Abstract:
A consumer messaging system provides targeted messages to particular consumers or particular groups of consumers at a specific location. The targeted messages may be advertisements, promotions, events, or information/data relating to other products and/or services that are tailored to the particular consumer or group of consumers. The specific location may be a store or a place within a store. The consumer messaging system further provides the targeted messages to the consumer or groups of consumers when the consumer or group of consumers is at a point of decision.

Description:
BACKGROUND  
         [0001]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0002]    The present invention relates generally to systems for providing information to consumers and, more particularly, to a system for providing targeted information to consumers at a location.  
           [0003]    2. Background Information  
           [0004]    Advertising is a known method of trying to persuade a consumer to purchase a particular product or service. Such advertising can be packaged in many forms. Some of the forms of advertising are coupons, offers, promotions, audio/video messages, and the like. One drawback to such advertising is that it is generic. In other words, such advertising is provided to a consumer without knowledge of whether the product and/or service being advertised is something that the consumer would want.  
           [0005]    Because of the problem of “generic advertising”, retailers are now trying to provide advertisements to specific consumers or attempting to focus their advertising efforts to consumers. To this end, large data warehouses are used in an attempt to feed offers, promotions, and other advertisements to consumers. These efforts, however, fall short since the advertisements are still provided in a non-discriminatory manner to consumers, or by providing the advertisement post-sale. In one instance, such advertisements in the form of offers or coupons are provided to a consumer post-purchase either at the checkout or in the mail thereafter. Regardless of the form, current advertising schemes are either generic or occur after a consumer purchasing decision has already been made.  
           [0006]    It would thus be advantageous to provide a message to a consumer that is specifically targeted to the consumer.  
           [0007]    It would thus be further advantageous to provide a targeted message to a consumer at a point of purchase decision for the consumer.  
           [0008]    It would thus be still further advantageous to provide targeted messages to a group of consumers.  
           [0009]    It would thus be even further advantageous to provide targeted messages to a group of consumers at a point of purchase decision for the group of consumers.  
           [0010]    What is therefore needed is a system for providing a message to a consumer that is targeted to the consumer.  
           [0011]    What is therefore further needed is a system for providing a targeted message to a consumer at a point of decision for the consumer.  
           [0012]    What is therefore still further needed is a system for providing targeted messages to a group of consumers during purchase decision periods of the group of consumers.  
         SUMMARY  
         [0013]    The subject invention is a system for providing targeted information to a consumer while the consumer is at a particular location. Particularly, the subject invention is a system that provides targeted information to a group of consumers while the group of consumers is at a store. More particularly, the subject invention is a system that provides targeted advertisements to consumers during a point of decision for the consumers while the consumers are at a particular location.  
           [0014]    In accordance with an aspect of the subject invention, there is provided a method for providing a targeted message at a location. The method comprises the steps of: (a) obtaining data regarding a consumer who is at a location; (b) providing the obtained consumer data to collective consumer data of a pool of consumers who are at the location; (c) determining a consumer characteristic from the collective consumer data of the pool of consumers who are at the location; (d) selecting a message in accordance with the determined consumer characteristic of the pool of consumers who are at the location; and (e) providing the selected message to the location.  
           [0015]    In accordance with another aspect of the subject invention, there is provided a system for providing a targeted message to a location. The system includes means for obtaining consumer data of a consumer who is at a location, means for providing the obtained consumer data to collective consumer data of a pool of consumers who are at the location, means for determining a consumer characteristic from the collective consumer data of the pool of consumer who are at the location, means for selecting a message in accordance with the determined consumer characteristic of the pool of consumers who are at the location, and means for providing the selected message to the location.  
           [0016]    In accordance with yet another aspect of the subject invention there is provided a system for providing targeted messages to consumers at a location. The system includes a consumer data acquisition device, a processor, a message selector, and a message provider. The consumer data acquisition device is operative to obtain data of a consumer who is at a location and provide the obtained consumer data to collective consumer data of a pool of consumers who are at the location. The processor is in communication with the consumer data acquisition device and is operative to determine a consumer characteristic from the collective consumer data of the pool of consumers who are at the location. The message selector is in communication with the processor and is operative to select a message in accordance with the determined consumer characteristic of the pool of consumers who are at the location. The message provider is in communication with the message selector and is operative to play the selected message at the location. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0017]    [0017]FIG. 1 is a representation of an establishment with an exemplary messaging system in accordance with the principles of the subject invention;  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 2 is a representation of a portion of the establishment of FIG. 1 illustrating various message providers in accordance with the principles of the subject invention; and  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 3 is a flowchart of an exemplary manner of operation of the subject messaging system. 
     
    
       [0020]    Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views.  
       DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0021]    Referring to FIG. 1, there is depicted a representation of an establishment  10 . The establishment  10  is illustrative of a location or premises such as a retail store or the like that is open to consumers, of which a consumer  12  is representative. In accordance with the principles of the subject invention, the establishment  10  includes a consumer detection and/or identification system  14  that is in communication with a message targeting system  16 . The message targeting system  16  is in communication with a plurality of message providers (generally designated  18 ) and represented by message providers  18   1 ,  18   2 , through  18   n . In one sense, the consumer detection and/or identification system  14 , the message targeting system  16 , and the message providers  18 , each may be considered a subsystem of an overall targeted consumer information dispersal system.  
         [0022]    The consumer detection and/or identification system  14  is operative to identify and/or obtain data regarding a consumer  12  that is entering or has entered the establishment  10 . The obtained identification and/or consumer data is provided to the message targeting system  16  as represented by the arrow from the consumer detection and/or identification system  14  to the message targeting system  16 . Such communication may be accomplished via a hardwired configuration or via a wireless configuration.  
         [0023]    In one form, the consumer detection and/or identification system  14  may be a kiosk or other consumer accessible device (collectively kiosk) that is operative to receive consumer data from a loyalty card, shopper card, identification card, or the like (collectively consumer card). The consumer card may be a magnetic strip type card, smart card, bar-coded card, or other type of card that has machine-readable indicia. Further, the consumer card may include the consumer information thereon, or provide consumer identification data that allows the consumer detection and/or identification system  14  or the message targeting system  16  to obtain consumer data from storage once the consumer&#39;s identification has been determined. In this form, the consumer  12  would log onto the kiosk upon entering the establishment  10 . The consumer detection and/or identification system  14  then forwards the data obtained from the consumer card to the message targeting system  16 . The kiosk could be located anywhere within the establishment  10 , but would preferably be located at an entrance to the establishment  10 . Further, the kiosk may have other functionality such as is typical of kiosks and thus incorporate the functionality and/or features of the subject invention therein.  
         [0024]    In another form, the consumer detection and/or identification system  14  may be a scanner or field generator/detector that is operative to detect an identification card such as a transponder type card or a smart card (collectively scanner card). In this form, the scanner or field generator/detector would obtain the consumer data/information from the scanner card when the consumer  12  enters the establishment  10 . Like the kiosk embodiment, the scanner card may include the consumer information thereon, or provide consumer identification data that allows the consumer detection and/or identification system  14  or the message targeting system  16  to obtain consumer data from storage once the consumer&#39;s identification has been determined. The scanner or field generator/detector would preferably be located at an entrance to the establishment where the scanner or field generator/detector could interrogate a consumer entering the establishment to obtain the consumer data from the scanner card. In this form, the consumer  12  does not need to do an activity.  
         [0025]    In another form, the consumer detection and/or identification system  14  may be a physical recognition system that is operative to scan and/or obtain data regarding a physical feature of the consumer. The physical recognition system is preferably located at an entrance to the establishment  10  such that a physical characteristic of the consumer  12  may be obtained when the consumer  12  enters the establishment  10 . The physical recognition system may be, without being exhaustive, an iris recognition device, a fingerprint recognition device, a facial recognition device, or the like. In some instances, the physical recognition system may not require physical or active participation by the consumer  12  such as with current facial recognition systems. In some instances, such as the fingerprint or iris recognition systems, the consumer detection and/or identification system  14  may require at least some degree of active or consumer participation.  
         [0026]    Because of various concerns on behalf of consumers and or problems with making or compelling a consumer to log onto the consumer detection and/or identification system  14  or actively participate in the acquisition of consumer data/information, it is preferable that the consumer detection and/or identification system  14  does not require active participation by the consumer  12  or at least requires only minimum activity or participation by the consumer  12 .  
         [0027]    The message targeting system  16  includes a processor  20 , a storage medium  22 , a message generator and transmitter  24 , and memory  26 . The memory  26  stores program instructions that allow the message targeting system  16  to function in accordance with the present description. The processor, processing unit, and/or processing circuitry/logic  20  is operative to execute the appropriate program instructions and perform the necessary processing of data in accordance with the principles of the subject invention. The storage medium  22  is operative to store consumer data/information both obtained in real time from the consumer detection and/or identification system  14  and historical consumer data/information and/or consumer characteristics. The historical consumer data/information is obtained through previous purchase transactions, consumer surveys, and the like. The consumer data/information contained in the storage  22  is updateable. In one form, the consumer data/information is updated by purchase information obtained by retail terminals (not shown) located in the establishment  10  that are used to consummate retail or purchase transactions.  
         [0028]    The message targeting system  16  may also be deemed a targeted marketing system, customer relationship management system, or similar system, and thus have the characteristics and/or attributes of same. The message targeting system  16  is operative to receive the consumer data from the consumer detection and/or identification system  14  and ascertain a characteristic or characteristics regarding the consumer either directly from the consumer detection and/or identification system  14  or from the storage  22  of the message targeting system  16 . The message targeting system  16  takes the characteristic(s) of the consumer  12  and creates or updates a consumer characteristics pool for consumers that are in the establishment  10 . While the message targeting system  16  may perform its operation as described herein with respect to an individual consumer, for privacy and/or anonymity concerns, the message targeting system  16  utilizes a pool of consumers on location (at the establishment  10 ). Particularly, the message targeting system  16  adds the characteristics of each consumer that is in the establishment  10  to the consumer characteristics pool. This naturally necessitates the removal of consumer characteristics for consumers that have left the establishment  10 . This will be discussed in detail below. The consumer characteristics pool is thus updated in real-time both with respect to incoming consumers and outgoing consumers.  
         [0029]    The message targeting system  16  utilizes the consumer characteristics pool to select and/or generate via the message selector/generator  24  a message, messages, or set of messages to distribute to the message providers  18 . The targeted message(s) may, without being exhaustive, consist of targeted advertisements, services deemed appropriate and/or applicable to the group of consumers at the establishment  10 , or other such messages. In the present context and unless otherwise indicated, it should be appreciated that a message is audio and/or video information (collectively audio/video information). The audio/video information may constitute an advertisement, offer, infomercial, or the like. The message(s) are typically pre-recorded and retained in the storage  22 . As such, the message targeting system  16  is operative to accept messages, modify messages, and delete messages. The messages may be provided to the message targeting system  16  by outside sources such as vendors, may be produced “in-house”, or be a combination thereof. Vendors may be charged a fee to have their message be a part of the subject message targeting system.  
         [0030]    In one form, a message is considered targeted in that it relates to the deemed characteristics of a majority of the consumers currently at the establishment  10 . For example, if the consumer characteristics pool determines that ten (10) of the currently twelve (12) identified people (i.e. consumers that have actively logged into the system or have been passively identified by the system) in the establishment  10  have young children (based on previous purchase history), the message targeting system  16  generates and/or provides a message throughout the establishment  10  regarding diapers or other young children product.  
         [0031]    In one form, the targeted message is provided to the plurality of message providers  18 . The message targeting system  16  determines the number of times, the interval between replay of the message, and/or how long the particular message will be provided to the message providers  18 . The targeted consumer information dispersal system re-evaluates the targeted messages (the consumer characteristics pool) upon the occurrence of an event. An event may be a time period or interval, the detection and/or identification of another consumer entering the establishment  10 , the checkout of a “logged in” consumer, the egress of a “logged in” consumer from the establishment  10 , or other event. In one form, each identified consumer characteristic or attribute may be on a timer and thus purged from the system after the timer has expired. The timer may be set to an average length of stay of a consumer in the particular establishment  10 .  
         [0032]    With respect to a consumer leaving the establishment  10 , in one form, the consumer detection and/or identification system  14  may be configured to detect that a consumer is leaving (or has left) in the same manner as the detection of a consumer entering (or has entered) the establishment by detecting a consumer card and then checking the identification against those consumers already detected or identified. If the consumer has already been identified, then it would assume that the consumer is leaving. The system would then log out the consumer and re-evaluate the consumer characteristics pool and thus the targeted messages. In another form, during checkout at a retail terminal, self-checkout, or the like (collectively purchase transaction terminal), the swiping of the consumer card into the purchase transaction terminal would log out the consumer and cause re-evaluation.  
         [0033]    Referring to FIG. 2, the establishment  10  is illustratively represented as a retail store. The establishment  10  includes a number or plurality of aisles, here represented aisle A, aisle B, and aisle C, and typically other areas that are not shown or represented. In the present example, aisle A is arbitrarily a “beverage aisle”, aisle B is arbitrarily a “household goods aisle”, and aisle C is arbitrarily a “seasonal items aisle”. The message providers  18  are preferably distributed throughout the establishment  10  and may comprise one or more types of audio/video players or devices. Shown in FIG. 2 as non-exhaustive examples of message providers is a television  18   1  provided in the beverages aisle, an electronic shelf-talker (or other shelf mounted audio/video device)  18   2  provided in the household goods aisle, a kiosk  18   4  provided in the seasonal items aisle, and a portable or mountable electronic audio/video device  18   3  provided on a shopping cart  28 . It should be appreciated that the message providers  18   1 ,  18   2  and  18   4  are in communication with the message targeting system  16  via a hard-wired configuration or a wireless configuration, while the message provider  18   3  is in communication with the message targeting system  16  via a wireless configuration. While not specifically shown, a PDA or the like either owned by the consumer  12  or provided by the establishment  10  may also be used on a wireless basis. Of course, other types of message providers may be utilized.  
         [0034]    With continued reference to FIG. 2, illustrations regarding the subject invention will be described. According to one illustration, each message provider  18   1 ,  18   2 ,  18   3 ,  18   4 , is provided with the same targeted messages according to the consumer characteristics pool. Preferably, the targeted messages are provided in sets of different messages to the consumers.  
         [0035]    According to another illustration, the establishment  10  may be divided into sections with a message provider (or message providers) in each section receiving and playing different targeted messages. Preferably, each section would receive and play targeted messages according to the type of items within the section or services related thereto. For example and arbitrarily for illustrative purposes, each aisle A, B, and C is a different section. In this case, the television  18   1  would receive a particular set of targeted messages typically related to beverages since aisle A is the beverage aisle and the television  18   1  is located in aisle A. At the same time, the electronic shelf talker  18   2  would receive a particular set of targeted messages typically related to household goods since aisle B is the household goods aisle and the electronic shelf-talker  18   2  in located in aisle B. Likewise, at the same time, the kiosk  18   4  would receive a particular set of targeted messages typically related to seasonal items since aisle C is the seasonal items aisle and the kiosk  18   4  is located in aisle C. Since the shopping cart  28  is mobile, the message provider  18   3  could receive a fourth set of targeted messages. Of course other configurations and/or set-ups may be provided within the establishment  10 .  
         [0036]    Operation  
         [0037]    Referring to FIG. 3, there is depicted a flow chart, generally designated  50 , of an exemplary manner of operation of an aspect of the subject invention. In particular, there is depicted the flow chart  50  of an exemplary manner of operation of the subject messaging system. Initially, in step  52 , a consumer is identified after entering the premises of an establishment. After the consumer enters the establishment, in step  54 , consumer data is obtained regarding the identified consumer. In step  56 , the obtained consumer data is provided to the message targeting system.  
         [0038]    In step  58 , the message targeting system processes the consumer data against a consumer characteristics pool to obtain an on-premises consumer pool characteristics. In step  60 , the message targeting system then selects a targeted message or targeted messages according to or based on the consumer pool characteristics. In step  62 , the targeted message or messages are sent to the message providers to be played thereon. Finally, in step  64 , the message system re-evaluates the targeted messages when or based on the occurrence of an event.  
         [0039]    While this invention has been described as having a preferred design, the subject invention can be further modified within the spirit and scope of this disclosure. This application is therefore intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the subject invention using its general principles. Further, this application is intended to cover such departures from the present disclosure as come within known or customary practice in the art to which this invention pertains and that fall within the limits of the appended claims.