Patent Issued for Method and systems for a product list server (USPTO 11341553): United Services Automobile Association

2022 JUN 10 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- United Services Automobile Association (San Antonio, Texas, United States) has been issued patent number 11341553, according to news reporting originating out of Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx editors.

The patent’s inventors are Borunda, Adrian (San Antonio, TX, US), Conrad, Jack (San Antonio, TX, US), Kilgrow, Jason H. (San Antonio, TX, US), Lyday, Ferdinand Glenn (Helotes, TX, US), Mendivil, Marty Lee (San Antonio, TX, US), Roberts, Seth A. (San Antonio, TX, US).

This patent was filed on May 27, 2016 and was published online on May 24, 2022.

From the background information supplied by the inventors, news correspondents obtained the following quote: “People, by their very nature, compile lists. One type of list is a shopping list. The shopping list may aid a consumer in purchasing various goods. However, compiling lists may be a tiresome task.”

Supplementing the background information on this patent, NewsRx reporters also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “In a first aspect, a method for generating a shopping list for a consumer is disclosed. The method includes: accessing a consumer profile for the consumer; determining a life event based on at least a part of the consumer profile, the life event comprising an event that changes a respective consumer’s status or circumstances; accessing a data structure correlating the determined life event with purchases associated with the life event, the purchases correlated to the determined life event being determined based on purchases from similarly situated consumers; generating a shopping list based on the accessed data structure; and sending at least a part of the shopping list to the consumer.

“In a second aspect, a method for determining whether to include an item in a shopping list is disclosed. The method includes: accessing a consumer profile for a consumer; determining an item for purchase by the consumer; accessing from the consumer profile a purchase window associated with purchasing the item; determining whether the consumer is scheduled to purchase the item; accessing a database of consumer promotions; determining whether the item is included in the database of consumer promotions; and in response to determining that the item is included in the database and in response to determining that the consumer is scheduled to purchase the item, including the item in a shopping list associated with the consumer.

“In a third aspect, a method for determining money cost and time cost for purchasing a list of items is disclosed. The method includes: accessing a consumer profile for a consumer; accessing, based on the consumer profile, a list of items for purchase; selecting a first store and a second store from which to purchase the items; accessing a database of consumer promotions; determining a money cost and a time cost for purchasing the list of items from each of the first store and the second store; and presenting to the consumer the money cost and the time cost for purchasing the list of items from each of the first store and the second store.

“In a fourth aspect, a method for collaborating in purchasing a list of items is disclosed. The method includes: accessing a profile associated with a group of consumers; accessing, based on the profile, a list of items for purchase; assigning items within the list of items to respective consumers within the group of consumers; sending a communication to the group of consumers, the communication comprising the list of items for purchase and indicative of the items assigned to the respective consumers; monitoring purchases from the different consumers; and in response to receiving an indication of a purchase of an item, sending a communication to the group of consumers indicative of the purchase of the item.

“In a fifth aspect, a method for determining whether to send a communication to a consumer regarding an item for purchase is disclosed. The method includes: accessing a consumer profile for the consumer; accessing, based on the consumer profile, the item for purchase; determining a store from which to purchase the item; monitoring a location of the consumer; determining, based on the location of the consumer, a store location of the store, the store location selection from a plurality of locations of the store; determining a distance between the location of the consumer and the store location; determining whether the distance is less than a predetermined distance; and in response to determining that the distance is less than the predetermined distance, sending the communication to the consumer, the communication indicating that the item is available for purchase at the store location of the store and indicating the distance to the store location.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A method for determining whether to include an item in a group shopping list, the method comprising: accessing a consumer profile for a consumer; determining an item for purchase by the consumer based on a specific life event associated with the consumer; accessing from the consumer profile a purchase window associated with purchasing the item; determining, based on the purchase window and previous purchases by the consumer, whether the consumer is scheduled to purchase the item; in response to determining that the consumer is scheduled to purchase the item, including the item in a group shopping list associated with a plurality of consumers that comprises the consumer; receiving a sequence of global positioning system (GPS) coordinates from an electronic device associated with the consumer; selecting a geographic distance based on the sequence of GPS coordinates, wherein the selection is either a walking geographic distance or a driving geographic distance; transmitting, to the electronic device of the consumer, store data of stores having the item in the group shopping list within a radius of a current location of the electronic device of the consumer and causing the electronic device to display at least a subset of the store data, wherein: in response to the selecting of the walking geographic distance, only transmitting store data for store locations within a first radius from the current location; and in response to the selecting of the driving geographic distance, only transmitting store data for store locations within a second radius from the current location, wherein the first radius is less than the second radius; and responsive to receiving GPS location data from the electronic device of the consumer indicating the consumer is in a store associated with the transmitted store data, transmitting in-store directions to the electronic device, wherein the in-store directions comprise a store map configured for display on the electronic device, along with item location indicia of a location of the item on the store map.

“2. The method of claim 1, wherein a central server is configured to: monitor the location of the consumer relative to the store location; and responsive to determining that the location of the consumer relative to the store location is within a predetermined distance, send an alert to the electronic device associated with the consumer, wherein responsive to receipt of the alert, the electronic device associated with the consumer is configured to display the alert.

“3. The method of claim 2, wherein the alert is displayed responsive to monitoring the location of the consumer relative to the store location.

“4. The method of claim 3, wherein the alert is displayed in response to determining that a current location of the consumer is less than a predetermined distance from the store location.

“5. The method of claim 2, wherein the alert is displayed in response to determining that a current location of the consumer is less than a predetermined distance from a predetermined home location of the consumer.

“6. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic device associated with the consumer is configured to: monitor the location of the consumer relative to the store location; and responsive to determining that the location of the consumer relative to the store location is within a predetermined distance, output an alert on a display of the electronic device associated with the consumer.

“7. The method of claim 6, wherein the alert activates an application on the electronic device associated with the consumer to display the alert and to enable connection via a link to the group shopping list over the Internet.

“8. The method of claim 6, wherein determining, based on the purchase window and previous purchases by the consumer, whether the consumer is scheduled to purchase the item comprises: accessing purchase history by the consumer of the item to determine a last time of purchase of the item; determining a frequency of purchase of the item; determining, based on the frequency of purchase of the item and the last time of purchase of the item, an estimated time for next purchase of the item; determining whether the estimated time for next purchase of the item is within the purchase window; and in response to determining that the estimated time for next purchase of the item is within the purchase window, determining that the consumer is scheduled to purchase the item.

“9. The method of claim 8, wherein including the item in a group shopping list associated with the plurality of consumers comprising the consumer comprises: determining that the item is included in a database of consumer promotions and that a promotion associated with the item meets at least predetermined criteria; determining that at least one of the consumers of the plurality of consumers is scheduled to purchase the item; and in response to determining that the promotion associated with the item meets at least predetermined criteria and that at least one of the consumers of the plurality of consumers is scheduled to purchase the item, including the item in the group shopping list.

“10. The method of claim 9, wherein the database of consumer promotions comprises an online promotion associated with the item; and wherein the alert further comprises an indication of the online promotion associated with the item.

“11. The method of claim 10, wherein the indication of the online promotion associated with the item comprises one of a link to a web address for downloading a webpage for the online promotion associated with the item or a barcode indicative of the online promotion associated with the item.

“12. The method of claim 1, wherein the purchase window is a predetermined time range that is periodic in nature.

“13. The method of claim 1, wherein the purchase window is determined based on the previous purchases by the consumer.

“14. The method of claim 13, wherein the purchase window is determined by: determining, based on the previous purchases, a frequency of purchase of the item; and determining, based on the frequency of purchase, the purchase window.

“15. The method of claim 1, wherein the specific life event comprises at least one of a birth, a marriage, a divorce, a death, a vacation, a graduation, or a military deployment.

“16. A system configured to determine whether to include an item in a group shopping list, the system comprising: a communication interface configured to communicate with an electronic device associated with a consumer; a memory configured to store a consumer profile for the consumer; and a processor in communication with the communication interface and the memory, and configured to: access the consumer profile for a consumer; determine an item for purchase by the consumer based on a specific life event associated with the consumer; access from the consumer profile a purchase window associated with purchasing the item; determine, based on the purchase window and previous purchases by the consumer, whether the consumer is scheduled to purchase the item; in response to determining that the consumer is scheduled to purchase the item, include the item in a group shopping list associated with a plurality of consumers that comprises the consumer; receive a sequence of global positioning system (GPS) coordinates from an electronic device associated with the consumer; select a geographic distance based on the sequence of GPS coordinates, wherein the selection is either a walking geographic distance or a driving geographic distance; transmit, to the electronic device of the consumer, store data of stores having the item in the group shopping list within a radius of a current location of the electronic device of the consumer, wherein: in response to the selection of the walking geographic distance, only transmitting store data for store locations within a first radius from the current location; and in response to the selection of the driving geographic distance, transmit store data for store locations within a second radius from the current location, wherein the first radius is less than the second radius; and responsive to receiving GPS location data from the electronic device of the consumer indicating the consumer is in a store associated with the transmitted store data, transmit in-store directions to the electronic device, wherein the in-store directions comprise a store map configured for display on the electronic device, along with item location indicia of a location of the item on the store map.

“17. The system of claim 16, wherein the purchase window is a predetermined time range that is periodic in nature.

“18. The system of claim 16, wherein the purchase window is determined based on the previous purchases by the consumer.

“19. The system of claim 18, wherein the processor is configured to determine the purchase window is determined by: determining, based on the previous purchases, a frequency of purchase of the item; and determining, based on the frequency of purchase, the purchase window.

“20. The system of claim 16, wherein the processor is configured to determine, based on the purchase window and previous purchases by the consumer, whether the consumer is scheduled to purchase the item by: accessing purchase history by the consumer of the item to determine a last time of purchase of the item; determining a frequency of purchase of the item; determining, based on the frequency of purchase of the item and the last time of purchase of the item, an estimated time for next purchase of the item; determining whether the estimated time for next purchase of the item is within the purchase window; and in response to determining that the estimated time for next purchase of the item is within the purchase window, determining that the consumer is scheduled to purchase the item.”

There are additional claims. Please visit full patent to read further.

For the URL and additional information on this patent, see: Borunda, Adrian. Method and systems for a product list server. U.S. Patent Number 11341553, filed May 27, 2016, and published online on May 24, 2022. Patent URL: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=11341553.PN.&OS=PN/11341553RS=PN/11341553

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