Shopping Cart With an RFID Interface and Associated Systems and Methods

• US 20180211072A1
• Filed: 01/24/2018
• Published: 07/26/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 01/26/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Walmart Apollo, LLC (WalMart Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Wal-Mart Stores Texas LLC (WalMart Inc.)
• Inventors: Jones, Matthew Allen, Jones, Nicholaus Adam, Vasgaard, Aaron, Wilkinson, Bruce W.
• Granted Patent: US 10,380,390 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: B62B 3/10 characterised by supports specially adapted to objects of definite shape
• CPC Class Codes: B62B 5/06 Hand moving equipment, e.g. handle bars for cycles B62K11/14, B62K21/12
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/0723 the record carrier comprising an arrangement for non-contact communication, e.g. wireless communication circuits on transponder cards, non-contact smart cards or RFIDs
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10297 arrangements for handling protocols designed for non-contact record carriers such as RFIDs NFCs, e.g. ISO/IEC 14443 and 18092 cryptographic protocols H04L9/00; network security protocols H04L63/00; real-time communication protocols in data switching networks H04L65/00; network protocols for data switching network services H04L67/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10366 the interrogation device being adapted for miscellaneous applications

Abstract

Described in detail herein are systems and methods for interacting with an interactive display using a shopping cart. A user navigate a shopping cart to a computing system including an interactive display and can actuate or press one or more push buttons associated with RFID tags integrated with the handle portion on a shopping cart to interact with the interactive display. A unique identifier can be associated with each RFID tag. A RFID reader disposed with respect to the computing system can detect the unique identifiers associated with the one or more detected RFID tags. The RFID reader can transmit the unique identifiers to the computing system. The computing system can execute the retrieved actions on the interactive display, based on the one or more buttons actuated or pushed and the correlated RFID tags.

Claims

1. A shopping cart system comprising:

a shopping cart including a frame having a handle portion, a basket supported by the frame, and a plurality of caster configured to support the frame;

an actuator disposed on the handle portion;

a plurality of RFID tags integrated with the handle portion, at least one of the plurality of RFID tags including a near field component and a far field component, wherein the near field component and the far field component are configured to be selectively coupled or decoupled in response to actuation of the actuator;

at least one RFID reader configured to communicate with the at least one of the RFID tags in response to the actuator being actuated to couple the near field component and far field component; and

a computing system operatively coupled to the RFID reader, the computing system including an interactive display and being programmed to execute an action on the interactive display in response to communication between the RFID tag and the RFID reader.

2. The system in claim 1, wherein the at least one of the plurality of RFID tags are configured to scroll, input information, and make selections on the interactive display in response to the actuator being actuated to couple the near field component and the far field component.

3. The system in claim 1, further comprising a database operatively coupled to the computing system.

4. The system in claim 1, wherein the actuator includes a discrete push button.

5. The system in claim 1, wherein the far-field component is far-field antenna.

6. The system in claim 5, wherein the far-field antenna is tuned to a specified frequency.

7. The system in claim 1, wherein the plurality of the RFID tags are passive tags.

10. The method in claim 1, further comprising, scrolling, inputting information, and making selections, via the at least one of the plurality of RFID tag, on the interactive display in response to the actuator being actuated to couple the near field component and the far field component.

8. An shopping cart interaction method comprising:

receiving, via at least one RFID reader, RFID tag data from at least one RFID tag integrated in a handle portion of a shopping cart in response to actuation of an actuator disposed on the handle portion configured to be actuated to couple or decouple a near field component and a far field component of the at least one RFID tag; and

executing, via a computing system operatively coupled to the at least one RFID reader, an action on the interactive display in response to the RFID tag data received from the RFID tag via the RFID reader in response to the actuator being actuated on the handle portion of the frame to couple the near field component and the far field component.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

urging the near field component and the far field component towards each other in response to depression of the actuator;

enabling far field communication with the at least one RFID tag in response to the near field component and the far field component coming in contact with each other;

receiving a transmission from the at least one RFID reader when far field communication is enabled; and

transmitting the RFID tag data from the at least one RFID tag to the at least one RFID reader in response receiving the transmission from the at least one RFID reader when far field communication is enabled

11. The method in claim 8, wherein a database operatively coupled to the computing system.

12. The method in claim 8, wherein the actuator includes a discrete push button.

13. The method in claim 8, wherein the far-field component is far-field antenna.

14. The method in claim 13, wherein the far-field antenna is tuned to a specified frequency.

15. The method in claim 8, wherein the plurality of the RFID tags are passive tags.

16. A shopping cart system comprising:

a shopping cart including a frame having a handle portion, a basket supported by the frame, and a plurality of caster configured to support the frame;

an actuator disposed on the handle portion;

a plurality of RFID tags integrated with the handle portion, at least one of the plurality of RFID tags including a near field component and a far field component, wherein the near field component and the far field component are configured to be selectively coupled or decoupled in response to actuation of the actuator;

a plurality of RFID readers configured to communicate with the at least one of the RFID tags in response the at least one RFID tag being within range of the plurality of RFID readers and in response to the actuator being actuated to couple the near field component and far field component; and

a plurality of computing systems, each computing system being coupled to at least one of the plurality of RFID readers and including an interactive display, each of the plurality of the computing systems being programmed to;

receive communications from the at least one of the plurality of RFID tags via the at least one of the plurality of RFID readers operatively coupled thereto in response the at least one RFID tag being within range of the at least one of the plurality of RFID readers and in response to the actuator being actuated to couple the near field component and far field component;

determine whether to process the communications based on signal power of the radiofrequency communications received by the at least one of the plurality of RFID readers;

in response to determining that the signal power of the communications is below a threshold signal power, ignore the radiofrequency communications; and

in response to determining that the signal power of the radiofrequency communications is above a threshold power, identify data encoded in the communications and execute one or more actions on the interactive display in response to data.

17. The system in claim 16, wherein a database operatively coupled to the plurality of computing systems.

18. The system in claim 16, wherein the actuator includes a discrete push button.

19. The system in claim 16, wherein the near field component is a near field antenna and the far-field component is far-field antenna.

20. The system in claim 18, wherein the far-field antenna is tuned to a specified frequency.