TECHNIQUES FOR RETAIL LOCATION-AWARE SERVICES

• US 20150039392A1
• Filed: 07/31/2013
• Published: 02/05/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NCR Voyix Corporation
• Original Assignee: NCR Corporation (NCR Voyix Corporation)
• Inventors: Kobres, Erick, DiPietro, Philip
• Granted Patent: US 11,120,472 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7.32
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/321 using wearable devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3224 Transactions dependent on location of M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0203 Market surveys; Market polls
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0281 Customer communication at a business location, e.g. providing product or service information, consulting
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

Techniques for retail location-aware services are provided. A consumer defines parameters in which it is acceptable to the consumer to receive an offer for a good or service. When the parameters are achievable for an enterprise and when the consumer is in a configured proximity to the desired good or service, the mobile device of the consumer is notified of the offer.

Claims

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

presenting, via the device, selections to a user for defining under what circumstances the user is interested in purchasing a good or a service;

receiving, via the device, values for the selections;

recording, by the device, the values along with a user identifier for the user and a mobile device identifier for a mobile device of the user; and

forwarding, from the device, the values to retailers when the mobile device of the user is detected within a configured proximity to the retailers.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein presenting further includes allowing the user to define the configured proximity via at least one selection.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein presenting further includes allowing the user to mark some selections mandatory and other selections optional.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein presenting further includes providing the user with the selections that include one or more of:

a specific retailer, a specific price for the good or service, a price range for the good or service, specific features associated with the good or service, and exclusion retailers that identify retailers for which the user has no interest in purchasing the good or service.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving further includes permitting specific comments of the user to be entered with the values that are forwarded to the retailers.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving further includes acquiring some of the values as fixed numbers and others of the values as ranges of numbers.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving further includes permitting some of the values to be coupons or discounts held by the user for the good or service.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein forwarding further includes tracking the retailers for which the values are sent and the user to identify a transaction for the good or the service.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein tracking further includes periodically sending reports to selective ones of the retailers when the user purchased the good or the service from those selective retailers.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein periodically sending further includes automatically collecting a referral fee from those selective retailers based on purchases of the user.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein forwarding further includes forwarding the values based on a direction of travel identified for the user based on position coordinates sent for the mobile device.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein forwarding further includes detecting a speed for the travel when determining the retailers to send the values to in addition to the direction of the travel.

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

receiving, at the mobile device, an offer for a good or service from a retailer based on criteria defined by a user for accepting the good or service and based on a geographic position of the user determined for a mobile device in possession of the user; and

reviewing, by the mobile device, the offer to determine by the user whether to accept or decline the offer for the good or service.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein receiving further includes obtaining the offer when all of the criteria are met as defined by the user from the retailer.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein receiving further includes obtaining the offer when a user-defined percentage of the criteria are met as defined by the user from the retailer.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein reviewing further includes obtaining a message within a custom application on the mobile device to review the offer.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein reviewing further includes obtaining a text message on the mobile device to review the offer.

18. The method of claim 13 further comprising, countering, via the mobile device, on direction of the user the offer in an attempt to real-time negotiate with the retailer.

19. A system, comprising:

a server having a retail service programmed within memory and/or a non-transitory computer-readable medium for execution on the server; and

a mobile device having a client-based application programmed within memory and/or a non-transitory computer-readable storage media for execution on the mobile device;

wherein the retail service is configured to register selections for criteria that defines when a user may accept an offer for a good or service based on a current geographic position of the user, and the retail service communicates the criteria to retailers supplying the good or service based on the current geographic position of the user as determined from the mobile device, and wherein the client-based application is configured to receive real-time offers from the retailers for review on the mobile device based on satisfaction of the criteria and based on the current geographic position of the mobile device.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the mobile device is one of:

a smartphone, a laptop, a tablet, and a wearable device.