ENCOURAGING SHOPPING ASSISTANCE BY CHILDREN USING DIGITAL SHOPPING LISTS
Systems and methods are disclosed for encouraging participation of children in a shopping trip. A parent assigns a number of items or specific items of a shopping list to a child and the assignment is transmitted to a child's device. A child's selection of a reward item is received from the child's device. An interface on the child's device enables check off of the items as the child retrieves them. Upon completion of the assignment, a parent may authorize check off of the reward item and this authorization may be transmitted to the child device. Check off of the reward item may then be enabled on the child device.
1 . A method for encouraging shopping involvement, the method comprising:
receiving, by a first mobile computing device, a shopping list;
receiving, by the first mobile computing device, a reward item selection from a second mobile computing device;
evaluating, by the first mobile computing device, whether check-offs of a first group of items on the shopping list has been received from the second mobile computing device; and
authorizing, by the first mobile computing device, check-off of the reward item selection on the second mobile computing device only if check-offs of the first group of items are received from the second mobile computing device.
2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving, by the first mobile computing device, an assignment of the first group of items to a user associated with the second mobile computing device prior.
3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving, through a graphical user interface on the first mobile computing device, check-offs of items in the shopping list other than the first group of items.
4 . The method of claim 3 , further comprising receiving, by the first mobile computing device, check-offs of items in the shopping list other than the first group of items by scanning optical codes using a camera of the first mobile computing device.
5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising authorizing, by the first mobile computing device, check-off of the reward item selection on the second mobile computing device only if check-offs of the first group of items are received from the second mobile computing device within a time interval.
6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving, by the first mobile computing device, the shopping list comprises receiving selections from an electronic product catalog.
7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first mobile computing device is a mobile phone.
8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising establishing an association between the first mobile computing device and the second mobile computing device.
9 . A method for encouraging shopping involvement, the method comprising:
receiving, by a first mobile computing device, an assignment of a first group of items from a shopping list from a second mobile computing device;
receiving, on an interface of the first mobile computing device, a selection of a reward item;
receiving, on the interface of the first mobile computing device, check-offs of the first group of items;
receiving, by the first mobile computing device from a second mobile computing device, authorization to check-off the reward item selection on the second mobile computing device only after check-offs of the first group of items are received.
10 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising transmitting notice of the check-offs of the first group of items to the second mobile computing device.
11 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising enabling an interface element for checking off the reward item upon receiving authorization to check-off the reward item.
12 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising receiving check-off of the reward item upon enabling of the interface element.
13 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the interface element for checking off the reward item is an image of the reward item.
14 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising transmitting notice of check-off of the reward item to the second mobile computing device.
15 . The method of claim 9 , wherein receiving, on the interface of the first mobile computing device, check-offs of the first group of items further comprises detecting scanning of optical codes corresponding to the first group of items by a camera of the first mobile computing device.
16 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the first mobile computing device is a mobile phone.
17 . A method for encouraging shopping involvement, the method comprising:
receiving, by a computer system, an instruction from a first mobile computing device to transmit at least a portion of a shopping list to a second mobile computing device;
transmitting, by the computer system, the at least a portion of the shopping list to a second mobile computing device;
receiving, by the computer system, a reward item selection from the second mobile computing device;
receiving, by the computer system, check-offs of items of the at least a portion of the shopping list from the second mobile computing device;
transmitting, by the computer system, notification of the check-offs of items of the at least a portion of the shopping list to the first mobile computing device;
receiving, by the computer system, authorization of check-off of the reward item from the first mobile computing device; and
transmitting, by the computer system, authorization of check-off of the reward item to the second mobile computing device.
18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein transmitting at least a portion of the shopping list to the second mobile computing device further comprises:
receiving an assignment of a first group of items from the shopping list from the first mobile computing device; and
transmitting notification of assignment of the first group of items to the second mobile computing device.
19 . The method of claim 17 , wherein receiving the shopping list from the first mobile computing device comprises receiving selections from a product catalog.
20 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the first and second mobile computing devices are mobile phones.
21 . The method of claim 17 , further comprising:
receiving check-off of the reward item from the second mobile computing device; and
transmitting notification of check-off of the reward item to the first mobile computing device.