WEB-BASED TARGETED ADVERTISING IN A BRICK-AND-MORTAR RETAIL ESTABLISHMENT USING ONLINE CUSTOMER INFORMATION

• US 20080004951A1
• Filed: 06/29/2006
• Published: 01/03/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Dumais, Susan T., Flake, Gary W., Huang, Xuedong D., Goodman, Joshua T., Hurst-Hiller, Oliver, Griffin, Trenholme J., Horvitz, Eric J., Brunell, Bradly A., Gates, William H.
• Application Number:
  US11/427,764
• Publication Number:
  US 20080004951A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0271 Personalized advertisement

Abstract

Architecture for presenting advertisements in realtime in retail establishments. A sensor component includes sensors for collecting information about a customer or group of customers as they move through the store. The sensors can include capability for image processing, audio processing, light sensing, velocity sensing, direction sensing, proximity sensing, face recognition, pose recognition, transaction recognition, and biometric sensing, for example. A customer component analyzes the information and generates a profile about the customer. Advertisements are selected for presentation that target the customers as they walk in proximity of a presentation system of the store. An advertisement component facilitates dynamic presentation of a targeted advertisement to the individual as a function of the profile. The customer component can infer information during analysis using machine learning and reasoning.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented system that facilitates presentation of targeted advertisements to an individual, comprising:

a sensor component of a brick-and-mortar store that senses local customer information about a customer moving throughout the store;

a customer component that receives web-based customer information and the local customer information, analyzes the local and web-based customer information, and generates a profile about the customer based thereon; and

an advertisement component that facilitates dynamic presentation of a targeted advertisement to the customer as a function of the profile.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the sensor component facilitates at least one of image processing, audio processing, light sensing, velocity sensing, direction sensing, proximity sensing, face recognition, pose recognition, transaction recognition, and biometric sensing.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising an inference component that makes an inference about the local customer information and the web-based customer information as a part of generating the profile, the inference component comprising a machine learning and reasoning system that employs probabilistic and/or statistical-based analysis.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising a multimedia presentation system that receives the targeted advertisement from the advertisement component and displays the targeted advertisement for viewing by the individual.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the multimedia presentation system further outputs the targeted advertisement to the customer with audio information.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising a personalization component that personalizes the advertisement to the customer by outputting personal information via a multimedia presentation system when the customer is in proximity thereto.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the sensor component senses local customer information that includes product information about products the customer has selected in the store.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the customer component includes in the profile local customer information about customer attire.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the advertisement component receives the advertisement from a web-based source.

10. The system of claim 9, further comprising an advertisement datastore, an online third-party pushes the advertisement to the datastore for realtime presentation to the customer.

11. A computer-implemented method of advertising content to customers of a retail establishment, comprising:

sensing local customer information about a customer of a brick-and-mortar retail establishment;

accessing web-based customer information of the customer;

generating a customer profile based on inferences about the local and web-based customer information;

receiving a web-based advertisement based on the customer profile; and

displaying the advertisement to the customer via a presentation system when the customer is proximate thereto.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising dynamically streaming the advertisement from a web-based source to the presentation system.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising streaming the advertisement for presentation to the customer as the customer at least one of approaches the presentation system and walks away from the presentation system.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising adjusting presentation of the advertisement based on speed at which the customer is moving.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising automatically adjusting pricing of an article of commerce of the retail establishment based on the customer profile.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising presenting a reminder to the customer based on the web-based customer information.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising sensing if the customer is part of a group of customers within proximity of the presentation system.

18. The method of claim 11, further comprising filtering the advertisement based on web-based user preferences information included in the web-based customer information.

19. The method of claim 11, further comprising selecting the advertisement for presentation based on ranking of products and/or services preferred by the customer.

20. A computer-executable system, comprising:

computer-implemented means for sensing local customer information about a customer of a brick-and-mortar store;

computer-implemented means for accessing web-based customer information of the customer;

computer-implemented means for making inferences about at least one of the local customer information and web-based customer information;

computer-implemented means for generating a customer profile based on the inferences;

computer-implemented means for automatically receiving a web-based advertisement based on the customer profile; and

computer-implemented means for dynamically presenting a new advertisement to the customer based on changes in the local customer information.