Item version similarity scoring system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9477703-B1
Application number	US-201313971162-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Aug 20, 2013
Priority date	Aug 20, 2013
Publication date	Oct 25, 2016
Grant date	Oct 25, 2016

Abstract

Generally described are systems and methods for conducting content differential analysis on multiple versions of an item, such as a book published with multiple editions or an item released with multiple versions. A version similarity scoring system may be configured to perform such content differential analysis on item content between two or more versions, and generate one or more similarity scores or assessments between versions. Similarity scores may be generated for the item as a whole as well as for some or all particular content portions or features of the item. The similarity scores for various versions may be provided to consumers viewing item detail pages for a multi-version item, as well as to vendors as part of purchase planning and market price setting decision processes.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer system comprising:
an electronic data store configured to store content data for a book; and
a computing device in communication with the electronic data store, the computing device configured to:
access, from the electronic data store, content data for the book, wherein the content data for the book provides an indication that the book is associated with multiple editions, the content data comprising textual content associated with at least one edition of the multiple editions of the book;
identify an edition of the book and another edition of the book, based at least in part on the indication that the book is associated with multiple editions;
subsequent to accessing the content data for the book and identifying said edition and said another edition of the book, perform a content differential analysis between said edition of the book and said another edition of the book to determine an amount of similarity between said edition of the book and said another edition of the book, wherein performing the content differential analysis comprises:
identifying a plurality of content portions of said edition of the book and a corresponding plurality of content portions of said another edition of the book; and
for each pair of corresponding content portions of said edition and said another edition, generating a sub-score based at least in part on a comparison of the corresponding content portions in the pair;

generate an overall similarity score between said edition of the book and said another edition of the book based at least in part on the sub-score generated for each pair of corresponding content portions of said edition and said another edition; and
output the overall similarity score for presentation along with the sub-score generated for each pair of corresponding content portions such that in the presentation, the overall similarity score is accompanied by information identifying said another edition of the book and each sub-score is accompanied by information identifying the pair of corresponding content portions.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the computing device is further configured to provide the similarity score to another computing device.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of content portions of said edition and the corresponding plurality of content portions of said another edition comprises at least textual content.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the content data for the book comprises an electronic representation of a physical print copy of the book.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the book is a textbook.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein to generate the sub-score the computing device is further configured to:
calculate a Levenshtein distance between the corresponding content portions in the pair; and
determine the amount of similarity based at least in part on the calculated Levenshtein distance,
wherein the amount of similarity is high if the Levenshtein distance is within a threshold distance, and the amount of similarity is low if the Levenshtein distance is not within the threshold distance.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the computing device is further configured to output the overall similarity score for presentation such that in the presentation, the overall similarity score is accompanied by a content preview option for displaying a side-by-side content comparison of one or more pairs of the corresponding content portions, wherein differences between the corresponding content portions in each pair are to be highlighted in the displayed side-by-side content comparison.

8. A computer-implemented method comprising:
as implemented by a computing device configured with specific computer-executable instructions,
identifying, for a book, at least an edition and another edition, based at least in part on an indication that the book is associated with multiple editions;
accessing content associated with said edition and content associated with said another edition;
subsequent to identifying at least said edition and said another edition for the book and accessing the content associated with said edition and the content associated with said another edition, identifying a plurality of content portions of said edition of the book and a corresponding plurality of content portions of said another edition of the book;
for each pair of corresponding content portions of said edition and said another edition, generating a sub-score based at least in part on a relative amount of similarity between the corresponding content portions in the pair;
generating overall similarity score information between said edition and said another edition, based at least in part on the sub-score generated for each pair of corresponding content portions of said edition and said another edition; and
outputting the overall similarity score information for presentation along with the sub-score generated for each pair of corresponding content portions such that in the presentation, the overall similarity score information is accompanied by information identifying said another edition of the book and each sub-score is accompanied by information identifying the pair of corresponding content portions.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , wherein the content portions comprise content selected from one of a title, a publication date, a table of contents, one or more chapters book, a preface, bibliographic content, a prologue or an epilogue.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , wherein the content portions of said edition of the book comprise a complete electronic copy of said edition and wherein the content portions of said another edition of the book comprise a complete electronic copy of said another edition.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , wherein identifying, for the book, said edition and said another edition comprises identifying said edition based at least in part on an International Standard Book Number (ISBN) for said edition of the book and identifying said another edition based at least in part on an ISBN for said another edition of the book.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , wherein the overall similarity score information comprises an overall similarity score indicative of the relative similarity of said edition and said another edition of the book.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , wherein generating the sub-score is based at least in part on information received from a human interaction task system.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , wherein said edition is a domestic edition of the book and said another edition is international edition of the book.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , further comprising outputting the overall similarity score for presentation such that in the presentation, the overall similarity score is accompanied by a content preview option for displaying a side-by-side content comparison of one or more pairs of the corresponding content portions, wherein differences between the corresponding content portions in each pair are to be highlighted in the displayed side-by-side content comparison.

16. A system comprising:
an electronic data store configured to store item content information; and
a computing device in communication with the electronic data store, the computing device being configured to:
identify, for an item, at least a version and another version, based at least in part on an indication that the item is associated with multiple versions;
access content associated with said version and content

Assignees

• Amazon Tech Inc

Inventors

• Criss David Andrew

Classifications

• G06F40/197

  Version control (for software G06F8/71) · CPC title

• G06Q10/06

  Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling · CPC title

• G06Q10/04

  Forecasting or optimisation specially adapted for administrative or management purposes, e.g. linear programming or "cutting stock problem" (market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities G06Q30/0202) · CPC title

• G06Q30/02 Primary

  Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising · CPC title

• G06F40/194

  Calculation of difference between files · CPC title