Data communications network and method for enhancing consumer engagement with food vendors

Abstract

The present invention relates to a data communications network and method of operating same to enhance consumer engagement with food vendors, including by receiving details and establishing an account for individual consumers, and establishing an account for food vendors to enable each vendor to offer perishable food products including meat, seafood and / or dairy products. A search of one or more online data sources is carried out to locate data pertaining to the vendors and said data is extracted and processed. Additional data is received from the vendors regarding the perishable food products they offer for sale including at least pricing and stock information, and each consumer is enabled to use their device to request or automatically receive an output in respect of perishable food products that are locally available and that satisfy relevant constraints. The output is presented to the consumer and enables the consumer to purchase perishable food products.

Description

DATA COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK AND METHOD FOR ENHANCING CONSUMER ENGAGEMENT WITH FOOD VENDORSFIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates to a data communications network and method of operating same for enhancing consumer engagement with vendors of food products and, in particular, vendors of perishable food products such as meat, seafood and dairy products.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] In a food retail environment, there is a need to improve the experience and convenience of vendors and their customers in relation to the purchase of food products. This is particularly relevant with respect to the retail of perishable foods such as meat, seafood and dairy since the purchase of such perishable food items involves certain considerations at the time of purchase that are not necessarily applicable to other food types and particularly non-perishable items.

[0003] For example, perishable foods and in particular meat and fish, can be more expensive than other grocery items and hence consumers prefer to have the ability to “shop around” and consider their purchase options when selecting such products, including for discounts and promotions. However, this is often not possible for consumers who are time poor and often, such consumers will purchase foods such as meat and seafood at a supermarket at times that are most convenient (eg. at the same time as shopping for other grocery items) rather than at times when they may be able to secure the most cost effective price. Therefore, consumers will often purchase perishable food products such as meat and seafood at inflated or non-competitive prices.

[0004] The quality and freshness of perishable food items such as meat, seafood and dairy are also factors that consumers prefer to take into account prior to making a purchase, since generally the better the quality and freshness of such food, the better it will taste and the longer it will last prior to cooking. However, once again, it is difficult for consumers to be selective with respect to the quality and / or freshness of perishable food items they purchase since they often have insufficient time and resources to visit multiplevendors to inspect and select preferred food item(s). Therefore, in the interest of convenience, customers will often compromise and select perishable foods such as meat and seafood having a substandard quality and / or freshness.

[0005] A further difficulty arises when perishable food items preferred to be purchased by consumers are not in stock at a particular vendor outlet visited by the consumer. For example, a consumer may prefer to buy a certain cut of meat from a butcher to cook and consume on the same day, only to ascertain after visiting the butcher that their preferred cut of meat is not in stock. Therefore, consumers will often purchase meat according to what is in stock at the time of visiting a butcher rather than the meat they prefer to purchase. In other words, there can be a significant cost and difficulties associated with scheduling and preparing meals in the event of a lack of availability of preferred food items.

[0006] There is also a need for vendors of perishable food items such as meat and seafood to have increased visibility and consumer reach in order to remain competitive, with the ability to make dynamic adjustments according to factors such as the seasonality of products they are selling, in order to improve their operations.

[0007] The present invention seeks to mitigate the problems discussed herein, or to at least provide an alternative solution.

[0008] The reference to any prior art in this specification is not, and should not be taken as, an acknowledgement or any suggestion, that the prior art forms part of the common general knowledge.SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0009] In one aspect, the present invention provides a data communications network operably connected with one or more data communications devices and one or more individual user devices, and a method of operating same to enhance consumer engagement with food vendors, the method including receiving, by one or more processors, details of individual consumers and establishing an account for each consumer in which the consumer details are stored to facilitate recording and managing queries and purchases of individual consumers, establishing, by one or more processors, an account for each individual food vendor of a plurality of vendors to enable each vendor to offer perishable food products including meat, seafood and / or dairy products to local consumers across the data communications network, wherein establishing an account for each individual vendor includes conducting a search of one or more online data sources to locate data pertaining to the individual vendor including at least a location of the individual vendor, extracting data from one or more of the online data sources and processing same to automatically establish an account for the individual vendor, and notifying the individual vendor regarding the automatic establishment of an account for the individual vendor, receiving, by one or more processors, additional data from the plurality of vendors regarding the perishable food products they offer for sale to consumers including at least pricing and stock information, enabling, by one or more processors, each individual consumer to request or automatically receive an output using their user device in respect of perishable food products that are locally available according to the geo-location of the individual consumer and that satisfy one or more constraints, presenting, by one or more processors, for display on the user device associated with the individual consumer, the output regarding locally available perishable food products from vendors, receiving, by one or more processors, a request from the individual consumer to purchase one or more of the locally available perishable food products and communicating the purchase request to the individual vendor(s) offering the one or more food products for purchase, and receiving, by one or more processors, confirmation from the individual vendor(s) regarding receipt and fulfilment of the order and communicating same to the individual consumer.

[0010] In an embodiment, the received individual consumer details include at least a name, current geo-location, address and contact number of the consumer. Regarding thegeo-location of the consumer, it will be appreciated that either a consumer’s recorded residential address may be used and / or a geo-location obtained from the consumer’s data communications device (eg. Smart phone).

[0011] In an embodiment, the constraints are defined in, or are determined based on, one or more of, a search query presented by the consumer, the consumer’s predefined preferences, predefined rules, the received details and data relating to the consumer, the retrieved data relating to the food vendors, including one or more of, the stock levels of the products, the price of the products, the quality of the products, the freshness of the products, the original source of the products, details regarding the sustainable farming practices of the original product supplier, information regarding the seasonality of the products, food sources provided to any animal from which the food products are obtained; recommended storage and preparation techniques prior to consumption of the food products, or an analysis implementing one or more artificial intelligence techniques with respect to one or more of the above.

[0012] In an embodiment, the predefined rules define a minimum threshold that perishable food products are required to satisfy with respect to price, quality and / or freshness.

[0013] In an embodiment, the constraints include specific consumer constraints which include one or more of, a preference of the consumer regarding a particular vendor or vendors, a food product or food category specified or preferred by the consumer, food products included in a recipe uploaded or selected by the consumer, a location of vendors residing within a predetermined geographical vicinity of the consumer location, or a preference of the consumer regarding price, quality and / or freshness of perishable food products.

[0014] In an embodiment, the consumer constraints further include one or more of, health and dietary requirements of the consumer, budgetary requirements of the consumer, meal preparation time available to the consumer, a preference regarding how the products are sourced, a preference regarding farming practices of the original product supplier, a preference regarding the seasonality of the products, or a preference regarding food sources provided to any animal from which the food products are obtained.

[0015] In an embodiment, the constraints include vendor constraints which include one or more of, the location of the vendor, the price of the vendor’s perishable food products, the stock levels of the vendor’s perishable food products, or the freshness window associated with the vendor’s perishable food products including use by dates and / or best before dates.

[0016] In an embodiment, the output includes one or more of, search results in response to a search request received from the consumer, the search results listing locally available perishable food products from vendors that substantially satisfy the constraints, or an automatically generated listing of locally available perishable food products from vendors that substantially satisfy the constraints.

[0017] In an embodiment, the search request includes a request to locate a plurality of perishable food products included in a particular recipe, wherein generation of the output includes identifying individual ingredients in the recipe and providing recommendations to the consumer regarding which perishable food product(s) to purchase and from which vendor(s).

[0018] In an embodiment, where a search request or user preferences specify one or more preferred products, but the one or more preferred products are determined not to satisfy the constraints, one or more substitute products that satisfy the constraints are automatically selected for inclusion in the output in place of the one or more preferred products.

[0019] In an embodiment, for each perishable food product, one or more substitute perishable food products are pre-determined and indexed to enable efficient retrieval of same when one or more particular products are determined as failing to satisfy the constraints.

[0020] In an embodiment, the analysis implemented using one or more artificial intelligence techniques implementing one or more artificial intelligence techniques assists with determining or defining constraints including these based upon prioritizing information regarding locally available perishable food products from vendors according to the consumer’s preferences and adjusting same in view of previous consumer search requests or queries.

[0021] In an embodiment, the artificial intelligence analysis assists with analysing quality indicators from various food product sources, including customer reviews and vendor ratings, to provide quality indicators to consumers regarding individual food products that are offered for purchase.

[0022] In an embodiment, the analysis implementing one or more artificial intelligence techniques assists with predicting the quality of food products provided by vendors according to historical data.

[0023] In an embodiment, the method further includes providing consumers with information and recommendations including these based upon one or more of, comparing prices of food products offered by vendors within a geo-fenced area and providing notification(s) to consumers regarding the best available prices with respect to individual food products in the consumer’s local area, or providing substantially real-time notifications to consumers regarding aspects of interest to consumers, including substantial price reductions in relation to food products previously purchased by consumers or considered of interest to consumers.

[0024] In an embodiment, the real-time notifications are provided to consumers by any means including but not limited to push notification, email, text message, or interactive voice communication.

[0025] In an embodiment, the method further includes providing vendors with information and recommendations including these based upon collecting and analysing customer feedback and automatically extracting key consumer information for provision to individual vendors.

[0026] In an embodiment, the method further includes providing vendors with information and recommendations including these based upon forecasting demand for products or shelf life expiry, and recommending one or more of, stock replenishment, product price markdown, product price increase, or extended delivery times.

[0027] In an embodiment, the method further includes providing vendors with information and recommendations including these based upon conducting analyses by applying one or more analysis techniques to data pertaining to historical consumer purchases of food products to provide insights into consumer trends and preferences,and providing same to vendors thereby enabling vendors to consider future provision of specific food products for purchase.

[0028] In an embodiment, the method further includes providing vendors with information and recommendations including these based upon implementing dynamic pricing algorithms to assist vendors to adjust prices according to real-time supply and demand characteristics of consumers.

[0029] According to another aspect, the present invention provides a computer- implemented system for enhancing consumer engagement with food vendors, the system including one or more processors operable to execute computer instruction code to implement an electronic database including receiving details of individual consumers and establishing an account for each consumer in which the consumer details are stored to facilitate recording and managing queries and purchases of individual consumers, establishing an account for each individual food vendor of a plurality of vendors to enable each vendor to offer perishable food products including meat, seafood and / or dairy products to local consumers across a data communications network, wherein establishing an account for each individual vendor includes conducting a search of one or more online data sources to locate data pertaining to the individual vendor including at least a location of the individual vendor, extracting data from one or more of the online data sources and processing same to automatically establish an account for the individual vendor, and notifying the individual vendor regarding the automatic establishment of an account for the individual vendor, receive additional data from the plurality of vendors regarding the perishable food products they offer for sale to consumers including at least pricing and stock information, enable each individual consumer to request or automatically receive an output using their user device in respect of perishable food products that are locally available according to the geo-location of the individual consumer and that satisfy one or more constraints, present, for display on the user device associated with the individual consumer, the output regarding locally available perishable food products from vendors, receive a request from the individual consumer to purchase one or more of the locally available perishable food products and communicating the purchase request to the individual vendor(s) offering the one or more food products for purchase, and receive confirmation from the individual vendor(s) regarding receipt and fulfilment of the order and communicating same to the individual consumer.

[0030] According a further aspect, the present invention provides a non-transitory computer-readable medium including computer instruction code that, when executed on a computer, causes one or more processors to perform the steps of receiving details of individual consumers and establishing an account for each consumer in which the consumer details are stored to facilitate recording and managing queries and purchases of individual consumers, establishing an account for each individual food vendor of a plurality of vendors to enable each vendor to offer perishable food products including meat to local consumers across a data communications network, wherein establishing an account for each individual vendor includes conducting a search of one or more online data sources to locate data pertaining to the individual vendor including at least a location of the individual vendor, extracting data from one or more of the online data sources and processing same to automatically establish an account for the individual vendor, and notifying the individual vendor regarding the automatic establishment of an account for the individual vendor, receiving additional data from the plurality of vendors regarding the perishable food products that they offer for sale to consumers including at least pricing and stock information, enabling each individual consumer to request or automatically receive an output using their user device in respect of available perishable food products that are locally available according to the geo-location of the individual consumer and that satisfy one or more constraints, presenting, for display on the user device associated with the individual consumer, the output regarding locally perishable food products from vendors, receiving a request from the individual consumer to purchase one or more of the locally available perishable food products and communicating the purchase request to the individual vendor(s) offering the one or more food products for purchase, and receiving confirmation from the individual vendor(s) regarding receipt and fulfilment of the order and communicating same to the individual consumer.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0031] Embodiments of the invention will now be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying Figures in which:

[0032] Figure 1 provides an overview of a data communications network according to an embodiment of the present invention showing, in particular, the interaction between various network components;

[0033] Figure 2 illustrates a diagram associated with an exemplary server component within the network illustrated in Figure 1 ;

[0034] Figure 3 illustrates an exemplary flow diagram of a process that enables consumers and vendors to download and install a software application and subsequently access, or register to use, the software application for interaction with the network illustrated in Figure 1 , including to enable each user to submit data with respect to the user for the purpose of establishing a user account;

[0035] Figure 4 illustrates various example interfaces of the software application including a consumer search interface, a vendor search interface, and a vendor product interface;

[0036] Figure 5 illustrates an exemplary flow diagram of a process that enables a consumer to access the consumer search interface to search for perishable food products that are locally available according to the geo-location of the individual consumer, a search results interface to view product purchase options, and a purchase request interface to initiate purchase requests; and

[0037] Figure 6 illustrates a diagram associated with a further example interface of the software application that enables additional functionality including an interactive map that enables vendors within a geo-fenced area to be viewed along with notifications regarding best available prices and other alerts.DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENT(S) OF THE INVENTION

[0038] For simplicity and illustrative purposes, the present disclosure is described by referring to embodiment(s) thereof. In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth to provide a better understanding of the present disclosure. However, it will be apparent that the current disclosure may be practiced without limitation to all of the specific details. In other instances, some features have not been described in detail to avoid obscuring the present disclosure.

[0039] The present invention, according to an embodiment depicted in Figure 1 , relates to a data communications network and method for enhancing engagement between consumers (30A) and perishable food vendors (30B) by connecting consumers (30A) with vendors (30B) within geographical vicinity of the consumers (30A) and enabling real-time viewing and purchasing of food products more efficiently within a single platform.

[0040] The platform hosts a computer implemented software application (40), wherein the application (40) is accessible by registered users (30), including both consumers (30A) and vendors (30B). General reference to “users (30)” herein is intended to indicate reference to either one or both of the consumers (30A) and vendors (30B).

[0041] The platform is provided by a central server (20) which maintains one or more processors and / or databases for performing functions, including receiving details of individual consumers (30A) including at least a location (70) of each consumer (30A), and establishing an account for each consumer (30A) in which the consumer details are stored to facilitate recording and managing queries and purchases of individual consumers (30A). The server (20) also conducts an automatic search (80) of one or more online data sources to locate data pertaining to a plurality of perishable food vendors (30B) including at least a location (75) of each vendor (30B) with a view to establishing an account for each vendor (30B) such that the vendor also becomes a registered user. Establishing an account for each vendor (30B) will enable each vendor (30B) to offer perishable food products (including meat, seafood and dairy) to registered local consumers (30A) across the data communications network.

[0042] Establishing an account for each individual food vendor (30B) may occur as a result of vendors (30B) proactively registering to use the software application (40). Inanother embodiment, this process may include notifying individual vendors (30B) regarding the automatic establishment of an account in their name (resulting from the automatic search (80)), and each vendor (30B) will be invited to provide additional data regarding the perishable food products (60) they offer for sale to consumers including at least pricing and stock information and access to real-time stock levels. The server (20) further provides each individual consumer (30A) with the ability to request (eg. via a search (85)) or automatically receive an output using their device (50) in respect of perishable food products that are locally available according to the geo-location (70) of the individual consumer (30A) and that satisfy one or more constraints.

[0043] In this way, the consumer (30A) may be presented with information regarding locally available perishable food products (60) from vendors (30B) along with the ability to initiate a request (90) via their device (50) to purchase one or more of the locally available perishable food products (60). Such purchase requests (90) are communicated to the relevant vendor(s) (30B) who may confirm receipt and fulfilment of the order with confirmation provided to the consumer (30A).

[0044] The person skilled in the relevant field of technology will appreciate that the platform provides a solution to existing problems associated with the purchase of perishable food products (60) such as meat, seafood and dairy products. In particular, by enabling consumers (30A) and vendors (30B) to engage via a single platform in substantially real-time, the consumer (30A) is provided with increased prospects of locating perishable food products (60) they prefer to purchase, a wider variety of purchase options including the ability to purchase at more cost effective prices, and (as will be described in greater detail below) increased prospects of receiving perishable food products that satisfy the consumer’s preference with respect to quality and freshness as well as satisfying other constraints. In addition, the efficiencies resulting from the use of such a platform will give rise to conservation of computer processing, memory and computer networking resources since there is a reduced need for consumers (30A) to seek such information on an individual basis, ie. using each of their devices to access multiple platforms, resources and websites in an effort to address the above problems, noting that increased use of such devices give rise to substantive utilization of resources.

[0045] In view of these observable effects arising from implementation of the present invention, the use of data communications devices (50) on which the software application (40) described herein is operated, in combination with the functionality of server (20), presents a more efficient use of computing resources as compared with known computing technology utilized for assisting the purchase of perishable food products (60).

[0046] Figure 1 is divided into segments which are further expanded in subsequent Figures 2 to 6. In particular, segment 200 of Figure 1 illustrates the server component (20) with which a software application (40) operating on data communications devices (50) of individual users (30) are configured to communicate. It will be apparent to the person skilled in the relevant field of technology that the software application (40) may be a mobile application or web-based application. Similarly, the device (50) utilised by each user (30) may be a portable device such as a mobile (cell) phone, laptop, or tablet, or alternatively, a fixed location device such as a workstation or personal computer (not shown). The server component (20) is further detailed in Figure 2.

[0047] The person skilled in the relevant field of technology will also appreciate that the steps described herein may be executed by the devices (50), wherein such operations are facilitated by the software application (40) operating on each device (50). However, according to another implementation of the present invention, the server (20) may be programmed to provide all of the functions described herein, particularly where they cannot be provided locally on the user devices (50) or where it may be incompatible or commercially infeasible to operate such a configuration. In other words, the steps described herein as performed by the devices (50), or components thereof, may be associated with hardware that is located externally of the devices such as the remote central server (20) (ie. in a distributed architecture). Different arrangements are possible in this regard and alternate variations will be available to the skilled reader.

[0048] Segment 300 of Figure 1 illustrates that the server (20) may be configured for communication (140) with devices (50) associated with the user (30). As detailed in Figure 3, according to an example, the server (20) may receive data from a user device (50) for the purpose of creating a user profile (eg. based upon entry of details from users (30) using interface (160)). The server (20) may also verify such details prior to the establishment of an account and profile. Segment 300 of Figure 1 further illustrates a user(30) downloading and installing the application (40) and subsequently accessing the application (40) to establish their account and user profile. Segment 400 of Figure 1 illustrates an example interface (170) accessible by consumers (30A) to conduct searches (85) for perishable food products (60), an interface (180) that enables automatic searches (80) of one or more online data sources to be conducted to locate data pertaining to vendors (30B) with a view to establishing an account for each located vendor (30B), and an interface (190) that enables vendors (30B) once registered to add information to their own profiles including details relating to the perishable food products (60) they offer for purchase (including pricing I stock information, etc), as further detailed in Figure 4.

[0049] Segment 500 of Figure 1 illustrates an example search results interface (210) in which perishable food products (60) including meat, seafood and dairy that is available for purchase and which satisfies the consumer’s search query are displayed along with associated information, and an example purchase request interface (220) that enables the consumer (30A) to initiate a purchase request (90) in respect of one or more products (60) displayed, as further detailed in Figure 5. Finally, segment 600 of Figure 1 illustrates an additional example interface (230) that enables the consumer (30A) to view an interactive map of a geo-fenced area selected by or for the consumer (30A) wherein vendors (30B) within the geo-fenced area are identified along with notifications (95) regarding best available prices, freshness indicators, etc, as further detailed in Figure 6.

[0050] As mentioned above, Figure 2 illustrates in greater detail segment 200 of Figure 1 and, in particular, Figure 2 illustrates the server component (20) which includes infrastructure upon which the platform of the present invention operates. The infrastructure may be local or cloud-based. The central server (20) may operate one or more processors and maintain one or more databases to enable the following functionality and / or storage:• Consumer account register (100) storing details relating to registered consumers (30A). Examples of such details include name, address, location (70), contact details associated with each consumer (30A) and any additional details that may be relevant to the purpose of identifying each consumer (30A). Additional details may be stored in the register (100),including the consumer’s account profile and details relating to additional data received, as described herein;• Vendor account register (105) storing details relating to registered vendors (30B) of perishable food items such as butchers, seafood retailers, etc. Once again, examples of stored details may include name, address, location (75), contact details associated with each vendor (30B) and any additional details that may be relevant for the purpose of identifying each vendor (30). Register (105) may also store details relating to perishable food items (60) offered by each vendor (30B) including pricing information, real-time stock levels, customer ratings, real-time freshness ratings, etc. Additional details may be stored in the register (105), including the vendor’s account profile and details relating to any additional data received, including from the one or more external sources as described herein;• Purchase request I fulfillment database (110) which stores details relating to purchase requests (90) initiated by consumers (30A), shopping carts of consumers (30A), and details relating to fulfilment of orders by vendors (30B);• Data processing functionality (115) for processing functions including processing user input commands and any additional data received for the purpose of generating relevant output(s) in response. For example, functionality (115) may be responsible for conducting automatic searches (80) of online data sources to locate data pertaining to individual vendors (30B) including a location (75) of each vendor (30B), extracting data from the online data source(s) and processing same to automatically establish vendor accounts (30B). The data processing facility (115) may also be responsible for processing product search requests (85) conducted through interface (170), indexing details from vendors (30A) relating to individual products (60) offered for sale, generating product information for display in response to search requests via interface (210), and managing purchase requests (90), order communications and fulfillment thereof, includingstoring details relating to same. The data processing facility (115) may also assist data input and processing using one or more of the various interfaces described herein through the use of one or more Artificial Intelligence (Al) techniques including natural language processing (NLP) and other methods as described herein. One or more Al techniques may also be used to generate dynamic substitutions when preferred food times are not available from one or more suppliers, create bundling suggestions in accordance with budget and / or diet considerations, photo recipe based recommendations and shelf life window. Further, such techniques may improve / adjust responses to user queries / requests, determine predictions including in respect of the quality and other attributes associated with the food products (60), and to generate recommendations for vendors (30B) including in relation to product prices;• Application Programming Interface (API) facility (120) that enables the software applications of external parties to authorise access to data such as catalog content, order management, pricing information, etc, to the software application (40). The skilled addressee will understand that this functionality may assist the onboarding of vendors (30B) and their entire product lists, pricing information, current stock, freshness levels, etc. In other words, the API facility (120) links the platform to live local inventory associated with vendors (30B);• Map facility (125) which enables the generation of interactive maps and the like and may also utilize the API facility (120) for retrieving maps and related information from third party sources;• Payment gateway facility (130) for managing all financial transactions that may be required through the platform including handling payments in respect of product purchases, transfer of funds from consumer (30A) to vendor (30B) financial institution accounts, as well as payments in respect of software application subscription fees. The payment functionality mayalso include an associated shopping cart (132) in accordance with standard ecommerce interfaces; and• Alerts / notifications facility (135) to manage in a timely manner the generation and dispatch of alerts and / or notifications to users (30) of the platform. For example, alerts and / or notifications may be generated to confirm purchase of products (60), to inform consumers (30A) regarding updates to products (60) and / or pricing (eg. new stock, sales, promotions, discounts, etc). Further, alerts and / or notifications may be generated based on the receipt of communications from other users or from an administrator. Such notifications may be in the form of push notification, text message, email, etc.

[0051] Figure 2 also depicts that server (20) is configured to enable communications (140) with the devices (50) and, in particular, the software application (40) operating of each device. Such communications may occur via the internet or other similar data communications network.

[0052] Figure 3 illustrates in greater detail segment 300 of Figure 1 and, in particular, the steps associated with a user (30) (eg. a consumer (30A) or a vendor (30B) installing (150) the software application (40) in a device (50) and subsequently accessing a user login and registration interface (160) associated with the application (40). Such access may be granted after the user (30) has installed the application (40) which may be achieved by downloading the application (40) from an application store. Each user (30) may create an account (which may include a user profile) and sign in to the application (40) based upon verification of the user’s details, and the account / profile information may be stored in either the consumer account register (100) or vendor account register (105).

[0053] Once each user (30) has access to the application (40), the user (30) may be presented with one or more interfaces (not shown) that the user may utilize to create and maintain their profile and subsequently enable other users to view such information and communicate.

[0054] Figure 4 illustrates in greater detail segment 400 of Figure 1 and, in particular, an interface (170) which enables consumers (30A) to conduct searches (85) of perishablefood items such as meat, seafood and dairy items in an online environment. For example, the consumer (30A) may be prompted to enter one or more keyword(s) describing the product (eg. “rump steak”) and / or a brand name and / or a vendor of the product, and in this regard, the display may facilitate selection of products by providing the consumer (30A) with various categories and filters for selection.

[0055] Prior to consumers (30A) conducting such searches, vendors (30B) who offer perishable food items for sale will be onboarded based on such vendors (30B) proactively accessing the application (40) and registering their details, or based on the platform automatically conducting a search (80) (as exemplified in interface (180)) of one or more online data sources, extracting data and processing same to automatically establish an account for vendors (30B) who satisfy the search criteria. Each vendor (30B) onboarded in this manner may be notified regarding the automatic establishment of their account and they may be provided with an option to remain an account holder or opt out. Accordingly, the foods presented to consumers (30A) in their search results will represent foods offered for purchase by registered vendors (30B).

[0056] Once vendors (30B) are registered, they may upload details relating to their perishable food products (60). Such information may include, but is not limited to, product name (eg. “rump”), category (eg. “beef”), price or updated price (eg. “$24 I kilogram”), best before and / or use by date (eg. 30 November 2025), product quality rating (eg. 3- star, 4-star, marbling, etc), freshness score (eg. a score based on an assessment of colour, smell, texture, etc), consumer feedback, the original source of the product, details regarding the seasonality of the product, food sources provided to any animal from which the food products are obtained, recommended storage and preparation techniques, and any other information that may be of potential interest to consumers (30A) or which may assist determination of useful data. Such details are stored and indexed according to the particular product(s) to which the details relate, and may be updated in substantially realtime. Such uploading of information may be manual, or may be automatic using the API facility (120).

[0057] Where substantially real-time information is required, such as a substantially realtime assessment of availability (stock) or freshness, vendors (30B) may be requested to update such information at relevant intervals (eg. daily). In one example implementation,a vendor (30B) may have installed sensors that detect attributes of perishable food items automatically including the amount of stock or a freshness of a particular meat product. There may be scenarios that require the vendors (30B) to handle (or at least assist) this process, including by prompting the vendor to capture an image of each meat product and upload same to enable an artificial intelligence assessment regarding the meat stock and / or freshness to be performed.

[0058] In this way, where some details are not entered or known or fail to update, one or more artificial intelligence techniques may be utilized in order to populate any missing data fields.

[0059] In another example, where a product quality rating is not available, an automatic determination may be made in respect of same and such determination may be based on retrieving relevant information from one or more other sources (eg. online sources) and processing the information using a machine learning algorithm to provide a relevant output. For example, the same or similar products may be provided by one or more different vendors online, or by other registered vendors (30B) already existing in the database, and product rating information (including customer reviews and vendor ratings) may be obtained from those sources and used to provide an assessment of product quality.

[0060] In yet another example, where a freshness score is not available, the score may be estimated based on the “use by” and / or “best before” dates. Where those dates are also unavailable, one or more artificial intelligence techniques may be utilized to estimate a freshness score based on any other available information which may include, but is not limited to, the type of product, the rate at which the product is likely to lose freshness, etc. Historical information pertaining to the product may also be used such as a recent photo of the product (if available), the vendor’s date of purchase in respect of the product, etc.

[0061] It will be appreciated that the price of products will also change regularly over time. In this regard, certain product information such as the price of products may automatically synchronize with stored vendor information relating to same. This may be achieved using, for example, the previously described API facility (120). This would ensure that product information including up-to-date prices, use by dates, best before dates, etc, will represent the most up-to-date information available.

[0062] Circumstances may arise where stock, freshness, price or some other attribute of a perishable food product is such that the product is not attainable, is unlikely to satisfy the requirements of a consumer (30A), is no longer of interest to a consumer (30A) according to pre-defined preferences, or is predicted as unlikely to be of interest. In this regard, the platform may generate real-time dynamic substitutions for such products in accordance with various considerations which may include, but not limited to, the requirements and / or preferences of the consumer (30A) including (for example) budgetary and / or dietary considerations of the consumer (30A), and recipe-based considerations such as preparation time and shelf-life windows associated with certain recipes and / or ingredients.

[0063] Accordingly, it will be appreciated that the present invention is not limited to taking into account only location, stock, price, freshness and / or quality of a perishable food product as relevant factors when recommending such substitute products to consumers (30A), and that other factors may also contribute to the selection process. For example, as mentioned above, user preferences relating to health and dietary requirements (eg. gluten intolerance) may also be taken into account.

[0064] Efficiencies may be gained by pre-determining, for each perishable food item, near-equivalent items according to constraints (eg. user constraints, etc), and such items may be appropriately indexed (eg. keyed to constraints or other factors such as stock I price deltas) for retrieval whenever a substitute item is required. The skilled addressee will appreciate that this reduces re-computation and gives rise to technical efficiencies since suitable equivalent items can be quickly retrieved and presented to consumers (30A). An example software code that utilizes a substitution graph is as follows: from functools import Iru cache def compatible ( item, constraints ) -> bool : return ( item . is gluten free if constraints . luten free else True ) \ and ( item . price <= constraints . max budget ) \ and all ( a not in constraints . allergens for a in item. allergens )def similar cut or style (a, b) -> bool: return a. category == b. category and j accard (a . tags , b.tags) >= 0.5@lru cache (maxsize=2048 ) def build substitution graph ( snapshot id: str, constraint hash: str) -> diet [str, list [str] ] : candidates = load candidates (snapshot id) # already filtered to geofence & availability graph = { } for it in candidates : alts = [s.id for s in candidates if s . id != it . id and similar cut or style (it, s) ] graph[it.id] = alts[:5] return graph def substitutes for (item id: str, snapshot id: str, constraints) - list [ str] : graph = build substitution graph ( snapshot id, hash ( constraints ) ) return [sid for sid in graph . get ( item id, [] ) if compatible ( load item (sid) , constraints) ]

[0065] According to an example, a consumer (30A) may select, from a list of recipes that may be uploaded by or automatically generated on behalf of the consumer (30A), a lasagna recipe involving a perishable meat product (eg. beef mince). In circumstances where an investigation by the platform reveals that beef mince is not available from any local retail outlets, or is only available locally at a price that is too high, or is not currently of a sufficient freshness or quality according to the consumer’s preferences, the product may be automatically swapped for another meat product (eg. pork mince) that substantially satisfies the requirements and / or other user constraints.

[0066] Recommendations may also be provided to vendors (30B). In one example, the platform may observe a 5-day heat wave overlapping with a public holiday and on thatbasis may forecast elevated demand for barbeque meats at specific hours. Vendors (30B) may receive recommendations to replenish stock ahead of the weekend and to consider a price rise (within acceptable thresholds) and extended delivery slot availability for Sunday evening to avoid bottlenecks. In another example, the vendor (30A) may be recommended to mark down the price of particular products whose shelf life is expiring, or where it is predicted that the freshness will outlast demand, thereby minimizing spoilage and food wastage.

[0067] Bundling suggestions may also be provided to consumers (30A) to satisfy a particular recipe, as opposed to single perishable food products. For example, where a consumer is hosting a barbeque or intends to rely upon a complex recipe, there may be multiple perishable food products involved and the platform may assist to receive and provide recipes from / to consumers (30A) and also analyse and simplify the recipes into individual ingredients with recommendations regarding which perishable food products to purchase with recommendations regarding suppliers.

[0068] Additional factors mentioned above may also be taken into account in this recommendation process. In one example, a consumer (30A) may intend to cook a barbeque for their family of four for under $60 where a user has a limited amount of time to purchase ingredients and prepare the meal. In this instance, the platform may propose proteins and sides which satisfy the user’s requirements with respect to availability, freshness, price, etc, and present all ingredients bundled together in a one-tap shopping cart. Where there have been one or more automatic substitutions of perishable food products, or where a product displayed may not satisfy all requirements of the consumer (30A), the consumer (30A) may be provided with a rationale summary that explains, for example, the substitutions as well as reasoning for the substitutions such as the freshness versus price comparisons.

[0069] There could be various reasons for a substitution, and substitutions may occur dynamically according to real-time monitoring of the various constraints that influence whether or not a substitution should be made. For example, an item could be substituted based on determining in real-time that a vendor’s price has changed. In this example, the pre-determined substitution graph would update the existing bundling recommendation.

[0070] In another example, a consumer (30A) may capture an image of a recipe (eg. Thai Green Curry) presented in a cookbook and upload same to the platform. The platform may parse the ingredients, quantities and optional substitutions and provide a cart with recommended ingredient items to purchase (which may include alternatives for perishable food products that don’t satisfy predefined requirements and constraints (eg. swap “Thai basil” for “sweet basil” with rationale and price delta). In this regard, consumers (30A) may also be prompted when substitutions are proposed. An example disambiguation prompt may be “Out of stock - shall I swap to rump steak at $2 per kilogram less?”, thereby inviting the consumer (30A) to make an informed decision. An example software implementation that may be utilised in this regard is as follows: class Dialoguestate ( Enum) :AWAIT ING_INTENT = 1 AWAIT ING_SLOTS = 2 PLAN_READY = 3AWAIT ING_CONFIRM= 4 COMPLETED = 5 class DialogueManager : def init ( self ) : self . stateDialoguestate . AWAIT ING_INTENT ; self . ctx = { } def next ( self , turn ) : if self . state == Dialoguestate . AWAIT ING_INTENT : parsed = interpret ( turn . text , turn . snapshot , turn . context ) self . ctx . update ( parsed ) self . state = Dialoguestate . AWAIT ING SLOTS if parsed [ "mis sing s lots " ] else Dialoguestate . PLAN READY return prompt for miss ing ( parsed [ "miss ing slots " ] ) if parsed [ "mis sing s lots " ] else " Planning your order..." if self . state == Dialoguestate . PLAN READY : plan = generate plan ( self . ctx , turn . snapshot ) # invokes 0 . 1self . ctx [ "plan" ] = plan self . state = Dialoguestate . AWAIT ING_CONFIRM return render voice summary (plan ) # concise , speakable if self . state == Dialoguestate . AWAIT ING_CONFIRM : if turn . conf irmed : self . state = Dialoguestate . COMPLETED return commit purchase ( self . ctx [ "plan" ] , turn . payment token) # 220 flow else : self . ctx [ "plan" ] = amend plan ( self . ctx [ "plan" ] , turn . corrections ) return render voice summary ( self . ctx [ "plan" ] )

[0071] It will also be appreciated that the platform could also be used by consumers (30A) to conduct fridge and / or pantry audits. In one example, the consumer (30A) sweeps their smart phone camera access a fridge door and shelves, and an ingredient listing is automatically generated along with a capture of quantities of perishable food products and any relevant information displayed on product packaging such as “use by” or “best before” dates. A recommendation may be generated and displayed to consumers (30A) with a recommendation to purchase fresh milk, whilst also offering substitutions if the preferred product is out of stock or doesn’t satisfy some other attribute preferred by the consumer (30A).

[0072] Figure 5 illustrates in greater detail segment 500 of Figure 1 and, in particular, the display of product search results to a consumer (30A) in interface (210) following a search query conducted by the consumer (30A) via interface (170), as well as a purchase request interface (220) that enables the consumer (30A) to follow through with purchasing a selected product or products via the software application (40). The search results may be presented in any suitable manner including a basic listing of products that satisfy the search query including photos, pricing, etc, or in a more creative way such as a visual depiction of the product(s) on a market shelf or similar. Additional information that may accompany such product displays include one or more of the previously described product attributes, customer reviews, vendor reviews, etc.

[0073] It will be appreciated that the information regarding locally available perishable food products (60) from vendors (30B) presented to the individual consumer (30A) in response to the consumer search request (85) will be selected according to one or more of the search results substantially matching any keywords and other search terms, filters, etc, used by the consumer (30A) in their search query. For example, the perishable food products (60) listed will substantially match any food product(s) and / or food product categor(ies) specified in the consumer’s search query, the location (75) of the vendor(s) (30B) of the food products residing within a predetermined geographical vicinity of the consumer location (70), and / or any other attribute of the locally available perishable food products (eg. price) substantially matching a corresponding filter specified in the consumer’s search query.

[0074] Accordingly, search requests (85) may be received from a consumer (30A) and when the consumer (30A) is provided with a response to the search request (85), additional information beyond the geo-location (70) and (75) of the consumer (30A) and vendor (30B) respectively may be taken into account. Regarding the geo-location of the consumer (30A) and vendor (30B), it will be appreciated that a recorded residential or commercial address may be used, or the user’s geo-location may be obtained from the consumer’s data communications device (eg. smart phone). When providing results in response to a search request (85), responses according to the consumer’s preferences may be prioritised, and such responses may also be adjusted in view of machine learning techniques applied to previous consumer search requests or queries.

[0075] It will also be appreciated that relevant outputs may be generated and displayed to the consumer (30A) without necessarily requiring the consumer (30A) to enter a search request involving keywords. For example, the platform could automatically generate product and bundling suggestions to the consumer (30A) based on factors including, but not limited to, the time of day (eg. breakfast, lunch or dinner time), a current activity in which the consumer (30A) is participating, funds recorded in the consumer’s bank account or in virtual wallet functionality provided by the application (40), and whether the purchase of particular products will accord with the consumer’s weekly grocery budget. The invention is not limited to any one method of causing a useful recommendation to be generated and presented to a consumer (30A) or vendor (30B), and the use of the search request interface (170) represents but one example.

[0076] Figure 6 illustrates in greater detail segment 600 of Figure 1 and, in particular, a further example interface (230) which enables an interactive map to be presented to the consumer (30A) in which the map area may pertain to a geo-fenced area of interest to the consumer (30A) (eg. an area automatically ascertained based on the consumer’s location (70), or an area specified in the user’s search request). All vendors (30B) operating within the area may be identified, or alternatively, a subset of vendors (30B) may be identified based upon the subset satisfying one or more particular requirements. In one example, the requirement may be based on a user preference to view only vendors (30B) offering deals, specials, promotions or discounts. In another example, the subset of vendors (30B) may meet some other criteria specified by the user (eg. a request to display the top three vendors with “best available prices” or with products of “highest quality”). It will be appreciated that the interactive map may be configured in a variety of different ways according to the user’s preferences and requests. The map itself may also display in an embedded format the alerts and / or notifications (95) received in respect of vendor sales, discounts, etc.

[0077] It will be understood that substantially real-time notifications (95) may be provided to consumers (30A) irrespective of whether they are viewing the interactive map in interface (230). For example, alerts and / or notifications (95) may issue regarding any aspect of interest to consumers (30A), including but not limited to the receipt of new recommendations, substantial price reductions in relation to food products previously purchased by consumers or considered of interest to consumers, etc. Such real-time notifications (95) may be provided to consumers (30A) by any means including but not limited to push notification, email, text message, or interactive voice communication.

[0078] From the perspective of vendors (30B), use of the software application (40) will also provide significant benefit in addition to the recommendations described earlier. For example, the ability of vendors (30B) to meet the demands of consumers (30A) and their preferences regarding the food products offered for purchase may also be improved by collecting and analysing customer feedback (of which customers may be prompted to provide feedback using the software application (40)) and automatically extracting key consumer information for provision to individual vendors (30B). Furthermore, dynamic pricing algorithms may be implemented to assist vendors (30B) to adjust prices according to the real-time supply and demand characteristics of consumers (30A). Additionalanalyses may also be conducted including by applying one or more analysis techniques to data pertaining to historical consumer purchases of food products (60) to provide insights into consumer trends and preferences. Such analytics may be provided to vendors (30B) thereby enabling vendors (30B) to consider future provision of specific food products for purchase, etc.

[0079] It should be apparent that the present invention is capable of providing a geofenced, vendor-aware marketplace that discovers local suppliers, normalises their catalogues, selects (and may also rank) perishable food products by availability, quality other relevant parameters described herein, and enables consumers (30A) to complete transactions through an integrated selection, purchase and payment flow. Embodiments may include automated vendor onboarding, data extraction from public sources, consumer and vendor user interfaces, search and comparison views, pricing and promotional logic, and analytics. Technical implementation may emphasize network and computer efficiency by consolidating discovery, evaluation, and ordering within a single computing architecture, with server components orchestrating data ingestion, indexing, and fulfilment. In addition, a generative and multimodal recommendation layer may provide conversational guidance, dynamic substitutions when stock is unavailable, bundling aligned to budgets, diets, and shelf-life windows, and image or recipe-based product identification linked directly to live local inventory.

[0080] It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the relevant field of technology that numerous variations and / or modifications may be made to the invention as detailed in the embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as broadly described. The present embodiments are, therefore, to be considered in all aspects as illustrative and not restrictive.

[0081] Throughout this specification and claims which follow, unless the context requires otherwise, the word “comprise”, and variations such as “comprises” and “comprising”, will be understood to imply the inclusion of a stated feature or step, or group of features or steps, but not the exclusion of any other feature or step or group of features or steps.

[0082] The methods and systems described herein may be deployed in part or in whole with a machine that executes computer software, program codes, and / or instructions on a processor. The processor may be part of a server, cloud server, client, networkinfrastructure, mobile computing platform, stationary computing platform, or other computing platform. A processor may be any kind of computational or processing device capable of executing program instructions, codes, binary instructions and the like. The processor may be or include a signal processor, digital processor, embedded processor, microprocessor or any variant such as a co-processor (math co-processor, graphic coprocessor, communication co-processor and the like) and the like that may directly or indirectly facilitate execution of program code or program instructions stored thereon. In addition, the processor may enable execution of multiple programs, threads, and codes. The threads may be executed simultaneously to enhance the performance of the processor and to facilitate simultaneous operations of the application. By way of implementation, methods, program codes, program instructions and the like described herein may be implemented in one or more threads. The thread may spawn other threads that may have assigned priorities associated with them, the processor may execute these threads based on priority or any other order based on instructions provided in the program code. The processor may include memory that stores methods, codes, instructions and programs as described herein and elsewhere. The processor may access a storage medium through an interface that may store methods, codes, and instructions as described herein and elsewhere. The storage medium associated with the processor for storing methods, programs, codes, program instructions or other type of instructions capable of being executed by the computing or processing device may include but may not be limited to one or more of a CD-ROM, DVD, memory, hard disk, flash drive, RAM, ROM, cache and the like.

[0083] A processor may include one or more cores that may enhance speed and performance of a multiprocessor. In some embodiments, the process may be a dual core processor, quad core processors, other chip-level multiprocessor and the like that combine two or more independent cores (called a die).

[0084] The methods and systems described herein may be deployed in part or in whole through a machine that executes computer software on a server, cloud server, client, firewall, gateway, hub, router, or other such computer and / or networking hardware. The software program may be associated with a server that may include a file server, print server, domain server, internet server, intranet server and other variants such as secondary server, host server, distributed server and the like. The server may includeone or more of memories, processors, computer readable media, storage media, ports (physical and virtual), communication devices, and interfaces capable of accessing other servers, clients, machines, and devices through a wired or a wireless medium, and the like. The methods, programs or codes as described herein and elsewhere may be executed by the server. In addition, other devices required for execution of methods as described in this application may be considered as a part of the infrastructure associated with the server.

[0085] The server may provide an interface to other devices including, without limitation, clients, other servers, printers, database servers, print servers, file servers, communication servers, distributed servers and the like. Additionally, this coupling and / or connection may facilitate remote execution of programs across the network. The networking of some or all of these devices may facilitate parallel processing of a program or method at one or more locations without deviating from the scope of the disclosure. In addition, any of the devices attached to the server through an interface may include at least one storage medium capable of storing methods, programs, code and / or instructions. A central repository may provide program instructions to be executed on different devices. In this implementation, the remote repository may act as a storage medium for program code, instructions, and programs.

[0086] The software program may be associated with a client that may include a file client, print client, domain client, internet client, intranet client and other variants such as secondary client, host client, distributed client and the like. The client may include one or more of memories, processors, computer readable media, storage media, ports (physical and virtual), communication devices, and interfaces capable of accessing other clients, servers, machines, and devices through a wired or a wireless medium, and the like. The methods, programs or codes as described herein and elsewhere may be executed by the client. In addition, other devices required for execution of methods as described in this application may be considered as a part of the infrastructure associated with the client.

[0087] The client may provide an interface to other devices including, without limitation, servers, other clients, printers, database servers, print servers, file servers, communication servers, distributed servers and the like. Additionally, this coupling and / or connection may facilitate remote execution of programs across the network. Thenetworking of some or all of these devices may facilitate parallel processing of a program or method at one or more locations without deviating from the scope of the disclosure. In addition, any of the devices attached to the client through an interface may include at least one storage medium capable of storing methods, programs, applications, code and / or instructions. A central repository may provide program instructions to be executed on different devices. In this implementation, the remote repository may act as a storage medium for program code, instructions, and programs.

[0088] The methods and systems described herein may be deployed in part or in whole through network infrastructures. The network infrastructure may include elements such as computing devices, servers, routers, hubs, firewalls, clients, personal computers, communication devices, routing devices and other active and passive devices, modules and / or components as known in the art. The computing and / or non-computing device(s) associated with the network infrastructure may include, apart from other components, a storage medium such as flash memory, buffer, stack, RAM, ROM and the like. The processes, methods, program codes, instructions described herein and elsewhere may be executed by one or more of the network infrastructural elements.

[0089] The methods, program codes, and instructions described herein and elsewhere may be implemented in different devices which may operate in wired or wireless networks. Examples of wireless networks include 4th Generation (4G) networks (e.g., Long-Term Evolution (LTE)) or 5th Generation (5G) networks, as well as non-cellular networks such as Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs). However, the principles described therein may equally apply to other types of networks.

[0090] The operations, methods, programs codes, and instructions described herein and elsewhere may be implemented on or through mobile devices. The mobile devices may include navigation devices, cell phones, mobile phones, mobile personal digital assistants, laptops, palmtops, netbooks, pagers, electronic books readers, music players and the like. These devices may include, apart from other components, a storage medium such as a flash memory, buffer, RAM, ROM and one or more computing devices. The computing devices associated with mobile devices may be enabled to execute program codes, methods, and instructions stored thereon. Alternatively, the mobile devices may be configured to execute instructions in collaboration with other devices. The mobiledevices may communicate with base stations interfaced with servers and configured to execute program codes. The mobile devices may communicate on a peer-to-peer network, mesh network, or other communications network. The program code may be stored on the storage medium associated with the server and executed by a computing device embedded within the server. The base station may include a computing device and a storage medium. The storage device may store program codes and instructions executed by the computing devices associated with the base station.

[0091] The computer software, program codes, and / or instructions may be stored and / or accessed on machine readable media that may include computer components, devices, and recording media that retain digital data used for computing for some interval of time, semiconductor storage known as random access memory (RAM), mass storage typically for more permanent storage, such as optical discs, forms of magnetic storage like hard disks, tapes, drums, cards and other types; processor registers, cache memory, volatile memory, non-volatile memory, optical storage such as CD, DVD, removable media such as flash memory (eg. USB sticks or keys), floppy disks, magnetic tape, paper tape, punch cards, standalone RAM disks, Zip drives, removable mass storage, off-line, and the like, other computer memory such as dynamic memory, static memory, read / write storage, mutable storage, read only, random access, sequential access, location addressable, file addressable, content addressable, network attached storage, storage area network, bar codes, magnetic ink, and the like.

[0092] The methods and systems described herein may transform physical and / or intangible items from one state to another. The methods and systems described herein may also transform data representing physical and / or intangible items from one state to another, such as from usage data to a normalized usage dataset.

[0093] The elements described and depicted herein, including in flow charts and block diagrams throughout the figures, imply logical boundaries between the elements. However, according to software or hardware engineering practices, the depicted elements and the functions thereof may be implemented on machines through computer executable media having a processor capable of executing program instructions stored thereon as a monolithic software structure, as standalone software modules, or as modules that employ external routines, code, services, and so forth, or any combinationof these, and all such implementations may be within the scope of the present disclosure. Examples of such machines may include, but may not be limited to, personal digital assistants, laptops, personal computers, mobile phones, other handheld computing devices, medical equipment, wired or wireless communication devices, transducers, chips, calculators, satellites, tablet PCs, electronic books, gadgets, electronic devices, devices having artificial intelligence, computing devices, networking equipment, servers, routers and the like. Furthermore, the elements depicted in the flow chart and block diagrams or any other logical component may be implemented on a machine capable of executing program instructions. Thus, while the foregoing drawings and descriptions set forth functional aspects of the disclosed systems, no particular arrangement of software for implementing these functional aspects should be inferred from these descriptions unless explicitly stated or otherwise clear from the context. Similarly, it will be appreciated that the various steps identified and described above may be varied, and that the order of steps may be adapted to particular applications of the techniques disclosed herein. All such variations and modifications are intended to fall within the scope of this disclosure. As such, the depiction and / or description of an order for various steps should not be understood to require a particular order of execution for those steps, unless required by a particular application, or explicitly stated or otherwise clear from the context.

[0094] The methods and / or processes described above, and steps thereof, may be realized in hardware, software or any combination of hardware and software suitable for a particular application. The hardware may include a general-purpose computer and / or dedicated computing device or specific computing device or particular aspect or component of a specific computing device. The processes may be realized in one or more microprocessors, microcontrollers, embedded microcontrollers, programmable digital signal processors or other programmable devices, along with internal and / or external memory. The processes may also, or instead, be embodied in an application specific integrated circuit, a programmable gate array, programmable array logic, or any other device or combination of devices that may be configured to process electronic signals. It will further be appreciated that one or more of the processes may be realized as a computer executable code capable of being executed on a machine-readable medium.

[0095] The computer executable code may be created using a structured programming language such as C, an object oriented programming language such as C++, or any otherhigh-level or low-level programming language (including assembly languages, hardware description languages, and database programming languages and technologies) that may be stored, compiled or interpreted to run on one of the above devices, as well as heterogeneous combinations of processors, processor architectures, or combinations of different hardware and software, or any other machine capable of executing program instructions.

Claims

The claims defining the invention are as follows:

1. A data communications network operably connected with one or more data communications devices and one or more individual user devices, and a method of operating same to enhance consumer engagement with food vendors, the method including: receiving, by one or more processors, details of individual consumers and establishing an account for each consumer in which the consumer details are stored to facilitate recording and managing queries and purchases of individual consumers; establishing, by one or more processors, an account for each individual food vendor of a plurality of vendors to enable each vendor to offer perishable food products including meat, seafood and / or dairy products to local consumers across the data communications network, wherein establishing an account for each individual vendor includes: conducting a search of one or more online data sources to locate data pertaining to the individual vendor including at least a location of the individual vendor, extracting data from one or more of the online data sources and processing same to automatically establish an account for the individual vendor, and notifying the individual vendor regarding the automatic establishment of an account for the individual vendor; receiving, by one or more processors, additional data from the plurality of vendors regarding the perishable food products they offer for sale to consumers including at least pricing and stock information; enabling, by one or more processors, each individual consumer to request or automatically receive an output using their user device in respect of perishable food products that are locally available according to the geo-location of the individual consumer and that satisfy one or more constraints;presenting, by one or more processors, for display on the user device associated with the individual consumer, the output regarding locally available perishable food products from vendors; receiving, by one or more processors, a request from the individual consumer to purchase one or more of the locally available perishable food products and communicating the purchase request to the individual vendor(s) offering the one or more food products for purchase; and receiving, by one or more processors, confirmation from the individual vendor(s) regarding receipt and fulfilment of the order and communicating same to the individual consumer.

2. A data communications network according to claim 1 , wherein the constraints are defined in, or are determined based on, one or more of: a search query presented by the consumer; the consumer’s predefined preferences; predefined rules; the received details and data relating to the consumer; the retrieved data relating to the food vendors, including one or more of: the stock levels of the products; the price of the products; the quality of the products; the freshness of the products; the original source of the products; details regarding the sustainable farming practices of the original product supplier;information regarding the seasonality of the products; food sources provided to any animal from which the food products are obtained; or recommended storage and preparation techniques prior to consumption of the food products; or an artificial intelligence analysis with respect to one or more of the above.

3. A data communications network according to claim 2 wherein the predefined rules define a minimum threshold that perishable food products need to satisfy with respect to price, quality and / or freshness.

4. A data communications network according to either claim 2 or claim 3 wherein the constraints include specific consumer constraints which include one or more of: a preference of the consumer regarding a particular vendor or vendors; a food product or food category specified or preferred by the consumer; food products included in a recipe uploaded or selected by the consumer; a location of vendors being within a predetermined geographical vicinity of the consumer location; or a preference of the consumer regarding price, quality and / or freshness of perishable food products.

5. A data communications network according to claim 4, wherein the consumer constraints further include one or more of: health and dietary requirements of the consumer; budgetary requirements of the consumer; meal preparation time available to the consumer; a preference regarding how the products are sourced;a preference regarding farming practices of the original product supplier; a preference regarding the seasonality of the products; or a preference regarding food sources provided to any animal from which the food products are obtained.

6. A data communications network according to any one of claims 2 to 5 wherein the constraints include vendor constraints which include one or more of: the location of the vendor; the price of the vendor’s perishable food products; the stock levels of the vendor’s perishable food products; the freshness window associated with the vendor’s perishable food products including use by dates and / or best before dates.

7. A data communications network according to any one of claims 2 to 6, wherein the output includes one or more of: search results in response to a search request received from the consumer, the search results listing locally available perishable food products from vendors that substantially satisfy the constraints; an automatically generated listing of locally available perishable food products from vendors that substantially satisfy the constraints.

8. A data communications network according to claim 7, wherein the search request includes a request to locate a plurality of perishable food products included in a particular recipe, wherein generation of the output includes identifying individual ingredients in the recipe and providing recommendations to the consumer regarding which perishable food product(s) to purchase and from which vendor(s).

9. A data communications network according to either claim 7 or claim 8, wherein where a search request or user preferences specify one or more preferred products, but the one or more preferred products are determined not to satisfy the constraints, one ormore substitute products that do satisfy the constraints are automatically selected for inclusion in the output in place of the one or more preferred products.

10. A data communications network according to claim 9, wherein for each perishable food product, one or more substitute perishable food products are pre-computed and indexed to enable efficient retrieval of same when one or more particular products are determined not to satisfy the constraints.

11. A data communications network according to any one of claims 2 to 10, wherein the artificial intelligence analysis assists with determining or defining constraints including based on prioritizing information regarding locally available perishable food products from vendors according to the consumer’s preferences and adjusting same in view of previous consumer search requests or queries.

12. A data communications network according to any one of claims 2 to 11 , wherein the artificial intelligence analysis assists with analysing quality indicators from various food product sources, including customer reviews and vendor ratings, to provide quality indicators to consumers regarding individual food products that are offered for purchase.

13. A data communications network according to any one of claims 2 to 12, wherein the artificial intelligence analysis assists with predicting the quality of food products provided by vendors according to historical data.

14. A data communications network according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the method further includes providing consumers with information and recommendations including based on one or more of: comparing prices of food products offered by vendors within a geo-fenced area and providing notification(s) to consumers regarding the best available prices with respect to individual food products in the consumer’s local area; or providing substantially real-time notifications to consumers regarding aspects of interest to consumers, including substantial price reductions in relation to food products previously purchased by consumers or considered of interest to consumers.

15. A data communications network according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the method further includes providing vendors with information and recommendations including based on collecting and analysing customer feedback and automatically extracting key consumer information for provision to individual vendors.

16. A data communications network according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the method further includes providing vendors with information and recommendations including based on forecasting demand for products or shelf life expiry, and recommending one or more of: stock replenishment; product price markdown; product price increase; or extended delivery times.

17. A data communications network according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the method further includes providing vendors with information and recommendations including based on conducting analyses by applying one or more analysis techniques to data pertaining to historical consumer purchases of food products to provide insights into consumer trends and preferences, and providing same to vendors thereby enabling vendors to consider future provision of specific food products for purchase.

18. A data communications network according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the method further includes providing vendors with information and recommendations including based on implementing dynamic pricing algorithms to assist vendors to adjust prices according to the real-time supply and demand characteristics of consumers.

19. A computer-implemented system for enhancing consumer engagement with food vendors, the system including one or more processors operable to execute computer instruction code to implement an electronic database including:receiving details of individual consumers and establishing an account for each consumer in which the consumer details are stored to facilitate recording and managing queries and purchases of individual consumers; establishing an account for each individual food vendor of a plurality of vendors to enable each vendor to offer perishable food products including meat, seafood and / or dairy products to local consumers across a data communications network, wherein establishing an account for each individual vendor includes: conducting a search of one or more online data sources to locate data pertaining to the individual vendor including at least a location of the individual vendor, extracting data from one or more of the online data sources and processing same to automatically establish an account for the individual vendor, and notifying the individual vendor regarding the automatic establishment of an account for the individual vendor; receive additional data from the plurality of vendors regarding the perishable food products they offer for sale to consumers including at least pricing and stock information; enable each individual consumer to request or automatically receive an output using their user device in respect of perishable food products that are locally available according to the geo-location of the individual consumer and that satisfy one or more consumer constraints; present, for display on the user device associated with the individual consumer, the output regarding locally available perishable food products from vendors; receive a request from the individual consumer to purchase one or more of the locally available perishable food products and communicating the purchase request to the individual vendor(s) offering the one or more food products for purchase; and receive confirmation from the individual vendor(s) regarding receipt and fulfilment of the order and communicating same to the individual consumer.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium including computer instruction code that, when executed on a computer, causes one or more processors to perform the steps of: receiving details of individual consumers and establishing an account for each consumer in which the consumer details are stored to facilitate recording and managing queries and purchases of individual consumers; establishing an account for each individual food vendor of a plurality of vendors to enable each vendor to offer perishable food products including meat, seafood and / or dairy products to local consumers across a data communications network, wherein establishing an account for each individual vendor includes: conducting a search of one or more online data sources to locate data pertaining to the individual vendor including at least a location of the individual vendor, extracting data from one or more of the online data sources and processing same to automatically establish an account for the individual vendor, and notifying the individual vendor regarding the automatic establishment of an account for the individual vendor; receiving additional data from the plurality of vendors regarding the perishable food products that they offer for sale to consumers including at least pricing and stock information; enabling each individual consumer to request or automatically receive an output using their user device in respect of perishable food products that are locally available according to the geo-location of the individual consumer and that satisfy one or more consumer constraints; in response to receiving a search request from the individual consumer, presenting, for display on the user device associated with the individual consumer, the output regarding locally available perishable food products from vendors; receiving a request from the individual consumer to purchase one or more of the locally available perishable food products and communicating the purchase request to the individual vendor(s) offering the one or more food products for purchase; andreceiving confirmation from the individual vendor(s) regarding receipt and fulfilment of the order and communicating same to the individual consumer.

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