1. A method for identifying consumer segment market shares for a merchant, comprising:
storing, in a profile database, a plurality of consumer profiles, wherein each consumer profile includes data related to a consumer including at least a measurement key and a plurality of transaction data entries, each transaction data entry including transaction data associated with a payment transaction involving the related consumer including at least a merchant identifier associated with a merchant involved in the associated payment transaction;
receiving, by a receiving device, a specific merchant identifier and one or more consumer segments, wherein each consumer segment includes a plurality of measurement keys, each measurement key being associated with one consumer of a group of consumers having one or more common characteristics;
identifying, for each consumer segment, a set of consumer profiles in the profile database that include a measurement key corresponding to one of the plurality of measurement keys included in the respective consumer segment;
calculating, for each consumer segment, a market share for a merchant associated with the specific merchant identifier based on transaction data included in transaction data entries in each consumer profile in the associated set of consumer profiles that include the specific merchant identifier and transaction data included in transaction data entries in each consumer profile in the associated set of consumer profiles that do not include the specific merchant identifier; and
transmitting, by a transmitting device, the calculated market share for each consumer segment.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the measurement key does not include any personally identifiable information.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the measurement key is produced by encrypting a plurality of consumer characteristics associated with the associated consumer using a method of one-way encryption.
4. The method of claim 3, wherein the plurality of consumer characteristics includes at least one of: age, gender, income, residential status, familial status, marital status, occupation, education, zip code, and postal code.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of measurement keys included in each consumer segment is at least a predetermined number.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein the predetermined number is such that no consumer associated with a measurement key included in each respective consumer segment is personally identifiable.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein
the transaction data included in each transaction data entry further includes a transaction amount, and
the calculated market share is based on the transaction amount included in the transaction data entries that include the specific merchant identifier compared to the transaction amount included in the transaction data entries that do not include the specific merchant identifier.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein
the transaction data included in each transaction data entry further includes a transaction time andor date, and
the calculated market share is based on a transaction frequency based on the transaction time andor date included in each transaction data entry that includes the specific merchant identifier and the transaction time andor date included in each transaction data entry that does not include the specific merchant identifier.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein
the calculated market share is based on a proportion of the transaction data entries that include the specific merchant identifier compared to the transaction data entries that do not include the specific merchant identifier.
10. The method of claim 1, wherein the transaction data included in each transaction data entry further includes at least one of: transaction amount, transaction time andor date, geographic location, point of sale data, product data, and redemption data.
11. A system for identifying consumer segment market shares for a merchant, comprising:
a profile database configured to store a plurality of consumer profiles, wherein each consumer profile includes data related to a consumer including at least a measurement key and a plurality of transaction data entries, each transaction data entry including transaction data associated with a payment transaction involving the related consumer including at least a merchant identifier associated with a merchant involved in the associated payment transaction;
a receiving device configured to receive a specific merchant identifier and one or more consumer segments, wherein each consumer segment includes a plurality of measurement keys, each measurement key being associated with one consumer of a group of consumers having one or more common characteristics;
a processing device configured to
identify, for each consumer segment, a set of consumer profiles in the profile database that include a measurement key corresponding to one of the plurality of measurement keys included in the respective consumer segment, and
calculate, for each consumer segment, a market share for a merchant associated with the specific merchant identifier based on transaction data included in transaction data entries in each consumer profile in the associated set of consumer profiles that include the specific merchant identifier and transaction data included in transaction data entries in each consumer profile in the associated set of consumer profiles that do not include the specific merchant identifier; and
a transmitting device configured to transmit the calculated market share for each consumer segment.
12. The system of claim 11, wherein the measurement key does not include any personally identifiable information.
13. The system of claim 11, wherein the measurement key is produced by encrypting a plurality of consumer characteristics associated with the associated consumer using a method of one-way encryption.
14. The system of claim 13, wherein the plurality of consumer characteristics includes at least one of: age, gender, income, residential status, familial status, marital status, occupation, education, zip code, and postal code.
15. The system of claim 11, wherein the plurality of measurement keys included in each consumer segment is at least a predetermined number.
16. The system of claim 15, wherein the predetermined number is such that no consumer associated with a measurement key included in each respective consumer segment is personally identifiable.
17. The system of claim 11, wherein
the transaction data included in each transaction data entry further includes a transaction amount, and
the calculated market share is based on the transaction amount included in the transaction data entries that include the specific merchant identifier compared to the transaction amount included in the transaction data entries that do not include the specific merchant identifier.
18. The system of claim 11, wherein
the transaction data included in each transaction data entry further includes a transaction time andor date, and
the calculated market share is based on a transaction frequency based on the transaction time andor date included in each transaction data entry that includes the specific merchant identifier and the transaction time andor date included in each transaction data entry that does not include the specific merchant identifier.
19. The system of claim 11, wherein
the calculated market share is based on a proportion of the transaction data entries that include the specific merchant identifier compared to the transaction data entries that do not include the specific merchant identifier.
20. The system of claim 11, wherein the transaction data included in each transaction data entry further includes at least one of: transaction amount, transaction time andor date, geographic location, point of sale data, product data, and redemption data.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method for capturing and evaluating data of interest to a user, comprising:
automatically scanning a user environment by a mobile device for one or more radio frequency (RF) tags,
wherein at least some of the RF tags specify one or more actions to be performed by a computing device based on an authorization status;
identifying at least one RF tag within the user environment that satisfies one or more user preferences;
determining an authorization status of the mobile device relative to the at least one identified RF tag;
determining, via the mobile device, which of a plurality of actions associated with the identified RF tag is to be performed based on the determined authorization status with respect to the at least one identified RF tag; and
performing, via the computing device, the action specified by the at least one identified RF tag that satisfies the one or more user preferences based on the determined authorization status.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically scanning the user environment comprises continuously scanning the user environment.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one user preference is specified by the user.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one user preference is based at least in part on historical user input or actions.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the action specified by the identified RF tag comprises using information provided by the identified tag to obtain a first set of supplemental content via a communication network associated with the mobile device.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein the first set of supplemental content is obtained from an owner of the RF tag via the communication network.
7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:
determining a second action based on the supplemental content obtained from the owner of the RF tag; and
performing the second action by a computing device.
8. The method of claim 5, wherein the action comprises retrieving the first set of supplemental content from an external source using a link in the identified RF tag.
9. The method of claim 5, wherein the action comprises aggregating the first set of supplemental content with other sets of supplemental content associated with previously scanned RF tags.
10. The method of claim 9, wherein the action comprises comparing the first set of supplemental content with other sets of supplemental content associated with previously scanned tags.
11. The method of claim 1, wherein the action comprises notifying the user about the identified RF tag in the user environment.
12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:
determining a second action to be performed following the notification of user; and
performing the second action by a computing device.
13. The method of claim 12, wherein the second action is automatically performed by the computing device unless the user cancels the performance of the second action.
14. The method of claim 12, wherein the second action is only performed by the computing device if the user authorizes the performance of the second action.
15. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically scanning the user environment comprises sweeping the RF device across a wide area.
16. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying an RF tag within the user environment comprises enhancing a scanning parameter associated with the mobile device.
17. The method of claim 16, wherein enhancing a scanning parameter associated with the mobile device comprises one of adjusting the aim of the mobile device, adjusting the sensitivity of the mobile device, adjusting the focus point of the mobile device, and applying a noise-reduction algorithm to an RF tag.
18. A system for capturing and evaluating data of interest to a user, comprising:
a mobile device to automatically scan a user environment for one or more radio frequency (RF) tags,
wherein at least some of the RF tags specify one or more actions to be performed by a computing device based on an authorization status;
an identification component to identify an RF tag within the user environment that satisfies one or more user preferences;
an authorization component to determine an authorization status of the mobile device relative to the identified RF tag; and
an action component to determine which of a plurality of actions associated with the identified RF tag is to be performed by the computing device based on the authorization status with respect to the identified RF tag.
19. The system of claim 18, wherein the user environment comprises an area within a detection range of the RF tag.
20. The system of claim 18, wherein the user environment comprises a store display.
21. The system of claim 18, wherein the user environment comprises print media.
22. The system of claim 18, wherein the identified RF tag comprises a radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag.
23. The system of claim 18, wherein the identified RF tag comprises a long wavelength identification (LWID) tag.
24. The system of claim 18, wherein the identified RF tag comprises a near field communication (NFC) device.
25. The system of claim 18, wherein the identified RF tag comprises a Memory Spot device.
26. The system of claim 18, wherein the mobile device comprises a cellular telephone.
27. The system of claim 18, wherein the mobile device comprises a personal RF device including an RF reader.
28. The system of claim 27, wherein the personal RF device comprises a wearable RF device.
29. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising program code that, when executed, causes a system to perform operations comprising:
automatically scanning a user environment by a mobile device for one or more radio frequency (RF) tags,
wherein at least some of the RF tags specify one or more actions to be performed by a computing device based on an authorization status;
identifying an RF tag within the user environment that satisfies one or more user preferences;
determining an authorization status of the mobile device relative to the identified RF tag;
determining which of a plurality of actions associated with the identified RF tag is to be performed based on the determined authorization status with respect to the identified RF tag; and
performing, via the computing device, the action specified by the identified RF tag that satisfies the one or more user preferences based on the determined authorization status.