{
  "patent_number": "US 11900293",
  "country": "US",
  "title": "Tracking Shoppers and Store Items for Better Recommendations",
  "original_title": "Merchant action recommendation system",
  "summary": "This patent describes a system that tracks the location of physical customers, virtual customers, and store items using beacons to generate a combined visual report and recommend actions for merchants.",
  "what_it_does": "The system helps store owners understand what's happening in their physical store by tracking people and products. It receives \"first location information\" (Claim 1) from devices attached to store items, like a smart tag on a new pair of shoes. It also figures out where real customers are (\"physical user representation location,\" Claim 1) and even detects when online shoppers (\"virtual customer\") are looking at those same items (Claim 1). All this data is combined into a \"first merchant information report\" (Claim 1) that shows where the physical customer, the virtual customer, and the item are, all at the same time, on a display. For example, if a physical customer is near a new TV, and many online customers are also viewing that TV, the system might recommend the merchant move the TV to a more prominent display or offer a special deal (Claim 5). The system can also update the report if an item moves (Claim 3).",
  "what_it_does_not_cover": [
    "Does not cover systems that only track physical customers without also considering \"virtual customers\" viewing the same assets.",
    "Does not cover systems that track customer movement but do not also track the location of specific \"merchant assets.\"",
    "Does not cover systems that don't generate a single visual report showing the physical user, virtual customer, and merchant asset together.",
    "Does not cover systems that do not use beacon devices for collecting location information from customer and merchant devices (Abstract).",
    "Does not cover systems that only provide general store recommendations without linking them to specific customer-asset interactions."
  ],
  "filed": "2021-12-23",
  "granted": "2024-02-13",
  "expires": "2041-12-23",
  "status": "active",
  "holder": "PayPal",
  "holder_url": "https://patentbrief.org/company/paypal",
  "inventors": [
    {
      "name": "Ares Sakamoto",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/ares-sakamoto"
    }
  ],
  "times_cited": 0,
  "tags": [
    "consumer_electronics",
    "software",
    "telecommunications",
    "ecommerce",
    "retail"
  ],
  "abstract": "Systems and methods for recommending merchant actions include a physical merchant location having a plurality of beacon devices. A system provider device receives a plurality of first location information from the plurality of beacon devices that is collected from a customer beacon communication device that is associated with a customer. The system provider device also receives a plurality of second location information over the network from the plurality of beacon devices that is collected from a merchant beacon communication device that is associated with an asset of the merchant. The system provider device analyzes the plurality of first location information and the plurality of second location information to determine at least one merchant action recommendation related to the customer and the asset of the merchant and provides the at least one merchant action recommendation over the network for display on a display device.",
  "url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/11900293/merchant-action-recommendation-system",
  "markdown_url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/11900293/merchant-action-recommendation-system/md",
  "google_patents_url": "https://patents.google.com/patent/US11900293",
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}