GUIDE ROBOT FOR SHOPPING GUIDING SYSTEM AND METHOD

• US 20150278889A1
• Filed: 03/28/2014
• Published: 10/01/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/28/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ecovacs Robotics, Inc. (Ecovacs Robotics (Suzhou) Co. Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: ECOVACS Robotics Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Qian, Dongqi
• Granted Patent: US 10,198,758 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces

Abstract

An intelligent shopping guiding system comprising a guide robot and a workstation computer is disclosed. The guide robot is coupled to the workstation computer, preferably over a wireless system and information between the guide robot and the workstation computer is transferred via wireless communication. As the front-end equipment of the shopping guiding system, the guide robot interacts with the customer and provides assistance and guidance to the customer to enhance their shopping experience. As the back-end equipment of the shopping guiding system, the workstation computer builds, stores, and maintains a customized message associated with a customer'"'"'s unique ID number. The unique ID number is associated with the customer'"'"'s personal characteristics such as, for example, biometric information, physiological, or other information suitable for identifying the customer.

Claims

1. A method of guiding shopping by a guide robot, the method comprising:

abstracting, by an individual personal characteristic unit of a guide robot, personal characteristics information associated with a customer;

sending, by a communication unit of the guide robot, the abstracted personal characteristics information associated with the customer to a remote workstation computer;

receiving, by the communication unit of the guide robot, a customized message associated with the customer from the remote workstation computer; and

presenting, by a user interface of the guide robot, the customized message to the customer.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein abstracting the personal characteristics information associated with the customer comprises capturing one or more biometric samples associated with the customer.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the biometric samples are captured in any one of the following methods:

receiving an image sample of the customer from an image acquisition system of the guide robot,

receiving a voice sample of the customer from a voice recognition system of the guide robot,

receiving an iris sample of the customer from an iris detection system of the guide robot, and

receiving a fingerprint sample of the customer from a fingerprint recognition system, and any combination thereof.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein sending and receiving information to and from the remote workstation computer comprises sending and receiving the information by a wireless communication unit of the guide robot.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the customized message is presented to the customer in any one of the following methods:

presenting text or graphics via a video screen display, or

presenting audio by an audio device, and any combination thereof.

6. A method of guiding shopping by a workstation computer, the method comprising:

receiving, by a communication unit of a workstation computer, abstracted personal characteristics information from a remote guide robot; and

comparing, by a message processing unit of the workstation computer, the received abstracted personal characteristics information to a plurality of personal characteristics information stored in a database coupled to the workstation computer;

wherein when there is matching personal characteristics information stored in the database, retrieving a customer message associated with a customer identification number from the database.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising analyzing, by a message processing unit, the customer message.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising controlling the guide robot to accomplish the shopping guiding.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising updating the status of the customer message.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein when there is no matching personal characteristics information in the database, setting, by the message processing unit, a new identification number for the customer and building a customer message.

11. The method of claim 6, wherein when there is no matching personal characteristics information in the database, sending, by the communication unit, a request to a remote network computer coupled to a database for a matching customer identification number associated with the abstracted personal characteristics information associated with the customer.

12. The method of claim 11, comprising comparing, by the remote network computer, the abstracted personal characteristics information associated with the customer to a plurality of personal characteristics information associated with a plurality of customers stored in the remote database.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein when there is matching personal characteristics information in the remote database, retrieving a customer message associated with a customer identification number from the remote database.

14. The method of claim 13, comprising sending, by the communication unit, the customer message to the workstation computer.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein when there is no matching personal characteristics information in the remote database, replying the result to the workstation computer.

16. The method of claim 15, comprising setting, by the message processing unit, a new identification number for the customer and building a customer message.

17. A guide robot for a shopping guiding system, the robot comprising:

a control unit;

an individual personal characteristic unit coupled to the control unit, the individual personal characteristic unit configured to abstract personal characteristics information associated with a customer;

a communication unit coupled to the control unit, the communication unit configured to send the abstracted personal characteristics information associated with the customer to a remote workstation computer and to receive a customized message associated with the customer from the remote workstation computer; and

a user interface coupled to the control unit, the user interface configured to present the customized message to the customer.

18. The guide robot of claim 17, wherein the individual personal characteristics abstracting unit is configured to capture one or more biometric samples associated with the customer.

19. The guide robot of claim 18, further comprising any one of the following devices to capture the biometric samples:

an image acquisition system configured to acquire an image sample of the customer,

a voice recognition system of the guide robot configured to recognize a voice sample of the customer,

an iris detection system configured to detect an iris sample of the customer, and

a fingerprint recognition system configured to recognize a fingerprint of the customer, and any combination thereof.

20. The guide robot of claim 17, comprising a wireless communication unit couple to the control unit, the wireless communication unit configured to send and receive information to and from the remote workstation computer.

21. The guide robot of claim 17, one or more of the following devices configured to present the customized message to the customer:

a video screen display configured to present text or graphics, or

an audio device configured to present audio, and any combination thereof.

22. A workstation computer for a shopping guiding system, the workstation computer comprising:

a communication unit configured to receive an abstracted personal characteristics information from a remote guide robot;

a database; and

a message processing unit coupled to the communication unit, the message processing unit configured to compare the received abstracted personal characteristics information to a plurality of personal characteristics information stored in the database;

wherein the message processing unit is configured to retrieve a customer message associated with a customer identification number from the database when there is matching personal characteristics information stored in the database.

23. The workstation computer of claim 22, wherein the message processing unit is configured to analyze the customer message.

24. The workstation computer of claim 22, wherein the message processing unit is configured to set a new identification number for the customer and build a customer message when there is no matching personal characteristics information in the database.

25. A shopping guiding system comprising:

a first workstation computer comprising;

a first communication unit configured to receive an abstracted personal characteristics information from a remote guide robot;

a first database; and

a first message processing unit coupled to the first communication unit, the first message processing unit configured to compare the received abstracted personal characteristics information to a plurality of personal characteristics information stored in the first database;

wherein the first message processing unit is configured to retrieve a customer message associated with a customer identification number from the first database when there is matching personal characteristics information stored in the first database; and

wherein the first workstation computer communicates with a network.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the first communication unit is configured to send a request to the network for a matching customer identification number associated with the abstracted personal characteristics information associated with the customer when there is no matching personal characteristics information in the first database of the first workstation computer.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the network is configured to compare the abstracted personal characteristics information associated with the customer to a plurality of personal characteristics information associated with a plurality of customers stored in a cloud database.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the network retrieves a customer message associated with a customer identification number from the cloud database when there is matching personal characteristics information in the cloud database.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the network sends the customer message to the first workstation computer.

30. The system of claim 25, wherein the network replies the result to the first workstation computer when there is no matching personal characteristics information in the cloud database.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein the first workstation computer is configured to set a new identification number for the customer and build a customer message when the reply of no matching personal characteristics information in the cloud database is received form the network.

32. The system of claim 25, the shopping guiding system further comprising a second workstation computer, wherein the second workstation computer comprises:

a second communication unit configured to receive an abstracted personal characteristics information from the remote guide robot;

a second database; and

a second message processing unit coupled to the second communication unit, the second message processing unit configured to compare the received abstracted personal characteristics information to a plurality of personal characteristics information stored in the second database;

wherein the second message processing unit is configured to retrieve a customer message associated with a customer identification number from the second database when there is matching personal characteristics information stored in the second database; and

wherein the second workstation computer communicates with a network.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein the second communication unit is configured to send a request to the network for a matching customer identification number associated with the abstracted personal characteristics information associated with the customer when there is no matching personal characteristics information in the second database of the second workstation computer.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein the network is configured to compare the abstracted personal characteristics information associated with the customer to a plurality of personal characteristics information associated with a plurality of customers stored in a cloud database;

the network retrieves a customer message associated with a customer identification number from the cloud database when there is matching personal characteristics information in the cloud database;

the network sends the customer message to the second workstation computer.

35. The system of claim 32, wherein the network replies the result to the second workstation computer when there is no matching personal characteristics information in the cloud database.

36. The system of claim 35, wherein the second workstation computer is configured to set a new identification number for the customer and build a customer message when the reply of no matching personal characteristics information in the cloud database is received form the network.