Patents by Inventor Donald John Armstrong

Donald John Armstrong has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20230391390
    Abstract: Physical shopping carts can have product detection systems and associate physical shopping carts with mobile computing devices (e.g., smartphones, tablet computing devices, smart watches, wearable computing devices). For example, physical shopping carts can be equipped with one or more product detection systems (e.g., scanners, sensors, cameras) that can electronically tally products that are placed in physical shopping carts. Mobile computing devices can be associated with and mounted on the physical shopping carts to provide a variety of enhanced shopping cart features not possible with conventional physical shopping carts, such as electronically tracking the contents of a shopping cart, checking-out from the mobile computing device (instead of at conventional check-out areas, such as point of sale terminals), and others.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 23, 2023
    Publication date: December 7, 2023
    Inventors: Todd A. Hagen, Josh Michael Dingman, Daniel Woods, Donnie Tolbert, Andrew Wipf, Tomas Kadlec, Donald John Armstrong
  • Patent number: 11772696
    Abstract: Physical shopping carts can have product detection systems and associate physical shopping carts with mobile computing devices (e.g., smartphones, tablet computing devices, smart watches, wearable computing devices). For example, physical shopping carts can be equipped with one or more product detection systems (e.g., scanners, sensors, cameras) that can electronically tally products that are placed in physical shopping carts. Mobile computing devices can be associated with and mounted on the physical shopping carts to provide a variety of enhanced shopping cart features not possible with conventional physical shopping carts, such as electronically tracking the contents of a shopping cart, checking-out from the mobile computing device (instead of at conventional check-out areas, such as point of sale terminals), and others.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 3, 2023
    Assignee: Target Brands, Inc.
    Inventors: Todd A. Hagen, Josh Michael Dingman, Daniel Woods, Donnie Tolbert, Andrew Wipf, Tomas Kadlec, Donald John Armstrong
  • Patent number: 11734666
    Abstract: In some implementations, a system for providing and managing associations between mobile computing device and physical shopping carts used in retail stores includes a physical shopping cart configured to transport physical goods around a store. The physical shopping cart includes a product detection system that is programmed to detect products that are placed in the physical shopping cart, a wireless transceiver to wirelessly communicate with other devices, and a cart identifier that uniquely identifies the physical shopping cart. The system further includes a mobile computing device that is programmed (i) to obtain the cart identifier for the shopping cart, (ii) to establish an association with the physical shopping cart using the cart identifier, and (iii) once the association between the physical shopping cart and the mobile computing device has been established, to output a user interface that provides a real-time summary of the products in the physical shopping cart.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 22, 2023
    Assignee: Target Brands, Inc.
    Inventors: Todd A. Hagen, Josh Michael Dingman, Daniel Woods, Donald John Armstrong, Tomas Kadlec
  • Publication number: 20210342812
    Abstract: In some implementations, a system for providing and managing associations between mobile computing device and physical shopping carts used in retail stores includes a physical shopping cart configured to transport physical goods around a store. The physical shopping cart includes a product detection system that is programmed to detect products that are placed in the physical shopping cart, a wireless transceiver to wirelessly communicate with other devices, and a cart identifier that uniquely identifies the physical shopping cart. The system further includes a mobile computing device that is programmed (i) to obtain the cart identifier for the shopping cart, (ii) to establish an association with the physical shopping cart using the cart identifier, and (iii) once the association between the physical shopping cart and the mobile computing device has been established, to output a user interface that provides a real-time summary of the products in the physical shopping cart.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 11, 2021
    Publication date: November 4, 2021
    Inventors: Todd A. Hagen, Josh Michael Dingman, Daniel Woods, Donald John Armstrong, Tomas Kadlec
  • Publication number: 20210300453
    Abstract: Physical shopping carts can have product detection systems and associate physical shopping carts with mobile computing devices (e.g., smartphones, tablet computing devices, smart watches, wearable computing devices). For example, physical shopping carts can be equipped with one or more product detection systems (e.g., scanners, sensors, cameras) that can electronically tally products that are placed in physical shopping carts. Mobile computing devices can be associated with and mounted on the physical shopping carts to provide a variety of enhanced shopping cart features not possible with conventional physical shopping carts, such as electronically tracking the contents of a shopping cart, checking-out from the mobile computing device (instead of at conventional check-out areas, such as point of sale terminals), and others.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 11, 2021
    Publication date: September 30, 2021
    Inventors: Todd A. Hagen, Josh Michael Dingman, Daniel Woods, Donnie Tolbert, Andrew Wipf, Tomas Kadlec, Donald John Armstrong
  • Patent number: 11080680
    Abstract: In some implementations, a system for providing and managing associations between mobile computing device and physical shopping carts used in retail stores includes a physical shopping cart configured to transport physical goods around a store. The physical shopping cart includes a product detection system that is programmed to detect products that are placed in the physical shopping cart, a wireless transceiver to wirelessly communicate with other devices, and a cart identifier that uniquely identifies the physical shopping cart. The system further includes a mobile computing device that is programmed (i) to obtain the cart identifier for the shopping cart, (ii) to establish an association with the physical shopping cart using the cart identifier, and (iii) once the association between the physical shopping cart and the mobile computing device has been established, to output a user interface that provides a real-time summary of the products in the physical shopping cart.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 31, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 3, 2021
    Assignee: Target Brands, Inc.
    Inventors: Todd A. Hagen, Josh Michael Dingman, Daniel Woods, Donald John Armstrong, Tomas Kadlec
  • Patent number: 11059506
    Abstract: Physical shopping carts can have product detection systems and associate physical shopping carts with mobile computing devices (e.g., smartphones, tablet computing devices, smart watches, wearable computing devices). For example, physical shopping carts can be equipped with one or more product detection systems (e.g., scanners, sensors, cameras) that can electronically tally products that are placed in physical shopping carts. Mobile computing devices can be associated with and mounted on the physical shopping carts to provide a variety of enhanced shopping cart features not possible with conventional physical shopping carts, such as electronically tracking the contents of a shopping cart, checking-out from the mobile computing device (instead of at conventional check-out areas, such as point of sale terminals), and others.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 13, 2021
    Assignee: Target Brands, Inc.
    Inventors: Todd A. Hagen, Josh Michael Dingman, Daniel Woods, Donnie Tolbert, Andrew Wipf, Tomas Kadlec, Donald John Armstrong
  • Patent number: 10807627
    Abstract: A physical shopping cart comprises a controller and a sensor array comprising an initial sensor configured to detect possible-items placed into the physical shopping cart and a secondary sensor configured to determine if possible-items detected by the initial sensor is are items-of-interest. The physical shopping cart is configured to maintain the secondary sensor in a low-power state; sense a possible-item placed into the physical shopping cart; determine if the possible-item is an item-of-interest; and transmit a sense-message that identifies the item-of-interest.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 20, 2020
    Assignee: Target Brands, Inc.
    Inventors: Todd A. Hagen, Andrew Wipf, Josh Michael Dingman, Donnie Tolbert, Donald John Armstrong
  • Publication number: 20200198680
    Abstract: A physical shopping cart comprises a controller and a sensor array comprising an initial sensor configured to detect possible-items placed into the physical shopping cart and a secondary sensor configured to determine if possible-items detected by the initial sensor is are items-of-interest. The physical shopping cart is configured to maintain the secondary sensor in a low-power state; sense a possible-item placed into the physical shopping cart; determine if the possible-item is an item-of-interest; and transmit a sense-message that identifies the item-of-interest.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 13, 2019
    Publication date: June 25, 2020
    Inventors: Todd A. Hagen, Andrew Wipf, Josh Michael Dingman, Donnie Tolbert, Donald John Armstrong
  • Publication number: 20200108851
    Abstract: Physical shopping carts can have product detection systems and associate physical shopping carts with mobile computing devices (e.g., smartphones, tablet computing devices, smart watches, wearable computing devices). For example, physical shopping carts can be equipped with one or more product detection systems (e.g., scanners, sensors, cameras) that can electronically tally products that are placed in physical shopping carts. Mobile computing devices can be associated with and mounted on the physical shopping carts to provide a variety of enhanced shopping cart features not possible with conventional physical shopping carts, such as electronically tracking the contents of a shopping cart, checking-out from the mobile computing device (instead of at conventional check-out areas, such as point of sale terminals), and others.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 4, 2019
    Publication date: April 9, 2020
    Inventors: Todd A. Hagen, Josh Michael Dingman, Daniel Woods, Donnie Tolbert, Andrew Wipf, Tomas Kadlec, Donald John Armstrong
  • Publication number: 20190236583
    Abstract: In some implementations, a system for providing and managing associations between mobile computing device and physical shopping carts used in retail stores includes a physical shopping cart configured to transport physical goods around a store. The physical shopping cart includes a product detection system that is programmed to detect products that are placed in the physical shopping cart, a wireless transceiver to wirelessly communicate with other devices, and a cart identifier that uniquely identifies the physical shopping cart. The system further includes a mobile computing device that is programmed (i) to obtain the cart identifier for the shopping cart, (ii) to establish an association with the physical shopping cart using the cart identifier, and (iii) once the association between the physical shopping cart and the mobile computing device has been established, to output a user interface that provides a real-time summary of the products in the physical shopping cart.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 31, 2019
    Publication date: August 1, 2019
    Inventors: Todd A. Hagen, Josh Michael Dingman, Daniel Woods, Donald John Armstrong, Tomas Kadlec