Apple patent involves ‘smart shopping’ by using gestures to add items to a shopping list

You may one day be able to use gestures to purchase items in an Apple retail store — and other establishments.

Apple has been granted a patent (number US 11922473 B2) for “Smart Shopping And Information Collection By Natural Gesture Using UWB.”

About the patent

The patent relates generally to providing a smart shopping experience using wireless communication. Smart shopping may be implemented using a device (e.g., a kiosk, a mobile device owned by a patron on which a retailer’s software is installed) that enables adding desired items or objects to a checkout list. 

However, Apple says that the device may lead to inefficiencies in the smart shopping experience, such as contact by and reuse of the device by multiple patrons (thus providing a transmission point of diseases that may be spread by contact), lines forming to use the device, crowd-building, or other undesirable conditions that may disrupt the smart shopping experience. 

Apple’s solution: smart gesturing that can facilitate smart shopping and other contactless experiences by enabling a user to perform a natural gesture toward one or more desired items with or while wearing a wearable or non-wearable electronic device. 

Summary of the patent:

Here’s Apple’s abstract of the patent: “The electronic device may identify the smart gesture, and determine the one or more desired items are indicated by the smart gesture. 

“The electronic device may identify the desired items by receiving location data of multiple items, determining a vector based on a first position a second position of the smart gesture, extending the vector to a location, and using the location data to determine which item or items correspond to the location. If more than one item is indicated by the smart gesture, the electronic device may enable selection of the items and, if at least one item is selected, provide information on the selected items or enable additional interaction with the selected items.”