In-app social shopping queries with response-time prediction
A mobile social-shopping app lets a shopper take two or more photos or media of items, assemble them into a single query, select parameters for the request (for example reviewer role or question type), and send the query to a reviewer. The app predicts reviewer response time from factors including time of day and size of the shopper’s social graph and surfaces that prediction in the UI. Target users are shoppers seeking remote feedback and reviewers within the shopper’s social network or selected reviewer groups.
(57) What the patent covered
This write-up was generated by AI from the patent's text and may contain mistakes, so check it against the original patent before relying on it.
The independent claim covers a method in which a camera on a first device captures two or more pictures inside a social shopping app, the app receives a parameter, assembles the pictures into a query based on that parameter, sends the query to a remote second device, generates a prediction of the second device’s response time based on time of day and online social network size, and modifies the app’s information visualization to include that response-time prediction.
Distinguishing feature: Including a predicted reviewer response time (derived from time of day and network size) in the app’s visualization when sending a multi-photo shopping query.
Novelty 3/5. Assembling images into a sharable shopping question and sending it to friends was familiar by the priority date; the specific addition of an on-screen, data-driven response-time prediction was a distinct application-level refinement.
Implementation
A small team would build a native iOS/Android app that captures photos, creates a composite view, offers parameter controls (reviewer selection, question type), and posts the query to a backend service (REST or realtime messaging). The backend stores social-graph size and recent activity timestamps and runs a lightweight prediction (rule-based or logistic model) to estimate response time; the client renders that estimate in the query UI before sending and updates it when reviewers respond.
Components: Mobile camera and photo capture module, social-shopping mobile app UI, backend messaging/routing service, simple prediction model using time-of-day and social-graph size.
Buildability 5/5. Main work is standard mobile UI, photo handling and simple backend logic; only modest data (social-graph size and timestamps) are needed for the prediction model.
Market demand
Comparable products exist; none doing exactly this was found. Products vary from standalone social-recommendation apps to retailer-integrated social shopping features; active interest in social input during decision-making is evident across multiple vendors; some offerings are invite-based or in early access.
- YayOrNay - Get Friend Feedback Before You Buy · YayOrNaynot listed
- RecSocial · RecSocial (recsocialapp.com)not listed
- Consult-a-Friend (Amazon social shopping feature) · Amazon (via Amazon Shopping app)not listed
Demand check by web search, week of Oct 12, 2026. Listings change frequently.
Buyers: Mobile shoppers seeking peer feedback.
Before manufacturing
No related continuation or divisional patents in force were found. Design patents, trademarks and unrelated patents may still cover the product.
Patent has lapsed; practical issues are privacy of social-graph data, user consent for notifications, and UX for reviewer selection and spam control.
About 1.5% of lapsed patents are later revived by their owners. This page is a research lead, not legal advice. Obtain a freedom-to-operate opinion before manufacturing.