Amazon Birthday Gift Determining Tool Receives U.S. Patent

According to a recent US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) filing, Amazon.com has been granted a United States patent entitled "Methods and systems of assisting users in purchasing items", including the use of gift idea purchasing habits to determine the age, gender and birth-date of gift recipients. More specifically the patent refers to determinining information about gift recipients and using that data to suggest relevant gifts and services, such as birthday gifts or Mother's Day gifts and reminders and age- and gender-appropriate gifts.

The patent states "For example, if the purchased toy is a dress for a doll, it may be inferred that the recipient is a girl. The gender information may be used in determining which gift wrapping colors and patterns should be suggested when the item is being purchased as a gift. For example, if it is inferred that the recipient is a girl, pink or pastel colored gift wrapping may be suggested first."

Most of the Amazon.com patent describes how a Web site can determine the age and birth date of birthday gift recipients. The site is capable of using this information to automatically provide services such as birthday gift reminders. The patent description and filing continues "in order to receive birthday reminders, the customer has to actively provide the date of the birthday to the merchant. Many customers will not take the time to provide such birth dates, and so are deprived of receiving reminders." The patent grants Amazon a monopoly on many data-mining methods applied to identifying when a purchase is a gift, and what type of gift it is. The patent filing explains "If the item being ordered is perfume, and the date is one week before Mother's Day, it may be inferred that the perfume is being purchased as a Mother's Day gift. If a user chooses to send a message with a gift, the system can parse the message for 'key words, such as birthday or anniversary' and infer the type of event associated with the gift."