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Amazon.com Granted New U.S. Patent re Novel Business Process
The U.S. Patents and Trademark office has recently granted Amazon.com a patent that assists users in purchasing items and gifts by providing them with suggestions about alternatives and complimentary products, and by sending them gift reminders. In general terms, the patent works by inferring information about a recipient by analyzing the users' choices in selecting items. For instance, if the user purchases a toy item for a two year-old girl in a given year, and then purchases another toy for a three-year old girl the following year, the Website can use this information and infer the gender, age and the approximate date of birth of the recipient. Messages sent with the gift can also be broken down by the system to search for keywords such as "birthday" or "gift" to provide additional information about the recipient. The Website, through its data mining techniques, may then provide birthday reminders to users, and offer suggestions and alternatives about what kinds of gifts and products may be appropriate.
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