Methods and systems to meter point-of-purchase conduct with a wireless communication device equipped with a camera

• US 20080142599A1
• Filed: 02/28/2007
• Published: 06/19/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Original Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Inventors: Mauduit, Jean-Luc, Benillouche, Michael
• Application Number:
  US11/713,952
• Publication Number:
  US 20080142599A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/462.41
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 3/006 False operation

Abstract

Methods and systems to meter point-of-purchase conduct with a wireless communication device equipped with a camera are disclosed. An example method includes receiving purchased product information from a camera-enabled telephone and receiving at least one of user demographics or user identification information from the camera-enabled telephone. The example method also includes receiving point-of-purchase information from the camera-enabled telephone.

Claims

1. A method to collect point-of-purchase data comprising:

receiving purchased product information from a camera-enabled telephone;

receiving at least one of user demographics or user identification information from the camera-enabled telephone; and

receiving point-of-purchase information from the camera-enabled telephone.

2. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the purchased product information comprises machine readable indicia.

3. A method as defined in claim 2, wherein the machine readable indicia comprises at least one of a universal product code, a one-dimensional barcode, or a two-dimensional barcode.

7. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the user identification information is indicative of a purchaser of at least one of merchant goods or merchant services.

9. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the point-of-purchase information comprises a purchase location.

10. A method as defined in claim 9, wherein the purchase location comprises at least one of a city, an address, or a zip code.

11. A method as defined in claim 10, further comprising determining at least one merchant in a location associated with at least one of the city, the address, or the zip code.

12. A method as defined in claim 9, wherein the purchase location comprises global positioning system (GPS) information.

17. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the point-of-purchase information comprises at least one of a date of purchase or a time of purchase.

18. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the point-of-purchase information comprises a quantity associated with the purchased product information.

19. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the point-of-purchase information comprises at least one of a payment method, a promotional code, or a coupon.

22. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising uploading image capture software to the camera-enabled telephone, the image capture software to enable the camera-enabled telephone to obtain the purchased product information.

25. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising image capture software to facilitate point-of-purchase data acquisition on the camera-enabled telephone and to read at least one of a universal product code (UPC) or a barcode with the camera-enabled telephone.

35. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising mailing the camera-enabled telephone to a user upon user agreement to participate in a market research project.

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58. A wireless telephone to collect point-of-purchase data comprising:

a camera to capture an image of a barcode identifying a product;

a display to render the image of the product barcode;

a user interface to facilitate entry of point-of-purchase data; and

an extractor to extract product identification information from the image of the product barcode.

59. A wireless telephone as defined in claim 58, wherein the extractor associates the point-of-purchase data with the product identification information.

60. A wireless telephone as defined in claim 58, further comprising a proximate store list, the list comprising a plurality of stores arranged in an order based on a proximity between the wireless telephone and at least one of the plurality of stores.

61. A wireless telephone as defined in claim 58, wherein the order of the stores in the proximate store list is arranged based on at least one of an address, a city, or a zip code.

62. A wireless telephone as defined in claim 61, further comprising a global positioning system (GPS) receiver to identify a location of the wireless telephone.

63. A wireless telephone as defined in claim 62, wherein the extractor disables the GPS receiver when the wireless telephone is located at a user household.

65. A wireless telephone as defined in claim 58, further comprising a transmitter to transmit the product identification information and point-of-purchase data to a market research entity.

66. A wireless telephone as defined in claim 58, further comprising a receiver to receive store data from a market research entity.

64. (canceled)

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70. A method to collect point-of-purchase data with a camera-enabled wireless telephone comprising:

receiving location information;

capturing an image of a barcode of a purchased product with a camera-enabled wireless telephone;

extracting product identification information from the barcode; and

associating the product identification information and location information with a purchase date.

72. A method as defined in claim 70, wherein the location information comprises global positioning system (GPS) coordinates.

74. A method as defined in claim 70, further comprising generating a proximity list of merchants arranged in the list based on a proximity to the location information.

75. A method as defined in claim 74, further comprising receiving a merchant identity based on a selection of the list and transmitting the merchant identity, the product identification information, and the purchase date information to a central facility from the wireless telephone.

76. A method as defined in claim 70, wherein extracting product identification information comprises extracting alpha-numeric data associated with a universal product code (UPC).

77. A method as defined in claim 70, further comprising receiving an invitation to install a barcode capture application on the camera-enabled telephone.

80. A method as defined in claim 70, further comprising configuring the camera-enabled telephone with user information, the user information comprising at least one of a user name, a user age, a user gender, a user education, a user occupation, a user income, or a user home address.

83. A method as defined in claim 70, further comprising requesting a user of the camera-enabled wireless telephone to enter the location information at the point-of-purchase.

71. (canceled)

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