Augmented Reality Shopping List Automation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Grocery shopping often involves challenges such as forgetting to add items to the shopping list, overordering, and not being aware of which items are running low, leading to waste or unexpected shortages.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a smart shopping controller using augmented reality, which passively monitors grocery and household items to determine which are running low and automatically generates a shopping list with recommended quantities based on historical consumption patterns and reorder thresholds.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If manual shopping list management is used, then users have full control over shopping decisions, but users forget items, overorder, and cannot track inventory levels
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables self-service monitoring where the smart shopping controller automatically detects item quantities, tracks consumption patterns, and generates shopping lists without requiring active user intervention. The passive monitoring capability allows the system to serve itself by automatically identifying when items need replenishment.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces manual mechanical inventory tracking with an automated electronic monitoring system using image recognition and machine learning algorithms. The system substitutes human memory and manual record-keeping with computational analysis of item quantities and consumption patterns.
2Productivity
If automated ordering is implemented, then shopping efficiency increases, but users may order incorrect quantities or unwanted items
Solution Approach 1:
The system incorporates feedback mechanisms where consumption patterns are continuously monitored and analyzed. The machine learning model learns from historical data and user corrections, adjusting its predictions about when items need replenishment and in what quantities, thereby improving accuracy over time.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary analysis of consumption patterns and generates shopping list recommendations in advance of the actual shopping need. This allows users to review and adjust quantities before finalizing orders, preventing incorrect ordering while maintaining efficiency.
3Ease of operation
If passive monitoring is used, then user convenience increases, but the system requires sophisticated image recognition and analysis capabilities
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a smart shopping controller as an intermediary device that bridges the gap between simple user interaction and complex image recognition processing. The controller handles the sophisticated analysis while providing a simple interface to users, isolating the complexity from the end user.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates digital copies or representations of physical items through image capture and analysis. Instead of directly interacting with complex image recognition algorithms, users interact with simplified digital representations and recommendations generated from those analyses.
Data Source
AI summary
In aspects of automated shopping using augmented reality, a mobile device detects an item in an image captured by a camera of a mobile device, and identifies, via augmented reality, that the item is on a list of monitored items that are replenished based on automated ordering. The mobile device determines that a remaining quantity of the item is less than a reorder threshold, from which an automated order of the item is initiated. A network device receives, from the mobile device, an identification of an item and a remaining quantity of the item, determines that the remaining quantity of the item is less than a reorder threshold, from which an automated order of the item is initiated, and adds the item to a shopping list based on the determination. The network device processes the automated order based on receiving an approval of the shopping list.