Passive consumer survey system and method

• US 20060111961A1
• Filed: 11/22/2004
• Published: 05/25/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 11/22/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: James Mcquivey
• Original Assignee: James Mcquivey
• Inventors: McQuivey, James
• Application Number:
  US10/995,068
• Publication Number:
  US 20060111961A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/10
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0203 Market surveys; Market polls

Abstract

A passive tracking system and method are disclosed which use RFID tags carried by participants. RFID readers are positioned at the entrances to stores which are part of the study or analysis. Data relating to the visits of participants of the stores are recorded in a participant database. The data is used for consumer research and analysis.

Claims

1. A system for collection of shopper traffic comprising:

a plurality of identification devices, each device being associated with one of a plurality of participants;

a plurality of readers, each reader determining the presence of one of the plurality of identification devices near the reader; and

a traffic database connected to the plurality of readers storing times at which identification devices are determined to be near readers.

2. The system for collection of shopper traffic according to claim 1, further comprising:

a demographic database of demographic information relating to the plurality of participants; and

an analysis system for analyzing traffic patterns of participants based upon data in the traffic database and demographic database.

3. The system for collection of shopper traffic according to claim 1, wherein the identification devices include RFID tags, and wherein the plurality of readers includes a plurality of RFID readers.

4. The system for collection of shopper traffic according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the readers is positioned at an entrance to a store.

5. The system for collection of shopper traffic according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of readers are positioned at locations within a single store.

6. The system for collection of shopper traffic according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of readers are positioned at locations within a mall.

7. The system for collection of shopper traffic according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of readers includes readers positioned at the locations of ingress and egress to a predetermined area;

and wherein the system further includes means for determining the duration of participants within the participant based upon times stored in the traffic database.

8. A method for collection of shopper traffic data comprising the steps of:

determining times at which participants are near predetermined locations; and

recording the determined times.

9. The method for collection of shopper traffic data according to claim 8, wherein the determining step includes the steps of:

providing each of a plurality of participants with an identification device;

positioning a plurality of readers at the predetermined locations; and

determining when an identification device is near a reader.

10. The method for collection of shopper traffic data according to claim 9, wherein the identification device includes an RFID tag and wherein the plurality of readers includes a plurality of RFID readers.

11. The method for collection of shopper traffic data according to claim 8, further comprising the step of collecting demographic information for a plurality of participants.

12. A method for analyzing movements of a plurality of participants, the method comprising the steps of:

determining the presence of the plurality of participants at a plurality of predetermined locations;

recording the times at which the plurality of participants are determined to be at the plurality of predetermined locations; and

analyzing the recorded times to determine movement patterns.

13. The method for analyzing movement of a plurality of participants according to claim 12, wherein the determining step includes:

providing each of the participants with an identification device;

positioning a plurality of readers at the plurality of predetermined locations; and

determining when an identification device is near one of the plurality of readers.

14. The method for analyzing movement of a plurality of participants according to claim 13, wherein the identification device includes an RFID tag and wherein the plurality of readers includes a plurality of RFID readers.

15. The method for analyzing movement of a plurality of participants according to claim 12, further comprising the step of collecting demographic information relating to the plurality of participants, and wherein the analyzing step includes analyzing the recorded times based upon the demographic information.