to retrieve information for the item that is associated with the domain of the input URI and a product ID for the item;

retrieve additional information for the item that is associated with one or more other domains using the product ID for the item; and

provide the information about the item associated with the domain of the input URI and information about the item that is associated with one or more other domains to a requestor.

Assignments (15)