Patent Application
20140214618
1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates generally to a computer implemented process to allow customers to use a portable computerized device to scan goods in a store and allow them to purchase the item. In particular, examples of the present disclosure are related to referencing nutritional information for items selected for purchase and presenting the information to the customer.
2. Background
Portable computerized devices permit a user to collect and process data from surroundings. A portable computerized device can include a camera device configured to capture an image or a series of images which can collectively be defined as a video feed. Programming upon or accessible by the device can process the image or images to identify useful information. The device can include wireless communication to acquire or send information to a remote server device. A device can additionally or alternatively include a microphone to record audio.
Augmented reality includes software applications that superimpose computer-generated images upon a view of the real world. In one embodiment, augmented reality can be operated upon a smart-phone, a tablet computer, or other similar portable device.
Augmented reality can provide computer generated graphical images superimposed upon a visual scene of an area proximate to the viewer. In combination with image recognition and programming permitting identification of features in a view, graphical images can be projected to identify an object of interest in the view. Graphical images can be configured to interact in an amusing way or otherwise entertain the viewer. Graphical images can provide instruction or augment the view with supplemental information. By superimposing images upon a view of objects in the real world, the experience of the viewer can be enhanced with information, entertainment, or other graphical content.
A portable computerized device can include software applications that capture product barcodes, QR codes, images of packaging details, or other identifying marks, and by matching these marks to those in a centralized database, identify the product so that it can then be later used.
Non-limiting and non-exhaustive embodiments of the present disclosure are described with reference to the following figures, wherein like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout the various views unless otherwise specified.
Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding components throughout the several views of the drawings. Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various embodiments of the present disclosure. Also, common but well-understood elements that are useful or necessary in a commercially feasible embodiment are often not depicted in order to facilitate a less obstructed view of these various embodiments of the present disclosure.
In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present disclosure. It will be apparent, however, to one having ordinary skill in the art that the specific detail need not be employed to practice the present disclosure. In other instances, well-known materials or processes have not been described in detail in order to avoid obscuring the present disclosure.
Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment”, “an embodiment”, “one example” or “an example” means that a particular feature, structure or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment or example is included in at least one embodiment of the present disclosure. Thus, appearances of the phrases “in one embodiment”, “in an embodiment”, “one example” or “an example” in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment or example. Furthermore, the particular features, structures or characteristics may be combined in any suitable combinations and/or sub-combinations in one or more embodiments or examples. In addition, it is appreciated that the figures provided herewith are for explanation purposes to persons ordinarily skilled in the art and that the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale.
A process for improving a shopping experience of a customer can include a customer scan and rapid checkout process. In one exemplary embodiment, a shopper can use a portable computerized device, such as a smart phone, a tablet computer, or glasses equipped with a processing device and configured to project images in a view of the user, and more particularly, a camera device equipped to the device, to scan items for purchase. These scanned items can be added to an electronic billing statement, the items can be placed in the shopping cart, and a rapid or abbreviated checkout process can be utilized to permit the shopper to pay and go, thereby skipping long lines at a cashier-manned checkout station or the hassle of a self-scan checkout. such an abbreviated checkout process can include the customer paying the electronic billing statement and then being permitted to leave the store.
In order to permit the customer to scan an item and add it to an electronic billing statement, the item need to be identified as a product within a database, for example, to provide a price for the item. In such a database, additional information can be stored in relation to the product. According to one embodiment, nutritional information for the product can be stored and referenced.
Nutritional or dietary guidelines are widely published and can be used to promote healthy choices. Exemplary healthy choices that can be made include avoiding excessive calories, avoiding excessive sodium, and eating a recommended amount of dietary fiber. Such choices can be expressed by daily targets or daily limits that the person should follow.
Nutritional information can be accessed by customer on printed labels available on most food and drink. However, such information must be read by the customer in order for the information to be useful. A process to present such nutritional information to the customer during the shopping process on a screen a a device being used to scan items for purchase can increase access of the customer to the information in real-time and increase a likelihood that the customer will act upon the information. Further, information in a database can be used to provide suggested substitutions for scanned items.
A consumer can use standard or generic guidelines in setting dietary guidelines or criteria for offering substitutions. According to one example, a recommended daily calorie intake of 2,000 calories can be used. In another embodiment, the consumer can add customized settings to guidelines and criteria. In one embodiment, a user could be preconfigured with a proprietary diet program. For example, when a customer scans a product, the calories, points, or other means for measuring diet and nutrition could be automatically counted and tallied. In another example, the proprietary diet program could indicate to the customer if a product has been scanned that contains ingredients that have been strictly forbidden in the diet, such as carbohydrates.
To illustrate,
The processing device 620 can include memory, e.g., read only memory (ROM) and random access memory (RAM), storing processor-executable instructions and one or more processors that execute the processor-executable instructions. In embodiments where the processing device 620 includes two or more processors, the processors can operate in a parallel or distributed manner. In the illustrative embodiment, the processing device 620 executes one or more of a product identification module 640, a customer view product identification module 650, and an external server communication module 660.
The communication device 610 is a device that allows the store product index server 50 to communicate with another device, e.g., a portable computerized device through a wireless communication network connection. The communication device 610 can include one or more wireless transceivers for performing wireless communication and/or one or more communication ports for performing wired communication.
The memory device 630 is a device that stores data generated or received by the store product index server 50. The memory device 630 can include, but is not limited to a hard disc drive, an optical disc drive, and/or a flash memory drive. Further, the memory device 630 may be distributed and located at multiple locations. The memory device 630 is accessible to the processing device 620. In some embodiments, the memory device 630 includes a store product database 680 and a user preference database 690.
User preference database 690 can include stored information about customers, for example, including a user's preferences for displaying nutritional information and suggested substitutions. User preferences can be stored based upon a user's name, account number, phone number, email address, or any other information that can be used to identify a unique customer. User preference database 690 can include programming to monitor suggestions and responses by the user, for example, determining substitutions or healthy products most likely to receive a positive response from the user. According to one embodiment, such adaptive processes can include machine learning algorithms known in the art.
In some embodiments, the store product database 680 stores information about a product, including nutritional information for the product, calories, carbohydrates, and other information regarding the product. The store product database 680 may further store other information about a particular product, including price, weight, availability, and similarity of the product to other available products. Store product database 680 can further include information related to items that can be suggested as substitutes for other items. In one example, store product database 680 can include lists of substitutions that are popular with customers or that are suggested by a nutrition expert for a particular product.
The product identification module 640 can monitor a product that has been scanned and reference the store product database 680 to reference, based upon a scanned image like a UPC symbol, nutritional information for the scanned product. External server communication module 660 can communicate with external servers to determine additional criteria, such as referencing published dietary or nutritional information. Product identification module 640 can include a data output module, for example, providing nutritional information for a product and information from user preference database 690, such as a nutritional target, to a portable computerized device.
The processing device 710 can include memory, e.g., read only memory (ROM) and random access memory (RAM), storing processor-executable memory (ROM) and random access memory (RAM), storing processor-executable instructions and one or more processors that execute the processor-executable instructions. In embodiments where the processing device 710 includes two or more processors, the processors can operate in a parallel or distributed manner. In the illustrative embodiment, the processing device 710 can execute the operating system of the portable computerized device. In the illustrative embodiment, the processing device 710 also executes a product identification module 750, a product nutrition information module 770, and a product capture module 780, which are described in greater detail below.
The user interface 720 is a device that allows a user to interact with the portable computerized device. While one user interface 720 is shown, the term “user interface” can include, but is not limited to, a touch screen, a physical keyboard, a mouse, a microphone, and/or a speaker. The communication device 760 is a device that allows the portable computerized device to communicate with another device, e.g., a store product index server. The communication device 760 can include one or more wireless transceivers for performing wireless communication and/or one or more communication ports for performing wired communication. The memory device 740 is a device that stores data generated or received by the portable computerized device. The memory device 740 can include, but is not limited to, a hard disc drive, an optical disc drive, and/or a flash memory drive.
The camera 730 is a digital camera that captures a digital photograph. The camera 730 receives an instruction to capture an image and captures an image of a view proximate to the camera. The digital photograph can be a bitmap file. The bitmap file can be a bitmap, a JPEG, a GIF, or any other suitably formatted file. The camera 730 can receive the instruction to capture the image from the processing device 710 and can output the digital photograph to the processing device 710.
Product capture module 780 monitors images captured by camera 730 and/or other inputs that can be used to indicate to a product. Product capture module 780, upon monitoring an indication to a product, uses image recognition, barcode recognition, or other processes to index the product. Information gathered by product capture module can be communicated to the product store index server to particularly identify the product according to the processes disclosed herein.
Product identification module 750 interfaces with store product index server 50, for example, to match a barcode or UPC symbol to identify a particular product associated with a scanned item. Different embodiments of the disclosure can include product identification module 750 and store product index server 50 implementing different portions of the tasks required to collect the product information as disclosed herein.
Product nutrition information module 770 can include programming to reference nutritional information for a scanned item from a remote database. Product nutrition information module 770 can further include programming to reference preferences of a user regarding nutrition and/or generic nutrition guidelines from a remote database. Product nutrition information module 770 can further include programming to compare, analyze, or otherwise provide information to the user related to nutrition and healthy choices that can be offered.
Embodiments in accordance with the present disclosure may be embodied as an device, process, or computer program product. Accordingly, the present disclosure may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment (including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.), or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may all generally be referred to herein as a “module” or “system.” Furthermore, the present disclosure may take the form of a computer program product embodied any tangible medium of expression having computer-usable program code embodied in the medium.
Any combination of one or more computer-usable or computer-readable media may be utilized. For example, a computer-readable medium may include one or more of a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM) device, a read-only memory (ROM) device, an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory) device, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CDROM), an optical storage device, and a magnetic storage device. Computer program code for carrying out operations of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages.
Embodiments may also be implemented in cloud computing environments. In this description and the following claims, “cloud computing” may be defined as a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned via virtualization and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction, and then scaled accordingly. A cloud model can be composed of various characteristics (e.g., on-demand self-service, broad network access, resource pooling, rapid elasticity, measured service, etc.), service models (e.g., Software as a Service (“SaaS”), Platform as a Service (“PaaS”), Infrastructure as a Service (“IaaS”), and deployment models (e.g., private cloud, community cloud, public cloud, hybrid cloud, etc.).
The flowchart and block diagrams in the flow diagrams illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementations of systems, processes, and computer program products according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. In this regard, each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portion of code, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). It will also be noted that each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustrations, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustrations, may be implemented by special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions. These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable medium that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing device to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable medium produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.
Hardware and software configurations of the systems disclosed herein can take many different embodiments. An augmented reality program can be installed upon a portable computerized device. In another embodiment, a portable computerized device can include an augmented reality program configured permanently to the hardware of the device. In one embodiment, a single server can be utilized remotely to provide information to a plurality of stores, with communication of necessary information being transferred over a communications network. In another embodiment, a single remotely operated personal shopping profile index server can be used to provide information for a single store. In one embodiment, a remote server can be used to provide some portion of information related to processes herein, and a second, local, in-store server can be used to provide other information and to permit local wireless communication between customers and the local server. In another embodiment, a server can be local to a store. Communication between portable computerized devices and a server can be over a cellular network, over a local network operated by the store, or by other communications processes known in the art.
The above description of illustrated examples of the present disclosure, including what is described in the Abstract, are not intended to be exhaustive or to be limitation to the precise forms disclosed. While specific embodiments of, and examples for, the disclosure are described herein for illustrative purposes, various equivalent modifications are possible without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the present disclosure. Indeed, it is appreciated that the specific example voltages, currents, frequencies, power range values, times, etc., are provided for explanation purposes and that other values may also be employed in other embodiments and examples in accordance with the teachings of the present disclosure.
