WO2014088637A1

WO2014088637A1 - Biosensitive response evaluation for design and research

Info

Publication number: WO2014088637A1
Application number: PCT/US2013/044600
Authority: WO
Inventors: Gerald Buchanan JOHNSON; Ari HOLLANDER
Original assignee: Cascade Strategies, Inc.
Priority date: 2012-12-07
Filing date: 2013-06-06
Publication date: 2014-06-12

Abstract

Biosensitive response evaluation improves both design and marketing research by combining eye tracking information with biosensor information to determine the relative brain state of various market research respondents at the precise moment they are focused on specific parts of a marketing stimulus. Areas of interest (AOI) are demarcated using surface-based coordinates of the marketing stimulus. Relative physiological effects associated with each demarcated AOI are identified as part of biosensor response data and may be directly correlated with a purchase decision. Response data collected from biosensors may help predict how proposed alterations to a marketing stimulus will alter sales.

Description

BIOSENSITIVE RESPONSE EVALUATION FOR DESIGN AND RESEARCH

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[Para 01] This application claims the benefit of priority to U.S. Provisional Patent

Application No. 61/734,899; titled "PACKAGE DESIGN AND MARKET RESEARCH

SYSTEM AND METHOD"; filed December 7, 2012 under Attorney Docket No.

NIMB-2012003; and naming inventors Gerald B. JOHNSON and Ari HOLLANDER. The above-cited application is incorporated herein by reference in their entirety, for all purposes.

FIELD

[Para 02] This disclosure relates generally to product design and marketing research. More specifically, but not by way of limitation, to systems and methods for the design, copy testing, and biosensitive response evaluation of product packaging and associated planograms.

BACKGROUND

[Para 03] Modern advertisers, package designers, and product marketers dedicate considerable resources and time to the systematic gathering and interpretation of marketing information in an effort to gain insight or support decision making regarding products, individuals, or organizations. Using various statistical and analytical methods in combination with techniques of the applied social sciences, the marketing industry tries to determine what will produce sales. Unfortunately, available design and research processes require designers and market researchers to duplicate their design efforts, which not only make development of new product packaging both expensive and time consuming but ironically also only produce indefinite results. Moreover, as the gathered research results are often based on self -reported data that is collected well after the initial exposure, the results cannot provide the detail desired by designers and market researchers. Existing methodologies only analyze a new product package design in toto, so there is no way of determining whether certain parts of a package design produce desirable physiological effects in consumers. Additionally, as individual evaluation of package parts is not possible using existing methods, attempting to accurately correlate the predicted effects of changes to a particular package part with sales for the product is also not possible. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[Para 04] The present disclosure will be presented by way of exemplary embodiments but not limitations, illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which like references denote similar elements, and in which:

[Para 05] Figure 1 illustrates a block diagram view of a suitable operating environment for biosensitive design systems in accordance with various embodiments.

[Para 06] Figure 2 illustrates a block diagram view of a suitable operating environment for biosensitive design research systems in accordance with various embodiments.

[Para 07] Figure 3 illustrates several components of a product package design device having a touch display in accordance with various embodiments.

[Para 08] Figure 4 illustrates several components of a research device with a biosensor in accordance with various embodiments.

[Para 09] Figure 5 illustrates several components of a market research server in accordance with various embodiments.

[Para 10] Figure 6 illustrates a block diagram view of several components of a biosensitive response evaluation device having at least one eye tracking device, such as an optical biosensor, and at least one other biosensor in accordance with various embodiments.

[Para 11] Figure 7A illustrates a block diagram view of several components of product package design data in accordance with various embodiments.

[Para 12] Figure 7B illustrates a graphical view of surface information associated with the product package design data previously shown in Figure 7A

[Para 13] Figure 7C illustrates a graphical view of areas of interest (AOI) associated with the product package design data previously shown in Figures 7A & 7B in accordance with various embodiments.

[Para 14] Figure 8 is a graphical view of a suitable marketing stimulus in accordance with various embodiments.

[Para 15] Figure 9 is a graphical view of suitable areas of interest (AOI) associated with the marketing stimulus shown in Figure 8 in accordance with various embodiments.

[Para 16] Figure 10 is a communication diagram of a product package design system in accordance with various embodiments. [Para 17] Figure 11 is a table view of collected consumer response data of measurable physiological states in accordance with various embodiments.

[Para 18] Figure 12 illustrates a 3D graphical view with highlighted areas of interest (AOI) associated with the back, side, and bottom of a product package design in accordance with various embodiments.

[Para 19] Figure 13 illustrates a 3D graphical view with highlighted AOI associated with the front, side, and bottom of a product package design in accordance with various embodiments.

[Para 20] Figure 14 illustrates a 3D graphical view with highlighted AOI associated with the back and bottom of a product package design in accordance with various embodiments.

DESCRIPTION

[Para 21 ] In accordance with various embodiments of the invention, biosensitive response evaluation systems and methods are described that overcome the hereinafore-mentioned disadvantages of the heretofore-known devices of this general type and that provide for dynamic design, copy testing, and biosensitive response evaluation of product packaging and associated planograms. More specifically, the described embodiments provide package designers and product marketers with the ability to identify which parts of the package design are working hardest to produce sales. This enables the designers who develop packages for retail products to emphasize those elements in future package designs that are most productive in contributing to the sale of the product. . In fact, the described biosensitive response evaluation system can be applied to any marketing stimulus that can be divided into parts, each part having some motivating power to spur consumers to take an action, like buy the product. For example, a consumer concerned with sugar content might be moved to buy a particular cereal upon seeing an appropriate marketing stimulus, such as part of an ad or a web page that indicates the cereal has "low sugar".

[Para 22] Examples of such a biosensitive response evaluation system include

NeuroNimbus and NimbusTouch, which may both be obtained from Nimbus Online, Inc. a subsidiary of Cascade Strategies (see e.g., www.cascadestrategies.com) allows a marketer to evaluate whether all the elements or parts of designated marketing materials are working on the consumer as effectively as possible to produce a desired outcome, in accordance with at least one embodiment as described,. [Para 23] The detailed description that follows is represented largely in terms of processes and symbolic representations of operations by conventional computer components, including a processor, memory storage devices for the processor, connected display devices and input devices. Although conventional computer components have been described that generally conform to conventional general purpose computing devices, a biosensitive response evaluation system may include any of a great number of devices capable of communicating with a communication network, such as the Internet. For purposes of this application, the terms

"network", "computer network", and "communication network" are synonymous and generally refer to a collection of hardware components and computers interconnected by communication channels that allow sharing of resources and information. Both a local area network (LAN) and a wide area network (WANs) are examples of computer networks that acceptably interconnect computers within the scope of this application.

[Para 24] Furthermore, these processes and operations may utilize conventional computer components in a heterogeneous distributed computing environment; including remote file servers, computer servers, publishing resources, and/or memory storage devices. Each of these conventional distributed computing components is accessible by the processor via a

communication network. In a heterogeneous distributed computing environment, clients, servers, and client/servers may be, for example, mainframes, minicomputers, workstations, or personal computers. Most services in a heterogeneous distributed computing environment can be grouped into one of these major categories: distributed file system, distributed computing resources, and messaging. A distributed file system provides a client with transparent access to part of the mass storage of a remote network device, such as a server. Distributed computing resources provide a client with access to computational or processing power of remote network devices, such as a cloud server. In one embodiment, distributed computing resources also provide a device with access to remote resources, such as computational assets associated with remote network devices. More specifically, these distributed product resources may even be available from multiple different service providers.

[Para 25] Various aspects of the illustrative embodiments will be described using terms commonly employed by those skilled in the art to convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art. For instance, for purposes of this application, the term "biosensor" refers to an analytical device, used for the detection of different types of biometric data. Examples include, but are not limited to, eye tracking systems, facial expression recognition systems, electro encephalography systems (EEG), galvanic skin response sensors, heart rate monitors, heart rate variability sensors, blood volume pulsimetry sensors, Electrocardiography (EKG) systems, Electromyography (EMG) systems, respiration sensors, spatial tracking sensors for gesture identification or physical manipulation analysis, and other similar sensors and systems for collecting biometric data. . Similarly, for purposes of this application, the terms "areas of interest" and/or "AOI" both refer to one or more 2D or 3D objects or parts of 2D or 3D objects that may be of interest to a deployer of the application. AOIs can be specified in screen coordinates or in terms of locations on the surfaces of 2D or 3D objects. In some embodiments, these surface locations are specified by surface coordinates of a 2D object or a 3D object or by one or more bitmaps registered to surface coordinates. In this way an arbitrary number of categories or pieces of data may be associated with any object, group of objects, or portion of an object in a scene in the application. These categories or pieces of data can be correlated in realtime with any biometric state, decision, or preference detected by a biosensor and/or expressed by a end-user of the system.

[Para 26] The phrases "in one embodiment," "in various embodiments," "in some embodiments," and the like are used repeatedly. Such phrases do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment, but they may unless the context dictates otherwise. The terms "comprising," "having," and "including" are synonymous, unless the context dictates otherwise.

[Para 27] Embodiments described herein, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art, may be practiced with only some of the described aspects. For purposes of explanation, specific numbers, materials and configurations are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the illustrative embodiments. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the embodiments described herein may be practiced without the specific details. In other instances, well-known features are omitted or simplified in order not to obscure the illustrative

embodiments. Further, various operations and/or communications will be described as multiple discrete operations and/or communications, in turn, in a manner that is most helpful in understanding the embodiments described herein; however, the order of description should not be construed as to imply that these operations and/or communications are necessarily order dependent. In particular, these operations and/or communications need not be performed in the order of presentation. [Para 28] Referring now to Figure 1, a suitable operating environment for a biosensitive design system 100 is shown in accordance with various embodiments. The biosensitive design system 100 includes a mobile design device 300 in communication with a product design server 500 via communication network 110. The product design server 500 maintains product data 550 for a variety of product designs 150 and associated planograms. In one embodiment, product designers and market researchers can obtain base product designs from the stored product data 550 and modify the stored template into a new product design on the touch-based interface of the mobile design device 300. In one embodiment, changes to the new product design are dynamically stored locally and optionally in the product data 550. In one embodiment, the system 100 tracks the finger swipes of designers using touch screens to identify and demarcate areas of interest (AOI) 160 in the product designs 150. The AOI 160 may also be demarcated by identifying various surface parts of the product designs 150. Examples of suitable AOI may include package elements, such as logos, images, text blocks, and informational areas like ingredients, promotional snipes, and so forth. As previously stated, the term AOI refers to one or more 2D or 3D objects or parts of 2D or 3D objects that may be of interest to a

deployer/user of the application. In this way an arbitrary number of categories or pieces of data may be associated with any object, group of objects, or portion of an object in a scene in the application. These categories or pieces of data can be correlated in real-time with any biometric state, decision, or preference detected and/or expressed by a end-user of the system. For example, in one embodiment, the system may correlate data by use of a ray-casting algorithm projecting a virtual ray along the gaze direction as measured by an eye tracing device. The virtual ray may intersect one or more AOIs and establish the aforementioned correlation. In some embodiments the angle of intersection and or order of intersection and or distance of intersection may be used to determine the angular size and degree of visibility of the AOI. In some embodiments ray-casting may be used to detect views of AOIs even when seen through other transparent or partially transparent objects which may themselves include intersected AOIs [Para 29] The mobile design device 300 also allows designers to graphically move products in and out of shelf sets or planograms, which provide a visual digital representation of a store's products. Planograms are a useful tool for visual merchandising and as such may also be stored with the product data 550. The system 100 tracks the finger swipes of designers using touch screens of the mobile design device 300 to modify parts of the product designs 150 and/or to change a variety of planograms for filling shelves and previewing new product designs in realistic retail contexts. In one embodiment, desired changes and modifications by the designer to the product designs 150, AOI 160, and product planograms may be stored to the product data 550. In this manner, updates to product designs 150, AOI 160, and product planograms are accessible from the product data 550 by market researchers. Similarly, as shown below in

Figure 2, market research may reveal optimal visual product placement of particular product designs and update the associate planograms stored in product data 550.

[Para 30] Referring now to Figure 2, a suitable operating environment for a biosensitive design research system 200 is shown in accordance with various embodiments. The biosensitive design research system 200 includes a market research server 600 in communication with a remote research device 400 across communication network 210. The research device 400 having at least one biosensor 215 for collecting biometric response data 220 to marketing stimulus 270. In one embodiment, the marketing stimulus 270 may be retrieved from the product data 550 via the product design server 500. Additionally, in one embodiment, the response data 220 may be correlated with the marketing stimulus 270 and saved with the associated product data 550 for use in future designs. Figure 8 provides a graphical view of a suitable marketing stimulus 800 in accordance with various embodiments. Similarly, Figure 9 is a graphical view of suitable areas of interest (AOI) 900 associated with the marketing stimulus 800 shown in Figure 8 in accordance with various embodiments. Figures 12-14 show examples of different 3D graphical views of suitable marketing stimulus each with highlighted AOI on at least two of the front, back, left side, right side, top, and bottom portions of a product package design. As the 3D object is rotated different AOI become visible and may be tracked by the research device. . Examples of suitable AOI may include package elements, such as logos, images, text blocks, and

informational areas like ingredients, promotional snipes, and so forth. The AOI may refer to one or more 2D or 3D objects or parts of 2D or 3D objects that may be of interest. In this way an arbitrary number of categories or pieces of data may be associated with any object, group of objects, or portion of an object in a scene in the application. These categories or pieces of data can be correlated in real-time with any biometric state, decision, or preference detected and/or expressed by a end-user of the system. For example, in one embodiment, the system may correlate data by use of a ray-casting algorithm projecting a virtual ray along the gaze direction as measured by an eye tracing device. The virtual ray may intersect one or more AOIs and establish the aforementioned correlation. In some embodiments the angle of intersection and or order of intersection and or distance of intersection may be used to determine the angular size and degree of visibility of the AOL In some embodiments ray-casting may be used to detect views of AOIs even when seen through other transparent or partially transparent objects which may themselves include intersected AOIs.

[Para 31 ] The biosensitive design research system 200 provides designers from the moment of earliest conceptualization about a package design a way to incorporate that design into the kind of clutter environment that consumer test respondents will really see and use. Designers may modify a variety of elements in that environment, such as the placement of the number and type of packages on the shelves, the choice of competitors to be placed adjacent to the new (or current) packages, prices, shelf arrangement (e.g., height, number of shelves, etc.), signage, promotional elements, and so forth. These configurations may be saved by the designers as planograms associated with the product design. In one embodiment, the biosensitive design research system 200 simultaneously and immediately records both the graphic changes made by designers and the metric changes to back end data files in the product data 550 that will eventually be needed for simulations during the market research phase. This allows the design that will be tested with consumers to move seamlessly from the graphic arena of design to the metric arena of research.

[Para 32] Referring now to Figure 3, several components of a product package design device 300 is shown in accordance with various embodiments. In some embodiments, the product package design device 300 may include many more components than those shown in Figure 3. However, it is not necessary that all of these generally conventional components be shown in order to disclose an illustrative embodiment. As shown in Figure 3, the product package design device 300 includes an I/O communication interface 330 for connecting to the communication network 110. The product package design device 300 also includes a processing unit 310, a memory 350, and a touch-sensitive display interface 340, all interconnected along with the I/O interface 330 via a communication bus 320. The memory 350 generally comprises a random access memory ("RAM"), a read only memory ("ROM"), and a permanent mass storage device, such as a disk drive, flash device, or the like. The memory 350 stores program code for a number of applications, which includes executable instructions for design routine 360, demarcation routine 365, product placement and preview routine 370, and touch detection routine 375.

[Para 33] In addition, the memory 350 also stores an operating system 355, a product database 380, and a market database 385. These software components may be loaded from a computer readable storage medium 395 into memory 350 of the package design device 300 using a read mechanism (not shown) associated with a non-transient computer readable storage medium 395, such as a floppy disc, tape, DVD/CD-ROM drive, memory card, USB drive, or the like. In some embodiments, software components may also be loaded via the I/O communication interface 330, rather than via a computer readable storage medium 395. As previously indicated, the product database 380 and market database 385 may include data for base product information and planogram configuration information associated with different active product package designs and a visual representation or model that indicates the placement of retail products on shelves in order to maximize sales.

[Para 34] Referring now to Figure 4, several components of a marketing stimulus research device 400 with a biosensor 445 are shown in accordance with various embodiments. In some embodiments, the research device 400 may include many more components than those shown in Figure 4. However, it is not necessary that all of these generally conventional components be shown in order to disclose an illustrative embodiment. As shown in Figure 4, the research device 400 includes an I/O communication interface 430 for connecting to the communication network 210. In addition to the biosensor 445, the research device 400 also includes a processing unit 410, a memory 450, and an optional display interface 440, all interconnected along with the I/O interface 430 via a communication bus 420. The memory 450 generally comprises a random access memory ("RAM"), a read only memory ("ROM"), and a permanent mass storage device, such as a disk drive, flash device, or the like. The memory 450 stores program code for a number of applications, which includes executable instructions for biometric feedback routine 460, time synchronization routine 465, and biometric market research reporting routine 470.

[Para 35] In addition, the memory 450 also stores an operating system 455, a product database 480, and a market database 485. These software components may be loaded from a computer readable storage medium 495 into memory 450 of the research device 400 using a read mechanism (not shown) associated with a non-transient computer readable storage medium 395, such as a floppy disc, tape, DVD/CD-ROM drive, memory card, USB drive, or the like. In some embodiments, software components may also be loaded via the I/O communication interface 430, rather than via a computer readable storage medium 495. As previously indicated, the product database 480 and market database 485 may include product information and planogram information associated with different product package designs. This information may be useful in creating a visual representation or model of a retail environment that places a variety of products on shelves and may provide marketing stimulus for consumer being monitored by the biosensor 445.

[Para 36] Referring now to Figure 5, several components of a product package research and design server 500 are shown in accordance with various embodiments. In some embodiments, the design server 500 may include many more components than those shown in Figure 5.

However, it is not necessary that all of these generally conventional components be shown in order to disclose an illustrative embodiment. As shown in Figure 5, the design server 500 includes an I/O communication interface 530 for connecting to the communication network 110, 210. The design server 500 also includes a processing unit 510, a memory 550, and an optional display interface 540, all interconnected along with the I/O interface 530 via a communication bus 520. The memory 550 generally comprises a random access memory ("RAM"), a read only memory ("ROM"), and a permanent mass storage device, such as a disk drive, flash device, or the like. The memory 550 stores program code for a number of applications, which includes executable instructions for remote product design routine 560, product simulation routine 565, and biometric correlation routine 570. One embodiment of the product simulation routine 565 is shown in greater detail below in Figure 6.

[Para 37] In addition, the memory 550 also stores an operating system 555, a product database 580, and a market database 585. These software components may be loaded from a computer readable storage medium 595 into memory 550 of the design server 500 using a read mechanism (not shown) associated with a non-transient computer readable storage medium 395, such as a floppy disc, tape, DVD/CD-ROM drive, memory card, USB drive, or the like. In some embodiments, software components may also be loaded via the I/O communication

interface 530, rather than via a computer readable storage medium 595. The product

database 580 and market database 585 may include biometric product information and planogram information associated with different product package designs. [Para 38] Referring now to Figure 6, several components of a biosensitive response evaluation system having at least eye tracking device and at least one biosensor are shown in accordance with various embodiments. In one embodiment, the biosensitive response evaluation system is a market research server 600 that includes at least one detection module 610, a 3D simulator 620, and biometric product response data 630. In one embodiment, the biosensitive response evaluation device may also include at least one tablet, mobile device, or workstation computer. The 3D simulator 620 may generate a virtual reality simulation to improve the overall nature of marketing stimulus presented to consumers. In one embodiment, these simulations expand the shopping environment, giving the consumer experience a 3D effect. Instead of simply moving right and left along rows of packages in a flat 2D setting, consumers are able to experience the feeling of moving around in the aisle with a shopping cart, backing up, turning, approaching and withdrawing from the shelves, and so forth. This improves the fidelity of the experience to the point where manufacturers may have confidence that consumers provide unbiased reactions to the new packages and that may measure optical, neural, or other biometric effects. Accordingly, since response data 630 represents reactions to new packages based on immediate behavioral and involuntary biological responses rather than unreliable post-hoc consumer self -reporting, it is believed the 3D models and virtual reality simulations dramatically improve understanding of the specific impact that new packages, and demarcated AOI thereon, are having on consumers. 3D simulations have significantly changed the potential response data available to market researchers by allowing consumers to interact with more than just the front face of the new package, such as top, bottom, sides, and back face. Thus, response data 630 can be accurately correlated with a variety of outcome variables meaningful to the manufacturer, such as sales.

[Para 39] The biosensors 610, in one embodiment, can be any of a variety of input devices connected with wires or wirelessly to the biosensitive response evaluation device. In various configurations, the biosensors 610 may either provide raw data that still needs to be processed or the processing of at least a portion of the raw data may already occur on the sensor devices. The detection module 610 may include eye tracking systems 640, electro encephalography systems (EEG) 645, galvanic skin response (GSR) sensors 650, and other biodetection devices 655. In one embodiment, the eye tracking systems 640 is an optical biosensor. In one embodiment, the eye tracking systems 640 include one or more infrared cameras and infrared illuminators to provide eye tracking and gaze tracking information. In addition, the eye tracking system, in one embodiment, may also supply pupil dilation, head tracking, and even facial expression recognition information. Suitable eye tracking systems may be obtained from 3 rd party companies, such as EyeTech Digital Systems or Tobii. In one embodiment, EEG systems 645 include an array of moistened electrodes worn on the consumer' s head to identify various responses including excitement, frustration, relaxation, or other mental states. Suitable EEG systems may be obtained from 3 rd party vendors, such as Emotiv, NeuroSky, and Thought Technologies. In one embodiment, the GSR sensors 650 include a wrist band, finger cap, or other skin conductance sensor to measure the relative electrical conductance of the skin, which varies with moisture level and can be an indication of psychological or physiological response to stimuli. Suitable GSR sensors may be obtained from 3 rd party vendors, such as Affectiva and Thought Technologies. Examples of other biodetection devices 655 may include heart rate monitors, heart rate variability sensors, blood volume pulsimetry sensors, Electrocardiography (EKG) systems, Electromyography (EMG) systems, respiration sensors, facial expression recognition systems, spatial tracking systems for gestural or physical manipulation analysis, and/or similar sensors or systems that are configured to collect biometric data from consumers exposed to a marketing stimuli.

[Para 40] In one embodiment, inputs from all these sources are time-stamped and fed into a 3D simulator 620. In various embodiments, the 3D simulator 620 may run on the server, tablet, mobile device, or remote workstation computer. Input data from at least one eye tracking device, such as an optical biosensor, is communicated to a raycasting analyzer 660 that identifies simulation objects currently underneath the gaze position and provides the intersected surface coordinates on the digital representations of at least one package design as well as angles of incidence. The identified simulation objects are separated into 2D object data 665and 3D object data 667. Each object has one or more bitmaps associated with it that may be hidden or visible. In one embodiment, bitmaps are typically 24-bits deep and the bitmap value at the point of intersection may encode an area of interest (AOI) identifier and/or vector that identifies which AOI is being observed. Moreover, using a sub-object bitmap lookup 670, the simulator 620 identifies exactly how far and/or in what direction from the center or edge of the AOI the point being observed resides. By maintaining time stamped AOI state vector 685 and distance information, noisy gaze tracking data may be disambiguated. From ray-casting and AOI analysis, time-stamped AOI event data 680 may identify events, such as when a particular AOI is entered or exited by a consumer viewing the market stimulus. In one embodiment, states are derived and recorded by the simulator 620, such as which AOI is currently being dwelled upon by the monitored consumer. This information, together with time-stamped sensor state data streams 690 are sent to one or more data files of a biometric product response database 630, which may simultaneously reside on the server, tablet, mobile device, workstation, and/or in the cloud. The simulator 620 records and reports data from market research experiments on both states and events, making sure that all states and events are time-coded so the ultimate analysis can take full advantage of the AOI's and their corresponding effects on consumers, thereby allowing coordination of data derived from eye tracking devices with data from biosensors. In one embodiment, "state" means the physiological state of the consumer at the moment he/she is being stimulated by an AOI, including a consumers brainwave patterns, heart rate, perspiration, microelectric skin changes, and so forth. Figure 11 provides an example event in which research subject, Jordan, has certain measurable physiological states at precisely the moments (measured in milliseconds) the respondent is being stimulated by an AOI. In one embodiment, each event mean the stimulation and its duration, which is also called a dwell. In the example illustrated in Figure 11 above, the dwell begins on record number 3332 and ends on record number 3340. It has a duration of 254 milliseconds, which is subdivided into roughly equal intervals of about 33- 34 milliseconds each. This is so the biosensitive design and research system can check and report the state of the subject (Jordan) at each interval. The fact that each observation is time- stamped allows the system to know with certainty that the subject's physiological state is at a certain level at the very moment he/she is being stimulated by a particular AOI. Ultimately the system may correlate data events and marketing outcomes like a purchase decision. Once this data is collected for all of the identified AOI from the participating respondents, the results may be aggregated and correlated. The attached Table 1 shows an exemplary aggregation of detected stimulations and consumer purchase decisions for the marketing stimulus shown in Figure 8, each correlation being separated by individual AOI shown in Figure 9. Table 1

[Para 41 ] Setting up the market research output data structures this way means the biosensitive design and research system can ultimately correlate data events and marketing outcomes like purchase decisions. In other words, it allows output data in the analysis phase of market research to be aggregated in a way that leads to these correlations. For example, the row associated with AOI 910 of the table indicates that the lifts consumers received when they viewed AOI 910 described as Athlete8 were more strongly correlated with a purchase decision than any other part, as the correlation coefficient is 0.774. In the example, the manufacturer or product marketer now knows that featuring Athlete8 on the package results in sales-producing lifts in positive feeling from consumers. This is important because now the manufacturer or product marketer can re-emphasize sales-producing elements like AOI 910 in future designs or re-designs of the package or any other consumer marketing materials designed for similar retail environments.

[Para 42] Although a product package design server 500 and a market research server 600 have been described that generally conform to conventional general purpose computing devices, the product package design server 500 and the market research server 600 may be any of a great number of different network devices capable of communicating with the communication network 110, 210 and obtaining applications, for example, mainframes, minicomputers, workstations, personal computers, or any other suitable computing device. In some embodiments, some or all of the systems and methods disclosed herein may also be applicable to distributed network devices, such as cloud computing, and the like. Available cloud resources may include applications, processing units, databases, and file services. In this manner, the product package design server 500 and the market research server 600 enable convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable design and research resources, including product package design databases, market research results, targeted product solicitation and advertisement tools, consumer identification, and market research management related computing services and resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction. These services may be configured so that any computer connected to the communication network 110, 210 is potentially connected to the group of design and research applications offered by the product package design and the market research servers, processing units, and databases. In this manner, the product data maintained by the design server 500 and biometric product response data maintained by the market research server 600 may be accessible in a variety of ways by a variety of client devices, such as user access points and guest devices, for example, a personal computer, a handheld computer, a cell phone, a personal media console, a personal game console, or any other device that is capable of accessing the communication network 110, 210.

[Para 43] Referring now to Figures 7A-7C, several representations of product package design data 700 are shown in accordance with various embodiments. Figure 7A illustrates a block diagram of several components of product package design data 700 in accordance with various embodiments. Package design data 740 includes surface information 750 and areas of interest (AOI) information 760. In one embodiment, the surface information 750 includes a plurality of package parts collectively forming a surface of a digital representation of a package design for a product. In one embodiment, AOI information 760 includes demarcation of the surface of the package design, each AOI surrounding at least one package part. Figure 7B illustrates a graphical view of surface information 700B associated with the product package design data previously shown in Figure 7A. Figure 7C illustrates a graphical view of areas of interest (AOI) 700C associated with the product package design data previously shown in

Figures 7A & 7B in accordance with various embodiments.

[Para 44] Referring now to Figure 10, a communication diagram of a product package design system is shown in accordance with various embodiments. In particular, Figure 10 shows communication between a mobile design device 300, product data 550, biosensors 610, and market research server 600. Initially, a designer may optionally request a base product 1013 from the available product data 550. The product package design device 300 creates a digital representation of a package design 1015 for a product, each package design including a plurality of package parts collectively forming a surface. The new product design is saved 1018 back to the product data 550. Base Planograms may optionally be retrieved 1020 from product data 550. The base planogram may be modified to present replications of typical supermarket (or other retail) shelves with the new package design included amid clutter products (i.e., competitive products). The created planogram design 1023 allows consumers to choose items from the shelves using their mouse (or finger, if on a tablet or smartphone), review them, and decide what to buy. The saved planogram design 1025 is saved with the associated product data 550.

[Para 45] In the research phase, the saved planogram designs are displayed 1028 to a consumer respondent being monitored by biosensor 610. In addition to recording time-stamped biosensitive data 1030, the actions of viewing and buying are recorded and incorporated into a market research report. The biosensitive package evaluation data may be added 1033 to the product data 550. In various embodiments, the biosensitive package evaluation data may also be kept with response data.

[Para 46] In the correlation phase, the market research server 600 requests and receives biosensitive response data 1035 associated with the desired product data 550. The market research server 600 correlates response data 1038 similar to that previously shown in Figure 11 for each consumer to identify correlations as previously shown in Table 1.

[Para 47] Although specific embodiments have been illustrated and described herein, it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that alternate and/or equivalent

implementations may be substituted for the specific embodiments shown and described without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. For example, other embodiments may employ biosensitive visual merchandising, and the like. Similarly, although exemplary embodiments are described above in reference to package design and related market research, similar methods may be employed in connection with other marketing research and advertising and the like. This application is intended to cover any adaptations or variations of the embodiments discussed herein.

Claims

Claim 1 A biosensitive response evaluation method comprising: creating, by at least one product package design device, a digital representation of a package design for a product, each package design including a plurality of package parts collectively forming a surface; automatically demarcating, by the at least one product package design device, a plurality of areas of interest (AOI) on the surface of the package design, each AOI surrounding at least one package part; determining a relative physiological effect of each demarcated AOI on the package design; and correlating the determined relative physiological effect of each demarcated AOI with a purchase decision.

Claim 2 The method as recited in Claim 1, wherein the digital representation is a 3D model.

Claim 3 The method as recited in Claim 2, wherein each demarcated AOI is identified using surface-based coordinates associated with the package design, the surface-based coordinates are 3D coordinates on the surface of the 3D model, the 3D coordinates being independent of 2D screen coordinates associated with a particular view of the product design when represented on the at least one product package design device.

Claim 4 The method as recited in Claim 1, wherein the determining the relative physiological effect includes recording comparative data from market research experiments on whether consumers will make a purchase decision for the product and how many products will be purchased if the product is placed in different positions on a planogram including other competitive products.

Claim 5 The method as recited in Claim 1, wherein the purchase decision is identified as a buy decision once the determined relative physiological effect exceeds a purchase threshold. Claim 6 The method as recited in Claim 1, wherein the purchase decision is evaluated relative to each demarcated AOI and is based on the non-holistic evaluation of the detected physiological effect associated with each demarcated AOL

Claim 7 The method as recited in Claim 1, wherein the correlating includes comparing each demarcated AOI for discrete moments positively associated with a purchase decision detected by a biosensor.

Claim 8 The method as recited in Claim 1, wherein the determining the relative physiological effect includes presenting multiple products in a planogram from a viewer's perspective, the planogram allowing dynamic rearrangement of the products on virtual shelves, and the digital representation of each product provides interactive, immersive, and stereoscopic representations of package designs for the products.

Claim 9 The method as recited in Claim 1, further comprising making at least one proposed alteration to the package design and predicting how the at least one proposed alteration to the package design will change sales of the product.

Claim 10 A computer program product residing on a non-transient computer readable storage medium having a plurality of instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising: demarcating a plurality of areas of interest (AOI) on a digital representation of a marketing stimulus, each AOI surrounding a different part of the marketing stimulus; registering a physiological effect of each demarcated AOI relative to other physiological effects of other demarcated AOI of the marketing stimulus on at least one respondent; and correlating the registered relative physiological effect of each demarcated AOI with purchase decisions.

Claim 11 The method as recited in Claim 10, further comprising predicting how a change to the marketing stimulus will alter sales based on the correlated purchase decisions.

Claim 12 The method as recited in Claim 10, wherein the digital representation is a 3D model. Claim 13 A biosensitive design research system comprising: a design server having an operational product data store with product data including digital representations of at least one package design for a product, each package design including a plurality of package parts collectively forming a surface and a plurality of demarcated areas of interest (AOI) on the surface of the package design, each AOI surrounding at least one package part; a research device having eye tracking capability and at least one biosensor configured to detect physiological effects associated with each demarcated AOI on the package design; and a market research server to correlate response data of the detected physiological effects associated with each demarcated AOI with a purchase decision.

Claim 14 The system recited in Claim 13, wherein the at least one eye tracking device and the at least one biosensor both provide time stamped response data.

Claim 15 The system recited in Claim 14, wherein the eye tracking capability includes a device to detect eye movement, current focus, gaze tracking, head tracking, and/or pupil dilation.

Claim 16 The system recited in Claim 15, further comprising a raycasting analyzer configured to identify 2D and/or 3D simulation objects currently under gaze and to provide intersected surface coordinates as well as angles of incidence.

Claim 17 The system recited in Claim 14, wherein the at least one other biosensor includes at least one facial expression recognition system, electro encephalography system (EEG), galvanic skin response sensor, heart rate monitor, heart rate variability sensor, blood volume pulsimetry sensor, Electrocardiography (EKG) system, Electromyography (EMG) system, and/or respiration sensor.

Claim 18 The system recited in Claim 14, wherein the product research device generates time- stamped biosensitive sensor streams including AOI event data and AOI state vector data.