Method, system, and medium for generating a mobile interface indicating traffic level for local merchants

• US 9,117,238 B2
• Filed: 11/27/2012
• Issued: 08/25/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/18/2012
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Original Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Inventors: Tapley, John, Higgins, Krystal Rose, Giger, Matt Lee, Goldman, David W.
• Primary Examiner(s): ALLEN, WILLIAM J
• Application Number:
  US13/686,195
• Publication Number:
  US 20130282520A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,001 Days
• Field of Search: 705 261- 272, 701/400, 701408-410, 701/420
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/206 specially adapted for indoor navigation
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/34 Route searching; Route guidance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/047 Optimisation of routes or paths, e.g. travelling salesman problem
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0639 Item locations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/024 Guidance services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

Systems and methods to provide a prioritized shopping system are discussed. For example, a method can include receiving a list of target items, receiving busyness data for a plurality of local merchants, developing a prioritized shopping plan, and communicating the prioritized shopping plan to a mobile device. Each target item in the list of target items can represents a product or service that a user has indicated an interest in purchasing. The prioritized shopping plan is based at least in part on the busyness data and the list of target items. Busyness data provides an indication of traffic levels within at least a portion of the plurality of local merchants.

Claims

1. A method of generating a mobile interface comprising:

receiving, on a shopping service computing device, a list of target items, the list of target items including products or services from one or more previously established shopping lists maintained by a user within a plurality of shopping sites;

obtaining, by the shopping service computing device, a plurality of inputs from external data sources, the external data sources comprising at least one of a security camera, a traffic camera, or sensor grid data, the plurality of inputs representing busyness data for a plurality of local merchants;

aggregating, on the shopping service computing device, the busyness data for the plurality of local merchants, at least a portion of the plurality of local merchants selling at least one target item from the list of target items;

obtaining, by the shopping service computing device, location information of a mobile device of the user, the mobile device employing a location determination application;

correlating, by the shopping service computing device, the busyness data for the plurality of local merchants to the location of the mobile device of the user;

generating, by the shopping service computing device, a mobile interface including;

a color coded graphical map including color coding corresponding to the busyness data for at least a portion of the local merchants; and

a prioritized shopping plan based at least in part on the busyness data, the correlated location of the mobile device, and the list of target items; and

communicating, over a network connection from the shopping service computing device, the mobile interface to the mobile device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving inventor data associated with at least a merchant of the plurality of local merchants; and

wherein the generating the prioritized shopping plan includes determining an inventory level of at least a portion of the target items in the list of target items.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

determining, based on the inventory level of one of the target items, a low inventory level condition of the one of the target items at the merchant; and

wherein the developing the prioritized shopping plan includes prioritizing the one of the target items with the low inventory level condition.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, based at least in part on the traffic level, a hotspot within the plurality of local merchants, the hotspot indicates a location with a high traffic level; and

wherein the developing the prioritized shopping plan includes avoiding the hotspot.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the determining the hotspot includes determining a time period during which the hotspot occurs at a merchant of the plurality of merchants.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating the prioritized shopping plan includes prioritizing shopping efficiency in purchasing at least a portion of the target items in the list of target items.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating the prioritized shopping plan includes prioritizing obtaining at least one item in the list of target items.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating the prioritized shopping plan includes prioritizing obtaining all of the target items in the list of target items.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the obtaining of the plurality of inputs includes aggregating crowd-sourced data representative of traffic levels within at least a portion of the plurality of local merchants.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the obtaining the plurality of inputs from external sources includes additional data sources from at least one of the data types in the following group of data types:

point of sale data collected through crowd sourcing;

check-in data;

tweets;

status updates;

security camera feeds;

cell phone usage data;

and

traffic camera feeds.

11. A system configured to generate a mobile interface comprising:

a server coupled to a network and including one or more processors to execute a plurality of modules, the plurality of modules including;

a user profile module to manage a list of target items, the list of target items including products or services from one or more previously established shopping lists maintained by a user within a plurality of shopping sites;

a merchant module to;

obtain, over the network, a plurality of inputs from external data sources, the external data sources comprising at least one of a security camera, a traffic camera, or sensor grid data, the plurality of inputs indicating a traffic level for a plurality of local merchants;

aggregate the traffic level for the plurality of local merchants, at least a portion of the plurality of local merchants selling at least one target item from the list of target items;

a location module configured to obtain, by the shopping service computing device, location information of a mobile device of the user, the mobile device employing a location determination application;

a mapping engine configured to correlate, by the shopping service computing device, the traffic level of the plurality of local merchants to the location of the mobile device of the user;

a graphics processing unit of the mobile device configured to generate the mobile interface;

a routing module configured to generate a prioritized shopping plan based at least in part on the aggregated traffic level, the correlated location of the mobile device, and the list of target items; and

the server configured to communicate over the network to cause a mobile device to display the mobile interface, the mobile interface including a graphical map display with color coding corresponding to the traffic level of at least a portion of the plurality of local merchants.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the merchant module manages inventory data associated with at least a merchant of the plurality of local merchants;

wherein the merchant module maintains inventory levels of at least a portion of the target items in the list of target items; and

wherein the routing module generates the prioritized shopping plan based at least in part on the inventory levels.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the merchant module determines, based on the inventory levels, a low inventory level condition of at least one target item in the list of target items;

and

wherein the routing module generates the prioritized shopping plan based at least in part on prioritizing the one of the target items with the low inventory level condition.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the merchant module maintains, based at least in part on the traffic level, a hotspot within the plurality of local merchants, the hotspot indicates a location with a high traffic level;

and

wherein the routing module avoids the hotspot in generating the prioritized shopping plan.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the merchant module maintains a time period during which the hotspot occurs at a merchant of the plurality of merchants.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the routing module prioritizes shopping efficiency in purchasing at least a portion of the target items in the list of target items when generating the prioritized shopping plan.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the routing module prioritizes obtaining at least one item with the list of target items when generating the prioritized shopping plan.

18. A machine-readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a machine, cause the machine to perform operations to generate a mobile interface comprising:

receiving a list of target items, the list of target items including products or services from one or more previously established shopping lists maintained by a user within a plurality of shopping sites;

obtaining a plurality of inputs from external data sources, the external data sources comprising at least one of a security camera, a traffic camera, or sensor grid data, the plurality of inputs indicating a traffic level for a plurality of local merchants;

aggregating the traffic level for the plurality of local merchants, at least a portion of the plurality of local merchants selling at least one target item from the list of target items;

obtaining location information of a mobile device of the user, the mobile device employing a location determination application;

correlating the aggregated traffic level for the plurality of local merchants to the location of the mobile device of the user;

generating the mobile interface to include a color coded graphical map including color coding corresponding to the traffic level for at least a portion of the local merchants; and

a prioritized shopping plan based at least in part on the aggregated traffic level and the list of target items; and

causing the mobile device to display the prioritized shopping plan within the mobile interface.

19. The machine-readable medium of claim 18, further comprising instructions that cause the machine to receive inventory data associated with at least a merchant of the plurality of local merchants;

and

wherein the instructions that cause the machine to develop the prioritized shopping plan further include instructions to determine an inventory level of at least a portion of the target items in the list of target items.

20. The machine-readable medium of claim 19, further including instructions that cause the machine to determine, based on the inventory level associated with one of the target items, a low inventory level condition of at least one of the target items in the list of target items;

and

wherein the instructions that cause the machine to develop the prioritized shopping plan further include instructions to prioritize the at least one of the target items with the low inventory level condition.