METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR VALIDATING CONSUMER PREFERENCES AND PURCHASE ITEMS AT POINT OF SALE

• US 20080183588A1
• Filed: 01/30/2007
• Published: 07/31/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Lee, Kang-Won, Giles, James R., Agrawal, Dakshi
• Application Number:
  US11/668,710
• Publication Number:
  US 20080183588A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/16
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 9/002 Vending machines being part of a centrally controlled network of vending machines
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 1/00 Cash registers alarm indicators G07G3/00

Abstract

A method for linking consumer preferences and purchase decisions with point-of-sale systems, wherein the method includes: defining consumer preferences in a third-party system; obtaining consumer preference identification at a point of purchase; providing information about purchase items and the consumer preference identification to the third-party validation system; validating that the items being purchased do not violate the consumer preferences; and wherein based on the validating providing notification to the point-of-sale system.

Claims

1. A method for linking consumer preferences and purchase decisions with point-of-sale systems, wherein the method comprises:

defining consumer preferences in a third-party system;

obtaining consumer preference identification at a point-of-sale;

providing information about purchase items and the consumer preference identification to the third-party validation system;

validating that the items being purchased do not violate the consumer preferences; and

wherein based on said validating providing notification to the point-of-sale system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the notification comprises:

displaying information in a visual manner on a display device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the displaying of information is facilitated by at least one of the following:

a device a customer carries;

or a cell phone;

or a smart phone;

or a PDA;

or a portable computing device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the notification comprises:

providing auditory cues.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the notification comprises:

printed information.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein said printed information is presented to a consumer on a receipt.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein based on a violation of consumer preferences the sale of the violating item is blocked.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the consumer preference is set by a guardian to control the purchases of a dependent.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein consumers historical purchase information is kept by the third-party system and is used in the validation of consumer preferences.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining consumer preference identification is facilitated by reading a magnetically encoded strip.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein obtaining consumer preference identification is facilitated by reading a magnetically encoded strip on a card.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining consumer preference identification is facilitated by reading a barcode.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining consumer preference identification is facilitated by reading a smartcard with radio frequency transmission.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the providing information about purchase items is facilitated by at least one of the following:

by reading a product barcode;

or by reading a RFID tag;

or by looking the information up in a database;

or by reading the product information directly from a products packaging.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the validating occurs when a customer places an item in a shopping cart.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the validating occurs at the point of payment.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the consumer preference can be selected from a pre-arranged menu of preferences.

18. A method for linking consumer preferences and purchase decisions with a point-of-sale systems comprising:

defining consumer preferences in a consumer-controlled device;

gathering the preferences from the consumer-controlled device;

providing information about purchase items and the consumer preferences to a validating device;

wherein the validating device validates that the purchase items do not violate the consumer preferences; and

providing notification to the point-of-sale system regarding the result of validating the purchase item.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the defining of consumer preferences is facilitated by at least one of the following:

storing the consumer preferences in a RFID device;

or

storing the consumer preferences in a machine readable barcode;

or storing the consumer preferences in a smart card device.

20. A system for linking consumer preferences and purchase decisions with point-of-sale systems, the system comprising;

computing devices;

a network;

wherein the computing devices further comprise at least one of the following;

computer servers;

mainframe computers;

desktop computers; and

mobile computing devices; and

wherein at least one of the computing devices is configured to execute electronic software that manages the consumer preferences and purchase decisions with point-of-sale systems; and

wherein the electronic software is resident on a storage medium in signal communication with at least one of the computing devices; and

wherein at least one of the computing devices is in signal communication with the network; and

wherein the network further comprises at least one of the following;

local area network (LAN);

wide area network (WAN);

a global network;

the Internet;

an intranet;

wireless networks; and

cellular networks; and

wherein the electronic software validates that items being purchased do not violate the consumer preferences;

the consumer is notified based on the electronic software validation if consumer preferences are not being met at the point-of-sale system; and

wherein consumer preferences are stored in a third-party system or in a consumer-controlled device.