초록 ▼

A facility for determining availability status for item groups each containing one or more items is described. For each item whose availability status changes, for each item group containing the item, the facility adds the item group to a list of item groups if the item group is not already present

A facility for determining availability status for item groups each containing one or more items is described. For each item whose availability status changes, for each item group containing the item, the facility adds the item group to a list of item groups if the item group is not already present in the list. The facility periodically removes a plurality of item groups from the list. For each item group it removes from the list, the facility determines an availability status for the item group based upon availability statuses of items contained in the group.

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1. A method in a computing system for determining availability statuses for a plurality of item groups, wherein each item group includes multiple different items, wherein each of the multiple different items is associated with a respective individual availability status of that item, the method comp

1. A method in a computing system for determining availability statuses for a plurality of item groups, wherein each item group includes multiple different items, wherein each of the multiple different items is associated with a respective individual availability status of that item, the method comprising: identifying multiple item groups of said plurality of item groups, wherein identifying each item group comprises determining that a respective individual availability status of an item included within that item group has changed; wherein for each identified item group, each of the multiple different items included with that item group are offered for sale together as a group;for each of at least some of the identified item groups: determining that the item group is not already listed on a list of changed item groups, wherein each changed item group on the list includes an item for which a respective individual availability status has changed, and in response to determining that the item group is not already listed on the list of changed item groups, adding a record of that identified item group to the list of changed item groups;utilizing predetermined quantities of computing resources at different predetermined instances in time in order to determine a respective availability status of each item group on the list of changed item groups, wherein said utilizing comprises: at each of the different predetermined instances in time: removing one or more records of at least some of the item groups previously added to the list of changed item groups, and for each item group corresponding to a record removed from the list, determining an availability status for that item group based upon an evaluation of the individual availability statuses of multiple different items included in that item group, wherein the availability status determined for that item group is: a common availability status for all items of the item group, indicative of whether all items of the item group are available to be purchased together as a group, and distinct from the individual availability statuses of the multiple different items included within that item group. 2. The method of claim 1 wherein each item group corresponding to a record removed from the list is, at the time of removal, the item group corresponding to a record earliest added to the list, but not yet removed. 3. The method of claim 1 wherein the method comprises adding item groups containing a distinguished item to the list in response to receiving an asynchronous message indicating that the availability status of the distinguished item has changed. 4. The method of claim 3 wherein the availability status of the distinguished item is different when it is used to determine availability statuses for the item groups containing the distinguished item than when the item groups containing the distinguished item are added to the list. 5. The method of claim 1 wherein the method comprises removing no more than a predetermined maximum quantity of item groups from the list at a given one of the predetermined instances in time. 6. The method of claim 5 further comprising, in response to the predetermined maximum quantity of item groups being removed from the list in a single period of time, waiting a particular predetermined period of time before removing additional item groups from the list. 7. A computer-readable medium whose contents cause a computing system to determine availability statuses for a plurality of item groups, wherein each item group includes multiple different items, wherein each of the multiple different items is associated with a respective individual availability status of that item, wherein said contents are executable by said computing system to: identify multiple item groups that each include at least one item determined to be associated with a respective individual availability status that has changed; wherein for each identified item group, each of the multiple different items included with that item group are offered for sale together as a group;for each of at least some of the identified item groups, add a record of that identified item group to a list of changed item groups;utilize predetermined quantities of computing resources at different predetermined instances in time in order to determine a respective availability status of each identified item group, wherein to perform said utilizing said contents are configured to: at each of the different predetermined instances in time: remove one or more records of at least some of the item groups previously added to the list of changed item groups, and for each item group corresponding to a record removed from the list, determine an availability status for that item group based upon an evaluation of the individual availability statuses of multiple different items included in that item group, wherein the availability status determined for that item group is: a common availability status for all items of the item group, indicative of whether all items of the item group are available to be purchased together as a group, and distinct from the individual availability statuses of the multiple different items included within that item group. 8. The computer-readable medium of claim 7 wherein said at least some of the identified item groups do not include all of the identified item groups. 9. The computer-readable medium of claim 7 wherein, at one or more of said predetermined instances in time, no availability statuses are determined for one of the plurality of item groups not identified by said contents. 10. A computing system for determining availability statuses for a plurality of item groups, wherein each item group includes multiple different items, wherein each of the multiple different items is associated with a respective individual availability status of that item, the system comprising: a memory storing one or more programs; andone or more processors coupled to the memory, wherein said one or more programs are executable by the one or more processors to implement: an item group addition subsystem configured to: identify multiple item groups of said plurality of item groups, wherein identifying each item group comprises determining that a respective individual availability status of an item included within that item group has changed; wherein for each identified item group, each of the multiple different items included with that item group are offered for sale together as a group; andfor each of at least some of the identified item groups: determine that the item group is not already listed on a list of changed item groups, wherein each changed item group on the list includes an item for which a respective individual availability status has changed; and in response to determining that the item group is not already listed on the list of changed item groups, add a record of that identified item group to the list of changed item groups; andan item group removal subsystem configured to utilize predetermined quantities of computing resources at different predetermined instances in time in order to determine a respective availability status of each item group on the list of changed item groups, wherein to perform said utilizing the item group removal subsystem is configured to: at each of the different predetermined instances in time: remove one or more records of at least some of the item groups previously added to the list of changed item groups, and for each item group corresponding to a record removed from the list, determine an availability status for that item group based upon an evaluation of the individual availability statuses of multiple different items included in that item group, wherein the availability status determined for that item group is: a common availability status for all items of the item group, indicative of whether all items of the item group are available to be purchased together as a group, and distinct from the individual availability statuses of the multiple different items included within that item group. 11. A method in a computing system for updating availability information for a plurality of group items each including multiple different individual items, the method comprising: detecting each of a plurality of changes to availability information of individual items;identifying multiple group items of said plurality of group items, wherein each of the identified group items includes at least one of the individual items for which availability information has changed;for each of at least some of the identified item groups, adding a record of that identified item group to a list of changed item groups; andutilizing predetermined quantities of computing resources at different predetermined instances in time in order to update a respective availability status of each identified group item, wherein said utilizing comprises: at each of the different predetermined instances in time: for each of at least some of the identified group items, removing one or more records of at least some of the group items previously added to the list of changed group items, and for each group item corresponding to a record removed from the list, modifying availability information of that identified group item based on an evaluation of current availability information for each of the multiple different individual items included in that identified group item, wherein the availability status determined for that group item is: a common availability status for all items of the group item, indicative of whether all items of the group item are available to be purchased together as a group and distinct from the individual availability statuses of the multiple different items included within that group item. 12. The method of claim 11 wherein the detecting and identifying is performed in a first process, and wherein the modifying is performed in a second process distinct from the first process. 13. The method of claim 11 wherein the detecting and identifying is performed by a first daemon, and wherein the modifying is performed in a second daemon distinct from the first daemon. 14. The method of claim 11 wherein the detecting includes transmitting an asynchronous message for each detected change to availability information of an individual item. 15. The method of claim 14 wherein the identifying and modifying is performed in response to receiving the transmitted asynchronous message. 16. The method of claim 11 wherein the detecting includes broadcasting to a plurality of recipients an asynchronous message for each detected change to availability information of an individual item. 17. The method of claim 11, further comprising adding the identified group items to a group item queue if not already present in the group item queue. 18. The method of claim 17 wherein availability information of group items in the group item queue is updated when a scheduling mechanism triggers the updating. 19. The method of claim 11 wherein the identifying and modifying is performed immediately in response to each detected change to availability information of an individual item. 20. The method of claim 11 wherein the identifying and modifying is performed at a time later than each detected change to availability information of an individual item. 21. The method of claim 11 wherein the detecting includes receiving asynchronous messages each describing a cause for modifying availability information of an individual item. 22. The method of claim 11, further comprising, in response to a detected change to availability information of at least one individual item, for at least one of the group items identified as containing the individual item, transmitting an asynchronous message indicating the updated availability information for the group item. 23. The method of claim 11, further comprising broadcasting to a plurality of recipients an asynchronous message indicating the update of availability information for each of the identified group items whose availability information is modified. 24. A computing system for updating availability information for a plurality of group items each including multiple different individual items, the system comprising: a memory storing one or programs; andone or more processors coupled to the memory, wherein said one or more programs are executable by the one or more processors to implement: a detection subsystem configured to detect each of a plurality of changes to availability information of individual items;a group item identification subsystem configured to: identify multiple group items of said plurality of group items, wherein each of the identified group items includes at least one of the individual items for which availability information has changed;a group item addition subsystem configured to: for each of at least some of the identified item groups, add a record of that identified item group to a list of changed item groups; andan update subsystem configured to utilize predetermined quantities of computing resources at different predetermined instances in time in order to update a respective availability status of each identified group item, wherein to perform said utilizing the update subsystem is configured to: at each of the different predetermined instances in time: remove one or more records of at least some of the group items previously added to the list of changed item groups, and for each group item corresponding to a record removed from the list, modify availability information of that group item based on an evaluation of current availability information for each of the multiple different individual items included in that group item, wherein the availability status determined for that group item is: a common availability status for all items of the group item, indicative of whether all items of the group item are available to be purchased together as a group, and distinct from the individual availability statuses of the multiple different items included within that group item. 25. A computer-readable medium whose contents cause a computing system to determine availability statuses for a plurality of item groups, wherein each item group includes multiple different items, wherein each of the multiple different items is associated with a respective individual availability status of that item, wherein said contents are executable by the computing system to: identify multiple item groups of said plurality of item groups, wherein identifying each item group comprises determining that a respective individual availability status of an item included within that item group has changed; wherein for each identified item group, each of the multiple different items included with that item group are offered for sale together as a group;for each of at least some of the identified item groups: determine that the item group is not already listed on a list of changed item groups, wherein each changed item group on the list includes an item for which a respective individual availability status has changed; and in response to determining that the item group is not already listed on the list of changed item groups, add a record of that identified item group to the list of changed item groups;utilize predetermined quantities of computing resources at different predetermined instances in time in order to determine a respective availability status of each item group on the list of changed item groups, wherein to perform said utilizing said contents are configured to: at each of the different predetermined instances in time: remove one or more records of at least some of the item groups previously added to the list of changed item groups, and for each item group corresponding to a record removed from the list, determine an availability status for that item group based upon an evaluation of the individual availability statuses of multiple different items included in the item group, wherein the availability status determined for that item group is: a common availability status for all items of the item group, indicative of whether all items of the item group are available to be purchased together as a group, and distinct from the individual availability statuses of the multiple different items included within that item group. 26. The medium of claim 25, wherein each item group corresponding to a record removed from the list is, at the time of removal, the item group corresponding to a record earliest added to the list, but not yet removed. 27. The medium of claim 25, wherein said contents are further executable to add item groups containing a distinguished item to the list in response to receiving an asynchronous message indicating that the availability status of the distinguished item has changed. 28. The medium of claim 27, wherein the availability status of the distinguished item is different when it is used to determine availability statuses for the item groups containing the distinguished item than when the item groups containing the distinguished item are added to the list. 29. The medium of claim 25, wherein said contents are further executable to remove no more than a predetermined maximum quantity of item groups from the list at a given one of the predetermined instances in time. 30. The medium of claim 29 wherein, said contents are further executable to, if the predetermined maximum quantity of item groups are removed from the list in a single period of time, wait a predetermined period of time before removing additional item groups from the list.