Shopping assistant

• US 20070100704A1
• Filed: 10/28/2005
• Published: 05/03/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/28/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Cucerzan, Silviu-Petru, Zhang, Zhengyou, Acero, Alejandro, Liu, Zicheng, Kurlander, David
• Application Number:
  US11/261,220
• Publication Number:
  US 20070100704A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/26
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0253 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0619 Neutral agent
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0623 Item investigation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0631 Item recommendations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing

Abstract

A multi-modal device that can substantially facilitate intelligent shopping. Electronic receipts can be provided to a user wirelessly and stored/indexed on the multi-modal device. Receipts can be categorized (e.g., personal, business, client entertainment) thereby facilitating financial management and accounting. Likewise, such electronic receipts can provide for easier return/exchange of goods. The multi-modal device can also assist in tracking/managing shopping lists and business cards (e.g., provide for business card exchanges). Moreover, the multi-modal device can provide for comparison shopping, catalog shopping, locating products and obtaining more information about a product via visual or audio mechanisms.

Claims

1. A system that facilitates intelligent shopping, comprising:

a receiving component that electronically receives information that relates to a product and a vendor; and

a transaction management component that analyzes the information and advises a consumer based at least in part upon an outcome of the analysis.

2. The system of claim 1, the receiving component electronically receives an acknowledgment of a purchase associated to a consumer and the system further comprises an indexing component that indexes the acknowledgement into a catalog having a plurality of disparate acknowledgments that correspond to the user.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising a transaction communication component that electronically transmits the acknowledgment of the purchase to the receiving component.

4. The system of claim 1, the indexing component categorizes the acknowledgement as at least one of a personal acknowledgment, a business acknowledgement and an entertainment acknowledgement.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising a product analysis component that comprises a sensor that prompts comparison shopping based at least in part upon the product.

6. The system of claim 5, the sensor is an image capture device that captures an image of the product, the image capture device is at least one of a camera and a scanner.

7. The system of claim 6, the product analysis component analyzes the image and determines at least one of a product location, a product rating and a comparable product associated to the product.

8. The system of claim 5, the sensor is an audio input that receives speech related to a product and converts the speech into text related to the product.

9. The system of claim 8, the product analysis component employs the text and automatically obtains information related to the product.

10. The system of claim 9, the information is at least one of a location, a rating, a price list, and a comparable product.

11. The system of claim 10 further comprising a multi-language component that converts the audio input into a language comprehendible to the consumer.

12. The system of claim 1, further comprising an artificial intelligence (AI) component that employs a probabilistic and/or statistical-based analysis to infer an action that the consumer desires to be automatically performed.

13. A computer-implemented method of intelligent tracking of purchases, comprising:

receiving an electronic receipt that corresponds to a consumer purchase of a product; and

indexing the electronic receipt in a multi-modal portable device in a category based at least in part upon an inferred preference, the category is at least one of a personal, business and entertainment category.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, further comprising dynamically maintaining a shopping list on the multi-modal portable device.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, further comprising wirelessly obtaining information relating to the product.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, the information is at least one of a store location, a product rating, a price and an alternative vendor source related to the product.

17. A system that facilitates intelligent shopping, comprising:

means for electronically identifying a product;

means for electronically determining a current location of a consumer; and

means for identifying a location of the product within a facility based at least in part upon the current location of the consumer.

18. The system of claim 17, the means for electronically identifying the product is an image capture device.

19. The system of claim 17, the means for electronically identifying the product is an audio recorder.

20. The system of claim 19, further comprising means for translating speech into a language comprehendible to the consumer.