Analyzing user behavior at kiosks to identify recommended products

Abstract

The present invention is directed to determining products for a home project through a kiosk at a point of sale location corresponding to a retail establishment, and to determining products for a home project through a kiosk at a point of sale location corresponding to a retail establishment and based on a user's current or past behavior. In one scenario, a computer system receives user input including project information. The user input is converted into an electronic signal. The project information includes various user choices related to color profiles, and related to project materials or layout. The computer system determines a type of home project being pursued based on the received information. The computer system identifies products that correspond to the determined type of home project and received color profiles, and displays to the user images of the products that correspond to the determined type of home project and to the received color profiles.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A computerized method of determining products for a home project through a computer system, comprising:
 providing a computer system having a spectrophotometer connected thereto;   receiving user input at the computer system, the user input corresponding to project information, the user input being converted into an electronic signal, wherein the user input comprises the computer system digitally reading spectrophotometer data via the spectrophotometer;   determining by the computer system from the digital reading of the spectrophotometer data that the project information includes one or more user color choices, and one or more user choices of project materials;   storing the one or more user color choices in connection with one or more color profiles for the user;   retrieving a learned association corresponding to the determined one or more choices of project materials from a data store, wherein the learned association identifies a product-to-home-project association made by another end user at another computer system at a different location;   determining, by the computer system using the spectrophotometer data, and the learned association, a type of home project being pursued by the user;   identifying, by the computer system, one or more products that correspond to the determined type of home project and received one or more color choices; and   displaying on a digital display of the computer system images of the identified one or more products that correspond to (i) the determined type of home project, and (ii) the received one or more color choices.   
     
     
         2 . The computerized method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving layout information from the user, wherein the layout information indicates how the determined one or more user choices of project materials are to be laid out in a given room; and   the computer system determining from the digitally read information and the received layout information that the home project information specifies a particular room of the home, such that the products that correspond to the determined type of home project correspond to the specified room.   
     
     
         3 . The computerized method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving, by the computer system, user input selecting one or more of the displayed products; and   informing the user, by the computer system, which of the selected products are available at the retail establishment.   
     
     
         4 . The computerized method of  claim 3 , further comprising indicating, by the computer system, where the selected products are located at the retail establishment. 
     
     
         5 . The computerized method of  claim 3 , further comprising associating, by the computer system, one or more products available at the retail establishment with one or more types of home projects. 
     
     
         6 . The computerized method of  claim 1 , wherein the project information is accessed by the computer system from a home computing system belonging to the user. 
     
     
         7 . The computerized method of  claim 1 , wherein the project information is accessed by the computer system from a cloud computing system. 
     
     
         8 . The computerized method of  claim 7 , wherein the computer system accesses the project information from the cloud computing system upon digitally scanning and interpreting a barcode presented by the user to a barcode reader connected to the computer system. 
     
     
         9 . The computerized method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 determining the type of home project further comprises identifying prior user interactions with the computer system that are stored in the data store;   wherein the prior interactions include one or more product selections corresponding to the determined type of home project.   
     
     
         10 . The computerized method of  claim 9 , wherein:
 determining the type of home project further comprises the computer system identifying from a profile in the data store that is stored for the user that the user was recently viewing paint products in a previous session at another computer system;   the method further comprising:   displaying one or more paint products available at a point-of-sale location that correlate with the spectrophotometer data; and   displaying one or more related products, the related products comprising products previously associated with the one or more displayed paint products by one or more other end users.   
     
     
         11 . The computerized method of  claim 1 , wherein the computer system comprises a kiosk positioned at a point-of-sale location. 
     
     
         12 . A computer system computer system comprising:
 at least one processor;   a spectrophotometer; and   an input receiving module for receiving user input via the spectrophotometer, the user input comprising presentation a physical object to the spectrophotometer;   wherein the user input receiving module determines from data received from the spectrophotometer that the user input corresponds to project information that includes one or more user color choices, and one or more user choices related to project materials and layout;   a behavior gathering module for gathering user behavior information from one or more data stores, wherein the one or more data stores comprise one or more learned associations that correlate user associations of one or more materials to one or more types of home projects;   a project determining module for determining a type of home project being pursued from the user input based on the received user input and one of the one or more learned associations retrieved from one of the one or more data stores;   a product identifying module for identifying one or more products that correspond to the determined type of home project and received one or more color profiles; and   a display for displaying on a digital display of the computer system images of the one or more first suggested products that correspond to the determined type of home project and to the received one or more color profiles.   
     
     
         13 . The computer system computer system of  claim 12 , further comprising:
 the input receiving module further receives user input selecting one or more of the products displayed in the display;   wherein the display displays information indicating which of the selected products are available at the retail establishment and where to find the selected products within the retail establishment.   
     
     
         14 . The computer system computer system of  claim 12 , further comprising:
 a second remote computer system in a geographic region of the user, wherein the second remote computer system stores a second learned association of a second suggested product to home project type; and   a third remote computer system outside the geographic region of the user, wherein the third remote computer system stores a third learned association of a third suggested product to home project type.   
     
     
         15 . The computer system computer system of  claim 14 , wherein the computer system that receives the user input further performs the following:
 evaluate the learned association of the second and third remote computer systems by geographic region; and   display to the user the second suggested product based on a determination that the user is in the same geographic region as the second remote computer system.   
     
     
         16 . The computer system computer system of  claim 14 , wherein the computer system that receives the user input further performs the following:
 evaluate the learned association of the second and third remote computer systems, and   display to the user the third suggested product based on a determination that the third learned association is more popular than the second learned association of the second remote computer system.   
     
     
         17 . The computerized method of  claim 12 , wherein the computer system comprises a kiosk positioned at a point-of-sale location. 
     
     
         18 . A computerized method of determining a type of home project and corresponding product suggestions through a computer system, comprising:
 providing a computer system having a spectrophotometer connected thereto;   scanning, via the spectrophotometer, one or more project materials provided physically by an end user to the spectrophotometer;   receiving additional input from the end user at the computer system, the user input comprising layout information of at least one of the scanned one or more project materials;   determining from the spectrophotometer one or more colors corresponding to the scanned project materials;   storing, on a data store, the determined one or more corresponding colors of project materials with a profile of the end user;   retrieving a learned association corresponding to the determined one or more choices of project materials from a data store, wherein the learned association identifies at least one product-to-home-project association made by another user at another computer system;   determining, by the computer system, from (i) the learned association, (ii) the determined one or more colors, and (iii) the end user input on layout information that the one or more project materials correspond to a type of home project being pursued by the user;   determining, by the computer system, one or more suggested products that correspond to and are complementary with the determined type of home project and determined one or more colors; and   displaying on a digital display of the computer system images of the one or more suggested products in a room, wherein the displayed room shows (i) products that correspond to the scanned one or more project materials, and (ii) the determined one or more complementary project materials to purchase.   
     
     
         19 . The computerized method of  claim 18 , wherein determining by the computer system the type of home project further comprises:
 scanning one or more barcodes or QR codes on each of the one or more project materials via a digital code scanner device connected to the computer system;   wherein the computer system further determines the type of home project from (iv) data obtained from the digital code scanner device.   
     
     
         20 . The computerized method of  claim 18 , further comprising the computer system displaying the one or more suggested products in an order that corresponds to a popularity of the one or more suggested products with other users. 
     
     
         21 . The computerized method of  claim 18 , wherein the type of home project further comprises:
 the computer system identifying a plurality of options of home project type based on the determined one or more colors and layout information; and   prompting the user for input through the display to select one of the identified home project type options.   
     
     
         22 . The computerized method of  claim 18 , wherein layout information comprises user input of a specified arrangement of a plurality of the following materials in a given room:
 flooring, appliances or faucets, countertops, and cupboards.   
     
     
         23 . The computerized method of  claim 18 , wherein the computer system comprises a kiosk positioned at a point-of-sale location.