Ranking entities based on a count of shipments determined in aggregated public transaction records

Abstract

A platform facilitates buyers, sellers, and third parties in obtaining information related to each other's transaction histories, such as a supplier's shipment history, the types of materials typically shipped, a supplier's customers, a supplier's expertise, what materials and how much a buyer purchases, buyer and shipper reliability, similarity between buyers, similarity between suppliers, and the like. The platform aggregates data from a variety of sources, including, without limitation, customs data associated with actual import/export transactions and facilitates the generation of reports as to the quality of buyers and suppliers, the reports relating to a variety of parameters that are associated with buyer and supplier quality.

1 . (canceled) 
     
     
         2 . A method comprising:
 using a computer implemented facility to identify and aggregate public transaction records for entities based at least in part on similarity of entity identifying data in data fields of a plurality of public transaction records;   selecting a portion of the entities that have at least one transaction record that comprises data that relates to a search keyword received from a user;   calculating a count of shipments made by at least some entities from the aggregated public records; and   presenting the selected portion in an ordered list based on the calculated count of shipments.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein calculating the count of shipments comprises calculating a count of shipments for at least one entity of the portion of the entities. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein data that relates to the search keyword comprises data that matches a synonym of the search keyword. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein data that relates to the search keyword comprises data that at least one of matches the keyword, comprises a synonym for a keyword, comprises data that was determined to be useful in searches by other users, and comprises data that is similar to the keyword. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the search keyword is a keyword that represents a product or service of an entity. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the count of shipments is based on customs data related to transaction records by a supplier with a third party. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 2 , further including associating aggregated public transaction records for an entity with a supplier. 
     
     
         9 . A method comprising:
 using a computer implemented facility to identify and aggregate public transaction records for entities based at least in part on similarity of entity identifying data in data fields of a plurality of public transaction records;   selecting a portion of the entities that have at least one transaction record that comprises data that relates to a search keyword received from a user;   calculating a count of shipments made by at least some entities from the aggregated public records; and   in an ordered presentation of search results, presenting the calculated count of shipments for at least one entity.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein calculating the count of shipments comprises calculating a count of shipments for at least one entity of the portion of the entities. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein data that relates to the search keyword comprises data that matches a synonym of the search keyword. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein data that relates to the search keyword comprises data that at least one of matches the keyword, comprises a synonym for a keyword, comprises data that was determined to be useful in searches by other users, and comprises data that is similar to the keyword. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the search keyword is a keyword that represents a product or service of an entity. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the count of shipments is based on customs data related to transaction records by a supplier with a third party. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 9 , further including associating aggregated public transaction records for a entity with a supplier. 
     
     
         16 . A system comprising:
 a plurality of public transaction records containing entity identifying data;   an aggregation facility for aggregating data from the plurality of public transaction records for at least a portion of the plurality of public transaction records based at least in part on similarity of the entity identifying data in the plurality of public transaction records;   a search interface for receiving a keyword from a user and facilitating presentation of ordered search results based on a search for the keyword among the plurality of public transaction records; and   a computer implemented facility that calculates a count of shipments made by at least some entities from the aggregated public records and incorporates a calculated count of shipments for at least one entity presented in the ordered search results.   
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the search for the keyword comprises search for a synonym of the search keyword. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the search for the keyword comprises searching the plurality of public transaction records for data that at least one of matches the keyword, comprises a synonym for a keyword, comprises data that was determined to be useful in searches by other users, and comprises data that is similar to the keyword. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the search keyword is a keyword that represents a product or service of an entity. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the count of shipments is based on customs data related to transaction records by a supplier with a third party. 
     
     
         21 . The system of  claim 16 , further including a supplier association facility for associating aggregated public transaction records for an entity with a supplier.