Interactive shopping system with mobile apparatus

• US 6,434,530 B1
• Filed: 01/20/1999
• Issued: 08/13/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Tamiras Per Pte Ltd LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Retail Multimedia Corporation
• Inventors: Sloane, Martin A., Bogan, Tod
• Primary Examiner(s): Sough, Hyung Sub
• Assistant Examiner(s): Dixon, Thomas A.
• Application Number:
  US09/233,825
• Time in Patent Office: 1,301 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14, 705/16, 705/1, 704/275, 706/22, 235/375, 235/383
• US Class Current: 705/26.62
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/343 Cards including a counter
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0625 Directed, with specific intent or strategy
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/02 by keys or other credit registering devices
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 1/0045 with a code reader for reading of an identifying code of the article to be registered, e.g. barcode reader or radio-frequency identity [RFID] reader
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 1/0081 the reader being a portable scanner or data reader G07G1/009 takes precedence

Abstract

An interactive system adapted for use in a shopping venue, comprises: an interactive and intelligent source of information, for example supplemental information related to articles available for selection by shoppers in a shopping venue, and not otherwise available to the shoppers during shopping; and, a plurality of interactive, mobile apparatus which shoppers can move throughout the shopping venue and use for transmitting queries to the interactive source of information and use for receiving information transmitted from the interactive source of information, whereby shoppers can receive information useful for evaluating the articles when making article selection decisions, and at least some of the received information can be formulated to influence the article selection decisions. At least some of the information transmitted to the shoppers can be responsive to the queries. An artificial intelligence unit can evaluate the queries and select information for inclusion in responses to the queries.

Claims

1. A shopping system for use in a shopping venue, comprising:

an interactive source of supplemental information, said supplemental information related to articles available for selection by shoppers in said shopping venue;

a plurality of interactive, mobile apparatus, remotely located from said interactive source of supplemental information, which shoppers can move throughout said shopping venue and use for transmitting queries to said interactive source of supplemental information and use for receiving responsive information transmitted from said interactive source of supplemental information, wherein at least some of said received information can be formulated to influence article selection decisions;

a speech interface operatively associated with each said apparatus; and

,

a speech application, said speech application including at least one of a speech recognition engine for enabling said queries to be spoken and a text-to-speech engine for enabling said transmitted supplemental information to be audibly perceived,

whereby shoppers can receive information useful for evaluating said articles when making article selection decisions.

7. The system of claim 1, comprising:

a base station remote from said plurality of interactive, mobile apparatus for housing said interactive source;

respective transceivers disposed in said apparatus and said base station for communicating data to one another; and

,

respective processors for controlling said apparatus and said base station.

2. A shopping system for use in a shopping venue, comprising:

an interactive source of supplemental information, said supplemental information related to articles available for selection by shoppers in said shopping venue;

a plurality of interactive, mobile apparatus, remotely located from said interactive source of supplemental information, which shoppers can move throughout said shopping venue and use for transmitting queries to said interactive source of supplemental information and use for receiving responsive information transmitted from said interactive source of supplemental information, wherein at least some of said received information can be formulated to influence article selection decisions; and

,

at least one of;

an artificial intelligence unit for evaluating said queries and selecting information for inclusion in responses to said queries; and

,

a speech application, said speech application including at least one of a speech recognition engine for enabling said queries to be spoken and a text-to-speech engine for enabling said transmitted supplemental information to be audibly perceived,

whereby shoppers can receive information useful for evaluating said articles when making article selection decisions.

3. The shopping system of claim 2, wherein at least some of said supplemental information transmitted to said shoppers is responsive to said queries.

4. The system of claim 2, further comprising means for communicating with a point of sale system (POS) associated with said shopping venue.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein said information supplied to said shoppers includes at least some information from said POS system.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein at least some of said supplemental information transmitted to said shoppers is responsive to said queries.

8. The system of claim 2, wherein at least some of said supplemental information is related to personal shopping preferences.

9. The system of claim 2, comprising at least one of:

a speech user interface for receiving spoken queries and commands and supplying audible responses; and

,

a graphical user interface having a display screen and a tactilely activatable input.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein said speech user interface comprises at least one of:

a microphone and a speaker built into said apparatus; and

,

a headset having a microphone and a speaker.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein:

said supplemental information includes video data; and

,

said graphical user interface comprises a screen for displaying said video data.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein:

said shopping venue is associated with video cassettes; and

,

said video data includes trailers for movies.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein:

said shopping venue is associated with building supplies; and

,

said video data includes building projects.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein:

said shopping venue is associated with groceries; and

,

said video data includes prepared foods.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein:

said shopping venue is associated with motor vehicles; and

,

said video data includes motor vehicles.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein:

said shopping venue is associated with a merchandiser; and

,

said video data includes merchandise.

17. The system of claim 9, wherein said tactilely activatable input comprises at least one of:

a touch display screen; and

,

an array of buttons.

29. The system of claim 2, wherein said apparatus further comprises a bar code scanner.

30. The system of claim 2, further comprising:

a rack for storing a plurality of said mobile interactive apparatus, each said apparatus being adapted for said mobile use upon selective removal from said rack.

31. The system of claim 30, further comprising:

first means enabling communication between said interactive source and said rack;

second means enabling communication between said interactive source and a point of sale system (POS) associated with said shopping venue; and

,

third means enabling communication between said interactive source and a source of said received information formulated to influence said article selection decisions.

32. The system of claim 2, further comprising a help desk station accessible by use of said apparatus in said shopping venue.

33. The system of claim 2, further comprising means enabling communication between said interactive source and a source of said received information formulated to influence said article selection decisions.

18. A shopping system for use in a shopping venue, comprising:

an interactive source of supplemental information, said supplemental information related to articles available for selection by shoppers in said shopping venue;

a plurality of interactive, mobile apparatus, remotely located from said interactive source of supplemental information, which shoppers can move throughout said shopping venue and use for transmitting queries to said interactive source of supplemental information and use for receiving responsive information transmitted from said interactive source of supplemental information, wherein at least some of said received information can be formulated to influence article selection decisions; and

,

an artificial intelligence unit for evaluating said queries and selecting information for inclusion in responses to said queries,

whereby shoppers can receive information useful for evaluating said articles when making article selection decisions.

19. The system of claim 18, further comprising a speech application.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein said speech application comprises a speech recognition engine and a text-to-speech engine.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein said apparatus is adapted for selectively mounting on a shopping cart and for being carried by the shopper.

22. The system of claim 19, further comprising:

a rack for storing a plurality of said mobile interactive apparatus, each said apparatus being adapted for said mobile use upon selective removal from said rack;

first means enabling communication between said interactive source and said rack;

second means enabling communication between said interactive source and a point of sale system (POS) associated with said shopping venue; and

,

third means enabling communication between said interactive source and a source of said received information formulated to influence said article selection decisions.

23. The system of claim 18, wherein said artificial intelligence unit generates a shopping list responsive to an audible customer query.

24. The system of claim 18, wherein said artificial intelligence unit generates warnings when values of data in said information supplied to said shopper for shopper-selected articles is out of a predetermined range.

25. The system of claim 18, wherein said artificial intelligence unit generates at least one of price and product advisories based on shopper-selected articles.

26. The system of claim 18, wherein said artificial intelligence unit generates a tutorial running concurrently and intermittently with selection of said articles.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein said apparatus further comprises a bar code scanner, and parts of said tutorial are initiated by scanning said articles.

28. The system of claim 18, wherein said artificial intelligence unit generates at least one of price and product advisories based on proximity to an article.