Abstract:
Methods and apparatus are provided for matching audio advertisements to items on a shopping list in a mobile device. Audio advertisements are matched to items on a shopping list by obtaining the shopping list from a mobile device of the user; applying a speech recognizer to at least one audio advertisement detected on a microphone of the mobile device; identifying one or more key words in the at least one audio advertisement; comparing the one or more identified key words to one or more items on the shopping list stored on the mobile device; and storing the information related to the at least one advertisement if the one or more identified key words match the one or more items.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to techniques for matching audio advertisements to items on a shopping list. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     In today&#39;s busy world, consumers and retailers alike often employ technology to improve the shopping experience. Retailers, for example, look to technology to lower the cost of each transaction and to employ targeted marketing techniques to present consumers with advertising that is targeted to the particular needs and habits of a given consumer. 
     Consumers often make purchases of household goods, for example, based on items listed on a shopping list. The traditional hand-written shopping list, however, is often replaced by a digital list stored in a mobile device of the user. Consumers can often dictate their shopping list into a mobile device. In addition, a number of techniques are known for automatically generating an electronic shopping list for a consumer (for example, with items from a selected recipe). 
     A number of techniques have been proposed or suggested for using mobile devices to improve the shopping experience for consumers and/or retailers. United States Published Patent Application No. 2008/0052168, for example, discloses techniques for providing targeted advertising to a group of individuals in public places and public carriers. United States Published Patent Application No. 2007/0174115 discloses techniques for presenting customized presentation offers to a consumer having a shopping device. In addition, United States Published Patent Application No. 2006/0047577 discloses techniques for matching a shopping list with an order that items are found in a given store. 
     While such technology advances have improved the shopping experience of consumers and/or retailers, a need still remains for improved techniques for making the shopping list in a mobile device more intelligent such that it can leverage the information from a number of different audio sources. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Generally, methods and apparatus are provided for matching audio advertisements to items on a shopping list in a mobile device. According to one aspect of the invention, one or more audio advertisements are matched to one or more items on a shopping list by obtaining the shopping list from a mobile device of the user; applying a speech recognizer to at least one audio advertisement detected on a microphone of the mobile device; identifying one or more key words in the at least one audio advertisement; comparing the one or more identified key words to one or more items on the shopping list stored on the mobile device; and storing the information related to the at least one advertisement if the one or more identified key words match the one or more items. 
     The stored information related to the at least one advertisement can optionally be presented to the user. Key words can optionally be extracted from the shopping list prior to applying the speech recognizer to the audio advertisements. The list of advertisements can optionally be ranked based on a relevance score. The identified key words from the advertisement can optionally be stored in a Dedicated Memory Location (DML). 
     A more complete understanding of the present invention, as well as further features and advantages of the present invention, will be obtained by reference to the following detailed description and drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  illustrates an exemplary advertisement matching system that incorporates aspects of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a flow chart describing an exemplary implementation of an advertisement matching process that incorporates aspects of the present invention; 
         FIG. 3  illustrates exemplary shopping list data  300  for a shopping list residing on a mobile device of a user; 
         FIG. 4  illustrates an exemplary advertisement record for a broadcast advertisement; and 
         FIG. 5  is a block diagram of an advertisement matching system that can implement the processes of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     The present invention provides methods and apparatus for matching audio advertisements to items on a shopping list in a mobile device. Generally, aspects of the present invention make shopping lists in mobile devices, such as smart phones, more intelligent and dynamic by applying speech recognition techniques to audio advertisements. According to one aspect of the invention, a speech recognizer converts audio advertisements to text or another relevant format in order to identify keywords of interest. The identified keywords can be matched to one or more items on the shopping list of a user. As used herein, a “shopping list” comprises any listing of one or more items to be purchased by a user, including an ingredient list, a shopping cart for an e-commerce web site, and “to do” entries on a calendar that are related to a purchase (such as “buy milk”). 
       FIG. 1  illustrates an exemplary advertisement matching system  100  that incorporates aspects of the present invention. As shown in  FIG. 1 , the exemplary advertisement matching system  100  may be implemented on a mobile device, such as a smart phone, of a user. The exemplary advertisement matching system  100  comprises a speech recognition module  110  and a shopping list module  120 . The exemplary speech recognition module  110  and shopping list module  120  may be implemented, for example, as client applications on the mobile device  100  of a user. The exemplary speech recognition module  110  listens to advertisements at stage  112 , recognizes text from the advertisement at stage  114 , and parses the advertisement at stage  116 . It is noted that the speech recognition module  110  can perform speech recognition directly on the mobile device of the user, or may transmit the audio information to a server or another computing device to perform the speech recognition. 
     As discussed hereinafter, an advertisement matching process  200 , as discussed further below in conjunction with  FIG. 2 , listens to audio advertisements  150  in a background mode, performs speech recognition on the advertisements using the speech recognition module  110  and then parses the recognized text of the advertisements to match the advertisements to items on a shopping list using the shopping list module  120 . The audio advertisements  150  may be broadcasted, for example, from any audio source  160 , such as radio or another audio source. 
     The exemplary shopping list module  120  synchronizes items on a shopping list  130  to generate the necessary notes and messages  140  from the audio advertisements  150 , as discussed further below. 
       FIG. 2  is a flow chart describing an exemplary implementation of an advertisement matching process  200  that incorporates aspects of the present invention. As shown in  FIG. 2 , the exemplary advertisement matching process  200  initially stores the shopping list  130  in the mobile device  100  of the user during step  210 . 
     Thereafter, one or more advertisements  150  are broadcasted, for example, from an FM radio or another audio source during step  220 . The speech recognition module  110  listens to the advertisements  150  in a background mode during step  230 . The speech recognition module  110  matches certain words from the advertisements  150  to items in the shopping list  130  during step  240 . 
     Thereafter, the speech recognition module  110  stores information from the advertisement  150  during step  250  in a Dedicated Memory Location (DML)  400 , as discussed further below in conjunction with  FIG. 4 . The exemplary shopping list module  120  scans the items in the shopping list  130  during step  260  and tags the shopping list data  300 , as discussed further below in conjunction with  FIG. 3 , with the information from the advertisement  150 . 
     As shown in step  270  and as discussed further below in conjunction with  FIGS. 3 and 4 , the tag for the advertisement  150  contains specific data related to the advertisement  150 . As shown in  FIG. 2 , the tag for the advertisement  150  optionally pops up as a message to the user during step  280  when the user activates the mobile device  100 . 
       FIG. 3  illustrates exemplary shopping list data  300  for a shopping list  130  residing on a mobile device  100  of a user. The exemplary shopping list data  300  comprises a plurality of records  310 - 1  through  310 -N, each associated with a different item in the shopping list  130 . Each exemplary record  310  identifies the item by one or more of name, quantity, pattern, color, type and brand. In addition, each exemplary record  310  comprises exemplary advertising tag information  320 , such as a link to the details of the advertisement  150 . 
       FIG. 4  illustrates an exemplary advertisement record  400  for a broadcast advertisement  150 . The exemplary advertisement record  400  comprises a field  410  containing the transcribed text of the broadcasted advertisement  150  and a field  420  comprising the generated information for the Advertisement Tag  320 . The exemplary field  420  comprises an advertiser name, a commodity name, a brand name and a summary of the offer. 
     While  FIG. 2  shows an exemplary sequence of steps, it is also an embodiment of the present invention that these sequences may be varied. Various permutations of the algorithms are contemplated as alternate embodiments of the invention. 
     While exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been described with respect to processing steps in a software program, as would be apparent to one skilled in the art, various functions may be implemented in the digital domain as processing steps in a software program, in hardware by a programmed general-purpose computer, circuit elements or state machines, or in combination of both software and hardware. Such software may be employed in, for example, a hardware device, such as a digital signal processor, application specific integrated circuit, micro-controller, or general-purpose computer. Such hardware and software may be embodied within circuits implemented within an integrated circuit. 
     As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the present invention may be embodied as a system, method or computer program product. Accordingly, aspects of the present invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment (including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may all generally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module” or “system.” Furthermore, aspects of the present invention may take the form of a computer program product embodied in one or more computer readable medium(s) having computer readable program code embodied thereon. 
     Any combination of one or more computer readable medium(s) may be utilized. The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer readable storage medium would include the following: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. In the context of this document, a computer readable storage medium may be any tangible medium that can contain, or store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. 
     A computer readable signal medium may include a propagated data signal with computer readable program code embodied therein, for example, in baseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated signal may take any of a variety of forms, including, but not limited to, electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. A computer readable signal medium may be any computer readable medium that is not a computer readable storage medium and that can communicate, propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. 
     Program code embodied on a computer readable medium may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless, wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination of the foregoing. 
     Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of the present invention may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language such as Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like and conventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C” programming language or similar programming languages. 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 the 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). 
     Aspects of the present invention are described below with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) 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 program instructions. These computer program 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 the 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. 
     These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer readable medium that can direct a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readable medium produce an article of manufacture including instructions which implement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. 
     The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, other programmable apparatus or other devices to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide processes for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. 
       FIG. 5  is a block diagram of an advertisement matching system  500  that can implement the processes of the present invention. As shown in  FIG. 5 , memory  530  configures the processor  520  to implement the advertisement matching methods, steps, and functions disclosed herein (collectively, shown as  580  in  FIG. 5 ). The memory  530  could be distributed or local and the processor  520  could be distributed or singular. The memory  530  could be implemented as an electrical, magnetic or optical memory, or any combination of these or other types of storage devices. It should be noted that each distributed processor that makes up processor  520  generally contains its own addressable memory space. It should also be noted that some or all of computer system  500  can be incorporated into a personal computer, laptop computer, handheld computing device, application-specific circuit or general-use integrated circuit. 
     The flowcharts and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementations of systems, methods and computer program products according to various embodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in the flowcharts or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portion of code, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be noted that, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions. 
     It is to be understood that the embodiments and variations shown and described herein are merely illustrative of the principles of this invention and that various modifications may be implemented by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.