Integration of WIC items and transactions into personal shopping devices

1. A system comprising:

a short-range transmitter in a predetermined product area in a store;

a storage device that stores one or more marketing messages in the short-range transmitter, wherein the one or more marketing messages are associated with one or more specific products located in the predetermined product area;

a transmitting device that transmits the one or more marketing message; and

a wireless computer that receives the one or more marketing messages, the wireless computer comprising:

a card reader that identifies a user as a participant in a government benefits scheme;

a display device that communicates benefits available under a subsidy program to a user;

a processor in communication with the card reader and display device; and

a utility that executes on the processor to display on the display device an analysis of benefits by performing functions of:

displaying to the user at least a portion of a subsidized list and an out-of-pocket list; displaying to the user an option to claim or refuse to claim a benefit with respect to each individual product of more than one product in the subsidized list; and

in response to receiving a first user input to refuse to claim the benefit for a selected individual product, moving the selected individual product from the subsidized list to the out-of-pocket list and displaying the selected individual product within the out-of-pocket list and displaying another unselected individual product in the subsidized list.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein said graphical interface for displaying an analysis of benefits available to a user further comprises graphical interface constructs for ascertaining the value of a government benefit to the user.

3. The system of claim a 1 , wherein said graphical interface for displaying an analysis of benefits available further comprises graphical interface constructs for informing a user of the out-of-pocket cost of an item with a government benefit and the out-of-pocket cost of an item without a government benefit.

4. The system of claim 1 , further comprising graphical interface for displaying behavior modification instructions to a user.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein said graphical interface for displaying behavior modification instructions to a user further comprises said graphical interface for displaying nutrition instructions to a user.

6. A computer program product comprising: a computer-readable storage device; instructions on the computer-readable storage device that when executed by a processor of a data processing system causes the data processing system to perform functions of:

positioning a short-range transmitter in a predetermined product area in a store;

storing one or more marketing messages in the short-range transmitter, wherein the one or more marketing messages are associated with one or more specific products located in the predetermined product area;

transmitting the one or more marketing messages to a wireless computer;

identifying a user as a participant in a government benefits scheme;

communicating benefits available under a subsidy program to a user;

displaying on the display device an analysis of benefits by:

displaying to user at least a portion of a subsidized list and an out-of-pocket list;

displaying to the user an option to claim or refuse to claim a benefit with respect to each individual product of more than one product in the subsidized list; and

in response to receiving a first user input to refuse to claim the benefit for a selected individual product, moving the selected individual product from the subsidized list to the out-of-pocket list and displaying to the user the selected individual product within the out-of-pocket list and displaying another unselected individual product in the subsidized list.

7. The computer program product of claim 6 , wherein said instructions for displaying an analysis of benefits available to a user further comprises instructions on the computer-readable storage device for ascertaining the value of a government benefit to the user.

8. The computer program product of claim 6 , wherein said instructions for displaying an analysis of benefits available further comprises instructions on the computer-readable storage device for informing a user of the out-of-pocket cost of an item with a government benefit and the out-of-pocket cost of an item without a government benefit.

9. The computer program product of claim 6 , further comprising instructions on the computer-readable storage device for displaying behavior modification instructions to a user.

10. The computer program product of claim 9 , wherein the instructions for displaying behavior modification instructions to a user further comprises instructions on the computer-readable storage device for displaying nutrition instructions to a user.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the analysis of benefits available includes separate pricing or discounts based on the manufacturer of the product.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the effective price is a lowest sale price available per unit, wherein a unit is one of: a dose, a quantity, a serving, a weight, or a package of product.

13. The computer program product of claim 6 , wherein the analysis of benefits available includes separate pricing or discounts based on the manufacturer of the product.

14. The computer program product of claim 6 , wherein the effective price is a lowest sale price available per unit, wherein a unit is one of: a dose, a quantity, a serving, a weight, or a package of product.

15. The system of claim 1 , wherein said graphical interface further displays an analysis of benefits available by displaying to the user the selected individual product moved from the out-of-pocket list to the subsidized list, in response to receiving a second user input to reinstate claim of the benefit for the selected individual product.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein said utility further executes on the processor to communicate benefits available under a subsidy program to the user by:

subtotaling an out-of-pocket cost of the out-of-pocket list for which a benefit is not available or individually refused by a user input;

subtotaling a subsidized cost of the subsidized list of individual products for which a benefit is available and claimed; and

updating subtotals for the out-of-pocket cost and for the subsidized cost subsequent to moving the selected individual product from the out-of-pocket list to the subsidized list or from subsidized list to the out-of-pocket list.

17. The computer program product of claim 6 , wherein said instructions for displaying the analysis of benefits available to a user further comprises instructions for displaying to the user the selected individual product moved from the out-of-pocket list to the subsidized list, in response to a determination of receiving a second user input to reinstate claim of the benefit for the selected individual product.

18. The computer program product of claim 17 , wherein said instructions for communicating benefits available under a subsidy program to the user further comprises instructions for:

subtotaling an out-of-pocket cost of the out-of-pocket list of individual products for which a benefit is not available or individually refused by a user input;

subtotaling a subsidized cost of the subsidized list of individual products for which a benefit is available and claimed; and

updating subtotals for out-of-pocket cost and for subsidized cost subsequent to moving a selected individual product from the out-of-pocket list to the subsidized list or from subsidized list to the out-of-pocket list.