METHOD OF MANAGING HOUSEHOLD PRODUCT INVENTORY

• US 20120101876A1
• Filed: 10/19/2011
• Published: 04/26/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/21/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: S.C. Johnson, Inc.
• Original Assignee: S.C. Johnson, Inc.
• Inventors: Turvey, Robert R., Porchia, Jose, Musaliar, Imtiaz A., Singh, Rishabh, Klemetsen, Rox-Anne R.
• Application Number:
  US13/276,984
• Publication Number:
  US 20120101876A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes

Abstract

A method of managing an inventory of household products through virtual storage, such as in a virtual refrigerator, freezer, pantry, using electronic devices such as a smart phone. The virtual storage includes at least one of a description of each product in the virtual storage; the date each product was purchased; the expiration date of each product; and the freshness level of each product, including whether each product is still fresh, needs to be used within a certain time period, or needs to be thrown out. Related features include generation of shopping lists, coupons and recipes for a consumer based on the products in virtual storage or depleted therefrom.

Claims

1. A method of managing products in a household inventory comprising:

inputting into an electronic device selected product information, including at least an acquisition date, for products in a household inventory to provide a product database;

storing the product database in a form so that the selected product information can be sorted and/or used to create new data to provide select information, including at least a freshness level, for each product in a virtual storage location; and

displaying in a readable electronic format the select information according to at least one of;

the freshness level of each product, the virtual storage location of each product, or products sorted into pre-set categories.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected product information further includes at least one of a mode of storage, product description, a product picture, an expiration date, and a storage location.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic device includes at least one of a scanner, a computer, a smart phone and personal digital assistant.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the virtual storage location includes at least one of a refrigerator, freezer, pantry, basement or closet.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the freshness level includes an indication of whether (1) a product is still fresh, (2) a product needs to be used within a pre-set time period or (3) a product has expired and needs to be thrown out.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a shopping list of products from said product database based on the freshness level of each product.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a shopping list of products from said product database based on whether a product is depleted from the household inventory.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating at least one coupon for at least one product in the product database by interconnection via Internet to a product manufacturer'"'"'s database.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating at least one coupon for at least one product on a shopping list of products which has been generated from said product database based on expiration date of the product.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising searching for a recipe or creating a recipe based on one or more products present in the product database.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the inputting of the selected product information into said electronic device occurs by at least one of:

scanning a barcode of a product with a scanner device;

speaking a description of a product into a voice-recognition device;

manually entering a description of a product into the electronic device;

or

photocopying a product or accessing a stock photograph of a product from a database and entering such into the electronic device.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising managing one or more consumers diet based on a nutritional content of a plurality of products in the product database for a set time period.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising tracking expenses of a plurality of products depleted from the product database within a pre-set time period.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising tracking expenses of a plurality of products on a shopping list based on the product database.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising tracking expenses of a plurality of products purchased over a selected time period.

16. A method of managing an inventory of household products comprising the steps of:

storing data related to a plurality of products, wherein the data includes a description of the products, a storage location of the product, a date the products were purchased, a cost of the products, an expiration date of the products, and a freshness level of the products based on age and manner of storage;

using a smart phone to access the data;

generating a shopping list based upon comparison of the data to ingredients of a recipe;

obtaining coupons for the ingredients; and

tracking grocery expenses, diet and food consumption based on the data when products are indicated as consumed by a user.

17. A method as recited in claim 16, wherein the data further includes a selected storage means, and the method further comprises the step of advising whether the selected storage means is proper.

18. A method as recited in claim 16, further comprising the steps of:

providing a map of a grocery store and a particular route through the grocery store to acquire the shopping list;

placing an order with an online grocery store for the shopping list; and

providing notice of price changes of products in the shopping list.

19. A method of managing an inventory of household products during a relocation comprising the steps of:

storing data related to a plurality of items in a first location, wherein the data includes a description of the products and a storage location of the product;

moving the plurality of items to a second location;

updating the data for the second location; and

providing the data related to a single item of the plurality of items based upon a request related to the single item by a consumer.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the description includes a photograph.