System and method for interactive marketing to consumers

• US 8,636,209 B2
• Filed: 07/17/2012
• Issued: 01/28/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/03/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kyndryl Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Dennard, Mark D., Schunzel, Mark J. S., Trevathan, Matthew B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Michael G
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mikels, Matthew
• Application Number:
  US13/551,006
• Publication Number:
  US 20130013452A1
• Time in Patent Office: 560 Days
• Field of Search: 235/375, 235/380, 235/383
• US Class Current: 235/383
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

A system and method for interactive marketing to consumers and, more particularly, to a system and method for marketing merchandise to consumers in an interactive retail environment. The method includes detecting a disturbance in an area and sending information related to the disturbance to a back end merchandising system. The method further includes retrieving relevant information related to the detected disturbance from the back end merchandising system and displaying the relevant information _{——————}on a display surface.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

detecting by a camera a presence of a consumer in a retail environment;

determining an item of interest to the consumer in the retail environment using information of the consumer stored in a memory device;

determining a location of the item of interest using a database containing information of merchandise in the retail environment;

displaying a floor map with the location of the item of interest to the consumer; and

tracking movement of the consumer in the retail environment.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the item of interest comprises:

providing a message to the consumer based on the information of the consumer; and

receiving a selection from the consumer.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the item of interest comprises detecting merchandise selected by the consumer using an RF identification (RFID) on the merchandise selected by consumer.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the tracking movement of the consumer in the retail environment comprises tracking a RF signal from the RFID.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising providing messages to the consumer about other merchandise in the retail environment which is in close proximity to the consumer based on the merchandise selected by consumer.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the displaying the floor map comprises providing the consumer with a route to the item of interest by displaying the floor map at a plurality of locations in the retail environment.

7. A system comprising:

a server having a database containing information of merchandise in a retail environment;

one or more cameras;

one or more projectors;

one or more radio frequency (RF) receivers; and

at least one of a hardware and software component operable to;

detect a presence of a consumer in the retail environment using the one or more cameras;

determine an item of interest to the consumer in the retail environment by cross referencing information of the consumer and the information of merchandise in the database;

determine a location of the item of interest in the retail environment using the one or more RF receivers;

displaying a floor map with the location of the item of interest to the consumer using the one or more projectors; and

track movement of the consumer in the retail environment using the one or more RF receivers.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the one of a hardware and software component is operable to detect merchandise selected by the consumer using an RF identification (RFID) on the merchandise selected by consumer received by the one or more RF receivers.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the one of a hardware and software component is operable to track movement of the consumer in the retail environment using an RF signal of the RFID on the merchandise selected by the consumer received by the one or more RF receivers.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the one of a hardware and software component is operable to provide messages to the consumer about other merchandise in the retail environment which is in close proximity to the consumer based on the merchandise selected by consumer using the one or more projectors.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the one of a hardware and software component is operable to provide the consumer with a route to the item of interest by displaying the floor map at a plurality of locations in the retail environment using the one or more projectors.

12. A computer program product comprising a computer usable storage medium having readable program code embodied in the medium, the computer program product includes at least one component operable to:

detect a presence of a consumer in a retail environment;

determine an item of interest to the consumer in the retail environment based on information of the consumer;

determine a location of the item of interest in the retail environment;

send a floor map with the location of the item to the consumer; and

track movement of the consumer in the retail environment.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the computer program product is operable to provide a message to the consumer based on an identification of the consumer.

14. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the computer program product is operable to detect merchandise selected by the consumer using an RF identification (RFID) on the merchandise selected by consumer.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the computer program product is operable to track a RF signal transmitted from the RFID.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the computer program product is operable to provide messages to the consumer about other merchandise in the retail environment which is in close proximity to the consumer based on the merchandise selected by consumer.

17. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the computer program product is operable to provide the consumer with a route to the item of interest by displaying the floor map at a plurality of locations in the retail environment.