Here's how Amazon plans to shut down showrooming

Amazon has been granted a patent for technology that could be used to prevent brick-and-mortar shoppers from comparing prices of in-store products to those online.

The patent, called “Physical Store Online Shopping Control,” details a scenario in which a physical retailer’s Wi-Fi network could intercept search queries that appear to be requests related to price comparisons, then take any one of a number of actions in response, according to TechCrunch.

The most interesting response is that it could block the request altogether – effectively preventing the in-store shopper from running a price check at all. Another scenario involves redirecting the shopper's search to Amazon.com.

Read more about the patent by clicking here.