Interacting with consumers to inform, educate, consult, and assist with the purchase and use of personal care products

• US 7,950,925 B2
• Filed: 12/30/2004
• Issued: 05/31/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Kimberly-Clark Worldwide Incorporated (Kimberly-Clark Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kimberly-Clark Worldwide Incorporated (Kimberly-Clark Corporation)
• Inventors: Marvin, Jennifer, McDaniel, Mary Lou, Schweitzer, Kurtis F., Meyer, Mary Jo, Tanner, James Jay
• Primary Examiner(s): Thai; Xuan M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hu; Kang
• Application Number:
  US11/026,845
• Publication Number:
  US 20060149570A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,343 Days
• Field of Search: 434/81, 434 98-100, 434/350, 434/377, 382/162, 382/167, 382/190, 382/203, 382/274, 382/286, 382/289, 382/296, 382/298, 382/100, 345/589, 345/592, 345629-640
• US Class Current: 434/377
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0281 Customer communication at a business location, e.g. providing product or service information, consulting
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]

Abstract

Educating a consumer about a personal care product. A request for information regarding a personal care product is received from a consumer. A description of one or more physical characteristics associated with the consumer and related to the personal care product is also received from the consumer. In response to the received request and description, a visual representation of a three-dimensional model is provided to the consumer. The three-dimensional model is a function of the received physical characteristics and the personal care product.

Claims

1. A method for educating a consumer about a personal care product, said method comprising:

receiving a request from a consumer for information regarding a personal care product;

receiving from the consumer a description of one or more physical characteristics associated with the consumer and related to the personal care product;

determining, by a processor, a legitimacy level of the consumer based on one or more of the following;

an age of the consumer, a gender of the consumer, an education level of the consumer, and a religion of the consumer;

generating, by a processor, a three-dimensional model of the consumer as a function of the received description and the personal care product;

generating, by a processor, a visual representation of the three-dimensional model as a function of the determined legitimacy level, the visual representation demonstrating a procedure for use of the personal care product on the consumer; and

providing to the consumer the generated visual representation for display.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising requesting the description of the one or more physical characteristics from the consumer.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a request from the consumer to manipulate the provided visual representation of the three-dimensional model in one or more of the following ways:

pan, tilt, zoom, rotate, scale, flip, brighten, darken, adjust the point-of-view, adjust lighting, and adjust colors.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the generated visual representation comprises sending the consumer a pamphlet including the generated visual representation in one or more of the following ways:

postal mail and electronic mail.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising obtaining contact information from the consumer to register the consumer.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining an education level of the consumer, wherein determining the legitimacy level comprises determining the legitimacy level based on the education level of the consumer.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying the personal care product.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein identifying the personal care product comprises receiving one or more of the following codes associated with the personal care product from the consumer:

a universal product code (UPC) and an electronic product code (EPC).

9. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the generated visual representation to the consumer comprises directing the consumer to a content source containing the requested information.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the content source comprises one or more of the following:

a web site, a medical professional, an audio source, and a video source.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein directing the consumer to the content source comprises providing the consumer with a password for use at a web site containing the requested information, and wherein entering the password at the web site enables the consumer to view the visual representation of the three-dimensional model.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the generated visual representation to the consumer comprises displaying the visual representation of the three-dimensional model to the consumer.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing a purchase incentive relating to the personal care product to the consumer.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the request for the information comprises receiving a request for information regarding one or more of the following:

a feminine care product, a baby care product, an elder care product, and a pregnancy test.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving an instruction time from the consumer, and wherein providing the generated visual representation comprises providing to the consumer the generated visual representation at the received instruction time.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the generated visual representation comprises providing the generated visual representation to a computing device associated with the consumer.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the generated visual representation to the consumer comprises confidentially providing the generated visual representation to the consumer.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving another request for the information from another consumer, and wherein providing the generated visual representation comprises providing the generated visual representation to the consumer and the other consumer simultaneously.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving another request from the consumer for information relating to the provided visual representation of the three-dimensional model; and

providing information to the consumer in response to the received other request.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the generated visual representation assists the consumer in making a purchase decision regarding the personal care product.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the three-dimensional model comprises a pre-existing model which does not correspond to the physical characteristics of the consumer, and wherein the pre-existing model is modified according to anthropometric data corresponding to the physical characteristics of the consumer so that the pre-existing model more closely approximates the physical characteristics of the consumer.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the request for information regarding the personal care product comprises receiving a request to illustrate use of a feminine care product.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the generated visual representation to the consumer comprises providing, by a human agent, the generated visual representation to the consumer in a confidential setting.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein providing to the consumer the generated visual representation comprises providing to the consumer the generated visual representation in the form of a sequence of visual representations of the three-dimensional model to animate the three-dimensional model.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the sequence of visual representations comprises a series of events pertaining to the personal care product.

26. The method of claim 1, wherein providing to the consumer the generated visual representation comprises providing to the consumer the generated visual representation in the form of the visual representation of the three-dimensional model via one or more of the following:

a computing device and an electronic device.

27. The method of claim 1, wherein one or more computer-readable media have computer-executable instructions for performing the method recited in claim 1.

38. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the generated visual representation as a function of the determined legitimacy level comprises determining one or more of the following based on the determined legitimacy level:

a color of the three-dimensional model, an image quality of the visual representation, and a realism of the visual representation.

28. A method of enabling a resource to educate a consumer, said method comprising:

receiving from the consumer, by the resource, a request for information regarding a personal care product;

receiving from the consumer, by the resource, a description of one or more physical characteristics associated with the consumer and related to the personal care product;

determining, by a processor associated with the resource, a legitimacy level of the consumer based on one or more of the following;

an age of the consumer, a gender of the consumer, an education level of the consumer, and a religion of the consumer;

generating, by a processor associated with the resource, a three-dimensional model of the consumer as a function of the transmitted description and the personal care product;

generating, by a processor associated with the resource, a visual representation of the three-dimensional model demonstrating a procedure for use of the personal care product on the consumer, the visual representation based on the determined legitimacy level; and

electronically transmitting, from the resource to the consumer, the generated visual representation for display.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the resource comprises one or more of the following:

a customer service representative (CSR), a database, a server, and an agent.

30. The method of claim 28, further comprising:

transmitting, from the consumer to the resource, a request to manipulate the visual representation of the three-dimensional model; and

transmitting, from the resource to the consumer, a visual representation of the manipulated three-dimensional model.

31. The method of claim 28, wherein transmitting the generated visual representation assists the consumer in making a purchase decision regarding the personal care product.

32. The method of claim 28, wherein transmitting the request for information comprises transmitting a request to illustrate use of a feminine care product.

33. The method of claim 28, wherein transmitting the generated visual representation comprises transmitting the generated visual representation in the form of a sequence of visual representations of the three-dimensional model to animate the three-dimensional model.

34. A method for educating a consumer about a personal care product in a confidential setting, said method comprising:

receiving, by a human agent, a request from a consumer for information regarding a personal care product;

receiving from the consumer a description of one or more physical characteristics associated with the consumer and related to the personal care product;

determining, by a computing device, a legitimacy level of the consumer based on one or more of the following;

an age of the consumer, a gender of the consumer, an education level of the consumer, and a religion of the consumer;

selecting, by a computing device, a multimedia resource from a repository of multimedia resources based on the personal care product and the received description of the one or more physical characteristics, wherein the selected multimedia resource corresponds to the consumer and the determined legitimacy level; and

providing to the consumer the requested information confidentially in the form of the selected multimedia resource, wherein the selected multimedia resource demonstrates a procedure for use of the personal care product on the consumer.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein selecting the multimedia resource comprises selecting one or more of the following:

a three-dimensional model, a movie, and an audio clip.

36. The method of claim 34, wherein selecting the multimedia resource comprises selecting a visual representation of the multimedia resource.

37. The method of claim 34, wherein receiving the request for information regarding the personal care product comprises receiving a request to illustrate use of a feminine care product.