Patent Grant
7346561
This invention relates generally to inference engines and the identification of consumer products that satisfy a set of rules. More particularly, the invention provides methods and systems for making product selection decisions.
For some people, purchasing and selecting clothing to wear can be time-consuming tasks. It is often difficult for people to optimize the number of possible clothing combinations consumers have in their current wardrobe. Similarly, it can also be difficult for consumers to select clothing to purchase. There are a number of different decisions that are made when selecting clothing to wear and purchase. Factors such as, color, style and weather must be taken into account. Furthermore, it can be time consuming and difficult to stay informed about current fashion trends to ensure that one is dressed properly and makes proper purchasing decisions.
It can be prohibitively time consuming to evaluate every possible combination of clothing in a person's wardrobe to select a combination to wear. Time can be saved by not spending much time evaluating a clothing combination that a person wishes to wear or purchase. Unfortunately, this can lead to the person wearing or purchasing a combination of clothing that is not desirable.
Therefore, there exists a need in the art for a system and methods that assist a user in selecting clothing combinations to purchase and wear in a timely manner.
The present invention provides systems and methods that assist users in selecting clothing to wear and purchase. Among other advantages, the disclosed systems and methods reduce the time required by users to select clothing and accessories.
In one embodiment, the advantages of the present invention are realized by a method of identifying clothing combinations. The method includes the step of identifying a first article of clothing and a search request. A set of rules for selecting clothing combinations is also identified. Next, the identification of the first article of clothing, the search request and the identification of the set of rules are transmitted to a rules engine. An identification of a second article of clothing that satisfies the set of rules is then received.
The set of rules may include any type of rules, such as, for example, rules for permissible color combinations, permissible pattern combinations, and permissible style combinations.
In another embodiment of the invention, a method of selecting clothing combinations is provided. The method includes the step of receiving from an input device a query including characteristics of a first article of clothing, the identification of a user and a search request. A set of rules associated with the user and for determining permissible clothing combinations are accessed. Next, the rules and the characteristics of the first article of clothing are utilized to identify a second article of clothing that forms an appropriate clothing combination with the first article of clothing. An identification of the second article of clothing may be transmitted to the input device.
In yet another embodiment of the invention, a method of selecting clothing that may be of interest to a user is provided. The method comprises the step of receiving from an input device a query including the identification of a user and a search request. A set of rules associated with the user and for determining desirable clothing combinations are accessed and the rules and the search request are utilized to identify an appropriate clothing combination. Then, an identification of clothing combination is transmitted to the input device.
The rules may require elements comprising the clothing combination to be intended for the same gender, to be intended for the same occasion, to be of the same style and/or to be intended for the same body type.
A method of selecting clothing that may be of interest to a user is disclosed in another embodiment of the invention. The method includes receiving clothing attributes for a clothing combination selected by a user and generating a rule for the selection of additional clothing combinations based on the attributes of the clothing combination selected by the user. A query including the identification of a user and a search request is received from an input device and a set of rules associated with the user and that includes the generated rule are accessed. Next, the set of rules and the search request are utilized to identify an appropriate clothing combination and an identification of clothing combination is transmitted to the input device.
The present invention is illustrated by way of example and not limited in the accompanying figures in which like reference numerals indicate similar elements and in which:
Elements of the present invention may be implemented with computer systems, such as the system 100 shown in
Computer 100 may also include a variety of interface units and drives for reading and writing data. In particular, computer 100 includes a hard disk interface 116 and a removable memory interface 120 respectively coupling a hard disk drive 118 and a removable memory drive 122 to system bus 114. Examples of removable memory drives include magnetic disk drives and optical disk drives. The drives and their associated computer-readable media, such as a floppy disk 124 provide nonvolatile storage of computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules and other data for computer 100. A single hard disk drive 118 and a single removable memory drive 122 are shown for illustration purposes only and with the understanding that computer 100 may include several of such drives. Furthermore, computer 100 may include drives for interfacing with other types of computer readable media.
A user can interact with computer 100 with a variety of input devices.
Computer 100 may include additional interfaces for connecting devices to system bus 114.
Computer 100 also includes a video adapter 140 coupling a display device 142 to system bus 114. Display device 142 may include a cathode ray tube (CRT), liquid crystal display (LCD), field emission display (FED), plasma display or any other device that produces an image that is viewable by the user. Additional output devices, such as a printing device (not shown), may be connected to computer 100.
Sound can be recorded and reproduced with a microphone 144 and a speaker 166. A sound card 148 may be used to couple microphone 144 and speaker 146 to system bus 114. One skilled in the art will appreciate that the device connections shown in FIG. 1 are for illustration purposes only and that several of the peripheral devices could be coupled to system bus 114 via alternative interfaces. For example, video camera 134 could be connected to IEEE 1394 interface 136 and pointing device 130 could be connected to USB interface 132.
Computer 100 can operate in a networked environment using logical connections to one or more remote computers or other devices, such as a server, a router, a network personal computer, a peer device or other common network node, a wireless telephone or wireless personal digital assistant. Computer 100 includes a network interface 150 that couples system bus 114 to a local area network (LAN) 152. Networking environments are commonplace in offices, enterprise-wide computer networks and home computer systems.
A wide area network (WAN) 154, such as the Internet, can also be accessed by computer 100.
It will be appreciated that the network connections shown are exemplary and other ways of establishing a communications link between the computers can be used. The existence of any of various well-known protocols, such as TCP/IP, Frame Relay, Ethernet, FTP, HTTP and the like, is presumed, and computer 100 can be operated in a client-server configuration to permit a user to retrieve web pages from a web-based server. Furthermore, any of various conventional web browsers can be used to display and manipulate data on web pages.
The operation of computer 100 can be controlled by a variety of different program modules. Examples of program modules are routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc., that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The present invention may also be practiced with other computer system configurations, including hand-held devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, network PCS, minicomputers, mainframe computers, personal digital assistants and the like. Furthermore, the invention may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network. In a distributed computing environment, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices.
One skilled in the art will appreciate that numerous different web sites and sources of information may be connected to the Internet 208.
A computer 216 may be utilized to interface with inference engine server 202. A database of clothing 218 may be coupled to computer 216. In an alternative embodiment, database 218 can be removed and clothing information is stored in a remote database, such as wardrobe database 206. In embodiments in which computer 216 is implemented with a portable wireless device, database 218 and/or database 206 may be coupled to computer 216 via the Internet. In alternative embodiment of the invention, computer 216 may be included in the wardrobe closet disclosed in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/798,232, entitled “Online Wardrobe” and may be configured to perform some or all of the functions of inference engine server 202.
One or more conventional brick and mortar stores 220 that allow consumers to view merchandise in person may also be connected to the Internet 208. Brick and mortar store 220 may offer clothing for sale in the store and/or on-line to users connected to the Internet 208. Brick and mortar store 220 may be coupled to a store clothing database 222 that contains the identification of clothing offered for sale and associated clothing attributes. Database 222 illustrates an example of the type of information that may be included in databases, 206, 212, 218 and 222. Two shirts, having item numbers 06041998 and 10121999, are shown under a shirts heading 222a. Several attributes of item number 06041998 are listed under an attributes heading 222b. Of course, additional attributes, shirts as well as additional clothing types and accessories may also be included.
A search section 412 allows the user to search their existing wardrobe, new clothing or both. A user may desire to search his or her existing wardrobe when selecting clothes to wear in the near future. The new clothing option may be selected when the user desires to search web sites selling clothing. In one embodiment of the invention, the user identifies web sites to search when the new clothing option is selected.
Returning to
Articles of clothing may also be assigned an attribute value indicating an appropriate climate to utilize the clothing. The values may include cold (45° F. or less), mild (45° F.-65° F.), warm (65° F.-75° F.), hot (75° F. or above) and all-year (all temperatures). Category attributes may include outerwear (jackets, coats), tops (blouses, shirts, casual tops, sweaters), bottoms (dress pants, casual pants, skirts), outfits (suits, dresses, one-piece coordinates), accessories (belts, handbags, scarves, wraps, hosiery, hats, jewelry, gloves) and shoes (sandal, boot, loafer, dress, athletic). Subcategory attributes may include:
Each item may also be assigned one or more clothing attributes. A “color” attribute may correspond to colors defined by the National Retail Federation. Patterned items may be assigned a color attribute corresponding to the predominate color of the item.
Material attributes may correspond to the material makeup of the item as listed by the manufacturer or store. Values are included in the following table and may be used to assign climate attributes.
Length attributes may also be assigned to pants, skirts, tops, dresses, suits and outerwear. Pants may be assigned values of short (ends at least 2 inches above knee), clamdigger (ends 3-5 inches above the ankle), capri (end below the knee to mid-calf), ankle (end at ankle), regular (end 1-2 inches below ankle) or long (end more than 2 inches below ankle). Skirts may be assigned values of: above knee, at knee, below knee or ankle. Tops and suits may be assigned values of: ¾ (sleeve ends between wrist and elbow), elbow (sleeve ends at elbow joint), S/S (sleeve ends between shoulder and elbow), L/S (sleeve ends at wrist) or sleeveless (sleeve ends at shoulder). Dresses may be assigned values of: above knee, at knee, below knee and ankle. Outerwear may be assigned values of: waist (ends at waist), hips (ends at hips), thigh (ends mid thigh), knee (ends at knee) or full (ends at ankle)
Fit attributes may be determined by an item's silhouette. Exemplary values for pants, skirts, tops, dresses, suits and outerwear are found in the following tables.
Finally, all tops and dresses may be assigned neckline attributes as follows:
Rules database 204 may contain a variety of different rules for selecting clothing and clothing accessories. The rules may include color, body type and climate rules. There are a variety of different color rules that may be utilized. Some rules may apply to all users and others may be tailored to a subset of users or a particular individual user. In one embodiment of the invention, the following color rules are used as a default set of color rules. A user may be given the option of modifying or adding color rules.
A rule may be added to indicate that the following colors match everything: gold, black, oxford, charcoal, grey, dark grey, medium grey, silver, light pastel grey, open grey, white, natural, open white, brown, dark brown, medium brown, light pastel brown, open brown, beige/khaki, dark beige, medium beige, light beige and open beige.
The following category rules may be used to match different articles of clothing and accessories. A value of “1” corresponds to the items forming a strong match, while “2” corresponds to the items sometimes forming a match and “3” corresponds to the items never forming a match.
Body type attributes have been described above. Inference engine server 202 may apply the following body type rules based on the body type attribute provided by the user. A value of “1” corresponds to the items strongly matching the body type, while “2” corresponds to the items sometimes matching the body type and “3” corresponds to the items never matching the body type.
Climate rules may be utilized to match clothing having predetermined material attributes with the current or predicted weather conditions. In one embodiment of the invention, rules database 204 may include rules for matching a climate attribute of “cold” with clothing having a material attribute of: velvet, thick wools, fur, leather, camelhair, mohair, wool, cashmere, nylon, acrylic, rayon, polyester, denim, blend or silk. A climate attribute of “mild” may be used to select clothing having a material attribute of: wool, cashmere, angora, mohair, silk, cotton, nylon, acrylic, rayon, polyester, denim or blend. A climate attribute of “warm” may be used to select clothing having a material attribute of: wool lightweight, tweed, cashmere, wool knit, wool crepe, silk thick, silk knit, synthetic fibers, cotton, chiffon, organza, tulle, lace, nylon, acrylic, rayon, polyester, denim, blend, silk or wool. A climate attribute of “hot” may be used to select clothing having a material attribute of: linen, shantung, cotton, silk, nylon, straw, poplin, seersucker, spandex, canvas, nylon, acrylic, rayon, polyester, denim or blend. Clothing having a material attribute of wool gabardine or cotton broadcloth may correspond to a climate attribute of “all-year.” In one embodiment of the invention, there are no rules for selecting accessories and shoes based on climate attributes.
Returning to
The present invention is not limited to selecting articles of clothing that match an article of clothing selected by the user.
The system illustrated in
In addition to the disclosed uses, the present invention may be used to train clothing sales personnel. In one embodiment, the sales personnel may select clothing combinations after reviewing an image of a consumer. The selected combination may be transmitted to inference engine server 202 to determine if the clothing is appropriate for the attributes of the consumer. Of course, the sales personnel may be presented with more than one image and may also receive a list of attributes. Similarly, the disclosed systems and methods may be used to determine whether the inventory or assortment within a store matches the desires of the targeted consumers.
While the present invention has been described in connection with the illustrated embodiments, it will be appreciated and understood that modifications may be made without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention. For example, a local area network or wide area network may be substituted for the Internet 208 (shown in
This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/798,232, entitled “Online Wardrobe” and filed on Mar. 2, 2001 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,194,428, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
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| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 09798232 | Mar 2001 | US |
| Child | 09910159 | US |
