CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This Application claims the benefit of Provisional Patent Application No. PPA 63/159,257, filed March 10, 2021 and regular USP AN 17/589,996, filed February 1, 2022 by the present inventor. The teachings of these applications are incorporated herein by reference to the extent that they do not conflict with the teaching herein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to equipment for cosmetics and cosmetic treatments. More particularly, it relates to a universal beauty tester apparatus, process, method and system for dispensing, at various retail sites, samples of beauty products that take the form of a liquid or emulsion.

2. DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART

Every year, cosmetic brands and retailers spend hundreds of millions of dollars on what are referred to in the retail industry as “beauty testers.” These are the often “tester” marked, fluid dispensing devices that are found on retail shelves and configured to allow a potential customer to sample the cosmetic or beauty product associated with the tester before hopefully purchasing the product. See FIG. 1 which shows an example of such a “prior art” beauty tester that has been removed from its base that is as attachment to a retailer’s shelf and the tester’s motion away from its base has been restricted by the use of a retractable tether.

This process of allowing customers in retail stores to test cosmetic or beauty products at their points of purchase had changed little over the past fifty plus years until the recent occurrence of the covid pandemic. When the pandemic hit, most beauty testers were either removed from shelves, taped to shelves to prevent usage by shoppers, or remained on display with special signage advising the shopper that the tester product was “for display purposes only”.

These beauty testers are reportedly quite important to new product sales as various surveys continue to show that shoppers love to sample beauty products before buying something new. They reportedly want to see, smell, touch and experience the product to know if it’s the right item for them.

The manner in which these beauty testers are situated and maintained in retail stores is also pertinent to the present invention. The various cosmetic brands, manufacturers or suppliers prepare the actual beauty testers and supply them to retailers or third-party distributors, etc. who place them in the retail stores and maintain them on a regular basis (e.g., bi-weekly or monthly). These third-parties then report on the tasks they complete on each maintenance visit to their assigned retail sites (e.g., number of: (a) related beauty product items restocked, (b) items rezoned, (c) new beauty testers placed, (d) beauty testers replaced, and (e) beauty testers that are missing or damaged). Unfortunately, this “task completed data” is the only data collected regarding the beauty testers and available for one to possibly use to assess the effectiveness of using such beauty testers.

There are many problems with these beauty testers and their methods of operation. For example, they are: (a) when situated on retail shelves, often the target of thieves (e.g., some retailers report that 70% or more of their testers are stolen before they complete their expected life cycle), (b) hard to track as they move from their cosmetic manufacturers to third parties and eventually onto retail shelves (e.g., some brands report that as much as 40% of the testers they provide to retailers and third- parties never find their way onto retail shelves), (c) non-hygienic, in that individual testers are designed and intended to be touched and used by many people, (d) time consuming to maintain, and (e) devices that provide no real-time data that can be used to monitor and correlate beauty tester use and product sales. Thus, there is a significant need for beauty tester improvements which address the problems listed above.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Recognizing the need for the development of improved beauty testers (e.g., less prone to thievery, more hygienic, easier to maintain, and yielding data that can be used to increase product sales), the present invention seeks to provide such an improved beauty tester device, process, method and system for using beauty testers.

In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a universal beauty tester that is intended for use by any one of a plurality of beauty product suppliers who will use it to supply in retail stores, test samples of their products to potential customers, includes: (a) a display housing configured to house advertising material for the beauty product in such a manner as to not allow one unauthorized access to this advertising material, (b) a base that has an interior region and a dispensing zone, (c) a universal tester bladder that is configured to store a specific quantity of any one of the plurality of beauty products, (d) a dispensing mechanism that is reactive to an input signal and causes the universal tester bladder to dispense a specified quantity of the beauty product that is currently stored in it, and (e) a non-contact sensing mechanism that senses when a prospective customer makes a motion in the region proximate to it so as to indicate a desire to receive a test sample of the beauty product currently stored in this universal bladder, and sends a signal to the liquid dispensing mechanism that causes the dispensing of the desired test sample.

In accordance with an obvious variant of the present invention, it further includes (f) a processor with memory, a database and software, and wherein the software includes instructions that cause the processor to: (i) record in the database sample dispensing information for the tester, and (ii) compile statistics on the dispensing actions of the sample dispensing mechanism.

In accordance with another obvious variant of the present invention, it further includes (g) a functionality sensor that is configured to monitor the functionality of the beauty tester and send a functionality output signal to the processor which indicates the operational functionality of the universal beauty tester. In this situation, the software is further configured to: (iii) record in the database this functionality output signal, and (iv) monitor the functionality output signal and issue an alert over when there is a problem with the operational functionality of this universal beauty tester. Thus, there has been summarized above (rather broadly and understanding that there are other preferred embodiments which have not been summarized above) the present invention in order that the detailed description that follows may be better understood and appreciated.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. l is a perspective view of a prior art, “beauty tester,” in the form of the actual product itself, that has been removed from its attached-to-retailer’s-shelf base; however, its motion away from its base has been restricted by the use of a retractable tether.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention in which this universal beauty tester’s base is generally located below its display housing.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the preferred embodiment shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a second, cross-sectional view of the preferred embodiment shown in FIG. 1, but with the universal beauty tester’s bladder or tester bottle pulled forward so that it can be refilled or replaced.

FIG. 5 is a second, perspective view of the preferred embodiment shown in FIG. 1, but where the universal beauty tester’s base is generally adjacent to its display housing.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention that has been configured to dispense a fragrance sample when a potential customer’s hand is place proximate the tester’s dispensing mechanism.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Before explaining at least one embodiment of the present invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.

Referring to FIG. 2, there is illustrated a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention 1. In this embodiment, the present invention takes the form of a universal beauty tester that is intended for use by any one of a plurality of beauty product suppliers whose products take the form of a liquid or emulsion. Such testers are placed at various retail locations and allow a potential customer at these locations to obtain a sample testing of the beauty product that is stored in the tester; and wherein, because the tester’s universal nature, this sample can be any one of the products of the many beauty product suppliers who have access to such a tester.

This tester is seen to have a display housing 10 with an outer surface 12 that is configured to house within it a sample of the marketing-distinctive vessel 2 or advertising materials for the beauty product whose contents is to be sampled. This housing is further configured to: (i) not allow unauthorized access to the interior region of the housing so as to deny one access to the product’s marketing-distinctive vessel 2, and (ii) have a transparent portion that allows one to see the product’s marketing-distinctive vessel.

This housing 10, in fulfilling its display function, can also have other design features. For example, it can have: (a) a portion that has LED lighting 14 to draw attention to the vessel within it, (b) the ability to display a graphical insert 16 that also seeks to draw attention to the vessel or product within the tester, and (c) various digital player options that allow for the use of video and audio renderings that also serve as advertisements and seek to draw one’s attention to the product within the tester.

Attached to this housing is a base 20 that has a bounding surface 22 which has an interior region 24 and a dispensing zone 26 into which the liquid, of the beauty product represent by the marketing-distinctive vessel 2 in the housing, is dispensed. See FIGS. 3 - 4. This base can also have other features that adds to its usefulness.

For example, it can have: (a) a removable drip tray 28 that collects any residue of the dispensed beauty product sample, (b) a region 30 sized to allow one who wishes to test the tester’s product to place one’s hand/wrist into the tester iin order to receive the dispensed beauty product, (c) a means for projecting a light beam 32 that marks the region where one should place his/her hand to receive the to-be-dispensed beauty product, (d) a LED or similar light 34 that can be cycled on & off to indicate to a potential customer that a sample of the tester’s beauty product is about to be dispensed.

In the base’s interior region, there is located a removable and reusable, universal tester bladder or container 40 that is configured to temporarily store, until it is dispensed, a specific quantity of any one of the plurality of beauty products that are being made available for testing. It is the nature of this bladder that helps to make the present invention so useful. For example, the use of this universal & reusable bladder means that: (1) beauty product suppliers can now only supply their liquids or emulsions that go into these bladders; thus, they no longer have to supply the expensive and marketing-distinctive vessels that are usually used with their products and which are often stolen are never find their way onto retailer’s shelves, and (2) since these bladders can be hygienically cleaned and reused, the beauty testers of the present invention can be used with multiple types of beauty products.

Also within the base’s interior region, there is located a liquid or emulsion dispensing mechanism 50 that detachably connects (i.e., to allow the mechanism to be disconnected so that the bladder can be filled) to the bladder and periodically, and when a potential customer makes the appropriate motion to activate a motion sensor 60 connected to the dispensing mechanism, dispenses a specified, sample quantity of the tester’s currently residing product. The configuration of this dispensing mechanism is such that it can dispense a wide range of liquids having differing viscosities and densities. It can also be adjusted to provide the dispensed product in a format that ranges from a continuous liquid stream to an atomized mist consisting of fine, liquid droplets.

The present invention’s motion sensor 60 or non-contact, sensing mechanism is also attached to the base and located proximate the tester’s dispensing zone 26 and configured to: (i) sense when a potential customer makes a motion in the region proximate the non-contact sensing mechanism 60 to indicate a desire to receive a test sample of the beauty product currently stored in the tester’s bladder 40, and (ii) send a signal to the liquid dispensing mechanism 50 that causes the dispensing of a test sample of the bladder’s contents.

An important feature of the present invention is its ability to collect data on when product test samples are dispensed and then automatically distribute this data to interested parties. This and the operational features of the tester are accomplished by providing it with a microprocessor or processor 70, which has memory (in which resides a database), input and output ports, a means for connecting to a network or the internet and the necessary control software that controls the tester’s operation and allows one utilizing the network and having proper access to the microprocessor to monitor the activity of the tester.

As previously mentioned, the tester springs into action when presumably a potential customer makes a motion with his/her hand in the region being monitored by the testers’ motion sensor 60. The motion sensor then generates an output signal that goes to the microprocessor 70 and its software reacts to this incoming signal by causing a record (i.e., time and quantity) to be made of this dispensing action in the tester’s database and also causes a signal to be sent to the dispensing mechanism 50 that results in it dispensing a specified quantity of the beauty product currently residing in the tester’s bladder 40.

This universal beauty tester 1 can also be equipped with various functionality or operational-assessing sensors 80. For example, a liquid sensor can be placed in the tester’s dispensing zone 26 to temporally monitor for the presence of a liquid passing through this zone and, when this happens, to send a functionality signal to the microprocessor 70. The microprocessor’s software then checks to see if such a signal is received after each dispensing action of the dispensing mechanism. When this repeatedly does not occur during a prescribed monitoring period, an alarm signal is generated to indicate that the tester 1 is not functioning properly. Because of the microprocessor’s linkage to the internet, the microprocessor’s software can be used to send this alarm signal to the appropriate parties who are responsible for the tester’s functioning.

The computerization of this beauty tester invention, and its ability to automatically collect and share various data regarding the testers’ operation (data that was not previously collected), means that it can be used to try to optimize all aspects of the marketing of the cosmetic or beauty products that are used in its samplers. For example, the tester’s collected data can be combined with other data that is regularly collected by retailers (e.g., retailer point-of-sale data, shopper traffic data, category sales data, year ago sales data, inventory data, on-line sales data) to help provide feedback on the effectiveness of the design of the retailer’s store shelves and display fixtures.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the present invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described herein. Accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention that is hereinafter set forth in the claims to the invention.