BACKGROUND

1. Field

This disclosure relates to digital connection of stores in shopping areas, such as malls, strip malls, etc., using digital mirrors and, more specifically, to digital mirrors and network that are specifically configured for improving service in the shopping area and in between stores.

2. Related Art

The conventional shopping area, such as a mall, strip mall, etc., is a collection of stores, mostly unrelated to each other and, other than being housed in the same building or in close geographical area, having no collaboration with each other. Consequently, the shopping experience among the stores is somewhat disconnected. For example, a shopper in one store cannot tell whether a different store has complementing merchandize, unless the buyer goes to the other store and view its offerings. Moreover, unlike on the Internet, once the shopper leaves the mall, nobody “remembers” the shopper or knows what the shopper has tried or the general behavior of shoppers in the mall.

Applicants have previously disclosed novel technologies for converting and transforming a still image or2D or3D video created by one or more cameras, with or without other sensors, into a digital mirror. Examples of Applicants' embodiments are described in, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,948,481 and 8,982,109. The embodiments disclosed therein can be implemented for any general use of a mirror. Applicant followed with further disclosures relating to adapting the mirror to specific needs, such as, e.g., clothing stores, makeup, eyewear, shoes, etc. Examples of Applicants' embodiments are described in, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,976,160 and 8,982,110.

This disclosure relates to further improvements of the digital mirror. The improvements enable a more seamless shopping experience and help manage the mall and stores and merchandize within the mall.

SUMMARY

The following summary of the disclosure is included in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects and features of the invention. This summary is not an extensive overview of the invention and as such it is not intended to particularly identify key or critical elements of the invention or to delineate the scope of the invention. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented below.

Disclosed embodiments consolidate the shoppers' experience in a shopping area, such as a mall. Various embodiments utilize any of the digital mirrors previously disclosed by Applicant, augmented to enable a more seamless shopping experience in a mall or a collection of stores. The disclosed embodiments bridge the real-world and the virtual, i.e., online, shopping experiences. The embodiments also enable improved management of the stores and their inventory, and the mall itself.

According to disclosed embodiments, a main directory mirror is provided. The directory mirror enables user to perform search for products or stores, select a product or a store and call the appropriate store directly from the mirror, send direction to the store from the mirror to the user's mobile device, send information to a corresponding store regarding a product the user is interested in, etc. The directory mirror may also automatically analyze the images of the user and determine the user's characteristics, such as gender, age, hair color, skin complexion, height, etc., to enable the mirror to generate recommendations to the user for products available for purchase in the mall. The mirror may also enable the user to enter the user's characteristics, and thereafter update or override the mirror's determinations.

Additionally, personal mirrors are distributed among the stores within the mall. The personal mirrors generally perform the same functions as disclosed in Applicants prior disclosures, but are augmented to also provide recommendations for other merchandize available, whether in the same or other store within the mall. The personal mirrors can use augmented reality to show the shopper wearing the suggested merchandize.

Disclosed embodiments further provide a method for interconnecting stores within a shopping mall, the method comprising: distributing a plurality of digital mirrors among the stores, wherein each digital mirror comprises a camera, a display screen, and a processor configured to receive live stream from the camera and transform the live stream to mimic images projected by a mirror; providing a main server and configuring the main server to maintain a real-time products database; periodically uploading to the main server list of products available at the stores and updating the real-time product database; interconnecting the plurality of mirrors to the main server; forming a wireless communication system enabling transmission of data from each of the digital mirrors to users' mobile devices; programming each of the digital mirrors to present to the user products from the real-time database; and, when a user selects a product presented on one of the digital mirrors, operating the digital mirror to wirelessly send product data to the user's mobile device.

In disclosed embodiments the server may also be configured to analyze video streams from the distributed digital mirrors and provide analytics regarding shoppers' behavior within the mall. According to one example the server is configured to generate a traffic map providing data indicative of where customers usually go. This can help identify mall traffic patterns and trends to assist in management of the mall. The analytics can also be used by the recommendation engine to generate recommendations based on merchandize purchased by prior shoppers.

According to disclosed aspects, a method for interconnecting stores within a shopping mall is provided, comprising: distributing a plurality of digital mirrors among the stores, wherein each digital mirror comprises a camera, a display screen, and a processor; providing a main server and operating the main server to maintain a real-time products database; periodically uploading to the main server list of products available at the stores and updating the real-time product database; interconnecting the plurality of mirrors to the main server; operating the processor of each of the digital mirrors to perform the steps: receive live video stream from the camera and transform the live video stream to mimic images projected by a mirror; analyze the live video stream to determine characteristics of clothing items appearing in the video stream; search the real-time product database for complementary product; and, display an image of the complementary product on the digital mirror.

The processor may perform the further step comprising: when a user selects the complementary product, wirelessly sending product data to the user's mobile device. Displaying an image of the complementary product may comprise identifying body elements within the live video stream and superimposing an image of the complementary product over an appropriate body element to simulate the user wearing the complementary product. The processor may also perform the further step comprising: analyze the live video stream to determine attributes of users appearing in the live video stream and sending the attributes to the main server. The main server can maintain an attributes database and generate complementary product recommendations based on the attributes database. The main server can also analyze the live video streams from the digital mirrors to identify items tried on by shoppers, and generate a report of all items tried on by shoppers. The main server can further performs the steps of: analyzing plurality of video streams from the plurality of digital mirrors to identify common shopping patterns of users; and, generating merchandize recommendations based on the common shopping patterns.

Aspects of the invention include a network of interconnected digital mirrors, comprising: a plurality of digital mirrors, each installed in a participating store; each of the a digital mirrors comprising a digital screen, a video camera positioned to generate video stream of a user in front of the digital mirror, and a microprocessor; a centralized database storing merchandize data of participating stores; a controller coupled to the plurality of digital mirrors and to centralized database and preprogrammed to perform the operations comprising: receiving the video stream from the video camera of one of the plurality of digital mirrors; identifying a merchandize item within the video stream; activating a recommendation engine to identify a complementary item from the centralized database that is complementary to the identified merchandize item; sending data regarding the complementary item and a store offering the complementary item to the digital mirror for display. The recommendation engine can be programmed to analyze plurality of video streams from the plurality of digital mirrors to identify common shopping patterns of users; and, to generate merchandize recommendations based on the common shopping patterns. The controller can further perform the operation comprising generating a report corresponding to the common shopping patterns of users. The controller can further be programmed to wirelessly send the data regarding the complementary item to a user's mobile device. When one of the digital mirrors receives the data regarding the complementary item, the digital mirror can be programed to implement augmented reality by modifying the live video stream to include an image of a complementary item appearing to be on the user.

