Groupon, Inc.

Expedia, Inc.

John C Kim

Shafiq Shariff

Jeffrey Alan Holden

Jeffrey M Ayars

Gregory Joseph Conklin

Nathaniel Blake Scholl

David Elias Fleischman

Daniel Harrison Friedman

Joanne Louise Burger

Brian Scott Keffeler

Jeffrey Stewart Miller

Glenn Padgett Crowe

Vincent Yung

Murari Gopalan

Anne Marie Tuazon

Gregory Scott Mushen

Benoit Jolin

Arthur Atherton Chapin

A network-based service may be provided for facilitating queries for a number of items, such as travel services. A user may submit a query including criteria for determining one or more relevant items. Based on the submitted query, the network-based service may present the user with information regarding the actions of other similar users of the network-based service, such as searches performed by the other users. Based on this information, the user may elect to supplement the current query to conform to the actions for other users. In some embodiments, actions by other users may be based at least in part on a category of the querying user. By presenting actions of similar users, a current user may be enabled to select the most relevant query terms for identifying a desired item.

Managing item queries

Techniques are described for providing location-based information and functionality to people and computing devices in various ways. In at least some situations, the techniques include enabling multiple people in a common geographic area to interact in various ways, such as via devices capable of communications (e.g., cellular telephones, computing devices with wired and/or wireless communications capabilities, etc.), while in other situations at least some users who are remote from a particular geographic area may be allowed to intercommunicate with one or more other users or other entities in or related to that geographic area. In addition, the techniques include enabling the creation and maintenance of location-based virtual groups of users (also referred to as 'clouds'), such as for users of mobile and/or fixed-location devices. Such clouds may enable various types of interactions between group members, and may be temporary and/or mobile.

Method and system for enabling the creation and maintenance of proximity-related user groups

A user of a personal computing device may interact with a network-based travel service with respect to one or more travel items. The network-based travel service may monitor the users' interactions, determine user's travel interests, and provide relevant travel item provider devices information for generating user-specific offers. For example, anonymized user statistics, suggested terms for a user-specific offer, or estimated likelihood of acceptance may be provided to the travel item provider. The network-based travel service may receive and evaluate user-specific offers submitted by the travel item provider, cause presentation to corresponding users, and enable the users to accept, decline or propose modifications to the offers.

User-specific travel offers

Provided herein are systems, methods and computer readable media for creating and managing temporary virtual groups. An example apparatus may be configured enable an administrative entity to establish a temporary virtual group, enable the administrative entity to define configuration information for the temporary virtual group, the enabling of the administrative entity to define the configuration information comprising establishing membership criteria for admittance of one or more members to the temporary virtual group, establishing rules of interaction among the one or more members of that the temporary virtual group, establishing termination criteria, the termination criteria configured to determine when the temporary virtual group will terminate, and facilitate transmission of the message from the first member to a second member, and terminate the temporary virtual group upon determination that the termination criteria is met.

Method and system for enabling the creation and maintenance of temporary user groups

Techniques are described for providing location-based information and functionality to people and computing devices in various ways. In at least some situations, the techniques include enabling multiple people in a common geographic area to interact in various ways, such as via devices capable of communications (e.g., cellular telephones, computing devices with wired and/or wireless communications capabilities, etc.), while in other situations at least some users who are remote from a particular geographic area may be allowed to inter-communicate with one or more other users or other entities in or related to that geographic area. In addition, the techniques include enabling the creation and maintenance of location-based virtual groups of users (also referred to as 'clouds'), such as for users of mobile and/or fixed-location devices. Such clouds may enable various types of interactions between group members, and may be temporary and/or mobile.

Growing community of inventors

Sammamish, WA, United States of America

John C Kim