Method and system for generating prime uniform resource identifiers

Abstract

A system and method for mapping an input uniform resource identifier (URI) to an entry in a database. The system cleans an input URI to produce a prime URI that references an entry in a database. The prime URI is created by applying a regular expression determined for a particular domain to the input URI. Once the prime URI is generated, the prime URI can be used to retrieve information from a database.

I/we claim: 
     
         1 . A computer system for retrieving information from a database for items referenced by Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs), comprising:
 a memory for storing a set of program instructions;   a processor configured to execute instructions to:
 receive a number of input URIs that are associated with a domain; 
 determine if each URI received represents a same type of web page on the domain; 
 remove any URI in the number of URIs that does not refer to the same type of web page on the domain to create a set of input URIs; 
 minimize the URIs in the set by repeatedly shortening each URI by removing one or more characters from the URI and determining if the shortened URI still refers to the same item on a web page of the domain until no additional characters can be removed from the URI; 
 determine a regular expression for the domain that logically represents the minimized URIs in the set; 
 store the regular expression and its associated domain in a database; 
 receive a raw URI having a domain; 
 retrieve a regular expression associated with the domain of the raw URI; 
 apply the retrieved regular expression to the received raw URI to create a minimized URI from the received raw URI; and 
 use the minimized URI created with the regular expression as a key to a database in order to retrieve information about an item referenced by the raw URI. 
   
     
     
         2 . The computer system of  claim 1 , wherein the computer system is configured to execute instructions to determine if the shortened URI still refers to the same item on a web page by:
 determining if a title on a web page referenced by the shortened URI matches a title on a web page referenced by the un-shortened URI.   
     
     
         3 . The computer system of  claim 1 , wherein the computer system is configured to execute instructions to determine if the shortened URI still refers to the same item on a web page by:
 determining if a product code on a web page referenced by the shortened URI matches a product code on a web page referenced by the un-shortened URI.   
     
     
         4 . The computer system of  claim 1 , wherein the computer system is configured to execute instructions to determine if the shortened URI still refers to the same item on a web page by:
 determining if an image of a product on a web page referenced by the shortened URI matches an image of a product on a web page referenced by the un-shortened URI.   
     
     
         5 . A non-transitory computer readable medium including instructions that when executed by a processor cause the processor to retrieve information about items referenced by Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs) from a database by:
 receiving a number of input URIs that are associated with a domain;   determining if each URI received represents a same type of web page on the domain;   removing any URI in the number of URIs that does not refer to the same type of web page on the domain to create a set of URIs;   minimizing the URIs in the set by repeatedly shortening the URI by removing one or more characters from the URI and determining if the shortened URI still refers to the same item on a web page of the domain until no additional characters can be removed from the URI;   determining a regular expression for the domain that logically represents the minimized URIs in the set;   storing the regular expression and its associated domain in a database;   receiving a raw URI having a domain;   retrieving a regular expression associated with the domain of the raw URI;   applying the retrieved regular expression to the received raw URI to create a minimized URI from the received raw URI; and   using the minimized URI as a key to a database to retrieve information about an item referenced by the raw URI.   
     
     
         6 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 5 , further comprising instructions that are executable by a processor to determine if the shortened URI still refers to the same item on a web page by:
 determining if a title on a web page referenced by the shortened URI matches a title on a web page referenced by the un-shortened URI.   
     
     
         7 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 5 , further comprising instructions that are executable by a processor to determine if the shortened URI still refers to the same item on a web page by:
 determining if a product code on a web page referenced by the shortened URI matches a product code on a web page referenced by the un-shortened URI.   
     
     
         8 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 5 , further comprising instructions that are executable by a processor to determine if the shortened URI still refers to the same item on a web page by:
 determining if an image of a product on a web page referenced by the shortened URI matches an image of a product on a web page referenced by the un-shortened URI.