Providing directed content to anonymous customers

• US 7,624,923 B2
• Filed: 07/11/2005
• Issued: 12/01/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/11/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: OL Security LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Business Global LLC (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Clark, Todd C., O'Neill, David J., Fox, Ethan
• Primary Examiner(s): Labaze; Edwyn
• Application Number:
  US11/177,559
• Publication Number:
  US 20070007337A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,604 Days
• Field of Search: 235/383, 235/375, 235/381, 235/385, 235/440, 235/462.45, 235/487, 705/14, 705/20, 705 26- 28
• US Class Current: 235/383
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

A method includes electronically identifying a first item that a customer intends to purchase while the customer is shopping and electronically providing content to the customer in response to the identifying to entice the customer to purchase a second, different item.

Claims

1. A method performed by a computer system, the method comprising:

reading, via a device of the computer system, a first tag associated with a first item that a customer has selected for purchasing, where the device includes a sensor located in a fixed position in a store in which the customer is located;

reading, via the device, a second tag associated with a second item substantially simultaneously with the reading the first tag;

selecting, by a processor of the computer system, the first item or the second item;

using, by the processor, the selected first item or second item for identifying content; and

presenting, by an output device of the computer system, the identified content to the customer in response to the reading, the content identifying a third item relating to the selected first item or second item.

2. The method of claim 1 where the first tag includes a radio frequency identification tag, and

where the reading includes:

reading the radio frequency identification tag via the device.

3. The method of claim 1 where the presenting includes:

displaying the content to the customer.

4. The method of claim 1 where the presenting includes:

audibly providing the content to the customer.

5. The method of claim 1 where a relationship between the third item and the selected first item or second item is determined based on past purchases of the selected first or second item.

6. The method of claim 1 where the first item is associated with an identifier, and

where the reading includes:

causing the first tag to transmit the identifier to the device.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising:

using the identifier to retrieve the content.

8. The method of claim 7 where the content to retrieve using the identifier is configurable.

9. The method of claim 1 where the selecting includes:

selecting the first item or the second item based on one or more criteria.

10. The method of claim 9 where the one or more criteria includes at least one of margin, price, or an amount of promotion.

11. A system comprising:

one or more devices comprising;

means for reading a first tag associated with a first item that a customer has selected for purchasing, where the means for reading the first tag include a sensor located in a fixed position in a store in which the customer is located;

means for reading a second tag associated with a second item substantially simultaneously with the reading the first tag;

means for selecting the first item or the second item;

means for using the selected first item or second item for identifying content; and

means for presenting the identified content to the customer in response to the reading, the content identifying a third item relating to the selected first item or second item.

12. The system of claim 11, where the first tag includes a radio frequency identification tag, and

where the means for reading the first tag include:

means for reading the radio frequency identification tag.

13. The system of claim 11, where the means for presenting include:

means for displaying the content to the customer.

14. The system of claim 11, where the means for presenting include:

means for audibly providing the content to the customer.

15. The system of claim 11, further comprising:

means for determining a relationship between the third item and the selected first item or second item based on past purchases of the selected first item or second item.

16. The system of claim 11, where the first item is associated with an identifier, and where the means for reading the first tag include:

means for causing the first tag to transmit the identifier to the means for selecting the first item or the second item.

17. The system of claim 16, further comprising:

means for using the identifier to retrieve the content.

18. The system of claim 17, where the content to retrieve using the identifier is configurable.

19. The system of claim 11, where the means for selecting include:

means for selecting the first item or the second item based on one or more criteria.

20. The system of claim 19, where the one or more criteria includes at least one of margin, price, or an amount of promotion.