Kiosk Navigation System with Custom Ad Insertion
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Solution Overview
Problem
Large retail and entertainment facilities often overwhelm customers with their vast size, leading to frustration due to understaffing, causing customers to struggle finding products and potentially leaving without a purchase.
Innovation Solution
A kiosk-based system that interacts with customers to generate a product path with custom advertisements by searching for desired products within the facility, using map data to find locations and inserting targeted ads along the path for navigation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If stores become large and geographically dispersed to compete with major retailers, then the variety of goods and services increases, but customers become overwhelmed and lost
Solution Approach 1:
A kiosk system acts as an intermediary between customers and the large facility layout. The kiosk provides digital mapping, search functionality, and turn-by-turn directional guidance, mediating the complex navigation task and enabling customers to easily locate products across the expanded facility space without becoming overwhelmed.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a digital information dimension to complement the physical navigation space. By providing electronic maps, search interfaces, and multimedia advertisements through the kiosk, customers can mentally orient themselves in the large facility by accessing layered digital information about product locations and facility layout.
2Loss of energy
If staff positions are reduced to lower costs, then operational expenses decrease, but customer assistance and guidance quality deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The kiosk system enables customers to independently perform search, navigation, and product location functions that previously required staff assistance. Customers can autonomously locate products, get directional guidance, and access facility information without needing to consult employees, thereby reducing the need for customer service personnel while maintaining service quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical human labor system (staff providing guidance) with an automated information technology system (kiosk providing digital navigation). The kiosk uses processors, displays, and software algorithms to deliver guidance functions that previously required human employees, substituting technological automation for manual labor.
3Productivity
If customers wander aisles looking for products, then additional unplanned purchases may be made, but customers become frustrated and leave without purchasing
Solution Approach 1:
The kiosk system provides customers with precise turn-by-turn directional guidance before they begin their product search journey. By预先 providing the optimal path to the desired product, customers can efficiently navigate directly to their target without aimless wandering, reducing frustration while still exposing them to strategic advertisement placements along the predetermined path.
Solution Approach 2:
The kiosk acts as an intermediary that strategically places advertisements along the calculated navigation path to the desired product. This mediated approach allows customers to be exposed to relevant product promotions and cross-selling opportunities during their necessary journey, increasing additional purchase opportunities without requiring them to randomly wander through the facility.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques for generating a product path with custom advertisements are provided. A kiosk interacts with a consumer to acquire a product or service search within a facility. The kiosk generates a path to the product or service starting from the kiosk and ending at a location with the facility where the product or service can be found. Additionally, custom advertisements are interspersed throughout the path for other goods and services available at the facility. The kiosk then delivers the path with the custom advertisements to the customer for locating the product or service.