Patents by Inventor Joel R. Spiegel

Joel R. Spiegel has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 7996398
    Abstract: A system is disclosed that identifies related search terms by performing a term co-occurrence analysis of search query submissions of users. The system may give different amounts of weight to different search query submissions based, for example, on whether subsequent user actions reveal that particular searches were successful. The system may use the identified related search terms to correct spelling errors in search queries received from users.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 19, 2010
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2011
    Assignee: A9.com, Inc.
    Inventors: Ruben E. Ortega, Dwayne E. Bowman, Michael L. Hamrick, Joel R. Spiegel, Timothy R. Kohn
  • Patent number: 7974885
    Abstract: The present invention provides a software facility for identifying the items most relevant to a current query based on items selected in connection with similar queries. In preferred embodiments of the invention, the facility receives a query specifying one or more query terms. In response, the facility generates a query result identifying a plurality of items that satisfy the query. The facility then produces a ranking value for at least a portion of the items identified in the query result by combining the relative frequencies with which users selected that item from the query results generated from queries specifying each of the terms specified by the query. The facility identifies as most relevant those items having the highest ranking values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 2009
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2011
    Assignee: A9.Com, Inc.
    Inventors: Dwayne Bowman, Greg Linden, Ruben E. Ortega, Joel R. Spiegel
  • Patent number: 7970660
    Abstract: A computer-implemented service analyzes collected data reflective of actions of users of an interactive system to identify items that are significantly more popular in specific user communities than in a general user population. The communities may, for example, include email-based communities (e.g., all users with email addresses associated with a particular company or other organization), shipping address based communities (e.g., all users with shipping addresses in Seattle), and/or communities based on other types of user attributes. The results of the analysis may be exposed to users to assist users in making item selection decisions, and/or may be used to provide item recommendations to users.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 9, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2011
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Jeffrey P. Bezos, Joel R. Spiegel, Jon McAuliffe
  • Patent number: 7921119
    Abstract: The present invention provides a software facility for identifying the items most relevant to a current query based on items selected in connection with similar queries. In preferred embodiments of the invention, the facility receives a query specifying one or more query terms. In response, the facility generates a query result identifying a plurality of items that satisfy the query. The facility then produces a ranking value for at least a portion of the items identified in the query result by combining the relative frequencies with which users selected that item from the query results generated from queries specifying each of the terms specified by the query. The facility identifies as most relevant those items having the highest ranking values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 24, 2007
    Date of Patent: April 5, 2011
    Assignee: A9.Com, Inc.
    Inventors: Dwayne Bowman, Joel R. Spiegel
  • Patent number: 7912756
    Abstract: A computer system for conducting electronic commerce. The system provides multiple electronic shopping carts for each user. Each electronic shopping cart has an indication of items currently within the electronic shopping cart and billing and shipment information. The system generates a display that identifies each of the electronic shopping carts and sends the generated display to a user computer system. The system then receives a selection of one of the identified electronic shopping carts from the user computer system and receives a selection of an item from the user computer system. In response to receiving the selection of the item, the system adds the item to the selected electronic shopping cart. The system then receives an indication to checkout the items in the selected electronic shopping cart from the user computer system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2006
    Date of Patent: March 22, 2011
    Assignee: Amazon.com, Inc.
    Inventors: Joel R. Spiegel, Maryam Mohit
  • Publication number: 20110060664
    Abstract: Various computer-implemented services are disclosed for assisting users in selecting items from an electronic catalog, and for selecting merchants with which to conduct transactions. One such service enables users to share information about their respective purchases with other users. Another service enables users to share information regarding the merchants with which they have conducted transactions.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 15, 2010
    Publication date: March 10, 2011
    Inventors: Jeffrey P. Bezos, Joel R. Spiegel, Jon McAuliffe
  • Publication number: 20110035370
    Abstract: A system is disclosed that identifies related search terms by performing a term co-occurrence analysis of search query submissions of users. The system may give different amounts of weight to different search query submissions based, for example, on whether subsequent user actions reveal that particular searches were successful. The system may use the identified related search terms to correct spelling errors in search queries received from users.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 19, 2010
    Publication date: February 10, 2011
    Inventors: Ruben E. Ortega, Dwayne E. Bowman, Michael L. Hamrick, Joel R. Spiegel, Timothy R. Kohn
  • Patent number: 7761446
    Abstract: The present invention provides a software facility for identifying the items most relevant to a current query based on items selected in connection with similar queries. In preferred embodiments of the invention, the facility receives a query specifying one or more query terms. In response, the facility generates a query result identifying a plurality of items that satisfy the query. The facility then produces a ranking value for at least a portion of the items identified in the query result by combining the relative frequencies with which users selected that item from the query results generated from queries specifying each of the terms specified by the query. The facility identifies as most relevant those items having the highest ranking values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2006
    Date of Patent: July 20, 2010
    Assignee: A9.com, Inc.
    Inventors: Dwayne Bowman, Joel R. Spiegel
  • Patent number: 7716088
    Abstract: A computer system for conducting electronic commerce. The system provides multiple electronic shopping carts for each user. Each electronic shopping cart has an indication of items currently within the electronic shopping cart and billing and shipment information. The system generates a display that identifies each of the electronic shopping carts and sends the generated display to a user computer system. The system then receives a selection of one of the identified electronic shopping carts from the user computer system and receives a selection of an item from the user computer system. In response to receiving the selection of the item, the system adds the item to the selected electronic shopping cart. The system then receives an indication to checkout the items in the selected electronic shopping cart from the user computer system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 5, 2002
    Date of Patent: May 11, 2010
    Assignee: Amazon.com, Inc.
    Inventors: Joel R. Spiegel, Maryam Mohit
  • Patent number: 7620572
    Abstract: The present invention provides a software facility for identifying the items most relevant to a current query based on items selected in connection with similar queries. In preferred embodiments of the invention, the facility receives a query specifying one or more query terms. In response, the facility generates a query result identifying a plurality of items that satisfy the query. The facility then produces a ranking value for at least a portion of the items identified in the query result by combining the relative frequencies with which users selected that item from the query results generated from queries specifying each of the terms specified by the query. The facility identifies as most relevant those items having the highest ranking values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 2005
    Date of Patent: November 17, 2009
    Assignee: A9.com, Inc.
    Inventors: Dwayne Bowman, Greg Linden, Ruben E. Ortega, Joel R. Spiegel
  • Publication number: 20090281877
    Abstract: A computer-implemented service analyzes collected data reflective of actions of users of an interactive system to identify items that are significantly more popular in specific user communities than in a general user population. The communities may, for example, include email-based communities (e.g., all users with email addresses associated with a particular company or other organization), shipping address based communities (e.g., all users with shipping addresses in Seattle), and/or communities based on other types of user attributes. The results of the analysis may be exposed to users to assist users in making item selection decisions, and/or may be used to provide item recommendations to users.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 9, 2009
    Publication date: November 12, 2009
    Inventors: Jeffrey P. Bezos, Joel R. Spiegel, Jon McAuliffe
  • Patent number: 7610224
    Abstract: A method, system, and computer-readable medium for automatically determining appropriate delivery information for one or more items of an order or potential order is described. A variety of types of information can be considered when determining what delivery information is appropriate for one or more items, such as a type of the items, the particular items, relationships of the items to other items, information about the purchaser, and/or information about the recipient. In addition, the automatic determination of an appropriate address for an item being ordered or potentially ordered by a user can be made in a variety of ways, such as based on inferences from past behavior when ordering items, on inferences from information about the item and from available delivery information for the user, and/or on previous explicit indications from the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 4, 2002
    Date of Patent: October 27, 2009
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventor: Joel R. Spiegel
  • Patent number: 7571121
    Abstract: A computer-implemented service associated with an electronic catalog analyzes purchase histories of users, and/or other types of activity data reflective of user affinities for specific items, to identify items that are significantly more popular in specific user communities than in a general user population. The communities may, for example, include email-based communities (e.g., all users with email addresses associated with a particular company), shipping address based communities (e.g., all users with shipping addresses in Seattle), and/or communities based on other types of user attributes. In one embodiment, a user of the service can select a particular community, such as by selecting the name of a corresponding organization or geographic region, to view a list of items having relatively high popularity levels therein.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 14, 2005
    Date of Patent: August 4, 2009
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Jeffrey P. Bezos, Joel R. Spiegel, Jon McAuliffe
  • Patent number: 7542943
    Abstract: A network-based payment service provides functionality for site operators to add payment links or objects to their sites. When a user selects such a link or object, the payment service may charge a fee to an account of the user, and may redirect a browser of the user to content associated with the link. In some use cases, the payment service may also cause all or a portion of the fee to be divided between multiple entities or site operators; for example, a portion may be paid to an entity responsible for hosting or publishing the payment link or object, and another portion may be paid to an entity that hosts or provides the associated content.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 13, 2001
    Date of Patent: June 2, 2009
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Alan Caplan, Jonathan Leblang, Shaun Schooley, FuMing Young, Joel R. Spiegel, Jeffrey P. Bezos
  • Patent number: 7536351
    Abstract: A network-based payment service provides various features for facilitating online, user-to-user payments. One feature involves the ability for users to define customized pay pages for receiving payments from other users. The pay pages are preferably hosted by a service provider site that handles the collection process, and may be created using pay page templates that specify the layouts and behaviors of the pay pages. In one embodiment, a pay page owner can also define one or more “pay boxes” to allow payments to be initiated from other web sites, which may include the web sites of associates who receive commissions on resulting payments. Another feature involves the ability for users to make single-action payments from web sites external to the service provider site. Also disclosed are various features for controlling access to content and services based on whether, or an extent to which, a visitor has made voluntary or mandatory payments.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 13, 2001
    Date of Patent: May 19, 2009
    Assignee: Amazon.com, Inc.
    Inventors: Jonathan Leblang, Shaun Schooley, FuMing Young, Alan Caplan, Joel R. Spiegel, Jeffrey P. Bezos
  • Publication number: 20080262964
    Abstract: A network-based payment service and site provides various features for facilitating user-to-user payments. One such feature enables users of the payment service to create pay boxes, or other types of payment objects, that can be incorporated into externally hosted web pages and used to make payments. In some embodiments, the payment objects enable users to make payments directly from the externally hosted web pages.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 18, 2008
    Publication date: October 23, 2008
    Inventors: Jeffrey P. Bezos, Jonathan Leblang, Shaun Schooley, FuMing Young, Alan Caplan, Joel R. Spiegel
  • Publication number: 20080177728
    Abstract: The present invention provides a software facility for identifying the items most relevant to a current query based on items selected in connection with similar queries. In preferred embodiments of the invention, the facility receives a query specifying one or more query terms. In response, the facility generates a query result identifying a plurality of items that satisfy the query. The facility then produces a ranking value for at least a portion of the items identified in the query result by combining the relative frequencies with which users selected that item from the query results generated from queries specifying each of the terms specified by the query. The facility identifies as most relevant those items having the highest ranking values.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 24, 2007
    Publication date: July 24, 2008
    Inventors: Dwayne Bowman, Joel R. Spiegel
  • Patent number: 7308425
    Abstract: Various computer-implemented services are disclosed for assisting users in selecting items from an electronic catalog, and for selecting merchants with which to conduct transactions. One such service detects when a first user accesses a web page associated with a particular merchant, and then attempts to identify, from a set of users who are affiliated with the first user, a second user who has engaged in business with this merchant. If such a second user is identified, the service notifies the first user, and provides an option or information for the first user to contact the second user regarding the merchant.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2006
    Date of Patent: December 11, 2007
    Assignee: Amazon.com, Inc.
    Inventors: Jeffrey P. Bezos, Joel R. Spiegel, Jon McAuliffe
  • Patent number: 7305390
    Abstract: The present invention provides a software facility for identifying the items most relevant to a current query based on items selected in connection with similar queries. In preferred embodiments of the invention, the facility receives a query specifying one or more query terms. In response, the facility generates a query result identifying a plurality of items that satisfy the query. The facility then produces a ranking value for at least a portion of the items identified in the query result by combining the relative frequencies with which users selected that item from the query results generated from queries specifying each of the terms specified by the query. The facility identifies as most relevant those items having the highest ranking values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 15, 2005
    Date of Patent: December 4, 2007
    Assignee: A9.com, Inc.
    Inventors: Dwayne Bowman, Joel R. Spiegel
  • Patent number: 7254552
    Abstract: A computer service associated with an electronic catalog of items enables users to explicitly elect to expose their respective purchase histories to other users. When a first user accesses an item in the electronic catalog, the service may notify the first user of one or more other users who have purchased the item. These other users may, for example, be contacts of the first user, or members of a community of which the first user is a member. The service may also facilitate communications between these users.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2004
    Date of Patent: August 7, 2007
    Assignee: Amazon.Com, Inc.
    Inventors: Jeffrey P. Bezos, Joel R. Spiegel, Jon McAuliffe