Personalized transaction assistance with sensor networks

• US 20070095903A1
• Filed: 10/27/2005
• Published: 05/03/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Suenbuel, Asuman
• Granted Patent: US 7,427,023 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/383
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

In order to provide personalized transaction assistance using sensor networks, a user interacts with the sensor networks within, for example, a retail environment, using a wireless mobile device. The user is provided with timely, convenient, and personalized information related to products for sale within the retail environment. More specifically, for example, a message exchange between the sensor network and the mobile device is automatically initiated, such that the user is provided with information regarding, for example, an availability, description, price, and/or location of products in which the user has previously expressed a purchase interest. In this way, a probability of a sale is increased for the retail environment, as well as a likelihood that the user will be happy with the purchase experience, and these benefits are provided with a minimal amount of effort required of the user.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a sensor network including a plurality of sensor nodes that are dispersed over a region, each sensor node being operable to determine local environmental information;

a memory in communication with the sensor network that is operable to store transaction information associated with the region; and

a user-detecting node that includes one of the plurality of nodes within the sensor network, and that is operable to compare the transaction information from the memory with a user preference list obtained from a mobile device within the local environment of the user-detecting node, and further operable to output a preference-matched subset of the transaction information to the mobile device.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the user-detecting node is operable to poll for a signal transmitted by the mobile device, and further operable to initiate a message exchange with the mobile device in order to obtain the user preference list, based on the signal.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the transaction information includes items for sale within the region, and the user preference list includes items for purchase, and wherein the preference-matched subset includes ones of the items for sale that coincide with the items for purchase.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the user-detecting node is operable to output directions to the items of the preference-matched subset, with respect to the local environment of the user-detecting node.

5. The system of claim 3 wherein the user-detecting node is operable to output directions to the items of the preference-matched subset, with respect to the region defined by the sensor network.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein the user-detecting node is operable to communicate with other ones of the plurality of sensor nodes in order to output the directions with respect to the region.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the user-detecting node is operable to communicate with an external memory to provide the preference-matched subset of the transaction information, and wherein the external memory is associated with a local server computer, a back-end enterprise system, or one of the other ones of the plurality of sensor nodes.

8. The system of claim 3 wherein the preference-matched subset of the transaction information includes a description of the items for sale that coincide with the items for purchase.

9. The system of claim 3 wherein the preference-matched subset of the transaction information includes a description of a substitute item for sale that is determined to be similar to one of the items for purchase.

10. The system of claim 3 wherein the mobile device includes a selector application that is operable to select items for the user preference list from publicly-available item listings.

11. A method comprising:

detecting a presence of a mobile device within a vicinity of a sensor node that is one of a plurality of sensor nodes of a sensor network;

accessing preference information stored in association with the mobile device;

accessing environment information that is associated with an environment of the sensor network;

matching the environment information with the preference information to determine preference-matched information; and

outputting the preference-matched environment information to the mobile device.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein detecting the presence of the mobile device comprises detecting a signal transmitted by the mobile device.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein accessing the preference information comprises conducting a message exchange in which the preference information stored on the mobile device is received at the sensor node.

14. The method of claim 11 accessing environment information comprises accessing item information for items for sale within the environment of the sensor network.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein matching the environment information with the preference information to determine preference-matched information comprises:

matching the items for sale with items for purchase that are included in the preference information; and

determining the preference-matched information to include ones of the items for sale that coincide with the items for purchase.

16. The method of claim 14 wherein outputting the preference-matched environment information comprises outputting directions, within the environment of the sensor network, to the ones of the items for sale that coincide with the items for purchase.

17. An apparatus comprising a storage medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions including:

a first code segment associated with a sensor node of a sensor network, the first code segment for accessing item information regarding items for sale in a retail environment;

a second code segment associated with the sensor node, the second code segment for receiving an item list from a mobile device, the item list reflecting a preference of a user of the mobile device;

a third code segment for comparing the item information with the item list to obtain preference-matched item information; and

a fourth code segment for outputting the preference-matched item information to the mobile device.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the first code segment includes a fifth code segment for communicating with another one of a plurality of sensor nodes within the sensor network, or with an external application, to obtain the item information.

19. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the fourth code segment includes a fifth code segment for outputting descriptive information regarding a nature or location of an item in the preference-matched item information.

20. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the fourth code segment includes a fifth code segment for outputting a notification event to the mobile device when the mobile device is in a vicinity of an item from the preference-matched item information.