eBay Patents
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eBay Patents by Type
- eBay Patents Granted: eBay patents that have been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
- eBay Patent Applications: eBay patent applications that are pending before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
Patent number: 9326228
Abstract: A system and method to establish and maintain a connection between devices, which in one example embodiment of a method, may comprise sending a request to establish a connection between a first communication device and a second communication device. A first connection between the first communication device and the second communication device is caused to be established via a data network. Based on the determination that quality of the first connection over the data network is low, causing a second connection to be established between the first communication device and the second communication device. Communication is shifted from the first connection to the second connection.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
August 29, 2013
Date of Patent:
April 26, 2016
Assignee:
eBay Inc.
Inventor:
Vesa Juhani Hukkanen
Patent number: 9324102
Abstract: In various example embodiments, a system and method for sketch based queries are presented. A sketch corresponding to a search item may be received from a user. At least a portion of the sketch may be generated by the user. An item attribute may be extracted from the sketch. The item attributed may correspond to a physical attribute of the search item. A set of inventory items similar to the search item may be identified based on the extracted item attribute and a search scope. The identified set of inventory items may be presented to the user.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
March 12, 2014
Date of Patent:
April 26, 2016
Assignee:
eBay Inc.
Inventors:
Anurag Bhardwaj, Wei Di, Robinson Piramuthu, Neelakantan Sundaresan
Patent number: 9324082
Abstract: A computer-implemented system and method for providing information tagging in a networked system is disclosed. The apparatus in an example embodiment includes a tag engine configured to process a database of categorized product listings; to receive a user-provided tag associated with at least one of the product listings; to retain the user-provided tag; and to serve the user-provided tag to a user viewing at least one of the product listings.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
December 26, 2007
Date of Patent:
April 26, 2016
Assignee:
eBay Inc.
Inventors:
Brian Scott Johnson, Brian M. Johnson, Badrul M. Sarwar, Benny Soetarman, Rajyashree Mukherjee, Venkat Sundaranatha, Neelakantan Sundaresan, Randall Scott Shoup, Daniel Kramer, Jason M. Heidema, Musaab At-Taras, Alvaro Bolivar, Jean-David Ruvini
Patent number: 9323811
Abstract: Query suggestions are provided using a query log including a number of user sessions that comprise training data. The training data includes a sequence of a plurality of sets of queries, some of the sets of queries including query transitions followed by a purchase related event. From a cleaned and normalized query log stationary scores and transition scores of at least some of the plurality of sets are generated. A set of query suggestions is built and similarity scores are computed for at least some of the set of query suggestions to determine whether individual ones of the at least some of the set of query suggestions meet a predetermined assurance level. Those that meet the assurance level are included as elements of the set of query suggestions. The set of query suggestions is mixed and ranked according to a user behavior that is sought to be influenced.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
January 27, 2015
Date of Patent:
April 26, 2016
Assignee:
eBay Inc.
Inventors:
Mohammad Al Hasan, Nishith Parikh, Gyanit Singh, Neelakantan Sundaresan, Brian Scott Johnson, Udayan Khurana
Patent number: 9323832
Abstract: Some example embodiments illustrate a system and method to sort a search result using sale format information. The system and method include providing a desirability index including multiple desirability values. Each desirability value may be associated with a keyword and indicate an accumulative frequency of the keyword being in an item listing selected throughout multiple user transactions. The system and method include identifying a search result including item listings in response to a query from a user device. The system and method include accessing, for each item listing, the desirability index and getting a desirability value for each keyword included in the item listing. The system and method include calculating a relevancy value using the desirability values for the keywords of a given item listing. The system and method further include sorting the item listings according their relevancy values and returning the sorted item listings to the user device.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
December 31, 2008
Date of Patent:
April 26, 2016
Assignee:
eBay Inc.
Inventor:
Neelakantan Sundaresan
Patent number: 9319394
Abstract: A computer-implemented system and method for pool-based identity authentication for service access without use of stored credentials is disclosed. The method in an example embodiment includes providing provisioning information for storage in a provisioning repository; receiving a service request from a service consumer, the service request including requestor identifying information; generating an authentication request to send to an authentication authority, the authentication request including requestor identifying information; receiving validation of an authenticated service request from the authentication authority; and providing the requested service to the service consumer.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
May 29, 2014
Date of Patent:
April 19, 2016
Assignee:
eBay Inc.
Inventors:
Raju Venkata Kolluru, Michael Dean Kleinpeter
Patent number: 9319482
Abstract: A method and system to identify an ability of a computer system to playback media content locally. The system progresses through media content playback applications by querying the computer system over a computer network. The system progresses through the applications to assess an ability of the computer system to playback the media content locally. Finally, the system provides the computer system with a version of the media content appropriate for the ability of the computer system to playback the media content locally. The version of the media content is a media file.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
December 28, 2007
Date of Patent:
April 19, 2016
Assignee:
eBay Inc.
Inventors:
Brooke Allysoun Armstrong, John Robert Behrens, Abie Hadjitarkhani, Alexander Blair Ireland, Stephen John Muller, Nancy Kiyoko Narimatsu
Patent number: 9311662
Abstract: A computer-implemented method and system for managing keyword bidding prices are disclosed. An example method comprises: determining revenue parameters associated with a keyword; obtaining automatic bid controls associated with the keyword and the revenue parameters; automatically generating a bid value for the keyword based on the bid controls and the revenue parameters, the automatic bid controls including a gap position target value, the gap position target value representing a position in a gap between a first next higher bid and a second next higher bid, the gap position target value corresponding to a specific monetary value between the first next higher bid and the second next higher bid; and transmitting the bid value to an online service via a data network communication.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
May 4, 2015
Date of Patent:
April 12, 2016
Assignee:
eBay Inc.
Inventor:
Darrin Skinner
Patent number: 9311398
Abstract: A system to process navigation information includes a receiving module to receive a data request from a network entity. The data request includes a network entity identifier that uniquely identifies the network entity. The system further includes an application to generate a network event based on the data request, the network event including the navigation information. Finally, the system includes a publisher module to communicate the network event to a first server that is distinguished from a first plurality of servers based on the network entity identifier.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
December 30, 2005
Date of Patent:
April 12, 2016
Assignee:
eBay Inc.
Inventors:
Gregory Lincoln Stone, Jean-Michel Leon, James Everett Lloyd, Eric Noel Billingsley, Daniel Graham Douglas, Todd Cameron Pringle, Raghav Gupta, Daniel Tsun Kao
Patent number: 9311666
Abstract: An apparatus and method to facilitate finding complementary recommendations are disclosed herein. One or more fashion trend or pleasing color combination rules are determined based on data obtained from one or more sources. One or more template images and rule triggers corresponding to the fashion trend or pleasing color combination rules are generated, each of the rule triggers associated with at least one of the template images. A processor compares a first image attribute of a particular one of the template images to a second image attribute of each of a plurality of inventory images corresponding to the plurality of inventory items to identify the inventory items complementary to the query image. The particular one of the template images is selected based on the rule trigger corresponding to the particular one of the template images being applicable for a query image.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
March 18, 2014
Date of Patent:
April 12, 2016
Assignee:
eBay Inc.
Inventors:
Anurag Bhardwaj, Wei Di, Vignesh Jagadeesh, Robinson Piramuthu, Neelakantan Sundaresan
Patent number: 9311644
Abstract: Techniques for categorizing item listings based on parsing item listing titles are described. According to various embodiments, listing titles of one or more item listings on a marketplace website are accessed, the item listings being associated with a particular product category in a product category structure of the marketplace website. Words in each of the listing titles may then be converted to semantic tokens in a token symbol space, based on a tokenization process. Thereafter, n-gram modeling may be performed on the tokens corresponding to each of the listing titles of the item listings in the particular product category. One or more dominant n-gram models associated with the listing titles of the item listings in the particular product category may then be identified.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
August 13, 2013
Date of Patent:
April 12, 2016
Assignee:
eBay Inc.
Inventors:
Ming Liu, Suresh Raman, Rui Li
Patent number: 9307359
Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus for defining, generating, utilizing, and/or detecting a geo-fence are described. A trigger is obtained, the trigger generated in response to a change in a geo-fence criteria. One or more boundaries of the geo-fence based on the geo-fence criteria are defined in response to obtaining the trigger.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
December 5, 2013
Date of Patent:
April 5, 2016
Assignee:
eBay Inc.
Inventor:
Dennis Cheung
Patent number: 9304977
Abstract: Systems and methods for character set control, verification and reporting are provided. In an example embodiment, a data evaluation system comprises at least one module, executing on one or more computer processors, to implement a language and character set phase in which an authorized character set comprising authorized characters is defined; a document phase including receipt of an input document, the input document comprising document characters; a detection phase including a comparison of the document characters against the authorized characters in the authorized character set to detect unauthorized characters in the input document not forming part of the authorized character set; and a reporting phase including display of the unauthorized characters to a user.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
July 19, 2013
Date of Patent:
April 5, 2016
Assignee:
eBay Enterprise, Inc.
Inventor:
Scott Adams
Patent number: 9298776
Abstract: In various example embodiments, systems and methods for providing category aspect information by mining historical data is provided. In example embodiments, historical data is compiled. The historical data comprises user behavior data based on actions performed with past queries by users. Listing data is accessed. The listing data includes aspect data for each listing. The historical data is then joined with the listing data and a determined category of the listing to create joined data. Demand scores based on the joined data are determined. The determined demand scores is then sorted to determine at least one relevant aspect name for a category.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
June 8, 2012
Date of Patent:
March 29, 2016
Assignee:
eBay Inc.
Inventors:
Qian Zhong, Guanglei Song, Zhaohui Chen
Patent number: 9299098
Abstract: Techniques for generating a globally applicable taxonomy of e-commerce goods are described. According to various exemplary embodiments described herein, a taxonomy management system is configured to analyze item listing titles and user search queries in order to identify a set of globally applicable product types that serve as universal descriptors of the underlying things or objects that are the subject of an item listing or the likely user intended subject of a user search query. Such globally applicable product types are agnostic as to any specific product inventory or product category structure of an e-commerce website. After the taxonomy management system identifies product types, the taxonomy management system may incorporate the identified product types into a global product taxonomy that identifies the globally applicable product types.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
August 13, 2013
Date of Patent:
March 29, 2016
Assignee:
eBay Inc.
Inventors:
Suresh Raman, Ming Liu
Patent number: 9301015
Abstract: Systems and methods to display content are described. In some embodiments, program content is received from a content source. A method identifies product-related metadata associated with the program content where the product-related metadata includes at least one item displayed in the program content. The program content is communicated to a display device for presentation to a user in a first portion of the display device. The product-related metadata is communicated to the display device for presentation to the user in a second portion of the display device.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
December 3, 2014
Date of Patent:
March 29, 2016
Assignee:
eBay Inc.
Inventors:
Michael George Lenahan, Amanda Johnson, Ben Mitchell, Chahn Chung, Linda Young
Patent number: 9292868
Abstract: In an example embodiment, a system for evaluating published content is provided. The system includes at least one processor and a plurality of components including instructions executable by the at least one processor. The components include a reporting component and an evaluation component. The reporting component is to receive a communication from one of a plurality of users of a network-based system, the communication identifying content accessible via the network-based system as objectionable. An evaluation component is to evaluate the identified content based on a reputation value of the one of the plurality of users to determine an action to take with respect to the identified content. The reputation value is based at least in part on a history of objectionable content reporting by the one of the plurality of users.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
September 10, 2012
Date of Patent:
March 22, 2016
Assignee:
eBay Inc.
Inventors:
Neelakantan Sundaresan, Hendrick Lee
Patent number: 9294512
Abstract: A system and method to control sending of unsolicited communications over a network is provided. Typically, the network is the Internet and the system defines a SPAM prevention tool for users of an on-line service, such as an on-line bidding service. Users may contact an intended recipient with a contact form, which is forwarded to the recipient's e-mail address by an on-line service provider. A link accessible from a Web site allows recipients of unsolicited e-mail to complain to the on-line service provider. Sanctions are implemented against the sender of unsolicited e-mail based on the frequency of complaints. When the complaint level against a sender reaches a certain threshold, the sender is unable to use the contact form for a predetermined time period.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
October 1, 2014
Date of Patent:
March 22, 2016
Assignee:
eBay Inc.
Inventors:
Noel Morin, Hilary Holmquest, Reed Maltzman, Jeffrey Taylor
Patent number: 9286605
Abstract: A near field communication device included in a secure transaction card provides an addition and/or transitional communication link for communicating secure transaction information. The near field communication device may be selectively engaged or disengaged and, when engaged, either active or passive modes of operation of the near field communication device can be selected. In the active mode, secure transaction information is transmitted upon establishment of a communication link with a complementary near field communication device. In the passive mode, secure transaction information is transmitted upon interrogation from a complementary near field communication device. Secure transaction information is generated and stored for transmission in a memory and at least a portion of the memory is erased or nulled upon transmission or upon expiration of a selected period of time.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
September 19, 2014
Date of Patent:
March 15, 2016
Assignee:
EBAY INC.
Inventors:
Edward E. Kelley, Franco Motika
Patent number: 9280786
Abstract: A method and a system that identify seller ads to potential buyers within a network-based commerce system are provided. The method and system may operate to receive a request including a product identification from a seller, and assign to the seller, based on a distance function and the product identification, a matching identification entry included in a set of identification entries. The request may also include financial metrics. The method and system may further include operations to identify one or more seller ads associated with the matching identification entry, as determined by a distance measured between the matching identification entry and at least one extracted identification entry extracted from a selected content page and included in the set of identification entries. The identification of the one or more seller ads may also be determined by a relevance function based on the financial metrics.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
May 30, 2014
Date of Patent:
March 8, 2016
Assignee:
eBay Inc.
Inventors:
Henri Moissinac, Laura Robyn Chambers, Jeffrey Wong, Jacob Aqraou
Patent number: 9280563
Abstract: A system and method, which may be an offline method, extracts relevant image features about images in a network-based publication system for enabling image similarity searching of such images. An image is uploaded and may be sent to a picture processing service, which generates digests. The digests are compressed data structures each representing a particular image feature such as edge, color, texture, or words. These digests are then stored in a search database, where the digests can be used to retrieve images by image similarity at scale. A similar process can be performed for an image query for searching the search database for images similar to the image.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
December 18, 2013
Date of Patent:
March 8, 2016
Assignee:
eBay Inc.
Inventors:
Naren Chittar, Sanjay Pundlkrao Ghatare, Ryan McDonald, John Roper, Michael Schmitz
Patent number: 9282009
Abstract: Systems and methods to reserve resources is provided. In exemplary embodiments, a selection of a profile from a user is received. A dynamic graphical user interface is generated, using one or more processors. The dynamic graphical user interface allows the user to configure a topology based on the selected profile. The dynamic graphical user interface provides input fields in which the user may select a resource. An indication of the selected applicable topology property for configuring the topology is received. A topology is automatically generating based in part on the selected applicable topology property.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
June 28, 2013
Date of Patent:
March 8, 2016
Assignee:
eBay Inc.
Inventor:
Timothy Gordon Kimmet
Publication number: 20160063551
Abstract: In various example embodiments, systems and methods to provide proximity recommendations are provided. In example embodiments, data representing prioritized recommendations for a user is received. The data representing the prioritized recommendations is used to generated a composite visual representation by embedding select prioritized recommendations into a visual representation. The composite visual representation presents a higher prioritized recommendation in a more spatially prominent manner than a lower prioritized recommendation. The composite visual representation is then presented to the user.
Type:
Application
Filed:
November 9, 2015
Publication date:
March 3, 2016
Applicant:
eBay Inc.
Inventors:
Steve Yankovich, Ryan Melcher
Patent number: 9276954
Abstract: A network-based publication system, to publish data over a communications network, includes an interface to receive, via the communications network and from a first user, user data to be published by a network-based publication system. The publication system further includes a publisher component to generate publication data (e.g., an HTML document) including the user data and function modifying code. The publisher component generates the publication data in accordance with a publication format. The interface publishes the publication data via the communications network. The function modifying code is interpreted and executed, at a browser application, to disable (or modify) least one function of programming language supported by the browser application.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
June 27, 2014
Date of Patent:
March 1, 2016
Assignee:
eBay Inc.
Inventor:
Jeremy A. Davis
Patent number: 9275078
Abstract: During a training phase, a machine accesses reference images with corresponding depth information. The machine calculates visual descriptors and corresponding depth descriptors from this information. The machine then generates a mapping that correlates these visual descriptors with their corresponding depth descriptors. After the training phase, the machine may perform depth estimation based on a single query image devoid of depth information. The machine may calculate one or more visual descriptors from the single query image and obtain a corresponding depth descriptor for each visual descriptor from the generated mapping. Based on obtained depth descriptors, the machine creates depth information that corresponds to the submitted single query image.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
May 27, 2014
Date of Patent:
March 1, 2016
Assignee:
eBay Inc.
Inventors:
Anurag Bhardwaj, Mohammad Haris Baig, Robinson Piramuthu, Vignesh Jagadeesh, Wei Di
Patent number: 9275264
Abstract: In a system and method of estimating and classifying a barcode using heuristic and statistical measures, a classification determination is generated for each of a plurality of estimated barcode digits that correspond to a decoded barcode estimation. The classification determination is selected from one of a first classification determination and a second classification determination. The first classification determinations among a plurality of estimation determinations are aggregated. The aggregated first classification determinations are compared to a first predetermined threshold to determine a validity of the decoded barcode estimation.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
September 16, 2014
Date of Patent:
March 1, 2016
Assignee:
eBay Inc.
Inventors:
Jeffrey Roger Powers, Vikas Muppiddi Reddy
Patent number: 9274873
Abstract: Various embodiments include a method and system for high-volume distributed script error report handling. An error report group threshold may be obtained. The error report group threshold may be determined by available computing resources, at an error facility, to receive error reports. A subset of current user terminals with representative user terminal environments may be identified. The subset may have a cardinality less than the error report group threshold. Members of the subset may be notified to report errors for a distributed program.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
April 21, 2014
Date of Patent:
March 1, 2016
Assignee:
eBay Inc.
Inventors:
Eric Ye, David Q. He, Rajasekhar Bhogi
Patent number: 9270731
Abstract: In a multicast publisher-subscriber environment, a configurator machine manages a consumer pool of multiple receiver machines. The consumer pool is dedicated to a topic. Each receiver machine has a unique consumer address within the consumer pool allocated by the configurator machine. The configurator machine receives registration data from a receiver machine to be added to the consumer pool and provides a consumer address to the receiver machine. The receiver machine transmits a multicast communication to advertise its availability to receive messages on the topic. The multicast communication includes the consumer address. A transmitter machine may publish a message on the topic. The message may be a multicast communication directed to any receiver machine in to the consumer pool, or the message may be a point-to-point communication directed to the receiver machine with the consumer address.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
February 11, 2014
Date of Patent:
February 23, 2016
Assignee:
eBay Inc.
Inventors:
Sharad Murthy, Prasanna Krishna
Patent number: 9269106
Abstract: A host Web page includes an evolving interactive dialog box wherein an Internet user may enter user data to be processed. When the user completes entering user data in a first revolution of the interactive dialog box, the first revolution is replaced with a second revolution of the evolving interactive dialog box without disturbing or affecting any other part of the host Web page being displayed. Beneficially, the first and second revolutions may be communicated to a user computer together with and at a same time as the host Web page. Also, the second revolution may include a variety of data which is selected or customized to match the user data submitted in the first revolution. Each revolution of the evolving interactive dialog box may be comprised of any combination of general textual data entry fields, category (pull-down) menus, contact information data entry fields, and opt-in/opt-out buttons.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
December 17, 2012
Date of Patent:
February 23, 2016
Assignee:
eBay Inc.
Inventor:
Stone J. Melet
Publication number: 20160048819
Abstract: A computer server for a network-based transaction system is coupled to a kiosk via a data communications network. The kiosk includes a computer processor, an input device, an electronic display unit, a plurality of compartments, and a data communications port. The computer server receives input from a seller of an item. The input includes a listing of the item for sale on the network-based transaction system. The server identifies an available compartment from the plurality of compartments based on the size of the item for sale. The available compartment is configured to receive the item for sale from the seller. The server transmits an identification of the available compartment to the seller via the electronic display unit, and enables access to the available compartment by the seller.
Type:
Application
Filed:
October 21, 2015
Publication date:
February 18, 2016
Applicant:
eBay Inc.
Inventors:
Lindsay Strand, Mekdela Maskal, Anna Rasulova, Anand Ilesh Safi, Christopher Li, Jayni Shah
Patent number: 9264518
Abstract: A method, system, and computer-readable medium are described herein. An embodiment may read a configuration file. The configuration file may specify a first stage that specifies processing of a protocol-agnostic portion of a message. The embodiment may then add, by one or more processors, the first stage to a processing pipeline, where the processing pipeline is configured to process received messages according to the first stage and a second stage. The second stage is a stage of the processing pipeline that specifies processing of a protocol-specific portion of the message. The processing pipeline being further configured to transport the processed message to a service via a transport mechanism.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
February 25, 2014
Date of Patent:
February 16, 2016
Assignee:
eBay Inc.
Inventors:
Sastry K. Malladi, Bhaven Avalani
Patent number: 9262543
Abstract: Various embodiments include at least one of systems, methods, and software to receive input configuring tests within a computing environment to expose users to standard application or website experiences or test experiences. In some embodiments, multiple tests may be configured to run orthogonally within user experiences without affecting the results of one another. Some such embodiments preserve the ability to execute certain tests in a non-orthogonal manner while other tests are allowed to execute orthogonally.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
June 10, 2014
Date of Patent:
February 16, 2016
Assignee:
eBay Inc.
Inventors:
Jasdeep Singh Sahni, Anil Madan, Deepak Seetharam Nadig, Po Cheung, Bhavesh Mistry, John Bodine, Michael Lo
Patent number: 9262278
Abstract: A data storage system may be configured to allocate replica-sets in a balanced manner and mark some of these balanced replica-sets as being spares. As one or more drives or machines fail, the data storage system may move all copies of an affected replica-set to a marked spare replica-set and mark the affected replica-set as being inactive or invalid. As the failed drives are replaced, the data storage system may reconfigure those inactive replica-sets and use them as new spares. The data storage system may implement a coordinator module that handles the balancing and allocation of spares within a sub-cluster. The coordinator may also reallocate entire replica-sets across sub-clusters to maintain balance at the cluster level.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
July 19, 2013
Date of Patent:
February 16, 2016
Assignee:
eBay Inc.
Inventors:
Sami Ben Romdhane, Rami El-Charif, Bhaven Avalani
Patent number: 9262784
Abstract: Embodiments of computer implemented systems and methods for comparison shopping are described. One example embodiment includes receiving a data resource associated with a web page, the web page including an offering of a product and product offering terms, extracting product descriptors from the data source, requesting a search of marketplace offerings of the product based on the product descriptors, receiving results of the search (the results including marketplace offering terms of the marketplace offerings of the product), and displaying the marketplace offering terms, thereby facilitating comparison of the product offering terms with the marketplace offering terms.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
April 14, 2008
Date of Patent:
February 16, 2016
Assignee:
eBay Inc.
Inventor:
Kenny Shi
Patent number: 9262778
Abstract: A method and a system to generate mobile storefronts are described. The storefront application is executable by a user device to allow a user of the user device to access the storefront and purchase an item from a merchant. The system comprises an initialization module that provides an initialization interface to an identified merchant that is used to initialize creation of a storefront application. A storefront module provides a generation interface that receives, from the merchant, an appearance for the storefront application. An inventory module receives an inventory information describing items for sale. A policy module provides a policy interface that receives policies of the storefront. A platform module generates source code that when compiled, becomes the storefront application. The source code is generated based at least on one or more templates and the inventory.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
April 6, 2011
Date of Patent:
February 16, 2016
Assignee:
EBAY INC.
Inventor:
Kent Griffin
Patent number: 9262056
Abstract: Methods and Systems to browse data items. There is provided a method and system to enable a buyer to browse listings that are listed by sellers on a network-based marketplace and stored in a data resource. There is further provided a method to cancel characteristics used to identify listings that are listed by sellers on a network-based marketplace.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
September 29, 2005
Date of Patent:
February 16, 2016
Assignee:
eBay Inc.
Inventors:
Jean-Michel Leon, Anselm Paul Baird-Smith, Louis Marcel Gino Monier
Patent number: 9256361
Abstract: A device incorporates a touch-enabled screen configured to accept a user's interaction with the touch screen to control display of the results of online searches for information and ecommerce listings. A user's interaction with the touch screen of the device with multipoint pinch gestures facilitates navigation through large volumes of search results. Touch-enabled navigation with pinch gestures to elaborate or contract the results of a given search may present a more definitive view of those results or present a better indication of the requirement for a further search by the user. Listings of item data with elaborated or contracted details are produced through corresponding scaling processes which are in turn controlled through associated multipoint pinch gestures.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
August 3, 2011
Date of Patent:
February 9, 2016
Assignee:
eBay Inc.
Inventors:
Han-Shen Yuan, Ryan Melcher, Steve Yankovich
Patent number: 9255983
Abstract: Techniques for tracking a current location of a user are described. According to various embodiments, an ambient noise signal proximate to a user device is detected using a microphone. Audio sample information may be accessed, where the audio sample information identifies various audio samples and, for each of the audio samples, a source of the corresponding audio sample. Thereafter, a specific audio sample corresponding to the ambient noise signal may be identified. Moreover, a current location of the user device may be determined, based on the source of the specific audio sample.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
May 7, 2013
Date of Patent:
February 9, 2016
Assignee:
eBay Inc.
Inventor:
Nikhil Vijay Thaker
Patent number: 9256894
Abstract: A method and apparatus utilized in operating a feedback forum in an online auction environment is described. Instead of allowing users of the system to enter freeform comments for and about other users, a number of predefined feedback comments are provided that relate to an auction transaction. Users leaving feedback for other users are permitted to select a comment they desire to leave for or about another user relative to a transaction. The predefined feedback comments selected by the users are associated with the users whom the comment is about, and at some time thereafter, the predefined feedback comment is displayed for viewing by other users of the system.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
April 20, 2015
Date of Patent:
February 9, 2016
Assignee:
eBay Inc.
Inventor:
Barry Boone
Patent number: 9256618
Abstract: Techniques for identifying prohibited information within an image are described. For example, a machine accesses an image that depicts an item. The image may include prohibited information that is disallowed in accordance with a policy. The machine identifies the prohibited information within the image based on an analysis of the image. The machine initiates a response to the prohibited information based on the identifying of the prohibited information within the image.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
April 17, 2014
Date of Patent:
February 9, 2016
Assignee:
eBay Inc.
Inventors:
Sanjay Pundlkrao Ghatare, Ali Dasdan, Naren Chittar
Patent number: 9250952
Abstract: There is provided a method to schedule execution of a plurality of batch jobs by a computer system. The method includes: reading one or more constraints that constrain the execution of the plurality of batch jobs by the computer system and a current load on the computer system; grouping the plurality of batch jobs into at least one run frequency that includes at least one batch job; setting the at least one run frequency to a first run frequency; computing a load generated by each batch job in the first run frequency on the computer system based on each batch job's start time; and determining an optimized start time for each batch job in the first run frequency that meets the one or more constraints and that distributes each batch job's load on the computer system using each batch job's computed load and the current load.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
November 11, 2013
Date of Patent:
February 2, 2016
Assignee:
eBay Inc.
Inventor:
Josep M. Ferrandiz
Patent number: 9251166
Abstract: In one example embodiment, a method is illustrated as retrieving a plurality of search queries and defining relationships between search queries in the plurality of search queries based on semantic data associated with the search queries. A visual representation of the of the plurality of search queries may be generated and the visual representation may be partitioned into a plurality of tiles, each title representing a predefined portion of the visual representation.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
December 3, 2012
Date of Patent:
February 2, 2016
Assignee:
eBay Inc.
Inventors:
Roopnath Grandhi, Neelakantan Sundaresan, Hill Trung Nguyen
Patent number: 9251471
Abstract: In embodiments of the present invention improved capabilities are described for a computer program product embodied in a computer readable medium that, when executing on one or more computers, helps determine an unknown user's preferences through the use of internet based social interactive graphical representations on a computer facility by performing the steps of (1) ascertaining preferences of a plurality of users who are part of an internet based social interactive construct, wherein the plurality of users become a plurality of known users; (2) determining the internet based social interactive graphical representation for the plurality of known users; and (3) inferring the preferences of an unknown user present in the interact based social interactive graphical representation of the plurality of known users based on the interrelationships between the unknown user and the plurality of known users within the graphical representation.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
January 15, 2015
Date of Patent:
February 2, 2016
Assignee:
eBay Inc.
Inventors:
Thomas Pinckney, Christopher Dixon, Matthew Ryan Gattis
Patent number: 9250866
Abstract: Methods and systems for facilitating incremental software deployment are disclosed. For example, a method can include receiving a command to deploy a second version of software to a computing system for execution on the computing system. In response to the command, differences between the second version of the software and a first version of the software being executed on the computing system are determined. Code changes to be made to the first version of the software to produce the second version of the software are determined based on the differences. The code changes to be made to the first version of the software are transmitted to the computing system.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
June 20, 2011
Date of Patent:
February 2, 2016
Assignee:
eBay Inc.
Inventors:
Mahesh K. Somani, Kumar Rethinakaleeswaran, Debashis Saha
Patent number: 9251536
Abstract: Methods and systems for generating location-aware group recommendations are discussed. For example, a method can include operations for receiving a group recommendation request, accessing user profile data associated with members of the group, and generating a group recommendation. The group recommendation request can be received at a network-based system and include identification of a first and second user as well as information identifying a current location associated with the first and second users. Accessing the user profile information can include accessing user profile information for both the first and second users. The group recommendation can be generated based on the current location data and a combination of at least a portion of the user profile data from the first and second users.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
June 10, 2013
Date of Patent:
February 2, 2016
Assignee:
eBay Inc.
Inventors:
Jim Caralis, Nataly Kogan, Masumi Nakamura, Michael Mastroianni, Jason Sundram
Patent number: 9246984
Abstract: In various example embodiments, a system and method for transferring the state of a first device to a second device are disclosed. An instruction to transfer a state of a first device to a second device is received. In response, information related to the state of the first device is packaged into a file. A type of connection to be used to transfer the state of the device is determined based on the connections available to the first device and the second device. The file containing the information of the state of the first device is transferred to the second device using the connection type. The file, when processed by the second device, causes the second device to reproduce the state of the first device.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
August 18, 2014
Date of Patent:
January 26, 2016
Assignee:
eBay Inc.
Inventor:
Matthew Scott Zises
Patent number: 9245191
Abstract: Apparatus and method for performing accurate text recognition of non-simplistic images (e.g., images with clutter backgrounds, lighting variations, font variations, non-standard perspectives, and the like) may employ a machine-learning approach to identify a discriminative feature set selected from among features computed for a plurality of irregularly positioned, sized, and/or shaped (e.g., randomly selected) image sub-regions.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
September 5, 2014
Date of Patent:
January 26, 2016
Assignee:
eBay, Inc.
Inventors:
Anurag Bhardwaj, Chen-Yu Lee, Robinson Piramuthu, Vignesh Jagadeesh, Wei Di
Patent number: 9245230
Abstract: In embodiments of the present invention improved capabilities are described for a computer program product embodied in a computer readable medium that, when executing on one or more computers, helps determine an unknown user's preferences through the use of internet based social interactive graphical representations on a computer facility by performing the steps of (1) ascertaining preferences of a plurality of users who are part of an internet based social interactive construct, wherein the plurality of users become a plurality of known users; (2) determining the internet based social interactive graphical representation for the plurality of known users; and (3) inferring the preferences of an unknown user present in the internet based social interactive graphical representation of the plurality of known users based on the interrelationships between the unknown user and the plurality of known users within the graphical representation.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
January 15, 2015
Date of Patent:
January 26, 2016
Assignee:
eBay Inc.
Inventors:
Thomas Pinckney, Christopher Dixon, Matthew Ryan Gattis
Patent number: 9245028
Abstract: A method and a system to identify machine-readable codes using a web crawler are provided. Machine-readable codes include, but are not limited to, Universal Product Codes (UPC), quick response (QR) codes, stock-keeping units (SKUs) and international standard book number (ISBN) codes. A web crawler downloads pages from the World Wide Web. A determination module accesses the downloaded pages and identifies a machine-readable code corresponding to a product description included in the downloaded pages. The machine-readable code is included in a downloaded page of the downloaded pages. The determination module further extracts the product description from the downloaded page. A code database stores a record of the machine-readable code and the product description.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
November 5, 2013
Date of Patent:
January 26, 2016
Assignee:
eBay Inc.
Inventor:
Tom Normile
Patent number: 9245231
Abstract: In embodiments of the present invention improved capabilities are described for a computer program product embodied in a computer readable medium that, when executing on one or more computers, helps determine an unknown user's preferences through the use of internet based social interactive graphical representations on a computer facility by performing the steps of (1) ascertaining preferences of a plurality of users who are part of an inter-net based social interactive construct, wherein the plurality of users become a plurality of known users; (2) determining the internet based social interactive graphical representation for the plurality of known users; and (3) inferring the preferences of an unknown user present in the interact based social interactive graphical representation of the plurality of known users based on the interrelationships between the unknown user and the plurality of known users within the graphical representation.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
January 15, 2015
Date of Patent:
January 26, 2016
Assignee:
eBay Inc.
Inventors:
Thomas Pinckney, Christopher Dixon, Matthew Ryan Gattis