Method and system for identifying a product selected by a consumer

Abstract

The invention provides a method, system, and program product for identifying a product selected by a consumer. In one embodiment, the invention includes: accessing a wireless network; identifying a location of a consumer electronic device carried by a consumer by allowing the wireless network to identify a unique feature of the consumer electronic device; identifying a location of a first radio frequency identification (RFID) tag associated with a first product selected by the consumer; and coordinating the location of the consumer electronic device with the location of the first RFID tag.

Description

technical field [0001] The present invention relates generally to identifying consumer purchases, and more particularly to the identification of consumer electronic devices (e.g., cell phones or personal digital assistants) through location and radio frequency identification (RFID) tags associated with consumer-selected merchandise. coordinate with the location to monitor the products selected by consumers. Background technique [0002] Many retailers would benefit from the ability to monitor what a consumer chooses to purchase while the consumer is in the retailer's store. This allows consumers to easily manage their shopping lists while shopping, thereby increasing consumer satisfaction and loyalty to the retailer. Additionally, this could enable retailers to study consumers' shopping habits (e.g., the order in which items are selected), direct consumers to specific checkout lanes based on the items they select, and prevent consumers from stealing items from the store. ...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

There are many disadvantages in this method

First, installing such equipment on a cart is quite expensive, often exceeding $1,000 per cart

Second, the shopping cart is used in a manner that may result in eventual damage or loss of such devices

Finally, to ensure the availability of such devices, retailers need to maintain the devices frequently (e.g., charging, updating software, etc.)

These and other difficulties make using cart-mounted devices an unattractive method of monitoring a consumer's selection of goods

[0004] The second method requires the consumer to obtain and carry an RFID tag from the retailer that identifies the consumer and coordinates the consumer's location with the RFID tag associated with the item the consumer selects using the in-store RFID system

This method also requires consumers to register their RFID tags, which raises a number of privacy concerns

Images