Enhancing a User's Shopping Experience

• US 20150379613A1
• Filed: 09/04/2015
• Published: 12/31/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Etsy Incorporated
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.), AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Hu, Qingmin, Toren, Jamie, Causey, Mark Edward, Daly, Brian Kevin, Mullis, Karen
• Granted Patent: US 10,019,747 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0281 Customer communication at a business location, e.g. providing product or service information, consulting
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0631 Item recommendations

Abstract

The subject disclosure provides systems and methods for enhancing a purchasing experience by enabling a purchaser to receive a variety of real-time updates or recommendations regarding products that the purchaser, such as a user, may need or intend to purchase. A recommendation provided by the system may be based upon comparing the product with a plurality of sources. The recommendation may include a recommendation that a product may near depletion and thus may need to be replaced, a recommendation that the user may already have a sufficient amount or number of the product, a recommendation that the product may or may not match an existing item owned by the user, or a recommendation not to purchase a product. A virtual closet may also be created according the systems and methods of the subject disclosure, allowing users and contacts selected by the user to collaborate on products.

Claims

1. An inventory server comprising:

a processor; and

a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising

receiving, from a sensor, a product identifier associated with a product chosen by a user for purchase,

decoding the product identifier associated with the product to extract product information corresponding to the product,

analyzing, based on a factor, the product information corresponding to the product,

determining, based on analyzing the product information corresponding to the product based on the factor, to recommend an alternative product to the user, and

providing, to a mobile device associated with the user, a recommendation regarding the alternative product.

2. The inventory server of claim 1, wherein the factor comprises products previously purchased by the user, wherein the products correspond to a type of the product chosen by the user for purchase.

3. The inventory server of claim 1, wherein the factor comprises compatibility of the product chosen by the user for purchase with products owned by the user.

4. The inventory server of claim 1, wherein the factor comprises compatibility of the product chosen by the user for purchase with first products owned by the user and second products previously purchased by the user.

5. The inventory server of claim 1, wherein the factor comprises a dietary restriction associated with the user.

6. The inventory server of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

providing the user with an option to accept or decline the recommendation; and

in response to the user accepting the recommendation, contacting a merchant server belonging to a merchant where the user chose the product for purchase to retrieve more information about the alternative product.

7. The inventory server of claim 1, wherein the sensor comprises a reader, and wherein the reader comprises an optical reader, a radio frequency identification reader, a barcode scanner, or a camera.

8. A method comprising:

receiving, by an inventory server comprising a processor from a sensor, a product identifier associated with a product chosen by a user for purchase;

decoding, by the processor, the product identifier associated with the product to extract product information corresponding to the product;

analyzing, by the processor based on a factor, the product information corresponding to the product;

determining, by the processor based on analyzing the product information corresponding to the product based on the factor, to recommend an alternative product to the user; and

providing, by the processor to a mobile device associated with the user, a recommendation regarding the alternative product.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the factor comprises products previously purchased by the user, wherein the products correspond to a type of the product chosen by the user for purchase.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the factor comprises compatibility of the product chosen by the user for purchase with products owned by the user.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the factor comprises compatibility of the product chosen by the user for purchase with first products owned by the user and second products previously purchased by the user.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the factor comprises a dietary restriction associated with the user.

13. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

providing the user with an option to accept or decline the recommendation; and

in response to the user accepting the recommendation, contacting a merchant server belonging to a merchant where the user chose the product for purchase to retrieve more information about the alternative product.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the sensor comprises a reader, and wherein the reader comprises an optical reader, a radio frequency identification reader, a barcode scanner, or a camera.

20. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

providing the user with a second option to accept or decline the recommendation; and

in response to the user accepting the recommendation, contacting a merchant server belonging to a merchant where the user chosen the product for purchase to retrieve more information about the alternative product.

15. A method comprising:

receiving, by an inventory server comprising a processor from a sensor, a product identifier associated with a product chosen by a user for purchase;

decoding, by the processor, the product identifier associated with the product to extract product information;

providing, by the processor to a mobile device associated with the user, a first option to confirm or reject that the product information corresponds to the product chosen by the user for purchase;

in response to receiving a confirmation from the user that the product information corresponds to the product chosen by the user for purchase, analyzing, by the processor based on a factor, the product information corresponding to the product;

determining, by the processor based on analyzing the product information corresponding to the product based on the factor, to recommend an alternative product to the user; and

providing, by the processor to the mobile device associated with the user, a recommendation regarding the alternative product.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the factor comprises products previously purchased by the user, wherein the products correspond to a type of the product chosen by the user for purchase.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the factor comprises compatibility of the product chosen by the user for purchase with products owned by the user.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the factor comprises compatibility of the product chosen by the user for purchase with first products owned by the user and second products previously purchased by the user.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the factor comprises a dietary restriction associated with the user.