Techniques for collaborative shopping

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9754298-B2
Application number	US-201113222127-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 31, 2011
Priority date	Aug 31, 2011
Publication date	Sep 5, 2017
Grant date	Sep 5, 2017

Abstract

Techniques for collaborative shopping are presented. During a shopping transaction, a customer collaborates in real time with one or more additional participants. Real-time and dynamic feedback is provided to the customer from the participants throughout the shopping transaction. Furthermore, real-time and dynamic feedback is provided from the customer to the participants throughout the shopping transaction.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A processor-implemented method programmed in a non-transitory processor-readable medium and to execute on one or more processors configured to execute the method to enable collaboration between a user of a mobile device in a physical location store and one or more second users remote from the user, the method comprising:
registering, by the one or more processors, the user for collaborative shopping;
obtaining, by the one or more processors, shopping preferences from the user;
creating, by the one or more processors, a shopping transaction as directed by the user using the shopping preferences;
assigning, by the one or more processors, the one or more second users to the shopping transaction as permitted by the user, at least one of the second users is an individual known to the user,
deriving one or more enterprises based on the shopping transaction, and permissions defined by the user in the shopping preferences, and assigning the one or more enterprise as one or more enterprise users to the transaction,
creating, by the one or more processors, one or more communication sessions via the mobile device between the user and the second users during the shopping transaction for sharing information related to the shopping transaction,
sending, by the one or more processors, an alert to a specific second user of the one or more second users based on a command or instruction of the user or based on one or more of the shopping preferences,
receiving a piece of the information from the specific second user in response to sending the alert, and
automatically sending a request for a quote to at least one of the one or more enterprises.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein sending an alert to a specific second user includes sensing an alert when an item is purchased.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving a user-initiated photo from the user, and displaying an image of physical item in the physical store and virtual alternatives to an item that is being considered for purchase.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising, retaining a piece of information received from a specific second user and unsolicited by the user.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising, dynamically altering or augmenting, by the one or more processors, the shopping preferences based on the information and/or actions taken by the user during the shopping transaction.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising obtaining the physical location of the user using the mobile device, and, dynamically pushing, by the one or more processors, some or all of the information to the user based on the physical location of the user.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising, dynamically sharing, by the one or more processors, some of the information with an enterprise system based on the shopping preferences, or the command or instruction of the user.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising, dynamically pushing, by the one or more processors, offers from the enterprise system to the user based on the shopping preferences and/or the shopping transaction.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein registering further includes providing a collaborative shopping portal to the user and the second users for registration and for collaborating with one another.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein obtaining further includes defining the shopping preferences as: a shopping list, an event of the user for which a variety of goods and services are defined, a specific good, or a specific service.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein defining further includes including with the shopping preferences one or more of: a budget, a specific price, a geographic region for the shopping transaction, a specific brand, a specific enterprise, identifiers for the second users, a specific time frame for completing the shopping transaction, and/or a specific attribute for the goods, the services, the specific good, or the specific service.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein assigning further includes inviting the second users to collaborate on the shopping transaction based on the shopping preferences.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein creating further includes creating at least one communication session where the user initiates the at least one communication session and where the second users are on a variety of devices including: laptops, other mobile phones, and/or tablets.

14. A system for enabling collaboration between a user of a mobile machine in a physical store and one or more second users remote from the user, the system comprising:
a first mobile machine having a shopping collaboration manager server implemented in a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium and which processes on the first machine; and
a second machine having a shopping collaboration agent implemented in a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium and which processes on the second machine;
the shopping collaboration manager configured to register the user with a shopping collaborate system and receiving shopping preferences for a shopping transaction of the user, and the shopping collaboration manager also configured to assign one or more second users to the shopping transaction and record and communicate information related to the shopping transaction between the user and the one or more second users, the shopping collaboration manager also configured to automatically assign one or more enterprise users that are affiliated with enterprises, the enterprises derived by the shopping collaboration manager based on the shopping transaction, the location of the user, and permissions defined by the user in the shopping preferences, and the enterprises are automatically added as some of the second users, the enterprises offer goods or services for the shopping transaction, the shopping collaboration agent configured to interact with the user, the shopping collaboration manager, the one or more enterprise users, and the one or more second users to send an alert to a specific second user of the one or more second users based on one or more of the shopping preferences, receive piece of the information from the specific second user in response to sending the alert, and automatically send a request for a quote to at least one of the one or more enterprises.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the first machine is located in a cloud processing environment and the second machine is a mobile phone of the user.

Assignees

• Chavie Richard
• White Daniel Frederick
• Grossi Mark
• Mcnamara Michael Robertson
• Ncr Corp

Inventors

• Chavie Richard
• White Daniel Frederick
• Grossi Mark
• Mcnamara Michael Robertson

Classifications

• G06Q10/40

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

• G06Q30/06 Primary

  Buying, selling or leasing transactions · CPC title

• G06Q50/01

  Physics · mapped topic