METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR LOCATING A PRODUCT IN A STORE USING A MOBILE DEVICE

• US 20120259732A1
• Filed: 03/05/2012
• Published: 10/11/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/07/2011
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Rubiscom Networks Inc.
• Original Assignee: Rubiscom Networks Inc.
• Inventors: Sasankan, Sanal, Zhang, Peng Fei
• Application Number:
  US13/411,633
• Publication Number:
  US 20120259732A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/26.9
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

A method of locating a product in a store using a mobile device is provided. The mobile device communicates with a store server through a local area network and retrieves location information for the product. Low granularity product and location information is received at the device from a store server as the user enters the store. Higher granularity location information is later received at the device depending on position of the device in the store. Pre-stored product choices in a shopping list application may be used to navigate to locations of successive products in the list.

Claims

1. A method of locating a product in a store, comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving at a mobile device, through a wireless local area network, a product list, the product list comprising product information for a product, associated location information for the product and a store-map for the store;

(b) determining location of the device within the store;

(c) receiving user input of a product choice at the mobile device;

(d) determining a current location of the product choice in the store from the received product list, and

(e) rendering on the store-map the location of the device and the current location of the chosen product in the store.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the product information comprises a product name of the product sold at the store.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the product information comprises product name of the product sold at the store and associated inventory information for the product.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the inventory information comprises an indication as to whether the product is currently available in the store or not.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the inventory information comprises the actual number of the product currently available in the store.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the rendered store-map includes direction from the current location of the mobile device to the location of the chosen product.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the location information comprises low-granularity location information, the low-granularity information indicating the approximate area where the product can be found.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the low-granularity information is the aisle number where the product may be found.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the low-granularity information indicates the approximate area where the product may be found.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the product list is pre-loaded in the mobile device before the user enters the store.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the location information comprises high-granularity location information, the high-granularity information indicating the exact location of the product.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the high-granularity information is the aisle number and shelf number where the product can be found.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the rendering includes rendering of the current location of the device, location of the chosen product in the store and an advertisement for a second product.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the advertisement is selected based at least on location of the mobile device.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the advertisement is selected based on product name of the chosen product.

16. A method of locating a product in a store, comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving at a mobile device proximate to the point of entry into the store, a product list through a wireless local area network, the product list comprising product information for a product, associated location information for the product and a store-map for the store;

(b) determining location of the device within the store;

(c) receiving further information for at least one product in the product list in response to identifying the mobile device to the be in a predefined area in the store.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the location information comprises low-granularity location information and the further information comprises high-granularity location information identifying the exact location of the product.

18. The method of claim 16 wherein the further information comprises high-granularity location information for the predefined area.

19. The method of claim 16 wherein the predefined area is an aisle of the store.

20. The method of claim 16 wherein the further information includes an advertisement for a second product.

21. A method of locating a product in a store, comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving at a mobile device proximate to the point of entry into the store, a product list through a wireless local area network, the product list comprising product information for a product, low-granularity location information for the product and a store-map for the store;

(b) determining location of the mobile device within the store;

(c) receiving user input of a product choice at the mobile device;

(d) determining an approximate location of the product choice in the store from the received product list;

(e) rendering on the store-map the current location of the device and the approximate location of the chosen product in the store;

(g) receiving high-granularity location information in response to identifying the mobile device to be in a predefined area in the store, and

(h) rendering on the store-map the current location of the device and the high-granularity location of the chosen product in the store;

22. A mobile wireless device for determining the location of a product in a store by interacting with a store server, the mobile wireless device comprising:

(a) a processor;

(b) an input device;

(c) a location determining subsystem for determining location of the device in the store;

(d) a communication subsystem for wirelessly receiving from the store server product-location information; and

(e) a product-location application for receiving a product choice input from the input device and rendering at the mobile device the location of the device and the location of the product-choice in the store using product-location information received from the store server.

23. A method of locating a product in a store comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving at a mobile device, through a wireless local area network, a product list, the product list comprising product information for a product, associated location information for the product and a store-map for the store;

(b) determining location of the device within the store;

(c) identifying a product choice by referring to a pre-stored shopping list, the pre-stored shopping list comprising a database of products to be purchased;

(d) determining a current location of the product choice in the store from the received product list, and

(e) rendering on the store-map the location of the device and current location of the product choice in the store.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein a prior shopping history is generated based on a user'"'"'s shopping pattern and the shopping history is used to precisely identify the product choice from the pre-stored shopping list.

25. The method of claim 23 wherein the prior shopping history comprises at least one of a product name, product code and a product bar code.

26. The method of claim 23 wherein the prior shopping history is obtained from a mobile wallet application.

27. The method of claim 23 wherein the prior shopping history is obtained from electronic copies of shopping receipts.

28. The method of claim 23 wherein the current location of the product choice is used for automated fetching of products listed in the pre-stored shopping list.

29. A method of locating a product in a store comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving at a mobile device, through a wireless local area network, a product list, the product list comprising product information for a product, associated location information for the product and a store-map for the store;

(b) determining location of the device within the store;

(c) identifying a first product choice by referring to a pre-stored shopping list, the pre-stored shopping list comprising a database of products to be purchased;

(d) determining a current location of the first product choice in the store from the received product list, and

(e) rendering on the store-map, the location of the device and current location of the first product choice in the store;

(f) determining that the mobile device is within a predefined distance to the first product choice and in response to the detection identifying the subsequent product in the pre-stored shopping list as a second product choice;

(g) determining the current location of the second product choice in the store; and

(h) rendering on the store-map the location of the device and the current location of the second product choice.

30. A method of locating a product in a store using a mobile device, the mobile device communicating with a server to retrieve product location information, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) sending to the mobile device through a wireless local area network, a product list, the product list comprising product information for a product, low-granularity location information for the product and a store-map for the store;

(b) identifying location of the device within the store;

(c) detecting the mobile device to be in a predefined area in the store, and

(d) sending to the device high-granularity location information for use in determining the location of a product choice in the store.

31. The method of claim 30 wherein location of the mobile device is identified from device location information received from the mobile device.

32. The method of claim 30 wherein location of the mobile device is identified through device location determination executed at the server.

33. The method of claim 30 wherein location of the mobile device is identified from device location information received from a location server.