Approximating Customer Location Within A Store

1 . At a computer system, the computer system including one or more processors and system memory, the computer system maintaining a store layout for a store, the store layout indicating the location of items within the store, the computer system able to communicate with mobile devices in the store via a wireless connection, a method for approximating the location of a customer within the store, the method comprising;

forming a wireless connection with a customer mobile device in the store, the customer mobile device maintaining a shopping list for a customer, the shopping list including a list of items of interest to the customer;

receiving a notification from the customer mobile device, the notification indicating that an item on the shopping list has been checked off of the shopping list;

in response to receiving the notification, referring to the store layout to identify the location of the checked off item within the store; and

inferring that the customer was near the location of the checked off item when the item was checked off of the shopping list.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the store layout is expressly stored and managed by a store mapping application resident at the computer system.

3 . The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving a copy of the shopping list from the customer mobile device;

in response to receiving the copy of the shopping list, determining the location of the items on the shopping list within the store; and

4 . The method claim 3 , further comprising caching the location of item on the shopping list.

5 . The method of claim 3 , wherein receiving a copy of the shopping list comprises receiving a copy of the shopping list from a shopping list application resident at the customer mobile device.

6 . The method of claim 3 , further comprising, subsequent to receiving a copy of the shopping list, receiving a notification from the customer mobile device that an additional item has been added to the shopping list.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving a notification from the customer mobile device comprises receiving a notification that includes an item identifier; and

further comprising referring to an item database to identify the location of an item corresponding to the item identifier within the store.

8 . The method claim 1 , wherein receiving a notification from the customer mobile device comprises receiving a textual description of an item; and further comprising:

correlating the textual description to an item type; and

referring to an item type database to identify the location of items of the item type within the store.

9 . The method claim 1 , wherein receiving a notification from the customer mobile device comprises receiving a receiving a notification that includes an item identifier; and further comprising referring to an item type database to:

identify an item type corresponding to the item identifier;

determining the location of items of the item type within the store.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving a notification that an item has been checked off of the customer shopping list comprises receiving a notification from a shopping list application resident at a mobile device.

11 . At a mobile device for a customer, the mobile device including one or more processors and system memory, the mobile device containing a shopping list application, the shopping list application configured to manage shopping lists for the customer, the mobile device able to communicate with other computer systems via a wireless connection, a method for approximating a custom location within the store, the method comprising:

loading a shopping list in the shopping list application, the shopping list containing a list of items of interest to the customer;

forming a wireless connection with a customer location server for the store;

receiving input from the customer for checking an item off of the shopping list; and

in response to receiving the customer input:

checking the item off of the shopping list;

inferring that the customer has taken physical possession of the item;

sending a notification to the customer location server, the notification indicating that the item has been checked off of the shopping list.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein sending a copy of the customer shopping list comprises sending a copy of the shopping list from a shopping list application resident at a mobile device.

13 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising subsequent to sending the shopping list to the customer location server, sending a notification from the customer mobile device that an additional item has been added to the shopping list.

14 . The method of claim 11 , wherein a sending a notification to the customer location server comprises sending a notification that includes an application ID and an item ID.

15 . The method of claim 11 , wherein a sending a notification to the customer location server comprises sending a notification that includes an application ID and a textual description of an item.

16 . The method of claim 11 , wherein a sending a notification to the customer location server comprises sending a notification that includes an application ID and an item type.

17 . The method of claim 16 , further comprising prior to sending the notification:

sending a textual description of an item to an application server; and

receiving an item type for the item back from the application server.

18 . A system for approximating a customer location within a store, the system comprising: a mobile device and a customer location server,

the mobile device comprising:

one or more processors;

system memory;

a network adapter;

one or more computer storage media having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the mobile device to:

load a shopping list in the shopping list application, the shopping list containing a list of items of interest to the customer;

form a wireless connection with the customer location server for the store;

receive input from the customer for checking an item off of the shopping list; and

in response to receiving the customer input:

check the item off of the shopping list; and

send a notification to the customer location server, the notification indicating that the item has been checked off of the shopping list; and

the customer location server comprising:

one or more processors;

system memory;

a network adapter;

one or more computer storage media having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the customer location server to:

form a wireless connection with the customer mobile device;

receive the notification from the customer mobile device;

in response to receiving the notification, refer to a store layout to identify the location of the checked off item within the store; and

infer that the customer was near the location of the checked off item when the item was checked off of the shopping list.

19 . The system of claim 18 , wherein computer-executable instructions that, when executed cause the mobile device to send a notification comprise computer-executable instructions that, when executed cause the mobile device to send a notification including an application ID for the mobile device and at least one of: an item ID, an item type, or a textual description of an item.

20 . The system of claim 18 , wherein computer-executable instructions that, when executed cause the mobile device to receive the notification from the customer mobile device comprise computer-executable instructions that, when executed cause the mobile device to receipt a notification including an application ID for the mobile device and at least one of: an item ID, an item type, or a textual description of an item.