Patent Application
20130173491
On retail websites, products are presented for sale by showing images of the products and text describing the products. In addition, may websites provide reviews of the product that are generated by either a professional reviewer or by visitors to the web site who have purchased the product. The reviews typically include a rating such as “three stars” and text that describes the advantages and disadvantages of the product as well as an identifier of who wrote the review.
The discussion above is merely provided for general background information and is not intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter. The claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any or all disadvantages noted in the background.
A processor determines that a user who has requested a list of reviews is the same user who had previously submitted a review found in the list of reviews. The processor displays the review submitted by the user and at least one additional review from another user so as to highlight the review submitted by the user relative to the at least one additional review in response to the determination that the user who submitted the review is the same user who requested the list of reviews.
In accordance with a further embodiment, a memory stores a review of a product that was sent by a first user and a review of the product that was sent by a second user. A processor determines that the review of the product sent by the first user should be displayed in a different manner relative to the review of the product sent by the second user based on a determination that the first user has requested that reviews of the product be displayed. The processor also causes the review of the product sent by the first user to be displayed relative to the review of the product sent by the second user in the determined manner.
In accordance with a still further embodiment, instructions are served to a client to display a review received from a user and at least one additional review received from another person so as to highlight the review received from the user relative to the at least one additional review in response to a request for a page being made under a credential assigned to the user.
This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.
In the embodiments discussed below, a user's review is provided in a list of reviews. The user's review is highlighted in the list if the user requested to see the list of reviews. If a different user requested to see the list of reviews, the user's review would not be highlighted. Highlighting a review can include making the review appear differently than other displayed reviews by, for example, using a different background color for the review, using a different font size for the review, or bolding the review without bolding the other reviews. In addition, links on the page providing the list of reviews change if the user who requested the page also submitted one of the reviews on the page. Specifically, a link to write a review is removed if the requesting user submitted one of the reviews in the list of reviews. Further, links to add a photo of the user or links to add other images or video to the review submitted by the user may be added to the review that was submitted by the user.
In the context of this innovation, reviews are written statements, audio commentary, audio/visual commentary, drawings and/or images that convey a user's opinion about a person, place or thing. The reviews can be of restaurants, stores, movies, events, products, services and/or service providers, for example.
At step 102, web server application 202 associates a unique identifier for the user with a session identifier (session ID). The session ID is a server-side identifier that is used to group different requests to the web server as coming from a single client device. The session ID allows the web server to save state information, such as the user's unique identifier, and to use that state information with later web page requests made during the same session. The session ID may be stored on the client device as a “cookie”, which is a small data file. Alternatively, the web server may alter each page it serves to embed the session ID in all web address links on the page. When a link is selected, the session ID is automatically sent back to the web server as part of the web address.
At step 104, the user requests reviews for an item. This request may be an explicit request for reviews of a particular item, an explicit request for multiple items, or simply a request for a details page of an item, which is interpreted as a request for reviews of the item. The item may comprise any item that users can review such as a product, service, event, location, restaurant, store, or movie, for example. The request for reviews is communicated to web server application 202, and web server application 202 passes an item identifier (item ID) for the selected item to a Reviews Server 210 in a request for reviews of the item at step 106. Reviews Server 210 searches for reviews of the item using the item ID at step 108. At step 110, Review Server 210 returns to web server application 202 a review title 211, a review text 212, ratings 214, a reviewer type 215, a date posted 216, and a reviewer ID 218 for each review of the selected item in a set of reviews 220.
At step 112, web server application 202 passes each of the reviewer IDs to a Persona Server 222, which contains persona records 230 for users of web application 202 that include a persona name 224 for each user, a persona image 226 for each user, a location 227 for each user, and a persona ID 228 for each user. Persona name 224 is a name that is to be displayed by web application 202 when referring to the user. Persona name 224 does not have to be the actual name of the person but instead may be any name that the user wants to represent them on the site. Persona image 226 is an image file that contains an image that can be displayed by application 202 when referring to the user. Persona image 226 does not have to be an actual image of the user but instead may be any image that the user has selected to represent them on the site. Location 227 is a geographical location selected by the user. In accordance with one embodiment, location 227 is a city and state where the user lives or works, for example. Persona ID 228 is a unique identifier for the user and is the same as the reviewer ID 218 in accordance with some embodiments.
At step 114, Persona Server 222 searches persona records 230 for personas that have a persona ID 228 that matches one of the reviewer IDs passed to Persona Server 222 at step 112. For each persona record that has a matching persona ID, Persona Server 222 retrieves the persona name 224, the persona image 226 (if any), and the location 227.
At step 116, web server application 202 compares the unique identifier of the user that was associated with the session at step 102 to each of the reviewer IDs 218 provided by Reviews Server 210. If the unique identifier of the user does not match any of the reviewer IDs 218 returned by Reviews Server 210 at step 118, web server application 202 returns a page to user device 206 at step 120. The page returned at step 120 includes the review text 212, date posted 216, ratings 214, persona name 224, persona image 226 (if any) and the location 227 associated with one or more of the reviews returned by Reviews Server 210. Since none of the reviews returned by Reviews Server 210 have a reviewer ID 218 that matches the unique identifier of the user who requested the reviews, the returned page will not include a review written by the user who requested the reviews. As such, the page will not include a review that is highlighted because it was written by the user who requested the reviews. Note that if the user who requested the reviews did not sign in at step 100 before requesting the reviews, web server application 202 will not be able to match the user's unique identifier at step 118, and the reviews will be displayed in step 120 as discussed above.
Because review list 302 does not include a review from the requester, page 300 also includes links 340 and 342 that allow a user to write a review.
If the unique identifier of the user who requested the list of reviews matches the reviewer ID of one of the reviews in the list of reviews at step 118, the user's review is highlighted relative to other reviews when presenting the list of reviews at step 122.
Highlighting the review of the user who requested the list of reviews involves making the review stand out on the displayed page. In accordance with one embodiment and as shown in
In accordance with another embodiment and as shown in
In accordance with another embodiment and as shown in
In accordance with another embodiment and as shown in
Although
At step 124, the processor executing web applications 202 determines if a persona image 226 of the user who requested the list of reviews was returned by persona server 222 at step 114. If persona server 222 returned a persona image, it is positioned next to the review at step 126. An example of a displayed persona image 608 is shown in
At step 130, links for adding a review are removed from the page displaying the list of reviews in response to the determination that the unique identifier of the user who requested the list of reviews matches the reviewer ID of one of the reviews. The links for adding a review are removed to prevent users from uploading more than one review. In accordance with one embodiment, removing the links to add a review involves removing links such as links 340 and 342 of
At step 132, the processor executing web application 202 adds links to the review page near the review to allow the user to add or remove images and/or videos that are displayed with the review. Examples of such links are shown as links 410, 510, 610, and 710 of
At step 134, the list of reviews is displayed with the highlighting and the altered links discussed above.
As noted above, if a user has not signed in at step 100, web application 202 cannot match the user's unique identifier to any of the reviewer IDs returned by Reviews Server 210. As a result, web application 202 will return a web page such as the page shown in
Upon receiving the e-mail address and password, web application 202 verifies that there is an existing account with these credentials and retrieves a unique identifier for the user. In accordance with some embodiments, the unique identifier for the user is the e-mail address that was provided by the user. The web application then associates the user's unique identifier with the current session ID.
After the user has signed in, a review editing window 900 opens that includes a ratings area 902, a title area 904, review text area 906, screen name area 908, location area 910, “about you” area 912, submit button 914 and cancel button 916. Ratings area 902 includes overall rating area 920, ease of use area 922, durability area 924 and effective resolution area 926. Each of areas 920, 922, 924 and 926 include selectable dot icons such as dot icon 928 that when selected by a user changes into a selectable star, such as selectable star 930. By selecting the selectable dot icons, a user is able to assign a star rating to each of the rating areas 920, 922, 924, and 926. By selecting a selectable star, the user is able to remove the star from the rating and turn it back into a selectable dot.
Title area 904 includes a text box 932 in which the user may enter a title for their review. Review text area 906 includes a text box 934 in which the user may enter the text of their review. Screen name area 908 includes a text box 936 in which the user may enter a name that will appear with the review. The name provided in text box 936 may be different than the e-mail address entered in textbox 802 of
When the user presses the submit button, the review is submitted to web application 202. Web application 202 then sends the review text, title text, reviewer type, ratings, date posted, and the user's unique identifier to reviews server 210, where it is stored in memory. In accordance with some embodiments, the user is presented with a preview of the review before it is submitted for storage at the server.
Communication along network 1008 can utilize one or more protocols including Hypertext Transfer Protocol (http), Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and the like. The web pages provided by servers 1002, 1004 and 1006 may be written in a mark-up language such as Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) or Extensible Markup Language (XML) and may utilize one or more Cascade Style Sheets. In addition, the web pages provided by servers 1002, 1004 and 1006 may use one or more scripts for rendering the page including for example JavaScript®, from Oracle Corporation.
An example of a computing device that can be used as a server and/or client device in the various embodiments is shown in the block diagram of
Embodiments of the present invention can be applied in the context of computer systems other than computing device 10. Other appropriate computer systems include handheld devices, multi-processor systems, various consumer electronic devices, mainframe computers, and the like. Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that embodiments can also be applied within computer systems wherein tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network (e.g., communication utilizing Internet or web-based software systems). For example, program modules may be located in either local or remote memory storage devices or simultaneously in both local and remote memory storage devices. Similarly, any storage of data associated with embodiments of the present invention may be accomplished utilizing either local or remote storage devices, or simultaneously utilizing both local and remote storage devices.
Computing device 10 further includes a hard disc drive 24, an external memory device 28, and an optical disc drive 30. External memory device 28 can include an external disc drive or solid state memory that may be attached to computing device 10 through an interface such as Universal Serial Bus interface 34, which is connected to system bus 16. Optical disc drive 30 can illustratively be utilized for reading data from (or writing data to) optical media, such as a CD-ROM disc 32. Hard disc drive 24 and optical disc drive 30 are connected to the system bus 16 by a hard disc drive interface 32 and an optical disc drive interface 36, respectively. The drives and external memory devices and their associated computer-readable media provide nonvolatile storage media for the computing device 10 on which computer-executable instructions and computer-readable data structures may be stored. Other types of media that are readable by a computer may also be used in the exemplary operation environment.
A number of program modules may be stored in the drives and RAM 20, including an operating system 38, one or more application programs 40, other program modules 42 and program data 44. In particular, application programs 40 can include server instructions that handle requests for web pages from a client, retrieve the content of the web pages, define the layout of the web page and serve the web pages to the client when the computing device is used as a server. When the computing device is used as a client, application programs 40 can include a web browser that receives, interprets and renders one or more of the web pages described above. Such web browsers include script interpreters that are able to interpret script code in the web pages including script code that performs one or more of the steps of
Input devices including a keyboard 63 and a mouse 65 are connected to system bus 16 through an Input/Output interface 46 that is coupled to system bus 16. Monitor 48 is connected to the system bus 16 through a video adapter 50 and provides graphical images to users. Other peripheral output devices (e.g., speakers or printers) could also be included but have not been illustrated. In accordance with some embodiments, monitor 48 comprises a touch screen that both displays input and provides locations on the screen where the user is contacting the screen.
The computing device 10 may operate in a network environment utilizing connections to one or more remote computers, such as a remote computer 52. The remote computer 52 may be a server, a router, a peer device, or other common network node. Remote computer 52 may include many or all of the features and elements described in relation to computing device 10, although only a memory storage device 54 has been illustrated in
The computing device 10 is connected to the LAN 56 through a network interface 60. The computing device 10 is also connected to WAN 58 and includes a modem 62 for establishing communications over the WAN 58. The modem 62, which may be internal or external, is connected to the system bus 16 via the I/O interface 46.
In a networked environment, program modules depicted relative to the computing device 10, or portions thereof, may be stored in the remote memory storage device 54. For example, application programs may be stored utilizing memory storage device 54. In addition, data associated with an application program, such as data stored in the databases or lists described above, may illustratively be stored within memory storage device 54. It will be appreciated that the network connections shown in
Processor/processing unit 12 executes computer-executable instructions to perform the steps described above. In particular, the processor serves instructions to a client to display a review received from a user and at least one additional review received from another person so as to highlight the review received from the user relative to the at least one additional review in response to a request for a page being made under a credential assigned to the user. Further, the processor serves instructions to use a different colored background when displaying the review received from the user than when displaying the at least one additional review received from another person. The processor also serves instructions to the client so that a link to add a review is not displayed with the review received from the user. The processor can also serve instructions to the client to display the review received from the user in a darker font than at least one additional review received from another person.
In accordance with other embodiments, processor/processing unit 12 determines that a review of a product sent by a first user should be displayed in a different manner relative to a review of the product sent by a second user based on a determination that the first user has requested that reviews of the product be displayed. Further, the processor/processing unit 12 causes the review of the product sent by the first user to be displayed relative to the review of the product sent by the second user in the determined manner.
Although elements have been shown or described as separate embodiments above, portions of each embodiment may be combined with all or part of other embodiments described above.
Although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.
