Abstract: A facility for displaying consumption information about items is described. The facility uses a current consumption rank for each of a number of items and at least one or more previous consumption ranks for each of these items to attribute to at least a portion of the items a score characterizing the magnitude of increase in the consumption rank of the item. The facility then generates a display incorporating at least a portion of the attributed scores in the corresponding items.

Abstract: The present disclosure provides systems and methods for identifying the product pages of an interactive catalog receiving at least one click-through originating from a commentary page and generating a list of products corresponding to the product pages. The method including determining a total number of click-throughs to each of the product pages from the commentary pages during a predetermined period of time and ordering the list in descending order based on the total number of click-throughs. Additionally, the method includes causing the display of the list.

Abstract: Computer processes are disclosed for identifying and informing users of early adopter items. In one embodiment, scores are generated for particular items represented in an electronic catalog, with each score reflecting an extent to which a corresponding item has been ordered by customers who tend to order items promptly after they become available. Information pertaining to such scores may be incorporated into item detail pages of the electronic catalog to assist customers in making item selection decisions. For example, the electronic catalog may identify specific items as early adopter items, and/or may display information pertaining to the degree to which specific items are early adopter items.

Abstract: Techniques are described for enhancing the reliability of information received from users in various ways, such as by analyzing votes or other ratings supplied by a user in order to identify fraudulent and other unreliable ratings. Such analysis may be based at least in part on prior ratings submitted by the user, such as based on one or more patterns indicating that the user has a bias for or against one or more of various aspects. Unreliable ratings can then be excluded from use in various ways. This abstract is provided to comply with the rules requiring it, and is submitted with the intention that it not limit the scope of the claims.

Abstract: A computer-implemented method routes service requests to services in a service framework provided by a plurality of hosts. The method comprises receiving a service request for a service in the service framework and discovering a plurality of candidate hosts that host the service. The plurality of candidate hosts are a subset of the plurality of hosts. The method further comprises selecting a candidate host from the plurality of candidate hosts based on measured latencies for the plurality of candidate hosts and routing the service request to the selected candidate host.

Abstract: Method and apparatus for multi-destination pick using motes. In embodiments, each receptacle may be assigned to a destination and may have a sensor that detects when an item is placed in the receptacle to deactivate the indicator and/or to verify that the item was placed in the correct receptacle. The sensor may be coupled via a wired or wireless connection to a mote that may include a communication interface for communicating with a control system and with other motes in an ad-hoc network. In some embodiments, each mote may also include an indicator that may be activated by a control system to indicate to the agent that the receptacle is the destination receptacle for a picked item. The agent may then place the item in the indicated destination receptacle. In one embodiment, the mote on the destination receptacle may be activated when the picked item is scanned by the agent.

Abstract: Method and apparatus for indirect asset tracking in materials handling environments with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). In one embodiment, receptacles in a materials handling facility may be equipped with RFID tags. Agents within the materials handling facility may be equipped with RFID readers, which may be integrated in or attached to gloves, wristbands, or other devices. The location of each receptacle to which an RFID tag is attached may be associated with the unique identifier of the RFID tag. When an agent's hand approaches or enters a receptacle equipped with an RFID tag, the RFID reader may detect the presence of the RFID tag. This information, in combination with known information such as the location of the receptacles, may be used, for example, for information gathering and/or for quality checking in picking, stowing, rebinning, and/or other materials handling processes.

Abstract: Techniques are described for facilitating interactions between computing systems, such as by using an authorization system to automatically authorize financial payments between parties in accordance with previously specified private authorization instructions of at least one of the parties. In some situations, some or all of the payments are associated with commerce-related or other transactions, such as transactions initiated by a consumer via the Web to acquire items from a retailer. The authorization instructions may include predefined instruction sets that regulate conditions under which a potential payment can be authorized, with the instruction sets each associated in some situations with a reference. After one or more parties each supply one or more such references or otherwise indicate one or more such instruction sets for use with a potential payment, the authorization system can determine whether to authorize the payment based on whether the instruction sets are compatible or otherwise satisfied.

Abstract: A system and method for preparing and searching a user-personalized library of content includes preparing a general library comprised of images of pages of content and electronically-searchable text corresponding to the text in the page images, which is then personalized by receiving from the user a selection of the content to include in the user's personalized library. User selection of content for a personalized library may be accomplished manually or automatically as a result of user actions, such as user review or purchase of content. Preferably, full text searching of the content in the user's personalized library is enabled. Page images in the personalized library containing text that match the user's search terms are provided to the user for display. Highlighting of search terms in page images by a user device and access rules that act to limit the viewing of content are further provided.

Abstract: An electronic catalog system includes automated processes for detecting and handling specific types of browsing events, such as non-conversion events in which users browse but fail to purchase specific items. In one embodiment, when a user engages in a threshold level of browsing activity with respect to an item without making a purchase of that item or a substitute item, and a favorable change in the item's state thereafter occurs (e.g., the price is reduced or the item becomes available), the user is automatically notified of the state change. In another embodiment, when a user transitions away from an item or item category after engaging in a threshold level of browsing activity, a determination is made whether to present to the user a time-limited purchase incentive that is tied to that item or item category.

Abstract: A dunnage-free product-shipping assembly comprising a support member securable to the product in a substantially fixed position. A shipping container has an interior area sized to removably contain the support member. The shipping container has a base and sidewalls projecting from the base. The sidewalls restrict lateral movement of the support member relative to the base. A closure member is movable between an open position and a closed position. The closure member is out of engagement with the support member and the product when in the closed position. A retention flap is connected to one of the sidewalls and is movable between engaged and released positions. The retention flap, when in the engaged position, restricts movement of the support member and the product in a direction normal to the base. When the retention flap is in the released position, the support member and product can be moved normally relative to the base for removal from the shipping container.

Abstract: Prominence data resulting from user interaction with a hyperlink on a page may be stored in one or more repositories. Prominence data may be collected automatically when the user views a page or clicks on a hyperlink without requiring separate action from the user to accomplish storage or retrieval. The prominence data may further include a display parameter that denotes a level of prominence that is usable to affect the display of a hyperlink. A prominence score used to determine the display parameter may be calculated by dividing a count of click-throughs by a count of page views of the page containing the hyperlink. Other score calculations may be used. User feedback may be incorporated into the score calculation and may be collected through a toolbar, popup window, or other feedback-collecting mechanism.

Abstract: Legibility of text in an image of a page is determined by comparing a measure of the text in the page image with a measure of the page image itself. In one aspect, a measure of the text in the page image may be the height of a line of text, while the measure derived from the page image may be the height of the page image. A text-to-page height ratio is determined and compared to one or more thresholds for determining legibility. In another aspect of the invention, a measure of the text in a page image is obtained by measuring the word density in the page image, while the measure derived from the page image comprises compressing the page image and determining the size of the compressed image file. Legibility is then determined by comparing the measure of word density with the compressed image file size.

Abstract: A computer-implemented method is provided for converting a scanned-in electronic image into a token-based file. The method includes generally five steps. First, various tokens (i.e., graphical units) are identified in the electronic image. Second, the identified tokens having similar shapes are classified together to form a token group, to thereby form multiple token groups, each including one or more tokens having similar shapes. Third, in each token group, a representative token is found, which morphologically represents the shapes of tokens included in the group. Fourth, each representative token is converted into a vectorized token, which is a mathematical representation of the shape of the representative token. Fifth, each of the vectorized tokens is associated with the positions of the tokens in the electronic image represented by the vectorized token. Thus, upon rendering, the vectorized token is displayed to thereby create a page image consisting only of clean images of vectorized tokens.

Abstract: A facility for determining whether to consistency-check a cache entry is described. The facility randomly or pseudorandomly selects a value in a range. If the selected value satisfies a predetermined consistency-checking threshold within the range, the facility consistency-checks the entry, and may decide to propagate this knowledge to other cache managers. If, on the other hand, the selected value does not satisfy the consistency-checking threshold, the facility determines not to consistency-check the entry.