Incremental partial text searching in ecommerce

1. A method for optimizing identification and access to a plurality of product records in a product database, the method executed as a set of stored instructions by a computer processor to implement the steps of:

receiving over a communications network textual information comprising a sequence of characters;

searching a collection of product metadata for words or phrases that comprise the sequence of characters as a portion thereof, the collection of product metadata comprising words or phrases describing products from one or more of the plurality of product records in the product database;

executing a search query against the set of product listings using one or more of said words or phrases determined from searching the collection of product metadata comprising words or phrases describing products to return a query search result containing a plurality of product listings matching the search query;

selecting a product listing subset from the query search result comprising at least one product listing from the query search result;

sending over the communications network the product listing subset for display on a user interface as a list of user selectable links, each of the user selectable links in the list for each said product listing coupled to a respective product record of the product records; and

receiving over the communications network a link selection from the list of user selectable links and returning the respective product record associated with the link selection.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of, prior to receiving the link selection:

receiving a content update to the textual information defining an updated sequence of characters;

searching the collection of product metadata for words or phrases that comprise the updated sequence of characters as a portion thereof;

executing an updated search query against the set of product listings using one or more of said words or phrases determined from searching the collection of product metadata to return an updated query search result containing an updated plurality of product listings matching the updated search query;

selecting an updated product listing subset from the updated query search result;

sending over the communications network the updated product listing subset for replacing on the display the list of user selectable links with an updated list of user selectable links, each of the user selectable links in the updated list for each said product listing in the updated product listing subset coupled to a respective product record of the product records; and

receiving over the communications network said link selection from the updated list of user selectable links and returning the respective product record associated with said link selection.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said each product listing in the product listing subset contains a product image obtained from the respective product record.

4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the respective product record is displayed with a shopping cart selection.

5. The method of claim 3 further comprising the step of:

providing a selection containing one or more variants in said each product listing in the product listing subset, the variants included in the product database.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the selection is a user selectable link coupled to a respective one or more product records for the one or more variants.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the user selectable link contains a variant product image different from the product image.

8. The method according to claim 1 further comprising the step of:

processing the sequence of characters to determine a plurality of product categories to which the sequence of characters belong;

assigning said each product listing to one or more of the plurality of product categories; and

including in the product listing subset the assignment of said each product listing to the one or more of the plurality of product categories.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising the step of including the one or more of said words or phrases in the collection of product metadata with the product listing subset for display on the user interface as a set of executable query search terms for use in interrogating the product database to return a subsequent query search result containing a corresponding plurality of product listings matching the subsequent search query.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising the steps of:

receiving a selected search term from the set of executable query search terms; and

updating the plurality of product categories and the assignment of said each product listing to the updated plurality of product categories of said each product listing in the product listing subset to reflect the selected search term.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of including the one or more of said words or phrases in the collection of product metadata with the product listing subset for display on the user interface as a set of executable query search terms for use in interrogating the product database to return a subsequent query search result containing a corresponding plurality of product listings matching the subsequent search query.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising the steps of:

receiving a selected search term from the set of executable query search terms; and

updating content of said each product listing in the product listing subset to reflect the selected search term.

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of: preprocessing the sequence of characters to correct for spelling errors based on a list of word misspellings associated with the collection of product metadata.

14. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

selecting the product listing subset from the query search result by filtering the plurality of product listings matching the search query by a filter parameter.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the filter parameter is selected from the group consisting of: an indicated product category; an indicated product; popularity rating of each of the plurality of product listings; selection frequency of each of the plurality of product listings; and a synonym of the sequence of characters.