The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 17, 2004
Filed:
Dec. 13, 2002
Hsiaozhang Bill Wang, San Jose, CA (US);
eBay Inc., San Jose, CA (US);
Abstract
Embodiments of the invention provide a method and apparatus for storing multiple items across different categories in a database. One embodiment of the present invention provides a database that includes an attribute value table that has item entries for items of different categories. Each item entry has attribute values for attributes of the items. The database also includes an attribute map table that has attribute map entries. The attribute map entries have attribute map values. Additionally, an attribute value is associated with an attribute map entry, such that the attribute values are translated based on the attribute map values of the associated attribute map entry. In one embodiment, the translating of an attribute value includes determining an attribute type associated with the attribute value.