Tiered on-demand location-based tracking service and infrastructure
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- detecting the relative motion of an on-site resource;
detecting the absolute position of the on-site resource; and
tracking the position of the on-site resource by;
deriving a deduced position based on said detected relative motion; and
adjusting the deduced position as a function of and in response to said detected absolute position.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A location-based service includes detecting the relative motion of an on-site resource, detecting the absolute position of the on-site resource, and tracking the position of the on-site resource. The position is tracked by deriving a deduced position based on the detected relative motion and adjusting the deduced position as a function of and in response to the detected absolute position. According to one embodiment, the on-site resource can be a shopping cart and the tracking includes recording a travel pattern of the shopping cart as it moves through a site floor plan such that the travel pattern is reproducible. Preferably, the recorded travel pattern includes travel patterns within an aisle in the site floor plan such that the recorded patterns include travel along the length of the aisle and travel having components which are perpendicular to the length of the aisle.
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Citations
32 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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detecting the relative motion of an on-site resource;
detecting the absolute position of the on-site resource; and
tracking the position of the on-site resource by;
deriving a deduced position based on said detected relative motion; and
adjusting the deduced position as a function of and in response to said detected absolute position. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A method comprising:
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detecting the relative motion of an on-site resource which is movable within a site and based thereon generate relative motion data;
detecting an absolute positional reference and based thereon generate absolute positional data, the absolute positional reference being indicative of an absolute position within the site;
wirelessly communicating the relative motion, and absolute positional, data between the on-site resource and a server;
tracking the relative motion data to deduce an on-site position for the on-site resource; and
adjusting the deduced position as a function of and in response to the wireless communication of the absolute positional data. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. Apparatus comprising:
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a processor which executes code stored in an accessible memory;
a storage device which is accessible to said processor and which retains stored data after power is removed from the storage device;
a wireless network interface which is accessible to said processor and through which access to a wireless network is provided;
wherein the processor executes code which is effective to;
receive, through said wireless network interface, relative motion information which relates to an on-site resource;
deduce a position on a site floor plan for the on-site resource by tracking the received relative motion information;
receive, through said wireless network interface, absolute positional information which relates to the absolute position of the on-site resource within the site floor plan; and
adjust the deduced position as a function of and in response to the received absolute positional information. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17)
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18. Apparatus comprising:
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a shopping cart;
a relative motion detector included on said shopping cart which detects the relative motion of said shopping cart and generates relative motion data;
an absolute position detector attached to said shopping cart which receives absolute positional information with respect to a site floor plan;
a wireless transmitter which is operatively coupled to said relative motion detector and to said absolute position detector and which transmits the relative motion data and the absolute positional information to an on-site server. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21)
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22. A method comprising:
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performing an analysis of a business entity by compiling customer tendencies related to the business entity, the analysis including;
detecting the relative motion of an on-site resource;
detecting the absolute position of the on-site resource; and
tracking the position of the on-site resource by;
deriving a deduced position based on said detected relative motion;
adjusting the deduced position as a function of and in response to said detected absolute position; and
recording a travel pattern of the on-site resource as it moves through the site, the recording being such that the travel pattern is reproducible; and
providing a report to the business entity based on said performed analysis. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24)
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25. A method comprising:
deploying a shopping cart system at a site by;
establishing an absolute positional reference at the site;
outfitting at least one shopping cart at the site with a display and a detector having the capacity to detect the established absolute positional reference and generate absolute positional data and to detect relative motion and generate relative motion data, and to transmit that data to a server; and
providing software for installation on the server having the capability to determine the on-site position of the shopping cart as a function of the relative motion, and absolute positional, data and record a travel pattern of the shopping cart as it moves through the site, the recording being such that the travel pattern is reproducible.
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26. A method comprising:
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deploying computing infrastructure into a movable on-site resource, the deployed infrastructure provides the on-site resource with the ability to;
detect its relative motion and based thereon generate relative motion data;
detect an absolute positional reference and based thereon generate absolute positional data, the absolute positional reference being provided at the site and being indicative of an absolute position within the site; and
wirelessly transmit the relative motion data and the absolute positional data; and
integrating server executable code into a server which is configurable to wirelessly receive data from and transmit data to said deployed computing infrastructure, wherein the code is executable on the server to;
wirelessly receive the relative motion data and the absolute positional data; and
track the relative motion data to deduce an on-site position for the on-site resource, the deduced position being adjusted as a function of and in response to the wireless reception of the absolute positional data. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. A product comprising:
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a computer usable medium having computer readable program code stored therein, the computer readable program code in said product being effective to;
detect the relative motion of an on-site resource;
detect the absolute position of the on-site resource; and
track the position of the on-site resource by;
deriving a deduced position based on said detected relative motion; and
adjusting the deduced position as a function of and in response to said detected absolute position.
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32. A product comprising:
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a computer usable medium having computer readable program code stored therein, the computer readable program code in said product being effective to;
detect the relative motion of an on-site resource which is movable within a site and based thereon generate relative motion data;
detect an absolute positional reference and based thereon generate absolute positional data, the absolute positional reference being indicative of an absolute position within the site;
wirelessly communicate the relative motion, and absolute positional, data between the on-site resource and a server;
track the relative motion data to deduce an on-site position for the on-site resource;
adjust the deduced position as a function of and in response to the wireless communication of the absolute positional data;
wherein said tracking further includes recording a travel pattern of the on-site resource as it moves through a site floor plan such that the travel pattern is reproducible.
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Specification