Source: http://www.google.com/patents/us20130211953
Timestamp: 2016-10-01 06:00:01
Document Index: 229216906

Matched Legal Cases: ['arts 103', 'arts 103', 'art 201', 'art 201', 'art 440', 'art 440', 'art 440', 'art 440', 'art 440', 'art 440', 'art 440', 'art 440', 'art 440']

Patent US20130211953 - Collaborative shopping across multiple shopping channels using shared ... - Google PatentsSearch Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More »Sign inPatentsA system for collaborative shopping comprising shopping devices interconnected by a network and respectively used by shoppers in a collaborative shopping session, and virtual shopping carts respectively associated with the shopping devices for sharing information on items of interest among the shoppers...http://www.google.com/patents/US20130211953?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US20130211953 - Collaborative shopping across multiple shopping channels using shared virtual shopping cartsAdvanced Patent SearchTry the new Google Patents, with machine-classified Google Scholar results, and Japanese and South Korean patents.Publication numberUS20130211953 A1Publication typeApplicationApplication numberUS 13/372,493Publication dateAug 15, 2013Filing dateFeb 13, 2012Priority dateFeb 13, 2012Publication number13372493, 372493, US 2013/0211953 A1, US 2013/211953 A1, US 20130211953 A1, US 20130211953A1, US 2013211953 A1, US 2013211953A1, US-A1-20130211953, US-A1-2013211953, US2013/0211953A1, US2013/211953A1, US20130211953 A1, US20130211953A1, US2013211953 A1, US2013211953A1InventorsSubil M. Abraham, Rajaraman Hariharan, Ramakrishnan Kannan, Mathews ThomasOriginal AssigneeInternational Business Machines CorporationExport CitationBiBTeX, EndNote, RefManPatent Citations (18), Referenced by (15), Classifications (3), Legal Events (1) External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, EspacenetCollaborative shopping across multiple shopping channels using shared virtual shopping carts
US 20130211953 A1Abstract
a plurality of shopping devices interconnected by a network, the shopping devices being used by shoppers in a collaborative shopping session; and a plurality of virtual shopping carts respectively associated with the shopping devices for sharing information on items of interest among the shoppers and enabling the shoppers to collaborate on the shopping. 2. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the virtual shopping carts is managed by a collaborative shopping system comprising a service provider, a service consumer, and a shopping cart controller.
establishing a plurality of virtual shopping carts respectively associated with a plurality of shopping devices used by shoppers in a collaborative shopping session, wherein the shopping devices are interconnected by a network; sharing information on items of interest among the shoppers based on shopper preferences; and collaborating by the shoppers on shopping decisions through the virtual shopping carts. 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the virtual shopping carts comprise the items of interest and contents of the virtual shopping carts are periodically synchronized.
computer readable program code configured to establish a plurality of virtual shopping carts respectively associated with a plurality of shopping devices used by shoppers in a collaborative shopping session, wherein the shopping devices are interconnected by a network; computer readable program code configured to share information on items of interest among the shoppers based on shopper preferences; and computer readable program code configured to enable the shoppers to collaborate on shopping decisions through the virtual shopping carts. 18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the virtual shopping carts comprise the items of interest and the computer readable program code comprises computer readable program code configured to periodically synchronize contents of the virtual shopping carts.
20. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the shopping devices comprise at least one of a computer, a portable shopping assistant, a mobile phone, and a web-based device. Description
[0024] Referring now to FIG. 1, there is illustrated a diagram of multiple shoppers who may use different shopping channels and collaborate in a shopping session, according to an embodiment of the invention. Shoppers A and B may be online shoppers who respectively use computers 101-102 to connect to the web and access online vendors to shop on the vendors' web sites. Shopper D may be traveling away from home and using a mobile telephone 104 with web capability to access a vendor's web site through the Internet while shopping in store 2. Shoppers C and E may be in two different physical stores 1 and 3 and respectively use physical shopping carts 103, 105 with personal shopping assistant (PSA) devices attached to the shopping carts 103, 105. The PSA devices may be connected to the Internet by wireless communications networks such as Wi-Fi networks. An example of the PSA devices is the IBM Personal Shopping Assistant™ offered by IBM Corporation. Network 106 may comprise one or more connected public and private networks, including the Internet and telephone networks.
[0030] The collaborative shopping cart 201 may include a shopping cart controller 205 to control access to the service provider 202 based on preferences established by the shopper using the collaborative shopping cart 201. The service provider 202 includes functions (i.e., services) for obtaining information from other shopping carts. For example, a function “startSession(collaboratingSessionID)” may enable a shopper to join a multi-channel collaborative shopping session. A function “syncltems(collaborartingSessionID)” may enable a shopper A to synchronize the items in the shopper A's shopping cart with other shopping carts in a collaborative shopping session. A function “endSession(collaborationSession)” may terminate a collaborative shopping session. A function “getPreferences (collaboration SessionID)” may obtain a shopper's personal preferences.
[0032] The shopping cart controller 205 is also responsible for deciding what services need to be invoked and when the services are invoked. The types of services that are invoked depend on the design of a particular application. For example, the shopping cart controller 205 may use the service provider 202 to invoke a function “getprice(collaborationSessionID, retailerIDs)” to get the price of an item from five different retailers. The shopping cart controller 205 may control how the data from the services are collated and presented to a shopper depending on the invoked services. The presented data may include a listing of collaborators, sale promotions, etc. For example, information about the price of a product may be obtained from five different retailers and consumer feedback on the product may be obtained from two different web sites. The information presented to the shopper may include all of the collected details or only a summary of the details. The shopping cart controller 205 may further allow a shopper's user interface to make updates to the shopper preferences and item purchase data 208. This could be a simple interface since the shopping cart controller 205 controls the interface as well as the shopping preference list and item purchase data.
[0043] Initially, the in-store shopper 420 and web shopper 430 may join a collaboration shopping session, which in turn creates the joint shopping cart 440, per blocks 401-402. The collaboration request may come from the in-store shopper 420 or the online shopper 430 using any available shopping channel that supports collaborative shopping across different shopping channels. The collaboration may also be initiated by a service operating in a shopping device that detects a condition suitable for the collaboration, thereby alerting other shoppers on the participating shopping channels with a recommendation to collaborate. In one embodiment, it is possible that a new shopping collaborator may join or leave the collaborative shopping session at any time. Once the collaboration is successfully established, the collaborative shopping cart is in the “created” state (411).
[0045] In an embodiment of the invention, if all collaborating shoppers decide to purchase an item, the item may be added to the joint shopping cart 440. Similarly, if the collaborating shoppers decide not to purchase an item, the item may be removed from the joint shopping cart 440. The addition and removal of items to or from the joint shopping cart are indicated by blocks 403-404. The joint shopping cart 440 may be in a “shopping in progress” state 412 while the in-store and online shoppers 420-430 are sharing information and deciding on the items to be added to or removed from the shopping cart 440.
[0048] Once the collaborating shoppers 420-430 have selected the items that they want to purchase, they may decide on how to take delivery of the items, including the in-store shopper 420 physically picking up the items from the store (405), having certain items shipped to an address (406), having certain items shipped to a specific store location, etc. After the collaborating shoppers 420-430 have decided on the delivery of the purchased items, the joint shopping cart 440 may be in a “shipping decision taken” state 413.
[0049] The collaborating shoppers 420-430 may jointly decide on payment details, such as details 408, using one of more methods of payment. The payment methods may include a physical store tender such as cash, credit card, gift cart, etc., and online payments. The joint shopping cart 440 may enter a “payment decision taken” state 414 once the shoppers 420-430 provide the payment details. At the “ready for checkout” state 415, the joint shopping cart 440 may be synchronized with a point-of-sale terminal. During synchronization, the information from the joint shopping cart 440 may be sent to a point-of-sale controller unit or terminal, per block 409. This synchronization may be done, for example, using a Web service call.
[0059] The subject matter described above is provided by way of illustration only and should not be construed as limiting. Various modifications and substitutions of the described components and operations can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention defined in the following claims, the scope of which is to be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass such modifications and equivalent structures. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the systems, methods, and procedures described herein can be embodied in a programmable computer, computer executable software, or digital circuitry. The software can be stored on computer readable media. For example, computer readable media can include a floppy disk, RAM, ROM, hard disk, removable media, flash memory, a “memory stick”, optical media, magneto-optical media, CD-ROM, etc.
[0060] Aspects of the present disclosure may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment (including firmware, resident soft-ware, 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 disclosure 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.
[0063] Program code embodied on a computer readable medium may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless, wire line, optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination of the foregoing. Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of the present disclosure 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's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user'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's computer through any type of network, including a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), Ethernet, or the connection may be made to an external computer, for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider.
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