TECHNIQUES FOR COLLABORATIVE SHOPPING

• US 20130054328A1
• Filed: 08/31/2011
• Published: 02/28/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NCR Voyix Corporation
• Original Assignee: NCR Corporation
• Inventors: White, Daniel Frederick, McNamara, Michael Robertson, Chavie, Richard, Grossi, Mark
• Granted Patent: US 9,754,298 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.23
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

Techniques for collaborative shopping are presented. During a shopping transaction, a customer collaborates in real time with one or more additional participants. Real-time and dynamic feedback is provided to the customer from the participants throughout the shopping transaction. Furthermore, real-time and dynamic feedback is provided from the customer to the participants throughout the shopping transaction.

Claims

1. A processor-implemented method programmed in a non-transitory processor-readable medium and to execute on one or more processors configured to execute the method, comprising:

registering a user for collaborative shopping;

obtaining shopping preferences from the user;

creating a shopping transaction as directed by the user using the shopping preferences;

assigning second users to the shopping transaction as permitted by the user; and

creating one or more communication sessions between the user and the second users during the shopping transaction for sharing information related to the shopping transaction.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising, sending an alert to a specific second user based on direction of the user or based on one or more of the shopping preferences.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein sending further includes receiving a piece of the information from the specific second user in response to sending the alert.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising, retaining a piece of information received from a specific second user and unsolicited by the user.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising, dynamically altering or augmenting the shopping preferences based on the information and/or actions taken by the user during the shopping transaction.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising, dynamically pushing some or all of the information to the user based on a physical location of the user.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising, dynamically sharing some of the information with an enterprise system based on the shopping preferences, direction of the user, and/or a physical location of the user.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising, dynamically pushing offers from the enterprise system to the user based on the shopping preferences and/or the shopping transaction.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein registering further includes providing a collaborative shopping portal to the user and the second users for registration and for collaborating with one another.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining further includes defining the shopping preferences as:

a shopping list, an event of the user for which a variety of goods and services are defined, a specific good, or a specific service.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein defining further includes including with the shopping preferences one or more of:

a budget, a specific price, a geographic region for the shopping transaction, a specific brand, a specific enterprise, identifiers for the second users, a specific time frame for completing the shopping transaction, and/or a specific attribute for the goods, the services, the specific good, or the specific service.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein assigning further includes inviting the second users to collaborate on the shopping transaction based on the shopping preferences.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein creating further includes creating at least one communication session where the user initiates the at least one communication session via a mobile phone from a specific enterprise and where the second users are on a variety of devices including:

laptops, other mobile phones, and/or tablets.

14. A processor-implemented method programmed in a non-transitory processor-readable medium and to execute on one or more processors configured to execute the method, comprising:

logging a user into a remote shopping collaboration manager;

identifying a shopping transaction for the user;

requesting feedback on one or more aspects of the shopping transaction from the remote shopping collaboration manager; and

receiving the feedback on the one or more aspects from the remote shopping collaboration manager and/or one or more second users assigned to the shopping transaction.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising, pushing a geographical location of the user to the remote shopping collaboration manager.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein identifying further includes receiving a selection from the user based on a list of available shopping transactions pushed from the remote shopping manager.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein identifying further includes obtaining an identifier for the shopping transaction that is pushed to the user based on a geographical location of the user.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein receiving further includes presenting at least one of the one or more aspects to the user as a quote or a proposal for all or a portion of the shopping transaction, the quote or the proposal provided by a specific second user, which is an enterprise.

19. A system, comprising:

a first machine having a shopping collaboration manager server implemented in a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium and which processes on the first machine; and

a second machine having a shopping collaboration agent implemented in a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium and which processes on the second machine;

the shopping collaboration manager configured to register the user with a shopping collaborate system and receiving shopping preferences for a shopping transaction of the user, and the shopping collaboration manager also configured to assign one or more second users to the shopping transaction and record and communicate information related to the shopping transaction between the user and the one or more second users, the shopping collaboration agent configured to interact with the user, the shopping collaboration manager, and the one or more second users to communicate portions of the information and receive other portions of the information.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the first machine is located in a cloud processing environment and the second machine is a mobile phone of the user.