Managing item queries

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9519678-B2
Application number	US-201213631768-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 28, 2012
Priority date	Sep 28, 2012
Publication date	Dec 13, 2016
Grant date	Dec 13, 2016

Abstract

A network-based service may be provided for facilitating queries for a number of items, such as travel services. A user may submit a query including criteria for determining one or more relevant items. Based on the submitted query, the network-based service may present the user with information regarding the actions of other similar users of the network-based service, such as searches performed by the other users. Based on this information, the user may elect to supplement the current query to conform to the actions for other users. In some embodiments, actions by other users may be based at least in part on a category of the querying user. By presenting actions of similar users, a current user may be enabled to select the most relevant query terms for identifying a desired item.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer implemented method for providing assertions in response to a travel item query, the method comprising:
as implemented by one or more computing devices configured with specific executable instructions,
receiving usage data reflective of user activity on a travel service, the user activity comprising a plurality of queries for travel items offered by the travel service;
for a set of search criteria, determining, based at least in part on the usage data, a plurality of assertions, each of the plurality of assertions representative of a modified set of search criteria determined based at least in part on a previous action of at least one user taken in response to previously presented query results corresponding to the set of search criteria, and wherein each assertion of the plurality of assertions is selectable by an additional user to generate a new query based at least in part on the modified set of search criteria corresponding to each assertion;
receiving, from a user computing device, a query corresponding to the set of search criteria;
transmitting, to the user computing device, a display page including results of the query corresponding to the set of search criteria and the plurality of assertions associated with the set of search criteria;
receiving selection of an assertion of the plurality of assertions by the user computing device, wherein the selection of the assertion corresponds to a user request to generate the new query based at least in part on the modified set of search criteria;
generating the new query based at least in part on the modified set of search criteria; and
transmitting results of the new query to the user computing device.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein a travel item corresponds to at least one of a flight, an accommodation, ground transportation, activities, tours, travel insurance, day trips, or destination services.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the user activity corresponds to at least one of searching for travel items or acquiring a travel item.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein generating the new query based at least in part on the modified set of search criteria comprises modifying, within the query received from the user computing device, at least one of a departure date or time, a departure location, an arrival date or time, an arrival location, a number of stops, a number of travelers, a preferred level of service, and a preferred provider of the travel item.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the assertion is associated with a categorization of the user activity.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 5 , wherein the categorization of the user activity corresponds to at least one of business, leisure, family, elite, luxury, or economy.

7. A system for providing assertions regarding an item query, the system comprising:
at least one data store configured to store assertions, wherein each assertion is representative of at least one search criterion, and wherein the at least one search criterion is determined based at least in part on a previous action of at least one user taken in response to results of a previously executed query, and wherein each assertion is selectable by an additional user to generate a new query based at least in part on modified set of search criteria corresponding to each assertion; and
one or more processors in communication with the at least one data store, the one or more processors configured to:
receive, from a user computing device, a query including search criteria;
determine an assertion of the stored assertions that is relevant to the received query based at least in part on the search criteria;
transmit, to the user computing device, a display page including results of the query and the assertion that is relevant to the query;
receive a user selection of the assertion, wherein the user selection of the assertion corresponds to a user request to generate a new query based at least in part on modifying the search criteria included within the received query in accordance with the at least one search criterion represented by the assertion;
generate the new query based at least in part on modifying the search criteria included within the received query in accordance with the at least one search criterion represented by the determined assertion; and
transmit results of the new query to the user computing device.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the received query corresponds to a query for one or more travel items.

9. The system of claim 7 , wherein each of the stored assertions is further associated with a categorization of the previous action corresponding to the stored assertion.

10. The system of claim 7 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to determine a categorization of the received query based at least in part on the search criteria included within the received query.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the determination of assertion relevant to the received query is further based at least in part on the determined categorization of the received query.

12. The system of claim 7 , wherein the categorization of the received query is further based at least in part on at least one of past activity of the user computing device, a user profile associated with the user computing device, or acquisition history of a user associated with the user computing device.

13. The system of claim 7 , wherein the previous action corresponds to at least one of searching for an item or acquiring an item.

14. The system of claim 7 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to determine additional information regarding items corresponding to the assertion.

15. The system of claim 7 , wherein the additional information comprises at least one of an average price of the items corresponding to the one or more assertions, a lowest price of an item corresponding to the assertion, and a difference in price between an item corresponding to the assertion and an item corresponding to the received query.

16. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer executable instructions for providing assertions regarding an item query, wherein the computer executable instructions, when executed by a computing system, cause the computing system to:
maintain one or more assertions, wherein each assertion is representative of at least one search criterion, and wherein the at least one search criterion of each respective assertion is determined based at least in part on a previous action of at least one user taken in response to results of a previous query, and wherein each assertion is selectable by an additional user to generate a new query based at least in part on a modified set of search criteria corresponding to each assertion;
determine a query including search criteria based at least in part on activity of a user computing device;
determine at least one of the one or more assertions relevant to the query;
transmit, to the user computing device, a display page including results of the query and the at least one assertion that is relevant to the query;
receive a user selection of the at least one assertion, wherein the user selection of the at least one assertion corresponds to a user request to generate a new query based at least in part on modifying the search criteria included within the received query in accordance with the at least one search criterion represented by the at least one assertion;
generate the new query based at least in part on modifying t

Assignees

• Expedia Inc

Inventors

• Fleischman David Elias
• Burger Joanne Louise
• Keffeler Brian Scott
• Miller Jeffrey Stewart
• Friedman Daniel Harrison
• Crowe Glenn Padgett
• Yung Vincent
• Gopalan Murari
• Kim John C
• Tuazon Anne Marie

Classifications

• G06F40/166

  Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting · CPC title

• G06Q30/0623 Primary

  by investigating goods or services · CPC title

• G06Q30/0631

  Recommending goods or services · CPC title

• G06F16/242

  Query formulation · CPC title

• G06F16/248

  Presentation of query results · CPC title