The world is full of so much innovation it makes a budding patent attorney like myself salivate. While I am almost always pleasantly surprised with the innovation that technology presents us, there is one idea that I have had for a while that has not been implemented and I don't know why. The problem is this. You go into an unfamiliar and massive store to find predefined items. You have no idea where these items are, so you wander around like a nomad. If you get lucky, you find an employee to ask for directions. But in stores like Walmart? Good luck. There are aisle markers for general items, and I've even seen more detailed lists at the end of aisles in select stores. But even these approaches don't give you precise results and further waste your time. The idea I am thinking of would allow me to query the store's database for specific items using my cell phone or the internet. By so improving the efficiency, I won't have to be a zombie lost in a foreign realm.
If I was a grocery store, I would invest in item-finding technology. But being an outsider, I will have to wait for the technology. Most of the time, innovation involves significant expertise and hard-work, but every once in a while, a new product or service comes out and you think to yourself, "Whoa, why didn't I think of that?" In other words, it seemed easy enough to implement that it was just a matter of thinking about the idea. I think that this idea is involves both approaches. Hopefully, a store can spearhead this project and I will be their most loyal customer.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
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4 comments:
the fact that you can't do this because you don't work at a grocery store is a ridiculous assertion.
Wouldn't it be better to have a kiosk when you come into the store that can help you locate specific items?
Then those people that still can't dload the app from their iphone and android would still be able to quickly locate said item. (Copyrighted- BAM! Don't steal my idea.)
Renny, I would need to have access to the grocery store's database since each store organizes things differently.
The kiosk idea is good, but that would entail getting permission from the grocery store. If I was a grocery store, I would run with the idea myself if anyone approached me with it.
Renny, your last parenthetical disappointed me. Haven't you learned from Feist that copyright law does not protect facts or ideas, but rather the expression? I think you're thinking of getting a patent. I actually think a patent like this exists, and maybe that is why no one is going forward with it.
This technology is partially implemented in Target's gift registry system (as you might already know) - you download the list of items, and it tells you if the item is in stock and, if so, on what aisle. 'Tis a wondrous system. Would that this capability were extended so that it's usable in daily life...
That is interesting, I didn't know that. I wonder if this gift-registry system is dependent on a particular store. (As we know, not all Targets have the same organization.) Thanks for the comment. If Target is starting to implement it, I think it's only a matter of time before it hits the mainstream.
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