The general trend of technological progress has brought an ever increasing number of goods to the marketplace. Furthermore, globalization of markets has increased the number of companies vying for each product market and, consequently, the number of choices available to the consumer. In many sectors such as consumer electronics new functionality is added at such a rapid rate that most consumers are unable to maintain a high level of awareness and understanding of available features. Shortened product life cycles also make it difficult to stay abreast of new product developments. In the case of consumer electronics, the use of programmed microprocessors in electronics fosters introduction of new features at such a rapid rate that consumers can not easily keep pace with what is available to them.
Retailers often employ a part time and/or transient work force and are unable to provide intensive training on the variety of features offered by the myriad of goods that they sell. Thus, when a consumer, enters a brick and mortar retailer in the global market place he or she is often confounded by the myriad of choices and lack of available information or knowledgeable assistance.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds