Shopping Party Locator System Using Photo Identification
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Solution Overview
Problem
During shopping, members of a group can become separated, especially in large stores, and without mobile communication, it is difficult for caretakers to locate them, often requiring them to leave their area to seek help from store employees.
Innovation Solution
A system that captures a photo of a shopping party upon entry, assigns a unique code to each member, and uses scanning devices to identify and notify caretakers if a member is separated, automatically displaying the photo and alerting store employees and customers to aid in the reunion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a shopping party uses traditional methods without a centralized system, then the system complexity is low, but the time to locate a separated member is long and reliability is poor
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the shopping party into individual members, each with a unique identifier (bracelet, anklet, or other wearable). This allows the system to track each member individually while maintaining group cohesion, enabling precise location identification without requiring complex centralized monitoring of the entire group.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces store employees as intermediaries who wear handheld devices to assist in locating separated members. These employees act as mobile mediators between the lost member and the caretaker, providing real-time assistance without requiring the lost member to have sophisticated communication devices.
2Speed
If the lost member does not carry a phone or communication device, then the ease of operation for the lost member is high, but the speed of locating them is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The lost member simply needs to wear the provided identifier (bracelet, anklet, or other wearable) and remain stationary or move naturally through the store. The system automatically detects their location through RFID readers or visual identification by employees, eliminating the need for the lost member to actively use any communication device or initiate a search.
Solution Approach 2:
Store employees wearing handheld devices serve as intermediaries who actively search for and locate separated members. These employees carry the technological burden (handheld devices with location tracking) while the lost member simply needs to wear the passive identifier, balancing the operational burden between the two parties.
3Loss of time
If caretakers leave their area to request help from store employees, then the ease of operation for the caretaker is high, but the time lost is increased
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-assigning unique identifiers to each shopping party member upon entry and pre-positioning store employees with handheld devices in key locations. When a member becomes separated, the system is already configured to detect and track them, eliminating the need for caretakers to leave their area to initiate a search.
Solution Approach 2:
The system provides real-time feedback to store employees through handheld devices, automatically updating the location of separated members as they move through the store. This continuous feedback loop allows employees to actively search and locate members without requiring caretakers to leave their areas, reducing time loss while maintaining ease of operation.
Data Source
AI summary
Provided are a shopping party locator system and method. The system and method includes creating a shopping party for a group of customers entering a store, wherein creating the shopping party includes operating a shopping party application on a store computing system to take and store a photo of the group of customers and create a label for each member of the group of customers. The label of a member of the group of customers separated from the shopping party may be scanned by a scanning device. The label of any member of the shopping party may be scanned if a member is discovered missing. The system automatically notifies a designated caretaker and notifies all associates and customers in the store that the member is separated in order to find the separated person. Once found, the separated member's label may be scanned the identity verified.