Wireless customer and labor management optimization in retail settings

• US 10,083,409 B2
• Filed: 02/14/2014
• Issued: 09/25/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 02/14/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: BBY Solutions Incorporated (Best Buy Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: BBY Solutions Incorporated (Best Buy Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Azar, Michele, Hake, Lisa, Marble, Andrew, Shiely, Brent, Wortley, William Don, Zorn, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Rotaru, Octavian
• Application Number:
  US14/180,527
• Publication Number:
  US 20150235161A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,684 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063114 Status monitoring or status determination for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/016 After-sales
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/33 for indoor environments, e.g. buildings

Abstract

Techniques and system configurations for tracking customers and employees in a commercial environment such as a retail store are described herein. Customer devices that are operated by an associated customer may be tracked to determine customer shopping activities in a retail store, and to obtain promotions or affect targeted results based on the customer'"'"'s activity and a profile associated with the customer. Employee devices that are operated by an associated employee also may be tracked to identify employee activities and manage the interactions that occur with customers in the retail environment. In-store activities and interactions accordingly may be enhanced as a result of advertising, marketing, and analytics derived from the tracked activities.

Claims

1. A method performed by electronic operations of an electronic tracking system accessible in a physical retail environment, comprising:

establishing a wireless network connection with a portable electronic device via a wireless communications network, the wireless communications network being accessible to the portable electronic device in the retail environment;

receiving, via the wireless communications network, an identifier of the portable electronic device;

identifying, from the identifier of the portable electronic device, an employee user associated with the portable electronic device;

obtaining, from a first set of wireless communications exchanged with the portable electronic device over the wireless communications network, location-identifying data for the first set of wireless communications;

calculating a position of the portable electronic device in the retail environment from analysis of the location-identifying data for the first set of wireless communications, wherein the position of the portable electronic device is determined relative to a plurality of defined locations in the retail environment, and wherein the plurality of defined locations correspond to a plurality of zones mapped for the retail environment;

obtaining, from a second set of wireless communications exchanged with the portable electronic device over the wireless communications network, location-identifying data for the second set of wireless communications;

tracking movement, of the portable electronic device in the retail environment by calculating updated positions of the portable electronic device from analysis of the location-identifying data for the second set of wireless communications, wherein the movement of the portable electronic device is determined relative to the plurality of defined locations in the retail environment; and

delivering retail promotional information to the portable electronic device via a third set of wireless communications over the wireless communication network, wherein the retail promotional information is delivered to the portable electronic device based on the movement of the portable electronic device among the plurality of zones in the retail environment and based on a location of the portable electronic device in a particular zone of the plurality of zones;

wherein the retail promotional information is provided in a user interactive display presented to the employee user on the portable electronic device, and wherein the retail promotional information is selected for display to the employee user based on a location of a customer portable electronic device operated by a customer and movement of the customer portable electronic device among the plurality of zones in the retail environment.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein calculating the position of the portable electronic device includes triangulating a position of the portable electronic device within the retail environment from signal characteristics of the first set of wireless communications, wherein the first set of wireless communications are conducted according to a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) network standard from the IEEE 802.11 standard family, and wherein the identifier transmitted to the electronic tracking system via the wireless communications network is a MAC address.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein calculating the position of the portable electronic device is assisted by information obtained from one or both of a Bluetooth beacon or a Near Field Communication (NFC) device, the Bluetooth beacon operating according to a standard from a Bluetooth standards family, and the NFC device operating according to an exchange of data from a Radio Frequency Identifier (RFID) tag.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the user interactive display presented on the portable electronic device includes prompts to assist the customer associated with the customer portable electronic device, the prompts to assist the customer including content based on activity of the customer in the retail environment, and wherein the activity of the customer is determined from tracking movement of the customer portable electronic device in the retail environment.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the prompts to assist the customer include prompts for the employee user to offer a promotion to the customer based on shopping activity of the customer in the retail environment.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the plurality of zones mapped for the retail environment respectively correspond to a plurality of product type department zones mapped for the retail environment.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the portable electronic device is a smartphone, and wherein the retail promotional information selected for display to the employee user includes promotion prompts triggered from activity of the customer occurring among the plurality of zones in the retail environment.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the retail promotional information delivered to the portable electronic device is further customized based on a customer profile associated with the customer, the customer profile maintained by a retail operator entity in the retail environment.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the retail promotional information delivered to the portable electronic device is further customized to deliver promotions offered in respective zones of the plurality of zones in the retail environment, and wherein the movement and a time duration of the customer portable electronic device is tracked among the respective zones.

18. The method of claim 2, wherein the signal characteristics relate to:

timestamp delays, response time, time of flight, signal strength, or direction, of the first set of wireless communications.

10. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium including instructions for device tracking and interaction in a retail environment, the instructions which when executed by a computing device of an electronic tracking system cause the computing device to perform operations including:

establishing a wireless network connection with a portable electronic device via a wireless communications network, the wireless communications network being accessible to the portable electronic device in the retail environment;

receiving, via the wireless communications network, an identifier of the portable electronic device;

identifying, from the identifier of the portable electronic device, an employee user associated with the portable electronic device;

obtaining, from a first set of wireless communications exchanged with the portable electronic device over the wireless communications network, location-identifying data for the first set of wireless communications;

calculating a position of the portable electronic device in the retail environment from analysis of the location-identifying data for the first set of wireless communications, wherein the position of the portable electronic device is determined relative to a plurality of defined locations in the retail environment, and wherein the plurality of defined locations correspond to a plurality of zones mapped for the retail environment;

obtaining, from a second set of wireless communications exchanged with the portable electronic device over the wireless communications network, location-identifying data for the second set of wireless communications;

tracking movement of the portable electronic device in the retail environment by calculating updated positions of the portable electronic device from analysis of the location-identifying data for the second set of wireless communications, wherein the movement of the portable electronic device is determined relative to the plurality of defined locations in the retail environment; and

delivering retail promotional information to the portable electronic device via a third set of wireless communications over the wireless communication network, wherein the retail promotional information is delivered to the portable electronic device based on the movement of the portable electronic device among the plurality of zones in the retail environment and based on a location of the portable electronic device in a particular zone of the plurality of zones;

wherein the retail promotional information is provided in a user interactive display presented to the employee user on the portable electronic device, and wherein the retail promotional information is selected for display to the employee user based on a location of a customer portable electronic device operated by a customer and movement of the customer portable electronic device among the plurality of zones in the retail environment.

11. The machine-readable medium of claim 10, wherein calculating the position of the portable electronic device includes triangulating a position of the portable electronic device within the retail environment, from signal characteristics of the first set of wireless communications, wherein the first set of wireless communications are conducted according to a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) network standard from the IEEE 802.11 standard family, and wherein the identifier transmitted to the electronic tracking system via the wireless communications network is a MAC address.

12. The machine-readable medium of claim 10, wherein calculating the position of the portable electronic device is assisted by information obtained from one or both of a Bluetooth beacon or a Near Field Communication (NFC) device, the Bluetooth beacon operating according to a standard from a Bluetooth standards family, and the NFC device operating according to an exchange of data from a Radio Frequency Identifier (REID) tag.

13. The machine-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the user interactive display presented on the portable electronic device includes prompts to assist the customer associated with the customer portable electronic device, the prompts to assist the customer including content based on activity of the customer in the retail environment, and wherein the activity of the customer is determined from tracking movement of the customer portable electronic device with the customer in the retail environment.

14. An electronic tracking system, comprising:

processing circuitry to perform electronic operations that;

establish a wireless network connection with a portable electronic device in a retail environment via a wireless communications network, the wireless communications network being accessible to the portable electronic device in the retail environment;

receive, via the wireless communications network, an identifier of the portable electronic device;

identify, from the identifier of the portable electronic device, an employee user associated with the portable electronic device;

obtaining, from a first set of wireless communications exchanged with the portable electronic device over the wireless communications network, location-identifying data for the first set of wireless communications;

calculate a position of the portable electronic device in the retail environment from analysis of the location-identifying data for the first set of wireless communications, wherein the position of the portable electronic device is determined relative to a plurality of defined locations in the retail environment, and wherein the plurality of defined locations correspond to a plurality of zones mapped for the retail environment;

obtaining, from a second set of wireless communications exchanged with the portable electronic device over the wireless communications network, location-identifying data for the second set of wireless communications;

track movement of the portable electronic device in the retail environment by calculating updated positions of the portable electronic device from analysis of the location-identifying data for the second set of wireless communications, wherein the movement of the portable electronic device is determined relative to the plurality of defined locations in the retail environment; and

deliver retail promotional information to the portable electronic device via a third set of wireless communications over the wireless communication network, wherein the retail promotional information is delivered to the portable electronic device based on the movement of the portable electronic device among the plurality of zones in the retail environment and based on a location of the portable electronic device in a particular zone of the plurality of zones;

wherein the retail promotional information is provided in a user interactive display presented to the employee user on the portable electronic device, and wherein the retail promotional information is selected for display to the employee user based on a location of a customer portable electronic device operated by a customer and movement of the customer portable electronic device among the plurality of zones in the retail environment.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the operations that calculate the position of the portable electronic device triangulate a position of the portable electronic device within the retail environment from signal characteristics of the first set of wireless communications, wherein the first set of wireless communications conducted according to a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) network standard from the IEEE 802.11 standard family, and wherein the identifier transmitted to the electronic tracking system via the wireless communications network is a MAC address.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the operations that calculate the position of the portable electronic device are assisted by information obtained from one or both of a Bluetooth beacon or a Near Field Communication (NFC) device, the Bluetooth beacon operating according to a standard from a Bluetooth standards family, and the NFC device operating according to an exchange of data from a Radio Frequency Identifier (REID) tag.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the user interactive display presented on the portable electronic device includes prompts to assist the customer associated with the customer portable electronic device, the prompts to assist the customer including content based on activity of the customer in the retail environment, and wherein the activity of the customer is determined from tracking movement of a second portable electronic device associated with the customer in the retail environment.