Automated shopping apparatus and method in response to consumption

Abstract

Methods and apparatuses are provided for use in tracking product consumption. Some embodiments provide a product purchasing apparatus comprising: a transceiver; a control circuit; and a memory coupled to the control circuit and storing computer instructions that when executed by the control circuit cause the control circuit to: receive multiple product data from a restockable customer product storage unit located at a customer residence; evaluate each of the multiple product data relative to one or more thresholds within a continuously updated customer profile; identify one or more products to be replenished as a function of the continuously updated customer profile; automatically cause a purchase, on behalf of the customer, of at least a first product to replenish at least one of the one or more products to be replenished; and obtain payment from a source associated with the customer.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A product tracking and purchasing system, comprising:
 a transceiver configured to couple with and receive communications from over a distributed network;   a control circuit coupled with the transceiver; and   a memory coupled to the control circuit and storing computer instructions that when executed by the control circuit cause the control circuit to:
 receive, through the transceiver and from over a distributed network, multiple product data from a restockable customer product storage unit located at a remote customer location, wherein each of the multiple product data comprises product tracking information corresponding to one of multiple consumable products tracked over time by the product storage unit of the multiple products stored by and detected by the product storage unit; 
 evaluate each of the multiple product data relative to one or more thresholds within a customer profile associated with the customer location; 
 identify, based on the evaluation of each of the product data, one or more products of the multiple consumable products to be replenished as a function of the product data relative to the one or more thresholds; 
 automatically cause a purchase, on behalf of a customer associated with the customer location, of at least a first product to replenish at least one of the one or more products to be replenished; 
 receive, through the transceiver and from over the distributed network, replenish product data from the product storage unit confirming receipt of at least the first product purchased and the product storage unit subsequently detecting the purchased first product added to the product storage unit; and 
 update product information for at least the first product, in response to receiving the replenish product data confirming receipt of the first product, to include an increased quantity of the first product corresponding to the quantity of the purchased first product. 
   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the control circuit is further configured to:
 cause a notification of the purchase of at least the first product to be communicated to the product storage unit in response to causing the purchase of the first product, wherein the notification identifies the first product; and   wherein the control circuit in receiving the confirmation is configured to receive the replenish product data, based on the notification that the first product was purchased and the product storage unit subsequently detecting the purchased first product added to the product storage unit, from the product storage unit confirming the receipt of at least the first product purchased.   
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the control circuit in receiving the product data receives product identifiers of the multiple products obtained by code readers of the product storage unit comprising a code reader, an RFID tag reader, and a camera, and further designates whether the respective one of the multiple products is being removed or return to the product storage unit. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the control circuit in identifying the one or more products to be replenished is configured to identify a second product to be replenished, and the control circuit is further configured to:
 identify one or more alternative products available to be purchased as an alternative to purchasing the second product identified to be replenished, wherein the one or more alternative products includes the first product;   obtain one or more reasons why each of the one or more alternative products may be purchased as the alternative to purchasing the second product; and   cause a proposal to be communicated to the customer proposing the purchase of at least the first product of the one or more alternative products and at least one reason of the one or more reasons to purchase the first product as an alternative to purchasing the second product.   
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein the control circuit, in obtaining the one or more reasons to purchase at least the first product as the alternative to purchasing the second product, is further configured to obtain pricing information to purchase each of the first product and the second product, and identify that the first product has a lower price than the second product. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the control circuit is further configured to:
 cause additional updated product information, corresponding to a second product stored by the product storage unit, to be communicated over the distributed network to the product storage unit, wherein the additional updated product information is configured to cause the product storage unit to update at the product storage unit locally stored product information corresponding to the second product.   
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the control circuit is further configured to:
 receive a notification from the product storage unit that a second product, which has not previously been detected by the product storage unit, has been positioned to be stored by the product storage unit, wherein the notification comprises an identifier of the second product; and   providing, in response to receiving the notification that the second product has been positioned to be stored by the product storage unit, the customer with one or more options that allow the customer to set one or more criteria corresponding to making a determination of whether the second product is to be replenished.   
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the control circuit is further configured to override predefined thresholds corresponding to a set of products with customer specified thresholds received from the customer and incorporate the customer specified thresholds into a customer profile associated with the customer, and when evaluating each of the multiple product data relative to the one or more thresholds the control circuit is configured to evaluate a set of the multiple products relative to the customer specified thresholds instead of the predefined thresholds. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the control circuit is further configured to:
 track changes of weight of at least a first product in predicting a consumption rate of the first product;   wherein the control circuit in receiving the product data receives over time multiple different consumption information from the product storage unit corresponding to the first product, wherein each of the multiple consumption information comprising an identification of the first product removed from the product storage unit and subsequently returned to the first product storage unit, and a change in weight of the first product between the removal and the return of the first product detected by at least one weight sensor of the product storage unit; and   wherein the control circuit, in identifying the one or more products of the multiple consumable products to be replenished, is configured to determine the consumption rate of the first product based on the changes in weight corresponding to the first product received over time, anticipate when the first product is expected to be fully consumed based on the rate of consumption, and select the first product based on the determined anticipation of when the first product is expected to be fully consumed.   
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the control circuit is further configured to:
 receive additional product data from the product storage unit corresponding to a second product that the product storage unit cannot identify;   determine that the control circuit is unable to identify based on the additional product data the second product; and   cause the product storage unit to query the customer requesting the customer to provide identifying information of the second product.   
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the control circuit is further configured to:
 receive an identification of a second product removed from the product storage unit;   determine that the second product has not been returned to the product storage unit within a threshold time period corresponding to the second product;   designate that the second product has been fully consumed based on the second product not having been returned to the product storage unit within the threshold period of time; and   identify the second product as one of the one or more products of the multiple consumable products to be replenished based on the designation that the second product as having been fully consumed.   
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the control circuit is further configured to:
 identify that there are multiple different budgets associated with the customer residence based on different types of products;   determine, based on an identification of the first product, that the first product corresponds to a first budget of the multiple different budgets; and   confirm, prior to causing the purchase of the first product, that the purchase of the first product will not exceed the first budget.   
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the control circuit in identifying the one or more products of the multiple consumable products to be replenished is configured to identify a second product to be replenished;
 determine, based on an identification of the second product, that the second product corresponds to the first budget of the multiple different budgets;   identify that the purchase of both the first product and the second product would exceed the first budget;   identify that the first product is prioritized over the second product; and   prevent the purchase of the second product based on the first budget expected to be exceeded and the priority of the first product over the second product.   
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the control circuit is further configured to:
 determine, based on an identification of the first product, that the first product corresponds to a first budget;   identify that the purchase of the first product would exceed the first budget;   identify, from the customer profile corresponding to the customer residence, an express override of the first budget corresponding to the first product, wherein the express override designates that the first product should be purchased even though the purchase of the first product is expected to exceed the first budget;   wherein the control circuit, in causing the purchase of at least the first product, is configured to cause the purchase of at least the first product based on the express override of the first budget corresponding to the first product.   
     
     
         15 . A method of purchasing products on behalf of customers, comprising:
 by a control circuit of a product tracking system:   receiving, through a transceiver and from over a distributed network, multiple product data from a restockable customer product storage unit located at a remote customer location, wherein each of the multiple product data comprises product tracking information corresponding to one of multiple consumable products tracked over time by the product storage unit of the multiple products stored by and detected by the product storage unit;   evaluating each of the multiple product data relative to one or more thresholds within a customer profile associated with the customer location;   identifying, based on the evaluation of each of the product data, one or more products of the multiple consumable products to be replenished as a function of the product data relative to the one or more thresholds;   automatically causing a purchase, on behalf of a customer associated with the customer location, of at least a first product to replenish at least one of the one or more products to be replenished;   receiving, through the transceiver and from over the distributed network, replenish product data from the product storage unit confirming receipt of at least the first product purchased and the product storage unit subsequently detecting the purchased first product added to the product storage unit; and   updating product information for at least the first product, in response to receiving the replenish product data confirming receipt of the first product, to include an increased quantity of the first product corresponding to the quantity of the purchased first product.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , further comprising:
 causing a notification of the purchase of at least the first product to be communicated to the product storage unit in response to causing the purchase of the first product, wherein the notification identifies the first product; and   wherein the receiving the confirmation comprises receiving the replenish product data, based on the notification that the first product was purchased and the product storage unit subsequently detecting the purchased first product added to the product storage unit, from the product storage unit confirming receipt of at least the first product purchased.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the identifying the one or more products to be replenished comprises:
 identifying one or more alternative products available to be purchased as an alternative to purchasing a second product identified in the identifying the one or more products to be replenished, wherein the one or more alternative products includes the first product;   obtaining one or more reasons why each of the one or more alternative products may be purchased as the alternative to purchasing the second product; and   causing a proposal to be communicated to the customer proposing the purchase of at least the first product of the one or more alternative products and at least one reason of the one or more reasons to purchase the first product as an alternative to purchasing the second product.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the obtaining the one or more reasons to purchase at least the first product as the alternative to purchasing the second product further comprises obtaining pricing information to purchase each of the first product and the second product, and identifying that the first product has a lower price than the second product. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 15 , further comprising:
 causing additional updated product information, corresponding to a second product stored by the product storage unit, to be communicated over the distributed network to the product storage unit, wherein the additional updated product information is configured to cause the product storage unit to update at the product storage unit locally stored product information corresponding to the second product.   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 15 , further comprising:
 receiving a notification from the product storage unit that a second product, which has not previously been detected by the product storage unit, has been positioned to be stored by the product storage unit, wherein the notification comprises an identifier of the second product; and   providing, in response to receiving the notification that the second product has been positioned to be stored by the product storage unit, the customer with one or more options that allow the customer to set one or more criteria corresponding to making a determination of whether the second product is to be replenished.