Patent ID: 7155401

Claim:
An automated sales promotion selection system comprising: an input device that receives customer data relating to purchases of items by customers; a computer system including a central processing unit and a storage unit including a purchase advisor neural network and a plurality of item identifiers that identify items available for purchase, wherein the purchase advisor neural network responds to customer data received from the input device by determining if one or more of the item identifiers stored in the storage unit corresponds to an item likely to be purchased by one of the customers and identifies a sales promotion relating to the item, and wherein the central processing unit selectively adapts the response of the purchase advisor neural network for future customers in response to customer data; and an output device that receives the item identifiers of the likely purchases determined by the purchase advisor neural network; wherein the storage unit further includes a customer demographics neural network that estimates buying characteristics of one or more customers most likely to be at a purchase location, and also produces item identifiers comprising the estimated item purchases of the estimated customers.