Nintendo has applied for a patent that will turn the their DS into a hand held device that tracks groceries when attached to a shopping cart.
Nintendo believe that there is a way to create an instore shopping list taking advantage of bar codes and wireless information attached to shelves at the likes of Coles and Woolworths.
Click to enlarge |
The DS would connect to a wireless shopping program in store relaying information to the DS, on product information and the location where the goods can bbe purchased.
In the US patent application Nintendo have said the following:
“An example system includes a display, a communication circuit, a memory storing a shopping program, and a processor in communication with the display, the communication circuit and the memory. The processor is configured to execute the shopping program to access a product database including product information, to process inputs supplied to the system to generate a shopping list comprising one or more products from the product database and to provide guidance information on the display relating to product location in a store of the products on the shopping list.”
By allowing owners of the DS to do more things than just play video games, it gives the owners more of a reason to take the DS with them. And, while the idea has been done before in other devices, including iOS and Android-based handsets, it looks like Nintendo wants the experience to grow ten-fold, with the inclusion of the wireless shopping network. The big hurdle will be the way they implement the system, not only on the DS itself, but as well as in the particular supermarkets, and other stores, across the globe.
