Method of Product Transportation Device Delivery
A method for delivering a product transportation device to a customer includes detecting, with machine vision, that a customer in a brick-and-mortar store is carrying one or more items without a product transportation device to transport the one or more items. An image is obtained of the customer carrying the one or more items without a product transportation device along with a location of the customer. The image and location are sent to a mobile device of an employee of the brick-and-mortar store. The employee delivers a product transportation device to the customer location and the customer is notified of the delivery of the product transportation device for transportation of the one or more items.
1 . A method of delivering a product transportation device comprising:
detecting, with machine vision, that a customer in a brick-and-mortar store is carrying one or more items without the product transportation device;
sending an image of the customer including a customer location identifier to a mobile device of an employee of the brick-and-mortar store;
delivering the product transportation device to the customer location; and
notifying the customer of the delivery of the product transportation device for transportation of the one or more items.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the machine vision tracks the customer in real-time while the customer is in the brick-and-mortar store.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the machine vision associates an identity of the customer with a profile of the customer at checkout.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the machine vision uses a defined camera location or a defined pixel grouping to determine the customer location identifier.
5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the identity of the customer is confirmed at checkout.
6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the image of the customer includes the one or more items to be purchased.
7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the product transportation device further includes a digital display.
8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the digital display further includes advertisements related to the one or more items to be purchased.
9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the advertisements further include coupons for items related to the one or more items to be purchased.
10 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the image of the customer is displayed on the digital display as the notification to the customer of the delivery of the product transportation device.
11 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the digital display further includes profile options of the customer.
12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the profile options include one or more of music, shopping preferences, payment preferences, entertainment preferences, game preferences, customer feedback preferences, or advertising preferences.
13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the product transportation device includes one or more of a shopping cart, a motorized shopping cart, or a basket.
14 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the one or more items to be purchased are identified by the machine vision.
15 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the customer location reported to the employee is updated if the customer changes isles within the brick-and-mortar store by resending the image of the customer with an updated customer location superimposed in the image.
16 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the notifying of the customer is accomplished by a physical notification attached to the product transportation device.
17 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the notifying of the customer is accomplished by the employee speaking to the customer.
18 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the notifying of the customer is accomplished by sending a text message to a mobile device of the customer.
19 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the identified one or more items to be purchased are used to provide information to the customer using a digital display attached to the product transportation device.
20 . The method of claim 19 , wherein the information is one or more of related item suggestions, recipe suggestions, common recipe item suggestions, or sale items suggestions.