Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.
Re: Latest patent issued to Amazon
Author: Saumil Posted: 1/8/2000; 8:29:38 AM Topic: iReview needs a Mac Msg #: 14240 (In response to 14223) Prev/Next: 14239 / 14241
Most good search engines and news sites give related links for a query, or a related article. What Amazon.com is claiming is that they can present the related links based on the frequency with which others have been searching for.I am not sure how other search engines present related links (maybe they are hand picked by editors). But would it not be obvious to pick something that is a hot selling product (which implies good frequency) or a story which got good hits- even though the editor may not have worked out the math accurately or put it in a table.
Or think of a situation of an actual store:
A person asks the storekeeper for a book on Greek Architecture... and the shopkeeper instead suggests a book on Greek History... which was very popular...
Of course the shopkeeper may not have a look-up table, but I think it is fairly obvious and therefore not quite patentable
Cheers, Sumi
sorry shopkeeper... you need permission from Amazon.com for suggesting a best seller...
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