Formulation and Display of Product Representations

Abstract

A system and method is provided for generating new product offerings for display in which products are decoupled into components and the components are weighted based on user-specific preferences and market trends. The weighted components are then recompiled into new product offerings based on a probabilistic selection. Each component may be associated with related or otherwise applicable components and these associated components may also be incorporated into a new product offering for display during the probabilistic selection process. The selection and display process may also be tailored to specific users by adjusting weights based on preferences of those specific users.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of generating product offerings for display, comprising:
 identifying a user;   storing a plurality of components, wherein the components each have two weights, the component weights including a user component weight that is associated with the identified user and is based on input of the identified user on prior displayed product representations and a market component weight that is based on input on prior displayed product representations regardless of user identity;   storing a plurality of component values for each of the plurality of components, wherein the component values each have two weights, the component value weights including a user component value weight that is associated with the identified user and based on input of the identified user on prior displayed product representations and a market component value weight that is based on input on prior displayed product representations regardless of user identity;   displaying a set of product representations for the identified user, wherein each product representation of the set of displayed product representations is compiled from selected components from said plurality of components and from component values selected for each selected component;   adjusting, based on input of the identified user, the user component weight of each component of a displayed product representation from the set of displayed product representations for which the identified user provides input, wherein the user component weight is not adjusted based on inputs not received from the identified user associated with the user component weight;   adjusting, based on input of the identified user, the user component value weight of the component value of the component of the displayed product representations from the set of displayed product representations for which the identified user provided input, wherein the user component value weight is not adjusted based on inputs not received from the identified user associated with the user component value weight;   adjusting, based on input of the identified user, the market component weight of each component of a displayed product representation from the set of displayed product representations for which the identified user provides input;   adjusting, based on input of the identified user, the market component value weight of the component value of the component of the displayed product from the set of displayed products for which the identified user provided input;   generating a second set of product representations by:
 selecting, for each member of the second set of product representations, a product type, from a group of possible product types, using a weighted random selection process, wherein each product type has a product type weight and is associated with a group of components required to compile that product type; 
 selecting, for each member of the second set of product representations and for each component required to compile the selected product type, a one of the plurality of components within the group of components required to compile the selected product type using a weighted random selection process based on weights for each of the plurality of components stored for the selected product type that are a combination of the user component weight and the market component weight of each of the plurality of components; 
 selecting, for each member of the second set of product representations and for each of the selected components for each of the selected product types, a component value from the plurality of component values stored for the selected component using a weighted random selection process based on weights for each of the plurality of component values stored for the selected component that are a combination of the user component value weight and the market component value weight of each of the plurality of component values; and 
 compiling, for each member of the second set of product representations, a displayable product representation based on the selected product type, the selected components and the selected component values; and 
   displaying the second set of product representations to the identified user.   
     
     
         2 . A method of generating product offerings for display, comprising:
 identifying a user;   storing a plurality of components, wherein the components each have two weights, a user component weight that is associated with the identified user based on input of the identified user on prior displayed product representations and a market component weight that is based on input from a plurality of users on prior displayed product representations that were compiled from at least one of the plurality of components;   displaying a set of product representations for the identified user, wherein each product representation of the set of displayed product representations is compiled from selected components from the plurality of components;   adjusting, based on input of the identified user, the user component weight of each component of a displayed product representation from the set of displayed product representations for which the identified user provides input, wherein the user component weight is not adjusted based on inputs not received from the identified user associated with the user component weight;   adjusting, based on input of the identified user, the market component weight of each component of a displayed product representation from the set of displayed product representations for which the identified user provides input, wherein the market component weight of each component is also adjusted based on inputs received from a plurality of other users with respect to displayed product representations that included that component;   generating a second set of product representations by:
 selecting, for each member of the second set of product representations and for each constituent element required to compile a product representation for each member of the second set, a one of the plurality of components from the plurality of components using a weighted random selection process based on weights for each of the plurality of components that are a combination of the user component weight and the market component weight of each of the plurality of components; and 
 compiling, for each member of the second set of product representations, a displayable product representation from the components selected for each member; and 
 displaying the second set of product representations to the identified user. 
   
     
     
         3 . A method of displaying product offerings, comprising:
 identifying a user; and   displaying a set of product representations to the user, wherein each of the product representations from the set of product representations is generated by compiling components that are selected from a group of possible components, wherein the components for each of the product representations are selected using a random weighted selection process, wherein each of the possible components has a market weight that is based on inputs aggregated from a plurality of users and received with respect to previously displayed product representations that included at least one of the possible components as a constituent element of at least one of the previously displayed product representations and a user weight that is associated with the user and is based on inputs received from the user with respect to previously displayed product representations that included at least one of the possible components as a constituent element of at least one of the previously displayed product representations, and wherein the random weighted selection process depends on weights for each of the possible components that are a combination of the market weight and the user weight of each of the respective possible components.