Obtaining remote shopping advice

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10068275-B2
Application number	US-201414155965-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 15, 2014
Priority date	Oct 14, 2013
Publication date	Sep 4, 2018
Grant date	Sep 4, 2018

Abstract

Various methods and systems for obtaining remote shopping advice are described herein. In one example, a method includes taking two or more media representations of items to be discussed. A parameter is selected within a social shopping app for obtaining feedback on the items to be discussed. The two or more media representations are assembled into a query within the social shopping app based, at least in part, on the parameter. The query is sent to a reviewer from within the social shopping app. Feedback on the items to be discussed is received from the reviewer within the social shopping app.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for obtaining remote shopping advice, comprising:
taking, via a camera, two or more pictures of items, within a social shopping app on a first device comprising a processor;
receiving, via the processor, a parameter from the social shopping app;
assembling, via the processor, the two or more pictures into a query within the social shopping app based, at least in part, on the parameter;
sending, via the processor, the query to a remotely located second device via the social shopping app based on the parameter;
generating, via the processor, a prediction of a response time from the remotely located second device based on a time of day and a size of an online social network; and
modifying, via the processor an information visualization of the social shopping app to include the prediction of the response time from the remotely located second device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein taking the two or more pictures is performed on a mobile device.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein taking the two or more pictures comprises adjusting each picture to show a similar view of the items.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the parameter comprises a demographic characteristic of a reviewer.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the parameter comprises an age range for the reviewer.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the parameter comprises a gender for the reviewer.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the parameter comprises a cost for feedback.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the parameter comprises a preselected list of people for the query.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein assembling the two or more pictures into a query comprises building a message in which all of the two or more pictures are shown proximate to each other to facilitate a response.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein sending the query to a reviewer comprises: sending the query to a social shopping server which forwards the query to a plurality of reviewers based, at least in part, on the parameter.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the query is sent directly to a mobile device of a reviewer.

12. The method of claim 1 , comprising displaying text messages proximate to the two or more pictures.

13. The method of claim 1 , comprising displaying an indicator next to one of the two or more pictures to indicate a preference from a plurality of reviewers.

14. One or more computer-readable storage media for obtaining feedback comprising a plurality of instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:
take, via a camera, two or more pictures of items, within a social shopping app on a first device comprising the processor;
assemble the two or more pictures onto a single screen;
present a parameter for a reviewer for selection by a shopper;
assemble the single view into a query based, at least in part, on the parameter;
send the query to a remotely located second device via the social shopping app based on the parameter;
generate a prediction of a response time from the remotely located second device based on a time of day and a size of an online social network; and
modify an information visualization of the social shopping app to include the prediction of the response time from the remotely located second device.

15. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 14 , wherein the instructions cause the processor to pay for a review.

16. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 14 , wherein the instructions cause the processor to display feedback from a plurality of reviewers proximate to one of the two or more pictures.

17. A system for obtaining remote shopping advice comprising:
a processor to execute processor executable code;
a communications device;
a display device; and
a storage device that stores processor executable code, wherein the processor executable code, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to:
take, via a camera, two or more pictures of items within a social shopping app on a first device comprising the processor;
assemble the two or more pictures into a single view on the display device;
receive a parameter from the social shopping app;
assemble the single view into a query based, at least in part, on the parameter;
send the query to a remotely located second device over the communications device based on the parameter;
generate a prediction of a response time from the remotely located second device based on a time of day and a size of an online social network; and
modify an information visualization of the social shopping app to include the prediction of the response time from the remotely located second device.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the processor executable code, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to:
send the query to a server; and
request the server forward the query to a plurality of reviewers based, at least in part, on the parameter.

19. The system of claim 17 , wherein the communications device comprises a wireless wide area network (WWAN) radio.

20. The system of claim 17 , wherein the communications device comprises a wireless local area network (WLAN) radio.

Assignees

• Microsoft Corp
• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Morris Meredith
• Quinn Kori Inkpen
• Venolia Gina Danielle

Classifications

• G06Q10/40

  Business processes related to social networking or social networking services · CPC title

• G06Q30/0629 Primary

  by pre-processing results, e.g. ranking or ordering results · CPC title

• G06Q50/01

  Physics · mapped topic