Method to personalize and enhance the value of consumer items for use in outdoor activities

• US 20070188331A1
• Filed: 11/17/2006
• Published: 08/16/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/17/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Monto Kumagai, Philip Miller
• Original Assignee: Monto Kumagai, Philip Miller
• Inventors: Miller, Philip, Kumagai, Monto
• Granted Patent: US 7,598,869 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/572.800
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 1/009 the reader being an RFID reader

Abstract

The present invention provides a method to personalize and enhance the value of consumer items for use in outdoor activities. It utilizes radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, computers, PDAs, and cell phones to link, record, and retrieve positional, personal, and historical data. The personalization and association of an object to a unique event by the consumer will lead to enhanced value of the product. Information that is stored on cell phones, PDAs, computers, and external databases are transferred as multimedia messages. The information is cataloged and organized using the unique RFID number. The subject line of the multimedia message is the RFID tag number. Commercial items such as skis, coats, hats, shoes, shirts, pants, gloves, sun glasses, surfboards, bicycles, wetsuits, cell phones, computers, golf clubs, golf balls, fishing poles, and lures will be produced that contain RFID tags.

Claims

1. An enhanced recreational item, comprising:

a. a recreational item; and

b. a RFID tag attached to the recreational item, the RFID tag comprising personalized event related information that is electronically deposited on the RFID tag and/or a link to information

2. The enhanced recreational item of claim 1 wherein said recreational item is selected from the group consisting of:

a. a toy wherein the toy is a stuffed animal,

b. a sports item wherein the sports item is skiing, diving, or surfing equipment or hunting equipment, a surfboard, a snowboard, a trophy, ski, fishing pole, fishing lure, gun, bicycle, a wetsuit, a golf ball, or golf club;

c. an item of clothing wherein the item of clothing is a hat, a scarf, a coat, a shirt, a sweater, a sweat shirt, a shoe, a glove, or pants;

d. a vehicle wherein the vehicle is a scooter, a car, a motorcycle, an airplane, a train, or a skateboard; and

e. a gift item, a ticket, a post card, and sun glasses.

3. A method of enhancing a recreational item, comprising:

a. Attaching an RFID tag to a recreational item;

b. Recording personalized event information;

c. Depositing the event information on the RFID tag wherein the event information is recorded during the event.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein said recreational item is selected from the group consisting of:

a. a toy wherein the toy is a stuffed animal,

b. a sports item wherein the sports item is skiing, diving, or surfing equipment or hunting equipment, a surfboard, a snowboard, a trophy, ski, fishing pole, fishing lure, gun, bicycle, a wetsuit, a golf ball, or golf club;

c. an item of clothing wherein the item of clothing is a hat, a scarf, a coat, a shirt, a sweater, a sweat shirt, a shoe, a glove, or pants;

d. a vehicle wherein the vehicle is a scooter, a car, a motorcycle, an airplane, a train, or a skateboard; and

e. a gift item, a ticket, a post card, and sun glasses.

5. The method of claim 3 further comprising one or more information links.

6. The method of claim 3 wherein information is deposited on the RFID tag before, during or after an event to which the enhanced item is relevant.

7. The method of claim 3 wherein the recreational item is a fishing lure enhanced by the steps comprising:

a. Attaching an RFID tag with the fishing lure;

b. Catching a fish is with the RFID-tagged lure;

c. Recording information comprising GPS data, fish size, fish weight, photos, audio files, and video files and/or a link to information;

d. Transferring the information to the RFID-tagged lure to be recalled later; and

e. Recalling and sharing the information.

8. A method of recording and recalling a consumer experience, comprising:

a. Associating an RFID tag to a recreational item to allow the RFID-tagged item to be associated with an event;

b. Experiencing said event with the RFID-tagged recreational item;

c. Recording information comprising personal and historical information associated with said event, and

d. depositing the information on the RFID tag that is associated with the recreational item so that the experience can be recalled from the RFID tag that is associated with the recreational item; and

e. recalling said information.

9. The method according to claim 8 further comprising sharing said information.

10. The method according to claim 8 wherein said recreational item is selected from the group consisting of:

a. a toy wherein the toy is a stuffed animal,

b. a sports item wherein the sports item is skiing, diving, or surfing equipment or hunting equipment, a surfboard, a snowboard, a ski, a fishing pole, fishing lure, a fish, a gun, a bicycle, a trophy, a wetsuit, a golf ball, or a golf club;

c. an item of clothing wherein the item of clothing is a hat, a scarf, a coat, a shirt, a sweater, a sweat shirt, a shoe, a glove, or pants;

d. a vehicle wherein the vehicle is a scooter, a car, a motorcycle, an airplane, a train, or a skateboard;

e. a gift item, a ticket, a post card, and sun glasses.

11. A method of personalizing a consumer item for use in outdoor activities, the method comprising:

(a) linking;

(b) recording; and

(c) retrieving positional, personal, and historical data in a commercial item.

12. A method according to claim 11 wherein said recreational item is selected from the group consisting of:

a. a toy wherein the toy is a stuffed animal,

b. a sports item wherein the sports item is skiing, diving, or surfing equipment or hunting equipment, a surfboard, a snowboard, a ski, a fishing pole, fishing lure, a fish, a gun, a bicycle, a trophy, a wetsuit, a golf ball, or a golf club;

c. an item of clothing wherein the item of clothing is a hat, a scarf, a coat, a shirt, a sweater, a sweat shirt, a shoe, a glove, or pants;

d. a vehicle wherein the vehicle is a scooter, a car, a motorcycle, an airplane, a train, or a skateboard;

e. a gift item, a ticket, a post card, and sun glasses.

13. A method of retrieving and sharing personalized event-related information wherein the subject line of a message or name of a data set is an RFID identifier.

14. A tracking and recording system comprising:

a. a recording device,

b. a recreational item,

c. an RFID tag attached to the recreational item, the RFID tag containing personalized event-related information that has been captured by the recording device and electronically deposited on the tag;

d. an information retrieval device; and

e. a database.

15. A tracking and recording system according to claim 14 wherein the recording and retrieval device is a RFID enabled cell phone, a RFID enabled PDA or a RFID enabled computer.

16. A tracking and recording system according to claim 14 wherein the recording and retrieval device is a RFID enabled music, photo, and video player.

17. A tracking and recording system according to claim 14 wherein said recreational item is selected from the group consisting of:

a. a toy wherein the toy is a stuffed animal,

b. a sports item wherein the sports item is skiing, diving, or surfing equipment or hunting equipment, a surfboard, a snowboard, a ski, a fishing pole, fishing lure, a fish, a gun, a bicycle, a trophy, a wetsuit, a golf ball, or a golf club;

c. an item of clothing wherein the item of clothing is a hat, a scarf, a coat, a shirt, a sweater, a sweat shirt, a shoe, a glove, or pants;

d. a vehicle wherein the vehicle is a scooter, a car, a motorcycle, an airplane, a train, or a skateboard;

e. a gift item, a ticket, a post card, and sun glasses, wherein the consumer item is derived from a piece of clothing.

18. A method of using an RFID tag, the method comprising recording on the RFID tag personalized event information such as location, time, and events that are associated with a recreational event, wherein the RFID tag is attached to an item that is associated with said recreational event.

19. A method according to claim 18 wherein the recreational event is a one-time event, a periodic event, or an occasional event or a reoccurring event.

20. A method according to claim 18 wherein wherein said recreational item is selected from the group consisting of:

a. a toy wherein the toy is a stuffed animal,

b. a sports item wherein the sports item is skiing, diving, or surfing equipment or hunting equipment, a surfboard, a snowboard, a ski, a fishing pole, fishing lure, a fish, a gun, a bicycle, a trophy, a wetsuit, a golf ball, or a golf club;

c. an item of clothing wherein the item of clothing is a hat, a scarf, a coat, a shirt, a sweater, a sweat shirt, a shoe, a glove, or pants;

d. a vehicle wherein the vehicle is a scooter, a car, a motorcycle, an airplane, a train, or a skateboard;

e. a gift item, a ticket, a post card, and sun glasses, wherein the consumer item is derived from a piece of clothing.