Assisted shopping

• US 8,630,851 B1
• Filed: 06/29/2011
• Issued: 01/14/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ford, James L., Hertschuh, Fabien G., St-Pierre, Benoit, Cier, Sean P., Hall, VI, Samuel P., Wong, Peter C.
• Primary Examiner(s): He, Jialong
• Assistant Examiner(s): Shan, Jie
• Application Number:
  US13/171,752
• Time in Patent Office: 930 Days
• Field of Search: 704/235
• US Class Current: 704/235
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0623 Item investigation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/40 using speech recognition

Abstract

Disclosed are various embodiments for facilitating an assisted shopping experience. A speech input can be captured and transcribed. The transcribed speech input can be transmitted to a customer service agent in a data session that is contemporaneous with a voice session. The customer service agent can then facilitate an assisted shopping experience via the voice session and data session.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium embodying a program executable in a client device, the program comprising:

code that captures a speech input from a microphone associated with a client device;

code that transcribes the speech input to text;

code that initiates a voice session with at least one computing device associated with a customer service agent;

code that initiates a data session contemporaneously with the voice session with the at least one computing device;

code that determines a state associated with at least one proximity sensor of the client device, the state corresponding to a proximity of the client device to an ear of a user;

code that communicates the state to the at least one computing device;

code that removes at least one extraneous term that is not related to at least one product in a product catalog from the text;

code that transmits the text to the at least one computing device; and

code that receives at least one search result relevant to the text, the at least one search result being at least one product in the product catalog.

2. A system, comprising:

a client device; and

an assisted shopping application executable in the client device, the assisted shopping application comprising;

logic captures a speech input associated with a user;

logic that initiates a voice session with at least one computing device associated with another user;

logic that establishes a data session with the at least one computing device;

logic that initiates a search in the at least one computing device for at least one search result based at least upon the speech input;

logic that determines a state associated with at least one proximity sensor associated with the client device, the state corresponding to a proximity of the client device to an ear of the user;

logic that communicates the state to the at least one computing device via the data session;

logic that receives the at least one search result from the at least one computing device via the data session; and

logic that renders the at least one search result in the client device.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the assisted shopping application further comprises logic that transcribes the speech input to a text input.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the assisted shopping application further comprises:

logic that determines a user account of the user, the user account associated with an electronic commerce system; and

logic that transmits a user identifier associated with the user account to the at least one computing device.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the assisted shopping application further comprises:

logic that receives at least a subset of a search history and a purchase history associated with the user account from the at least one computing device; and

logic that renders at least one of the search history or the purchase history on the client device.

6. The system of claim 2, wherein the assisted shopping application further comprises logic that activates a speakerphone mode associated with the client device, the speakerphone mode further comprising selection of a speaker volume associated with the voice session on the client device that meets a predefined threshold.

7. The system of claim 2, wherein the voice session further comprises a voice over internet protocol session with the at least one computing device.

8. The system of claim 2, wherein the voice session and the data session are executed contemporaneously with one another.

9. The system of claim 2, wherein the assisted shopping application further comprises logic that transmits at least one of a location, speed or direction associated with the client device to the at least one computing device.

10. The system of claim 3, wherein the search further comprises a product search in a product catalog accessible to the at least one computing device.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the assisted shopping application further comprises logic that initiates display of the search results in a display associated with at least one other user.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the assisted shopping application further comprises:

logic that receives at least one search result from the at least one computing device, the at least one search result being at least one product relevant to the text input; and

logic that renders a search results user interface that displays at least a subset of the at least one search result.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the logic that initiates the search in the at least one computing device further comprises logic that ignores at least one extraneous term from the text input prior to initiating the search in the at least one computing device.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the logic that ignores the at least one extraneous term from the text input prior to initiating the search in the at least one computing device further comprises:

logic that determines whether the text input is associated with a first number of search results that does not meet a first threshold; and

logic that removes a term from the text input that is associated with a second number of search results that does not meet a second threshold.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the logic that ignores the at least one extraneous term from the text input prior to initiating the search in the at least one computing device further comprises logic that identifies at least one term associated with the text input that matches at least one term in an extraneous term dictionary.

16. A method comprising:

receiving, in at least one computing device, a request to initiate an assisted shopping session from a client device on behalf of a user, the request comprising a speech input;

establishing, in the at least one computing device, a data session associated with the client device;

establishing, in the at least one computing device, a voice session with the client device;

obtaining, in the at least one computing device, a state associated with at least one proximity sensor associated with the client device, the state corresponding to a proximity of the client device to an ear of a user;

initiating, in the at least one computing device, a search of a product catalog accessible to the at least one computing device, the search based at least upon the speech input; and

transmitting, from the at least one computing device to the client device, at least one search result based at least upon the speech input.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein speech input further comprises at least one of a transcribed speech input or a digital representation of the speech input.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising generating a customer service agent user interface comprising at least one of a purchase history associated with the user, the state of the at least one proximity sensor, a location of the user or a search history of the user.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the voice session and the data session are executed contemporaneously with one another.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the voice session further comprises a voice over internet protocol session with the at least one computing device.

21. The method of claim 16, further comprising ignoring, in the at least one computing device, at least one extraneous term from the speech input prior to initiating the search.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the ignoring the at least one extraneous term from the speech input prior to initiating the search in the at least one computing device further comprises:

determining, in the at least one computing device, whether the speech input is associated with a first number of search results that does not meet a first threshold; and

removing, in the at least one computing device, a term from the speech input that is associated with a second number of search results that does not meet a second threshold.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the ignoring the at least one extraneous term from the speech input prior to initiating the search in the at least one computing device further comprises identifying, in the at least one computing device, at least one term associated with the speech input that matches at least one term in an extraneous term dictionary.

24. The method of claim 16, further comprising generating, in the at least one computing device, a customer service agent user interface comprising a representation of content displayed on the client device.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the customer service agent user interface further comprises at least one of:

location data associated with the user, a purchase history associated with the user, a speed associated with the user, or a search history associated with the user.