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 executed by one or more computing devices for determining allied product information for products corresponding to product records stored in a computer-readable catalog data structure including categories, the product records having attributes associated therewith, the method comprising:
 identifying, by at least one of the one or more computing devices, at least one first attribute of at least one first product record in a first category;   identifying, by at least one of the one or more computing devices, at least one second attribute of at least one second product record in a second category;   determining, by at least one of the one or more computing devices, a number of the at least one first attribute and the at least one second attribute that are common;   resolving, by at least one of the one or more computing devices, a relationship in the catalog data structure between the at least one first product record and the at least one second product record; and   determining, by at least one of the one or more computing devices, whether the at least one first product record and the at least one second product record correspond to allied products based on the number of the at least one first attribute and the at least one second attribute that are common and said resolving step;   transforming, by at least one of the one or more computing devices, the catalog data structure by adding allied product data to set at least one product corresponding to the at least one first product record in the first category as allied with at least one product corresponding to the at least one second product record in the second category based at least in part on the results of the comparing step; and   saving, by at least one of the one or more computing devices, allied product data in the catalog data structure.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the number of the at least one first attribute and the at least one second attribute that are common is determined by counting a threshold number of the at least one first attribute and the at least one second attribute that are common. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one first product record is a set of product records in the first category and wherein the at least one second product record is a set of product records in the second category. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one first attribute and the at least one second attribute comprise non-intrinsic attributes. 
     
     
         5 . A computer system for determining allied product information for products corresponding to product records stored in a computer-readable catalog structure including categories, the product records having attributes associated therewith, the system comprising:
 one or more processors; and   one or more memories operatively coupled to at least one of the one or more processors and having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by at least one of the one or more processors, cause at least one of the one or more processors to:
 identify at least one first attribute of at least one first product record in a first category; 
 identify at least one second attribute of at least one second product record in a second category; 
 determine a number of the at least one first attribute and the at least one second attribute that are common; 
 resolve a relationship in the catalog data structure between the at least one first product record and the at least one second product record; and 
 determine whether the at least one first product record and the at least one second product record correspond to allied products based on the number of the at least one first attribute and the at least one second attribute that are common and the resolved relationship; 
 transform the catalog data structure by adding allied product data to set at least one product corresponding to the at least one first product record in the first category as allied with at least one product corresponding to the at least one second product record in the second category based at least in part on the results of the comparing step; and 
 save allied product data in the catalog data structure. 
   
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 5 , wherein the number of the at least one first attribute and the at least one second attribute that are common is determined by counting a threshold number of the at least one first attribute and the at least one second attribute that are common. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 5 , wherein the at least one first product record is a set of product records in the first category and wherein the at least one second product record is a set of product records in the second category. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 5 , wherein the at least one first attribute and the at least one second attribute comprise non-intrinsic attributes.