Product Usage Sensing for Real-Time Consumption Insights
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional methods for collecting and understanding consumption or usage behavior of products are ineffective, providing inaccurate and incomplete insights, hindering merchants' ability to offer targeted recommendations and develop appropriate products, as they lack real-time, automatic, and scalable data on actual product usage over time.
Innovation Solution
A system comprising a measuring device that detects product consumption, coupled with a communication device and a backend server, generating insights and recommendations based on measured data, allowing for real-time, automatic, and scalable analysis of consumption patterns across multiple users and regions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If traditional ad-hoc research studies or syndicated research data are used to determine consumption behavior, then some indication of consumption behavior during a particular point in time can be obtained, but the data is inaccurate because it is based on consumer-informed usage rather than actual consumption and does not provide long-term behavioral insights
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces traditional mechanical research methods (surveys, interviews, manual observation) with electronic sensing systems that automatically detect and measure actual product usage. Sensors embedded in or near products continuously monitor consumption events, replacing human-reported data with objective mechanical/electronic measurement, thereby achieving both high accuracy and long-term time coverage.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary sensing system between the product and the merchant that automatically captures consumption data. This intermediary layer (comprising sensors, processors, and communication modules) bridges the gap between actual product usage and merchant knowledge, enabling accurate, continuous measurement without direct human intervention or consumer reporting.
2Quantity of substance
If company representatives visit homes or locations of users to check on usage, then some usage data can be collected, but the process is unduly burdensome, cost-prohibitive, discouraged by users, and provides only infrequent data
Solution Approach 1:
The patent enables the product itself to automatically collect and report usage data without requiring external intervention. The product-equipped sensing system performs self-monitoring and self-reporting of consumption events, eliminating the need for company representative visits while providing continuous, detailed data at low cost and without user burden.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical system of manual home visits with an electronic automated monitoring system. Sensors and communication modules embedded in products continuously transmit usage data to merchants, achieving high data quantity without the operational complexity and costs associated with field representative programs.
3Loss of information
If traditional research methods are used to collect consumption behavior data, then some insights can be obtained, but the insights are incomplete and prevent merchants from providing effectively targeted recommendations and advertisements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements continuous, real-time monitoring of product usage through embedded sensors and communication modules. This continuous data collection provides complete consumption insights across the entire product lifecycle, enabling merchants to generate actionable insights immediately rather than relying on periodic, incomplete research snapshots.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces slow, manual research processes with automated electronic sensing and data transmission systems. This substitution enables real-time generation of complete consumption insights, dramatically improving both the completeness of information and the speed at which merchants can act on this data for targeted marketing and product development.
Data Source
AI summary
A system is described that generates insights on the consumption or usage behavior of a product by analyzing the real-time usage of the product by one or more users. The product is placed on the measuring device for continuous monitoring of the usage of the product by those one or more users in real-time. The measuring device includes a sensor unit that generates weigh data, motion data, location data, and time consumed data of the product and transmits to a computing device. A communication device records the consumption or usage of the product by a user, along with feedback from the user. The computing device generates insights based on the sensed data generated by the measuring device, and recording and feedback at the communication device. The computing device generates reports—one for the user, and one for a merchant of the product and/or similar products—including respective insights.