Interactive inventory systems and methods

• US 10,410,177 B2
• Filed: 06/30/2012
• Issued: 09/10/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.), AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Causey, Mark Edward, Daly, Brian Kevin, Hu, Qingmin, Mullis, Karen, Toren, Jamie
• Primary Examiner(s): Bekerman, Michael
• Assistant Examiner(s): Cross, Michael J
• Application Number:
  US13/539,327
• Publication Number:
  US 20140006131A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,628 Days
• Field of Search: 705 1424
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0875 Itemisation or classification of parts, supplies or services, e.g. bill of materials
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0253 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions

Abstract

The subject disclosure provides devices, systems, and methods for interacting with a home inventory system. Home inventory systems may include appliances and storages which take inventory of their contents. Home inventory systems may interact with mobile devices to alert users of necessary or desired products. Using location information, users may be alerted when their mobile device is within proximity of a necessary or desired product.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

an appliance comprising

a plurality of sensors comprising a camera and a scale,

a touch screen comprising a touch-sensitive surface and a display,

an appliance processor, and

an appliance memory storing appliance instructions that, when executed by the appliance processor, cause the appliance processor to perform appliance operations comprising;

receiving, from a plurality of products stored within the appliance, wireless signals emitted by radiofrequency identifier tags associated with the plurality of products, wherein the plurality of products comprises a first product,

identifying the plurality of products by processing the wireless signals to determine an identity of each of the plurality of products,

displaying, to a user of the appliance, via the touch screen, at least a portion of the plurality of products stored within the appliance without requiring the user to open the appliance and access a location within the appliance where the at least a portion of the plurality of products is stored,

receiving, from the camera, visual information associated with the first product,

receiving, from the scale, a weight of the first product measured by the scale,

determining, using at least the visual information associated with the first product from the camera and the weight of the first product from the scale, a remaining quantity of the first product, and

receiving, via the touch-sensitive surface of the touch screen, input from the user inquiring about a product status of at least one of the plurality of products stored within the appliance; and

a server in communication with the appliance, the server comprising

a processor, and

a memory storing server instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising

building an inventory comprising the plurality of products,

comparing the inventory with a default inventory, the default inventory comprising a list of products used by the user associated with the system, the list of products comprising the first product, the default inventory further comprising a minimum quantity of each of the products of the list of products,

determining, based on comparing the inventory with the default inventory, that the remaining quantity of the first product is less than the minimum quantity of the first product specified by the default inventory,

in response to determining that the remaining quantity of the first product is less than the minimum quantity of the first product specified by the default inventory, determining whether the remaining quantity of the first product corresponds to an amount that necessitates purchasing the first product without action by the user,

in response to determining that the remaining quantity of the first product is less than the minimum quantity but does not correspond to the amount that necessitates purchasing the first product without action by the user,

monitoring a location of the user, and

notifying the user of the first product when the user is within proximity of a merchant selling the first product, wherein notifying the user comprises sending, via a communication network, a product alert message to a mobile device of the user for display on the mobile device,

accessing a calendar application associated with the user, wherein the calendar application provides a schedule of a plurality of activities associated with the user,

determining a product associated with an activity of the plurality of activities of the calendar application, and

notifying the user of a merchant selling the product associated with the activity, the activity of the plurality of activities associated with the product, and directions to the merchant selling the product associated with the activity when the user is within proximity of the merchant selling the product associated with the activity.

2. The system in claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

in response to determining that the remaining quantity of the first product is less than the minimum quantity of the first product specified by the default inventory, transmitting, to a merchant server, a request for an additional quantity of the first product;

receiving an offer from the merchant server, the offer including a price of the additional quantity of the first product; and

forwarding the offer to the mobile device of the user.

3. The system in claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise receiving an expiration date for the first product and further receiving a notice of recalled products.

4. The system in claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise receiving nutrition information associated with the plurality of products.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

monitoring purchase habits of the user to determine that a second product of the plurality of products associated with the purchase habits of the user is not on the list of products of the default inventory; and

adding the second product to the list of products of the default inventory.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

comparing the plurality of products of the inventory with a plurality of recipes;

determining that the plurality of products of the inventory comprises required products of a recipe of the plurality of recipes; and

in response to determining that the plurality of products of the inventory comprises the required products of the recipe of the plurality of recipes, transmitting the recipe to the mobile device.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise receiving a notification of a purchased product.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining that the purchased product has not been detected after an amount of time; and

transmitting a reminder to the mobile device, the reminder indicating that the purchased product has not been detected.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise receiving an advertisement for the first product, the advertisement comprising a discounted price.

10. A method comprising:

receiving, by an appliance of a system, from a plurality of products stored within the appliance, wireless signals emitted by radiofrequency identifier tags associated with the plurality of products, wherein the appliance comprises an appliance processor, a plurality of sensors comprising a camera and a scale, and a touch screen comprising a touch-sensitive surface and a display, and wherein the plurality of products comprises a first product;

identifying, by the appliance, the plurality of products by processing the wireless signals to determine an identity of each of the at least a portion of the plurality of products

displaying, by the appliance, to a user of the appliance, via the touch screen, at least a portion of the plurality of products stored within the appliance without requiring the user to open and access a location within the appliance where the at least a portion of the plurality of products is stored;

receiving, by the appliance processor, from the camera, visual information associated with the first product;

receiving, by the appliance processor, from the scale, a weight of the first product measured by the scale;

determining, by the appliance, using at least the visual information associated with the first product from the camera and the weight of the first product from the scale, a remaining quantity of the first product;

receiving, by the appliance, via the touch-sensitive surface of the touch screen, input from the user inquiring about a product status of at least one of the plurality of products stored within the appliance;

building, by a server of the system, an inventory comprising the plurality of products, wherein the server comprises a processor;

comparing, by the server, the inventory with a default inventory, the default inventory comprising a list of products used by the user associated with the system, the list of products comprising the first product, the default inventory further comprising a minimum quantity of each of the products of the list of products;

determining, by the server based on comparing the inventory with the default inventory, that the remaining quantity of the first product is less than the minimum quantity of the first product specified by the default inventory;

in response to determining that the remaining quantity of the first product is less than the minimum quantity of the first product specified by the default inventory, determining, by the server, whether the remaining quantity of the first product corresponds to an amount that necessitates purchasing the first product without action by the user;

in response to determining that the remaining quantity of the first product is less than the minimum quantity but does not correspond to the amount that necessitates purchasing the first product without action by the user,

monitoring, by the server, a location of the user, and

notifying, by the server, the user of the first product when the user is within proximity of a merchant selling the first product, wherein notifying the user comprises sending, via a communication network, a product alert message to a mobile device of the user for display on the mobile device;

accessing, by the server, a calendar application associated with the user, wherein the calendar application provides a schedule of a plurality of activities associated with the user;

determining, by the server, a product associated with an activity of the plurality of activities of the calendar application; and

notifying, by the server, the user of a merchant selling the product associated with the activity, the activity of the plurality of activities associated with the product, and directions to the merchant selling the product associated with the activity when the user is within proximity of the merchant selling the product associated with the activity.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

comparing the plurality of products of the inventory with a plurality of recipes;

determining that the plurality of products of the inventory comprises required products of a recipe of the plurality of recipes; and

in response to determining that the plurality of products of the inventory comprises the required products of the recipe of the plurality of recipes, transmitting the recipe to the mobile device.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising receiving a notification of a purchased product.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

determining that the purchased product has not been detected after an amount of time; and

transmitting a reminder to the mobile device, the reminder indicating that the purchased product has not been detected.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

monitoring purchase habits of the user associated with the default inventory to determine that a second product associated with the purchase habits of the user is not on the list of products of the default inventory; and

adding the second product to the list of products of the default inventory.