Abstract:
A method and apparatus are disclosed for aiding shoppers. A shopper enters a product search query into a hand-held device and, via Near-Field Communication (NFC) technology, transfers the query to a terminal at a shopping establishment. The terminal forwards the search query to a search engine over a network and the search engine, after consulting a database, returns results meeting the criteria of the search query to the terminal for presentation on a display at the terminal. The shopper is then offered the option of transferring the results data, via NFC devices located in the hand-held device and the terminal, from the terminal to a memory in the hand-held device.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present disclosure is related to Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, more particularly to utilization of near field communication in a mobile communication device for searching, locating, storing, and displaying information about products associated with an establishment. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Various advancements have been developed for providers to make product and service information available to interested individuals. A personal computer (PC) user may remotely access such information, at leisure, via provider websites available on the Internet. In commercial establishments, where Internet connections may be unavailable or limited in performance (e.g., by cellular coverage), various solutions have been implemented to provide access to a product or service database. Typically, bar codes are applied individually to items in an establishment, thereby permitting an individual to apply an optical bar code reader and obtain displayed information about a particular item. Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) technology is another alternative. Local area networks in the establishments provide information for display. Interactive user terminals may be provided to interface the user with the local area network. 
     The conventional methods have inherent disadvantages. For example, considerable expense in cost and manpower is incurred by bar-coding and updating the plurality of items contained in an establishment. Provision of a plurality of user-interactive terminals throughout the premises also incurs expense. A further disadvantage is that an individual has no easy way to save acquired information for consideration after leaving the premises. 
     Accordingly, the need exists for an improved method by which an individual can obtain access to information about items of interest. Such a method should permit user portability and offer the user the capability of saving information requested. 
     SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE 
     A simple and effective searching aid for products or services offered by a commercial establishment is available to patrons at the establishment premises. A user equipped with a portable, hand-held NFC-enabled communication device can enter a search query, pertaining to a desired product or products, or services, into the hand-held device. The hand-held device can be placed within range of a NFC-enabled terminal at the establishment. The terminal can then initiate a search of a database associated with the establishment. The database may comprise data relating to all merchandise or services available at the establishment. The search results can be displayed at the terminal and may include an option of storing the search results in a memory of the portable, hand-held, device. The search results can be stored in a memory of the portable, hand-held device either directly from the NFC-enabled terminal at the establishment or from a search engine over a communication link having a greater capacity than that provided by an NFC link. 
     The hand-held device may be exemplified by a mobile telephone comprising a controller, memory, a user input interface and near field communication (NFC) device. A user can formulate a search query, which, under the control of the controller, can be transmitted via NFC communication to a terminal of an establishment. The terminal may reside, for example, in a kiosk within or without the establishment. 
     The user may activate a product search application stored in the mobile communication device to formulate a search query. A menu displayed on the mobile communication device may contain options for selection in formulating the query. The query, transmitted to the establishment terminal by near field communication, elicits access of a search engine, which may be remote from the terminal. A response to the query may comprise information concerning the availability of requested merchandise and location of requested merchandise, if available. The response may include an image of the requested merchandise that can be displayed at the terminal. 
     Additional advantages of the present invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in this art from the following detailed description, wherein only the preferred embodiment of the invention is shown and described, simply by way of illustration of the best mode contemplated of carrying out the invention. As will be realized, the invention is capable of other and different embodiments, and its several details are capable of modifications in various obvious respects, all without departing from the invention. Accordingly, the drawings and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature, and not as restrictive. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The present invention is illustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawing and in which like reference numerals refer to similar elements and in which: 
         FIG. 1  is an illustrative view of structure of an exemplary mobile phone having NFC search capability; 
         FIG. 2  is a block diagram of a NFC-assisted search system for use in conjunction with the mobile phone shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is an illustrative view of a kiosk terminal for NFC communication with the mobile phone in the system of  FIG. 2 ; 
         FIG. 4  is a flowchart of a NFC-assisted product search; and 
         FIG. 5  is a chart representing product search query menu operation. 
         FIG. 6  is a block diagram of a NFC-assisted search system similar to that of  FIG. 2  with the added capability of receiving search results by the mobile phone over a high-capacity communication link. 
     
    
    
     The present invention is illustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawing and in which like reference numerals refer to similar elements and in which: 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Embodiments of the present invention will be described hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description, the constituent elements having substantially the same function and arrangement are denoted by the same reference numerals, and repetitive descriptions will be made only when necessary. 
     A hand-held communication device is represented by a mobile phone  101  in  FIG. 1 . The mobile phone, alternatively, may be embodied within any suitable housing (or casing), such as a fold (or clamshell) housing, slide housing, or swivel housing. Mounted on the housing surface are conventional elements such as display  109 , keypad  103 , microphone  113 , and speaker  115 . Additional user function keys, such as hot key  107 , are provided. The specific arrangement of user function keys is merely exemplary. The mobile phone additional is equipped with near field communication (NFC) device  105  and LED indicator  111 . NFC device  105 , instead, may be contained within the phone housing for protective purposes. 
       FIG. 2  is a block diagram of an NFC-assisted search system for use in conjunction with the mobile phone shown in  FIG. 1 . Block  302  represents mobile phone  101  in proximity to a terminal  201  and within NFC range of the terminal&#39;s NFC device  205 . Internal elements of the mobile phone  101  are CPU  301  and memory  303 . Terminal  201  comprises controller  306 , memory  308 , display  304  and NFC device  205 . Transceiver  305  in the terminal  201  provides communication with a search engine and peripheral unit  309  via a wireless local-area network, such as intranet  307 . Peripheral unit  309  comprises search engine  311 , database  313  and transceiver  315 . Transceiver  315  is coupled to the intranet  307 . Peripheral unit  309  may be located remotely or on site at the establishment premises. 
     NFC devices  105  and  205  can be full capacity NFC devices, i.e., they have two-way capability for transmitting and receiving. Such two-way NFC devices and their manner of operation are known to those skilled in the art. As mobile phone  101  and terminal  201  are within NFC range of each other, near field communication between these devices can take place. As well known, NFC is a short-range wireless connectivity technology standard that has been designed for simple and safe communications and data transfers between electronic devices. By bringing two NFC-enabled and compatible devices within a few centimeters of each other, fast data transfers are possible. 
     When a search of items offered by an establishment associated with terminal  201  is desired, keypad  103  of the mobile phone  101  may be used for formulating search queries. Activation of an appropriate software application, stored in a CPU  301  can be initiated, for example, by depression of a “hot-key”  107 . Activation may present a menu on display  109 , wherein user interaction in the search formulation is facilitated. Search queries may be formulated via keypad  103  through use of known Boolean operators, such as AND, OR, NOR, NOT. These operators can be physically entered on the keypad by way of alphanumeric keys or the mobile telephone may have “hot-keys,” one for each operator, similar to special purpose “+,” “−,” “×,” and division keys on standard calculators. 
     The input of a search query is not limited to the use of a keypad. For example, input of a search query into the mobile phone  101  may be by voice command, employing well-known voice recognition software. For example, when a mobile phone  101  comprises the appropriate voice recognition software, a user would press the “hot-key”  107  and, while holding the key in a depressed position, vocally input the search query. Alternatively, pressing the “hot-key”  107  once could activate both the voice processing application and the search query application, wherein, after vocally inputting the search query, the “hot-key”  107  could be pressed again to deactivate both the voice processing and search query applications. 
     After the search query has been formulated and entered, the user can position the mobile telephone within NFC range of the terminal  201 , as illustrated in  FIG. 2 . An NFC communication is thus established to transfer the search query to the terminal. Visual indication of a successful data transfer can be indicated to the user by activation of LED  111 . Such indication may be accompanied by an audio alert. 
     Terminal NFC device  205  will read the received NFC communication. The search query is transmitted via transceiver  315  and Intranet  307  to search engine  311 . Search engine  311  accesses database  313  to obtain search results, which are then transmitted back to terminal  201  for display at display  304 . An option may be provided the mobile phone user to receive the search results for storage in memory  303 . 
     Search queries can be saved in the memory  303  of mobile phone  101 . Stored searches are thus available to the user for comparison shopping at other establishments. A previous search query can be recalled and then transmitted by near field communication with another NFC device equipped terminal. The user can compare the search results obtained with previous search results, which may have been saved. 
       FIG. 3  is an illustrative view of a kiosk terminal for NFC communication with the mobile phone in the system of  FIG. 2 . The illustrated kiosk terminal may be located outside of its related establishment, for example, in a shopping mall. The terminal of  FIG. 2  may alternatively be located within a commercial establishment without the need for physical embodiment within a kiosk. The kiosk terminal can take the appearance of a “dumb” terminal having only display  203  and NFC device  205  tag visible to users. 
     Referring to  FIG. 4 , flowchart  400  illustrates an exemplified operation of the NFC-Assisted product search. A hand-held device  101  is powered on at step  401 . At  403 , determination is made as to whether the user has invoked the product search application program by, for example, depressing hot key  107  in  FIG. 1 . If not, the process returns to the top of step  403  to await such application program activation. If the application program has been invoked, then the process proceeds to step  405  wherein a user enters his/her search query into the mobile telephone  101  via a keypad  103 . Entry may take the form of appropriate keystrokes employing Boolean operators, or it may be entered from a menu on the display  109 . Previous search queries may be stored in memory  303  and accessed by CPU  301 . For example, if a user is interested in searching for men&#39;s shirts in a size large, and in a red or blue color, but is not interested in fitted shirts, the user may enter, via the keypad, “large AND men AND shirt AND (red OR blue) NOT fitted.” The search query may also be retrieved from a list of previous search queries by accessing a menu on the display  109 , and scrolling down a list of previous search queries. 
     Once the search query has been entered, the user touches the mobile telephone  101  to the appropriate portion of the terminal  201  at step  407  in order to begin transfer of the search query, via the NFC devices  105  and  205 , to the terminal  201 . The search query may be stored temporarily in memory  308 . The terminal  201  transfers this search query, via an intranet  307  or other network, to a search engine,  311  at step  409 . To inform the user of successful data transfer, an indicator can be activated at terminal  201 , as well as NFC communication by terminal  201  to mobile phone  101  for activation of LED  111 . 
     At step  411 , search engine  311  searches a database  313  for items that might meet the search query criteria. The search engine  311  and database  313  may be remote from the terminal or reside in proximity thereof. While an Intranet communication has been exemplified, such communication paths may include local area and/or wide area networks. If and when results are found, those results (or a message, such as “No Results Found. Please Try Again”) are sent back to terminal  201  for display on display  304  at step  413 . The search result may display various kinds of information including but not limited to availability of the product in that establishment, availability in other, related or non-related, establishments, quantity in stock, where such products may be found within the establishment (e.g., aisle number), expected delivery date of more of the item(s), price, any special promotions or rebates, etc. 
     The user can decide if this information is useful or not. If the user wishes to purchase a searched item, the user might note the location of the item in the establishment, such as the aisle number, and retrieve the item without the need to save the displayed information. In other circumstances, the user might wish to save the search results for later use. The user thus may be given a displayed option at step  415 . 
     The user can merely read the results and use the results as the user sees fit, ending the process at  421 , or can choose to transfer those results for storage in the memory  303  of mobile telephone  101  for possible later use. If the user chooses to save the results, this choice can be implemented by retouching the mobile telephone  101  to the terminal  201  to place NFC devices  105  and  205  in close proximity to each other, at step  417 . 
     The software application in CPU  301  can set the NFC device  105  to automatically determine the direction of data transfer by, for example, setting a time period after a search query is transferred to the terminal. If the mobile telephone is once again touched to the terminal during that time period, i.e., if the NFC devices  105  and  205  are again placed in contact during that time period, then NFC device  105  can be switched from a transmit mode to a receive mode. The search results are then transferred to the memory  303  of mobile telephone  101  at step  419 . At this point, the process is ended at step  421   
       FIG. 5  is an illustration of an alternative manner of entering a search query wherein a menu of options is displayed on the display  109  of the mobile communication device  101  upon activation of the product search application. 
     A series of menus and sub-menus is depicted at  500 . Upon activation of the product search application, a main menu  501  is displayed on display  109  of mobile communication device  101 . It is understood that another type of display may be generated upon activation, wherein names of various establishments, or a welcome message may also be displayed. For illustrative purposes, a main menu shows types of products offered in a particular establishment. As would also be understood, the menu may also display available services, or a combination of products and services. 
     Main menu  501  lists available types of products including clothing, groceries, hardware, pharmacy, etc. A user may choose “clothing” by touching with a finger or stylus or other implement, or otherwise highlighting this choice. Upon choosing the “clothing” option, a sub-menu  503  is displayed in place of main menu  501 . Sub-menu  503  lists types of clothing, such as “men,” “women,” and “children.” Upon selecting “men,” for example, a new sub-menu  505  opens, replacing sub-menu  503  on the display screen. Sub-menu  505  may display various kinds of men&#39;s clothing carried by the particular establishment. These may include, for example, coats, hats, neckwear, pants, shirts, shoes, socks, suits, etc. Upon the user choosing “shirts,” another sub-menu  507  relating to sizes is opened in place of sub-menu  505 . Upon choosing “large,” for example, a new sub-menu  509  relating to the types of sleeves, e.g., French cuff, short sleeve, long sleeve, etc., is opened. Upon choosing the type of sleeve, e.g., “long sleeve,” a sub-menu  511  relating to the choice of color is opened. Upon choosing a color, e.g., “red,” a new sub-menu  513 , relating to “fitted” or “unfitted” shirts is open. 
     The number of sub-menus is limited only by imagination, memory resources and how far a user wishes to proceed in the narrowness of the search desired. 
     Each menu and sub-menu may include a “don&#39;t care” or “none” option to permit a user to keep a broad search. For example, if a user does not require any specific color or sleeve style of shirt, the user may choose the “none” option in sub-menus  509  and  511 . This choice will result in a search without regard to color or sleeve type. Also, the main menu and sub-menus may be provided with the capability to highlight, or choose, more than one option in each menu or sub-menu. In this manner, for example, a user may want to search for either a blue or a red shirt, but no other color. Accordingly, both the “blue” option and the “red” option may be highlighted. 
     The main menu and sub-menus of  FIG. 5  are listed in alphabetical order merely by example to aid the user in finding the desired choice when scrolling down the various menus. Any well known manner of scrolling can be utilized. 
     While, thus far, receipt of search results into the mobile telephone  101  has been described with reference to using NFC technology to transfer the results to memory  303  of the mobile telephone  101  by holding the mobile telephone  101  in proximity to terminal  201 , it may be desirable in certain circumstances to retrieve the search query results from peripheral unit  309  at a later time, or to retrieve the search query results over a communication link having a greater capacity than that provided by an NFC link. 
     In this case, as depicted in  FIG. 6 , the peripheral unit  309  of system  600  would send the search results to the mobile telephone  101  over a wireless communications link other than the NFC link between terminal  201  and mobile telephone  101 . The system depicted in  FIG. 6  is similar to the system depicted in  FIG. 2 , having many of the same elements. However,  FIG. 6  includes additional elements, including a wide-area wireless network  601 , such as, for example, the Internet, and interfaces  603  and  605 , interconnecting the wireless network  601  with the mobile telephone  101  and the peripheral unit  309 , respectively. 
     In system  600  of  FIG. 6 , the search query results may be returned to the mobile telephone  101  over the network  601  that is completely distinct from the wireless local-area network, e.g., intranet  307 , for a particular establishment. For example, the return of search query results to the mobile telephone  101  by the peripheral unit  309  could be effected over a WLAN or a wide-area wireless data network, such as Internet  601 . This would be effected in a well known manner via interfaces  603 , between mobile telephone  101  and the wireless network  601 , and  605 , between peripheral unit  309  and the wireless data network  601 . 
     In some cases, rather than using the NFC link described above, terminal  201  may include a WLAN transceiver configured to return search query results to mobile telephone  101  after receiving the results from peripheral unit  309 . In other cases, such as that depicted in the system  600 , the search query results may be returned via means that are completely independent from the terminal  201 . While the network  601  is depicted as a wide-area wireless data network, such as the Internet, the search query results may be returned via other means, such as any of a variety of well known mobile communication protocols, e.g., by SMS, wireless e-mail, or the like. In these cases, while the search query is initiated via the NFC path described above, the response to the search query would be sent to the mobile communication device  101  via other means, such as via the wireless data network  601 , or via a variety of well known mobile communication protocols, providing more flexibility for the user. 
     Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the use of a separate wireless network for delivery of search results may provide greater bandwidth, facilitating the provisioning of more elaborate search results, including the use of graphics, animation, video, and the like. 
     As can be appreciated, various advantages are provided by the present disclosure. The use of a “bare-bones” terminal is advantageous to the merchant in that it is relatively inexpensive, provides shopper self-service, and requires fewer personnel to answer questions regarding information about merchandise for sale. Another advantage is that there is a splitting of the user interface between the store terminal and the portable, hand-held device. As the mobile telephone contains a keypad for entering the search queries, no keypad is required on the terminal in the store. 
     In the preceding specification, various preferred embodiments have been described with reference to the accompanying drawings. It will, however, be evident that various modifications and changes may be made thereto, and additional embodiments may be implemented, without departing from the broader scope of the invention as set forth in the claims that follow. For example, although the disclosure is exemplified in the context of a terminal associated with a retail establishment, the terminal may also be in a wholesale establishment or any other establishment or institution wherein information about offered products or services is desired. The specification and the drawings are accordingly to be regarded in an illustrative rather than restrictive sense.