EP0697670A1
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
A small domain communications system for personalized assistance
Assignee: AT&T Inc
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Filing: 1995-08-09
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2015-08-09
Abstract
Abstract A method of providing information to a customer of an establishment which hosts members of the public, wherein a customer at the public establishment may communicate with a centralized server (10) associated with the public establishment through a portable wireless communication device (20a,20b,20c). The server (10) includes at least one general database containing information pertaining to products or services offered by the public establishment and a database comprised of personalized customer profiles for each regular customer of the establishment. The server receives inquiries from the customer through the portable communication device and transmits responses thereto back to the communication device. The server may also compare a first set of information contained in the general database with a second set of information contained in the customer profile corresponding to the particular customer to determine similarities between the sets of information, retrieve information from the general database and customer profile based upon said similarities and transmit the retrieved information to the customer through the communication device.
Inventors
- 👤 Abhaya Asthana
- 👤 Paul Krzyzanowski
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-29 10:10
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06Q; G06Q30/00; G06Q30/06; G06Q30/0601; G06Q30/0613; G06Q30/0617; G06Q30/02; H; H04; H04B; H04B1/00; H04B1/38; H04W; H04W4/00; H04W4/02; H04W8/00; H04W8/18
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 15
Claim 1
Independent Claim
94 words
A method of providing information to a customer of an establishment which hosts members of the public, the customer, when at the public establishment, communicating with a server associated with the public establishment using a portable wireless communication device, the server including at least one database which contains personalized customer profiles for registered customers of the establishment, the method comprising the steps of: (a) searching the customer profile database for information corresponding to the particular customer using the portable device; (b) retrieving the information; and (c) transmitting the retrieved information to the communication device.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
36 words
A method according to claim 1, comprising the steps of: (a) receiving a request for information from the portable communication device; and (b) processing the request based upon information contained in the corresponding customer profile database.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
29 words
A method according to claim 1, wherein the customer communicates with the server by scanning an identification code with a scanning device communicatively connected to the portable communication device.
Claim 4
Independent Claim
85 words
A method of providing information to a customer of an establishment which hosts members of the public, the customer, when at the establishment, communicating with a server associated with the public establishment through a portable wireless communication device, the server including at least one database which contains information pertaining to products or services of the public establishment, the method comprising the steps of: (a) searching the database for information; (b) retrieving information from the database; and (c) transmitting the retrieved information to the communication device.
Claim 5
Independent Claim
145 words
A method of providing information to a customer of an establishment which hosts members of the public, the customer, when at the public establishment, communicating with a server associated with the public establishment through use of a portable wireless communication device, the server including at least one general database which contains information pertaining to products or services of the public establishment, the server further including a database comprised of personalized customer profiles for each regular customer of the establishment, the method comprising the steps of: (a) comparing a first set of information contained in the general database with a second set of information contained in the customer profile corresponding to the particular customer to determine similarities between the sets of information; (b) retrieving information from the general database and customer profile based on said similarities; and (c) transmitting the retrieved information to the communication device.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
25 words
A method according to claim 1, 4 or 5, comprising the step of displaying the retrieved information on a screen of the portable communication device.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
29 words
A method according to claim 1, 4 or 5, comprising the step of transmitting the retrieved information to the customer through an audio output of the portable communication device.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
32 words
A method according to claim 4 or 5, wherein the customer communicates with the server by scanning the product's identification code with a scanning device communicatively connected to the portable communication device.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
44 words
A method according to claim 1, 4 or 5, wherein the customer communicates with the server by speaking into a microphone connected to the portable communication device, and wherein the server comprises a speech recognition unit for processing the audible communication from the customer.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
35 words
A method according to claim 1, 4 or 5, wherein the customer communicates with the server by selecting a function key located on the portable communication device which is pre-programmed to perform a desired function.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
25 words
A method according to claim 1, 4 or 5, comprising the step of determining the location of the portable communication device relative to the server.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
48 words
A method according to claim 11, wherein the location of the portable communication device relative to the server is determined by transmitting signals from external beacons, receiving the signals by the portable communication device, and triangulating the signals to determine the relative location of the portable communication device.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
25 words
A method according to claim 12, wherein the portable communication device comprises an analog radio frequency transceiver for receiving the signals from the external beacons.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
22 words
The method according to claim 1, 4 or 5, wherein the portable communication device communicates with the server over a wireless network.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
22 words
A method according to claim 14, wherein the portable communication device comprises an analog radio frequency transceiver for communicating with the server.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
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