IP Library › Granted Patent US 12,737,796
Granted Patent B2
US 12,737,796 · App. 18/803,096 · Granted Sep 15, 2026

Identifying product items based on surge activity

Inventors: Satheesh Kumaresan Nair (Santa Clara, CA); Vikas Singh (San Jose, CA)
Assignee: eBay Inc.
G06Q30/0625G06N20/00
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,737,796
App. No.
18/803,096
Granted
Sep 15, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

Various embodiments described herein assist in identifying one or more product items of interest (e.g., high demand product items) based on surge activity, such as user buying surges, user selling surges, and user product listing (e.g., electronic or online listing) surges on an online marketplace system, and can further notify one or more users of selling opportunities of the identified products items of interest.

Claims (58)

1 . A method comprising:

identifying, using one or more layers of a machine learning model, an item based on an activity associated with the item, the activity indicating an increased demand for the item;

determining a first set of user accounts associated with an interest to list the item;

identifying a second set of user accounts, each account being associated with a current listing of the item;

determining, using the one or more layers of the machine learning model, a user segment associated with one or more attributes based on the second set of user accounts;

determining a subset of the first set of user accounts based on the user segment; and

causing display of a notification on one or more devices associated with the subset of the first set of user accounts, the notification indicating an opportunity to list the item for sale.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein each attribute from the one or more attributes corresponds to one of a demographic attribute, a geographic location, or a psychographic attribute.

3 . The method of claim 1 , comprising:

identifying the activity based on one or more of a plurality of user browsing associated with the item, a plurality of user browsing search activities associated with the item, and a plurality of explicit expressions of interest associated with the item on an online marketplace.

4 . The method of claim 1 , comprising:

identifying a first set of items obtained by the first set of user accounts;

identifying a second set of items obtained by the second set of user accounts; and

identifying a third set of items common to both the first set of items and the second set of items.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the item identified based on the activity is a first item of interest, and wherein both the first set of items and the second set of items exclude the first item.

6 . The method of claim 5 , comprising:

ranking the third set of items based on a plurality of confidence scores associated with the third set of items; and

identifying a second item of interest based on the ranking of the third set of items.

7 . The method of claim 1 , comprising:

determining an item affinity pattern based on the first set of user accounts and the second set of user accounts; and

identifying a third set of user accounts based on the first set of user accounts, the second set of user accounts, and the item affinity pattern.

8 . The method of claim 7 , comprising:

causing display of a further notification on one or more devices associated with the third set of user accounts, the notification indicating the opportunity to list the item for sale.

9 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the third set of user accounts represents a plurality of secondary user accounts being targeted for transmission of notifications regarding a selling opportunity of the item identified by the activity.

10 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the item affinity pattern is determined using associative frequencies and a probabilistic scoring between items to rank a first set of items obtained by the first set of user accounts and a second set of items obtained by the second set of user accounts.

11 . A system comprising:

one or more processors; and

a computer-storage medium having instructions stored there on that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to perform operations comprising:

identifying, using one or more layers of a machine learning model, an item based on an activity associated with the item, the activity indicating an increased demand for the item;

determining a first set of user accounts associated with an interest to list the item;

identifying a second set of user accounts, each account being associated with a current listing of the item;

determining, using the one or more layers of the machine learning model, a user segment associated with one or more attributes based on the second set of user accounts;

determining a subset of the first set of user accounts based on the user segment; and

causing display of a notification on one or more devices associated with the subset of the first set of user accounts, the notification indicating an opportunity to list the item for sale.

12 . The system of claim 11 , wherein each attribute from the one or more attributes corresponds to one of a demographic attribute, a geographic location, or a psychographic attribute.

13 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the operations comprise:

identifying the activity based on one or more of a plurality of user browsing associated with the item, a plurality of user browsing search activities associated with the item, and a plurality of explicit expressions of interest associated with the item on an online marketplace.

14 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the operations comprise:

identifying a first set of items obtained by the first set of user accounts;

identifying a second set of items obtained by the second set of user accounts; and

identifying a third set of items common to both the first set of items and the second set of items.

15 . The system of claim 14 , wherein the item identified based on the activity is a first item of interest, and wherein both the first set of items and the second set of items exclude the first item.

16 . The system of claim 15 , wherein the operations comprise:

ranking the third set of items based on a plurality of confidence scores associated with the third set of items; and

identifying a second item of interest based on the ranking of the third set of items.

17 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the operations comprise:

determining an item affinity pattern based on the first set of user accounts and the second set of user accounts; and

identifying a third set of user accounts based on the first set of user accounts, the second set of user accounts, and the item affinity pattern.

18 . The system of claim 17 , wherein the operations comprise:

causing display of a further notification on one or more devices associated with the third set of user accounts, the notification indicating the opportunity to list the item for sale.

19 . The system of claim 17 , wherein the third set of user accounts represents a plurality of secondary user accounts being targeted for transmission of notifications regarding a selling opportunity of the item identified by the activity.

20 . A non-transitory computer-storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

identifying, using one or more layers of a machine learning model, an item based on an activity associated with the item, the activity indicating an increased demand for the item;

determining a first set of user accounts associated with an interest to list the item;

identifying a second set of user accounts, each account being associated with a current listing of the item;

determining, using the one or more layers of the machine learning model, a user segment associated with one or more attributes based on the second set of user accounts;

determining a subset of the first set of user accounts based on the user segment; and

causing display of a notification on one or more devices associated with the subset of the first set of user accounts, the notification indicating an opportunity to list the item for sale.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Aug 21, 2024
From: NAIR, SATHEESH KUMARESAN; SINGH, VIKAS
To: EBAY INC.
Reel/Frame 068354/0250 →
Continuity (4)
Continuation 18209734 · Jun 14, 2023
Continuation 17207874 · Mar 22, 2021
Continuation 16015459 · Jun 22, 2018
Related Publication 20250061503A1 · Feb 20, 2025
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