U.S. patent application number 16/679449 was filed with the patent office on 2021-05-13 for methods and systems for generating application build recommendations.
This patent application is currently assigned to Shopify Inc.. The applicant listed for this patent is Shopify Inc.. Invention is credited to Brandon CHU, Putra MANGGALA, Mladen RANGELOV, Peng YU, Jingchuan ZHAO, Xinyi ZHAO.
Application Number | 20210141637 16/679449 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 1000004467524 |
Filed Date | 2021-05-13 |
![](/patent/app/20210141637/US20210141637A1-20210513\US20210141637A1-2021051)
United States Patent
Application |
20210141637 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
ZHAO; Jingchuan ; et
al. |
May 13, 2021 |
METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR GENERATING APPLICATION BUILD
RECOMMENDATIONS
Abstract
Methods and systems for managing an online application database
and application search. Search queries for applications are
received from users. Unfulfilled queries are stored in memory. The
platform identifies one or more application features based on the
search queries within the stored unfulfilled queries, and generates
an application build recommendation specifying the one or more
application features. The application build recommendation is
output to one or more developer accounts. If a new application is
received, the platform may determine whether the new application
contains features that sufficiently correspond to the features in
one of the application build recommendations. User accounts that
submitted the unfulfilled queries that served as the basis for the
matching application build recommendation may be notified of the
availability of the new application.
Inventors: |
ZHAO; Jingchuan; (Toronto,
CA) ; ZHAO; Xinyi; (Etobicoke, CA) ; RANGELOV;
Mladen; (Etobicoke, CA) ; MANGGALA; Putra;
(Montreal, CA) ; CHU; Brandon; (Toronto, CA)
; YU; Peng; (Montreal, CA) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Shopify Inc. |
Ottawa |
|
CA |
|
|
Assignee: |
Shopify Inc.
Ottawa
CA
|
Family ID: |
1000004467524 |
Appl. No.: |
16/679449 |
Filed: |
November 11, 2019 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F 8/10 20130101; G06F
16/90335 20190101; G06F 8/71 20130101 |
International
Class: |
G06F 8/71 20060101
G06F008/71; G06F 8/10 20060101 G06F008/10; G06F 16/903 20060101
G06F016/903 |
Claims
1. A computer-implemented method of managing an online application
database, the online application database storing applications and
having at least one user account and at least one developer
account, the method comprising: identifying at least one
application search query from one of the user accounts as an
unfulfilled query if the at least one application search query
resulted in fewer than a predetermined number of relevant results;
storing, in memory, a query string and metadata regarding the
unfulfilled query; determining that a count of stored unfulfilled
queries exceeds a threshold number and, in response, identifying at
least one application feature based on query strings from the
stored unfulfilled queries; generating an application build
recommendation specifying the at least one application feature; and
providing the application build recommendation to the at least one
developer account.
2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein identifying
the application search query includes determining, for each
application search query that resulted in a non-null list of
relevant results, that a user account associated with that
application search query did not access any applications include in
the non-null list of relevant results.
3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the metadata
for each unfulfilled query includes, at least, an associated
merchant identifier.
4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein identifying
at least one application feature includes determining that more
than a minimum percentage of the query strings contain a keyword,
and wherein the at least one application feature includes the
keyword.
5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, wherein identifying
the at least one application feature includes determining that the
keyword corresponds to a type of application feature among a
plurality of types of application features.
6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the
plurality of types of application features include one or more of
geographic location, product class, application sub-category,
merchant class, or application function.
7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein storing the
query string and metadata includes determining an application
category associated with the query string and metadata and storing
the query string and metadata in associated with the application
category, and wherein determining that a count of stored
unfulfilled queries exceeds a threshold number includes determining
that a count of stored unfulfilled queries in association with the
application category exceeds the threshold number.
8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the
application feature includes one or more of application function,
geographic location, product class, application sub-category, or
merchant class.
9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein providing
the application build recommendation includes identifying a
plurality of developer accounts and sending a notification to each
of the plurality of developer accounts regarding the application
build recommendation.
10. A system having at least one user account and at least one
developer account, the system comprising: an online application
database, the online application database storing applications; a
processor; and a memory storing gap assessment software containing
computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the
processor, are to cause the processor to: identify at least one
application search query from one of the user accounts as an
unfulfilled query if the at least one application search query
resulted in fewer than a predetermined number of relevant results;
store, in memory, a query string and metadata regarding the
unfulfilled query; determine that a count of stored unfulfilled
queries exceeds a threshold number and, in response, identify at
least one application feature based on query strings from the
stored unfulfilled queries; generate an application build
recommendation specifying the at least one application feature; and
provide the application build recommendation to the at least one
developer account.
11. The system of claim 10, wherein the instructions, when executed
are to cause the processor to identify the application search query
by determining, for each application search query that resulted in
a non-null list of relevant results, that a user account associated
with that application search query did not access any applications
include in the non-null list of relevant results.
12. The system of claim 10, wherein the metadata for each
unfulfilled query includes, at least, an associated merchant
identifier.
13. The system of claim 10, wherein the instructions, when executed
are to cause the processor to identify at least one application
feature by determining that more than a minimum percentage of the
query strings contain a keyword, and wherein the at least one
application feature includes the keyword.
14. The system of claim 13, wherein the instructions, when executed
are to cause the processor to identify the at least one application
feature by determining that the keyword corresponds to a type of
application feature among a plurality of types of application
features.
15. The system of claim 14, wherein the plurality of types of
application features include one or more of geographic location,
product class, application sub-category, merchant class, or
application function.
16. The system of claim 10, wherein the instructions, when executed
are to cause the processor to store the query string and metadata
by determining an application category associated with the query
string and metadata and storing the query string and metadata in
associated with the application category, and wherein determining
that a count of stored unfulfilled queries exceeds a threshold
number includes determining that a count of stored unfulfilled
queries in association with the application category exceeds the
threshold number.
17. The system of claim 10, wherein the application feature
includes one or more of application function, geographic location,
product class, application sub-category, or merchant class.
18. The system of claim 10, wherein the instructions, when executed
are to cause the processor to provide the application build
recommendation by identifying a plurality of developer accounts and
sending a notification to each of the plurality of developer
accounts regarding the application build recommendation.
19. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing
processor-executable instructions for managing an online
application database, the online application database storing
applications and having at least one user account and at least one
developer account, wherein the instructions, when executed by one
or more processors, are to cause the one or more processors to:
identify at least one application search query from one of the user
accounts as an unfulfilled query if the at least one application
search query resulted in fewer than a predetermined number of
relevant results; store, in memory, a query string and metadata
regarding the unfulfilled query; determine that a count of stored
unfulfilled queries exceeds a threshold number and, in response,
identify at least one application feature based on query strings
from the stored unfulfilled queries; generate an application build
recommendation specifying the at least one application feature; and
provide the application build recommendation to the at least one
developer account.
Description
FIELD
[0001] The present disclosure relates to computer-implemented
online application stores and, in one implementation, to
applications within an online commerce platform.
BACKGROUND
[0002] Online application stores are now fairly commonplace. In
some cases, an online application store may contain a wide variety
of general applications for a variety of purposes. Such stores may
be focussed on providing a wide variety of applications for certain
types of computing devices, such as the Apple.TM. App Store.TM. or
Google.TM. Play.TM.. In some cases, an online application store may
be contain a range of applications relating to a particular type or
class of user, such as applications relating to online commerce
that may be useful to merchant users. In another case, the online
application may contain a set of application relating to a
particular category of applications, such as gaming.
[0003] The model of development adopted by many online application
vendors is to have applications developed by external developers
who then make their applications available through the application
vendor's online application store. In the case of popular online
application stores, there may be thousands or even tens of
thousands of developer accounts associated with developers of
applications, and there may be millions or even hundreds of
millions of user accounts associated with users that may choose to
download and, if applicable, purchase an application from the
online application store.
[0004] It would be advantageous to improve the speed and efficiency
of application development and discovery.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0005] Embodiments will be described, by way of example only, with
reference to the accompanying figures wherein:
[0006] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an e-commerce platform,
according to one embodiment;
[0007] FIG. 2 is an example of a home page of an administrator,
according to one embodiment;
[0008] FIG. 3 illustrates one example of an application search,
recommendation and support platform;
[0009] FIG. 4 shows a simple example of a data structure for
storing an unfulfilled query;
[0010] FIG. 5 shows, in flowchart form, one example method for
managing an e-commerce platform having an online application store
from which users may obtain applications;
[0011] FIG. 6 shows a flowchart illustrating a simplified example
method of storing unfulfilled query data;
[0012] FIG. 7 shows, in flowchart form, one example method of
generating an application build recommendation;
[0013] FIG. 8 shows another simplified example of a method for
generating an application build recommendation;
[0014] FIG. 9 illustrates an example of a simplified developer
graphical user interface;
[0015] FIG. 10 illustrates one example of an application build
recommendation interface; and
[0016] FIG. 11 shows, in flowchart form, one example of a method of
notifying users regarding potentially relevant new
applications.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0017] It would be advantageous to reduce the cost associated with
inefficient and inaccurate development, storage and transmission,
of application software in an online application store database
through a method and system for improving the efficiency and
accuracy of application development.
[0018] In one aspect, the present application describes a
computer-implemented method of managing an online application
database, the online application database storing applications and
having at least one user account and at least one developer
account. The method may include identifying at least one
application search query from one of the user accounts as an
unfulfilled query if the at least one application search query
resulted in fewer than a predetermined number of relevant results;
storing, in memory, a query string and metadata regarding the
unfulfilled query; determining that a count of stored unfulfilled
queries exceeds a threshold number and, in response, identifying at
least one application feature based on query strings from the
stored unfulfilled queries; generating an application build
recommendation specifying the at least one application feature; and
providing the application build recommendation to the at least one
developer account.
[0019] In another aspect, the present application describes a
system having at least one user account and at least one developer
account. The system may include an online application database, the
online application database storing applications; a processor; and
a memory storing gap assessment software containing
computer-executable instructions. When executed by the processor,
the instructions may cause the processor to identify at least one
application search query from one of the user accounts as an
unfulfilled query if the at least one application search query
resulted in fewer than a predetermined number of relevant results;
store, in memory, a query string and metadata regarding the
unfulfilled query; determine that a count of stored unfulfilled
queries exceeds a threshold number and, in response, identify at
least one application feature based on query strings from the
stored unfulfilled queries; generate an application build
recommendation specifying the at least one application feature; and
provide the application build recommendation to the at least one
developer account.
[0020] In some implementations, identifying the application search
query may include determining, for each application search query
that resulted in a non-null list of relevant results, that a user
account associated with that application search query did not
access any applications include in the non-null list of relevant
results.
[0021] In some implementations, the metadata for each unfulfilled
query includes, at least, an associated merchant identifier.
[0022] In some implementations, identifying at least one
application feature may include determining that more than a
minimum percentage of the query strings contain a keyword, wherein
the at least one application feature includes the keyword. In some
cases, identifying the at least one application feature may include
determining that the keyword corresponds to a type of application
feature among a plurality of types of application features. In some
examples, the plurality of types of application features may
include one or more of geographic location, product class,
application sub-category, merchant class, or application
function.
[0023] In some implementations, storing the query string and
metadata may include determining an application category associated
with the query string and metadata and storing the query string and
metadata in associated with the application category, and
determining that a count of stored unfulfilled queries exceeds a
threshold number may include determining that a count of stored
unfulfilled queries in association with the application category
exceeds the threshold number.
[0024] In some implementations, the application feature includes
one or more of application function, geographic location, product
class, application sub-category, or merchant class.
[0025] In some implementations, providing the application build
recommendation may include identifying a plurality of developer
accounts and sending a notification to each of the plurality of
developer accounts regarding the application build
recommendation.
[0026] In yet a further aspect, the present application describes a
non-transitory computer-readable medium storing
processor-executable instructions that, when executed by one or
more processors, are to cause the one or more processors to carry
out one or more of the methods described herein.
[0027] For illustrative purposes, specific example embodiments will
now be explained in greater detail below in conjunction with the
figures.
Example e-Commerce Platform
[0028] In some embodiments, the methods disclosed herein may be
performed on or in association with an e-commerce platform.
Therefore, an example of an e-commerce platform will be described.
It will be appreciated that an e-commerce platform and its
associated online application store is but one example context for
the present application. The described methods and systems may be
applied in the case of online application stores in the context of
e-commerce, or in other contexts, including general online
application stores or customer-specific online application stores
or category-specific online application stores.
[0029] FIG. 1 illustrates an e-commerce platform 100, according to
one embodiment. The e-commerce platform 100 may be used to provide
merchant products and services to customers. While the disclosure
contemplates using the apparatus, system, and process to purchase
products and services, for simplicity the description herein will
refer to products. All references to products throughout this
disclosure should also be understood to be references to products
and/or services, including physical products, digital content,
tickets, subscriptions, services to be provided, and the like.
[0030] While the disclosure throughout contemplates that a
`merchant` and a `customer` may be more than individuals, for
simplicity the description herein may generally refer to merchants
and customers as such. All references to merchants and customers
throughout this disclosure should also be understood to be
references to groups of individuals, companies, corporations,
computing entities, and the like, and may represent for-profit or
not-for-profit exchange of products. Further, while the disclosure
throughout refers to `merchants` and `customers`, and describes
their roles as such, the e-commerce platform 100 should be
understood to more generally support users in an e-commerce
environment, and all references to merchants and customers
throughout this disclosure should also be understood to be
references to users, such as where a user is a merchant-user (e.g.,
a seller, retailer, wholesaler, or provider of products), a
customer-user (e.g., a buyer, purchase agent, or user of products),
a prospective user (e.g., a user browsing and not yet committed to
a purchase, a user evaluating the e-commerce platform 100 for
potential use in marketing and selling products, and the like), a
service provider user (e.g., a shipping provider 112, a financial
provider, and the like), a company or corporate user (e.g., a
company representative for purchase, sales, or use of products; an
enterprise user; a customer relations or customer management agent,
and the like), an information technology user, a computing entity
user (e.g., a computing bot for purchase, sales, or use of
products), and the like.
[0031] The e-commerce platform 100 may provide a centralized system
for providing merchants with online resources and facilities for
managing their business. The facilities described herein may be
deployed in part or in whole through a machine that executes
computer software, modules, program codes, and/or instructions on
one or more processors which may be part of or external to the
platform 100. Merchants may utilize the e-commerce platform 100 for
managing commerce with customers, such as by implementing an
e-commerce experience with customers through an online store 138,
through channels 110A-B, through POS devices 152 in physical
locations (e.g., a physical storefront or other location such as
through a kiosk, terminal, reader, printer, 3D printer, and the
like), by managing their business through the e-commerce platform
100, and by interacting with customers through a communications
facility 129 of the e-commerce platform 100, or any combination
thereof. A merchant may utilize the e-commerce platform 100 as a
sole commerce presence with customers, or in conjunction with other
merchant commerce facilities, such as through a physical store
(e.g., `brick-and-mortar` retail stores), a merchant off-platform
website 104 (e.g., a commerce Internet website or other internet or
web property or asset supported by or on behalf of the merchant
separately from the e-commerce platform), and the like. However,
even these `other` merchant commerce facilities may be incorporated
into the e-commerce platform, such as where POS devices 152 in a
physical store of a merchant are linked into the e-commerce
platform 100, where a merchant off-platform website 104 is tied
into the e-commerce platform 100, such as through `buy buttons`
that link content from the merchant off platform website 104 to the
online store 138, and the like.
[0032] The online store 138 may represent a multitenant facility
comprising a plurality of virtual storefronts. In embodiments,
merchants may manage one or more storefronts in the online store
138, such as through a merchant device 102 (e.g., computer, laptop
computer, mobile computing device, and the like), and offer
products to customers through a number of different channels 110A-B
(e.g., an online store 138; a physical storefront through a POS
device 152; electronic marketplace, through an electronic buy
button integrated into a website or social media channel such as on
a social network, social media page, social media messaging system;
and the like). A merchant may sell across channels 110A-B and then
manage their sales through the e-commerce platform 100, where
channels 110A may be provided internal to the e-commerce platform
100 or from outside the e-commerce channel 110B. A merchant may
sell in their physical retail store, at pop ups, through wholesale,
over the phone, and the like, and then manage their sales through
the e-commerce platform 100. A merchant may employ all or any
combination of these, such as maintaining a business through a
physical storefront utilizing POS devices 152, maintaining a
virtual storefront through the online store 138, and utilizing a
communication facility 129 to leverage customer interactions and
analytics 132 to improve the probability of sales. Throughout this
disclosure the terms online store 138 and storefront may be used
synonymously to refer to a merchant's online e-commerce offering
presence through the e-commerce platform 100, where an online store
138 may refer to the multitenant collection of storefronts
supported by the e-commerce platform 100 (e.g., for a plurality of
merchants) or to an individual merchant's storefront (e.g., a
merchant's online store).
[0033] In some embodiments, a customer may interact through a
customer device 150 (e.g., computer, laptop computer, mobile
computing device, and the like), a POS device 152 (e.g., retail
device, a kiosk, an automated checkout system, and the like), or
any other commerce interface device known in the art. The
e-commerce platform 100 may enable merchants to reach customers
through the online store 138, through POS devices 152 in physical
locations (e.g., a merchant's storefront or elsewhere), to promote
commerce with customers through dialog via electronic communication
facility 129, and the like, providing a system for reaching
customers and facilitating merchant services for the real or
virtual pathways available for reaching and interacting with
customers.
[0034] In some embodiments, and as described further herein, the
e-commerce platform 100 may be implemented through a processing
facility including a processor and a memory, the processing
facility storing a set of instructions that, when executed, cause
the e-commerce platform 100 to perform the e-commerce and support
functions as described herein. The processing facility may be part
of a server, client, network infrastructure, mobile computing
platform, cloud computing platform, stationary computing platform,
or other computing platform, and provide electronic connectivity
and communications between and amongst the electronic components of
the e-commerce platform 100, merchant devices 102, payment gateways
106, application developers, channels 110A-B, shipping providers
112, customer devices 150, point of sale devices 152, and the like.
The e-commerce platform 100 may be implemented as a cloud computing
service, a software as a service (SaaS), infrastructure as a
service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), desktop as a Service
(DaaS), managed software as a service (MSaaS), mobile backend as a
service (MBaaS), information technology management as a service
(ITMaaS), and the like, such as in a software and delivery model in
which software is licensed on a subscription basis and centrally
hosted (e.g., accessed by users using a client (for example, a thin
client) via a web browser or other application, accessed through by
POS devices, and the like). In some embodiments, elements of the
e-commerce platform 100 may be implemented to operate on various
platforms and operating systems, such as iOS, Android, on the web,
and the like (e.g., the administrator 114 being implemented in
multiple instances for a given online store for iOS, Android, and
for the web, each with similar functionality).
[0035] In some embodiments, the online store 138 may be served to a
customer device 150 through a webpage provided by a server of the
e-commerce platform 100. The server may receive a request for the
webpage from a browser or other application installed on the
customer device 150, where the browser (or other application)
connects to the server through an IP Address, the IP address
obtained by translating a domain name. In return, the server sends
back the requested webpage. Webpages may be written in or include
Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), template language, JavaScript,
and the like, or any combination thereof. For instance, HTML is a
computer language that describes static information for the
webpage, such as the layout, format, and content of the webpage.
Website designers and developers may use the template language to
build webpages that combine static content, which is the same on
multiple pages, and dynamic content, which changes from one page to
the next. A template language may make it possible to re-use the
static elements that define the layout of a webpage, while
dynamically populating the page with data from an online store. The
static elements may be written in HTML, and the dynamic elements
written in the template language. The template language elements in
a file may act as placeholders, such that the code in the file is
compiled and sent to the customer device 150 and then the template
language is replaced by data from the online store 138, such as
when a theme is installed. The template and themes may consider
tags, objects, and filters. The client device web browser (or other
application) then renders the page accordingly.
[0036] In some embodiments, online stores 138 may be served by the
e-commerce platform 100 to customers, where customers can browse
and purchase the various products available (e.g., add them to a
cart, purchase immediately through a buy-button, and the like).
Online stores 138 may be served to customers in a transparent
fashion without customers necessarily being aware that it is being
provided through the e-commerce platform 100 (rather than directly
from the merchant). Merchants may use a merchant configurable
domain name, a customizable HTML theme, and the like, to customize
their online store 138. Merchants may customize the look and feel
of their website through a theme system, such as where merchants
can select and change the look and feel of their online store 138
by changing their theme while having the same underlying product
and business data shown within the online store's product
hierarchy. Themes may be further customized through a theme editor,
a design interface that enables users to customize their website's
design with flexibility. Themes may also be customized using
theme-specific settings that change aspects, such as specific
colors, fonts, and pre-built layout schemes. The online store may
implement a content management system for website content.
Merchants may author blog posts or static pages and publish them to
their online store 138, such as through blogs, articles, and the
like, as well as configure navigation menus. Merchants may upload
images (e.g., for products), video, content, data, and the like to
the e-commerce platform 100, such as for storage by the system
(e.g. as data 134). In some embodiments, the e-commerce platform
100 may provide functions for resizing images, associating an image
with a product, adding and associating text with an image, adding
an image for a new product variant, protecting images, and the
like.
[0037] As described herein, the e-commerce platform 100 may provide
merchants with transactional facilities for products through a
number of different channels 110A-B, including the online store
138, over the telephone, as well as through physical POS devices
152 as described herein. The e-commerce platform 100 may include
business support services 116, an administrator 114, and the like
associated with running an on-line business, such as providing a
domain service 118 associated with their online store, payment
services 120 for facilitating transactions with a customer,
shipping services 122 for providing customer shipping options for
purchased products, risk and insurance services 124 associated with
product protection and liability, merchant billing, and the like.
Services 116 may be provided via the e-commerce platform 100 or in
association with external facilities, such as through a payment
gateway 106 for payment processing, shipping providers 112 for
expediting the shipment of products, and the like.
[0038] In some embodiments, the e-commerce platform 100 may provide
for integrated shipping services 122 (e.g., through an e-commerce
platform shipping facility or through a third-party shipping
carrier), such as providing merchants with real-time updates,
tracking, automatic rate calculation, bulk order preparation, label
printing, and the like.
[0039] FIG. 2 depicts a non-limiting embodiment for a home page of
an administrator 114, which may show information about daily tasks,
a store's recent activity, and the next steps a merchant can take
to build their business. In some embodiments, a merchant may log in
to administrator 114 via a merchant device 102 such as from a
desktop computer or mobile device, and manage aspects of their
online store 138, such as viewing the online store's 138 recent
activity, updating the online store's 138 catalog, managing orders,
recent visits activity, total orders activity, and the like. In
some embodiments, the merchant may be able to access the different
sections of administrator 114 by using the sidebar, such as shown
on FIG. 2. Sections of the administrator 114 may include various
interfaces for accessing and managing core aspects of a merchant's
business, including orders, products, customers, available reports
and discounts. The administrator 114 may also include interfaces
for managing sales channels for a store including the online store,
mobile application(s) made available to customers for accessing the
store (Mobile App), POS devices, and/or a buy button. The
administrator 114 may also include interfaces for managing
applications (Apps) installed on the merchant's account; settings
applied to a merchant's online store 138 and account. A merchant
may use a search bar to find products, pages, or other information.
Depending on the device 102 or software application the merchant is
using, they may be enabled for different functionality through the
administrator 114. For instance, if a merchant logs in to the
administrator 114 from a browser, they may be able to manage all
aspects of their online store 138. If the merchant logs in from
their mobile device (e.g. via a mobile application), they may be
able to view all or a subset of the aspects of their online store
138, such as viewing the online store's 138 recent activity,
updating the online store's 138 catalog, managing orders, and the
like.
[0040] More detailed information about commerce and visitors to a
merchant's online store 138 may be viewed through acquisition
reports or metrics, such as displaying a sales summary for the
merchant's overall business, specific sales and engagement data for
active sales channels, and the like. Reports may include,
acquisition reports, behavior reports, customer reports, finance
reports, marketing reports, sales reports, custom reports, and the
like. The merchant may be able to view sales data for different
channels 110A-B from different periods of time (e.g., days, weeks,
months, and the like), such as by using drop-down menus. An
overview dashboard may be provided for a merchant that wants a more
detailed view of the store's sales and engagement data. An activity
feed in the home metrics section may be provided to illustrate an
overview of the activity on the merchant's account. For example, by
clicking on a `view all recent activity` dashboard button, the
merchant may be able to see a longer feed of recent activity on
their account. A home page may show notifications about the
merchant's online store 138, such as based on account status,
growth, recent customer activity, and the like. Notifications may
be provided to assist a merchant with navigating through a process,
such as capturing a payment, marking an order as fulfilled,
archiving an order that is complete, and the like.
[0041] The e-commerce platform 100 may provide for the
communications facility 129 and associated merchant interface for
providing electronic communications and marketing, such as
utilizing an electronic messaging aggregation facility for
collecting and analyzing communication interactions between
merchants, customers, merchant devices 102, customer devices 150,
POS devices 152, and the like, to aggregate and analyze the
communications, such as for increasing the potential for providing
a sale of a product, and the like. For instance, a customer may
have a question related to a product, which may produce a dialog
between the customer and the merchant (or automated processor-based
agent representing the merchant), where the communications facility
129 analyzes the interaction and provides analysis to the merchant
on how to improve the probability for a sale.
[0042] The e-commerce platform 100 may provide a platform payment
facility 120 for secure financial transactions with customers, such
as through a secure card server environment. The e-commerce
platform 100 may store credit card information, such as in payment
card industry data (PCI) environments (e.g., a card server), to
reconcile financials, bill merchants, perform automated clearing
house (ACH) transfers between an e-commerce platform 100 financial
institution account and a merchant's back account (e.g., when using
capital), and the like. These systems may have Sarbanes-Oxley Act
(SOX) compliance and a high level of diligence required in their
development and operation. The platform payment facility 120 may
also provide merchants with financial support, such as through the
lending of capital (e.g., lending funds, cash advances, and the
like) and provision of insurance. In addition, the e-commerce
platform 100 may provide for a set of marketing and partner
services and control the relationship between the e-commerce
platform 100 and partners. They also may connect and onboard new
merchants with the e-commerce platform 100. These services may
enable merchant growth by making it easier for merchants to work
across the e-commerce platform 100. Through these services,
merchants may be provided help facilities via the e-commerce
platform 100.
[0043] In some embodiments, online store 138 may support a great
number of independently administered storefronts and process a
large volume of transactional data on a daily basis for a variety
of products. Transactional data may include customer contact
information, billing information, shipping information, information
on products purchased, information on services rendered, and any
other information associated with business through the e-commerce
platform 100. In some embodiments, the e-commerce platform 100 may
store this data in a data facility 134. The transactional data may
be processed to produce analytics 132, which in turn may be
provided to merchants or third-party commerce entities, such as
providing consumer trends, marketing and sales insights,
recommendations for improving sales, evaluation of customer
behaviors, marketing and sales modeling, trends in fraud, and the
like, related to online commerce, and provided through dashboard
interfaces, through reports, and the like. The e-commerce platform
100 may store information about business and merchant transactions,
and the data facility 134 may have many ways of enhancing,
contributing, refining, and extracting data, where over time the
collected data may enable improvements to aspects of the e-commerce
platform 100.
[0044] Referring again to FIG. 1, in some embodiments the
e-commerce platform 100 may be configured with a commerce
management engine 136 for content management, task automation and
data management to enable support and services to the plurality of
online stores 138 (e.g., related to products, inventory, customers,
orders, collaboration, suppliers, reports, financials, risk and
fraud, and the like), but be extensible through applications 142A-B
that enable greater flexibility and custom processes required for
accommodating an ever-growing variety of merchant online stores,
POS devices, products, and services, where applications 142A may be
provided internal to the e-commerce platform 100 or applications
142B from outside the e-commerce platform 100. In some embodiments,
an application 142A may be provided by the same party providing the
platform 100 or by a different party. In some embodiments, an
application 142B may be provided by the same party providing the
platform 100 or by a different party. The commerce management
engine 136 may be configured for flexibility and scalability
through portioning (e.g., sharing) of functions and data, such as
by customer identifier, order identifier, online store identifier,
and the like. The commerce management engine 136 may accommodate
store-specific business logic and in some embodiments, may
incorporate the administrator 114 and/or the online store 138.
[0045] The commerce management engine 136 includes base or "core"
functions of the e-commerce platform 100, and as such, as described
herein, not all functions supporting online stores 138 may be
appropriate for inclusion. For instance, functions for inclusion
into the commerce management engine 136 may need to exceed a core
functionality threshold through which it may be determined that the
function is core to a commerce experience (e.g., common to a
majority of online store activity, such as across channels,
administrator interfaces, merchant locations, industries, product
types, and the like), is re-usable across online stores 138 (e.g.,
functions that can be re-used/modified across core functions),
limited to the context of a single online store 138 at a time
(e.g., implementing an online store `isolation principle`, where
code should not be able to interact with multiple online stores 138
at a time, ensuring that online stores 138 cannot access each
other's data), provide a transactional workload, and the like.
Maintaining control of what functions are implemented may enable
the commerce management engine 136 to remain responsive, as many
required features are either served directly by the commerce
management engine 136 or enabled through an interface 140A-B, such
as by its extension through an application programming interface
(API) connection to applications 142A-B and channels 110A-B, where
interfaces 140A may be provided to applications 142A and/or
channels 110A inside the e-commerce platform 100 or through
interfaces 140B provided to applications 142B and/or channels 110B
outside the e-commerce platform 100. Generally, the platform 100
may include interfaces 140A-B (which may be extensions, connectors,
APIs, and the like) which facilitate connections to and
communications with other platforms, systems, software, data
sources, code and the like. Such interfaces 140A-B may be an
interface 140A of the commerce management engine 136 or an
interface 140B of the platform 100 more generally. If care is not
given to restricting functionality in the commerce management
engine 136, responsiveness could be compromised, such as through
infrastructure degradation through slow databases or non-critical
backend failures, through catastrophic infrastructure failure such
as with a data center going offline, through new code being
deployed that takes longer to execute than expected, and the like.
To prevent or mitigate these situations, the commerce management
engine 136 may be configured to maintain responsiveness, such as
through configuration that utilizes timeouts, queues, back-pressure
to prevent degradation, and the like.
[0046] Although isolating online store data is important to
maintaining data privacy between online stores 138 and merchants,
there may be reasons for collecting and using cross-store data,
such as for example, with an order risk assessment system or a
platform payment facility, both of which require information from
multiple online stores 138 to perform well. In some embodiments,
rather than violating the isolation principle, it may be preferred
to move these components out of the commerce management engine 136
and into their own infrastructure within the e-commerce platform
100.
[0047] In some embodiments, the e-commerce platform 100 may provide
for the platform payment facility 120, which is another example of
a component that utilizes data from the commerce management engine
136 but may be located outside so as to not violate the isolation
principle. The platform payment facility 120 may allow customers
interacting with online stores 138 to have their payment
information stored safely by the commerce management engine 136
such that they only have to enter it once. When a customer visits a
different online store 138, even if they've never been there
before, the platform payment facility 120 may recall their
information to enable a more rapid and correct check out. This may
provide a cross-platform network effect, where the e-commerce
platform 100 becomes more useful to its merchants as more merchants
join, such as because there are more customers who checkout more
often because of the ease of use with respect to customer
purchases. To maximize the effect of this network, payment
information for a given customer may be retrievable from an online
store's checkout, allowing information to be made available
globally across online stores 138. It would be difficult and error
prone for each online store 138 to be able to connect to any other
online store 138 to retrieve the payment information stored there.
As a result, the platform payment facility may be implemented
external to the commerce management engine 136.
[0048] For those functions that are not included within the
commerce management engine 136, applications 142A-B provide a way
to add features to the e-commerce platform 100. Applications 142A-B
may be able to access and modify data on a merchant's online store
138, perform tasks through the administrator 114, create new flows
for a merchant through a user interface (e.g., that is surfaced
through extensions/API), and the like. Merchants may be enabled to
discover and install applications 142A-B through an application
search, recommendations, and support platform 128 or system. In
some embodiments, core products, core extension points,
applications, and the administrator 114 may be developed to work
together. For instance, application extension points may be built
inside the administrator 114 so that core features may be extended
by way of applications, which may deliver functionality to a
merchant through the extension.
[0049] In some embodiments, applications 142A-B may deliver
functionality to a merchant through the interface 140A-B, such as
where an application 142A-B is able to surface transaction data to
a merchant (e.g., App: "Engine, surface my app data in mobile and
web admin using the embedded app SDK"), and/or where the commerce
management engine 136 is able to ask the application to perform
work on demand (Engine: "App, give me a local tax calculation for
this checkout").
[0050] Applications 142A-B may support online stores 138 and
channels 110A-B, provide for merchant support, integrate with other
services, and the like. Where the commerce management engine 136
may provide the foundation of services to the online store 138, the
applications 142A-B may provide a way for merchants to satisfy
specific and sometimes unique needs. Different merchants will have
different needs, and so may benefit from different applications
142A-B. Applications 142A-B may be better discovered through the
e-commerce platform 100 through development of an application
taxonomy (categories) that enable applications to be tagged
according to a type of function it performs for a merchant; through
application data services that support searching, ranking, and
recommendation models; through application discovery interfaces
such as an application store, home information cards, an
application settings page; and the like.
[0051] Applications 142A-B may be connected to the commerce
management engine 136 through an interface 140A-B, such as
utilizing APIs to expose the functionality and data available
through and within the commerce management engine 136 to the
functionality of applications (e.g., through REST, GraphQL, and the
like). For instance, the e-commerce platform 100 may provide API
interfaces 140A-B to merchant and partner-facing products and
services, such as including application extensions, process flow
services, developer-facing resources, and the like. With customers
more frequently using mobile devices for shopping, applications
142A-B related to mobile use may benefit from more extensive use of
APIs to support the related growing commerce traffic. The
flexibility offered through use of applications and APIs (e.g., as
offered for application development) enable the e-commerce platform
100 to better accommodate new and unique needs of merchants (and
internal developers through internal APIs) without requiring
constant change to the commerce management engine 136, thus
providing merchants what they need when they need it. For instance,
shipping services 122 may be integrated with the commerce
management engine 136 through a shipping or carrier service API,
thus enabling the e-commerce platform 100 to provide shipping
service functionality without directly impacting code running in
the commerce management engine 136.
[0052] Many merchant problems may be solved by letting partners
improve and extend merchant workflows through application
development, such as problems associated with back-office
operations (merchant-facing applications 142A-B) and in the online
store 138 (customer-facing applications 142A-B). As a part of doing
business, many merchants will use mobile and web related
applications on a daily basis for back-office tasks (e.g.,
merchandising, inventory, discounts, fulfillment, and the like) and
online store tasks (e.g., applications related to their online
shop, for flash-sales, new product offerings, and the like), where
applications 142A-B, through extension/API 140A-B, help make
products easy to view and purchase in a fast growing marketplace.
In some embodiments, partners, application developers, internal
applications facilities, and the like, may be provided with a
software development kit (SDK), such as through creating a frame
within the administrator 114 that sandboxes an application
interface. In some embodiments, the administrator 114 may not have
control over nor be aware of what happens within the frame. The SDK
may be used in conjunction with a user interface kit to produce
interfaces that mimic the look and feel of the e-commerce platform
100, such as acting as an extension of the commerce management
engine 136.
[0053] Applications 142A-B that utilize APIs may pull data on
demand, but often they also need to have data pushed when updates
occur. Update events may be implemented in a subscription model,
such as for example, customer creation, product changes, or order
cancelation. Update events may provide merchants with needed
updates with respect to a changed state of the commerce management
engine 136, such as for synchronizing a local database, notifying
an external integration partner, and the like. Update events may
enable this functionality without having to poll the commerce
management engine 136 all the time to check for updates, such as
through an update event subscription. In some embodiments, when a
change related to an update event subscription occurs, the commerce
management engine 136 may post a request, such as to a predefined
callback URL. The body of this request may contain a new state of
the object and a description of the action or event. Update event
subscriptions may be created manually, in the administrator
facility 114, or automatically (e.g., via the API 140A-B). In some
embodiments, update events may be queued and processed
asynchronously from a state change that triggered them, which may
produce an update event notification that is not distributed in
real-time.
[0054] In some embodiments, the e-commerce platform 100 may provide
the application search, recommendation and support platform 128.
The application search, recommendation and support platform 128 may
include developer products and tools to aid in the development of
applications, an application dashboard (e.g., to provide developers
with a development interface, to administrators for management of
applications, to merchants for customization of applications, and
the like), facilities for installing and providing permissions with
respect to providing access to an application 142A-B (e.g., for
public access, such as where criteria must be met before being
installed, or for private use by a merchant), application searching
to make it easy for a merchant to search for applications 142A-B
that satisfy a need for their online store 138, application
recommendations to provide merchants with suggestions on how they
can improve the user experience through their online store 138, a
description of core application capabilities within the commerce
management engine 136, and the like. These support facilities may
be utilized by application development performed by any entity,
including the merchant developing their own application 142A-B, a
third-party developer developing an application 142A-B (e.g.,
contracted by a merchant, developed on their own to offer to the
public, contracted for use in association with the e-commerce
platform 100, and the like), or an application 142A or 142B being
developed by internal personal resources associated with the
e-commerce platform 100. In some embodiments, applications 142A-B
may be assigned an application identifier (ID), such as for linking
to an application (e.g., through an API), searching for an
application, making application recommendations, and the like.
[0055] The commerce management engine 136 may include base
functions of the e-commerce platform 100 and expose these functions
through APIs 140A-B to applications 142A-B. The APIs 140A-B may
enable different types of applications built through application
development. Applications 142A-B may be capable of satisfying a
great variety of needs for merchants but may be grouped roughly
into three categories: customer-facing applications,
merchant-facing applications, integration applications, and the
like. Customer-facing applications 142A-B may include online store
138 or channels 110A-B that are places where merchants can list
products and have them purchased (e.g., the online store,
applications for flash sales (e.g., merchant products or from
opportunistic sales opportunities from third-party sources), a
mobile store application, a social media channel, an application
for providing wholesale purchasing, and the like). Merchant-facing
applications 142A-B may include applications that allow the
merchant to administer their online store 138 (e.g., through
applications related to the web or website or to mobile devices),
run their business (e.g., through applications related to POS
devices), to grow their business (e.g., through applications
related to shipping (e.g., drop shipping), use of automated agents,
use of process flow development and improvements), and the like.
Integration applications may include applications that provide
useful integrations that participate in the running of a business,
such as shipping providers 112 and payment gateways.
[0056] In some embodiments, an application developer may use an
application proxy to fetch data from an outside location and
display it on the page of an online store 138. Content on these
proxy pages may be dynamic, capable of being updated, and the like.
Application proxies may be useful for displaying image galleries,
statistics, custom forms, and other kinds of dynamic content. The
core-application structure of the e-commerce platform 100 may allow
for an increasing number of merchant experiences to be built in
applications 142A-B so that the commerce management engine 136 can
remain focused on the more commonly utilized business logic of
commerce.
[0057] The e-commerce platform 100 provides an online shopping
experience through a curated system architecture that enables
merchants to connect with customers in a flexible and transparent
manner. A typical customer experience may be better understood
through an embodiment example purchase workflow, where the customer
browses the merchant's products on a channel 110A-B, adds what they
intend to buy to their cart, proceeds to checkout, and pays for the
content of their cart resulting in the creation of an order for the
merchant. The merchant may then review and fulfill (or cancel) the
order. The product is then delivered to the customer. If the
customer is not satisfied, they might return the products to the
merchant.
[0058] In an example embodiment, a customer may browse a merchant's
products on a channel 110A-B. A channel 110A-B is a place where
customers can view and buy products. In some embodiments, channels
110A-B may be modeled as applications 142A-B (a possible exception
being the online store 138, which is integrated within the commence
management engine 136). A merchandising component may allow
merchants to describe what they want to sell and where they sell
it. The association between a product and a channel may be modeled
as a product publication and accessed by channel applications, such
as via a product listing API. A product may have many options, like
size and color, and many variants that expand the available options
into specific combinations of all the options, like the variant
that is extra-small and green, or the variant that is size large
and blue. Products may have at least one variant (e.g., a "default
variant" is created for a product without any options). To
facilitate browsing and management, products may be grouped into
collections, provided product identifiers (e.g., stock keeping unit
(SKU)) and the like. Collections of products may be built by either
manually categorizing products into one (e.g., a custom
collection), by building rulesets for automatic classification
(e.g., a smart collection), and the like. Products may be viewed as
2D images, 3D images, rotating view images, through a virtual or
augmented reality interface, and the like.
[0059] In some embodiments, the customer may add what they intend
to buy to their cart (in an alternate embodiment, a product may be
purchased directly, such as through a buy button as described
herein). Customers may add product variants to their shopping cart.
The shopping cart model may be channel specific. The online store
138 cart may be composed of multiple cart line items, where each
cart line item tracks the quantity for a product variant. Merchants
may use cart scripts to offer special promotions to customers based
on the content of their cart. Since adding a product to a cart does
not imply any commitment from the customer or the merchant, and the
expected lifespan of a cart may be in the order of minutes (not
days), carts may be persisted to an ephemeral data store.
[0060] The customer then proceeds to checkout. A checkout component
may implement a web checkout as a customer-facing order creation
process. A checkout API may be provided as a computer-facing order
creation process used by some channel applications to create orders
on behalf of customers (e.g., for point of sale). Checkouts may be
created from a cart and record a customer's information such as
email address, billing, and shipping details. On checkout, the
merchant commits to pricing. If the customer inputs their contact
information but does not proceed to payment, the e-commerce
platform 100 may provide an opportunity to re-engage the customer
(e.g., in an abandoned checkout feature). For those reasons,
checkouts can have much longer lifespans than carts (hours or even
days) and are therefore persisted. Checkouts may calculate taxes
and shipping costs based on the customer's shipping address.
Checkout may delegate the calculation of taxes to a tax component
and the calculation of shipping costs to a delivery component. A
pricing component may enable merchants to create discount codes
(e.g., `secret` strings that when entered on the checkout apply new
prices to the items in the checkout). Discounts may be used by
merchants to attract customers and assess the performance of
marketing campaigns. Discounts and other custom price systems may
be implemented on top of the same platform piece, such as through
price rules (e.g., a set of prerequisites that when met imply a set
of entitlements). For instance, prerequisites may be items such as
"the order subtotal is greater than $100" or "the shipping cost is
under $10", and entitlements may be items such as "a 20% discount
on the whole order" or "$10 off products X, Y, and Z".
[0061] Customers then pay for the content of their cart resulting
in the creation of an order for the merchant. Channels 110A-B may
use the commerce management engine 136 to move money, currency or a
store of value (such as dollars or a cryptocurrency) to and from
customers and merchants. Communication with the various payment
providers (e.g., online payment systems, mobile payment systems,
digital wallet, credit card gateways, and the like) may be
implemented within a payment processing component. The actual
interactions with the payment gateways 106 may be provided through
a card server environment. In some embodiments, the payment gateway
106 may accept international payment, such as integrating with
leading international credit card processors. The card server
environment may include a card server application, card sink,
hosted fields, and the like. This environment may act as the secure
gatekeeper of the sensitive credit card information. In some
embodiments, most of the process may be orchestrated by a payment
processing job. The commerce management engine 136 may support many
other payment methods, such as through an offsite payment gateway
106 (e.g., where the customer is redirected to another website),
manually (e.g., cash), online payment methods (e.g., online payment
systems, mobile payment systems, digital wallet, credit card
gateways, and the like), gift cards, and the like. At the end of
the checkout process, an order is created. An order is a contract
of sale between the merchant and the customer where the merchant
agrees to provide the goods and services listed on the orders
(e.g., order line items, shipping line items, and the like) and the
customer agrees to provide payment (including taxes). This process
may be modeled in a sales component. Channels 110A-B that do not
rely on commerce management engine 136 checkouts may use an order
API to create orders. Once an order is created, an order
confirmation notification may be sent to the customer and an order
placed notification sent to the merchant via a notification
component. Inventory may be reserved when a payment processing job
starts to avoid over-selling (e.g., merchants may control this
behavior from the inventory policy of each variant). Inventory
reservation may have a short time span (minutes) and may need to be
very fast and scalable to support flash sales (e.g., a discount or
promotion offered for a short time, such as targeting impulse
buying). The reservation is released if the payment fails. When the
payment succeeds, and an order is created, the reservation is
converted into a long-term inventory commitment allocated to a
specific location. An inventory component may record where variants
are stocked, and tracks quantities for variants that have inventory
tracking enabled. It may decouple product variants (a customer
facing concept representing the template of a product listing) from
inventory items (a merchant facing concept that represent an item
whose quantity and location is managed). An inventory level
component may keep track of quantities that are available for sale,
committed to an order or incoming from an inventory transfer
component (e.g., from a vendor).
[0062] The merchant may then review and fulfill (or cancel) the
order. A review component may implement a business process
merchant's use to ensure orders are suitable for fulfillment before
actually fulfilling them. Orders may be fraudulent, require
verification (e.g., ID checking), have a payment method which
requires the merchant to wait to make sure they will receive their
funds, and the like. Risks and recommendations may be persisted in
an order risk model. Order risks may be generated from a fraud
detection tool, submitted by a third-party through an order risk
API, and the like. Before proceeding to fulfillment, the merchant
may need to capture the payment information (e.g., credit card
information) or wait to receive it (e.g., via a bank transfer,
check, and the like) and mark the order as paid. The merchant may
now prepare the products for delivery. In some embodiments, this
business process may be implemented by a fulfillment component. The
fulfillment component may group the line items of the order into a
logical fulfillment unit of work based on an inventory location and
fulfillment service. The merchant may review, adjust the unit of
work, and trigger the relevant fulfillment services, such as
through a manual fulfillment service (e.g., at merchant managed
locations) used when the merchant picks and packs the products in a
box, purchase a shipping label and input its tracking number, or
just mark the item as fulfilled. A custom fulfillment service may
send an email (e.g., a location that doesn't provide an API
connection). An API fulfillment service may trigger a third party,
where the third-party application creates a fulfillment record. A
legacy fulfillment service may trigger a custom API call from the
commerce management engine 136 to a third party (e.g., fulfillment
by Amazon). A gift card fulfillment service may provision (e.g.,
generating a number) and activate a gift card. Merchants may use an
order printer application to print packing slips. The fulfillment
process may be executed when the items are packed in the box and
ready for shipping, shipped, tracked, delivered, verified as
received by the customer, and the like.
[0063] If the customer is not satisfied, they may be able to return
the product(s) to the merchant. The business process merchants may
go through to "un-sell" an item may be implemented by a return
component. Returns may consist of a variety of different actions,
such as a restock, where the product that was sold actually comes
back into the business and is sellable again; a refund, where the
money that was collected from the customer is partially or fully
returned; an accounting adjustment noting how much money was
refunded (e.g., including if there was any restocking fees, or
goods that weren't returned and remain in the customer's hands);
and the like. A return may represent a change to the contract of
sale (e.g., the order), and where the e-commerce platform 100 may
make the merchant aware of compliance issues with respect to legal
obligations (e.g., with respect to taxes). In some embodiments, the
e-commerce platform 100 may enable merchants to keep track of
changes to the contract of sales over time, such as implemented
through a sales model component (e.g., an append-only date-based
ledger that records sale-related events that happened to an
item).
Application Build Recommendations
[0064] Continuing with the example e-commerce platform 100, the
application search, recommendation and support platform 128 may
further facilitate the more efficient development, storage and
deployment of applications through the determination and output of
application build recommendations to developer accounts. This is
notably distinct from the typical recommendation function in an
online store, in which the online store tracks application
downloads by a user account and provides the user account with
recommendations for new applications based on past user history. In
the present case, the platform 128 determines, based in part on a
plurality of user searches within the platform 128, that an
application having one or more particularly features is sought by
users and unavailable via the platform 128; in such as case it
generates an application build recommendation to provide to
developer accounts to guide their application building activity and
ensure more accurate matching between applications developed and
user needs. This prevents developmental effort, bandwidth and
storage being wasted on applications that have features
poorly-matched to demonstrated user needs. It may also speed
development and deployment of desirable applications, rendering the
platform 128 more useful and responsive to user demands. Such
guidance to developers is particularly useful in implementations in
which the online e-commerce platform 100 is operated by an
independent third party and development and uploading of
applications to the e-commerce platform 100 is decentralized to
enable fast development and deployment of applications. Given the
decentralized nature of the network implementation of the
e-commerce platform 100 in terms of its merchant user participation
and the privacy and security requirements inherent to an online
e-commerce platform, in which a significant degree of data and
activity relating to a merchant must be securely stored and
protected from unauthorized exposure, the independent developer
users may have little to no ability to canvass or otherwise contact
individual merchant users to survey them as to their needs.
[0065] FIG. 3 illustrates one example of the application search,
recommendation and support platform 128. The platform 128 may
implement at least some or the functionality described herein. An
application database 302 may store a plurality of applications and
associated metadata. The application database 302 may include a
plurality of databases, some of which may be provided within the
e-commerce platform 100 and some of which may be hosted external to
the e-commerce platform 100.
[0066] The platform 128 may include a query processor 304 that
receives and processes a query string. The query string is received
in association with a user account. The user account may, in some
cases, be a merchant account. The merchant, via a merchant device
102 (FIG. 1) or any other computing device, may browse through
applications available in the application database using an
application database GUI. The GUI may provide an option of
inputting a query string. The query string may include a keyword,
phrase, Boolean expression, or any other text input provided by a
user account in search of a suitable application. The query
processor 304 processes the query string based on metadata
regarding the applications available in the application database
302 and returns query results.
[0067] A results handler 306 receives the query results and outputs
a results response. The output of the results response may include
preparing and transmitting results for display to the merchant via
the application database GUI. The display may include a list of
results, which may be ranked in order of calculated relevance to
the query string. In some cases, the query processor scores
applications for relevance and only those applications that meet a
minimum relevance score are included in the results list. In some
cases, if the query result is null, i.e. no application is
considered relevant, then the results response may include a
notification to the merchant that no results were found.
[0068] In accordance with an aspect of the present application, the
platform 128 may further include a memory storing unfulfilled query
data 308, and a gap assessment engine 310. The unfulfilled query
data 308 includes query strings for which less than a predetermined
number of relevant results were identified. That is, when one of
the queries is processed by the query processor 304 and results are
returned, then the results handler 306 assesses whether the results
include at least the predetermined number of results, e.g. at least
a minimum number of relevant results. "Relevant" results may
include those results that have at least a minimum relevance score,
in terms of their fitness or match to the query string. The minimum
relevance score may be configurable. In some cases, the query
processor may be configured to only provide query results that
include relevant results, i.e. applications that meet the minimum
relevance score requirement. If the query results include fewer
than the predetermined number of relevant results, then the results
handler 306 stores the query string in memory as unfulfilled query
data 308. The results handler 206 may include associated metadata,
including, for example, the user account associated with the query
string. It may further include in the record the query results or
other metadata associated with the query.
[0069] The gap assessment engine 310 monitors the unfulfilled query
data 308 and determines whether the unfulfilled query data 308
identifies an application feature sought by users and unavailable
or insufficiently available in current applications. If such a
feature is detected using the unfulfilled query data 308, then the
gap assessment engine 310 may output an application build
recommendation that includes, at least, the identified application
feature.
[0070] The gap assessment engine 310 identifies an application
feature based, at least in part, on the query strings stored in the
unfulfilled query data 308. The query strings may contain words,
phrases, and/or Boolean expressions. The gap assessment engine 310
may use various mechanisms for analyzing the query strings to
identify one or more application features sought by the users that
generated those query strings. As an example, a desired application
feature may be identified on the basis of that feature, or a
keyword associated with that feature, appears in more than a
threshold number, or percentage, of query strings. In some
implementations, natural language processing techniques may be used
by the gap assessment engine 310 to parse the query strings to
identify application features. In one example, candidate
application features may include a pre-defined set of keywords
and/or keyphrases that are likely to be identified as application
features; the set may be updated from time-to-time to add or remove
candidate application features. The gap assessment engine 310 in
such an embodiment may determine from the query strings whether a
certain number of the query strings relate to any one or more of
the candidate application features. In some cases, the keyword or
keyphrase matching techniques may be employed.
[0071] In some cases, the gap assessment engine 310 may use
metadata associated with query strings when identifying an
application feature. For example, each query string may have
metadata stored in association therewith. As an example, the
metadata may include information regarding the class or category of
user that generated the query. The gap assessment engine 310 may
use the class or category of user as additional data in determining
the application feature sought. To illustrate, a subset of the
query strings may be generated by a particular class of user, such
as merchants of clothing products, and the fact that the queries
originate from merchants of clothing products may provide
additional context for analyzing their query strings and
identifying the application feature sought. As an illustration, if
the percentage of the query strings include a keyword like "size"
the gap assessment engine 310 may rely on the merchant class to
identify the application feature as relating to clothing sizes.
[0072] In another example, the metadata may include a category or
sub-category of product or service, if any, to which the query was
directed. That is, when a user inputs a query for an application,
the query may be input in relation to a specific category (or
sub-category) of application type. To illustrate by example, a
query string may have been input in a search specified to be for
applications in the category of "games" or "accounting" or
"messaging" or "billing and payments" or "tax" or any other such
category or sub-category. The application category to which the
search was directed may be used in association with the query
string to more accurately determine the application feature(s)
sought in the search.
[0073] In another example, the metadata may include geographical
location data with regard to the query string. In one case, the
geographical location data may include a location associated with
the user account that generated the query string. In another case,
the geographical location data may be a parameter specified either
in the search interface or within the query string itself. The
location of the user account may provide some inferred context to
the query string to the extent that it refers to keywords or
keyphrases that have a geographically-dependent meaning or
understanding. In some cases, the query may specify, either in the
query string or in metadata associated with the query string, a
geographical location to which the query is directed. As an
illustrative example, the query string may include keywords such as
"local tax calculator" or the like, and the geographical location
(whether associated with the user account, contained in the query
string, or otherwise associated with the query) may indicate a
specific jurisdiction, country, or state, or municipality. That
geographic context may be used by the gap assessment engine 310 in
determining the application feature sought in some example. For
instance, if there are number of queries that relate to state level
tax calculations for product sales across a number of states, it
may indicate the application feature sought is a multi-state sales
tax calculator. Conversely, if a substantial percentage of those
queries relate to a specific state or country, it may indicate that
existing applications lack a sales tax calculator for that specific
state or country.
[0074] In some cases, the gap assessment engine 310 monitors the
unfulfilled query data 308 and, as each new unfulfilled query
string is added, it assesses whether the quantity of stored
unfulfilled queries has reached a threshold number to trigger an
analysis of the query strings to identify whether an application
feature is identifiable. In some cases, the analysis may be carried
out by the engine 310 with each new query string added to the
unfulfilled query data 308. In some cases, the unfulfilled query
data 308 may be stored in relation to the application category(ies)
to which it relates, and the analysis is carried out by the engine
310 when the number of unfulfilled queries stored in associated
with a particular category exceeds a threshold number. In some
other cases, the analysis is carried out by the engine 310 on a
periodic basis, irrespective of the number of new unfulfilled
queries added.
[0075] The gap assessment engine 310 may perform its analysis of
the query strings to attempt to identify one or more application
features sought by the unfulfilled query data 308. That assessment
may result in one or more application features detected from the
query strings. Each detected application feature may have an
associated confidence score generated by the engine 310 based on
its analysis and reflecting a mathematical confidence calculation
regarding the certainty with which the query strings relate to the
identified application feature. The engine 310 may output an
application build recommendation if the confidence score exceeds a
pre-set minimum level of sufficient confidence. The pre-set minimum
level may be configurable by an administrator of the e-commerce
platform 100. In some cases, the engine 310 may only output an
application build recommendation if at least a threshold number of
features are identified with at least a pre-set minimum level of
confidence.
[0076] The gap assessment engine 310 may be implemented in software
and may include instructions, logic rules, machine learning,
artificial intelligence, or combinations thereof. For example, a
machine learning engine may be configured to track applications in
active use in the application marketplace and determine their level
of success based on one or more of number of downloads, usage
metrics, paid usage, or user reviews. Those factors may be broken
out by geography, feature, product category, etc. Based on this
information, the machine learning engine may be adapted to discover
application features leading to successful applications, and thus,
develop a predictive capability for determining application
features that, in combination, may be likely to result in a
successful application given the application features identified
from the stored query strings. The machine learning engine may also
be useful in classifying and prioritizing the query strings.
[0077] The unfulfilled query data 308 may be stored in any suitable
data structure using any suitable memory configuration that makes
the data available to the gap assessment engine 310 for analysis.
The memory storing the unfulfilled query data 308 may be configured
as a database in some cases. FIG. 4 shows one simple example of a
data structure 400 for storing an unfulfilled query. The data
structure 400 may include, for example, an index number 402 or
other identifier for the specific entry, and a query string 404
that records the query string (and/or elements thereof) that
resulted in the unfulfilled query results.
[0078] The data structure 400 may, in some cases, also include a
user identifier identifying the user account associated with
submission of the query, such as a merchant ID 406 or the like. It
may include an application category 408, which in some cases may
have been a category within which the query was generated or
submitted. The application category 408 may have been assigned by
the query processor 304 (FIG. 3) based on its analysis of the query
string 404 in some cases. The data structure 400 may also include a
time stamp, such as a date and/or time 410 associated with the
query. The date and/or time 410 may be useful in that some queries
may become too stale or old to be considered by the gap assessment
engine 310, or the date associated with a query string may be used
to weight its value in the analysis performed by the gap assessment
engine 310. Query strings older than a certain age may be purged
from the store of unfulfilled query data 308 (FIG. 3) in some
cases.
[0079] The data structure 400 may include a results data 412 that
reflects the query results generated by the query processor 304
based on the applications available at the time and date that the
query string 404 was processed. The results data 412 may include
the number and/or list of applications, if any, returned in the
query results and, in some cases, their associated relevance score
to the query.
[0080] In some cases, the data structure 400 may include other
metadata 414. Non-limiting examples of other metadata include
geographic location associated with the user account, class or
category of user account, application activity data of a user
account e.g. data indicative of a current application status for
any of the applications returned in the results, such as whether
the applications are downloaded, installed, activated,
de-installed, or deleted, or other contextual information relating
to the query or the user account that submitted the query.
[0081] Reference will now be made to FIG. 5, which shows, in
flowchart form, one example method 500 for managing an e-commerce
platform having an online application store from which users may
obtain applications. The platform provides a search functionality
to permit users to input a search query in order to locate suitable
application in the application store. In operation 502, the
platform identifies searches, e.g. query strings and associated
metadata, that result in fewer than a predetermined number of
relevant results. That predetermined number may be 1 in some cases,
i.e. the searches identified in operation 502 are those that have a
null result. That predetermined number may be 2 or more in some
other implementations. In operation 502, the platform stores those
searches, i.e. unfulfilled query data, in memory.
[0082] In operation 504, the platform assesses whether there are at
least a threshold number of unfulfilled queries stored in memory
and available for analysis. In some implementations, operation 504
compares a count of stored unfulfilled queries to the threshold
number, which may be configurable by an administrator of the
platform in some cases. In some implementations, operations 502 and
504 group unfulfilled queries in application categories and
operation 504 involves assessing whether the count of queries in
any of the application categories meets the threshold number.
Instead of application categories, the categories may relate to
other ways of categorizing searches depending on the nature of the
platform and the implementation.
[0083] If the comparison in operation 504 indicates there are at
least the threshold number of unfulfilled queries stored, then in
operation 506 the platform identifies one or more application
features sought by users based on, at least, the query strings
stored in the unfulfilled queries. As described above, other
factors may be used by the platform in identifying application
features, such as application category associated with the query,
class or category of user, geographical information, and the like.
In some cases, an application feature may not be identifiable with
sufficient confidence from the available stored unfulfilled
queries, in which case operations 502, 504 and 506 continue (not
illustrated) until such time as an application feature is
identified with sufficient confidence.
[0084] The one or more application features may include a category
of application, a function or operational use, a geographical area
or jurisdiction, a customer characteristic, a product or service
category, or other operational or characterising features of an
application. The category of application may indicate a type of
application, e.g. productivity, gaming, accounting, music/video
streaming, news feed, social media, purchasing, shipping, etc. It
will be appreciated that the taxonomy of categories applicable to a
platform may vary from implementation to implementation as they
range of potential applications and their functionality may vary
based on the type of application store being offered. The feature
of function or operational use may indicate a particular functional
characteristic of the application. Illustrative examples may
include, assuming an example category of purchasing, "one-click
check-out", "credit card processing", "refund payments", "store
credits processing", "gift card payments" or the like. The feature
of geographical area may refer, for example, to the geographical
area in which the merchant operates, the geographical area in which
purchasers reside, or the geographical area or jurisdiction to
which the application specific relates, such as a specific country,
state or municipality. The feature of operational or characterizing
features of an application may refer to some feature or
functionality desired in the application, such as, for example,
touchscreen capability, compatibility with a certain plug-in,
compatibility with a certain operating system, availability of
certain languages, character sets, fonts, or other graphical user
interface features, and any other such feature.
[0085] The one or more application features identified in operation
506 may be assembled into an application build recommendation. The
application build recommendation may, in one example, include the
one or more application features and some metadata regarding the
queries. For example, data regarding the user accounts associated
with the queries may be provided. This may include a count of
queries, the location of the user accounts, (aggregated) revenue or
sales information associated with the user accounts (without
revealing individual data), geographic location(s) associated with
the user accounts, or the like. The metadata may include time
information associated with the queries, e.g. indicating how
recently the queries were received. It may include information
regarding the most-closely related applications available in the
application store. It may include non-query related information
regarding application development requirements for the
platform.
[0086] The application build recommendation may be transmitted to
one or more developer accounts in operation 508. In one example,
all developer accounts with the platform may receive a notification
detailing the application build recommendation. In another example,
a subset of developer accounts is identified based, perhaps, on
geography, self-identified categories of interest or competency, or
previous applications uploaded to the store. In some
implementations, transmission of the application build
recommendation includes sending a message, whether by email,
instant message, social media posting, or through some other
messaging channel, to notify the developer account of the
application build recommendation or its availability. In some
implementations, rather than activing notifying the developer
accounts, the application build recommendations are collected and
made available for review by interested developers, perhaps via a
developer interface to the platform.
[0087] Having propagated the application build recommendation, the
platform may monitor for receipt of an application that satisfies
the features identified in the application build recommendation. In
operation 510, the platform may evaluate whether a suitable
application has been received that satisfies the application build
recommendation. For example, the platform may parse the application
metadata (e.g. the title, description, keywords, feature list,
etc.) received via a developer account to determine if the
application meets the application build recommendation and/or the
application features sought. In some cases, the platform may use
the same techniques as used by the gap assessment engine 301 (FIG.
3) to make that determination. If a suitable application has been
received, then in operation 512, the platform may identify those
user accounts associated with queries used in generating the
application build recommendation and may send an availability
notification regarding the new application to those user accounts
in operation 514.
[0088] Reference will now be made to FIG. 6, which shows a
flowchart illustrating a simplified example method 600 of storing
unfulfilled query data. The method 600 may be carried out by an
application search, recommendation and support platform 128 (FIG.
1) in some implementations.
[0089] The method 600 includes receiving an application search
query in operation 602. As described previously, the application
search query may be received in association with a user account. A
user may access the e-commerce platform from a user device, such as
a merchant device, via a web interface. By providing login
credentials, the user may log into the user's user account via the
web interface. The web interface may provide an interface to the
application store, through which the user may browse available
applications and initiate a search for an application. The search
facility in the web interface may allow the user to specify certain
filters, e.g. application category, geographical applicability,
currency, etc., and may permit the user to input a search string,
i.e. a query string. Operation 602 includes receiving the query
string and any associated metadata, such as a user identifier,
filter settings, etc.
[0090] In operation 604, the search query is processed and results
are output. If the results are NULL, as indicated by operation 606,
then the search is saved in memory as unfulfilled query data in
operation 612. Results may be NULL if no applications in the store
are identified as a result of processing the query string.
[0091] If the results are non-null, then in some embodiments the
count of relevant results may be compared to a threshold as
indicated by operation 608. If there are at least a predetermined
number of relevant results, then the method returns to operation
602 to receive the next query. If there are fewer than the
predetermined number of relevant results, then the platform may
assess a current application status, e.g. whether the user account
has downloaded, purchased, installed, implemented or is otherwise
using one of the applications on the results list, as indicated by
operation 610. If the user account is using one of the applications
on the results list (e.g. current application status is active,
downloaded, purchased, installed, in-use, etc.), it may indicate
that the query was fulfilled, at least to a degree of user
satisfaction, and the method 600 may return to operation 602.
Otherwise, the query string and metadata are saved as unfulfilled
query data in operation 612.
[0092] It will be appreciated that the operations of method 600 may
be staggered in time. That is, the assessment of whether a query is
unfulfilled, particularly in operation 610 may be delayed to assess
whether the user is using one of the identified applications in due
course. In some implementations, the query string may be added to
the unfulfilled query data after operation 608, but may be
subsequently removed if, in operation 610, it is later determined
that the user is using one of the applications in the results list.
In yet other implementations, the platform may later re-assess the
application status and determine whether the user account still
uses or has deleted the application initially downloaded or
installed from the results list, since in some cases the user may
attempt to utilize an application identified in the results list
and may later determine that the application fails to meet the
needs of the user reflected in the query string.
[0093] Reference is now made to FIG. 7 which shows, in flowchart
form, one example method 700 of generating an application build
recommendation. The method 700 presumes that the operations of
storing unfulfilled queries are taking place and that a number of
unfulfilled queries are available. The method 700 may be carried
out by way of software containing computer-readable instructions
that, when executed by one or more processors of a computer, cause
the computer to implement the operations described. With reference
to FIG. 3 as an example, the operations of the method 700 may be
implemented by way of the gap assessment engine 310 (FIG. 3). In
general, the description below will refer to the method 700 being
carried out by a processor.
[0094] In operation 702, the processor determines whether the
number of unfulfilled queries has exceeded a threshold number. In
some implementations, operation 702 may include comparing a count
of stored unfulfilled queries to the threshold number, which may be
configurable by an administrator of the platform in some cases. In
some implementations, unfulfilled queries may be grouped into
application categories and operation 702 may involve assessing
whether the count of unfulfilled queries in any one of the
application categories meets the threshold number. In some cases,
different categories may have different threshold numbers. Instead
of application categories, the categories may relate to other ways
of categorizing searches depending on the nature of the
implementation.
[0095] In operation 704, if the threshold number of unfulfilled
queries is met or exceeded, then the processor may analyze the
query strings from those unfulfilled queries with a view to
identifying an application feature(s) sought by the searches.
Operation 704 may include assessing whether at least a minimum
number, or percentage, of the query strings have an application
feature(s) in common. This may include identifying a keyword or
keyphrase that occurs in the minimum number or percentage of query
strings. It may include using natural language processing
techniques to identify a search intent, and determining that at
least the minimum number or percentage of query strings have the
same search intent.
[0096] If the query string analysis in operation 704 identifies at
least one application feature, then in operation 706, the user
identifiers associated with the query strings that included the
application feature may be assessed to identify if they have common
features or characteristics. For example, using the case of
e-commerce and merchants, all the merchants seeking an application
having the identified application feature may be in the category of
"clothing retailers", or "book retailers", or "car repair", or some
other class or category of merchant.
[0097] In operation 708, the processor may retrieve geographical
data associated with the query strings that included the
application feature. The geographical data may include data
regarding the location of the user submitting the query, data
regarding the location of the customer base of the user submitting
the query, or data in the query regarding the location for which an
application is sought. The processor may determine whether the
queries appear to relate to a specific geographical location, and
whether that location is the location of the merchant, the
customer, or the problem to be addressed by the application, as
examples.
[0098] It will be appreciated that operations 706 and 708 provide
specific examples of data that may be retrieved from the query
strings or metadata associated with the query strings that sought
the application feature. Other data may be obtained from the query
strings or metadata to identify other characteristics of the
application sought.
[0099] In operation 710, the processor generates and outputs an
application build recommendation. The application build
recommendation includes the application feature(s) identified in
operation 704. It may further include an application category or
categories, if the queries were determined to relate to a specific
application category or categories. It may also include data
regarding the merchant category, if one was determined in operation
706, or data regarding the geographic location, if one was
determined in operation 708. It may further include data regarding
any other common characteristic that the processor is able to
identify from the query strings and their metadata.
[0100] Reference will now be made to FIG. 8, which shows another
simplified example of a method 800 for generating an application
build recommendation. The method 800 presumes that the operations
of storing unfulfilled queries are taking place and that a number
of unfulfilled queries are available. The method 800 may be carried
out by way of software containing computer-readable instructions
that, when executed by one or more processors of a computer, cause
the computer to implement the operations described. With reference
to FIG. 3 as an example, the operations of the method 800 may be
implemented by way of the gap assessment engine 310 (FIG. 3). In
general, the description below will refer to the method 800 being
carried out by a processor. The method 800 is focused on
keyword-based application feature identification, as an example
mechanism for identifying application features from query stings
and metadata.
[0101] In operation 802, the processor determines whether the
number of unfulfilled queries has exceeded a threshold number. In
some implementations, operation 802 may include comparing a count
of stored unfulfilled queries to the threshold number, which may be
configurable by an administrator of the platform in some cases. In
some implementations, unfulfilled queries may be grouped into
application categories and operation 802 may involve assessing
whether the count of unfulfilled queries in any one of the
application categories meets the threshold number. In some cases,
different categories may have different threshold numbers. Instead
of application categories, the categories may relate to other ways
of categorizing searches depending on the nature of the
implementation.
[0102] In operation 804, if the threshold number of unfulfilled
queries is met, then the processor may analyze the query strings
from those unfulfilled queries with a view to identifying if there
is an identifiable an application feature(s) sought by the
searches. The metadata may be included in the analysis in some
implementations. Operation 804 may include assessing whether at
least a minimum number, or percentage, of the query strings have a
keyword or keyphrase in common. If not, then the method 800 returns
to operation 802. Keywords or keyphrases may be identifies as being
"in common" even if not identical on the basis that they are
synonyms or are directed to the same or a similar concept. In other
words, keywords or keyphrases that are sufficiently similar may be
considered to be "in common", where sufficiently similar means that
they are have the same or a similar meaning.
[0103] If at least the minimum number of percentage of query
strings have a keyword or keyphrase in common, then in operation
806, the processor may assess whether the keyword or keyphrase is
directed to an application function. An application function may be
an operation or functionality that the application is capable of
carrying out. For example, "credit card payment processing", "fraud
detection", "social media integration", or other functional
features or descriptions of the application's purpose or utility,
may be considered "application function". If the keyword or
keyphrase is identified as an application function, then in
operation 807, that identified application function is saved as a
function feature.
[0104] In operation 808, the processor may assess whether the
keyword or keyphrase is directed to geography. Geography keywords
or keyphrases may be found in the query strings or the metadata. As
discussed above, geographical data may relate to the location of
the merchant, the location of the customer, the location of product
for shipping, or a specific jurisdiction of concern for whatever
reason. If the keyword or keyphrase relates to geography, such as
country, region, state, province, or municipality, then in
operation 809 that keyword or keyphrase is saved as a geography
feature.
[0105] In operation 810, the processor may determine whether the
keyword or keyphrase is directed to an application category or
sub-category. Operation 802 may have been limited to a category, to
the extent that the search queries are grouped by application
category, in which case operation 810 may involve identifying
whether the keyword or keyphrase identifies a sub-category within
that category. If the keyword or keyphrase relates to an
application category or sub-category, then in operation 811 that
keyword or keyphrase is saved as a category feature.
[0106] In operation 814, the processor may determine whether the
keyword or keyphrase is directed to a product class. The keyword or
keyphrase may relate to a specific product or service or a class of
products or services. For example, the processor may determine that
the applications sought by the query strings generally relate to
"sneakers", "watches", "children's toys", "accounting services", or
some other product or service class or category. If a product class
is identified by the keywords or keyphrases, then in operation 815
the processor saves the product lass as a product class
feature.
[0107] Other types of keywords or keyphrases that may be identified
may relate to currency, language, etc.
[0108] In operation 816, the processor may assess whether there are
further keywords or keyphases identified in operation 804 that are
to be analyzed. If so, the method 800 returns to operation 806. If
not, then in operation 818, the processor generates the application
build recommendation. The application build recommendation includes
all the saved features identified in operations 806-814.
[0109] As noted above, the application build recommendation is
output by the platform to one or more developer accounts. The
output may be an active notification transmitted to one or more
addresses associated with the developer accounts and containing the
application build recommendation. The output may be a notification
to one or more addresses associated with the developer accounts
advising of the availability of the application build
recommendation from another available source or posting. The output
may be a posting of the application build recommendation in a
social media feed, a website, an RSS feed, or other medium
accessible to developer accounts.
[0110] FIG. 9 illustrates an example of a simplified developer
graphical user interface 900. The interface 900 may be an
HTML-based webpage in some examples. The interface 900 may be
displayed via a web browser when a developer logs into their
developer account using a computing device. The interface 900 may
be displayed on an application operating on a local computing
device and relating to the e-commerce platform, when the
application provides the platform with developer credentials for a
developer account. It will be appreciated that the interface 900 is
not necessarily a "home" page or first interface.
[0111] The interface 900 may provide a variety of
developer-relevant content. In particular, the interface 900 may
include a notification section 902. The notification section 902
may post notifications that are directed to or are potentially
relevant to the developer account. As examples, a developer may
receive notifications relating to payments to be made to the
developer for usage of the developer's application(s) by users of
the platform, or notifications relating to usage metrics regarding
the developer's application(s) on the platform. As another example,
the illustrated notification section 902 includes an "app
development opportunity" notification 904 intended to notify the
developer of the availability of a new application build
recommendation.
[0112] Selection of the "app development opportunity" notification
904 may result in display of the build guide recommendation
details. FIG. 10 illustrates one example of an application build
recommendation interface 1000. The interface 1000 may provide
information regarding the application category, merchant class,
functions or features that were identified by the platform when
generating the application build recommendation. It may further
provide access to details of the search queries (suitably
anonymized to avoid revealing personal details of searchers) in
some implementations. It may further provide any geographical data
or restrictions identified by the platform when generating the
application build recommendation. It may further provide score data
relating to the confidence with which the platform was able to
determine each identified function or feature, i.e. its potential
relevance score.
[0113] In some cases, the interface 1000 may further provide
actuable user interface elements to accept or decline the
application build opportunity. Selection of the decline button may
result in deletion of the notification and/or the application build
recommendation. Selection of the accept may trigger a further
process, such an enrolment process to formal enroll the developer
in the process of developing an application aimed at meeting the
application build recommendations. In some cases, acceptance may
simply result in the platform identifying future submissions by the
developer to assess whether any newly-uploaded applications relate
to the application build recommendation, without more formally
tracking their progress or following-up.
[0114] Irrespective of whether the platform tracks developer
activity or not in connection with the building of applications,
and irrespective of whether there is any formal enrolment process
for engaging developers to work on application build
recommendations, the platform may seek to identify when a new
application satisfies a past application build recommendation. FIG.
11 shows, in flowchart form, one example of a method 1100 of
notifying users regarding potentially relevant new
applications.
[0115] The method 1100 may be implemented by way of software
containing computer-readable instructions that, when executed by
one or more processors of a computer, cause the computer to
implement the operations described. With reference to FIG. 1 as an
example, the operations of the method 1100 may be implemented by
way of the application search, recommendation and support platform
128 (FIG. 1) or by some other component or module in the e-commerce
platform 100 (FIG. 1). In general, the description below will refer
to the method 1100 being carried out by a processor.
[0116] The method 1100 may include identifying whether an
application newly-uploaded to the platform relates to a
previously-generated application build recommendation. If so, then
the platform may identify the users that sought such an application
in the past and advise them of its availability.
[0117] The method 1100 may begin with operation 1102 in which the
platform detects receipt of a new application. The new application
may be uploaded to an application store by the developer. In some
cases, the new application may be authorized or approved by an
administrator of the platform before being made available to users
in the application store.
[0118] When a new application is detected in operation 1102, then
in operation 1104 the platform may extract metadata regarding the
application. The application may, in some cases include a manifest
or other such document or file providing details regarding the
application and its functions or features. In some cases, the
developer may provide an application title, category, narrative
description, and other such metadata when uploading the application
to the application store. The platform may then, in operation 1106,
compare the extracted metadata regarding the application to a
stored set of previously-generated application build
recommendations.
[0119] The comparison may result in a match or partial match
between the extracted metadata and the features, functions, and
other details in one of the application build recommendations. The
partial match may be indicated by a level of confidence, e.g. a
percentage match or the like. If the level of confidence in the
match is below a threshold confidence, in operation 108, then the
method 1100 may end. However, if there is at least a threshold
confidence in the match, then in operation 1110 the platform may
notify users of the available new application. In particular, the
platform may identify the users that sought such an application
unsuccessfully and generated unfulfilled queries that were the
basis for generating the application build recommendation. The
platform may have stored in association with the application build
recommendation a list of user identifiers corresponding to those
queries that served as the basis for the generation of the
application build recommendation. The platform may have stored the
queries that served as the basis for the application build
recommendations, and the queries may each identify the user that
created the query. In some cases, operation 1110 may involve
excluding identified users that have subsequently downloaded an
application in the same application category or sub-category.
[0120] In some embodiments, as an alternative to operations
1106-1110, or in addition to operations 1106-1110, as indicated by
the dashed line, the platform may retrieve and reprocess
unfulfilled queries as indicated by operation 1112. Unfulfilled
queries may be stored in the unfulfilled query database. In some
cases, only unfulfilled queries that related to the application
category associated with the new application may be re-processed.
By re-processing the unfulfilled queries, the platform may
determine whether the new application meets the query by being a
relevant result 1114. If not, then the method 1100 may end. If the
new application is a relevant result to one of the reprocessed
queries, then the platform may notify the user that generated the
query, as indicated by operation 1116.
Implementations
[0121] The methods and systems described herein may be deployed in
part or in whole through a machine that executes computer software,
program codes, and/or instructions on a processor. The processor
may be part of a server, cloud server, client, network
infrastructure, mobile computing platform, stationary computing
platform, or other computing platform. A processor may be any kind
of computational or processing device capable of executing program
instructions, codes, binary instructions and the like. The
processor may be or include a signal processor, digital processor,
embedded processor, microprocessor or any variant such as a
co-processor (math co-processor, graphic co-processor,
communication co-processor and the like) and the like that may
directly or indirectly facilitate execution of program code or
program instructions stored thereon. In addition, the processor may
enable execution of multiple programs, threads, and codes. The
threads may be executed simultaneously to enhance the performance
of the processor and to facilitate simultaneous operations of the
application. By way of implementation, methods, program codes,
program instructions and the like described herein may be
implemented in one or more thread. The thread may spawn other
threads that may have assigned priorities associated with them; the
processor may execute these threads based on priority or any other
order based on instructions provided in the program code. The
processor may include memory that stores methods, codes,
instructions and programs as described herein and elsewhere. The
processor may access a storage medium through an interface that may
store methods, codes, and instructions as described herein and
elsewhere. The storage medium associated with the processor for
storing methods, programs, codes, program instructions or other
type of instructions capable of being executed by the computing or
processing device may include but may not be limited to one or more
of a CD-ROM, DVD, memory, hard disk, flash drive, RAM, ROM, cache
and the like.
[0122] A processor may include one or more cores that may enhance
speed and performance of a multiprocessor. In embodiments, the
process may be a dual core processor, quad core processors, other
chip-level multiprocessor and the like that combine two or more
independent cores (called a die).
[0123] The methods and systems described herein may be deployed in
part or in whole through a machine that executes computer software
on a server, cloud server, client, firewall, gateway, hub, router,
or other such computer and/or networking hardware. The software
program may be associated with a server that may include a file
server, print server, domain server, internet server, intranet
server and other variants such as secondary server, host server,
distributed server and the like. The server may include one or more
of memories, processors, computer readable media, storage media,
ports (physical and virtual), communication devices, and interfaces
capable of accessing other servers, clients, machines, and devices
through a wired or a wireless medium, and the like. The methods,
programs or codes as described herein and elsewhere may be executed
by the server. In addition, other devices required for execution of
methods as described in this application may be considered as a
part of the infrastructure associated with the server.
[0124] The server may provide an interface to other devices
including, without limitation, clients, other servers, printers,
database servers, print servers, file servers, communication
servers, distributed servers and the like. Additionally, this
coupling and/or connection may facilitate remote execution of
program across the network. The networking of some or all of these
devices may facilitate parallel processing of a program or method
at one or more location without deviating from the scope of the
disclosure. In addition, any of the devices attached to the server
through an interface may include at least one storage medium
capable of storing methods, programs, code and/or instructions. A
central repository may provide program instructions to be executed
on different devices. In this implementation, the remote repository
may act as a storage medium for program code, instructions, and
programs.
[0125] The software program may be associated with a client that
may include a file client, print client, domain client, internet
client, intranet client and other variants such as secondary
client, host client, distributed client and the like. The client
may include one or more of memories, processors, computer readable
media, storage media, ports (physical and virtual), communication
devices, and interfaces capable of accessing other clients,
servers, machines, and devices through a wired or a wireless
medium, and the like. The methods, programs or codes as described
herein and elsewhere may be executed by the client. In addition,
other devices required for execution of methods as described in
this application may be considered as a part of the infrastructure
associated with the client.
[0126] The client may provide an interface to other devices
including, without limitation, servers, other clients, printers,
database servers, print servers, file servers, communication
servers, distributed servers and the like. Additionally, this
coupling and/or connection may facilitate remote execution of
program across the network. The networking of some or all of these
devices may facilitate parallel processing of a program or method
at one or more location without deviating from the scope of the
disclosure. In addition, any of the devices attached to the client
through an interface may include at least one storage medium
capable of storing methods, programs, applications, code and/or
instructions. A central repository may provide program instructions
to be executed on different devices. In this implementation, the
remote repository may act as a storage medium for program code,
instructions, and programs.
[0127] The methods and systems described herein may be deployed in
part or in whole through network infrastructures. The network
infrastructure may include elements such as computing devices,
servers, routers, hubs, firewalls, clients, personal computers,
communication devices, routing devices and other active and passive
devices, modules and/or components as known in the art. The
computing and/or non-computing device(s) associated with the
network infrastructure may include, apart from other components, a
storage medium such as flash memory, buffer, stack, RAM, ROM and
the like. The processes, methods, program codes, instructions
described herein and elsewhere may be executed by one or more of
the network infrastructural elements.
[0128] The methods, program codes, and instructions described
herein and elsewhere may be implemented in different devices which
may operate in wired or wireless networks. Examples of wireless
networks include 4th Generation (4G) networks (e.g. Long Term
Evolution (LTE)) or 5th Generation (5G) networks, as well as
non-cellular networks such as Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs).
However, the principles described therein may equally apply to
other types of networks.
[0129] The operations, methods, programs codes, and instructions
described herein and elsewhere may be implemented on or through
mobile devices. The mobile devices may include navigation devices,
cell phones, mobile phones, mobile personal digital assistants,
laptops, palmtops, netbooks, pagers, electronic books readers,
music players and the like. These devices may include, apart from
other components, a storage medium such as a flash memory, buffer,
RAM, ROM and one or more computing devices. The computing devices
associated with mobile devices may be enabled to execute program
codes, methods, and instructions stored thereon. Alternatively, the
mobile devices may be configured to execute instructions in
collaboration with other devices. The mobile devices may
communicate with base stations interfaced with servers and
configured to execute program codes. The mobile devices may
communicate on a peer to peer network, mesh network, or other
communications network. The program code may be stored on the
storage medium associated with the server and executed by a
computing device embedded within the server. The base station may
include a computing device and a storage medium. The storage device
may store program codes and instructions executed by the computing
devices associated with the base station.
[0130] The computer software, program codes, and/or instructions
may be stored and/or accessed on machine readable media that may
include: computer components, devices, and recording media that
retain digital data used for computing for some interval of time;
semiconductor storage known as random access memory (RAM); mass
storage typically for more permanent storage, such as optical
discs, forms of magnetic storage like hard disks, tapes, drums,
cards and other types; processor registers, cache memory, volatile
memory, non-volatile memory; optical storage such as CD, DVD;
removable media such as flash memory (e.g. USB sticks or keys),
floppy disks, magnetic tape, paper tape, punch cards, standalone
RAM disks, Zip drives, removable mass storage, off-line, and the
like; other computer memory such as dynamic memory, static memory,
read/write storage, mutable storage, read only, random access,
sequential access, location addressable, file addressable, content
addressable, network attached storage, storage area network, bar
codes, magnetic ink, and the like.
[0131] The methods and systems described herein may transform
physical and/or or intangible items from one state to another. The
methods and systems described herein may also transform data
representing physical and/or intangible items from one state to
another, such as from usage data to a normalized usage dataset.
[0132] The elements described and depicted herein, including in
flow charts and block diagrams throughout the figures, imply
logical boundaries between the elements. However, according to
software or hardware engineering practices, the depicted elements
and the functions thereof may be implemented on machines through
computer executable media having a processor capable of executing
program instructions stored thereon as a monolithic software
structure, as standalone software modules, or as modules that
employ external routines, code, services, and so forth, or any
combination of these, and all such implementations may be within
the scope of the present disclosure. Examples of such machines may
include, but may not be limited to, personal digital assistants,
laptops, personal computers, mobile phones, other handheld
computing devices, medical equipment, wired or wireless
communication devices, transducers, chips, calculators, satellites,
tablet PCs, electronic books, gadgets, electronic devices, devices
having artificial intelligence, computing devices, networking
equipment, servers, routers and the like. Furthermore, the elements
depicted in the flow chart and block diagrams or any other logical
component may be implemented on a machine capable of executing
program instructions. Thus, while the foregoing drawings and
descriptions set forth functional aspects of the disclosed systems,
no particular arrangement of software for implementing these
functional aspects should be inferred from these descriptions
unless explicitly stated or otherwise clear from the context.
Similarly, it will be appreciated that the various steps identified
and described above may be varied, and that the order of steps may
be adapted to particular applications of the techniques disclosed
herein. All such variations and modifications are intended to fall
within the scope of this disclosure. As such, the depiction and/or
description of an order for various steps should not be understood
to require a particular order of execution for those steps, unless
required by a particular application, or explicitly stated or
otherwise clear from the context.
[0133] The methods and/or processes described above, and steps
thereof, may be realized in hardware, software or any combination
of hardware and software suitable for a particular application. The
hardware may include a general-purpose computer and/or dedicated
computing device or specific computing device or particular aspect
or component of a specific computing device. The processes may be
realized in one or more microprocessors, microcontrollers, embedded
microcontrollers, programmable digital signal processors or other
programmable device, along with internal and/or external memory.
The processes may also, or instead, be embodied in an application
specific integrated circuit, a programmable gate array,
programmable array logic, or any other device or combination of
devices that may be configured to process electronic signals. It
will further be appreciated that one or more of the processes may
be realized as a computer executable code capable of being executed
on a machine readable medium.
[0134] The computer executable code may be created using a
structured programming language such as C, an object oriented
programming language such as C++, or any other high-level or
low-level programming language (including assembly languages,
hardware description languages, and database programming languages
and technologies) that may be stored, compiled or interpreted to
run on one of the above devices, as well as heterogeneous
combinations of processors, processor architectures, or
combinations of different hardware and software, or any other
machine capable of executing program instructions.
[0135] Thus, in one aspect, each method described above, and
combinations thereof may be embodied in computer executable code
that, when executing on one or more computing devices, performs the
steps thereof. In another aspect, the methods may be embodied in
systems that perform the steps thereof and may be distributed
across devices in a number of ways, or all of the functionality may
be integrated into a dedicated, standalone device or other
hardware. In another aspect, the means for performing the steps
associated with the processes described above may include any of
the hardware and/or software described above. All such permutations
and combinations are intended to fall within the scope of the
present disclosure.
* * * * *