Smart-Trip Application Optimizing In-Person Shopping Routes
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional methods for in-person trip planning often fail to optimize time and convenience, as they either rely on online shopping for efficiency or in-person shopping for immediate access, without integrating the benefits of both approaches.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that utilize a smart-trip application to determine a user's in-person action intentions, identify relevant entities and locations, and generate optimized directions for efficient trip completion, considering factors like time, distance, cost, and item availability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If online shopping is used, then convenience and access to vendors are improved, but immediate item acquisition and physical inspection are lost
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the shopping experience into online research/selection phases and in-person acquisition phases. Users can add items to a smart list online, then the system generates optimized in-person trip routes to acquire those items physically, combining the vendor access benefits of online shopping with the immediate acquisition benefits of in-person shopping.
Solution Approach 2:
The smart trip application acts as an intermediary between online shopping intentions and in-person execution. It takes online-saved item lists and transforms them into optimized physical trip plans, mediating between the digital planning phase and physical execution phase to maximize both convenience and immediacy.
2Loss of time
If in-person shopping is used, then immediate item acquisition and physical inspection are improved, but time efficiency and convenience are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by having users add items to a smart list during online browsing before the actual trip. This advance planning allows the in-person trip to be highly efficient, as the system has already identified all target items and optimized the route, eliminating wasted time during the actual shopping trip.
Solution Approach 2:
The trip plan is dynamic and adaptive. The system continuously monitors user location during the trip and provides real-time navigation updates. Users can also dynamically add or remove items from their smart list, and the system recalculates the optimized route accordingly, maintaining time efficiency throughout the trip.
3Device complexity
If conventional trip planning is used, then simplicity is maintained, but optimization of trip time and route efficiency is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs self-service by automatically generating optimized trip routes based on the user's smart list items. The user simply needs to initiate the trip, and the system autonomously calculates the optimal path, identifies relevant entities and locations, and provides turn-by-turn navigation, eliminating the need for manual route planning while significantly reducing trip time.
Solution Approach 2:
The system optimizes trip parameters such as route length, travel time, and sequence of visits by using sophisticated algorithms. It changes the traditional static map view into a dynamic, optimized travel plan that continuously adapts to user location and trip progress, reducing overall trip time without requiring user intervention.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for planning and/or optimizing an in-person trip includes: determining, based on a user interaction between a user and a user device, that the user has an in-person-action intention associated with a particular location; obtaining a list of elements designated by the user for in-person action; identifying at least one entity associated with the particular location; determining at least one location at the at least one entity associated with at least one element on the list; generating directions that indicate a path through the at least one entity and to the at least one location associated with the at least one element; receiving an indication from the user device that the user device has determined that the user has arrived at the at least one entity; and in response to receiving the indication, causing the user device to output the directions.