Abstract:
A marketing method for apparel shopping that provides a potential customer via a wireless device, the ability to choose a desired piece of clothing for purchase. The piece of clothing is embedded with a unique infrared thread. The thread, when read by a wireless device, provides a unique brand like SKU. This information is compared with data in a cloud databases. This provides data containing images, specifications, pricing, and retail distribution areas to the potential customer.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0002]    The invention relates to marketing of apparel. More specifically, the invention relates to a method of marketing apparel to a customer based on an observation of another individual wearing a particular item in a public place. 
         [0003]    2. Description of the Related Art 
         [0004]    Attachment of RFID tags to articles of clothing for tracking merchandise through manufacture, supply chain, and retail store is well known. For example, Suzuki in U.S. Pat. No. 6,313,745 describes a system for tracking and reorganizing merchandise taken into fitting rooms. 
         [0005]    Others have developed various systems for assisting a shopper in a retail store to locate or select merchandise in the retail store. Other systems also assist in completing various POS (point of sale) functions, such as check out, recording, discounts, payment processing, and the like. 
         [0006]    Known systems may also accept a request for an item over a remote network and in response determine a preferred retail store or on-line supplier for that item based on considerations such as price, availability, or geographic proximity to the requester. 
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0007]    A person in a public setting observes an article of apparel worn by an unrelated individual in the public setting. The person wishes to purchase an identical article, although perhaps of a different size, for their own use or for someone they know. 
         [0008]    Without alerting the unrelated individual, and unbeknownst, the person aims a handheld infrared device at the article while being worn, receiving via reflected infrared signals, identifying information from which the SKU (stock keeping unit) of the article is determined. The handheld device uses the SKU to receive and display data about the article, such as nearest store having the article, price, images, and specifications. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0009]      FIG. 1  is a diagram showing the present invention in operation; 
           [0010]      FIG. 2  is a flowchart illustrating the basic operational steps of an embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0011]      FIG. 3  is a system diagram of a computer hardware and software product for use in implementing portions of the present invention; and 
           [0012]      FIG. 4  is a detailed diagram illustrating operation of the infrared portion of a handheld device in accordance with the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0013]    For a better understanding of the present invention, together with other and further objects, advantages, and capabilities thereof, reference is made to the following disclosure and the appended claims in connection with the above-described drawings. 
         [0014]    In  FIG. 1 , there is shown individual  10 , located in a public place other than a retail store, such as a coffee shop, parking lot, shopping district in a city, restaurant, or ski slope. Holding handheld wireless enabled device  12 , individual  10  directs the device towards another individual  14 , also located nearby in the same public place. Individual  14  is wearing an article of clothing of interest to individual  10 . Individual  10  may be any person, man, woman, or child capable of wearing an article of clothing. Individual  10  may also be a pet animal, such as a dog or cat, if such animal is wearing an article of clothing. Individual  14  is wearing article of clothing  16  which is embedded with an infrared coded thread  410  (see  FIG. 4 ), which comprises a machine readable identifier. This identifier contains specific code that can be read by handheld device  12 . From handheld device  12 , an infrared beam  18  is sent to article of clothing  16  embedded with thread  410 , and reads the identifier. The infrared energy from the thread is reflected back  20  to handheld device  12 . 
         [0015]    The value of the identifier is based on the particular wavelengths of infrared energy received by handheld device  12  as explained below in the description of  FIG. 4 . This value is compared with a listing of identifiers and corresponding SKU&#39;s (stock keeping units) stored in cloud based storage database  24 . 
         [0016]    By using the SKU, images, specifications, pricing and retail distribution areas may be retrieved from  22 , cloud  24  and presented to individual  10 , for example, using display screen  401  of handheld device  12 . 
         [0017]    As used herein, cloud shall be taken to mean computing resources delivered over a network having wireless connectivity to portable devices. 
         [0018]    Individual  10  may subsequently choose to purchase the article at a nearby retail store using the information presented. 
         [0019]    In  FIG. 2 , there is shown a flowchart depicting steps performed in practicing one embodiment of the invention. In step  102 , a machine readable identifier is embedded in article of clothing  16 . The identifier preferably comprises a thread  410  coated with infrared reflecting or absorbing dye. The thread may be identical, except for the infrared dyes, to other threads used in weaving the fabric from which article  16  is made. Alternatively, thread  410  may be manually or machine added, such as by sewing, to article  16 . Thread  410  is preferably added in such a manner as to be invisible to normal (optical) observation of article  16 . 
         [0020]    In step  104 , identifier  410  is inconspicuously read by another individual using a handheld device  12  having infrared reading capability. Identifier  410  is read while article  16  is being worn by another individual who is unaware the identifier is being read. Handheld device  12  may include a processor as shown in  FIG. 3  having instructions stored therein for performing the steps of  FIG. 2 , including instructions for reading identifier  410  by infrared means located within device  12 . 
         [0021]    In step  106 , handheld device  12  is in communication  22  with a database in cloud network  24 . The database is interrogated to determine an SKU from the read value of identifier  410 . Individual  10  may manually initiate the interrogation step  106 , or preferably device  12  automatically performs step  106  immediately after reading the identifier in step  104 . 
         [0022]    In step  108 , the SKU is used to retrieve images, or specifications, or pricing, or retail distribution areas or other information stored in cloud  24 . Such retrieval may use any wireless communication technique known in the art, such as wi-fi, bluetooth, or the like. 
         [0023]    In step  109 , some or all of the information retrieved in step  108  is presented on screen  104  to a potential customer, who is preferably individual  10 , on handheld device  12 . Such presentation may be automatic, or in response to keystrokes on keyboard  402 , or other navigation entry techniques, such as finger touches on a touch sensitive screen. 
         [0024]      FIG. 3  shows a block diagram of internal components  800  and external components  900  of a computer  110 , in accordance with an illustrative embodiment of the present invention. It should be appreciated that  FIG. 3  provides only an illustration of one implementation and does not imply any limitations with regard to the environments in which different embodiments may be implemented. Many modifications to the depicted environments may be made based on design and implementation requirements. 
         [0025]    Computer  110  is representative of any electronic device capable of executing machine-readable program instructions. Computer  110  may be representative of a computer system or other electronic devices. Examples of computing systems, environments, and/or configurations that may be represented by computer  110  include, but are not limited to, personal computer systems, server computer systems, thin clients, thick clients, laptop devices, smart phones, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based systems, network PCs, minicomputer systems, and distributed cloud computing environments that include any of the above systems or devices. 
         [0026]    Computer  110  includes a set of internal components  800  and external components  900 . Internal components  800  includes one or more processors  820 , one or more computer-readable RAMs  822  and one or more computer-readable ROMs  824  on one or more buses  826 , and one or more operating systems  828  and one or more computer-readable tangible storage devices  830 . The one or more operating systems  828 , functions in computer device  110  are stored on one or more of the respective computer-readable tangible storage devices  830  for execution by one or more of the respective processors  820  via one or more of the respective RAMs  822  (which typically include cache memory). In the embodiment illustrated in  FIG. 3 , each of the computer-readable tangible storage devices  830  is a magnetic disk storage device of an internal hard drive. Alternatively, each of the computer-readable tangible storage devices  830  is a semiconductor storage device such as ROM  824 , EPROM, flash memory or any other computer-readable tangible storage device that can store a computer program and digital information. 
         [0027]    Internal components  800  also includes a R/W drive or interface  832  to read from and write to one or more portable computer-readable tangible storage devices  936  such as a CD-ROM, DVD, memory stick, magnetic tape, magnetic disk, optical disk or semiconductor storage device. Functions in computer  110  can be stored on one or more of the respective portable computer-readable tangible storage devices  936 , read via the respective R/W drive or interface  832  and loaded into the respective hard drive  830 . 
         [0028]    Internal components  800  also includes audio adapters or interfaces  838  such as a sound card, hardware mixer, amplifier, or other adapters or interfaces for receiving audio signals from microphones. 
         [0029]    Internal components  800  also includes network adapters or interfaces  836  such as a TCP/IP adapter cards, wireless wi-fi interface cards, or 3G or 4G wireless interface cards or other wired or wireless communication links. Functions in computer  110  can be downloaded to computer  110  from an external computer via a network (for example, the Internet, Cloud  24 , a local area network or other, wide area network) and respective network adapters or interfaces  836 . From the network adapters or interfaces  836 . The network may comprise copper wires, optical fibers, wireless transmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/or edge servers. 
         [0030]    External components  900  can include a computer display monitor  920 , a keyboard  930 , and a computer mouse  934 . External components  900  can also include touch screens, virtual keyboards, touch pads, pointing devices, and other human interface devices. Internal components  800  includes device drivers  840  to interface to computer display monitor  920 , keyboard  930  and computer mouse  934 . The device drivers  840 , R/W drive or interface  832  and network adapter or interface  836  comprise hardware and software (stored in storage device  830  and/or ROM  824 ). 
         [0031]    Aspects of the present invention have been described with respect to block diagrams and/or flowchart illustrations of methods, apparatus (system), and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer instructions. These computer instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. 
         [0032]    The aforementioned programs can be written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including low-level, high-level, object-oriented or non object-oriented languages, such as Java, Smalltalk, C, and C++. The program code may execute entirely on the user&#39;s computer, partly on the user&#39;s computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user&#39;s computer and partly on a remote computer, or entirely on a remote computer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user&#39;s computer through any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet service provider). Alternatively, the functions of the aforementioned programs can be implemented in whole or in part by computer circuits and other hardware (not shown). 
         [0033]      FIG. 3  may describe in more detail some of the computing resources comprising cloud  24 . 
         [0034]    In  FIG. 4 , there is shown portable infrared reader  12  having an infrared device  403  positioned therein. Device  403  includes an infrared emitting component  404  which may be an infrared LED or any other component known in the art capable of emitting infrared energy. Device  403  also includes infrared sensing component  405  which may be a semiconductor component or any other part capable of sensing incoming infrared energy. 
         [0035]    Device  403  is positioned behind lens  406  in such a way that the emitted infrared energy is directed outward in substantially a parallel beam  407 . Likewise, incoming infrared energy  408  is directed by lens  406  substantially onto sensing component  405 . Lens  406  may comprise separate lenses for components  404  and  405  or a plurality of lenses which are obvious modifications to one of ordinary skill, without departing from the present invention. 
         [0036]    Emitting component  404  may comprise a plurality of emitting components. For example, one emitting component may emit infrared energy having a peak wavelength of 773 nanometers (nm) and a second emitting component may emit infrared energy having a peak wavelength of 860 nm. 
         [0037]    Sensing device  403  may also comprise a plurality of sensing devices. For example, one sensing device may have a peak sensitivity to infrared energy having a wavelength of 773 nm and a second sensing device may have a peak sensitivity to infrared energy having a wave length of 860 nm. 
         [0038]    Apparel item  16  has one or more threads  410  woven into the fabric from which it is made. Thread  410  is coated along its length with one or more bands,  412 ,  414 ,  416  of absorbing or reflecting dyes, each of which has a peak absorbance or reflectance at a particular wavelength of infrared energy. For example, the Epolin Company of Newark, N.J., manufactures a series of absorbing dyes having peak absorbance at the wavelengths indicated in Table 1 below. 
         [0000]    
       
         
               
               
               
             
               
               
               
             
           
               
                   
                 TABLE 1 
               
               
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                   
                 Peak Absorbance 
               
               
                   
                 Epolin Part No. 
                 (nm) 
               
               
                   
                   
               
             
             
               
                   
               
             
          
           
               
                   
                 3036 
                 773 
               
               
                   
                 5548 
                 777 
               
               
                   
                 3211 
                 785 
               
               
                   
                 5768 
                 791 
               
               
                   
                 3442 
                 817 
               
               
                   
                 5588 
                 860 
               
               
                   
                 3443 
                 868 
               
               
                   
                 2063 
                 906 
               
               
                   
                 5547 
                 907 
               
               
                   
                 2062 
                 977 
               
               
                   
                 2066 
                 978 
               
               
                   
                 2057 
                 990 
               
               
                   
                 2180 
                 991 
               
               
                   
                 2164 
                 993 
               
               
                   
                 1151 
                 1070 
               
               
                   
                 1117 
                 1071 
               
               
                   
                 1178 
                 1073 
               
               
                   
                 3045 
                 1097 
               
               
                   
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
         [0039]    A thread may be coated with a sufficient number of bands  412 ,  414 ,  416  to provide a distinct identifier for the article. Where one thread does not provide sufficient length, additional threads may be used, each having various bands of absorbing or reflecting dyes. 
         [0040]    Alternatively, the entire length of a thread may be coated with a single dye. Another thread may also be coated with a second dye. Likewise, for a third and additional threads. When these threads are all woven into the fabric, the reflectance or absorbance infrared wavelengths will have a unique pattern which can also serve as an infrared identifier. 
         [0041]    Infrared energy is used for identification because it is not visible to the human eye. Therefore, the person wearing the apparel is unaware an identifier is being read. Furthermore, use of infrared reflecting or absorbing dyes will not change the visible color of the apparel item. 
         [0042]    Portable infrared reader  12  has a sufficient combination of infrared emitting components  404  and sensing devices  403  to read the identifier by selectively emitting infrared energy and sensing the infrared energy reflected or absorbed by bands  412 ,  414 , and  416  of infrared dyes on thread  410 , when the infrared energy  407  from reader  12  is aimed in the direction of apparel item  16 . In some embodiments, more than one identical thread  410  may be woven into the fabric to increase the overall reflectance or absorbance, thereby increasing the overall system sensitivity, and increasing the operating distance over which the system may be used. 
         [0043]    Portable infrared reader  12  may include a display screen  401  for presenting images to a potential customer. Specifications, pricing, and retail distribution areas, such as nearest retail store may also be presented to the potential customer on display screen  401 . Portable infrared reader  12  may also include a mechanical keyboard  402 , or touch sensitive on-screen keyboard (not shown). 
         [0044]    In some embodiments, a processor, as described in connection with  FIG. 3 , may be included in handheld device  12  for implementing various functions described above, including the steps of  FIG. 2 . 
         [0045]    The foregoing description of various embodiments of the present invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible. Such modifications and variations that may be apparent to a person skilled in the art of the invention are intended to be included within the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.