Method and system for determining allied products

Abstract

The method comprises processing plural product information records from the product information sources into one or more groups based on which product information records are likely to correspond to the same product, correlating a unique product ID corresponding to the product associated with each of said groups to identify the product, comparing each identified product to categories of a taxonomy to determine a category for the identified products in the taxonomy, and determining attributes for each categorized product based on the product information records corresponding to each group, creating product specifications based on the determined attributes and storing the product specification in the corresponding determined categories of the taxonomy.

What is claimed: 
     
         1 . A method of aggregating product information for use in a product database including various products arranged in product categories, the product information being collected from a plurality of sources in a networked computer environment regarding products of a product category comprising the steps of:
 retrieving, by a server coupled to the networked computer environment, product phrase information from each of the plurality of sources, said product phrase information including at least one phrase and at least one characteristic; and   determining, using computational linguistics, whether at least one said at least phrase of said product phrase information is a product characteristic associated with a product category.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said at least one characteristic of said phrase includes at least one of frequency, location, font size, font style, font case, font effects, font color, collocation and co-occurrence of said phrase in each of said plurality of sources. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the plurality of sources include at least one of a manufacturer's product specifications source, a product literature source, and a merchant's information source. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , said determining step further including the step of cross-referencing said product phrase information to a category database to determine a product category of at least one of a manufacturer's product specifications source, a product literature source, and a merchant's information source. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , further including the step of applying statistical analysis to said product phrase information to rank each phrase based on said at least one characteristic of said phrase thereby providing a ranking of phrases. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , further including the step of storing at least one of said product phrase information and said ranking of phrases in a product phrase database. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein said retrieving includes retrieving pricing information and at least one of product phrase information, product model information, manufacturer's identity information, and merchant identity information from said merchant's information source. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein retrieved information is stored in a product offerings database. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein said a manufacturer's product specifications source is a manufacturer's product specifications Web page, said product literature source is a product literature Web page, and said merchant's information source is a merchant's Web page. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , further including the step of storing each phrase determined to be a product property in a product property database. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , further including the step of ranking phrases determined to be a product property. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein said retrieving includes retrieving pricing information and at least one of product phrase information, product model information, manufacturer's identity information, and merchant identity information from said merchant's information source. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein retrieved information is stored in a product offerings database. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 applying statistical analysis to said product phrase information to rank each phrase based on said at least one characteristic of said phrase thereby providing a ranking of phrases;   determining whether each phrase of each of said product phrase information is a product property indicative of a characteristic of at least one of a product and a product category; and   determining whether each phrase determined to be a product property is evaluative.   
     
     
         15 . A system for aggregating product information for use in a product database including various products arranged in product categories, the product information being collected from a plurality of sources in a networked computer environment regarding products of a product category, the system comprising:
 at least one processor; and   at least one memory operatively coupled to said at least one processor and having computer executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by one or more of the at least one processors, causes the one or more of the at least one processors to:
 retrieve product phrase information from each of the plurality of sources, said product phrase information including at least one phrase and at least one characteristic; and 
 determine, using computational linguistics, whether at least one said at least phrase of said product phrase information is a product characteristic associated with a product category. 
   
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein said at least one characteristic of said phrase includes at least one of frequency, location, font size, font style, font case, font effects, font color, collocation and co-occurrence of said phrase in each of said plurality of sources. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the plurality of sources include at least one of a manufacturer's product specifications source, a product literature source, and a merchant's information source. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein said instructions further cause one or more of said at least one processors to cross-reference said product phrase information to a category database to determine a product category of at least one of a manufacturer's product specifications source, a product literature source, and a merchant's information source. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 18 , wherein said instructions further cause one or more of said at least one processors to apply statistical analysis to said product phrase information to rank each phrase based on said at least one characteristic of said phrase thereby providing a ranking of phrases. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 19 , wherein said instructions further cause one or more of said at least one processors to cause at least one of said product phrase information and said ranking of phrases to be stored in a product phrase database. 
     
     
         21 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein said retrieving includes retrieving pricing information and at least one of product phrase information, product model information, manufacturer's identity information, and merchant identity information from said merchant's information source. 
     
     
         22 . The system of  claim 21 , wherein retrieved information is stored in a product offerings database. 
     
     
         23 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein said a manufacturer's product specifications source is a manufacturer's product specifications Web page, said product literature source is a product literature Web page, and said merchant's information source is a merchant's Web page. 
     
     
         24 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein said instructions further cause one or more of said at least one processors to cause each phrase determined to be a product property to be stored in a product property database. 
     
     
         25 . The system of  claim 24 , wherein said instructions further cause one or more of said at least one processors to rank phrases determined to be a product property. 
     
     
         26 . The system of  claim 25 , wherein said retrieving includes retrieving pricing information and at least one of product phrase information, product model information, manufacturer's identity information, and merchant identity information from said merchant's information source. 
     
     
         27 . The system of  claim 26 , wherein retrieved information is stored in a product offerings database. 
     
     
         28 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein said instructions further cause one or more of said at least one processors to apply statistical analysis to said product phrase information to rank each phrase based on said at least one characteristic of said phrase thereby providing a ranking of phrases, determine whether each phrase of each of said product phrase information is a product property indicative of a characteristic of at least one of a product and a product category, and determine whether each phrase determined to be a product property is evaluative.