Selective Scent Dispensing Using Event-Triggered Customer Profiling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Businesses face challenges in personalizing scents for customers based on individual characteristics and events in various settings, such as retail and hospitality, to enhance customer experiences and influence purchasing behavior effectively.
Innovation Solution
A system that detects events, such as a person entering a physical area, uses facial recognition to characterize the individual, and applies a specific scent from a dispenser, which can synthesize scents on demand, ensuring a personalized and dynamic scent experience tailored to the customer's profile and location.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a system applies the same scent to all customers in a physical area, then the implementation is simple and cost-effective, but the customer experience lacks personalization and cannot effectively influence individual purchasing behavior
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments customers into different groups based on characteristics detected by sensors (e.g., facial recognition, demographics, behavior patterns) and applies different scents to different segments. This allows personalized scent delivery without requiring a completely new system architecture, as the segmentation approach builds on existing customer classification methods.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces intermediary components such as scent dispensers positioned at strategic locations, sensor systems that detect customer characteristics, and a control system that acts as a mediator between customer detection and scent delivery. This intermediary layer enables personalization while maintaining manageable system complexity through modular design.
2Adaptability or versatility
If a system uses multiple different scents for different customers and events, then the customer experience is highly personalized and effective for marketing, but the cost of scent inventory and system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system creates scent variety by changing parameters of base scents rather than using completely different scent formulations. This includes adjusting concentration levels, mixing ratios, and temporal delivery patterns of a limited set of base scents. This approach enables diverse scent experiences while maintaining a smaller inventory of actual scent materials.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements dynamic scent delivery where the same base scent can be delivered with varying intensity, duration, and timing based on real-time customer characteristics and context. This dynamic adjustment creates the perception of scent variety without requiring proportional increases in scent inventory.
3Productivity
If a system implements real-time scent adjustment based on customer characteristics and events, then the marketing effectiveness is maximized, but the processing requirements and system response time demands increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-configuring scent profiles for different customer segments and event types before actual customer arrival. When a customer is detected, the system simply retrieves and executes the pre-determined scent profile rather than performing complex real-time analysis, significantly reducing processing requirements while maintaining marketing effectiveness.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements self-service mechanisms where the system automatically detects customer characteristics, determines appropriate scent profiles, and executes delivery without requiring complex manual intervention or highly sophisticated real-time processing. The automation of this entire workflow reduces the burden on processing systems while maximizing marketing effectiveness.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This system enables businesses to create a personalized marketing approach that enhances customer experiences and improves sales performance by using scents to convey desired messages, increasing the likelihood of purchases and improving customer interactions.
Implementation Method 1
Artificial recreation of a smell by synthesizing chemical molecules is one enabling technology of these scents on demand applications
Implementation Method 2
The top note may be fast evaporating, such as within approximately seconds of dispensing
Data Source
AI summary
A computer implemented method, a computerized system and a computer program product for selective scent dispensing. The computer implemented method comprising: detecting an event, wherein the event is associated with a person entering a predetermined physical area; in response to the detection of the event, determining, by a processor, a scent for the event; and applying, by a dispenser, the scent on the predetermined physical area.