Smart inventory tags

• US 10,318,569 B1
• Filed: 12/29/2017
• Issued: 06/11/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Block, Inc. (f/k/a Square, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Block, Inc. (f/k/a Square, Inc.)
• Inventors: Funk, Mark, Ng, Claudia J., Khan, Imran, Murse, Jennifer
• Primary Examiner(s): Garcia, Santiago
• Application Number:
  US15/858,911
• Time in Patent Office: 529 Days
• Field of Search: 3405721
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/381 using identifiers, e.g. barcodes, RFIDs for URLs G06F16/9554
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10297 arrangements for handling protocols designed for non-contact record carriers such as RFIDs NFCs, e.g. ISO/IEC 14443 and 18092 cryptographic protocols H04L9/00; network security protocols H04L63/00; real-time communication protocols in data switching networks H04L65/00; network protocols for data switching network services H04L67/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/1434 Barcodes with supplemental or add-on codes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3278 RFID or NFC payments by means of M-devices

Abstract

Smart inventory tags are described herein. In an example, a service provider can determine interaction capability(s) for a tag associated with an item in an inventory of a merchant. The tag can be configured to be positioned proximate to the item offered for sale by the merchant at a physical store of the merchant. The service provider can receive an indication associated with a selection of at least one interaction capability of the interaction capability(s) and, based at least in part on the indication, the service provider can generate encoded information associated with the at least one interaction capability. The service provider can generate an instruction for generating the tag including the encoded information to enable a presentation of a user interface associated with the at least one interaction via a device operated by a user at the physical store of the merchant.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for generating a tag that is to be associated with an item offered for sale by a merchant at a physical store of the merchant, the computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, at a server computing device associated with a payment processing service and from an application executing on a device associated with the merchant, a request to generate the tag for the item;

accessing, by the server computing device and from a data store associated with the payment processing service, inventory data associated with the merchant that identifies items offered for sale by the merchant, the item being at least one of the items identified in the inventory data;

analyzing, by the server computing device, the inventory data associated with the merchant to determine, based at least in part on a data model trained utilizing a machine learning mechanism, interaction capabilities to be associated with an item tag for the item;

responsive to receiving a selection by the merchant of at least one interaction capability of the interaction capabilities, generating, by the server computing device, the item tag and instructions for the item tag to be printed on a physical marker, wherein the item tag is encoded with the at least one interaction capability that is available to customers; and

responsive to receiving an indication that a device operated by a customer interacts with the physical marker at the physical store of the merchant, causing, by the server computing device, a presentation of a user interface on the device operated by the customer to facilitate at least one interaction corresponding to the at least one interaction capability.

2. A computer-implemented method as claim 1 recites, wherein the item is out of stock at the physical store, and the interaction capability enables the customer to determine whether the item is available via an alternative source associated with the merchant or via another merchant.

3. A computer-implemented method as claim 1 recites, wherein the at least one interaction capability enables the customer to add the item to a virtual shopping cart for future fulfillment.

4. A computer-implemented method as claim 1 recites, wherein the at least one interaction capability enables the customer to receive information associated with one or more additional items that are related to the item.

5. A computer-implemented method as claim 1 recites, wherein the at least one interaction capability enables the customer to split a cost of the item with another customer.

6. A computer-implemented method as claim 1 recites, wherein the at least one interaction capability enables the customer to share a virtual representation of the item with another customer via an augmented reality application.

7. A computer-implemented method as claim 1 recites, further comprising:

presenting the interaction capabilities via a merchant-facing user interface that enables the merchant to at least one of view information or control operations associated with a business of the merchant; and

receiving the selection of the at least one interaction capability responsive to an interaction between the merchant and the merchant-facing user interface.

8. A computer-implemented method as claim 7 recites, further comprising:

determining a shared characteristic between the merchant and one or more other merchants; and

determining the interaction capabilities to present via the merchant-facing user interface based at least in part on the shared characteristic between the merchant and the one or more other merchants.

9. A system comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more computer-readable media storing instructions executable by the one or more processors, wherein the instructions program the one or more processors to;

access stored inventory data associated with a merchant that identifies one or more items offered for sale by the merchant;

present, via a merchant-facing user interface that presents information associated with a business of the merchant, one or more interaction capabilities to be associated with a tag for an item of the one or more items;

receive an indication of a first selection of at least one interaction capability of the one or more interaction capabilities;

generate an instruction for generating the tag, the tag being associated with encoded information enabling the at least one interaction capability; and

responsive to receiving an indication that a device operated by a customer interacted with the encoded information at a physical store of the merchant, causing a presentation of a user interface to facilitate at least one interaction corresponding to the at least one interaction capability.

10. A system as claim 9 recites, wherein:

the device is associated with a point-of-sale device;

the merchant-facing user interface is presented via a merchant-facing display associated with the point-of-sale device; and

the user interface is presented via a buyer-facing display associated with the point-of-sale device.

11. A system as claim 9 recites, wherein the instructions further program the one or more processors to:

determine a shared characteristic between the merchant and one or more other merchants; and

select the one or more interaction capabilities to present via the merchant-facing user interface based at least in part on the shared characteristic between the merchant and the one or more other merchants.

12. A system as claim 9 recites, wherein the instructions further program the one or more processors to:

determine, based at least in part on an identifier associated with the indication, an identity of the customer;

access data associated with behavior of the customer with at least one of the merchant or one or more other merchants; and

facilitate the at least one interaction based at least in part on the data associated with the behavior of the customer.

13. A system as claim 9 recites, wherein the at least one interaction capability enables the customer to split a cost of the item with another customer, and the instructions further program the one or more processors to:

determine, based at least in part on the interaction, that the customer desires to split the cost of the item with the other customer;

send, to a different device operated by the other customer, a notification that the customer desires to split the cost of the item with the other customer;

receive, from the different device, a confirmation that the other customer agrees to split the cost of the item with the customer;

associate an indication to split the cost of the item with an identifier of the customer; and

responsive to receiving payment data associated with the customer, charge a first portion of the cost of the item to a first payment instrument of the customer and a second portion of the cost of the item to a second payment instrument associated with the other customer.

14. A system as claim 9 recites, wherein the at least one interaction capability enables the customer to share a virtual representation of the item with another customer via an augmented reality application, and the instructions further program the one or more processors to:

receive data associated with a multi-dimensional model of the item, the data collected via a camera associated with a data collection device and the multi-dimensional model corresponding to the virtual representation;

associate the data with an instance of the item in the stored inventory data of the merchant;

determine, based at least in part on the interaction, that the customer desires to share the virtual representation of the item with the other customer; and

send, to a different device operated by the other customer, the data associated with the multi-dimensional model of the item, the augmented reality application causing the virtual representation of the item to be presented in an environment of the other customer.

15. A system as claim 9 recites, wherein the instructions further program the one or more processors to:

responsive to receiving an indication that the device interacted with the encoded information at the physical store of the merchant, determine at least one of a discount, a special payment, news, or customer-specific information associated with the item; and

present, via the user interface, a notification associated with at least one of the discount, the special payment, the news, or the customer-specific information associated with the item.

16. A computer-implemented method comprising:

determining, based at least in part on merchant data associated with a merchant, one or more interaction capabilities for a tag associated with an item in an inventory of the merchant, the tag configured to be positioned proximate to the item offered for sale by the merchant at a physical store of the merchant, and wherein the inventory is stored in an database associated with a payment processing service;

receiving an indication associated with a selection of at least one interaction capability of the one or more interaction capabilities;

generating, based at least in part on the indication, encoded information associated with the at least one interaction capability; and

generating an instruction for generating the tag including the encoded information, the encoded information to enable a presentation of a user interface to facilitate the at least one interaction capability via a device operated by a user at the physical store of the merchant, the user interface configured to receive input associated with the at least one interaction capability.

17. A computer-implemented method as claim 16 recites, further comprising:

determining, based at least in part on the merchant data associated with the merchant, a shared characteristic between the merchant and one or more other merchants; and

determining at least one of (i) the one or more interaction capabilities or (ii) a design for the tag based at least in part on the shared characteristic between the merchant and the one or more other merchants.

18. A computer-implemented method as claim 16 recites, wherein the interaction capability is associated with:

determining whether the item is available at another physical store of the merchant or via another merchant;

adding the item to a virtual shopping cart for future fulfillment;

presenting information associated with one or more additional items that are related to the item;

splitting a cost of the item with another customer;

sharing a virtual representation of the item with another customer and/or viewing variations of an item via an augmented reality application;

or

presenting a notification associated with at least one of a discount, a special payment, news, or customer-specific information associated with the item.

19. A computer-implemented method as claim 16 recites, further comprising:

receiving an indication that the device operated by a customer interacted with the encoded information at the physical store of the merchant; and

causing a presentation of the user interface via the device to facilitate at least one interaction corresponding to the at least one interaction capability.

20. A computer-implemented method as claim 16 recites, wherein the encoded information is associated with a short-range communication tag or a barcode.