SHOPPING CART AND SYSTEM

• US 20150206121A1
• Filed: 01/16/2015
• Published: 07/23/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 01/20/2014
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Amnon Peleg, Bentsur Joseph, David Ben Ha-Rosh
• Original Assignee: Amnon Peleg, Bentsur Joseph, David Ben Ha-Rosh
• Inventors: JOSEPH, BENTSUR, PELEG, AMNON, BEN HA-ROSH, DAVID
• Application Number:
  US14/598,739
• Publication Number:
  US 20150206121A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B62B 2203/50 comprising weighing means
• CPC Class Codes: B62B 3/1496 Assembling of baskets to the wheeled support
• CPC Class Codes: G01G 19/12 having electrical weight-sensitive devices
• CPC Class Codes: G01G 19/4144 for controlling weight of goods in commercial establishments, e.g. supermarket, P.O.S. systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01G 19/52 Weighing apparatus combined with other objects, e.g. furniture with walking sticks A45B3/08
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/208 Input by product or record sensing, e.g. weighing or scanner processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0639 Item locations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 1/0072 with means for detecting the weight of the article of which the code is read, for the verification of the registration weighing combined with recording means, e.g. in weighing scale, G01G19/415
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 1/14 Systems including one or more distant stations co-operating with a central processing unit data transmission in general H04L; telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station H04Q9/00

Abstract

A shopping cart includes a cart platform; a handle bar; wheels; a product scale; a basket resting on the scale independent of any support by the platform; and a user interface. The cart further includes a product sensor with a processor to read product information. The product scale, which weighs the products to ensure correspondence between the product price and its weight, is constituted merely by one or more transducers in operable contact with the basket.

Claims

1. A cart comprising:

a cart platform;

a handle bar attached to the cart platform;

wheels operably attached to the cart platform;

a product scale configured to weigh products and to rest on the cart platform;

a product receiving portion or basket configured to floatingly or fixedly rest on the scale, directly or indirectly independent of any support by the platform whereby weighing of products placed in the basket is not hindered by the basket'"'"'s connection to the platform; and

a user interface, typically including a touch screen; and

a product sensor, configured to read product information and having an associated or integrated processor, which controls and processes interaction of cart activities with a shop computer system, wherein the product scale is configured to weigh the products to ensure correspondence between the product price and weight, and is constituted merely by one or more transducers in operable contact with the basket.

2. The cart of claim 1, wherein the platform comprises levelling brackets attached thereto configured to provide a level plane for the scale.

3. The cart of claim 1, wherein the at least one transducer has one or more respectively associated shock absorbers underneath.

4. The cart of claim 1, further comprising an indoor navigation system configured to include a map and/or voice commands for in-store navigation.

5. The cart of claim 4, wherein the navigation system is further configured to provide the shortest path to arrive to the products.

6. The cart of claim 4, wherein the navigation system is further configured to use imaging of the store.

7. The cart of claim 6, wherein imaging of the store comprises imaging the user'"'"'s vicinity and/or goods located in the store.

8. The cart of claim 6, wherein the imaging system is configured to interact with a system of the store system to identify the location of the shopper.

9. The cart of claim 1, wherein the product sensor is further configured to provide price per weight in the case of bulk items such as fruits and vegetables.

10. The cart of claim 1, wherein the product sensor is further configured to provide product information selected from the group consisting of:

cost of the product;

price per weight in the case of the product being bulk items;

nutrition information;

product content weight and/or volume;

analogous products to a selected product;

whether the product is on sale;

product ingredients; and

product warnings including potential allergens, gluten content, artificial sweeteners and colors.

11. The cart of claim 1, wherein the product sensor is constituted by a barcode reader and/or a RFID sensor.

12. The cart of claim 1, wherein the associated or integrated processor of the product sensor is configured to control and process interaction of cart activities with the Internet cloud.

13. The cart of claim 1, wherein the user interface comprises an audio interface.

14. The cart of claim 13, wherein the audio interface comprises a video interface.

15. A shopping system comprising:

a shopping cart; and

an indoor navigation feature associated with the shopping cart and including an image processor configured to process images of the store and/or the specific environment therein to provide navigation information to the shopper.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the indoor navigation feature comprises a map displayable on a display of the shopping cart and/or voice commands.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the imaging feature is further configured to identify goods in the vicinity.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the imaging feature is further configured to interact with a store'"'"'s system within which the cart is situated.

19. The system of claim 15, further configured to receive information from a smartphone application or the like.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the smartphone application allows multiple members of a group to separately access and update their shopping list, each one independently from his/her own smartphone.

21. A method of shopping comprising:

reading product information via a product sensor associated with a shopping cart;

weighing the product to ensure correspondence between the product price and its weight by placing the product in a basket of the shopping cart, wherein weighing the product entails placing the product into the basket, which is configured to floatingly or fixedly rest on the product scale, directly or indirectly independent of any support by a cart platform whereby weighing of products placed in the basket is not hindered by the basket'"'"'s connection to the cart platform, and the product scale is constituted merely by one or more transducers; and

paying for the products using a payment system operably connected to the shopping cart.