Obtaining user assistance

• US 9,038,899 B2
• Filed: 01/18/2005
• Issued: 05/26/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Uber Technologies, Inc.
• Original Assignee: The Invention Science Fund I, L.L.C. (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Rinaldo, Jr., John D., Malamud, Mark A., Levien, Royce A., Jung, Edward K. Y.
• Primary Examiner(s): Haupt, Kristy A
• Application Number:
  US11/037,828
• Publication Number:
  US 20060076398A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,780 Days
• Field of Search: 235/462.13
• US Class Current: 235/385
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

An apparatus, device, method, computer program product, and system that obtains an end user assistance for an identified item within a geographic locale.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

identifying a presence of an item within a geographic locale in response to a signal indicative of an identifying aspect of the item, the identifying aspect including at least one of;

an electromagnetic aspect of the item;

an optical aspect of at least a portion of the item, an acoustic aspect of the item or a magnetic aspect of the item;

obtaining an end user assistance corresponding to the item in response to an identification of a presence of the item within the geographic locale; and

providing the end user assistance to the item for use by the item.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the obtaining an end user assistance corresponding to a presence of an item within a geographic locale includes

obtaining information related to operation of the item for an intended purpose of the item.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the obtaining an end user assistance corresponding to the presence of an item within a geographic locale includes

obtaining information related to an intrinsic property of the item having a presence within a geographic locale.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifying a presence of an item within a geographic locale in response to a signal indicative of the item includes

identifying a presence of an item within a premises.

5. A method comprising:

receiving a signal indicative of an identifying aspect of an item, the identifying aspect of the item including of at least one of;

an electromagnetic aspect of the item;

an optical aspect of at least a portion of the item, an acoustic aspect of the item or a magnetic aspect of the item;

identifying a presence of the item within a geographic locale in response to the signal indicative of the identifying aspect of the item; and

obtaining an end user assistance corresponding to the item in response to an identification of a presence of the item within the geographic locale; and

providing the end user assistance to the item for use by the item.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the receiving a signal indicative of an identifying aspect of an item includes

receiving a signal indicative of an optically readable product code associated with the item.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the receiving a signal indicative of an identifying aspect of an item includes

receiving a signal indicative of an alpha/numeric aspect of the item.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the receiving a signal indicative of an identifying aspect of an item includes

receiving a signal indicative of an electronically transmitted designator associated with the item transmitted by the item.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein the receiving a signal indicative of an identifying aspect of an item includes

receiving a communications medium associated with the item.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the receiving a communications medium associated with the item includes

receiving a communications medium provided by a smart tag associated with the item.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the smart tag associated with the item includes

a radio frequency identification tag associated with the item.

12. The method of claim 5, wherein the receiving a signal indicative of an identifying aspect an item includes

receiving a signal indicative of an identifying aspect of an item via at least one sensor affixed to at least a portion of a premises.

13. The method of claim 5, wherein the obtaining an end user assistance corresponding to the item in response to an identification of a presence of the item within a geographic locale includes

obtaining a manual corresponding to the item.

14. The method of claim 5, wherein the obtaining an end user assistance corresponding to the item in response to an identification of a presence of the item within the geographic locale includes

obtaining at least one of a user information corresponding to the item, a user instruction corresponding to the item, a user education corresponding to the item, and a user operation instruction corresponding to the item.

15. The method of claim 5, wherein the obtaining an end user assistance corresponding to the item in response to an identification of a presence of the item within the geographic locale includes

requesting the end user assistance corresponding to the item.

16. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

saving the end user assistance corresponding to the item.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the saving the end user assistance includes

saving the end user assistance in a computer readable storage medium.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the saving the end user assistance in a computer readable storage medium includes

saving the end user assistance in a computer readable storage medium of the item.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the saving the end user assistance includes

saving the end user assistance in response to a permission by a user.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the saving the end user assistance includes

saving the end user assistance in response to a user input.

21. The method of claim 16, wherein the saving the end user assistance includes

saving the end user assistance in a computing device controlled by a user.

22. The method of claim 16, wherein the saving the end user assistance corresponding to the item includes

acquiring an end user assistance corresponding to the item.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the acquiring an end user assistance corresponding to the item includes

receiving an end user assistance corresponding to the item through a communication medium.

24. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

providing the end user assistance corresponding to the item.

25. The method of claim 5, wherein the providing the end user assistance to the item for use by the item includes:

providing an end user assistance corresponding to at least one of;

a recorded image, recorded video, recorded audio, or a recorded barcode.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the providing an end user assistance corresponding to at least one of:

a recorded image, recorded video, recorded audio, or a recorded barcode includes;

providing an end user assistance corresponding to at least one of;

a JPEG file, a TIFF file, a BMP file, an AVI file, an MPEG file, an M4V file, an MOV file, an MP3 file, an AAC file, a UPC file, or a QR file.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein providing an end user assistance corresponding to at least one of:

a JPEG file, a TIFF file, a BMP file, an AVI file, an MPEG file, an M4V file, an MOV file, an MP3 file, an AAC file, a UPC file, or a QR file includes;

providing the end user assistance corresponding to at least one of;

a JPEG file, a TIFF file, a BMP file, an AVI file, an MPEG file, an M4V file, an MOV file, an MP3 file, an AAC file, a UPC file, or a QR file to at least one computing device, for use by the at least one computing device.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the providing the end user assistance corresponding to at least one of:

a JPEG file, a TIFF file, a BMP file, an AVI file, an MPEG file, an M4V file, an MOV file, an MP3 file, an AAC file, a UPC file, or a QR file to at least one computing device, for use by the at least one computing device includes;

providing the end user assistance corresponding to at least one of;

a JPEG file, a TIFF file, a BMP file, an AVI file, an MPEG file, an M4V file, an MOV file, an MP3 file, an AAC file, a UPC file, or a QR file to at least one of a handheld device or a cell phone, for use by the at least one of a handheld device or a cell phone.

29. The method of claim 5,

wherein the receiving a signal indicative of an identifying aspect of an item, the identifying aspect of the item including at least one of:

an electromagnetic aspect of the item, an optical aspect of at least a portion of the item, an acoustic aspect of the item, or a magnetic aspect of the item includes;

receiving a wireless signal indicative of an identifying aspect of at least one of a handheld device or a cell phone,

wherein the identifying a presence of the item within a geographic locale in response to the signal indicative of the identifying aspect of the item includes;

identifying a presence of the at least one of a handheld device or a cell phone within a range of a wireless network in response to the wireless signal indicative of an identifying aspect of the at least one of a handheld device or a cell phone,

wherein the obtaining an end user assistance corresponding to the item in response to an identification of a presence of the item within the geographic locale includes;

obtaining an end user assistance corresponding to at least one of;

a recorded image, a recorded video, recorded audio recorded by the at least one of a handheld device or a cell phone, or a recorded barcode, and

wherein the providing the end user assistance to the item for use by the item includes;

providing, to the at least one of a handheld device or a cell phone for use by the at least one of a handheld device or a cell phone, the end user assistance corresponding to the at least one of;

a recorded image, a recorded video, recorded audio recorded by the at least one of a handheld device or a cell phone, or a recorded barcode.

30. A computer-readable medium comprising computer-readable instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform a process comprising:

receiving a signal indicative of an identifying aspect of an item, the identifying aspect including at least one of;

an electromagnetic aspect of the item;

an optical aspect of at least a portion of the item, an acoustic aspect of the item or a magnetic aspect of the item;

identifying a presence of an item within a geographic locale in response to the signal indicative of the identifying aspect of the item; and

obtaining an end user assistance corresponding to the item in response to an identification of a presence of the item within the geographic locale; and

providing the end user assistance to the item for use by the item.

31. The computer program product of claim 30, wherein the computer program product includes

a computer storage medium product.

32. The computer program product of claim 31, wherein the computer storage medium product includes

a computer program product carried by a computer-readable carrier.

33. A system comprising:

a computing device operable to receive a signal indicative of an identifying aspect of an item, the identifying aspect including at least one of;

an electromagnetic aspect of the item;

an optical aspect of at least a portion of the item, an acoustic aspect of the item or a magnetic aspect of the item; and

instructions that when executed on the computing device configure the computing device for;

receiving the signal indicative of the identifying aspect of the item;

identifying a presence of the item within a geographic locale in response to the signal indicative of the identifying aspect item of the item; and

obtaining an end user assistance corresponding to the item in response to an identification of a presence of the item within the geographic locale; and

providing the end user assistance to the item for use by the item.

34. A method comprising:

receiving a signal indicative of an identifying aspect of an item, the identifying aspect including at least one of;

an electromagnetic aspect of the item;

an optical aspect of at least a portion of the item, an acoustic aspect of the item or a magnetic aspect of the item;

identifying a presence of the item within a geographic locale in response to the signal indicative of the identifying aspect of the item within a geographic locale; and

obtaining a user assistance corresponding to the identifying aspect of the item; and

providing the end user assistance to the item for use by the item.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein the receiving a signal indicative of an identifying aspect of an item includes

receiving a signal indicative of an identifying aspect of an item via at least one sensor affixed to at least a portion of a premises.

36. The method of claim 34, wherein the end user assistance corresponding to an aspect of an item includes

a manual corresponding to the aspect of an item.

37. The method of claim 34, further comprising:

detecting the identifying aspect of the item.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein the detecting the identifying aspect of the item includes

detecting the identifying aspect of the item in an absence of a received user input.

39. The method of claim 34, further comprising:

generating the signal indicative of the identifying aspect of the item.

40. The method of claim 34, further comprising:

requesting the end user assistance corresponding to the identifying aspect of the item.

41. The method of claim 34, further comprising:

providing the end user assistance corresponding to the identifying aspect of the item.

42. A method implemented in a computing device, the method comprising:

allowing a detector to generate a signal indicative of an indentifying aspect of an item, the identifying aspect including at least one of;

an electromagnetic aspect of the item;

an optical aspect of at least a portion of the item, an acoustic aspect of the item or a magnetic aspect of the item; and

waiting while the computing device;

receives the signal indicative of the identifying aspect of the item,

identifies the item in response to the signal indicative of the identifying aspect of the item,

acquires an end user assistance corresponding to the item, and

delivers the end user assistance corresponding to the item; and

receiving the end user assistance at the item for use by the item.

43. The method of claim 42, wherein the allowing the detector to generate a signal indicative the identifying aspect of the item includes

positioning the item and the detector within a detection range that allows the detector to generate a signal indicative of the identifying aspect of the item.

44. The method of claim 42, wherein the waiting further includes:

waiting while the computing device saves the end user assistance corresponding to the item in a local computer storage medium.