System and method for interactive, computer assisted personalization of on-line merchandise purchases

• US 7,328,177 B1
• Filed: 07/19/2000
• Issued: 02/05/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 07/20/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Catherine Lin-Hendel
• Original Assignee: Catherine Lin-Hendel
• Inventors: Lin-Hendel, Catherine
• Primary Examiner(s): FADOK, MARK A
• Application Number:
  US09/619,255
• Time in Patent Office: 2,757 Days
• Field of Search: 705 26- 27, 707/5
• US Class Current: 705/26.7
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0603 Catalogue ordering
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0623 Item investigation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0631 Item recommendations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0639 Item locations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0643 Graphical representation of items or shoppers
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99935 Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access

Abstract

A system and method for enabling on-line purchasers to customize and personalize their purchasing options by prompting the customer to indicate customer preferences regarding merchandise and services to be purchased on-line. The system and method use intelligent process and rule-driven inquiry-databases, intelligent product databases, artificial intelligence rules, data comparison algorithms, animation software, graphics and video input and output hardware and software and/or video streaming to (1) guide consumers in specifying customer preferences, (2) make purchasing recommendations to consumers, (3) narrow selections of merchandise or services, (4) determine the fit of merchandise, (5) configure and optimize various options of subsystems into a complete system, (6) layout, compose and/or animate merchandise or models wearing merchandise, and (7) display the fitted system of multiple items with the recommended and/or selected settings.

Claims

1. An electronic system for purchasing merchandise online using a computer having a display device, comprising:

means for selecting and purchasing merchandise, by a user, online; and

an interactive wizard guide, selectively and optionally deployed by the user, for making online merchandise recommendations and computer-assisted selections tailorized to said user, said interactive wizard guide comprising;

means for prompting the user to specify preferences regarding at least one type of merchandise of interest to said user, said prompting means includes means for prompting the user to answer a plurality of questions,

means for receiving the preferences and answers to the plurality of questions to create a user profile,

means for searching in and retrieving data from at least one database using predetermined intelligence rules together with said user profile to determine said recommendations and said selections of said merchandise and accessories to said merchandise,

means, in response to said retrieving means, for displaying on said display device, said recommendations and said selections of said merchandise and said accessories, and

means for overriding said interactive wizard guide.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein:

said prompting means comprises;

a questionnaire database that prompts the user to answer a plurality of questions to specify the user preferences with regard to the at least one type of merchandise;

said searching and retrieving means comprises;

a search engine using comparison functions, said intelligence rules and user input rules;

said wizard guide further comprising;

a merchandise database having textual and graphical data regarding the at least one type of merchandise, the merchandise database using said intelligence rules to match the merchandise with the accessories and having links to databases for other types of merchandise;

a layout and schematics program for preparing and displaying a floor plan depicting merchandise selected by the user, wherein the dimensions and other architectural features of the floor plan are provided by the user;

a models database having images of models;

an animation and morphing program for providing image and motion creation and morphing to models selected from the model database by the user, wherein the selected models wear merchandise selected by the user, the user able to alter the models and the models'"'"' features;

a temporary working database in which the user works while using the system; and

a personal folder database for storing the data from the temporary working database and said user profile.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the user specifies the user preferences by either checking at least one box in front of a possible choice or clicking on a text string representing that choice.

4. The system according to claim 1, further comprising:

means for providing the user with names of a plurality of vendors for the merchandise recommended to the user.

5. The system according to claim 4, further comprising:

means for enabling the user to select a vendor from the plurality of vendors;

means, responsive to the selected vendor, for prompting the user to specify additional information regarding products of the selected vendor.

6. The system according to claim 1, further comprising:

means for preparing and displaying, based on specifications provided by the user, a recommended floor plan showing each item of merchandise selected by the user.

7. The system according to claim 6, further comprising:

means for prompting the user to examine and specify specifications and configurations for each merchandise item.

8. The system according to claim 7, wherein the user uses an input device to click on an individual item of merchandise shown on the display device to determine which goods to configure.

9. The system according to claim 1, wherein the retrieved data is stored in a local database which is smaller then the at least one database, thereby enabling the user to interact with the system without having to traffic data through a network and thus at a faster speed than would be possible if the user had to traffic data through the network.

10. The system according to claim 1, wherein the prompting means includes menus and data entry tables to solicit said preferences from the user.

11. The system according to claim 1, wherein the interactive wizard guide includes:

means for selecting a model from a model database and morphing the model using specifications provided by the user.

12. The system according to claim 11, wherein the interactive wizard guide uses an animation graphics composition morphing program to cause the model to be animated and to engage in a full range of movement displayed on the display device.

13. The system according to claim 1, wherein the interactive wizard guide includes both inclusion and exclusion mechanisms to assist the user in making preference selections.

14. The system according to claim 1, wherein the interactive wizard guide includes an automated select all feature wherein all possible preferences are automatically included unless excluded by the user.

15. The system according to claim 1, wherein at any stage of interaction with the system, an array of recommendations can be presented on the display device, the array able to be narrowed or enhanced interactively as the interactive wizard guide gains input from the user.

16. The system according to claim 1, wherein if the merchandize is clothing, the displaying means of the interactive wizard guide can display a plurality of ensembles of clothing for viewing by the user, each ensemble able to be altered with ensemble items moved from one ensemble to another, colors and patterns changed, and reassembled interactively, the ensembles able to be displayed using models and animation specified by the user.

17. The system according to claim 16, wherein the user can purchase an entire ensemble, or any part of the ensemble.

18. The system according to claim 15, wherein the user can specify additional desired matching items to be retrieved and displayed for viewing that may not be included in the array.

19. The system according to claim 1, wherein the override means includes means to allow the user to override a predetermined intelligence rule used by the interactive wizard guide to make recommendations to the user.

20. The system according to claim 19, wherein the predetermined intelligence rule pertains to determining whether two colors match.

21. The system according to claim 1, wherein the retrieved data is stored in both (1) a local database of a server, and (2) a second database on the server which is smaller then the at least one database, thereby enabling the user to interact with the system without having to traffic data through a network and thus at a faster speed than would be possible if the user had to traffic data through the network.