WIRELESS CUSTOMER AND LABOR MANAGEMENT OPTIMIZATION IN RETAIL SETTINGS

• US 20150235161A1
• Filed: 02/14/2014
• Published: 08/20/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/14/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: BBY Solutions Incorporated (Best Buy Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: BBY Solutions Incorporated (Best Buy Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Shiely, Brent, Wortley, William Don, Azar, Michele, Hake, Lisa, Marble, Andrew, Zorn, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 10,083,409 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063114 Status monitoring or status determination for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/016 After-sales
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/33 for indoor environments, e.g. buildings

Abstract

Techniques and system configurations for tracking customers and employees in a commercial environment such as a retail store are described herein. Customer devices that are operated by an associated customer may be tracked to determine customer shopping activities in a retail store, and to obtain promotions or affect targeted results based on the customer'"'"'s activity and a profile associated with the customer. Employee devices that are operated by an associated employee also may be tracked to identify employee activities and manage the interactions that occur with customers in the retail environment. In-store activities and interactions accordingly may be enhanced as a result of advertising, marketing, and analytics derived from the tracked activities.

Claims

1. A method performed by an electronic tracking system accessible in a real-world retail environment, comprising:

establishing a network connection with a portable electronic device via a wireless communications network, the wireless communications network being accessible to the portable electronic device in the retail environment;

identifying, from an identifier transmitted to the electronic tracking system via the wireless communications network, a user associated with the portable electronic device;

triangulating a position of the portable electronic device in the retail environment, the position of the portable electronic device determined relative to a plurality of defined locations in the retail environment, and the triangulating performed based on a first set of wireless communications with the portable electronic device;

tracking movement of the portable electronic device in the retail environment, the movement of the portable electronic device determined relative to the plurality of defined locations in the retail environment, and the tracking performed based on a second set of wireless communications with the portable electronic device; and

delivering shopping information to the portable electronic device, the shopping information used in a user interactive display presented on the portable electronic device, the shopping information selected for the user based on commerce activities in proximity to the position of the portable electronic device and the movement of the portable electronic device in the retail environment.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein triangulating the position of the portable electronic device includes triangulating a position of the first set of wireless communications transmitted from the portable electronic device within the retail environment, the first set of wireless communications conducted according to a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) network standard from the IEEE 802.11 standards family, wherein the identifier transmitted to the electronic tracking system via the wireless communications network is a MAC address.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein triangulating the position of the portable electronic device is assisted by information obtained from one or both of a Bluetooth beacon or a Near Field Communication (NFC) device, the Bluetooth beacon operating according to a standard from a Bluetooth standards family, and the NFC device operating according to an exchange of data from a Radio Frequency Identifier (RFID) tag.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the user associated with the portable electronic device is an employee operating the portable electronic device, wherein the user interactive display presented on the portable electronic device includes prompts to assist a particular customer, the prompts to assist a particular customer including content based on activity of the particular customer in the retail environment, and wherein the activity of the particular customer is determined from tracking movement of a second portable electronic device associated with the particular customer in the retail environment.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the prompts to assist a particular customer include prompts for the employee to offer a promotion to the particular customer based on shopping activity of the particular customer in the retail environment.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the plurality of defined locations in the retail environment respectively correspond to a plurality of product department zones mapped for the retail environment, wherein tracking movement of the portable electronic device includes tracking movement of the employee among the plurality of product department zones.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the user associated with the portable electronic device is a customer, wherein the portable electronic device is a smartphone of the customer, and wherein the shopping information selected for the user include promotion prompts triggered from activity of the customer occurring among defined areas of the retail environment.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the shopping information delivered to the portable electronic device is further customized based on a customer profile associated with the customer, the customer profile maintained by a retail operator entity in the retail environment.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein shopping information delivered to the portable electronic device is further customized to deliver promotions offered in respective zones mapped for the retail environment, wherein tracking movement of the portable electronic device in the retail environment includes tracking movement of the customer among the respective zones.

10. A computing device comprising:

a hardware processor and memory;

a wireless network communications transceiver; and

a device tracking and interaction component implemented using the hardware processor and the memory, the device tracking and interaction component configured to perform operations in a retail environment that;

establish a network connection, using the wireless network communications transceiver, from the computing device to an electronic tracking system, the network connection being established via a wireless network that is accessible in the retail environment;

transmit device identification information, using the wireless network communications transceiver, to the electronic tracking system, the device identification information identifying the computing device for correlation to an associated user, and the device identification information identifying the computing device for triangulation of the position of the computing device, wherein the position of the computing device is determined relative to a plurality of locations within the retail environment;

receive promotional information, the promotional information selected based on;

identifying the computing device to the associated user, the position of the computing device in the retail environment, and previous positions of the computing device in the retail environment; and

output prompts of the promotional information on the computing device, the promotional information correlated to a shopping activity in the retail environment.

11. The computing device of claim 10, wherein the device tracking and interaction component is provided from software instructions that are implemented with execution by the hardware processor, and wherein the computing device is a portable communication device configured to establish the wireless network connection according to a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) network standard from the IEEE 802.11 standards family.

12. The computing device of claim 11, wherein the device identification information identifying the device in the wireless network is a MAC address, and wherein the electronic tracking system triangulates and tracks the position of the computing device on an ongoing basis based on measurements performed with communications that include the MAC address.

13. The computing device of claim 10, wherein the associated user is a customer operating the computing device, and wherein the computing device is a smartphone.

14. The computing device of claim 10, wherein the associated user is an employee operating the computing device, wherein the prompts of the promotional information include a prompt to assist a particular customer, the prompt to assist a particular customer including content based on the shopping activity of the particular customer in the retail environment, and wherein the shopping activity of the particular customer in the retail environment is determined from tracking movement of a second computing device associated with the particular customer in the retail environment.

15. The computing device of claim 14, wherein the prompt to assist a particular customer includes a prompt for the employee to offer a promotion to the particular customer based on shopping activity of the particular customer in the retail environment.

16. The computing device of claim 15, the device tracking and interaction component also configured to perform operations that:

transmit an identified position of the computing device relative to a fixed display in the retail environment, the fixed display including one or both of a Bluetooth beacon or a Near Field Communication (NFC) device, the Bluetooth beacon operating according to a standard from a Bluetooth standards family, and the NFC device operating according to an exchange of data from a Radio Frequency Identifier (RFID) tag, wherein the triangulation of the position of the computing device factors the identified position relative to the fixed display.

17. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium including instructions for device tracking and interaction in a retail environment, the instructions which when executed by a computing device cause the computing device to perform operations including:

establishing a connection from the computing device to an electronic tracking system, the connection being established with use of a wireless network accessible in the retail environment;

providing device identification information to the electronic tracking system, the device identification information identifying the device in the wireless network, and the device identification information used to identify a computing device associated with a particular user;

providing device identification information to the electronic tracking system on an ongoing basis to locate and track the position of the computing device from communications with the wireless information network, the position of the computing device determined relative to a plurality of store department zones defined for the retail environment;

downloading promotional information, the promotional information designated for the user based on shopping activities occurring proximate to the position of the computing device and movement of the position of the computing device that is tracked in the retail environment; and

generating prompts of the promotional information on the computing device based on the shopping activities and the movement of the position of the computing device.

18. The machine-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the computing device is a portable communication device configured to establish the wireless network connection with the wireless network according to a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) network standard from the IEEE 802.11 standards family, wherein locating the position of the portable communication device includes triangulating the position of the portable communication device based at least in part on measurements made on the communications with the wireless information network.

19. The machine-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the device identification information identifying the device in the wireless network is a MAC address, and wherein the electronic tracking system triangulates and tracks the position of the computing device on an ongoing basis based on the measurements made on the communications with the wireless information network that include the MAC address.

20. The machine-readable medium of claim 17, wherein operations to locate and track the position of the computing device is assisted by information obtained from a Bluetooth beacon or a Near Field Communication (NFC) device, the Bluetooth beacon operating according to a standard from a Bluetooth standards family, and the NFC device operating according to an exchange of data from a Radio Frequency Identifier (RFID) tag.

21. The machine-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the user associated with the computing device is an employee operating the computing device, wherein the prompts of the promotional information include a prompt to assist a particular customer, the prompt to assist a particular customer including content based on activity of the particular customer in the retail environment, and wherein the activity of the particular customer is determined from tracking movement of a second computing device associated with the particular customer in the retail environment.

22. The machine-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the user associated with the computing device is an employee operating the computing device, wherein the position of the computing device is used to correlate employee activity to assigned activities in the zones defined for the retail environment.