Patent Application
20060100926
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to the field of computers, and in particular to wireless computers receiving signals from short-range transmitting devices. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a method and system for selectively broadcasting marketing messages, such as advertisements and coupons, to a wireless computer mounted on a shopping cart in a store.
2. Description of the Related Art
A key feature desired in advertisement is targeting a market. That is, there is little, if any, short term benefit to the advertiser from sending advertisements to persons who are not likely to purchase the advertiser's product. This is especially true at the actual time of the purchase, such as in a grocery store or similar retail establishment. To target the buying audience in such an environment, the prior art uses two main types of advertising. The first is the broadcasting of an ad playlist throughout the store. Such a playlist may be as simple as an audio message over the store's public address system, or may be via high-tech devices such as wireless Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs). Alternatively, ads can be broadcast to PDAs in only in a limited area by using short-range Bluetooth® technology. An example of such ad placement methods is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/859,359, entitled “Method and System for Providing Targeted Advertising and Personalized Customer Services,” filed by Hind et al. on May 17, 2001, and herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.
While the prior art provides a certain level of targeted advertising, what is needed is additional refinement to effectively gauge the effectiveness of the advertisements, and to charge the advertiser accordingly. Further, there is a need to tailor the advertisement to products that the user needs or is likely to need, based on the user's shopping history (both short term as well as long term). Preferably, such a method and system will require minimal user intervention.
The present invention is thus directed to a method and system for transmitting marketing messages, such as advertisements and/or coupons, to shoppers in a store. The marketing messages are transmitted by a low-power line-of-sight transmitter which is positioned in a specific predetermined product area. After determining the identity of a passing shopper, the transmitter sends a tailored marketing message to a wireless device being used by the passing shopper. A determination is made as to how long the marketing message was displayed on the wireless device before being turned off, if ever, and whether the shopper responded to the marketing message by purchasing a product that is targeted by the marketing message. Since the line-of-sight transmitter is low-power, there is no reflective bleed-over of a carrier signal for the marketing message. Since the marketing message is specifically limited to passing shoppers within a tightly defined area, the assessment of a fee charged to an advertiser for transmitting the marketing message is more exact.
The marketing message is thus transmitted in real-time to the wireless device via a line-of-sight carrier signal, which is preferably an infrared (IR) signal.
The above, as well as additional purposes, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in the following detailed written description.
The novel features believed characteristic of the invention are set forth in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, as well as a preferred mode of use, further purposes and advantages thereof, will best be understood by reference to the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, where:
FIGS. 1 illustrates an exemplary computer system in which the present invention can be implemented, either as a wireless device for receiving a marketing message, a transmitter/receiver for communicating with the wireless device, and/or as a server that exchanges data with the wireless device via the transmitter/receiver;
With reference now to
Also connected to system bus 108 are a system memory 110 and an input/output (I/O) bus bridge 112. I/O bus bridge 112 couples an I/O bus 114 to system bus 108, relaying and/or transforming data transactions from one bus to the other. Peripheral devices such as nonvolatile storage 116, which may be a hard disk drive, and input device 118, which may include a conventional mouse, a trackball, or the like, as well as a bar code or similar reader, is connected to I/O bus 114.
Data processing system 100 also includes a wireless interface 120. Wireless interface 120 is an interface that permits data processing system 100 to wirelessly communicate, preferably via a line-of-sight carrier signal such as a low-power infrared (IR) wave, with another data processing system, such as a short-range transmitter/receiver system 122, which also communicates with a server 124. Note that in a preferred embodiment, all communication is tuned down to a low-power level IR, such that there is only line-of-sight communication, such that no wireless communication occurs from reflected or other “bleed over” signals.
Short-range transmitter/receiver 122 may also include an IDentification Signal Receiver (IDSR) 126. IDSR 126 is a logic (hardware and/or software) that receives and processes an identification signal from a wireless computer such as a Personal Shopping Device (PSD).
In a preferred embodiment, the features shown for data processing system 100 are used by the PSD, while the short-range transmitter/receiver 122 uses all features shown for data processing system 100 except for the graphics adapter 104 and display 106, and the server 124 has all features shown for data processing system 100 except for the short-range wireless interface, since server 124 and short-range transmitter/receiver 122 preferably are able to communicate across long distances.
The exemplary embodiment shown in
Referring now to
An exemplary use of PSD 202 may be in a retail establishment. As a shopper places items into shopping cart 204, the shopper scans the product using a bar code reader 208, which reads a Universal Product Code (UPC) bar code from a product selected by the shopper and records the product in PSD 202. The PSD 202 stores all items that have been scanned and placed in the shopping cart 204 into a list. When the customer checks out, the checker simply downloads the list (with prices) to conclude a shopping transaction.
Referring now to
Referring now to
In a preferred embodiment, associated products 404 are defined and related to a corresponding selected product 402 by an advertiser. For example, consider the situation in which a shopper has placed a bag of chips (shown as a selected product 402) in his basket while in pre-determined product area 308f. When that same shopper reaches pre-determined product area 308g, a marketing message is sent to that user's PSD 202 suggesting that he pick up the advertiser's “Brand X” salsa listed as one of the associated products 404. That is, preferably the selected product 402 is any brand of that described product, while the associated product 404 is that sold by the advertiser (manufacturer) who is paying for the transmission of the marketing message.
In another preferred embodiment, associated products 404 are defined by a recipe, such as listed on a package. For example, consider the scenario in which the shopper selects a specific bean soup mix, as shown as one of the selected products 402. Printed on the packaging for the bean soup mix, and known to server 124, is a listing of all ingredients that need to be added to the mix, including ingredients that may not be usually kept on hand at the shopper's home. Thus, when the shopper scans and places the bean soup mix in his shopping cart, server 124, upon a local IDSR 126 in a short-range transmitter/receiver 122 subsequently detecting that the shopper who chose the bean soup mix is in a particular pre-determined area, will send marketing messages for the needed ingredients. For example, consider when a shopper selects, scans, and places the particular bean soup mix in his basket when in pre-determined product area 308b. Then, while passing through another pre-determined product area, such as meat section 302, a suggestion (marketing message) message is sent to that user reminding him to pick up ham hocks for his soup. Optionally, a special price for that shopper alone, may be offered. Thus, the prices 406 can be dynamically modified. Similarly, suggestions are made to the shopper when in dairy section 304 to pick up needed Brand Y cheese and to pick up okra from when in the produce section 306.
Referring now to
With reference now to
Next, a query is made (query block 608) as to whether a product, which has been physically selected and placed in her shopping cart, matches one of the selected products 402 in look-up table 400. If so, then a marketing message related to one of the associated products 404 is broadcast to the PSD 202 (block 610). The length of time that the marketing message was displayed on the GUI in the PSD 202 is determined and stored by the short-range transmitter/receiver 122 and/or the server 124 (block 612).
A query is also made (query block 614) as to whether it is the scheduled time for the user identified to purchase an item located with the pre-determined product area in which the short-range transmitter/receiver 122 is located. A shopping history, stored in short-range transmitter/receiver 122 and/or server 124, for the shopper identified by the ID from the PSD 202, is accessed. This shopping history includes a periodic schedule of when specific items should be purchased by the shopper. For example, the shopping history may know that the shopper needs to buy a new air conditioner filter every 60 days. If 60 days have elapsed since the shopper purchased her last air conditioner filter, then a reminder message is sent to the PSD 202 (block 616), preferably suggesting that the shopper purchase a particular brand and/or model of air conditioner filter. The length of time that this reminder message is likewise stored (block 612), and the process ends (terminator block 618).
With reference now to
Similarly, by monitoring how long the shopper was within range of the short-range transmitter/receiver, whether another overriding marketing message was sent to that shopper while in the same pre-determined product area, or whether or not the shopper manually ended the marketing message display by clicking a “Skip” button on the GUI, a determination is made as to how long the marketing message was displayed (block 708). The charge to the advertiser (producer) of the addressed product is then charged according to how long his advertisement was displayed.
Similarly, the charge for transmitting the marketing message may depend on how heavy store traffic is in the area in which the marketing message was displayed (block 710). This is particularly germane if the marketing message is being transmitted to any PSD 202 within range, regardless of the user ID, if any, of the shopper. Obviously, if the marketing message is being broadcast in a higher traffic area, then the fee to the advertiser is likewise higher as well.
Similarly, the date and time during which a marketing message made on behalf of an advertiser is determined and stored (block 712). Again, this is more germane if the marketing message is transmitted to any PSD 202 within range. If the marketing message is being transmitted during peak shopping times, such as between 5:00 P.M. and 7:00 P.M., then the charge to the advertiser will be higher than for marketing messages that are transmitted to off-peak hours, such as between 10:00 P.M. and midnight.
After the fee for the transmitted marketing message has been determined and stored (block 716), then a bill is generated for each advertiser who used the marketing message transmission service as described herein, and the process ends (terminator block 718).
It should be understood that at least some aspects of the present invention may alternatively be implemented in a program product. Programs defining functions on the present invention can be delivered to a data storage system or a computer system via a variety of signal-bearing media, which include, without limitation, non-writable storage media (e.g., CD-ROM), writable storage media (e.g., a floppy diskette, hard disk drive, read/write CD ROM, optical media), and communication media, such as computer and telephone networks including Ethernet. It should be understood, therefore in such signal-bearing media when carrying or encoding computer readable instructions that direct method functions in the present invention, represent alternative embodiments of the present invention. Further, it is understood that the present invention may be implemented by a system having means in the form of hardware, software, or a combination of software and hardware as described herein or their equivalent.
The present invention thus provides a simple method and system for not only generating dynamic local advertisement to shoppers, but also for determining the actual or likely effectiveness of the advertisement, and generating an equitable bill based on this determined effectiveness level.
While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to a preferred embodiment, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
