Patent ID: 9607296
Date: 2017-03-28
CPC Classifications: G06Q

Claim:
1. A method for management of mobile point of sale (mPOS) operations in a retail store setting, comprising: using a plurality of portable wireless communication devices (PWCDs) in communication with at least one wireless access point (WAP) to obtain customer location data of one or more customers in the retail store and employee location data of one of more store employees in the retail store; using one or more imaging devices mounted to vantage point locations in the retail store to obtain images of the one or more customers in the retail store; tagging the images with metadata to indicate a location within the retail store which corresponds to at least one portion of a scene captured in the images; applying video analytics to process the images of the customers in an mPOS server to determine video image data which includes one or more customer behavior indicators for the customers in the retail store, the customer behavior indicators comprising events or conditions other than location which are known to be associated with a potential customer need for mPOS services; using the metadata to correlate the video image data with the customer location data to associate the customer behavior indicators with specific customers; analyzing with an mPOS server the customer location data, the employee location data, and one or more of the customer behavior indicators; determining on the basis of the one or more customer behavior indicators for at least one of the customers a probability of the customer requiring mPOS services within a predetermined interval of time, selecting a preferred store employee to provide mPOS services; and responsive to the selecting, automatically generating with the mPOS server a communication comprising an assignment notification to the preferred store employee, said assignment notification directing the preferred store employee to a defined location proximate a selected customer to perform an mPOS task.