Media enabled shopping cart system with basket inventory

• US 20060289637A1
• Filed: 12/01/2005
• Published: 12/28/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Media Cart Holdings, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Media Cart Holdings, Inc.
• Inventors: Carpenter, Steve, Brice, David George
• Application Number:
  US11/291,451
• Publication Number:
  US 20060289637A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/385
• CPC Class Codes: A47F 10/02 for self-service type systems, e.g. supermarkets A47F10/06 takes precedence; hand-carts B62B; baskets B65D
• CPC Class Codes: B62B 3/1424 Electronic display devices
• CPC Class Codes: B62B 3/1428 Adaptations for calculators, memory aids or reading aids
• CPC Class Codes: B62B 5/0096 Identification of the cart or merchandise, e.g. by barcodes or radio frequency identification [RFID]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders

Abstract

A media enhanced shopping cart system comprises a shopping cart comprising a frame, a basket, a handle, a base tray, and a plurality of wheels, a modular computing device comprising a central processing unit, a memory and a network transceiver configured for wireless communication, the modular computing device being attached to the shopping cart, an inventory component for determining an inventory contained by the shopping cart, a shopping list component for listing one or more products of a consumer shopping list for purchase by a consumer, and a correlation component for correlating data from the inventory component with the shopping list component.

Claims

1. A media enhanced shopping cart system, comprising:

a shopping cart comprising a frame, a basket, a handle, a base tray, and a plurality of wheels;

a modular computing device comprising a central processing unit, a memory and a network transceiver configured for wireless communication, the modular computing device being attached to the shopping cart;

an inventory component for determining an inventory contained by the shopping cart;

a shopping list component for listing one or more products of a consumer shopping list for purchase by a consumer; and

a correlation component for correlating data from the inventory component with the shopping list component.

2. The media enhanced shopping cart system of claim 1, further comprising:

a display component for displaying at least one of the inventory contained by the shopping cart determined by the inventory component and the one or more products for purchase listed by the shopping list component.

3. The media enhanced shopping cart system of claim 1, wherein the display component displays that a given product present in the shopping cart is checked off the shopping list based on the correlation of the inventory component with the shopping list component.

4. The media enhanced shopping cart system of claim 1, wherein the inventory component comprises at least one basket RFID reader comprising one or more inward RFID antennas for determining when a RFID tagged product is added to the cart or removed from the shopping cart.

5. The media enhanced shopping cart system of claim 4, wherein the shopping cart is comprised substantially of plastic such that RFID interference is reduced.

6. The media enhanced shopping cart system of claim 4, wherein the shopping cart a metal cart retrofitted with the basket RFID reader comprising the RFID antennas

7. The media enhanced shopping cart system of claim 1, wherein the shopping list is generated based one or more products selected by the consumer;

wherein the one or more products are selected by the consumer by at least one of scanning a bar code on a product, placing a product in the shopping cart, and downloaded by the consumer in a list.

8. The media enhanced shopping cart system of claim 7, wherein the one or more products selected by the consumer is associated with the consumer via a consumer identifier;

the consumer identifier comprising at least one of a loyalty card, a pin code and a telephone number.

9. The media enhanced shopping cart system of claim 8 wherein the loyalty card is read by the inventory component by at least one of scanning a bar code, reading an RFID tag and manual entry.

10. The media enhanced shopping cart system of claim 2, further comprising:

an advertising component for displaying one or more advertisements in the display component;

wherein the correlation component is operable to correlate data from the advertising component with the inventory component, the shopping list component, or both to determine what advertisement is displayed.

11. The media enhanced shopping cart system of claim 10, further comprising:

an RFID reader for reading an RFID tag attached to an object in a store, wherein the modular device is operable to correlate data from the RFID reader with the shopping list to display an advertisement for a product on the shopping list when the shopping cart is proximate the product;

wherein the object comprises at least one of a shelf, a kiosk, a pillar, a fixture, a wall, a counter, a bin, a point of sale system, a SKU and a product.

12. The media enhanced shopping cart system of claim 1, wherein the inventory component comprises a bar code scanner for determining when a bar coded product is added to the cart or removed from the shopping cart.

13. A method, comprising:

determining an inventory contained by a shopping cart by an inventory component affixed to the shopping cart;

displaying on a video display affixed to the shopping cart a shopping list, the shopping list comprising one or more products for purchase;

correlating the inventory contained by the shopping cart with the shopping list by a modular computing device affixed to the cart to determine which products on the list are present in the shopping cart; and

conveying the inventory and the shopping list to a retailer system.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the inventory component comprises at least one of an RFID basket scanner and a bar code scanner.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising checking a product off the shopping list upon placement of the product in the shopping cart.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising generating the shopping list based one or more products selected by the consumer.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising associating the products selected by the consumer via a consumer identifier, wherein the consumer identifier comprises at least one of a loyalty card, a pin code, and a telephone number.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising inputting the consumer identifier by the inventory component or manual entry.

19. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

correlating by the computing module one or more advertisements with at least one of the shopping list and the inventory contained by the shopping cart; and

displaying one or more advertisements based on the correlation between the one or more advertisements with the shopping list, the inventory contained by the shopping cart, or both.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

reading by an RFID reader affixed to the shopping cart an RFID tag attached to a shelf, SKU, or product in a store; and

correlating by the modular computing device data from the RFID reader with the shopping list to display an advertisement for a product on the shopping list when the shopping cart is located proximate to the product.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising locating a product on the shopping list based on data from the RFID reader and displaying the product location on the display.