Method and system for appraising a collection of products

Abstract

A system and method for a librarian facilitates appraising the value of all or selected products in a collection of products. The collection of products may be part of a library that includes one or more photographic images of the library, and an inventory of the products revealed in those images. The librarian facilitates appraising the value of products in the collection with reference to the images. Appraisals may be automatically updated, and users notified in accordance with user notification preferences. An automated referral may be provided to the user to sell all or selected ones of the appraised inventory of products, individually or together. An extended appraisal may be provided to facilitate enhancing the value of a collection in the library.

1 . (canceled) 
     
     
         2 . A system comprising:
 an electronic data store configured to at least store images of items associated with a user; and   a computing system comprising one or more hardware computing devices, said computing system in communication with the electronic data store and configured to at least:
 identify at least one of the items associated with the user, wherein the at least one item is identified at least in part by analyzing visual elements of at least one of the images stored in the electronic data store; 
 determine a recommended item for the user based at least in part on a determination that the recommended item is complementary to the identified at least one item; and 
 generate a user interface that provides a selectable option to purchase the recommended item. 
   
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the items associated with the user comprise items owned by the user. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the items associated with the user are items in an inventory associated with the user. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein identifying the at least one of the items associated with the user comprises identifying a product identifier of a product depicted in an image stored in the electronic data store. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 5 , wherein the product identifier includes product identification information that is part of the product and is visible in the image. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the recommended item is determined to be complementary to the identified at least one item based at least in part on predefined recommendation information. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the recommended item is further determined based at least in part on at least one of a genre or a category associated with the at least one item. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the recommended item is further determined based at least in part on an age group. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the recommended item is further determined based at least in part on purchasing history of the user. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the recommended item is further determined based at least in part on a determination that the recommended item is complementary to a collection of items owned by the user. 
     
     
         12 . A computer-implemented method comprising:
 as implemented by one or more computing devices configured with specific executable instructions,
 identifying an item depicted in an image, wherein the item is identified based at least in part by analyzing visual elements of the image; 
 determining a recommended item based at least in part on a determination that the recommended item is complementary to the item identified in the image; and 
 generating a selectable option to purchase the recommended item. 
   
     
     
         13 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 12 , further comprising identifying a plurality of items that are each depicted in one or more of a plurality of images, wherein the recommended item is determined to be complementary to two or more of the plurality of items. 
     
     
         14 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 12 , further comprising enabling a user to select the image prior to identifying the item depicted in the image. 
     
     
         15 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 12 , wherein the item depicted in the image comprises a book. 
     
     
         16 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 15 , wherein the item is identified based at least in part on at least one of an author or a title visible in the image. 
     
     
         17 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 12 , wherein the item is identified based at least in part on a heuristic application of one or more image recognition techniques. 
     
     
         18 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 17 , wherein the one or more image recognition techniques include at least one of text recognition, optical character recognition or feature recognition. 
     
     
         19 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 12 , wherein the item is identified based at least in part by comparing the image to a reference image of a product. 
     
     
         20 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 12 , wherein the image is retrieved from a data store configured to store images associated with each of a plurality of products in a library associated with at least one of warehousing, retailing, reading, reference or lending operations. 
     
     
         21 . A computer-readable, non-transitory storage medium storing computer executable instructions that, when executed by one or more computing devices, configure the one or more computing devices to perform operations comprising:
 identifying an item depicted in an image, wherein the item is identified based at least in part by analyzing visual elements of the image;   determining a recommended item based at least in part on a determination that the recommended item is complementary to the item identified in the image; and   generating a user interface element that facilitates purchase of the recommended item.   
     
     
         22 . The computer-readable, non-transitory storage medium of  claim 21 , wherein identifying the item depicted in the image comprises identifying a product identifier of a product depicted in the image. 
     
     
         23 . The computer-readable, non-transitory storage medium of  claim 22 , wherein the product identifier includes product identification information that is part of the product and is visible in the image. 
     
     
         24 . The computer-readable, non-transitory storage medium of  claim 21 , wherein the item is identified based at least in part on a heuristic application of one or more image recognition techniques. 
     
     
         25 . The computer-readable, non-transitory storage medium of  claim 21 , wherein the image is retrieved from an electronic data store that stores a plurality of images that are each associated with one of a plurality of items, wherein the plurality of items comprise items owned by a user or items included in an inventory.