Retail Kiosk Proximity Sensing for Personalized Ads
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional targeted advertising systems are limited in their ability to provide personalized advertisements and facilitate transactions in retail settings, as they require communication infrastructures that can obtain unique consumer identification in real time, which is not always available, especially in aisles where purchasing decisions are made.
Innovation Solution
A retail kiosk-based targeted advertising system that uses a proximity sensing device to identify users and transmit targeted advertising content, enabling financial transactions for consumer items displayed near the kiosk, by integrating with social media and merchant systems to provide personalized ads and facilitate purchases.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If conventional targeted advertising systems are used, then personalized advertisements can be provided, but real-time unique consumer identification is required which is not always available in retail settings
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a kiosk as an intermediary device between the advertising system and consumers. The kiosk captures images of consumers using an image capture device, processes these images to generate identification information, and uses this information to deliver personalized advertisements. This intermediary approach eliminates the need for direct real-time unique consumer identification while still enabling personalized advertising.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical system of direct consumer identification (requiring unique IDs, loyalty cards, etc.) with an optical/image-based system. The image capture device takes photographs of consumers, and image processing algorithms extract identification information from these images, substituting the need for physical identification mechanisms with a non-contact visual recognition system.
2Loss of information
If targeted advertising is delivered away from point of purchase, then consumer identification can be obtained, but transaction time increases and sales effectiveness decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The kiosk is positioned at or near the point of purchase, allowing the system to perform identification and advertisement delivery preliminarily, right before the consumer makes a purchasing decision. The image capture device captures consumer images, and the system processes these images to deliver personalized advertisements at the critical moment of decision-making, eliminating the time loss associated with delayed identification.
Solution Approach 2:
The kiosk serves as a mediator that bridges the gap between advertising delivery and point of purchase. By capturing images and processing identification information at the kiosk location, the system enables timely advertisement delivery without requiring consumers to provide unique identification, thus reducing transaction time while maintaining identification accuracy.
3Productivity
If proximity sensing and image capture are implemented, then targeted advertising can be delivered at point of purchase, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The kiosk is designed as a multi-functional device that combines proximity sensing, image capture, image processing, advertisement delivery, and transaction facilitation in a single system. By making the kiosk universal and multi-functional, the patent reduces the need for separate specialized devices, thereby managing complexity while achieving timely advertising delivery at the point of purchase.
Data Source
AI summary
A retail kiosk advertising system includes a retail display structure management server in communication with one or more retail display structures that support and display a retailer computing device and one or more consumer items for sale. The retail display structure management server receives proximity information from a proximity sensing device configured on the retail display structure in which the proximity information indicates when a portable computing device is within a specified range of the retail display structure. In response, the server determines an identity of a user of the portable computing device, obtains targeted advertising content associated with the consumer items, transmits the targeted advertising content to the retailer computing device. The retailer computing device also plays the targeted advertising for view by the user, and facilitates a transaction for the consumer item with the user.