System for indexing pedestrian traffic

• US 7,415,510 B1
• Filed: 03/17/2000
• Issued: 08/19/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/19/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Shoppertrak RCT Corporation (Johnson Controls International plc)
• Original Assignee: Shoppertrak RCT Corporation (Johnson Controls International plc)
• Inventors: Martin, James, Voss, Andrew, Jackewicz, William, Johnson, Barbara, Diberardino, Krista, Kramerich, George
• Primary Examiner(s): Vaughn, Jr.; William C.
• Assistant Examiner(s): SHAW, PELING ANDY
• Application Number:
  US09/936,987
• Time in Patent Office: 3,077 Days
• Field of Search: 709217-219, 709223-224, 709/209, 705/10, 705/14, 705/13, 348/149, 701/118
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

A system and a method for indexing pedestrian traffic are disclosed. Traffic information is gathered from counter units (30, 31) placed at entrances in provider malls, retail stores, or other locations where pedestrians may be counted. The counters give daily reports to the traffic indexing system (40) of the amount of pedestrian traffic flowing through traffic monitoring points (30, 31). Traffic data are collected daily from providers and compiled into an index (40). These data may be integrated and indexed with other data such as sales data, labor data and promotion data. Providers (30, 31) and other users (45) may access the traffic index (40) along with other industry information to gauge their performance as compared to the performance of others in the industry or to make educated decisions on development and marketing issues.

Claims

1. A pedestrian traffic indexing system comprising:

a plurality of traffic monitors at a plurality of provider sites;

a server connected to said traffic monitors to receive pedestrian traffic data from said traffic monitors, the pedestrian traffic data comprising pedestrian traffic data from the provider sites;

a traffic database for storing said pedestrian traffic data;

a database for storing non-traffic business related data wherein the non-traffic business related data comprises census demographics data, sales data, site profiles associated with the provider sites, and corporate profiles including labor data;

a view creator for generating national retail traffic index data by processing data stored in the traffic database and the database for storing non-traffic related data, wherein the national retail traffic index data includes a plurality of calculated indexes related to the provider sites, the indexes calculated using a plurality of metrics with each metric related to the plurality of provider sites and based upon both the pedestrian traffic data and the non-traffic business related data;

a national retail traffic index data mart for storing the national retail traffic index data; and

a data communications connection for transferring data among the traffic database, the at least one database for storing non-traffic related data, the view creator, the national retail traffic index database and the server wherein a user can access the national retail traffic index data mart via the data communications connection to access the national retail traffic index data.

3. The pedestrian traffic indexing system from claim 1, wherein the at least one database for storing non-traffic business related data comprises:

a demographics database for storing the census demographics data;

a profiles database for storing the site profiles data and the corporate profiles data, wherein the site profiles are associated to the plurality of provider sites, and wherein the corporate profiles are associated to a plurality of corporations; and

a customer database for storing the sales data.

4. The method for indexing pedestrian traffic from claim 3, wherein the step of storing non-traffic business related data in at least one database for storing non-traffic business related data comprises:

providing a demographics database for storing the census demographics data;

providing a profiles database for storing the site profiles data and the corporate profiles data, wherein the site profiles are associated to the plurality of provider sites, and wherein the corporate profiles are associated to a plurality of corporations; and

providing a customer database for storing the sales data.

5. The pedestrian traffic indexing system from claim 3,

wherein labor data is stored in the corporate profiles;

and

wherein the view creator further generates national retail traffic index data by processing the sales data in the customer database, the labor data in the profiles data and the pedestrian traffic data in the traffic database.

6. The method for indexing pedestrian traffic from claim 4,

wherein the labor data is stored in the corporate profiles;

and

wherein the step of generating the national retail traffic index data further comprises processing the sales data in the customer database, the labor data in the profiles data and the pedestrian traffic data in the traffic database.

7. The pedestrian traffic indexing system of claim 3 wherein the plurality of traffic monitors comprises a plurality of video cameras.

8. The system of claim 3 wherein the view creator edits the traffic data for usability prior to using for the computation of indexes.

9. The system of claim 3 wherein the view creator recognizes missing data and performs imputation to replace the missing data.

10. The system of claim 3 wherein the view creator detects outliers in the traffic data and makes adjustments therefor.

11. The pedestrian traffic indexing system of claim 3 further comprising at least one hub, the at least one hub connecting the plurality of traffic monitors at each of the plurality of provider sites.

12. The pedestrian traffic indexing system of claim 3 wherein the traffic monitors are connected to the server via the Internet.

13. The pedestrian traffic indexing system of claim 3 wherein the traffic monitors are connected to the server via a virtual private network.

14. The method of claim 4 wherein collecting pedestrian traffic data automatically from a plurality of traffic monitoring points comprises collecting pedestrian count data via a virtual private network from a plurality of traffic monitoring points.

26. The system of claim 5 wherein the national retail traffic index data includes a calculation of average pedestrian traffic over a selected time period, and for a selected provider type.

27. The system of claim 5 wherein the national retail traffic index data includes a calculation of peak pedestrian traffic over a selected time period for a selected provider type.

28. The system of claim 26 wherein the data mart allows for a comparison of the average pedestrian traffic for the selected provider type with an average pedestrian traffic for the user'"'"'s site.

29. The system of claim 27 wherein the data mart allows for a comparison of peak pedestrian traffic for the selected provider type with a determined peak pedestrian traffic for the user'"'"'s site.

2. A method for indexing pedestrian traffic comprising:

electronically collecting pedestrian traffic data from a plurality of traffic monitoring points;

storing the pedestrian traffic data in a traffic database;

storing non-traffic business related data including non-traffic business related data for a user in at least one database for storing non-traffic business related data wherein the non-traffic business related data comprises census demographics data, sales data, site profiles associated with the provider sites, corporate profiles including labor data;

generating national retail traffic index data by processing data stored in the traffic database and the at least one database for storing non-traffic business related data, wherein the traffic index data includes a plurality of calculated indexes related to the traffic monitoring points, the calculated indexes determined by incorporating mathematical algorithms which utilize both the pedestrian traffic data and the non-traffic related data; and

storing the national retail traffic index data in a national retail traffic index data mart to allow the user access thereby providing the ability to analyze the national retail traffic index data in light of pedestrian traffic data from the monitoring points and non-traffic business related data.

15. A system for monitoring pedestrian traffic at a plurality of predetermined locations and generating a retail traffic index, comprising:

a plurality of traffic monitors located at a plurality of specified locations, each traffic monitor for monitoring the flow of pedestrian traffic at the related specified location;

a server connected to the plurality of traffic monitors for receiving and managing pedestrian traffic data;

a pedestrian traffic database cooperating with the server to store the pedestrian traffic data;

at least one non-traffic database cooperating with the server for storing non-traffic business related data wherein the non-traffic business related data comprises census demographics data, site profiles data associated with the provider sites, corporate profile data including labor data, and sales data;

a data mart accessible by a user for accommodating a request from the user for national retail traffic index data, wherein the data mart includes a plurality of predetermined user selectable parameters and the request includes a set of user selected parameters; and

a processor for generating requested national retail traffic index data, wherein the national retail traffic index data is calculated by the processor according to a plurality of mathematical algorithms which incorporate the data stored in the pedestrian traffic database and the at least one non-traffic database according to the user selected parameters wherein the user selected parameters include the identification of at least one specified location.

16. The pedestrian traffic indexing system from claim 15, wherein the at least one database for storing non-traffic business related data comprises:

a demographics database for storing the census demographics data;

a profiles database for storing the site profiles data and the corporate profiles data, wherein the site profiles are associated to the plurality of provider sites, and wherein the corporate profiles are associated to a plurality of corporations; and

a customer database for storing the sales data.

17. The pedestrian traffic indexing system from claim 16,

wherein the labor data is stored in the corporate profiles data;

and

wherein the view creator further generates national retail traffic index data by processing the sales data in the customer database, the labor data in the profiles data and the pedestrian traffic data in the traffic database.

18. The pedestrian traffic indexing system of claim 16 wherein the plurality of traffic monitors comprises a plurality of video cameras.

19. The system of claim 16 wherein the processors further edit the traffic data for usability prior to using for the computation of indexes.

20. The system of claim 16 wherein the processors further recognize missing data and perform imputation to replace the missing data.

21. The system of claim 16 wherein the processors further detect outliers in the traffic data and make adjustments therefor.

22. The pedestrian traffic indexing system of claim 16 further comprising at least one hub, the at least one hub connecting the plurality of traffic monitors at each of the plurality of provider sites.

23. The pedestrian traffic indexing system of claim 16 wherein the traffic monitors are connected to the server via the Internet.

24. The pedestrian traffic indexing system of claim 16 wherein the traffic monitors are connected to the server via a virtual private network.

25. A pedestrian traffic indexing system comprising:

a plurality of traffic monitors at a plurality of provider sites, the plurality of provider sites including a user'"'"'s site;

a server connected to said traffic monitors to receive pedestrian traffic data from said traffic monitors;

a traffic database for storing said pedestrian traffic data;

a database for storing non-traffic business related data, comprising a demographics database for storing census demographics, a profiles database for storing site profiles and corporate profiles and a customer database for storing sales data, wherein the site profiles are associated to the plurality of provider sites, and wherein the corporate profiles include labor data for plurality of corporations;

a view creator for generating national retail traffic index data by processing data stored in the traffic database, including the pedestrian traffic data, and the database for storing non-traffic business related data, including the processing of the sales data in the customer database and the labor data in the profiles data database, wherein the national retail traffic index data includes calculated measures providing an indicator related to the pedestrian traffic data at the provider sites;

a national retail traffic index data mart for storing the national retail traffic index data; and

a data communications connection for transferring data among the traffic database, the at least one database for storing non-traffic business related data, the view creator, the national retail traffic index database and the server wherein a user can access the national retail traffic index data and may manipulate it to create a user relevant national traffic index for the user'"'"'s provider site.