Comparison of selected item data to usage data for items associated with a user account

• US 8,725,833 B2
• Filed: 11/11/2011
• Issued: 05/13/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/11/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Motorola Mobility LLC (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Hunter, James M., Fedosseev, Alexei I.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kim, Hee Soo
• Application Number:
  US13/295,037
• Publication Number:
  US 20130124671A1
• Time in Patent Office: 914 Days
• Field of Search: 709/217
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0623 Item investigation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0643 Graphical representation of items or shoppers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]

Abstract

Comparing usage of items at a location associated with a sensor network to attributes of a selected item is disclosed. A client device captures an item descriptor associated with a selected item. An item identifier is extracted from the item descriptor and transmitted from the client device to an item information server to retrieve data describing attributes of the selected item. The client device transmits an account identifier to an account server, which uses the account identifier to retrieve data from a sensor network describing usage of items at a location associated with the sensor network. The account server transmits to the client device a comparison of one or more attributes of the selected device with usage of items at the location associated with the sensor network.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, from a sensor network associated with an account, data describing usage of one or more items at a location associated with the sensor network and an account identifier associated with the account;

storing, in a storage device, the data describing usage of the one or more items associated with the location associated with the sensor network and the account identifier;

receiving, from a client device, the account identifier;

receiving data associated with a selected item, the selected item not at the location associated with the sensor network;

responsive to receiving the account identifier from the client device,

retrieving the data describing usage of the one or more items at the location associated with the sensor network;

generating a comparison of the data associated with the selected item to the data describing usage of one or more items at the location associated with the sensor network; and

transmitting, to the client device, the comparison of the data associated with the selected item to the data describing usage of one or more items at the location associated with the sensor network.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the data describing usage of one or more items at the location associated with the sensor network comprises a frequency with which an item is used at the location, power consumption by the item at the location, power efficiency of the item in the location and a heath of the item at the location.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the data describing usage of one or more items at the location associated with the sensor network comprises a cost of operation of an item in the location, a power cost associated with the location, a power cost associated with a subset of the location, an estimated future cost of operation of the item, an estimated future cost of operation of the location and an estimated future cost of operation of the subset of the location.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the data describing usage of one or more items at the location associated with the sensor network comprises at least one of an identifier associated with one or more items at the location associated with the sensor network, one or more attributes of an item at the location associated with the sensor network or a description of the item at the location associated with the sensor network.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the comparison of the data associated with the selected item to the data describing usage of one or more items at the location associated with the sensor network comprises:

determining a trend of item usage at the location associated with the sensor network over time;

retrieving data describing expected performance of the selected item; and

determining a difference between expected performance of the selected item and the trend of item usage at the location associated with the sensor network over time.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the comparison of the data associated with the selected item to the data describing usage of one or more items at the location associated with the sensor network comprises:

determining current use of a resource by one or more items at the location associated with the sensor network;

comparing data describing expected use of the resource by the selected item with the current use of the resource by one or more items at the location associated with the sensor network; and

determining a difference between the expected use of the resource by the selected item and the current use of the resource by one or more items at the location associated with the sensor network.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the comparison of the data associated with the selected item to the data describing usage of one or more items at the location associated with the sensor network comprises:

determining an item at the location associated with the sensor network having similar attributes to the selected item;

identifying additional items from an item database having similar attributes to the item at the location associated with the sensor network; and

identifying an alternate item from the additional items.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the comparison of the data associated with the selected item to the data describing usage of one or more items at the location associated with the sensor network comprises:

determining an item at the location associated with the sensor network having one or more similar attributes to the selected item; and

summarizing usage of a resource by the item at the location associated with the sensor network.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the comparison of the data associated with the selected item to the data describing usage of one or more items at the location associated with the sensor network comprises:

determining an item at the location associated with an identifier matching an item identifier associated with the selected item; and

summarizing usage of a resource by the item at the location associated with the sensor network.

10. A method comprising:

capturing an item descriptor associated with a selected item;

extracting an item identifier from the item descriptor;

transmitting the item identifier to an item information server;

transmitting an account identifier to an account server; and

receiving a comparison of data associated with the selected item from the item information server with data captured by a sensor network and associated with a location describing usage of one or more items at the location; and

displaying the comparison.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein capturing the item descriptor associated with the selected item comprises:

capturing a graphical image generated from the item identifier and data identifying the item information server.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the graphical image comprises a quick response (QR) code.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the graphical image is generated from the item identifier, data describing the item information server, data identifying a type associated with the selected item and metadata describing one or more attributes of the selected item.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein capturing the item descriptor associated with the selected item comprises:

receiving the item descriptor through near field communication.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein receiving the comparison of data associated with the selected item from the item information server with data captured by the sensor network associated with the location describing usage of one or more items at the location comprises:

receiving a summary of resource usage by an item at the location associated with the sensor network, the item having one or more attributes similar to the selected item.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein receiving the comparison of data associated with the selected item from the item information server with data captured by the sensor network associated with the location describing usage of one or more items at the location comprises:

receiving a difference between an expected use of a resource by the selected item and a current use of a resource by one or more items at the location associated with the sensor network.

17. A system comprising:

a client device associated with an account, the client device configured to capture an item descriptor associated with a selected item and to extract an item identifier from the item descriptor;

an item information server coupled to the client device, the item information server including data associated with one or more items and configured to receive the item identifier from the client device and to retrieve data associated with the selected item;

a sensor network associated with a location and with the account, the sensor network capturing data describing usage of one or more items at the location; and

an account server coupled to the client device, to the item information server and to the sensor network, the account server storing data from the sensor network describing usage of one or more items at the location and the account server configured to receive an account identifier from the client device, to retrieve the data from the sensor network describing usage of one or more items at the location using the account identifier, to receive the data associated with the selected item from the item information server, to generate a comparison of the data associated with the selected item with the data from the sensor network describing usage of one or more items at the location and to transmit the comparison to the client device.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the item descriptor associated with the selected item comprises a graphical image generated from the item identifier and data identifying the item information server.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the graphical image comprises a quick response (QR) code.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the comparison comprises a summary of resource usage by an item at the location having one or more attributes similar to the selected item.

21. The system of claim 17, wherein the comparison comprises a difference between an expected use of a resource by the selected item and a current use of a resource by one or more items at the location.