Patents by Inventor William J. Dupre

William J. Dupre 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).

  • Patent number: 8818841
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus to monitor in-store media and consumer traffic related to retail environments are disclosed herein. In a disclosed example method to monitor a monitored establishment, a survey is presented to an auditor and a user-provided survey response is received indicative of a condition in a monitored establishment that affects an accuracy of shopper count information provided by the auditor. Instructions are displayed to the auditor to sequentially move to a plurality of predetermined locations in the monitored establishment and collect a shopper count corresponding to each of the predetermined locations. The example method also involves receiving and storing each of the plurality of shopper counts.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 25, 2008
    Date of Patent: August 26, 2014
    Assignee: The Nielsen Company (US), LLC
    Inventors: William J. Dupré, Matthew C. Cakora, Daniel G. Brown, Michael J. Zenor, Frank W. Piotrowski
  • Patent number: 8229781
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus to determine shopper traffic in retail environments are disclosed herein. In a disclosed example method of generating shopper traffic data, in-person-based count data and sensor-based count data are obtained. The in-person-based count data is indicative of a first quantity of shoppers within a first zone of a monitored establishment is obtained. The sensor-based count data is indicative of a second quantity of shoppers within the first zone of the monitored establishment. The example method also involves determining a relationship value indicative of a relationship between the in-person-based count data, the sensor-based count data, and first sales data associated with the first zone of the monitored establishment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 25, 2008
    Date of Patent: July 24, 2012
    Assignee: The Nielson Company (US), LLC
    Inventors: Michael John Zenor, William J. Dupre, Frank W. Piotrowski
  • Publication number: 20110288944
    Abstract: For an organization having a central station and a plurality of distributed outlets, each of the outlets having a cashier's terminal, each of the cashier's terminals coupled to a respective point-of-sale (POS) controller, a method permitting a billee to pay an invoice issued by a biller is disclosed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 3, 2011
    Publication date: November 24, 2011
    Inventors: William J. Dupre, John G. McGill
  • Publication number: 20110208650
    Abstract: An invoice payment service enables a method for paying an invoice at a retail store. The invoice identifies a payment amount owed by a customer to a service provider for use of one or more services. The payment process is enabled by assigning a unique customer identification code to the customer and assigning a unique PLU number to the service provider. Both the customer identification code and PLU number are entered into a point of sale system of the retail store and the payment amount is collected. The customer identification code and PLU number are then transmitted to the invoice payment service for use in causing a financial institution to complete a fund transfer by which the service provider receives the payment amount tendered by the customer at the retail store.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 24, 2011
    Publication date: August 25, 2011
    Inventors: John G. McGill, William J. Dupre, George F. D. Wishart
  • Patent number: 7979356
    Abstract: For an organization having a central station and a plurality of distributed outlets, each of the outlets having a cashier's terminal, each of the cashier's terminals coupled to a respective point-of-sale (POS) controller, a method of permitting a billee to pay an invoice issued by a biller is disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 2009
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2011
    Inventors: William J. Dupre, John G. McGill
  • Publication number: 20090198583
    Abstract: For an organization having a central station and a plurality of distributed outlets, each of the outlets having a cashier's terminal, each of the cashier's terminals coupled to a respective point-of-sale (POS) controller, a method of permitting a billee to pay an invoice issued by a biller is disclosed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 23, 2009
    Publication date: August 6, 2009
    Applicant: TRILOGY PAYMENT SERVICES (NEVADA)
    Inventors: William J. Dupre, John G. McGill
  • Publication number: 20080294475
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus to determine shopper traffic in retail environments are disclosed herein. In a disclosed example method of generating shopper traffic data, in-person-based count data and sensor-based count data are obtained. The in-person-based count data is indicative of a first quantity of shoppers within a first zone of a monitored establishment is obtained. The sensor-based count data is indicative of a second quantity of shoppers within the first zone of the monitored establishment. The example method also involves determining a relationship value indicative of a relationship between the in-person-based count data, the sensor-based count data, and first sales data associated with the first zone of the monitored establishment.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 25, 2008
    Publication date: November 27, 2008
    Inventors: Michael John Zenor, William J. Dupre, Frank W. Piotrowski
  • Publication number: 20080294476
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus to monitor in-store media and consumer traffic related to retail environments are disclosed herein. In a disclosed example method to monitor a monitored establishment, a survey is presented to an auditor and a user-provided survey response is received indicative of a condition in a monitored establishment that affects an accuracy of shopper count information provided by the auditor. Instructions are displayed to the auditor to sequentially move to a plurality of predetermined locations in the monitored establishment and collect a shopper count corresponding to each of the predetermined locations. The example method also involves receiving and storing each of the plurality of shopper counts.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 25, 2008
    Publication date: November 27, 2008
    Inventors: William J. Dupre, Matthew C. Cakora, Daniel G. Brown