RETAIL-RELATED SERVICES FOR MOBILE DEVICES

• US 20090104920A1
• Filed: 10/23/2007
• Published: 04/23/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/23/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Laboratories Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: MOON, Hannah Y., Morley, D. Beau, Afram, Andrew J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,254,961 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.300
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• 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

Abstract

A system identifies a location of a user based on a location of a mobile device associated with the user, associates the location of the user to a location having a collection of attractions relating to shopping or entertainment, retrieves layout information associated with the location having the collection of attractions, and provides the layout information to the user on the mobile device.

Claims

1. An automated method, comprising:

identifying a location of a user based on a location of a mobile device associated with the user;

associating the location of the user to a location of a collection of entities, where each of the entities provides at least one of a retail-related service or an entertainment service;

retrieving a layout identifying each of the entities and their respective location; and

providing to the user, via the mobile device, the layout.

2. The automated method of claim 1, where the associating comprises:

transmitting, via the mobile device, a geographic address corresponding to the location of the collection of entities or an identifier corresponding to the location of the collection of entities.

3. The automated method of claim 1, where the associating comprises:

matching the location of the user to the location of the collection of entities in closest proximity to the user, where the collection of entities corresponds to one of a mall including stores, a shopping district including stores, or a retail strip including stores.

4. The automated method of claim 3, where the providing further comprises at least one of:

presenting, via the mobile device, an address, a telephone number, and hours of operation for one or more of the stores,

presenting, via the mobile device, a listing of the stores, where the listing is presented alphabetically or by category, or

presenting, via the mobile device, current sales information for one or more of the stores.

5. The automated method of claim 3, where the providing further comprises at least one of:

presenting, via the mobile device, a receipt of a retail transaction associated with one of the stores,

presenting, via the mobile device, a discount coupon from one of the stores,

presenting, via the mobile device, driving directions to one of the stores, or

presenting, via the mobile device, incentive and reward program information associated with one of the stores.

6. The automated method of claim 3, where the providing further comprises at least one of:

presenting, via the mobile device, inventory information for one of the stores,

presenting, via the mobile device, special services information, delivery service information, or a store credit card information, associated with one of the stores, or

presenting, via the mobile device, advertising information associated with one of the stores.

7. The automated method of claim 1, further comprising at least one of:

permitting, via the mobile device, the user to enable or disable receiving advertisements from one of a plurality of stores doing business in the location of the collection of entities, or

permitting, via the mobile device, the user to take a picture of a bar code of an inventory item associated with one of the plurality of stores, and to search for the inventory item, based on the bar code, in another one of the plurality of stores or one or more stores located in a location other than the location of the collection of entities.

8. The automated method of claim 1, further comprising at least one of:

receiving, via the mobile device, from one of a plurality of stores at least one of sale information, a coupon, a rebate, special event information, a two-for-one sale offer, or a receipt, or

receiving, via the mobile device, from one of the plurality of stores, an alert to specials based on the user selecting, via the mobile device, the one of the stores as a favorite store.

9. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions, executable by at least one processor, the computer-readable medium comprising:

one or more instructions for receiving a location of a mobile device;

one or more instructions for associating the location of the mobile device to a location having a collection of attractions, where each attraction of the collection is related to at least one of shopping or entertainment;

one or more instructions for retrieving a layout identifying a name for each attraction and a location of each attraction within the collection; and

one or more instructions for providing the layout to the mobile device.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, where the location having the collection of attractions includes one of a mall, an amusement park, a theme park, or a museum, and the layout includes at least one of an indoor floor plan or an outdoor floor plan.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, further comprising:

one or more instructions for receiving a query from the mobile device for information related to the location having the collection of attractions, and

one or more instructions for presenting information related to the location having the collection of attractions to the mobile device, where the one or more instructions for presenting further comprises;

one or more instructions for searching data, where the data includes at least one of;

data related to a mall, the mall being the location having the collection of attractions, and the data including mall hours, stores in the mall, inventory in the mall, and stock keeping units (SKU) identifiers, or

data related to an amusement park, the amusement park being the location having the collection of attractions, and the data including ride information, height requirements, age requirements, and a wait time associated with a line.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, where the computer-readable medium further comprises:

one or more instructions for receiving data from the mobile device, where the data includes at least one of;

a notification setting indicating how the user of the mobile device is to be notified by one of the attractions of the collection, where the notification setting includes one of an e-mail notification setting, a text message notification setting, or a auditory notification setting, or

items to be purchased.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, further comprising:

one or more instructions for receiving a query from the mobile device for information related to the location having the collection of attractions, and

one or more instructions for presenting information related to the location having the collection of attractions to the mobile device, where the one or more instructions for presenting further comprises;

one or more instructions for searching data, where the data includes current sales information for one or more stores.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, further comprising:

one or more instructions for receiving a query from the mobile device for information related to the location having the collection of attractions, and

one or more instructions for presenting the information related to the location having the collection of attractions to the mobile device, where the one or more instructions for presenting further comprises;

one or more instructions for searching data, where the data includes at least one of;

data related to a store, the store being one of the attractions of the collection, the data including coupons, rebates, and time of last visit by the user, or

data related to the user that includes past purchases by the user at the store, past purchase amount at the store, and past purchase payment method at the store.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, further comprising:

one or more instructions for receiving a query from the mobile device for information related to the location having the collection of attractions, and

one or more instructions for presenting the information related to the location having the collection of attractions to the mobile device, where the one or more instructions for presenting further comprises;

one or more instructions for searching data, where the data includes at least one of;

data relating to advertising that includes at least one of sale prices, discounts, or two-for-one offers, or

data relating to advertising that includes at least one of upcoming holiday specials, special events, or incentive and reward programs.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, further comprising:

one or more instructions for receiving data from the mobile device, where the data includes at least one of;

a setting for enabling receipt of electronic advertisements on the mobile device from a store doing business in the location having the collection of attractions, and a setting for prohibiting receipt of electronic advertisements on the mobile device from the store, or

a mall code identifier that corresponds to a favorite mall, the favorite mall being the location having the collection of attractions, or a store code identifier that corresponds to a favorite store doing business in the location having the collection of attractions.

17. A system, comprising:

one or more devices to;

receive a location of a user based on a location of a mobile device,

associate the location of the user to a nearest location having a collection of attractions, where each attraction of the collection of attractions is related to at least one of shopping or entertainment,

provide a layout associated with the collection of attractions to the user via the mobile device,

permit the user to query, via the mobile device, for information relating to one or more of the attractions of the collection of attractions, and

present the information relating to the one or more of the attractions to the user via the mobile device.

18. The system of claim 17, where the one or more devices are further configured to:

permit a store that corresponds to one of the attractions to manage information relating to the store, and

allow the user to query for information relating to the store.

19. The system of claim 17, where the one or more devices are further configured to:

permit the user to store user preference information relating to the nearest location having the collection of attractions.

20. A system for providing retail-related information to a user on a mobile device, comprising:

means for determining a location of the user based on a geographic location of the mobile device;

means for determining a retail location based on the location of the user;

means for providing retail-related information to the user via the mobile device based on at least one of a query from the user, via the mobile device, or information sent from a retailer doing business at the retail location.