System and method for updating shopping transaction history using electronic personal digital shopping assistant
First Claim
1. An electronic personal shopping system for use in a retail facility, the system comprising:
- a portable machine-readable personal memory store including a plurality of non-volatile data storage areas, the data storage areas partitioned to define a first portion containing customer specific demographic profile information, the personal memory store further partitioned to define a second portion containing information identifying a customer'"'"'s transaction history and at least a third portion for storing a current incentive indicia, wherein the transaction history includes information on each item most recently purchased by the customer;
at least a point-of-sale terminal, the terminal including;
a personal memory store interface unit capable of reading, writing and editing said demographic profile, transaction history and incentive indicia information of a personal memory store;
an output device capable of outputting said demographic profile, transaction history and incentive indicia information;
a microprocessor based control unit, coupled between the interface unit and the output device, the control unit managing information transfer and data processing under application software program control, the control unit including transaction circuitry for editing and updating transaction history data to reflect a customer'"'"'s most recent transactions and for editing and updating current incentive indicia data to reflect a customer'"'"'s most recent transactions, the transaction circuitry further for determining whether a particular customer'"'"'s most recent transactions qualify that customer for an incentive award; and
wherein, the updated transaction history data and updated current incentive indicia data processed by the transaction circuitry are written to the second and third data storage area portions of the personal memory store by the interface unit, thereby maintaining the transaction history and incentive indicia data stored in the data storage areas in an up-to-date condition reflecting the customer'"'"'s most recent transactions.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
An electronic personal shopping system for communicating between a customer'"'"'s personal memory store and point-of-sale terminals in a retail facility. Demographic profile data, a customer'"'"'s transaction history data and a customer'"'"'s current incentive indicia are stored in particular locations in a memory of a portable, machine-readable smart card. The smart card is adapted to interface with a store'"'"'s check-out terminals and customer assistance, or kiosk terminals. Check-out terminals record a customer'"'"'s most recent transactions in the customer'"'"'s transaction history storage area and update a customer'"'"'s current incentive indicia to reflect the most recent purchase. A customer is able to maintain a transaction history without intervention of a store platform computer. A customer assistance, or kiosk terminal, is able to develop promotional and personalized greeting messages by reading and analyzing the demographic profile, transaction history and incentive indicia information stored in the smart card to personalize the service offered to each individual customer.
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Citations
32 Claims
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1. An electronic personal shopping system for use in a retail facility, the system comprising:
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a portable machine-readable personal memory store including a plurality of non-volatile data storage areas, the data storage areas partitioned to define a first portion containing customer specific demographic profile information, the personal memory store further partitioned to define a second portion containing information identifying a customer'"'"'s transaction history and at least a third portion for storing a current incentive indicia, wherein the transaction history includes information on each item most recently purchased by the customer; at least a point-of-sale terminal, the terminal including; a personal memory store interface unit capable of reading, writing and editing said demographic profile, transaction history and incentive indicia information of a personal memory store; an output device capable of outputting said demographic profile, transaction history and incentive indicia information; a microprocessor based control unit, coupled between the interface unit and the output device, the control unit managing information transfer and data processing under application software program control, the control unit including transaction circuitry for editing and updating transaction history data to reflect a customer'"'"'s most recent transactions and for editing and updating current incentive indicia data to reflect a customer'"'"'s most recent transactions, the transaction circuitry further for determining whether a particular customer'"'"'s most recent transactions qualify that customer for an incentive award; and wherein, the updated transaction history data and updated current incentive indicia data processed by the transaction circuitry are written to the second and third data storage area portions of the personal memory store by the interface unit, thereby maintaining the transaction history and incentive indicia data stored in the data storage areas in an up-to-date condition reflecting the customer'"'"'s most recent transactions. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. An electronic personal shopping system for use in a retail facility, the system comprising:
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a portable machine-readable personal memory store including a plurality of non-volatile data storage areas, the data storage areas partitioned to define a first portion containing customer specific demographic profile information, the personal memory store further partitioned to define a second portion containing information identifying a customer'"'"'s transaction history and at least a third portion for storing a current incentive indicia, wherein the transaction history includes information on each item most recently purchased by the customer; at least a customer assistance terminal, the assistance terminal including; a personal memory store interface unit capable of reading said demographic profile, transaction history and incentive indicia information of said personal memory store; an output device capable of displaying information in videographic or hardcopy form; a microprocessor based control unit, coupled between the interface unit and the output device, the control unit managing information transfer and data processing under application software control, the control unit including transaction history processing means for analyzing a customer'"'"'s transaction history information read from the personal memory store by the interface unit to thereby develop a customer assistance recommendation, the control unit further including demographic profile data processing means for analyzing a customer'"'"'s demographic profile information read from the personal memory store by the interface unit to thereby personalize messages displayed or printed on the output device, the control unit further including incentive indicia processing means for analyzing a customer'"'"'s current incentive indicia read from the personal memory store by the interface unit to thereby develop and display an incentive indicia status message. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. A portable machine-readable personal memory store for interfacing with a customer assistance terminal, the personal memory store comprising:
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a first data storage area including customer specific demographic profile information; a second data storage area including real-time customer transaction information, the real-time customer transaction information including an item name and item price of each item most recently purchased by the customer; and a third data storage area including incentive indicia information; wherein, the customer specific demographic profile information in the first data storage area and the real-time customer transaction information in the second data storage area are used by the customer assistance terminal for recommending promotional items that the customer might be interested in, and the incentive indicia information is updated to reflect the customer'"'"'s most recent transactions.
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32. A customer assistance terminal for interfacing with a portable machine-readable personal memory store, the personal memory store having a first data storage area with customer specific demographic profile information, a second data storage area with real-time customer transaction information, the real-time customer transaction information including an item name and item price of each item most recently purchased by the customer, and a third data storage area with incentive indicia information, the customer assistance terminal comprising:
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a personal memory store interface unit capable of reading said demographic profile, transaction history and incentive indicia information of said personal memory store; an output device capable of displaying information in videographic or hardcopy form; a microprocessor based control unit, coupled between the interface unit and the output device, the control unit managing information transfer and data processing under application software control, the control unit including transaction information processing means and a demographic profile information processing means for analyzing the real-time customer transaction information and demographic profile information read from the personal memory store to thereby develop recommendations of promotional items that the customer might be interested in, the control unit further including incentive indicia processing means for analyzing the customer'"'"'s incentive indicia information read from the personal memory store to develop and display an incentive indicia status message.
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Specification