ITEM LOCATION ASSISTANT WITH CUSTOM PRICE DISPLAY

• US 20150278897A1
• Filed: 08/26/2014
• Published: 10/01/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/28/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PayPal, Inc. (PayPal Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Inventors: Nichols, Timothy Conrad, Chatterton, Geoffrey W., Todasco, Michael Charles
• Granted Patent: US 9,996,866 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0613 Third-party assisted
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0639 Item locations

Abstract

Methods and systems for improving a shopping experience are described. When a shopper walks into a store, the shopper'"'"'s mobile device transmits a signal with the shopper'"'"'s shopping preferences and shopper profile. Any items that are within a certain distance of the mobile device and satisfy at least one of the shopper'"'"'s preferences may light up to indicate that the item matches something the shopper is looking for. In addition, the price of the item based on the shopper profile for that shopper is displayed.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a memory device storing shopper profile information; and

one or more processors in communication with the memory device and operable to;

receive location and user identification for a user;

determine shopping preferences based on the shopper profile information;

transmit the shopping preferences and shopper profile information to a mobile device associated with the user;

cause an item location device associated with an item that meets at least one shopping preference to alert the user; and

cause the item location device to display a price for the item based on the shopper profile information.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the shopper profile information comprises one or more of whether the user is a holder of merchant loyalty card, the user is a frequent shopper at a merchant, the user has merchant coupons or rewards, age group of the user, occupation of the user, spending habits of the user, and past purchases of the user.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the item location device comprises a light.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the light comprises lights of different colors that are associated with different users.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the lights of different colors are used to display the price.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein lights of different colors comprise multiple sets of lights that display multiple prices for multiple users at the same time.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the item location device comprises a light emitting diode (LED) price tag.

8. A method for improving a shopper experience, comprising:

receiving, by one or more hardware processors of a service provider, location and user identification for a user from a beacon;

determining, by the one or more hardware processors, shopping preferences based on shopper profile information;

transmitting, by the one or more hardware processors, the shopping preferences and shopper profile to a mobile device associated with the user;

causing, by the one or more hardware processors, a price display system associated with an item that meets at least one shopping preference to alert the user; and

causing, by the one or more hard processors, the price display system to display a price for the item based on the shopper profile information.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the shopper profile information comprises one or more of whether the user is a holder of merchant loyalty card, the user is a frequent shopper at a merchant, the user has merchant coupons or rewards, age group of the user, occupation of the user, spending habits of the user, and past purchases of the user.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the price display system comprises a backlight that lights up to alert the user and a display component to display the price.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein a color of the displayed price or the backlight identifies a specific user.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the price display system comprises a light emitting diode (LED).

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the LED comprises LEDs of different colors that are associated with different users.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the LED comprises multiple sets of LEDs that light up for multiple users at the same time.

15. A non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising instructions which, in response to a computer system, cause the computer system to perform a method comprising:

compiling shopper profile information of a user;

receiving location and user identification for the user;

determining shopping preferences based on the shopper profile information;

transmitting the shopping preferences and shopper profile information to a mobile device associated with the user;

causing an item location device associated with an item that meets at least one shopping preference to alert the user; and

causing the item location device to display a price for the item based on the shopper profile information.

16. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the shopper profile information comprises one or more of whether the user is a holder of merchant loyalty card, the user is a frequent shopper at a merchant, the user has merchant coupons or rewards, age group of the user, occupation of the user, spending habits of the user, and past purchases of the user.

17. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the location of the user is received from a Bluetooth low energy (BLE) beacon.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 15, wherein determining shopping preferences comprises analyzing past purchases.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the item location device comprises a light emitting diode (LED) price tag.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the LED price tag comprises lights of different colors that are associated with different users.