Smart inventory tags

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10318569-B1
Application number	US-201715858911-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Dec 29, 2017
Priority date	Dec 29, 2017
Publication date	Jun 11, 2019
Grant date	Jun 11, 2019

Abstract

Smart inventory tags are described herein. In an example, a service provider can determine interaction capability(s) for a tag associated with an item in an inventory of a merchant. The tag can be configured to be positioned proximate to the item offered for sale by the merchant at a physical store of the merchant. The service provider can receive an indication associated with a selection of at least one interaction capability of the interaction capability(s) and, based at least in part on the indication, the service provider can generate encoded information associated with the at least one interaction capability. The service provider can generate an instruction for generating the tag including the encoded information to enable a presentation of a user interface associated with the at least one interaction via a device operated by a user at the physical store of the merchant.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method for generating a tag that is to be associated with an item offered for sale by a merchant at a physical store of the merchant, the computer-implemented method comprising:
receiving, at a server computing device associated with a payment processing service and from an application executing on a device associated with the merchant, a request to generate the tag for the item;
accessing, by the server computing device and from a data store associated with the payment processing service, inventory data associated with the merchant that identifies items offered for sale by the merchant, the item being at least one of the items identified in the inventory data;
analyzing, by the server computing device, the inventory data associated with the merchant to determine, based at least in part on a data model trained utilizing a machine learning mechanism, interaction capabilities to be associated with an item tag for the item;
responsive to receiving a selection by the merchant of at least one interaction capability of the interaction capabilities, generating, by the server computing device, the item tag and instructions for the item tag to be printed on a physical marker, wherein the item tag is encoded with the at least one interaction capability that is available to customers; and
responsive to receiving an indication that a device operated by a customer interacts with the physical marker at the physical store of the merchant, causing, by the server computing device, a presentation of a user interface on the device operated by the customer to facilitate at least one interaction corresponding to the at least one interaction capability.

2. A computer-implemented method as claim 1 recites, wherein the item is out of stock at the physical store, and the interaction capability enables the customer to determine whether the item is available via an alternative source associated with the merchant or via another merchant.

3. A computer-implemented method as claim 1 recites, wherein the at least one interaction capability enables the customer to add the item to a virtual shopping cart for future fulfillment.

4. A computer-implemented method as claim 1 recites, wherein the at least one interaction capability enables the customer to receive information associated with one or more additional items that are related to the item.

5. A computer-implemented method as claim 1 recites, wherein the at least one interaction capability enables the customer to split a cost of the item with another customer.

6. A computer-implemented method as claim 1 recites, wherein the at least one interaction capability enables the customer to share a virtual representation of the item with another customer via an augmented reality application.

7. A computer-implemented method as claim 1 recites, further comprising:
presenting the interaction capabilities via a merchant-facing user interface that enables the merchant to at least one of view information or control operations associated with a business of the merchant; and
receiving the selection of the at least one interaction capability responsive to an interaction between the merchant and the merchant-facing user interface.

8. A computer-implemented method as claim 7 recites, further comprising:
determining a shared characteristic between the merchant and one or more other merchants; and
determining the interaction capabilities to present via the merchant-facing user interface based at least in part on the shared characteristic between the merchant and the one or more other merchants.

9. A system comprising:
one or more processors; and
one or more computer-readable media storing instructions executable by the one or more processors, wherein the instructions program the one or more processors to:
access stored inventory data associated with a merchant that identifies one or more items offered for sale by the merchant;
present, via a merchant-facing user interface that presents information associated with a business of the merchant, one or more interaction capabilities to be associated with a tag for an item of the one or more items;
receive an indication of a first selection of at least one interaction capability of the one or more interaction capabilities;
generate an instruction for generating the tag, the tag being associated with encoded information enabling the at least one interaction capability; and
responsive to receiving an indication that a device operated by a customer interacted with the encoded information at a physical store of the merchant, causing a presentation of a user interface to facilitate at least one interaction corresponding to the at least one interaction capability.

10. A system as claim 9 recites, wherein:
the device is associated with a point-of-sale device;
the merchant-facing user interface is presented via a merchant-facing display associated with the point-of-sale device; and
the user interface is presented via a buyer-facing display associated with the point-of-sale device.

11. A system as claim 9 recites, wherein the instructions further program the one or more processors to:
determine a shared characteristic between the merchant and one or more other merchants; and
select the one or more interaction capabilities to present via the merchant-facing user interface based at least in part on the shared characteristic between the merchant and the one or more other merchants.

12. A system as claim 9 recites, wherein the instructions further program the one or more processors to:
determine, based at least in part on an identifier associated with the indication, an identity of the customer;
access data associated with behavior of the customer with at least one of the merchant or one or more other merchants; and
facilitate the at least one interaction based at least in part on the data associated with the behavior of the customer.

13. A system as claim 9 recites, wherein the at least one interaction capability enables the customer to split a cost of the item with another customer, and the instructions further program the one or more processors to:
determine, based at least in part on the interaction, that the customer desires to split the cost of the item with the other customer;
send, to a different device operated by the other customer, a notification that the customer desires to split the cost of the item with the other customer;
receive, from the different device, a confirmation that the other customer agrees to split the cost of the item with the customer;
associate an indication to split the cost of the item with an identifier of the customer; and
responsive to receiving payment data associated with the customer, charge a first portion of the cost of the item to a first payment instrument of the customer and a second portion of the cost of the item to a second payment instrument associated with the other customer.

14. A system as claim 9 recites, wherein the at least one interaction capability enables the customer to share a virtual representation of the item with another customer via an augmented reality application, and the instructions further program the one or more processors to:
receive data associated with a multi-dimensional model of the item, the data collected via a camera associated with a data collection device and the multi-dimensional model corresponding to the virtual representation;
associate the data with an instance of the item in the stored inventory data of the merchant;
determine, based at least in part on the interaction, that the customer desires to share the virtual represent

Assignees

• Square Inc

Inventors

• Funk Mark
• Ng Claudia J
• Khan Imran
• Murse Jennifer

Classifications

• G06K7/1434

  Barcodes with supplemental or add-on codes · CPC title

• G06Q10/087 Primary

  Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders · CPC title

• G06K7/10297

  arrangements for handling protocols designed for non-contact record carriers such as RFIDs NFCs, e.g. ISO/IEC 14443 and 18092 (cryptographic protocols H04L9/00; network security protocols H04L63/00; real-time communication protocols in data switching networks H04L65/00; network protocols for data switching network services H04L67/00) · CPC title

• G06Q20/3278

  RFID or NFC payments by means of M-devices · CPC title

• G06F16/951

  Indexing; Web crawling techniques · CPC title