Interactive inventory systems and methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10410177-B2
Application number	US-201213539327-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 30, 2012
Priority date	Jun 30, 2012
Publication date	Sep 10, 2019
Grant date	Sep 10, 2019

Abstract

The subject disclosure provides devices, systems, and methods for interacting with a home inventory system. Home inventory systems may include appliances and storages which take inventory of their contents. Home inventory systems may interact with mobile devices to alert users of necessary or desired products. Using location information, users may be alerted when their mobile device is within proximity of a necessary or desired product.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
an appliance comprising
a plurality of sensors comprising a camera and a scale,
a touch screen comprising a touch-sensitive surface and a display,
an appliance processor, and
an appliance memory storing appliance instructions that, when executed by the appliance processor, cause the appliance processor to perform appliance operations comprising:
receiving, from a plurality of products stored within the appliance, wireless signals emitted by radiofrequency identifier tags associated with the plurality of products, wherein the plurality of products comprises a first product,
identifying the plurality of products by processing the wireless signals to determine an identity of each of the plurality of products,
displaying, to a user of the appliance, via the touch screen, at least a portion of the plurality of products stored within the appliance without requiring the user to open the appliance and access a location within the appliance where the at least a portion of the plurality of products is stored,
receiving, from the camera, visual information associated with the first product,
receiving, from the scale, a weight of the first product measured by the scale,
determining, using at least the visual information associated with the first product from the camera and the weight of the first product from the scale, a remaining quantity of the first product, and
receiving, via the touch-sensitive surface of the touch screen, input from the user inquiring about a product status of at least one of the plurality of products stored within the appliance; and

a server in communication with the appliance, the server comprising
a processor, and
a memory storing server instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising
building an inventory comprising the plurality of products,
comparing the inventory with a default inventory, the default inventory comprising a list of products used by the user associated with the system, the list of products comprising the first product, the default inventory further comprising a minimum quantity of each of the products of the list of products,
determining, based on comparing the inventory with the default inventory, that the remaining quantity of the first product is less than the minimum quantity of the first product specified by the default inventory,
in response to determining that the remaining quantity of the first product is less than the minimum quantity of the first product specified by the default inventory, determining whether the remaining quantity of the first product corresponds to an amount that necessitates purchasing the first product without action by the user,
in response to determining that the remaining quantity of the first product is less than the minimum quantity but does not correspond to the amount that necessitates purchasing the first product without action by the user,
monitoring a location of the user, and
notifying the user of the first product when the user is within proximity of a merchant selling the first product, wherein notifying the user comprises sending, via a communication network, a product alert message to a mobile device of the user for display on the mobile device,

accessing a calendar application associated with the user, wherein the calendar application provides a schedule of a plurality of activities associated with the user,
determining a product associated with an activity of the plurality of activities of the calendar application, and
notifying the user of a merchant selling the product associated with the activity, the activity of the plurality of activities associated with the product, and directions to the merchant selling the product associated with the activity when the user is within proximity of the merchant selling the product associated with the activity.

2. The system in claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:
in response to determining that the remaining quantity of the first product is less than the minimum quantity of the first product specified by the default inventory, transmitting, to a merchant server, a request for an additional quantity of the first product;
receiving an offer from the merchant server, the offer including a price of the additional quantity of the first product; and
forwarding the offer to the mobile device of the user.

3. The system in claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise receiving an expiration date for the first product and further receiving a notice of recalled products.

4. The system in claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise receiving nutrition information associated with the plurality of products.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:
monitoring purchase habits of the user to determine that a second product of the plurality of products associated with the purchase habits of the user is not on the list of products of the default inventory; and
adding the second product to the list of products of the default inventory.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:
comparing the plurality of products of the inventory with a plurality of recipes;
determining that the plurality of products of the inventory comprises required products of a recipe of the plurality of recipes; and
in response to determining that the plurality of products of the inventory comprises the required products of the recipe of the plurality of recipes, transmitting the recipe to the mobile device.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise receiving a notification of a purchased product.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the operations further comprise:
determining that the purchased product has not been detected after an amount of time; and
transmitting a reminder to the mobile device, the reminder indicating that the purchased product has not been detected.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise receiving an advertisement for the first product, the advertisement comprising a discounted price.

10. A method comprising:
receiving, by an appliance of a system, from a plurality of products stored within the appliance, wireless signals emitted by radiofrequency identifier tags associated with the plurality of products, wherein the appliance comprises an appliance processor, a plurality of sensors comprising a camera and a scale, and a touch screen comprising a touch-sensitive surface and a display, and wherein the plurality of products comprises a first product;
identifying, by the appliance, the plurality of products by processing the wireless signals to determine an identity of each of the at least a portion of the plurality of products
displaying, by the appliance, to a user of the appliance, via the touch screen, at least a portion of the plurality of products stored within the appliance without requiring the user to open and access a location within the appliance where the at least a portion of the plurality of products is stored;
receiving, by the appliance processor, from the camera, visual information associated with the first product;
receiving, by the appliance processor, from the scale, a weight of the first product measured by the scale;
determining, by the appliance, using at least the visual information associated with the first product from the camera and the weight of the first product from the scale, a remaining quantity of the first product;
receiving, by the appliance, via the touch-sensitive surface of the touch screen, input from the user inquiring about a product status of at least one of the plurality of products stored within the a

Assignees

• Causey Mark Edward
• Daly Brian Kevin
• Hu Qingmin
• Mullis Karen
• Toren Jamie
• At & T Mobility Ii Llc
• At & T Ip I Lp

Inventors

• Causey Mark Edward
• Daly Brian Kevin
• Hu Qingmin
• Mullis Karen
• Toren Jamie

Classifications

• G06Q30/0253 Primary

  During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions · CPC title

• G06Q30/0207

  Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates · CPC title

• G06Q10/0875 Primary

  Itemisation or classification of parts, supplies or services, e.g. bill of materials · CPC title

• G06Q30/0251

  Targeted advertisements · CPC title