Online Wardrobe

• US 20070179916A1
• Filed: 03/13/2007
• Published: 08/02/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/02/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Accenture Global Services Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Original Assignee: Accenture Global Services GmbH (Accenture PLC)
• Inventors: Wan, Dadong, Gershman, Anatole
• Granted Patent: US 7,398,231 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/500
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0875 Itemisation or classification of parts, supplies or services, e.g. bill of materials
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0623 Item investigation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0631 Item recommendations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0643 Graphical representation of items or shoppers
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other groups of this subclass

Abstract

A wardrobe closet that assists users in selecting and purchasing clothing is provided. A radio frequency receiver scans tags embedded in clothing to identify the clothing. When a user removes an article of clothing from the wardrobe closet, the wardrobe closet suggests other articles of clothing that match the removed article of clothing. The wardrobe closet may also be connected to websites via the Internet. The wardrobe closet may determine the user'"'"'s clothing needs and find clothing offered for sale at one or more web sites. The user is then allowed to purchase the clothing.

Claims

1. A method of assisting a first user in supplementing the user'"'"'s wardrobe for an event, the method comprising:

(a) representing wardrobe information with a user wardrobe closet of the first user on a computer system, the wardrobe information being indicative of owned clothing of the first user, the wardrobe information being stored on a first computer memory electrically coupled to the computer system;

(b) automatically identifying, by the computer system, a first article of clothing that has been removed from the user wardrobe closet of the first user from the wardrobe information by accessing the first computer memory;

(c) retrieving, from a computer coupled to the user wardrobe closet of the first user with a computer network, the identification of a second article of clothing that forms a coordinated outfit with the first article of clothing;

(d) storing, on a second computer memory, clothing information describing a selection of clothing by another user, the second computer memory being electrically coupled to the computer system;

(e) receiving the clothing information from the second computer memory, the clothing information being indicative of another article of clothing that the other user plans to wear at the event;

(f) displaying, to the first user, an identification of the second article of clothing for the first user; and

(g) generating an alert when the second article of clothing and the first article of clothing are not in concert with the clothing information about the other article of clothing that the other user plans to wear.

2. The method of claim 1, further including:

(h) identifying a third article of clothing that has been removed from the user wardrobe closet;

(i) retrieving from a computer coupled to the user wardrobe closet with a computer network the identification of a fourth article of clothing that forms a coordinated outfit with the first and third articles of clothing; and

(j) displaying an identification of the fourth article of clothing to the first user.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein (b) comprises:

(b)(i) identifying clothing stored in the user wardrobe closet of the first user during a first time period by scanning tags attached to the clothing;

(b)(ii) identifying clothing stored in the user wardrobe closet of the first user during a second time period by scanning tags attached to the clothing; and

(b)(iii) comparing the information obtained during the first time period to the information obtained during the second time period.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

(h) sharing information determined by (c) with the other user.

5. The method of claim 1, (b) comprising:

(b)(i) reading tag information included on radio sensitive tags attached to clothing;

(b)(ii) displaying the tag information to the first user; and

(b)(iii) transmitting the tag information to a wide area network.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

(h) storing a schedule of appointments of the first user.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

(h) exchanging tag information between the computer system and a personal digital assistant.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

(h) receiving, by the coupled computer from the computer system, the wardrobe information and first article information, the first article information being indicative of the first article of clothing regarding clothing stored in the user wardrobe closet;

(i) determining the second article of clothing that is appropriate to wear with the first article of clothing from a stored data, the stored data being indicative of owned clothing of the first user, clothing preferences of the first user, clothing sizes of the first user, and a store identification of the clothing store; and

(j) sending, to the computer system, the identification of the second article of clothing.

9. The method of claim 1, (b) comprising:

(b)(i) identifying a removed article of clothing by a tag attached to the removed article of clothing;

(b)(ii) comparing characteristics of the removed article to characteristics of clothing remaining in the user wardrobe closet to identify articles of clothing that form coordinated outfits with the removed article of clothing; and

(b)(iii) displaying coordinated outfits options to the first user.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

(h) identifying offered clothing for sale by a store;

(i) identifying identified clothing that may be of interest to the first user based on the wardrobe information and the offered clothing; and

(j) displaying a representation of the identified clothing to the first user.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

(h) reading card information that is stored on a smart card to obtain the wardrobe information.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

(h) reading a computer network address stored on a smart card; and

(i) retrieving the wardrobe information from a connected computer that is connected to the computer system at the computer network address.

13. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions to perform:

(a) representing wardrobe information with a user wardrobe closet of the first user on a computer system, the wardrobe information being indicative of owned clothing of a first user, the wardrobe information being stored on a first computer memory electrically coupled to the computer system;

(b) automatically identifying, by the computer system, a first article of clothing that has been removed from the user wardrobe closet of the first user from the wardrobe information by accessing the first computer memory;

(c) retrieving, from a computer coupled to the user wardrobe closet of the first user with a computer network, the identification of a second article of clothing that forms a coordinated outfit with the first article of clothing;

(d) storing, on a second computer memory, clothing information describing a selection of clothing by another user, the second computer memory being electrically coupled to the computer system;

(e) receiving the clothing information from the second computer memory, the clothing information being indicative of another article of clothing that the other user plans to wear at the event;

(f) displaying, to the first user, an identification of the second article of clothing for the first user; and

(g) generating an alert when the second article of clothing and the first article of clothing are not in concert with the clothing information about the other article of clothing that the other user plans to wear.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, further configured to perform:

(h) identifying a third article of clothing that has been removed from the user wardrobe closet;

(i) retrieving from a computer coupled to the user wardrobe closet with a computer network the identification of a fourth article of clothing that forms a coordinated outfit with the first and third articles of clothing; and

(j) displaying an identification of the fourth article of clothing to the first user.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, further configured to perform:

(b)(i) identifying clothing stored in the user wardrobe closet of the first user during a first time period by scanning tags attached to the clothing;

(b)(ii) identifying clothing stored in the user wardrobe closet of the first user during a second time period by scanning tags attached to the clothing; and

(b)(iii) comparing the information obtained during the first time period to the information obtained during the second time period.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, further configured to perform:

(h) sharing information determined by (c) with the other user.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, further configured to perform:

(h) receiving, by the coupled computer from the computer system, the wardrobe information and first article information, the first article information being indicative of the first article of clothing regarding clothing stored in a user wardrobe closet of the first user, the wardrobe closet being associated with a clothing store;

(i) determining the second article of clothing that is appropriate to wear with the first article of clothing from a stored data, the stored data being indicative of owned clothing of the first user, clothing preferences of the first user, clothing sizes of the first user, and a store identification of the clothing store; and

(j) sending, to the computer system, the identification of the second article of clothing.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, further configured to perform:

(h) identifying offered clothing for sale by a store;

(i) identifying identified clothing that may be of interest to the first user based on the wardrobe information and the offered clothing; and

(j) displaying a representation of the identified clothing to the first user.

19. A computer system for assisting a first user in supplementing the user'"'"'s wardrobe for an event, the computer system comprising:

a first computer memory coupled to a processor and configured to store wardrobe information, the wardrobe information being indicative of owed clothing of the first user;

a second computer memory coupled to the processor; and

the processor configured to;

represent wardrobe information with a user wardrobe closet of the first user;

automatically identify a first article of clothing that has been removed from the user wardrobe closet of the first user from the wardrobe information by accessing the first computer memory;

retrieve, from a computer coupled to the user wardrobe closet of the first user with a computer network, the identification of a second article of clothing that forms a coordinated outfit with the first article of clothing;

store, on the second computer memory, clothing information describing a selection of clothing by another user;

receive the clothing information from the second computer memory, the clothing information being indicative of another article of clothing that the other user plans to wear at the event;

display, to the first user, an identification of the second article of clothing for the first user; and

generate an alert when the second article of clothing and the first article of clothing are not in concert with the clothing information about the other article of clothing that the other user plans to wear.

20. The computer system of claim 19, the processor further configured to:

identify a third article of clothing that has been removed from the user wardrobe closet;

retrieve from a computer coupled to the user wardrobe closet with a computer network the identification of a fourth article of clothing that forms a coordinated outfit with the first and third articles of clothing; and

display an identification of the fourth article of clothing to the first user.