Adding Attributes and Labels to Structured Data

Abstract

A method and system associating labels and attribute values with items in a collection of data. Providers can associate attributes and labels with their data or attributes and labels can be added to existing data. A preferred embodiment allows a content provider to upload data and to attach their own custom labels and attributes to items or to use predefined labels and attributes. Providers can upload data using a user interface or a bulk upload mechanism.

1 . A computer-implemented method comprising:
 receiving, and maintaining an index of, owned resources, each owned resource having a respective owner, each owned resource being a resource made publicly available by its respective owner, the owned resources comprising resources owned by multiple different owners;   providing a user interface for use by each of the multiple owners, the user interface comprising areas for any of the multiple owners to use to specify an information type for the resources they own, and to manually associate labels or attributes to the resources they own;   receiving through the user interface, from the multiple owners, input specifying an information type for the resources owned by the respective owners, and labels or attributes relating to the resources owned by the respective owners, wherein, for one or more of the multiple owners, one or more of the attributes received from the owner comprises owner-defined attribute names and attribute values;   adding, for each of the one or more of the multiple owners, the owner-defined labels or attribute names to one or more other resources of the specified information type that are owned by the owner;   storing the labels or attributes in the index, the index being searchable by a search engine; and   using the labels or attributes stored in the index to generate a search engine result in the search engine.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the labels or attributes relating to the resources owned by the respective owners are received without requiring the resources themselves to be edited by the respective owners. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the index of owned resources is maintained by a third party; and   receiving the labels or attributes further comprises allowing the respective owners to add the labels or attributes directly to the index maintained by the third party.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 storing the labels or attributes in the index further comprises:
 storing, in a collection of structured data, the labels or attributes in association with the resources to which they relate; and 
   using the labels or attributes to generate a search engine result further comprises:   searching the collection of structured data to identify one or more resources having labels or attributes, manually associated by the respective owners of the resources, that include one or more attributes or labels specified by a user as part of a search query.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising selecting subsets of attributes associated with each owned resource, wherein the user interface further comprises an area for displaying the selected subsets of attributes associated with each owned resource. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the user interface further comprises an area for allowing a user to specify a title, a picture, a description and a resource identifier for display with a particular resource when the particular owned resource is identified in the search engine result. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein storing the attributes in the index further comprises storing a null attribute value. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein storing the attribute in the index further comprises storing an attribute name-value pair in association with a particular owned resource. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the attributes comprise quantity, author, and news source information. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the attributes comprise price, price option, quantity attribute, brand, condition attribute, and product type information. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein receiving the attributes further comprises receiving a manually added attribute name not previously stored in an attribute repository and an attribute value associated with the manually added attribute name 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the user interface further comprises areas for any of the multiple owners to manually specify a contact for a particular owned resource and a geographic location relating to the particular owned resource. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the user interface further comprises areas for any of the multiple users to manually specify a value type for the attribute value. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the value type further is one of a number value type, a data range value type, a text value type, a resource identifier value type, or a Boolean value type. 
     
     
         15 . A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions, which, when executed by one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to perform the operations of:
 receiving, and maintaining an index of, owned resources, each owned resource having a respective owner, each owned resource being a resource made publicly available by its respective owner, the owned resources comprising resources owned by multiple different owners;   providing a user interface for use by each of the multiple owners, the user interface comprising areas for any of the multiple owners to use to specify an information type for the resources they own, and to manually associate labels or attributes to the resources they own;   receiving through the user interface, from the multiple owners, input specifying an information type for the resources owned by the respective owners, and labels or attributes relating to the resources owned by the respective owners, wherein, for one or more of the multiple owners, one or more of the attributes received from the owner comprises owner-defined attribute names and attribute values;   adding, for each of the one or more of the multiple owners, the owner-defined labels or attribute names to one or more other resources of the specified information type that are owned by the owner;   storing the labels or attributes in the index, the index being searchable by a search engine;   and using the labels or attributes stored in the index to generate a search engine result in the search engine.   
     
     
         16 . The computer readable medium of  claim 15 , wherein the labels or attributes relating to the resources owned by the respective owners are received without requiring the resources themselves to be edited by the respective owners. 
     
     
         17 . The computer readable medium of  claim 15 , wherein:
 the index of owned resources is maintained by a third party; and   receiving the labels or attributes further comprises allowing the respective owners to add the labels or attributes directly to the index maintained by the third party.   
     
     
         18 . The computer readable medium of  claim 15 , wherein:
 storing the labels or attributes in the index further comprises:
 storing, in a collection of structured data, the labels or attributes in association with the resources to which they relate; and 
   using the labels or attributes to generate a search engine result further comprises:   searching the collection of structured data to identify one or more resources having labels or attributes, manually associated by the respective owners of the resources, that include one or more attributes or labels specified by a user as part of a search query.   
     
     
         19 . The computer readable medium of  claim 15  wherein the instructions include instructions, which, when executed by the one or more processing devices, causes the one or more processing devices to perform the operations of:
 selecting subsets of attributes associated with each owned resource, wherein the user interface further comprises an area for displaying the selected subsets of attributes associated with each owned resource. 
 
     
     
         20 . The computer readable medium of  claim 15 , wherein the user interface further comprises an area for allowing a user to specify a title, a picture, a description and a resource identifier for display with a particular resource when the particular owned resource is identified in the search engine result. 
     
     
         21 . The computer readable medium of  claim 15 , wherein storing the attributes in the index further comprises storing a null attribute value. 
     
     
         22 . The computer readable medium of  claim 15 , wherein storing the attribute in the index further comprises storing an attribute name-value pair in association with a particular owned resource. 
     
     
         23 . The computer readable medium of  claim 15 , wherein the attributes comprise quantity, author, and news source information. 
     
     
         24 . The computer readable medium of  claim 15 , wherein the attributes comprise price, price option, quantity attribute, brand, condition attribute, and product type information. 
     
     
         25 . The computer readable medium of  claim 15 , wherein receiving the attributes further comprises receiving a manually added attribute name not previously stored in an attribute repository and an attribute value associated with the manually added attribute name. 
     
     
         26 . The computer readable medium of  claim 15 , wherein the user interface further comprises areas for any of the multiple owners to manually specify a contact for a particular owned resource and a geographic location relating to the particular owned resource. 
     
     
         27 . The computer readable medium of  claim 15 , wherein the user interface further comprises areas for any of the multiple users to manually specify a value type for the attribute value. 
     
     
         28 . The computer readable medium of  claim 27 , wherein the value type further is one of a number value type, a data range value type, a text value type, a resource identifier value type, or a Boolean value type. 
     
     
         29 . A system comprising:
 one or more processors; and   a computer-readable medium coupled to the one or more processors having instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:   receiving, and maintaining an index of, owned resources, each owned resource having a respective owner, each owned resource being a resource made publicly available by its respective owner, the owned resources comprising resources owned by multiple different owners;   providing a user interface for use by each of the multiple owners, the user interface comprising areas for any of the multiple owners to use to specify an information type for the resources they own, and to manually associate labels or attributes to the resources they own;   receiving through the user interface, from the multiple owners, input specifying an information type for the resources owned by the respective owners, and labels or attributes relating to the resources owned by the respective owners, wherein, for one or more of the multiple owners, one or more of the attributes received from the owner comprises owner-defined attribute names and attribute values;   adding, for each of the one or more of the multiple owners, the owner-defined labels or attribute names to one or more other resources of the specified information type that are owned by the owner;   storing the labels or attributes in the index, the index being searchable by a search engine; and   using the labels or attributes stored in the index to generate a search engine result in the search engine.   
     
     
         30 . The system of  claim 29 , wherein the labels or attributes relating to the resources owned by the respective owners are received without requiring the resources themselves to be edited by the respective owners. 
     
     
         31 . The system of  claim 29 , wherein:
 the index of owned resources is maintained by a third party; and   receiving the labels or attributes further comprises allowing the respective owners to add the labels or attributes directly to the index maintained by the third party.   
     
     
         32 . The system of  claim 29 , wherein:
 storing the labels or attributes in the index further comprises:
 storing, in a collection of structured data, the labels or attributes in association with the resources to which they relate; and 
   using the labels or attributes to generate a search engine result further comprises:   searching the collection of structured data to identify one or more resources having labels or attributes, manually associated by the respective owners of the resources, that include one or more attributes or labels specified by a user as part of a search query.   
     
     
         33 . The system of  claim 29 , further comprising selecting subsets of attributes associated with each owned resource, wherein the user interface further comprises an area for displaying the selected subsets of attributes associated with each owned resource. 
     
     
         34 . The system of  claim 29 , wherein the user interface further comprises an area for allowing a user to specify a title, a picture, a description and a resource identifier for display with a particular resource when the particular owned resource is identified in the search engine result. 
     
     
         35 . The system of  claim 29 , wherein storing the attributes in the index further comprises storing a null attribute value. 
     
     
         36 . The system of  claim 29 , wherein storing the attribute in the index further comprises storing an attribute name-value pair in association with a particular owned resource. 
     
     
         37 . The system of  claim 29 , wherein the attributes comprise quantity, author, and news source information. 
     
     
         38 . The system of  claim 29 , wherein the attributes comprise price, price option, quantity attribute, brand, condition attribute, and product type information. 
     
     
         39 . The system of  claim 29 , wherein receiving the attributes further comprises receiving a manually added attribute name not previously stored in an attribute repository and an attribute value associated with the manually added attribute name. 
     
     
         40 . The system of  claim 29 , wherein the user interface further comprises areas for any of the multiple owners to manually specify a contact for a particular owned resource and a geographic location relating to the particular owned resource. 
     
     
         41 . The system of  claim 29 , wherein the user interface further comprises areas for any of the multiple users to manually specify a value type for the attribute value. 
     
     
         42 . The system of  claim 41 , wherein the value type further is one of a number value type, a data range value type, a text value type, a resource identifier value type, or a Boolean value type.