System and method for segmenting items in a shopping cart by carbon footprint

• US 9,947,035 B2
• Filed: 04/08/2014
• Issued: 04/17/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/24/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kyndryl Incorporated (Kyndryl Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Hamilton, II, Rick A., Lyle, Ruthie D., Moskowitz, Paul A., Pickover, Clifford A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Van Bramer, John
• Application Number:
  US14/247,614
• Publication Number:
  US 20140222614A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,470 Days
• Field of Search: 705 141, 705 267
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0222 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0631 Item recommendations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 90/00 Systems or methods specially adapted for administrative, commercial, financial, managerial or supervisory purposes, not involving significant data processing

Abstract

A method implemented in a computer infrastructure having computer executable code tangibly embodied on a computer readable medium being operable to provide a shopping cart for a shopper, and segment items in the shopping cart based on the carbon footprint associated with each item. Additionally, the method may include displaying substitute or complementary items in the shopping cart for selection by the user to reduce total carbon values, and awarding carbon certificates.

Claims

1. A method for facilitating environmental stewardship in electronic commerce comprising:

displaying, by a computing device, an online shopping display screen including a plurality of items selected for purchase by a user in an online shopping cart;

obtaining, by the computing device, carbon values associated with each of the plurality of items;

assigning, by a carbon calculation tool of the computing device, a maximum total weight of carbon for the online shopping cart;

calculating, via the carbon calculation tool, a total weight of carbon for the plurality of items based on the carbon values;

determining, by the computing device, that the total weight of carbon has exceeded the maximum total weight of carbon;

based on the determining that the total weight of carbon has exceeded the maximum total weight of carbon, automatically obtaining, by an item complement tool of the computing device, an additional item that is a substitute for one of the plurality of items selected for purchase, wherein a carbon value associated with the additional item is lower than the carbon value associated with the one of the plurality of items; and

automatically displaying on the online shopping display screen, by the computing device, the additional item.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising segmenting on the online shopping display screen, by the computing device, the plurality of items selected for purchase based on at least one environmental parameter respectively associated with the plurality of items selected for purchase.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein:

the at least one environmental parameter respectively associated with the plurality of items selected for purchase comprises the carbon values; and

the segmentation of the plurality of items is spatial or positional according to the respective carbon values of the plurality of items selected for purchase.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein:

the at least one environmental parameter respectively associated with the plurality of items selected for purchase comprises the carbon values; and

the segmentation of the plurality of items selected for purchase is by graphical organizers according to the carbon values.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one environmental parameter is selected from the group consisting of:

the carbon values, a green category, a source of the plurality of items, a green manufacturer, a hazard level, recycle features, a presence of heavy metals, and contribution to a greenhouse gas.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the of the plurality of items selected for purchase are at least one of:

movable from one segment to another upon application of a carbon offset;

dynamic;

searchable using a multitude of search criteria; and

designatable for automatic purchase on a pre-specified future date.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of items selected for purchase are physical goods.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising visually representing at least one attribute of at least one of the plurality of items selected for purchase on the online shopping display screen, wherein the at least one attribute comprises one or more of:

the carbon value, an organic impact, an inorganic impact, and an environmental impact.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving from the user a selection of the one of the plurality of items selected for purchase; and

based on the selection, displaying additional information about the selected one of the plurality of items selected for purchase on the online shopping display screen, and displaying a profile specifying what characteristics are to be displayed.

10. The method of claim 1, the displaying the additional item on the online shopping display screen comprises displaying an offer to substitute the additional item for the one of the plurality of items selected for purchase.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

assigning, by the computing device, a respective carbon offset monetary value to at least one of the plurality of items selected for purchase.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that at least one item of the plurality of items selected for purchase are renewable resources; and

assigning one or more carbon offset certificates to the at least one item.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

comparing, by the computing device, the carbon value of the additional item to the carbon value of the one of the plurality of items selected for purchase; and

determining, by the computing device, that the carbon value of the additional item is lower than the carbon value of the one of the plurality of items selected for purchase.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein steps of claim 1 are provided by a service provider on a subscription, advertising, and/or fee basis.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a selection of the additional item from the shopper;

adding the additional item to the plurality of items selected for purchase; and

removing the one of the plurality of items from the plurality of items selected for purchase.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the automatically obtaining the additional item comprises obtaining the additional item from a database on a website, and wherein the displaying the additional item comprises automatically substituting, by the item complement tool of the computing device, the one of the plurality of items with the additional item.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

mapping, by a segmenting tool of the computing device, the carbon values associated with each of the plurality of items to positions in the online shopping cart; and

graphically arranging, by the segmenting tool of the computing device, the plurality of items in the online shopping cart based on the carbon values.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the computing device, that one or more of the plurality of items meets a predetermined carbon content range; and

displaying, by a segmenting tool of the computing device, one or more high carbon content icons in association with one or more of the plurality of items based on the determining that the one or more of the plurality of items meets the predetermined carbon content range.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising segmenting on the online shopping display screen, by the computing device, the plurality of items selected for purchase based on whether the plurality of items are recyclable.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by a carbon footprint tool of the computing device, carbon footprints associated with one or more of the plurality of items selected for purchase by the user in the online shopping cart;

forwarding, by the carbon footprint tool of the computing device, the carbon footprints to an item segmentation tool of the computing device; and

segmenting, by the segmentation tool of the computing device, the online shopping display screen based on the carbon footprints.